COVINGTON, Ind. – Bob Stein of Covington, Indiana, has taken on many roles over the years, from soldier and veteran to father and even Santa Claus. But this Sunday, he will add another to his list: Grand Marshal of the Covington Golf Club’s Labor Day parade.
“He’s just very involved in the community,” says Amy Thompson, who first came up with the idea of having Covington’s first monthly Golf Cart Parade back in June. “He and his wife, they’re just good people.”
When Thompson and a few other members of the Covington Golf Club held their first parade in June, she says, it was just thrown together in a few hours as a way to have fun and hand out candy to area kids.
“We said, ‘Hey, we should throw a golf cart parade together tonight and see if anyone wants to join in,’” says Thompson, and that’s just what they did.
In July, they had a parade with a patriotic theme, while the one in August was tropical, with some participants even decorating their golf carts with elaborate palm trees.
By that third parade in August, 51 golf carts had joined the parade, says Thompson, and she expects at least that many to show up for the group’s Labor Day parade on Sunday.
“There’s over 100 registered carts in the city of Covington. People have seen how fun it is and everyone knows him from the community and I think they’re gonna come out and support him,” she said.
Stein and his wife Lynn have participated in the golf cart parades since the beginning, says Thompson, and they even co-hosted a get-together after the last parade at a pavilion in town, so it just made sense for him to be chosen as Grand Marshal.
“It’s an honor, it really is. I never would have thought that would happen,” says Stein about being chosen as Grand Marshal. “They’ve gone around different routes in Covington and we threw out candy to the kids just like a regular parade and decorated golf carts and it’s really cool. I like it. You’d be surprised at what kinda decorations they come up with!”
“I’ll be wearing my legion uniform as the Grand Marshal, so they’ll be able to see that.”
When he’s not participating in the golf cart parades, Stein ministers to the inmates at Danville Correctional Center and at a jail in Fountain and Warren counties in Indiana.
“The inmates have made bad choices, so I do a faith-based, 12-step life-recovery program with them. Been doing that every Tuesday for 18 years,” says Stein. “It’s something to try to help inmates get back on the right path. Some of them get it, some of them don’t. Sometimes it takes two or three times for that revolving door to come back around before they get it and decide that life is more than being in prison all the time.”
Stein and his wife have also played Santa and Mrs. Claus during Christmas time as a way to minister to people in nursing homes and to the inmates at area prisons. But one of his greatest contributions to society has been in fostering 26 kids throughout the years alongside his wife.
“We fostered for 10 years. There were kids from from three months old to 17 years old. We had nine kids in our house at one point!” says Stein. “Plus, we’ve got six kids of our own — the first one and the last two are adopted — and we’ve got 13 grandkids. We’re busy!”
As to why fostering was so important for he and wife, it was all about giving kids the chance to experience a “real family life,” says Stein.
“It’s important to show them what a real family was supposed to be like. When we got the kids, some of them were wearing adult clothes and they were filthy. So we bought them new clothes,” he said. “You just never know what you’re gonna get, but you do everything you can to try to improve their life and give them a home life.”
The Covington Golf Club’s Labor Day parade will start at Covington City Park at 7 p.m. on Sunday evening, Sept. 1.
The parade will travel on both Fourth and Fifth Streets, as well as Washington Street, and it will also make a pass through both Fountain Springs and The Waters of Covington.