Spring-into-summer bouquet
The Echo is published bi-monthly throughout the year by the Upper Hickory Nut Gorge Community Club. You can access the online blog at www.gertonecho.blogspot.com or pick up a paper copy at the Gerton Post Office. News is always welcome; pictures, too. Please submit to Editor Margaret Whitt at mwhitt@du.edu or 625-0264. Photographers: Karen Hudson-Brown, Barbara Earnhardt, Sylvia Sane.
Officers for 2014: Margaret Whitt, President; Lynn Morehead, Vice President; Becca Hathaway, winter secretary; Lana Roberts, summer secretary; Sylvia Sane, treasurer. Board members include Jim Earnhardt, Claudia Freeman, Jean Bradley, and Jim Sane.
Calendar of Events
July 4, Friday - 6:30 p.m.Community Picnic-- Burgers and Dogs at UHNGCC, followed by Bingo and Fireworks at dark
July 6, Sunday - Bearwallow Baptist Church Homecoming. Lunch together at the UHNGCC.
July 6, Sunday - Bearwallow Baptist Church Homecoming. Lunch together at the UHNGCC.
July 10, 6:30-8:30pm - at the Gathering Place in Chimney Rock:
Phil & Gaye Johnson - hosts of the King Pup Radio Show live acoustic country music laced with tongue & cheek humor.
July 15, Tuesday, 6:30 p.m. Community Covered Dish. Program: a bit of the play, "Birdie's Cafe"
July 25 and 26, Friday and Saturday - 8 p.m. "Birdie's Cafe"
Tickets - $10 at the door. Doors open at 7:15 p.m.
August 14, 6:30-8:30pm - at the Gathering Place in Chimney Rock:
Michael Reno Harrell - award-winning songwriter, musician and storyteller- filled with wit, charm and surprises!
August 19, Tuesday, 6:30 p.m. Community Covered Dish. Program: Karl Bradley on Broncos
August 30, Saturday of Labor Day - ALL DAY---GERTONFEST VI
President's Note
Welcome back to the part-timers; we are always glad that you have returned to Gerton, as you add a great deal to our community. The Hickory Creek Players are busy practicing for the annual summer highlight, "Birdie's Cafe." Information about the play can also be found in the July issue of Our State!
Invite friends from out-of-town to join you for the event. It really is the biggest community event in Gerton all year long. Thanks again to Helen Brown for writing the play and to all those who are giving up their time this summer to prepare for the play. You just can't beat the $10 price and the healthy laughter that you get for your money!
Thanks again to those who said YES when we needed volunteers for the litter sweep, help in setting up the stage, help in preparing for Mary's community gathering after her service, help in preparing Mel's community gathering after his celebration of life service. A community that works connects us one with the other, and I remain happy to live in such a place.
See you at dinner, on the 4th of July, and at the play....and later at GERTONFEST VI.
Margaret Whitt
Update from the Little Library
Business has been brisk at the Little Library. Not everybody leaves a note, but here are some samples:
Catherine from NC suggests "you should add scary mystery books! By the way, you have a great program! Thank you!" Paduka adds: "Give thanks." Anne says hello from San Francisco: "We took The Honorable School Boy and left two Moon Guides: Charlotte and Charleston. This is a great little box! Thanks for doing it." Eric took Miracle at Camp Friendship and added "love this place!!" Luke and Quinn from Asheville took Water for Elephants and left Catcher in the Rye.
We are officially registered with Little Free Libraries organization and have the number 12881, which we assume means that we are the 12,881st little box in the world--that is registered. Reading six minutes a day reduces stress levels by 68 percent.
After the play, two new benches will be placed in the garden to add just another moment of roadside beauty and a place for rest in our hamlet.
HICKORY CREEK PLAYERS BRING
“BIRDIE’S CAFÉ” to GERTON!
