March 2021 | Kentucky Monthly Magazine

MARCH 2021

with Kentucky Explorer

THE TALENTS OF

JOHN LACKEY Little English Classic Children's Clothing Belle Louise Historic Guest House The Thaxton Family Longtime Radio Announcers Don Neagle + Joel Utley

Display until 4/13/2021

www.kentuckymonthly.com

Thank you WAKY-LAND for sending our ratings through the roof … AGAIN!

q

Now available through live streaming anywhere!

Kentucky’s Greatest Classic Hits!

Pop-Rock-Motown-Soul of the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s

LOUISVILLE’S NO. 1 MUSIC STATION in these important demographics: Women and Men/Adults 35+ 45+ and 55+ WAKY’s GenX and Baby Boomer audience

www.wakyradio.com To Advertise: contact René Bell via email rbell@wakyradio.com or call 1-888-766-1035 SOURCE: NIELSEN RATING COMPANY. OCT-NOV-DEC 2020. PERSONS 35+ 45+ 55+

ON THE COVER “The Selfie” acrylic painting by Lexington native John Lackey.

in this issue

14

“Sheltowee, I Don’t Even Know Yee” acrylic painting by Lexington native John Lackey. The painting shows part of the Sheltowee Trace, along the Red River.

D E PA R T M E N T S 2 Kentucky Kwiz 3 Readers Write 4 Mag on the Move 10 Across Kentucky 12 Cooking

featured

MARCH 2021 14 Homegrown Artist John Lackey uses his many creative skills to express his ideas and passions

47 Kentucky Explorer 58 Off the Shelf 60 Past Tense/ Present Tense 62 Gardening 63 Field Notes 64 Vested Interest

22 Little Treasures A Kentucky motherdaughter duo heads a children’s clothing line that draws from classic designs

28 Belle of Paducah Historic preservationists restore a grande dame to her former glory 34 A Second Chance A timely test gave Glen Thaxton a new lease on life—and love 41 Life on the Air For radio veterans Don Neagle and Joel Utley, broadcasting is a perfect fit k e n t u c k y m o n t h l y. c o m 1

kentucky kwiz Test your knowledge of our beloved Commonwealth. To find out how you fared, see the bottom of Vested Interest.

William Shatner is best known as Capt. James T. Kirk in the original Star Trek television series. But the actor and author has been a regular on the Kentucky horse show scene for decades and, until recently, owned a home in the Bluegrass State. To commemorate his 90th birthday on March 22, test your knowledge of all things Shatner.

1. In 2020, Shatner reached a divorce settlement giving his wife, Elizabeth, their home in what Kentucky county?

A. Fayette B. Woodford C. Anderson 2. Shatner appeared in the 1998 movie Free Enterprise that follows the antics of two Star Trek fanatics. What is the name of Shatner’s character in the movie?

7. In the 1980s, Shatner played the title role in the police series T.J. Hooker. One of his old Star Trek crewmates guest-starred in one episode. Who was it?

A. Nichelle Nichols B. Leonard Nimoy C. James Doohan 8. Shatner’s California home got a facelift in what home improvement “reality” show?

A. William Shatner

A. The Shatner Project

B. Capt. James T. Kirk

B. Fixer Upper

C. Frank O’Hara

C. This Old House

3. Shatner played alongside Sandra Bullock in what 2000 movie?

9. Shatner played not one, but two murderers in what popular TV detective series?

A. Speed B. Crash C. Miss Congeniality

A. Murder, She Wrote B. McMillan & Wife C. Columbo

4. In a 1986 appearance on Saturday Night Live, Shatner punctuated a memorable skit set in a Star Trek convention with what three-word exclamation?

10. Shatner starred in a 2019 lowbudget horror film set in Louisville and rural locations in Kentucky.

Name the film.

A. “Beam me up!”

A. Evil Dead

B. “Get a life!”

B. Devil’s Revenge

C. “Kirk to Enterprise!”

C. A Christmas Horror Story

5. In 2017, Shatner was ejected from his carriage when his horse flipped in what Kentucky horse show?

11. Shatner was shopping at a Kentucky mall where a murder took place in 2009. Name the mall.

A. Rock Creek Horse Show

A. Lexington Green

B. Lexington Junior League Horse Show

B. Fayette Mall

C. Mercer County Fair and Horse Show 6. Shatner once was a television pitchman for what online travel booking company?

C. The Mall at St. Matthews 12. In 2012, Shatner donated what artifact to the Frazier History Museum?

A. A phaser

A. Priceline

B. Tack from his Woodford County horse farm

B. Orbitz

C. A bronze statue of a samurai

C. Expedia

2 K E NT U C K Y M O NT HLY MARCH 2 0 2 1

Celebrating the best of our Commonwealth

© 2021, Vested Interest Publications Volume Twenty-Four, Issue 2, March 2021 Stephen M. Vest Publisher + Editor-in-Chief

Editorial Patricia Ranft Associate Editor Rebecca Redding Creative Director Deborah Kohl Kremer Assistant Editor Ted Sloan Contributing Editor Cait A. Smith Copy Editor

y

And Trekkie

Senior Kentributors Jackie Hollenkamp Bentley, Bill Ellis, Steve Flairty, Gary Garth, Janine Washle, Jesse Hendrix-Inman, Kristy Robinson Horine, Kim Kobersmith, Abby Laub, Walt Reichert, Joel Sams, Ken Snyder, Gary P. West

Business and Circulation Barbara Kay Vest Business Manager Jocelyn Roper Circulation Specialist

Advertising Lindsey Collins Account Executive and Coordinator For advertising information, call 888.329.0053 or 502.227.0053 KENTUCKY MONTHLY (ISSN 1542-0507) is published 10 times per year (monthly with combined December/ January and June/July issues) for $20 per year by Vested Interest Publications, Inc., 100 Consumer Lane, Frankfort, KY 40601. Periodicals Postage Paid at Frankfort, KY and at additional mailing offices.

POSTMASTER: Send address changes to KENTUCKY MONTHLY, P.O. Box 559, Frankfort, KY 40602-0559. Vested Interest Publications: Stephen M. Vest, president; Patricia Ranft, vice president; Barbara Kay Vest, secretary/ treasurer. Board of directors: James W. Adams Jr., Dr. Gene Burch, Gregory N. Carnes, Barbara and Pete Chiericozzi, Kellee Dicks, Maj. Jack E. Dixon, Bruce and Peggy Dungan, Mary and Michael Embry, Frank Martin, Thomas L. Hall, Judy M. Harris, Greg and Carrie Hawkins, Jan and John Higginbotham, Bill Noel, Walter B. Norris, Kasia Pater, Dr. Mary Jo Ratliff, Barry A. Royalty, Randy and Rebecca Sandell, Marie Shake, Kendall Carr Shelton and Ted M. Sloan.

Kentucky Monthly invites queries but accepts no responsibility for unsolicited material; submissions will not be returned.

kentuckymonthly.com

More to Explore...

Counties mentioned in this issue...

Readers Write Key Omission In the well-written article, “In Praise of Appalachian Soldiers” (November issue, page 32), for whatever the reason, the author failed to mention Kentuckian Garlin Conner from Albany, Kentucky. A recent subject of a KET program, Conner was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor in 2018 for his actions in World War II. In addition, Conner was the recipient of four Silver Star Medals, the Bronze Star, the Purple Heart and the French Croix de Guerre.

Conner grew up on the Kentucky-Tennessee line, less than 20 miles from the home of Alvin York.

Bob Stubblefield, via email Note from author Jim Gifford: The primary purpose of my article was/is to bring recognition to unrecognized heroes— “patriots for what they did; heroes for what they were willing to do.” I hope thousands of other Kentucky Monthly readers

thought/are thinking of someone special, like Garlin Conner, and in the process of thinking about that person, they are keeping that person’s memory and accomplishments alive.

