I was still in the intensive care unit at S. Luke’s when my friend Artie Hamilton eased out of our world Sunday morning.

I had found him asleep in his bed at White Oak the last two times I visited, so I did not disturb his slumber. Artie always liked to take the sun outdoors whenever possible, and I delighted in seeing him maneuver his motorized wheelchair adroitly into position between his bed and the wall when he came in.

I’d often find him with a cloth over his face, which he put aside to chat with me. I wish I had known him when he was Artie, active in his community, church and among his tribe of family and friends. His son, Gordon, seems to have accepted his father’s mantle.

Like Elijah, Artie is a hard act to follow!       

Gil and Ann Denton were our neighbors when we first moved into the Holly Hill community upon my retirement. They soon moved to Tryon Estates, and we seldom saw them after that.

I remember meeting their daughter, Sarah, early on, and having them over for breakfast at least once. Our meetings were always friendly and neighborly. 

I worked for Clement D. Stevens for more than a year, visited in his home often in the years after I left the area, and still never learned that he had been in pilot training before World War II! Someone gave his logbook to the WNC Air Museum, and I have borrowed it because I wanted to share with you.

Mr. Stevens was the owner of Tryon Builders Supply, an officer of Tryon Federal when it was formed, and mayor of Tryon for several years back in the ‘40s and ‘50s. I have written many lines about him, but I’ll say here that he was a learned man of many talents, and served his employees and community very well.

We shared a love of classical music and the means of reproducing it in our homes. That is mainly what brought us together as friends after I left.

I don’t know whether he knew that I used part of my earnings at his lumber yard in summer of 1946 to learn to fly at Hendersonville with Oscar Meyer.

Mr. Stevens’ logbook shows most of his time in Piper J-3 Cubs; Oscar bought the new Aeronca 7AC Champions when his flight training operation boomed after the war with many returning veterans using their GI Bill to learn to fly.

Mr. Stevens soloed Oct. 15, 1940. He did not continue flying very long after that, probably because of World War II’s restrictions.

Oscar Meyer designed and built his first airplane, and taught himself to fly it; therefore, I put him right up there with the Wright Brothers. Oscar signed both logbooks; that pleases me as well as knowing that Mr. Stevens and I share another bonding experience.

Mr. Stevens once called me from Lindbergh Field in San Diego, saying “This is Clem Stevens from Tryon . . .” and not much else before boarding his flight out. I had known him only as “C.D.” before that, but he was always “Mr. Stevens” to me.