Helen Brown’s newest three-act play--“Birdie’s Café”—is
set in a restaurant/bus station/ town social center somewhere between southern
Georgia and northern Florida. All of this—with 13
various characters--will be magically transplanted to the Upper Hickory Nut
Gorge Community Center the evenings of July 25-26 at 8 p.m. The Hickory
Creek Players will keep the action hopping with many colorful travelers dropped in
by various bus schedules. Brown’s characters always manage to keep audiences in
various stages of hilarity, with good doses of kind understanding.
Past summers’ playgoers are sure to remember several of
the actors: Bonnie Moore stars as Birdie, Ruth Ann Nappi stars as her waitress/daughter. Other
actors many playgoers will be happy to see again are Julie Dellich of Fairview, Debbie Hill of Atlanta, Don Lewis of
Black Mountain, and Gerton’s own Jacob Lyda and J.D. Nappi.
All are experienced actors, more or less. Bonnie Moore’s
daughter-in-law Sarah Moore with twins Sadie and Zane will make their first
appearances as actors.
Birdie is a generous soul who cares for everybody who
wanders into the café for the confused
and misplaced. She has taken under her wing a whiz-bang math
genius, Psalm CIV, a teen-ager (David Topp) who cannot
read. (He is named for the first Bible verses his momma spotted
after he was born.) Don Lewis and Brian Bloxsom round out the cast as bus driver and passenger who
visit the café for Southern hospitality and spectacular Southern
food. Just how anyone pays for a meal
when the bus takes off with their luggage remains to be
seen.
“Birdie’s Café” will happen both Friday and Saturday
evenings. $10 at the door, opening at 7:15, will get
you into the large air-conditioned dining room for this Community Club
fund-raiser. Two intermissions and refreshments will be available between
acts. “Birdie’s Café” opens at 8 p.m., providing a summer
evening’s happy entertainment for the whole family.
GERTONFEST VI: SATURDAY, AUGUST 30
One of our
favorite traditions will return on Saturday, August 30, GERTONFEST VI. Count on
participating in all or part of the day's events:
- Pancake and Sausage Breakfast - 8 - 11 a.m. - $4
- Silent Auction - Great items on which to bid-- 8 - 6 p.m.
- Team Spelling Bee - 3 - 5 p.m. - $10 to enter; 1-4 people to a team
- Music in the afternoon
- Inflatables
for the kids and free refreshments - 1-4 p.m. Sponsored by
- Bar-B-Q Dinner - beginning at 5:30 p.m.
- Bingo
- Trivia Quiz Bowl - NEW EVENT!
Celebration of Life of Mel Freeman
On the afternoon of Sunday, June 22, family and friends gathered at Bearwallow Baptist Church to celebrate the life of Melvin Leroy Freeman, who died on March 20, 2014. Pastor Jonathan Jenkins delivered a message, which included a number of words that best define the Mel who we all came to love and appreciate during his almost 20 years of time in Gerton. He was "monumental"; he believed in "service." Daughter-in-law Laura Freeman sang a few of Mel's favorite hymns, while son Jason Freeman paid tribute to his father as an outstanding role model. Grandsons Porter and Tyler Freeman told a few memories of their special times with their granddad and grandson Eric Freeman read some of Mel's favorite Bible verses.
Afterwards, neighbors and friends gathered with the Freeman family at the community center for a pot luck dinner. Mel and Claudia's oldest son Mel, Jr., offered the blessing for the meal.
Mel was a man who truly walked an unwavering path through life: he knew what he believed and he understood his commitment to his wife, sons, and grandsons. He was a hands-on worker in his life-long home in the Charleston area, and here in Gerton, as well. Some years ago when we had to skip a summer in the theatrical production, Mel and Claudia, chairs of fund raising for UHNGCC, offered the idea of the Gertonfest--what it might contain, how it might be shaped, and what kind of money it would raise. Since that time, we have celebrated Gertonfest each year on the Saturday of Labor Day weekend. Mel was unwavering in his belief in our community and in what we could do if we all worked together. This year we will hold our 6th Annual Gertonfest. He, along with Claudia, conceived the idea, gave birth to the reality, and one of his many legacies is now one of our traditions.
The members of the UHNGCC honor Mel Freeman with a new "Welcome" bench to be placed in the Little Library garden. First, the bench, known hereafter as "Mel's Bench," will make its debut as a prop in the summer play, "Birdie's Cafe."
