Written by Aubrey Keedy (Class of 2026)

It would be hard to find many people with the history and love for Ben Davis and Wayne Township as Jon Easter.

Easter graduated from Ben Davis in 1993, was a member of the 1992 state championship golf team and has seen more Ben Davis sporting events than just about anyone in the past 60 years.

Easter reflects on his time as a student in the early 1990s.
“I listened to everything,” Easter said of his love of music from that era. “It’s really hard to pin down just one style. I listened to everything from grunge rock to hip hop to pop. It was a good time to be alive for music.”

Easter also enjoyed the movies of the time
“My taste in movies hasn’t changed much,” he said. “I still prefer comedies over anything. I do remember that The Fugitive came out in the summer between high school and college, and that’s still one of my favorite movies.”

After BD, Easter attended Indiana University and spent two years teaching at Franklin Central before coming home to BD.
“I didn’t follow the trends too much,” Easter said of his style of the time. “I was just a t-shirt and jeans or shorts kind of guy. You’d usually find me wearing some kind of sports team shirt and a pair of Levi’s or a pair of shorts.”

Easter looks back fondly on his time as a student.
“It seemed as if the world was a lot more innocent back then,” he said. “Of course, we didn’t have cell phones in our pockets, and the ones we did have were huge.”

“They didn’t have the capabilities we have now. The internet really didn’t hit until I was in college, so I think we were a lot more present at the moment than we are now. When you go to a concert or a sporting event, everyone is watching because we want to remember the moment rather than watching through our phones. I think the technology we’ve acquired has been a good thing, though. It’s made life a lot easier.”

Easter does miss some things from the early 1990s.
“Well, my parents were alive. My grandmothers were still alive,” Easter said. “I wish I could bring back all the people that I’ve lost over the years and just appreciate them more. You don’t understand that until they are gone forever. Unfortunately, life doesn’t stay the same.”

Easter remembers his high school fondly.
“Culturally, I think we were a lot more laid back,” he said. “People didn’t just get so mad at each other when we disagreed. That’s not to say that there weren’t crazy things that happened, but I do think things moved a little slower from an information standpoint.”

“Now, if you want to get in touch with someone you send them a text. Back then, you’d have to go find a landline phone, call them, leave a message, and wait for them to call you back. That was kind of nice, and I think it gave us time to process information more instead of the constant need to be connected by social media or whatever.”

“All in all, though, I love the time we live in now. It’s just different, but different isn’t necessarily bad.”