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Ann Morgan was a regular at the Foothills Music programs I attended, sometimes as a performer. I knew that she was heavily involved with some of the organizations I was associated with, but until I read her obituary, I had no idea of the breadth and depth of her community service work. She was indeed a “wheelhorse,” as my grandfather Rippy used to say.

I have contrived not to be required to be anywhere at any time anymore, so I have not seen Ann recently. Maybe she also “pulled in her horns” of late! I feel that we both earned our rest after our years of community involvement.

I still write two columns a month and prepare two newsletters for publication, but I can do this on my computer and by email! Fran thinks I am too sedentary, so I resolve to get down to our gym several times a week as formerly. There! You have my New Year’s resolution, made public. Will you join Fran in holding me to it? Of course!

  Dean Campbell, known as the “Squire of Dark Corner,” was a long-term friend and fellow columnist at the Tryon Daily Bulletin. I booked passage on one of his tours of a portion of the Dark Corner. Among the points we visited were the cemetery at the Gowensville Baptist Church, where several generations of Dean’s ancestors are buried.

Another was the Poinsett Bridge, the only survivor of several built as part of the Saluda Mountain Road to connect Charleston with Tennessee. The bridge still stands among trees much as it has since its construction. 

The tour also wound its way through a plantation whose name I cannot remember now, but our bus had great difficulty negotiating a portion of the road. There was a great deal of pulling and pushing involved before we got rolling again. Dean was quite embarrassed by this proceeding!

I attended one of his birthday celebrations at his home, thereby meeting a goodly number of his family and other friends. Dean was indeed a scholar and patriot who shared his knowledge with us through his writings, including regular columns in the Bulletin.

I wrote last time about our friend Jim North’s passing. Fran decided that she needed to go to Newport News to visit her “sister not related,” but our children were ahead of her on that. Thomas’s birth father offered his hundreds of airline miles; Thomas arranged for us to fly out of Charlotte, with wheelchairs for both of us.

Thomas then drove us to Charlotte airport, and Sharon met us at Norfolk airport and took us to her home. She took Fran over to Judy’s; I stayed with her and enjoyed visiting with our grandson Austin, still home from Virginia Tech.

Sharon took me over to Hampton for the visitation for Jim; we enjoyed seeing most of Jim and Judy’s family, plus our church friends who were there. We brought Fran back to Virginia Beach for a day before Sharon then took us to the Norfolk airport for our return trip.

All of us were very tired from all the traveling. Fran and I are glad to be back home for sure. But we are thankful for the kids’ help in making all of this happen.