Mel's Bench, summer 2014
TRIBUTE TO MARY ROBINSON—and a Love Story
MARY RUTH ROBINSON died April 29 in Asheville, N.C. After moving here to Gerton about eleven years ago, she contributed in many ways, quietly, and sometimes not so quietly. As a public school student counselor and music teacher in her hometown of Kalamazoo, Michigan, Mary had a good run at competitive sailing in her 20-foot sailboat and won many events. She did not discover, until after she turned 50, that she was also a pretty good artist. We saw her paintings and artwork at the Community Center, and at the Lake Lure Arts festival every fall where fellow members of the Lake Lure Artists group, Appalachian Pastel Society, and Henderson County Art League sold their works. She painted kids’ faces for Gertonfest, she painted some of the Community Center’s old dining room chairs to sell at Sale on the Trail. Her 3” x 3” framed water colors captured scenes of vast mountain vistas in tiny spaces. Some now grace homes in California.
Mary played our clunky piano for us, mostly accompanying our singing Christmas carols. Summers, she taught classes of visiting children to play recorders—they amazed themselves by what they learned to play. She never missed a music program offered here in Gerton. She adored Helen Brown’s summer plays—and didn’t miss a one. She faithfully attended UHNGCC monthly suppers, bringing along her little floormop dog who silently sat at her feet under the table.
Jonathan Jenkins conducted her memorial service at Bearwallow Baptist Church May l7. Friends from out-of-town came from Lake Lure, Asheville, Michigan, and Wisconsin. We learned that as a young woman, she’d fallen in love with Ed Hunting whom she’d met in seventh grade. Eventually, they decided to marry, but her parents shook their heads no. They both married someone else for a time. Ed moved to Las Vegas.
Mary was a superb painter, but her real passion was sailing. She entered numerous sailing competitions in Michigan and throughout the United States—and, by golly, won first prize in many. (One photograph at the funeral and the Community Center reception showed a laughing Mary, windblown and sunburned, leaning over the side of her sailboat. Maybe she’d just won another race….)
After retirement, Mary wrote a letter to an address she hoped was Ed’s. It was, and she traveled to Las Vegas where they met and fell in love again, and decided, at their advanced ages, to give companionship a try. Five years later, according to Ed, the Las Vegas heat proved too much, and they decided to move back east. Having visited friends in Asheville, they returned to “look at about l00 houses,” and when she stepped into the Coy Jamerson house up on McGuffey Ridge, she announced, “This is it.” Mountain-side trees and breezes sold the house in a split-second.
Five years ago, Mary developed a kidney condition requiring dialysis. Three times a week. The last few years, the Apple Valley health van service picked her up—and brought her home. Winter ice often meant the Gerton Fire Department helped her manage the steep inclines of McGuffey Ridge to catch the van for her treatments. In Gerton, she continued driving herself and Ed to the Community Center suppers. The visits became more and more labored, but onward she would come, always the beaming smile, the walker, and her faithful companion service dog. As one of the faithful few members who stayed for post-dinner/program business meetings, Mary asked insightful questions —straight to the point, sometimes uncomfortable queries--questions about the budget, about the physical condition of the building, about the ramp for the physically handicapped and when was it going to be completed….
Invited by Pastor Jonathan Jenkins at the funeral, probably a dozen or more friends and family members spoke about Mary. Her sister Nancy Woodruff of Mosinee, Wisconsin, and many friends—including two who stood to say they’d dressed in un-funereal bright colors to honor Mary’s love of color. A former teaching colleague sent a spectacular floral arrangement of blazing red roses and white lilies.
During Mary’s last days, Joni Bloxsom tended to her, and spent hours talking with and listening to Mary. Bonnie Moore became a close friend, too. Mary’s life story particularly awed Joni. Most of us didn’t know this Mary well. We somehow missed her.
Pastor Jenkins suggested the same in his remarks: do we miss out on each other until our funerals here in our small community of Gerton? Do we skip by each other’s rather wonderful lives, to appreciate in new ways we could reflect on, to expand our own small worlds?