The Flash Scores I really liked Steve Vest’s November column (page 56), particularly his mention of the Jackson County team going to play at Shawnee High School.

Of course, his exploits as “The Shawnee Flash” during his football days there are legendary.

Bill Ellis, Lexington Editor’s Note: There has never been an effort to retire my jersey.

Extra Judgy I shook my head in sadness at the “Extra Vested” comment from the non-subscriber who vented anger and judgment in seeing people without masks in your magazine (December/ January issue, page 48).

First, I don’t particularly

want to see people wearing masks in photos. I find it sad and wearisome.

Secondly, when I do see someone not wearing a mask in a magazine, I certainly don’t react to it in a judgmental way.

The Kentucky Gift Guide Kentucky Monthly is thrilled to partner with Kentucky Proud, bringing to your attention some of the finest handcrafted gifts and treats our Commonwealth has to offer.

You know what is worse than COVID-19? All the hatred, ugliness and judgments that people make. I want to read my magazine to escape that.

I’m kind of glad to hear the writer of that nasty letter is not a subscriber. I feel we are above that.

Debbie Adams, Florence P.S. Love your magazine of our great state!

I absolutely loved, loved, loved the December/ January “Extra Vested.”

Been there and lived through the embarrassment. Thanks for sharing.

Also, I was happy to read about the continuation of Kentucky Explorer! Awesome news; great move.

Bobbie S. Bryant, Louisville

We Love to Hear from You! Kentucky Monthly welcomes letters from all readers. Email us your comments at editor@kentuckymonthly.com, send a letter through our website at kentuckymonthly.com, or message us on Facebook. Letters may be edited for clarification and brevity.

Drink Local This handy guide to sipping in the Bluegrass State spotlights local breweries, wineries and, of course, distilleries. Discover unique ways to drink in Kentucky, creative cocktail recipes and more.

v Find more at kentuckymonthly.com.

Use your phone to scan this QR code and visit our website.

C O N N E C T.

UNITING KENTUCKIANS EVERYWHERE. k e n t u c k y m o n t h l y. c o m 3

travel

MAG ON THE MOVE

These photos pre-date the COVID-19 outbreak, social distancing and mask mandates. Kentucky Monthly supports all safe travel measures.

Take a copy of the magazine with you and get snapping! Send your high-resolution photos (usually 1 MB or higher) to editor@kentuckymonthly.com or visit kentuckymonthly.com to submit your photo.

Mary Jo Schraffenberger and Sharon Guenthner HOLLAND (above) Longtime Louisville friends Mary Jo, left, and Sharon traveled to Holland at the perfect time of year—during tulip season!

Viewing History JORDAN (left) Taking in the famous archaeological wonder of Petra, Jordan, were Mary Lou and Bob Boal, Diann Wilson, Laura Teague, Dukie Hovious, and Don and Mary Susan Fishman—all of Madisonville—along with Gary and Susan Slater of Nichols, New York, and Norm Seese of Columbus, Ohio

4 K E NT U C K Y M O NT HLY MARCH 2 0 2 1

The Muenchs and The Smiths CARIBBEAN CRUISE (right) John and Mary Jo Muench of Camp Springs and Nick and Mary Smith of Cold Spring (both towns are in Campbell County) enjoyed a cruise to the Eastern Caribbean. They are pictured at a stop at St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands.

Dent and Ginny McCartney & Dan and Barb Thompson HONG KONG (above) The McCartneys and the Thompsons, longtime friends from Flemingsburg and Maysville, respectively, traveled for a month in 2019 visiting Singapore, Australia, Bangkok, Cambodia, Vietnam and Hong Kong. This photo was snapped at the Temple Night Market in Hong Kong.

Maxine Wiley and Family FLORIDA (right) Maxine of Frankfort celebrated her 90th birthday in Sandestin, Florida. She was the longtime secretary of Col. Albert B. Blanton of bourbon fame. k e n t u c k y m o n t h l y. c o m 5

travel Enjoying the Caribbean DOMINICAN REPUBLIC (left) From left, Delores Ginn of Bedford (Trimble County), Carolyn Mitchell and Beverly Hughes of Carrollton, and Alice Sullivan, also of Bedford, visited Amber Cove, Dominican Republic, while on a cruise of the Caribbean.

Linda J. and Ray Hawkins TEXAS (above) The Morgantown couple are pictured in Texas, where Linda was the keynote speaker at a writers’ retreat and presented Kentucky Monthly magazine as one of the door prizes from Kentucky.

Commemorating Family & History NORMANDY (left) Dave Sullivan of Jacksonville, Florida (formerly of Pike County); Cynthia and Greg Sindad of Arizona; and Cathy and Bill Myers of Louisville visited Omaha Beach and the American Cemetery in Normandy, France, for the 75th anniversary of D-Day. Greg’s uncle, Sgt. Joe Sindad, was killed in action on June 9, 1944, in Le Motey and is buried in the American Cemetery.

6 K E NT U C K Y M O NT HLY MARCH 2 0 2 1

Creating a Culture of Excitement We’re excited to welcome students to our Versailles, KY campus in 2021!

Frontier.edu/KyMonthly

Offering Master’s and Doctoral Degrees for Registered Nurses Proud to call Kentucky home.

Colonial Cottage Restaurant 3140 Dixie Highway, Erlanger 859-341-4498 thecottagenky.com

NEW from Teddy Gordon

Top, Visiting Europe — Stewart and Linda Wade of Greenville (Muhlenberg County) traveled to London, England, and also to France to attend the remembrance ceremony of the 75th anniversary of D-Day at Normandy’s Omaha Beach. They are pictured here at the Tower of London with the Tower Bridge in the background.

Above, Hawaii — Thanks to Tim Cantrell, left, a retired member of the military, a group of his friends enjoyed a vacation at the Hale Koa, a military resort in Honolulu, Hawaii. Joining Tim and his wife, Diana, who live in Fayette County, were John and Rita Morgan of Oldham County, David and Rebecca Powell of Bullitt County, and Stan and Sue Glenn and Sarah Shiver of Henderson County.

Gordon revisits his successful legal brawl before the Supreme Court of the U.S. to improve education.

We can p and pu rint bli your bo sh ok, too!

or 859.520.3757 Order today! or www.reformationpublishers.com k e n t u c k y m o n t h l y. c o m 7

travel

Mary Alice Duff PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND (left) Mary Alice of Mount Sterling traveled to Green Gables, Cavendish, Prince Edward Island, Canada. Green Gables is the setting for the Anne of Green Gables books and movies.

Shelby County Gal Pals NEW YORK CITY (right) For the fourth consecutive year, Margaret Hughes, Connie Cheak, Sara Ann Yeary and Jen Adams— high-school friends from Shelby County—traveled from their homes in central Kentucky to Manhattan. In 2019, they visited the Metropolitan Museum of Art and enjoyed the view overlooking Central Park.

Caribbean Cruising GRAND CAYMAN AND COZUMEL (left) Longtime Boyle County High School friends enjoyed a cruise to scenic islands. From left, Karen Taylor, Carolyn Goodman, Jan Belcher, Gail Singleton, Kathy Belcher, Betty Denham, Wilma Taylor, Marianne Maynard, Lynda Wilson and Shelia Brummett.

8 K E NT U C K Y M O NT HLY MARCH 2 0 2 1

S P E C I A L A DV E R T I S I N G S P E C I A L

plan a spring staycation You don’t have to go far to get a break. Explore Kentucky's finest bed and breakfasts.

Chase Smith ARIZONA A Letcher County native, Chase is a chef at Rancho de la Osa in Sasabe, Arizona.

He is pictured in front of the guest house where he works.

