[sense of place]
Bird’s-eye view of Stanley, 1909
BRINGING BIG VISION TO A SMALL PLACE:
ISABEL FLATH By Richard Edwards
Eleven singers, including the three high school boys who made up the men’s section, stood in the choir loft of the little church. Isabel was putting them through their regular Wednesday-evening practice, and she treated rehearsal as something serious—you came on time, and you didn’t fool around. But she rarely criticized them, despite being an excellent and demanding musician herself, because she knew her singers’ limitations. At one point that evening someone whispered a side comment, the singers’ attentions wandered, and Isabel noted their distraction. Her face reddened and, forgetting that she was holding her 2
pince-nez, she slammed her hand down on the balustrade, smashing her glasses. The choir was first shocked and then— quietly—amused, but mainly they felt bad because they had disappointed her. Isabel recovered her composure and continued the rehearsal, and she had to endure no more distractions that evening. No one in Stanley felt good disappointing Isabel Flath. She was such an inspiring presence to most people in town, extending their horizons and raising their hopes, that she gave her community a depth and dimension often missing in small towns.