One of the things Ed told us at Mary’s funeral is that nowhere he and Mary had ever lived had they found such kind neighbors as they had here in Gerton. This tribute to Mary is in response to this tribute to us. May we all continue—and even expand—our sense of what it means to live up to those words--
"kind neighbors." Barbara Earnhardt
Karen Hudson-Brown Gains Native Habitat Certification
Blooming dogwood and moss-covered stone steps
Phlox and Goat's Head flowers
Karen Hudson-Brown of Chestnut Hills subdivision of Gerton decided to apply for certification of her home by the Native Plant Habitat. The process was lengthy, requiring six of ten conservation practices (removal of invasive pest plants, composting, mulching, avoiding chemical use where possible, using soaker hoses or hand watering rather than overhead watering, controlling pests naturally by encouraging beneficial insects, capturing/utilizing rainwater, minimizing or eliminating lawn areas if possible, allowing leaves to remain where they fall, or shredding as mulch, reducing the use of standard lawn maintenance equipment, such as fossil-powered lawn mowers, leaf blowers), a letter describing the effort, and pictures to accompany the whole. Karen was granted official certification by Carolyn Ikenberry, Native Plant Habitat Certification
Coordinator. Here is the letter Karen received indicating the certification:
Karen, you submitted a wonderful application and you are heartily welcome to the certified garden group. Congratulations! I will send your certificate shortly and also get a write-up of your native habitat in the next newsletter.
Your garden looks (from photos) and sounds (from write-up) like a lovely and dynamic native habitat. I love your approach to gardening and I think you could check off all the conservation categories because, with all your native plantings, you certainly attract beneficial insects.
Carolyn IkenberryI look forward to some day visiting in person. In the meanwhile, we are happy to have your garden listed on the NCNPS (North Carolina Native Plant Society) website as a "certified native habitat."
Happy digging!
Karen's letter of application is included below, so that others interested in the process might see the extent of the work--and joy--involved. Also, for those interested in reading garden descriptions, the letter is delightful:
I approached the property not as an
experienced gardener (I'm definitely not that) but as an advocate for creating a
natural habitat for wildlife. The site is No.97365, certified by the National
Wildlife Federation in 2008(?). My commitment has been to keep some exotics that
were not invasive but that any plant I introduced to the property would be
native (at least to the US) and beneficial in some way to wildlife. If it looked
nice, that would be a bonus. The first challenge was reclaiming the rock walls
and eliminating the grass. Nine years later, the walls and woods are clear of
ivy (on the surface – we all know the roots go to China). A small patch of grass
remains. (People set chairs on the turf and become an audience for house
concerts.) Bittersweet and Multiflora Rose remain troublesome. For much of the
ground cover I have chosen to let the wild strawberry be useful. All three (Wild
Strawberry w/white flowers, Mock Strawberry w/yellow flowers, and Cinquefoil
w/yellow flowers) are present and challenging each other for dominance.
The various levels defined by the rock
walls present a more formal aspect than I would have chosen, though the walls
are stunning. The habitat is accessible by stone or mulched paths which lead
from the road into each level. The point of view for designing the paths has
been from the second level porch looking down. One path recreates the shape of
Little Pisgah, the dominant mountain view (which now has been obscured by my
neighbor's Norway Spruce trees!).
A water feature with pond and falling
water has been created on the west side of the fourth level. The first level
features a kind of room with a moss floor and sitting bench. The driveway is on
the fifth level behind the house and entry into the house is from the
carport.
My
commitment to native plants has been challenging but since I came to it with
literally no gardening experience, I didn't yearn for any old exotic
favorites. It's been, and will continue to be, quite an
experience and I know there is no way I could have even begun to do it without
the expertise from the Native Plant Society. Certification seems to me to be the
next natural step.
I am
typing this on my porch and the church bells are now ringing “Amazing Grace.” Don't know what that means, but with the music, the sun low in the west at 6:00
pm after a gentle rain, and birds singing, my native plant habitat certainly
seems a worthwhile project.