Belle Louise

Historic Guest House See more of the Belle Louise on page 28!

plan your visit: 270.210.2553 BELLELOUISEPADUCAH.COM

This Italianate mansion built in 1879 is waiting for you! Lovingly brought back to its former glory, the home maintains the splendor of the past with period décor intertwined with a classic contemporary touch. Located in the Historic Lower Town Arts District, one of Paducah’s oldest neighborhoods, The Belle Louise is also conveniently located just a few blocks from the National Quilt Museum, the Greenway Trail, the Riverfront and Paducah’s commercial historic district.

our kentucky bed & breakfast recommendations PADUCAH

Belle Louise Historic Guest House 270.210.2553 bellelouisepaducah.com

IRVINE

Southern Grace B&B 270.422.7974

snughollow.com

southerngracebb.com

WARSAW

Jim Miller and Rev. Barrett Milner CUBA Jim of Simpsonville, left, and Barrett of Lexington traveled to the island on a Presbyterian mission trip. They are shown here in front of the USS Maine memorial in Havana.

RICHMOND

The Blue Heron B&B and Retreat Center 859.527.0186 blueheronretreat.com PARK CITY

Grand Victorian Inn 270.590.1935

BRANDENBURG

Snug Hollow Farm 606.723.4786

SONORA

Riverside Inn 859.567.1329

Thurman Landing 270.949.1897

riversideinnbb.com

thurmanlanding.com

LIVERMORE

MORGANTOWN

River Trails inn 270.278.2954

Woodbury Lodge 270.999.1683

airbnb.com

woodburylodgebb.com

grandvictorianinnky.com

k e n t u c k y m o n t h l y. c o m 9

across kentucky

Thanks, Heaven Hill The Food Literacy Project has received a significant financial shot in the arm, thanks to the employees of Louisville-based Heaven Hill Distillery.

Through several fundraising drives in 2020, employees raised $13,765.33 toward the nonprofit’s mission to transform communities through food, farming and land education.

Carol Gundersen, the program’s founder and executive director, is grateful for the outpouring of support from Heaven Hill, especially now. “This past year has been challenging for everyone. But for many in our community, struggle and uncertainty are persistent conditions,” Gundersen said.

“We believe in the power of young people to address the root causes of food insecurity and build our community’s capacity to become healthy, just, The Food Literacy Project at sustainable and equitable.”

Oxmoor Farm

COVID-Induced Business Boost Thanks to hundreds of thousands of folks picking up new hobbies during the COVID-19 pandemic as they quarantined in their homes, a Kentucky company is seeing a meteoric rise in sales. DecoArt—a Stanford-based craft, DIY and fine arts paint manufacturer—reported a 300 percent increase in sales over the past year that resulted in a shortage of its paints across the country.

DecoArt is launching a manufacturing and workforce expansion to meet the new demand. “I have heard over and over again that having overwhelming demand is a great problem to have,” said Stan Clifford, DecoArt’s president and CEO. “Unfortunately, this ‘great problem’ leaves us with challenges we have never faced before—how to meet such a demand surge in a short period of time.”

Expansion plans include adding at least 50 positions in manufacturing and support roles. The manufacturing expansion involves new equipment purchases, new production lines, and double the capacity of its manufacturing and distribution centers.

Folklife Program Lands Grant The voices of Kentucky’s rich culture will continue to be documented for posterity, thanks to a National Endowment for the Arts grant to the Kentucky Folklife Program. KFP will use the $20,000 grant to further its magazine project and its mission to document Kentucky’s rich culture.

“It is an honor for the KFP to be recognized again by the NEA for our work helping to share the voices of Kentuckians from across the Commonwealth,” said Brent Bjorkman, KFP’s director. “Last year with funding from the NEA and the efforts of our KFP team, a Kentucky Folklife Network and digital platform were created, and so far we have produced two editions of the magazine.”

Based at Western Kentucky University in Bowling Green, the KFP is an inter-agency partnership between the Kentucky Historical Society and the Kentucky Arts Council. More information about the program can be found at kentuckyfolklife.org.

10 K E NT U C K Y M O NT HLY MARCH 2 0 2 1

BIRTHDAYS 2 Denny Crum (1937), former basketball coach who led the University of Louisville to NCAA championships in 1980 and 1986 3 Larry Stewart (1959), Paducahborn musician and singer, best known as a member of Restless Heart 3 Tom Leach (1961), sportscaster, voice of the University of Kentucky Wildcats 4 Beth Stivers (1981), Union co-host of Pantsuits Politics 6 Tori Murden McClure (1963), president of Spalding University and rowing explorer 9 Danny Sullivan (1950), retired Louisville-born winner of the 1985 Indianapolis 500 9 Eric Gregory (1967), executive director of the Kentucky Distillers Association 10 Lance Burton (1960), Columbiaborn, Shively-raised Las Vegas magician 10 Angela Correll (1966), author and preservationist from Stanford 14 Rick Dees (1950), Harrodsburg resident and radio announcer best known for the 1970s song “Disco Duck” 16 Chuck Woolery (1941), original host of Wheel of Fortune, born and raised in Ashland 17 William Stamps Farish III (1939), former U.S. ambassador to the United Kingdom, owner of Lane’s End Farm near Versailles 18 Ciara Bravo (1994), Alexandriaborn actress best known as Katie Knight on Big Time Rush 18 Tim Farmer (1964), host of the KET program Tim Farmer’s Country Kitchen 21 Ceila Ammerman (1983), fashion model from Cynthiana 22 William Shatner (1931), actor and horseman best known for Star Trek 24 Emma Talley (1994), NCAA Women’s Golf Champion from Princeton 31 Greg Martin (1953), lead and slide guitarist with the Kentucky Headhunters, from Metcalfe County

y

See Kentucky Kwiz

APRIL 17, 2021

VISITLONDONKY.COM THE CYCLING CAPITAL OF KENTUCKY®

k e n t u c k y m o n t h l y. c o m 11

cooking

Mushroom Truffle Risotto SERVES 8 2 quarts chicken or vegetable stock 2 tablespoons favorite cooking oil ¼ cup chopped shallot 2 cloves garlic, minced 1 pound mushrooms, sliced (LouVino uses oyster and shiitake mushrooms) 3 tablespoons butter 2 tablespoons truffle paté or 1 teaspoon white truffle oil 2 cups Arborio rice ¼ cup dry white wine 1½ cups finely grated Parmesan, plus more for garnish Salt and pepper to taste Parsley for garnish

1. In a large saucepan, bring stock to a simmer. Reduce heat to low to keep warm.

Recipes for All Occasions March is significant to many people for a variety of reasons. For some, especially in the basketball-loving Bluegrass State, it means March Madness. For home gardeners, it means the beginning of planting season for some vegetables. For those observing Lent, it means meatfree or fish Fridays. The following recipes, courtesy of Chef Tavis Rockwell of Louisville’s LouVino restaurant, are of delectable dishes to try for Lenten Fridays or any day of the week, and his rich risotto recipe can be tweaked by adding chicken, steak or your favorite seafood.

Recipes provided by Chef Tavis Rockwell, culinary director of LouVino restaurant in Louisville.

Photos courtesy of Estes Public Relations.

12 K E NT U C K Y M O NTHLY F EBR UARY 2 0 2 1

2. In a large Dutch oven or saucepan, heat oil over medium heat. Add shallot and sauté until translucent, about 5 minutes. Add garlic and mushrooms, and sauté until mushrooms are soft and golden, about 4 minutes. Remove mixture and set aside.

3. Add 1 tablespoon butter to pan to melt. Stir in rice and cook until rice is well coated and is slightly toasted. Add wine and cook until it is absorbed. Incorporate mushroom mixture into rice.

4. Using a ladle, add ½ cup of hot stock at a time, stirring constantly. Wait until liquid is absorbed before adding more.

Continue cooking and stirring the rice, adding stock ½ cup at a time. It will take about 15-20 minutes or until rice is tender with a firm center and dish is creamy. You may not need all the broth.

5. Add the remainder of the butter to the cooked rice, stirring well.

6. Stir in Parmesan and taste for seasoning, adjusting accordingly. Garnish with parsley and Parmesan. Serve immediately.

