Ada Vella Rose is not a recognizable name to anyone at Hodgenville Methodist today. Mention Miss Ada Funk, however, and you’re sure to start a conversation, recollecting memories of our last “old time” radio show in these parts. Weekday mornings in the early 1970s, travelers would have passed a rather unpretentious insurance office at the corner of Water Street & Lincoln Blvd. & perhaps puzzled over the sign in the window reading “On The Air.” If they were a local to the county, they knew exactly what this meant, and already had their radio tuned to WIEL to hear Miss Ada Funk’s broadcast of “Homespun News,” the weekday recap of all the important social happenings, illnesses and deaths in the County. Every day her office became, for a short time, a miniature radio station where Ada Vella telephoned in her beloved show, the sign in the window a reminder to all that insurance business would commence only after the radio show ended.
Ada Rose was born “across the river” in Clark County, Ind. Nov. 20, 1886. She would marry Clifton Bradford Funk of Brooks in Bullitt County on June 14, 1911, he having come from a prominent old family there. Clifton was best remembered for constructing the “C. D. Polley” garage on Lincoln Blvd. & Water Street for his Plymouth-Desoto-Chevy dealership prior to the 2nd World War. Miss Ada’s impact reached much farther than her few minutes “on the air” each day. Ada joined the local Methodist church family by certificate in November of 1920 by Reverend Henry, becoming not only Treasurer for the church but one of its first female Trustees. She was best remembered for her devotion in the classroom on Sunday mornings where her Sunday School class made an impact upon many generations. In 1973, Miss Ada was tragically struck by a passing car while getting the mail in front of her home (now lovingly maintained by John & Rooney Gray), passing away 14 months later in August of 1974, never having regained consciousness.
Her legacy was continued by Wilma Doyle Atherton who stepped in to assure the "Homespun News" was delivered to anticipating radio listeners, and today the tradition continues with the re-establishment of radio in Hodgenville by Cale Tharp and ABE93.7 where local news remains an important component of the station's entertainment mix.