Fern Path
View from the Front Porch
Litter Pick-Up
Organized by Gloria Anders, on Tuesday, June 3, seven gathered to figure out a plan and walk the 3-mile stretch on Highway 74A from one Adopt-A-Highway sign at the top of the gorge to the other sign at the campgrounds. We used Gene Earnhardt's truck and Bonnie Moore's convertible as the warning-following-behind-the-truck-lights-flashing-arms-waving-when-necessary to make the event efficient and safe. Thanks to Gene Earnhardt, Billy Gaines, Bonnie Moore, Margaret Whitt, Sylvia Sane, Stan Mobley, and Sarah Gayle for picking up 11 bags of trash, including 3 bags of recyclables. What did we find? A baggie of dog poop that had been carefully bagged and then tossed out a window! Two soda pop bottles of what appeared to be someone's pee, lots of paper plates, cigarette butts and empty cigarette packages, and plenty of styrofoam cups and other items from fast food places! And yes, most of the about 100 cans were beer cans.
And...a backpack that Sylvia Sane picked up, which had a RX, photo book, 2 checkbooks, and a wallet with driver's license, ATM cards, and charge cards. She called the phone number on the check books and left a message. The lady called back at 6 p.m., so excited that her things had been found. She is a teacher in Easley. Her family came to Chimney Rock the previous Sunday and decided to hike on Boy Scout Camp Road over by the lake. Her car and four others were broken into and her backpack was taken. As far as Sylvia and Jim could tell, the crooks just took her cash and threw away the backpack right here in Gerton! She was very appreciative and Sylvia has mailed her belongings to her. Just another good deed from the Gertonites! A big thank you to Sylvia and Jim Sane for going the extra mile.
May Program
Syble Freeman offered a brief visit to the high points of a CPR review. First, we must talk loudly to the person who appears to be in distress. Put them on a hard surface if they give no verbal response. If there is someone else available, tell that person to call 911. Then immediately start a form of CPR by pushing deeply into the area of the chest near the sternum. Press and release, press and release until professional help is on the scene. This is a difficult task, so switch off every two-three minutes, if another person is available.
Syble asked for volunteers to come demonstrate on the practice "doll" she had on the table. Billy Gaines tried first and, instantly, he did the procedure correctly--because we could hear the click (unfortunately, humans do not have this mechanical click inside!). Billy made it look easy, as the next several women had a difficult time making the click audible.
When the Gerton Volunteer Fire Department offers a First Aid and CPR course in the fall, be sure to sign up. Even if you know the information, it is important to understand and be aware of the latest updates.
Official summer at the UHNGCC begins with our June meal together. This year we had 44 in attendance, hosted by Lana and Ted Roberts and Jim and Kyanne Miller. We returned to the Tom Earnhardt tape of the story of the gorges in North Carolina, including our own Hickory Creek Gorge. Tom's PBS program "Exploring North Carolina" remains a popular weekly show. Tom is the brother of Gene and Jim Earnhardt, and spent his boyhood days in Gerton.June Program
NEIGHBORHOOD NEWS
Tommy English vacationed many summers
in Gerton as he and his family (parents Kay and Tom
English, and little brother Charles) occupied what came to be known as the
English Cottage on Chestnut Hills. Now director of Cline
Observatory and professor of astronomy at Guilford Technical
Community College in Jamestown, N.C. , Tom leads classes (and Skyscape parties) in the study of the stars and where
students—and anyone else interested—view the night skies from Cline Observatory,
using the state’s one of two third largest telescopes. The current
June OUR STATE magazine features Tom (pp. 38, 40), and his continuing thrill
with showing the uninitiated how to see up close and personal parts of our
universe--like Saturn, like the Moon. “Wow!” he reports they
almost always say, ages 8 to 80. That’s the very same ‘Wow!’ he
spoke here in Gerton, lying on the Chestnut Hills
Commons facing up at star-studded nights.