NOTE: Protein can easily be added to this dish. If adding chicken, seafood or steak, start cooking the meat halfway through the risotto-making process.

Seared Scallops with Fried Green Tomatoes and Maple Mustard Sauce SERVES 4 2½ cups buttermilk ¾ cup hot sauce 2 large green tomatoes sliced ¼-inch thick (you should have about 4-5 slices per tomato) 2 cups panko breadcrumbs 4 tablespoons paprika 1 large egg 1 cup whole milk 1 cup flour, with salt and pepper Vegetable oil for frying 4 U15 scallops Salt and pepper to taste Maple mustard, recipe follows

1. Mix buttermilk and hot sauce together in a medium container. Add tomato slices and store overnight in refrigerator.

Maple Mustard

2. Using a food processor, blend the panko and paprika until smooth. Let sit overnight.

1 cup Duke’s mayonnaise

3. The next day, combine egg and milk in a bowl. Put seasoned flour and panko mixture in two separate bowls.

4. Remove sliced tomatoes from the buttermilk mixture and shake excess off on rim of container. Dredge tomato slices in flour, followed by the egg and milk mixture, making sure to have no dry spots.

5. Place each slice in panko, cover and apply pressure until coated, then place on a plate.

Fry tomato slices in vegetable oil in a deepsided pan until desired crispiness. Place on paper towel to drain and add salt to taste.

6. Next, sear scallops in vegetable oil for 1-4 minutes on each side, depending on size.

Season with salt and pepper.

¼ cup pure maple syrup 1/3

cup whole-grain mustard

2½ tablespoons Dijon mustard ¾ tablespoon yellow mustard

1. Put mayonnaise in a mixing bowl. Whisk in maple syrup until fully incorporated.

2. Add and combine mustards one at a time until fully incorporated.

4. Set aside until ready to use.

7. Place tomatoes on plate, add scallops on top, and drizzle with maple mustard sauce by using a spoon or squirt bottle.

k e n t u c k y m o n t h l y. c o m 13

By Pam Windsor | Photos by Mark Zerof

HOMEGROWN

ARTIST John Lackey uses his many creative skills to express his ideas and passions

A

s a painter, printmaker, filmmaker, musician and writer, John Lackey has spent most of his life highlighting what he’s most passionate about—through art.

Whether he’s painting a national or regional landscape, creating murals showcasing his hometown of Lexington, or designing posters for his favorite band, Lackey uses his creativity to share what he loves with others.

“It’s always really exciting to connect your life to what you’re into through your art,” he says.

For nearly two decades, Lackey has made his living as a painter of slightly surreal landscapes. His paintings have been shown in venues such as Lexington’s Pam Miller Downtown Arts Center, and he recently had a piece on display at the University of Kentucky Art Museum. It was part of an exhibit on view October 2020-February 2021 called This Is America that took a look at the country’s history and the current state of affairs.

“The exhibit was a commentary on America,” Lackey 14 K E NT U C K Y M O NT HLY MARCH 2021

explains. “There was flag waving, but there was also an original portrait of George Washington next to a portrait of George Floyd. And I had a painting in there of a young couple taking a selfie on a distant ridge at the Grand Canyon.”

Stuart Horodner, director of the University of Kentucky Art Museum, curated the exhibit. He was looking for something that might capture a bit of the spirit of the American landscape, and Lackey’s painting fit perfectly.

“John has a kind of approach you might call magic realism. Some of his paintings have kind of a hallucinatory, psychological or spiritual … it’s a realism tempered by a way of trying to capture the energy of what he’s painting, not just the look of what he’s painting.”

Horodner says he is struck by Lackey’s interest in landscape—Kentucky landscape in particular—and the way Lackey portrays it. “For me, one of the great models for this would be when Van Gogh paints trees or something that seems so everyday common,” he says.

“How do you paint the field? How do you paint the

k e n t u c k y m o n t h l y. c o m 15

16 K E NT U C K Y M O NT HLY MARCH 2021

John Lackey with one of his most recent paintings—a mermaid among dead coral. The piece reflects Lackey’s concerns about the environment.

k e n t u c k y m o n t h l y. c o m 17

plowed field? When you see Van Gogh paint or you see Charles Burchfield paint or Marsden Hartley paint, it’s the approach—it’s the abstractions, almost; it’s the rhythms; it’s an animation aspect.”

Like those artists, Lackey has found a way to paint something ordinary and share how it makes him feel.

“I think what John has done is figure out a way to express through this animation—this kind of style and spirit of how he paints—the kind of feelings he has about the landscape,” Horodner says. ggg

Celeste Lewis, director of the Downtown Arts Center, has known Lackey for more than a decade and during that time has seen him evolve on an even deeper level as an artist.

“It’s been a joy to watch because he’s added more layers, depth and emotion, and you ‘see’ John Lackey in his paintings,” she says. “He has such a deep respect for nature and the earth, and he puts that into his work.

You feel it; you feel the energy coming up through the plants and the dirt.”

Lackey attributes much of his unique style as a painter to the many years he spent as a printmaker.

“People say they see this or that in my paintings,” he explains, “but a lot of what they’re seeing is my having been a printmaker: carving wood engravings on linoleum block prints for 20 years before I ever started painting. I studied printmaking, but I’m a self-taught painter.”

Although Lackey didn’t begin painting until later in life, he has always been interested in doodling and drawing. He remembers getting his first set of markers at a young age and drawing his cat, his turtle and The Beatles.

“Then, when I was 14 and I got bored while staying with my grandmother one summer, she told me to draw this lady in a magazine and gave me a pencil and typing paper,” he says. “It was a model with heavy makeup and lots of cheekbone shadow, and that’s when I first started drawing with shading. I realized it was all just math. I could figure it out, and I liked doing it.” ggg

18 K E NT U C K Y M O NT HLY MARCH 2021

After high school, Lackey went to the University of Kentucky to study art. He ended up flunking out—more than once.

“One of the times I flunked out, I just started drifting around,” he says. “The Grateful Dead were touring as Bob Dylan’s back-up band, and I loved Dylan and was getting into The Dead, so I followed them around. I got skinny and hungry enough and saw people making crafty artwork in parking lots. So, I borrowed ink and paper and started making handmade tape covers, then got into drawing and printmaking and screen-printing T-shirts of my original designs.”

He met his wife at a Grateful Dead show and later returned to Lexington, where he went back to the University of Kentucky, this time to study printmaking and graphic design.

In the years that followed, he worked as a printmaker, a graphic artist at a local TV station, and an art director at another, and created countless logos, book covers, T-shirts, posters and more.

“I did posters for the Terrapin Hill Music Festival and all of the Holler Poets Series,” he says. “My favorite band is Wilco, and I’ve been able to do posters for them and hang out backstage and talk to them a little bit. That’s been really exciting.”

When he was 40, Lackey made a decision to focus on painting full time. He dedicated himself to learning the craft and has since become one of Lexington’s most wellrespected painters. He paints with acrylics, using glazes to give his work a shinier, more transparent look.

Lackey opened his Homegrown Press Studio & Gallery to show and sell his paintings but also to allow people to come in and watch an artist at work. It was a popular concept, and Lackey especially enjoyed talking to fellow creatives and young people with an interest in art.

“John is very much a cheerleader for other artists,” Lewis says, “and really wants to support and help them. When he comes and does shows, he always offers encouragement to others, and if someone says anything like, ‘I’m having a hard time with something,’

he’s the first one to sort of squat down and say, ‘OK, let’s talk about it.’ ” ggg

Lackey was forced to close his studio in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Now, he works out of his home in a studio he designed that reflects his many talents and interests.

“I’ve got my big carving/drafting table and my printmaking press, a fold-down table for inking, and I’ve got a bunch of guitars, amps, and a bass,” he says. “I also have sculpture and art by friends, and one wall’s covered with posters from things I’ve been involved with and tons of stuff from writers and activists.”

