Inspired at age 13 by the Spencerville Covered Bridge, Arthur Franklin Mapes devoted his life to poetry while living and working in Kendallville, Indiana. Born on March 16, 1913, on East Lisle Street, he graduated from Kendallville High School and spent more than 30 years as a machinist at Flint & Walling, writing poems after long factory days. With the steadfast support of his wife, Ruth (Acker) Mapes, whom he married on December 12, 1936, and with whom he had 10 children, including two consecutive sets of twins, he continued to develop his voice. During a snowstorm in 1961, he wrote "Indiana," a tribute to the beauty and simplicity of the state that gained popularity after a Fort Wayne radio station broadcast a recording of it. A grassroots effort helped make it the Official State Poem, and the Indiana General Assembly adopted it in 1963. In March 1977, the General Assembly also recognized him as “Indiana’s Poet Laureate,” praising what his poetry had given the state, and he read his state poem in both chambers of the Indiana Statehouse to standing ovations. His honors included the Golden Quill Award in 1961, the International Association of Machinists Anniversary Award in 1963, Kendallville Citizen of the Year in 1966, and Older Hoosier of the Year in 1980. Three of his poems appeared in the Congressional Record, and in 1980 he fulfilled a lifelong dream with the publication of Indiana Memories. He died on Jan. 4, 1986, was buried in Lake View Cemetery in Kendallville, and continued to receive posthumous recognition, including during the Indiana Bicentennial Torch Relay in 2016.