GERTON STARS
Well, they really
aren’t ours, those night sky pricks of light. But they ARE
brighter than in thousands of communities across our nation where streetlights,
neighbors’ so-called safety lights, and mall lights erase the sky’s natural
beauty. A friend told me she’d called out to her
Florida houseguests here to “Come see the STARS!”
Awed into silence, she told me, they had never known there was such
beauty to look at. Think about that next time you’re inclined to
put up an outdoor nightlight. At least, point the light down, not
out, not into your neighbors’ property. Statistics bear out that night lights
don’t make people safer—most robberies occur during the daytime when occupants
are away. Sometimes those night lights have been known to light
the WAY to the window or door for thieves to enter….
THANKS to whoever it was that managed to erase the black spray-paint on the Little Pisgah Road gate, and on "Invasive Plant" information sign at west 74-A just over the Continental Divide entrance to Gerton. THANK YOU, good person!
And a big THANKS to the Gerton Volunteer Firemen for putting up our new flags along the roadside. Thanks again to those of you who contributed to our fund for the flags. They will be waving through Labor Day at the start of our gorge.
THANKS to whoever it was that managed to erase the black spray-paint on the Little Pisgah Road gate, and on "Invasive Plant" information sign at west 74-A just over the Continental Divide entrance to Gerton. THANK YOU, good person!
TO THE RESCUE! Where to dump our old
batteries can be a problem—WHERE do we discard them? Battery
acid in the earth means long-lasting poisonous damage to our Mother
Earth and water. When discarded batteries (flash-light, camera,
car, toy, etc.) tossed into our waste
baskets or dumpsters, we destroy our children’s inheritance. But (tah-dah!) BATTERIES AND BULBS at 1863 Hendersonville
Road (same Fletcher mall as Ingles, across from Earth Fare) will take the
batteries accumulated to be picked up by one of several recycling
businesses. (60 cents a pound is charged for Alkaline batteries we bring in.) You can watch
their grinding-up process on Battery Recycling.com. Click on
‘media’. (Would Community Center members be up for battery-toting
as a service project? Hmmmm….)
(P.S. If you know of other battery-discard places,
goodness! Send us their names and addresses for the
ECHO!)
Scholarship Winner:
GRACELYN PERRY, daughter #3 of
Michelle and Eric, won the UHNGCC $300 Scholarship for helping out with her
college expenses at Asheville-Biltmore Technical College. As a recent high school
graduate who qualified for
National Honor Society, Gracelynn played a prominent
acting role in one of our summer theater fundraisers for the Community
Center. She took dual enrollment courses at Reynolds High School which counted
as college-level credits, and then finished with home schooling classes when she missed too many class attendance requirements to
attend the bedside of a good friend (see story below) who had been in a
life-threatening car accident in Daytona Beach. Now on a mission
trip in Nicaragua, Gracelynn plans to earn her two-year associate degree at ABT, after which she’ll transfer to a four-year
college. Gracelynn is Margaret and Doug
Colwell’s granddaughter.
GRACELYNN PERRY’S good friend Madison
Cawthorn of Hendersonville, was about to graduate
from his home high school course with an appointment to Annapolis Naval
Academy. April 3, as a passenger, he met with a serious car
accident in Daytona Beach, Florida, an accident severe enough to require months’ long
hospitalization. His severe injuries are now being
ministered to at the Shepherd Spinal Clinic in Atlanta, Georgia.
Family friends here in Gerton asked for prayer
for Madison, whose story was reported on WLOS soon after the accident. Family and
friends continue to hope for his recovery, and ask for prayers. Gracelynn and Madison became good friends through the Youth Program at
Biltmore Baptist Church.
You can google his progress through the call
letters of his name—Madison. His friend who was driving and who
rescued Madison from the cab, asks for prayers, too.
ROSE ANN DOUGLAS
deeply thanks everyone who has written and called her and husband David now at
Universal Health Care in Fletcher. A tremor in her left hand makes
it difficult for her to write thank-you notes. She lives with her
daughter Amy in Asheville, and nearly daily, visits husband David in his
healthcare facility. “I joke with him about my needing to move in next door, or
to move over,” she chuckled. David thinks that would be a fine
idea….