In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, Lackey closed his studio and began working from his home.

k e n t u c k y m o n t h l y. c o m 19

Multitalented artist: In addition to painting, printmaking and writing poetry, Lackey is a musician.

20 K E NT U C K Y M O NT HLY MARCH 2021

One of his newest paintings features a mermaid and touches on his concerns about the environment.

“It has a mermaid under the ocean amongst dead coral and a bunch of different characters,” Lackey says. “And she’s trying to drag the fishermen down to see what they’ve done to the ocean.”

The environment and other challenges facing the world today have occupied a lot of Lackey’s time in recent months, and he began expressing some of his thoughts through poetry.

“Everybody seems to be having a real hard time figuring out what’s going on, even people who mean

well and are pretty intelligent,” he says.

“So, I’m trying to figure out if there’s anything I can contribute to that with my writing.”

With encouragement from other writers, he’s decided to publish his poetry and use his mermaid painting for the cover. And now, he’s taking that idea a step further with plans to use his book to launch his next creative endeavor—his Homegrown Press publishing company.

Lackey hopes his poetry, along with books he plans to publish by other authors, can help draw

attention to current challenges but also offer hope and inspiration, and bring people together. It’s a continuation of what he’s always done—blend life and art together.

“When all is said and done, I would prefer that everything we publish would have more than a modicum of heart, relevance, originality and creativity,” he says.

“And really cool covers!”Q

k e n t u c k y m o n t h l y. c o m 21

A Kentucky mother-daughter duo heads a children’s clothing line that draws from classic designs

22 K E NT U C K Y M O NT HLY

By Jackie Hollenkamp Bentley

little treasures I

t was a joyful day when little Shannon Latham was presented with one of her grandmother’s precious handmade dresses. Her favorite was a white, floor-length day gown, smocked with pretty pastel geometric designs. She wore the gown usually after bathing and swimming and also was known to have slept in it a few times.

The memory of that little dress led to the creation of Little English, a Lexington-based children’s clothing line sold in hundreds of boutiques and stores across the United States.

“It was 2004, and I was looking for a creative outlet,” said a now-adult Shannon Latham, owner of Little English. “I immediately thought of my grandmother and all of her wonderful heirloom sewing that she had done for our family for so many years. We wore them [day gowns] all the time, and no one had anything like that on the market. [It was] a simple little dress that you

k e n t u c k y m o n t h l y. c o m 23

To locate boutiques carrying Little English and BISBY, along with more information on the company, visit littleenglish.com.

could put on to wear after swimming or at the beach, after bath time and, sometimes, we even slept in them. I thought, ‘Let’s try these and just see if there’s a marketplace for them.’ ” Latham started out with just a few simple designs, smocked in motifs with bunnies or flags—even a small bumblebee. She also added a pocketed, two-piece set to go with the gowns. Sales at her first show in Memphis net her more than $10,000.

“I thought, ‘Well, OK, I’ve got a product. I think this is going to work,’ ” she said.

In addition to its outlet store at the company’s Lexington headquarters, Little English clothing and accessories can be found in more than 250 stores across the United States, including 24 K E NT U C K Y M O NT HLY MARCH 2021

retailers such as Neiman Marcus, Bergdorf Goodman, Maisonette and Motherly.

“It wasn’t that I was reinventing the wheel,” Latham said. “I was doing what other companies did with smocking, offering the same type of body styles, but it may have been the choice of the palette of colors that I was using [that appealed to customers]. I also had a good following of friends from Memphis and the South who liked the way I dressed my children, and I think that all played into it.”

The multimillion-dollar company has established a reputation for its devotion to strong customer service, treating its clients with plenty of respect and understanding.

Jeanne Clark, owner of Kidstop Children’s Boutique in Owensboro, described Little English as one of the shop’s top three best-selling clothing lines—that’s out of more than 50 brands sold in the business.

“They are very supportive of their boutiques and retailers,” Clark said of the company. “It does well for us; it definitely does. It’s just classic beautiful pieces [of children’s clothing].”

Of course, that’s exactly what Latham likes to hear.“We give them not just clothing but value and quality in being our customers, whether it’s a boutique customer or an end consumer,” she said.

Watching her mother build a successful business was nothing short of inspiring for Dunn Latham, now Little English’s chief operating

officer, who works side by side with Shannon.

“I loved watching my mom present her collections and making personal connections with the boutique owners who soon felt like dear friends,” the younger Latham said. “It was absolutely incredible to watch a product go from a sketch to a sample to market … I think that’s when I caught the entrepreneur bug.”

After graduating with degrees in opera and art history, Dunn joined her mother in the business. It was a move that added even more value to the company, Shannon said.

“She’s as tough and tenacious as I am in wanting to build a beautiful company and give our clients and customers the best product we can,” Shannon said. “It’s like having two of me but with a more modern approach to so many things. Her eyes are a bit more modern than mine, but she understands the classic principles of where my design begins.”

Dunn took that modern approach and expanded the business to include a larger online presence. “I grew our Instagram and Facebook followings significantly through better use of hashtags, engaging content and giveaway contests,” she said.

Dunn also began working with the brick-and-mortar boutique customers to help them with their online presence. That shift to include online sales proved to be a lifesaver in 2020, when COVID-19 shuttered most businesses for a time.

“A lot of our stores have built

In addition to its Lexington outlet store, Little English clothing and accessories can be found in more than 250 stores in the U.S.

The clothing company has grown from four employees, aside from the Lathams, just three years ago, to 15 employees at its headquarters.

k e n t u c k y m o n t h l y. c o m 25

“Her eyes are a bit more modern than mine, but she understands the classic principles of where my design begins.” — Shannon Latham about her daughter, Dunn

Shannon Latham

Dunn Latham

those two sales features [in-person and online] into their repertoire,” Shannon said. “Not only do they have their brick and mortar, but they have a working website, and they have a growing, consistent Instagram platform, all of which gave them the ability to reach out during this pandemic, even though their brickand-mortar stores may have been closed. All of that contributes to our growth as a brand.”

That online growth resulted in the need for a bigger workforce.

Just three years ago, only four people were needed to help Shannon and Dunn keep up with sales and fulfillment. There are now 15 employees at their headquarters, and, like their clients and customers, those employees are 26 K E NT U C K Y M O NT HLY MARCH 2021

now part of a new family.

“I tell my employees every week how thankful I am for them because they are the reason why Little English continues to grow,” Shannon said. “We have the right people. They truly care about raising us up to the next level.”

The next level for the motherand-daughter team included launching BISBY in August 2020.

Dunn calls it their “next-step brand” aimed at outfitting older girls. It goes beyond the traditional color palettes and motifs that have made Little English a staple in many young wardrobes.

“BISBY dives deeper into fashion-forward hues, complex

textile patterns, and trendy silhouettes,” Dunn said. “It was also very important to us that we design with layering in mind, so that girls could feel confident in picking out their clothes and finding their own sense of style.”

With both the Little English and BISBY brands outfitting thousands of children from newborns to preteens, the Lathams may be seeing unprecedented growth, but neither Shannon nor Dunn takes all the credit. They are rooted in the belief that it’s all about the customer.

“It’s not just our product that makes our company,” Shannon said.

“It is the level of service that we insist upon and actually are able to deliver upon smoothly. We have just built an incredible operation.” Q

SUMMER WITH

Residential and nonresidential camps for high-ability, high-interest youth SCATS (June 6-18, 2021) Students completing grades 6-8

VAMPY (June 20 – July 10, 2021) Students completing grades 7-10

Camp Innovate (July 12-16, 2021) Camp Explore (July 5-9, 2021) Students completing grades 3-5 Students completing grades 1-3

Applications available now at wku.edu/gifted Phone: 270-745-6323 Email: gifted@wku.edu

k e n t u c k y m o n t h l y. c o m 27

B

H I S T O R I C P R E S E R VA T I O N I S T S R E S T O R E A G R A N D E D A M E T O H E R F O R M E R G L O R Y

w Following major renovations in 2019, the home at 304 North Sixth Street in Paducah has been completely restored.

28 K E NT U C K Y M O NT HLY MARCH 2021

Photos courtesy of Belle Louise Historic Guest House

Belle of Paducah

T

BY DEBORAH KOHL KREMER

ry to imagine Paducah in 1879. Travel usually involved a horse and buggy; homes were lit with candles; meals were cooked over a fire or on a cast-iron stove. Today, a walk down North Sixth Street in the Lower Town District can give viewers a glimpse of what the home at number 304 looked like when it was built by Lt. Col. Daniel Fraser that year. Fraser, his wife Sallie Abigail, and their eight children lived there until 1895.

The home, now known as the Belle Louise Historic Guest House, has been completely renovated and restored. The home’s appearance is reminiscent of what it likely looked like in its earliest days, but it’s now loaded with plenty of amenities for comfort and convenience.

Luckily for the home and its neighbors, it was purchased by Cary and Melinda Winchester, who started renovations in March 2019. Melinda has a background in historic preservation, which complemented Cary’s experience in construction. The couple possessed the skills needed to take on a renovation of this size.

“The project kind of fell in our lap,” Melinda said. “[The house] was severely neglected, and we figured it was about a year away from falling in on itself. So, we were thrilled that we could save it.” ggg

The glorious Italianate property served as a single-family home until 1919, when it was turned into a funeral home. Although many services took place at the funeral home over the years, its claim to fame is that, following his passing in 1956, Vice President Alben Barkley’s visitation was held there.

President Harry S Truman, under whom Barkley served, came through to pay his respects.

k e n t u c k y m o n t h l y. c o m 29

With a perfect balance of the ambiance of yesteryear and the conveniences of today, the Belle Louise Historic Guest House boasts five elegant guest rooms filled with period antiques and discretely placed modern amenities.

30 K E NT U C K Y M O NT HLY MARCH 2021

By 1985, the mansion had been sold and converted back into a home. Owners Howard and Louise Randle lived there for the next 30 years. According to Mary Hammond, executive director of Paducah Travel, the Randles loved their home and added on to it several times.

“They were involved in Civil War re-enactments and had a huge collection of memorabilia and antiques,” Hammond said. “The house was like a museum.”

In a nod to the Randles, the Winchesters named their new bed and breakfast after Louise, thought to be a true Southern belle. ggg

It took a massive amount of work to transform the house, which had suffered through neglect in the years after the Randles died. The first time the Winchesters toured it, they witnessed a huge problem.

“Water was pouring into the second floor, like a waterfall,” Melinda said. “All of the gutters and downspouts had been taken off, probably because—I suspect—they were copper, and they were sold.”

The water entering the house was not the only problem.

The Winchesters found that water that had flooded the house in the past also contributed to its sad state.

“This house went through the 1937 flood, and it was

w

In the room pictured above, owners Cary and Melinda Winchester beautifully restored the fireplace and mantel and replaced the wallpaper with that of a similar design.

probably 6 to 8 feet underwater. There was so much old water damage. So, we found out we had to do a lot of stabilization,” Melinda said.

Melinda explained that, as they dug in, they uncovered a dangerous problem that had been hidden from view. The home has a large tower rising from its roof, and the walls supporting the tower are in the attic. The couple was in the midst of taking down water-damaged ceilings on the second floor when they uncovered a terrifying sight.

“As we were taking down those last pieces of Sheetrock and drywall in the hall, my crowbar went right through this huge support beam,” Melinda said. “I didn’t know what had happened, but my husband was right behind me, and he knew right away. He told me to get down slowly.”

That entire support beam holding up the brick tower was rotted through from all the years of water coming in.

It was hidden under the ceiling, and no one would have ever known. k e n t u c k y m o n t h l y. c o m 31

“We anticipate that the house had about a year left before that big tower would have fallen all the way through the house,” Melinda said.

After bringing in a structural engineer, a new beam was built, and a crew of construction workers slowly and carefully removed the old beam and then installed the new one.

“Then, we got the brick put back up, and we know that she’s stronger than ever now,” Melinda said.

Was she intimidated as she anticipated all the work the house needed? “Oh, gosh, no,” she said with a laugh. “The normal person would have walked through the house and 32 K E NT U C K Y M O NT HLY MARCH 2021

thought, ‘Holy cow!’ and run out as fast as they could. But the first minute I walked in, the water was pouring in and the house was in horrible condition, and I could visualize it. So I just thought how much I love this house.”

This transformation was not new to the Winchesters.

With a degree in historic preservation, Melinda has been helping others renovate property for more than 20 years.

“I know how to help people get their property on the National Historic Register and help cities and communities do full districts. Tax credits are a big part of being able to make a project like this work,” she said. “Kentucky has a great state historic tax credit, and there is also a federal

Plan your trip W W W. B E L L E L O U I S E PA D U C A H . C O M

historic tax credit that can be used if you are income producing. That is the way you can financially make these projects work.” ggg

For years, the people of Paducah sadly watched as the former grande dame of a house declined. Hammond was thrilled to hear that the Winchesters had purchased it.

“I can think of no one better to take this on,” Hammond said. “Preservation is in Melinda’s blood.

Everyone knew she would do it right.”

After more than a year of construction, the transformation was complete, and the Belle Louise Historic Guest House opened its doors in August 2020.

With five elegant guest rooms filled with period antiques and discretely placed modern amenities, the Winchesters worked hard to create the perfect balance of the ambiance of yesteryear and the conveniences of today.

Melinda had clawfoot tubs reinstalled in each bathroom, because that is what originally would have been in the house. Alongside the beautiful tubs are stateof-the-art modern walk-in showers. The former owners, the Randles, had acquired chandeliers from Paducah’s

historic Katterjohn building. The chandeliers reportedly were purchased in 1927 from the governor of Arkansas.

Melinda told the story of how the Randles hired a flatbed truck, complete with a metal frame and hook where each chandelier was hung, and transported the delicate light fixtures slowly down Main Street to be installed in their new home, where they can still be seen today.

“I wish I had a picture of that,” she said.

Along with the contemporary amenities of wi-fi, flatscreen TVs and remote-access locks on the front door and for each sleeping room, guests are treated to a delicious breakfast each morning.

Visitor favorites include eggs Benedict with hollandaise sauce and blueberry streusel coffee cake with blueberry compote.

“When I serve this coffee cake, people will literally scrape their whole plate,” Melinda said. “If they could pick up their plate and lick it without looking silly, they probably would.”

Melinda confided that she is extremely picky about every detail of service, ensuring the guests have the best experience possible. “Cary and I work really hard to try to make everyone’s stay here special,” she said. “It is just really all about our guests.” Q k e n t u c k y m o n t h l y. c o m 33

A Second Chance

34 K E NT U C K Y M O NT HLY MARCH 2 0 2 1

By Roger Auge II

A timely test gave Glen Thaxton a new lease on life and love

J

im Thaxton, a renowned canoeist from Pendleton County, carries enough love in his heart to float a fleet.

One event in his long life could have ruined him and his entire family. Instead, his internal love for people and for his family and his legion of friends strengthened.

Jim and his wife, Ann, have four children. The older ones are Lori Ann, 52, and James Thomas, 49. Then Glen, 39, and Sara Ann, 37. All have deep outdoor interests; three hold college degrees; and there are nine grandchildren.

“Three days after Glen’s 35th birthday in September 2016, he drove a school bus for Pendleton County and worked the canoe rental on the weekends,” Jim said in the hushed tone you hear from people about to experience a whirlwind disaster.

“On that Monday, Glen felt kind of congested—chest colds were going around—so he made a quick trip to Urgent Care in Highland Heights to get some medication,” Jim said.

Thaxton’s Canoe Livery and Paddlers’ Inn in Butler on the Licking River has been under Glen’s watchful eye for 15 years, five of the years following Jim’s retirement.

Jim manages a competitive dragon boat racing team April through October. Jim and his wife, Ann, also enjoy traveling and camping. In the winter, Jim and Ann paddle and camp out.

In September 2016, though, no ideas were on camping.

“One of the nurses ordered an EKG. Later, feeling confident the congestion had passed, Glen stopped for a dozen White Castles on the way home. Then, he headed back to drive the bus. Before he hit the Pendleton County line, the nurse called,” Jim paused, identifying the instant when the storm hit.

A cardiologist at St. Elizabeth Ft. Thomas Hospital explained that Glen’s heart was pumping only 10 percent of the blood required to keep a body alive.

No wonder Glen felt congested.

No wonder he felt tired.

The wonder was that the younger Thaxton drove himself to the hospital and then home.

Late that September afternoon, Glen was helicoptered to the University of Kentucky Gill Heart & Vascular Institute in Lexington. Jim and Ann drove a tense 80 miles to the medical center.

The cardiac team reported that Glen would be unlikely to live to December without a new heart.

Tension tightened in Jim Thaxton’s muscular back. Ann shivered and cried.

What could they do? Hearing that their son may face only 45 days—1,080 hours—to live caused dreadful thoughts to race through their minds. Was Glen in pain?

How would they care for Glen’s two children? What about the canoe livery’s future? Or Glen’s job as a school bus driver? Jim’s duties as coordinator of the Northern Kentucky Heroin Impact Response Task Force? All of Ann’s support activities?

How could they care for Glen? What would they do if he died?

They thought and prayed. No quick answers came.

Time passed. Glen lay in the hospital.

Incredibly, Glen survived to receive a heart transplant on the partly cloudy day of June 29, 2017. A 22-year-old man who had died of a heroin overdose was the donor of the undamaged muscle. ggg

“Every day is a blessing,” said Glen, who has managed the family’s canoe livery and inn with his new heart since then. The business rests on a gentle bend in the north-flowing Licking River, not far from Falmouth.

Often, the air is fresh, the sky bright blue.

Glen’s children—Marie Ashbrook Thaxton, 12, and k e n t u c k y m o n t h l y. c o m 35

Photos courtesy of the Thaxton family

Life Along the Licking River The twisting, free-flowing Licking River stretches 173 miles, from Cave Run Lake north to the Ohio River. For the Thaxton family, the river is a lifeline as they focus on recreation and conservation. For others, the Licking River is a source of water or a tourist destination. For some, unfortunately, the river is a dump.

One developing tourist plan in the talking stages calls for the creation of a Licking River blue water trail adjacent to Harrison, Bourbon, Pendleton, Kenton and Campbell counties.

Another ongoing program focuses on the preservation of freshwater mussels, which cleanse the muddy water that passes through them. Dr. Monte McGregor, a naturalist with the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources, has identified at least six nearly extinct mussels in the river. He is working to propagate several. Three of them are fanshell, riffleshell and rayed bean, which have been reintroduced to the river.

Care of the river and the preservation of “thousands of animals that live there” meet some of many criteria for a National Wild and Scenic River status, McGregor said.

The Sierra Club hosts a trash cleanup annually, which nets plastic bags, tires and a host of other debris.

36 K E NT U C K Y M O NT HLY MARCH 2 0 2 1

Upper left, Jim and Ann Thaxton; above, the Thaxtons are a canoeing family; left, Glen Thaxton’s wedding to Sara Remley.

Rohan Rorer Thaxton, 7—were present when he married Sara Remley on Nov. 21, 2020, just before Thanksgiving. Sara brought her two daughters, Caydence, 15, and Jaz, 11, to the beautiful river setting.

Glen’s voice is calm, clear, deep and controlled. He is trim like his father, nice-looking like his mother.

“There is a healing property Mother Nature brings to the body and soul,” he said. “I get along very well with my new heart.”

Glen exercises about 10,000 steps every day, except when the weather is good. Then he paddles. Through exercise and meditation, he regulates his heartbeat from around 75 beats per minute to nearly 127. ggg

Love overflows in the Thaxton family stories.

Jim Thaxton met Ann Moore, a registered nurse, at old St. Elizabeth Hospital in Covington one day in the 1950s while visiting his mother there.

Neither took much interest. About a week later, he saw her “skipping across the road in her civvies [civilian clothes] toward an apartment she shared with other nurses. I had an immediate change of mind.” They have been together ever since that sunny October day in 1957.

Decades later, Glen and Sara crossed paths when she arranged a 6-mile paddle in which Glen operated the shuttle van. He was enamored by her. He decided he would do anything for Sara, and “I totally friend-zoned her for the next year and a half,” he recalled. She even was hired to work the canoe livery.

“But here is the best part: A heart nurse came to my house every week planting the seed that I was going to get a new heart so I could fall in love

again,” Glen explained about the months he spent waiting for his new heart.

After Glen’s first marriage ended, he questioned whether love would come his way again. In 2014 and ’15, many days were dark and gloomy.

He was alone. But the world brightened when Glen’s new heart came in June 2017.

“Now, almost four years later, and look what love blossomed!”

Glen said. ggg

With the canoe livery in good hands, Jim and Ann now use Jim’s retirement time to train with the Kentucky Thorough-Breasts, a breast cancer survivor dragon boat racing team. The Thorough-Breasts’ boats are 12- to 15-passenger canoes with a large carved dragon mounted on the bow.

The Thaxtons’ dragon boats are flagships for Paddlefest, the large Ohio River paddle event usually held in early August. More than 2,000 paddlers pull about nine miles downriver. Paddlefest founder Brewster Rhoads said the event raises money for Adventure Crew, which offers outdoor experiences to children in the greater Cincinnati area. ggg

Jim earned a masters degree in education from Northern Kentucky University. During his career, he directed the Three Rivers District Health Department and, between 1998-2009, developed a canoeing, kayaking and backpacking course for NKU. Ann was a nurse and parttime teacher and managed the canoe rental when Jim was away as executive director of the Professional Paddlesports Association. He held that position until 2005.

All the while, the Thaxtons operated the business and raised four children next to the Licking River.

For the Thaxton family, with more than 40 years on the Licking, the focus is on conservation and recreation—and togetherness. The family joyously celebrates Christmas, Easter and Halloween. Plus on June 29 each year, a special celebration takes place in honor of the implantation of Glen’s new heart. Q

k e n t u c k y m o n t h l y. c o m 37

38 K E NT U C K Y M O NT HLY MARCH 2021

kentuckytourism.com • 1-800-225-TRIP

kentuckytourism.com • 1-800-225-TRIP

Tourism Commission

Cumberland County, KY

LIFE ON THE AIR For radio veterans Don Neagle and Joel Utley, broadcasting is a perfect fit

By Gary P. West

W

hen it comes to radio, there are two Kentucky broadcasters who cannot be accused of jumping from one job to another. Don Neagle in Russellville and Joel Utley in Owensboro found their niche more than 60 years ago and, for the love and enjoyment of it, haven’t found anything they would rather do.

Neagle is as much of a legend in Russellville as the James-Younger Gang bank robbery back in 1865. The biggest difference is the gang is long gone, and Neagle is still going strong. When a man is described as an institution, it usually means he has been around for a long time. Since 1958, Neagle has kept Logan County radio listeners not only informed on local, national and world issues, but also entertained.

Professionally, radio has been pretty much all Neagle has known. As a small child, he thought about being an announcer and played make-believe, talking into a headset from an old radio in his Greensburg home.

“I worked in a local grocery store in Greensburg,” he recalled. “But that really didn’t work out. So when I was 16, I got a job with WLCK-AM.” The station actually was out of Campbellsville with a Greensburg studio, and the job Neagle had was more in the “gofer” category than as an on-air personality.

Nevertheless, he decided to shorten his name from Donald to Don. He thought that would help.

“I thought it was a requirement to have a short name if you worked in radio,” he said with a chuckle. “It seemed like everybody else did.”

Neagle’s loyalty as an unpaid employee eventually earned him an opportunity to read the news on the air, 41 K E NT U C K Y M O NT HLY MARCH 2021

and he never looked back. Soon, he was getting paid, and, following high school graduation, he worked for a short time in Harrodsburg at WHBN. “When I went there, I got a $5-a-week raise,” he said.

“I was really raking it in.”

In the fall of 1956, Neagle moved over to WKAY in Glasgow, working for Clovis Saddler. “I sold advertising, also,” he recalled. “That’s what radio people did then. If you were on the air, there was a good chance you sold advertising.”

Neagle decided in the fall of 1957 that, if he was going to make something of himself, he needed to go to college.

He enrolled at Western State Teachers College in Bowling Green, majoring in English. While a student there, he came down with a serious case of diphtheria that caused him to drop out of school.

While in Bowling Green, he had worked part time at WKCT, making contact with Hank Brosche, who tipped Neagle off to a possible radio job opening in Russellville.

Since Neagle’s arrival in 1958, neither Neagle nor Russellville has been the same. ggg

WRUS general manager and owner Woodrow “Winky” Sosh had been involved with the Russellville station since 1955. The locally-owned and -operated station is the county’s only radio outlet, and there, Neagle was able to project his forward-thinking personality that resonated with his listeners.

Neagle, in partnership with Bill McGinnis and McGinnis’ son Chris, purchased WRUS in 2002. When

“If it hadn’t been for radio, I’d have starved to death. I had absolutely no marketable skills whatsoever.” — Don Neagle

A young Joel Utley interviews legendary University of Kentucky basketball coach Adolph Rupp.

42 K E NT U C K Y M O NT HLY MARCH 2021

hearing Neagle talk about the station, one gets the impression that he is more of a caretaker than an owner.

“I think the town feels like the station is theirs,” he said. “That’s OK with me, because if it weren’t for our listeners, where would we be?”

Neagle’s day begins at 2:45 a.m. each weekday. “I check in on the computer at home and see what’s out there,” he said. “And I get in the station about 4:30 a.m. to get prepared to go on the air at 6.”

Neagle can talk about any subject, including sports, with a certain degree of knowledge. “I was never really a sports guy,” he admitted. “Even though I helped out with a few high school games along the way, they weren’t really my thing. A number of years ago, I did the commercials for Lon Sash when he was doing play-byplay at the Western games.”

In 1984, Neagle decided to get his listeners more involved by having them on the air, starting an hour-long program each morning called “Feedback.” Often, he invites an in-studio guest to share the microphone and interact with listeners who call in.

William Fuqua, a former Logan Circuit Court and Kentucky Supreme Court judge, appears as guest host on many of the “Feedback” shows. Judge Fuqua is a Russellville native, and his vast knowledge of local history fits nicely with Neagle’s ability to talk about almost any subject.

Neagle’s path crossed with another Logan County legend, Al Smith, the well-known journalist who furthered his reputation as an on-air personality for years with KET. “Al arrived in Russellville in the spring of 1958 with the newspaper, and I came here in the fall

of that year,” Neagle recalled. “We became good friends, often covering for each other even though we were perceived as competitors.”

Small stations such as WRUS and a handful of others across Kentucky are rapidly becoming relics. The steamrolling efforts by larger corporate-owned stations are all about the bottom line, neglecting to localize their newscasts or opinions on community issues.

Over the years, Neagle’s efforts have been recognized.

In 2005, he received the highest honor by the Kentucky Broadcasters Association, the Kentucky Mic Award, and then in 2006, he was selected to the Kentucky Journalism Hall of Fame.

Politically, Neagle admits to “voting all over the place,” and “being around any of the extremists makes me nervous.”

Having worked in radio in one capacity or another for more than 60 years, Neagle found his professional home.

“If it hadn’t been for radio, I’d have starved to death,” he said. “I had absolutely no marketable skills whatsoever.” ggg

Joel Utley never considered joining his dad in the furniture business in Madisonville. “I never wanted to do anything else than be a radio broadcaster,” he said in somewhat of an understatement.

His childhood radio studio consisted of a cardboard microphone his dad had cut out for him, a shoebox with dials that Joel had drawn with crayons, and cold-weather earmuffs for his headphones. “I used it to broadcast to fantasy listeners and describe what was happening on a baseball board game I had as a child,” he recalled. k e n t u c k y m o n t h l y. c o m 43

Being a St. Louis Cardinals baseball fan as long as he In December 1961, Utley called his first game at the could remember, he listened to legendary announcers Owensboro Sportscenter. A couple of years earlier, T.L. Harry Carey and Jack Buck, hoping that someday … just Plain had replaced Bullet Wilson as the head coach. “I maybe. just missed King Kelly Coleman by a year,” Utley said.

“I did a few baseball games early on, and I found out “But I sure did hear the stories and then some. I did meet quickly there is a lot of downtime—time to fill,” Utley Kelly later on and found him fascinating and delightful.” said. “I did some football, too, and it’s easier to keep up Roy Pickerill, the recently retired sports information with 10 guys on a court than 22 on a field. Basketball is director at Kentucky Wesleyan, spent 44 years working my game.” with Utley and marvels at how his friend maintained the Graduating from high school in 1959, Utley was more highest level of his profession. “He’s old school, and or less a sports that’s what his junkie. Knowing all listeners like about about area stars like him,” Pickerill said.

Frank Ramsey and “When he gives the Tom Rodgers from starting lineup of the Madisonville, Harry visiting teams, he Todd from will often spell out Earlington, and the player’s last Owensboro legends name. That’s part of Cliff Hagan, Bobby what makes him the Watson and Bobby legend he is.”

Rascoe, Utley was To further add to ready to head out in the old-school image, search of his career.

Utley has never used After studying at a color analyst in all Murray State his years of University for a while, broadcasting. he transferred to the In addition to University of Plain, Utley has Kentucky, where he worked closely with was able to pick up a coaches Guy Strong, job here and there Bob Daniels, Wayne with a radio station.

Chapman, Mike Soon after, a door Pollio, Bob Jones and opened in Owensboro Ray Harper. It was that would change his Daniels who life forever. Even encouraged Utley to though it meant go back to college and Above, Don Neagle on the job; opposite page, Kentucky Wesleyan’s 2020-2021 dropping out of get his degree in 1974. season marked Joel Utley’s 60th year of play-by-play announcing for the Panthers. college, Utley felt it Utley’s tenure as a was part of the dream play-by-play he was chasing. announcer at one school is among the lengthiest in the “WVJS offered, and I accepted,” he said. “As a new nation. “There might be a fellow that was at Kansas employee, I did it all—news director, DJ, high school University that had 60 seasons a few years ago,” Pickerill football and basketball, and even a few college games.” said. Yes, Max Falkenstein’s career at KU spanned 1,750 Utley’s memories would flash back to those makegames from 1946-2006. believe games. His fascination with it all never went Utley has the distinction as the only broadcaster in the away. To him, his childhood studio had not been a toy nation to call 12 NCAA championships, including eight but a learning process preparing him for something he NCAA Division II titles. would do for the rest of his life. Utley never lost sight of If it’s a Kentucky Hall of Fame that deals with sports the proverbial ball. or broadcasting, Utley is a member of it. One of the most It helped that the Utley family was sports minded, prestigious is the Kentucky Sports Hall of Fame adding to the exposure Joel had to pursue his dream. headquartered in Louisville. In 2016, Utley was inducted Soon after getting to Owensboro, he had to pinch himself into this elite membership to further prove the when he was approached about becoming the play-byaccomplishments of a kid who spent a time in his play man for the Kentucky Wesleyan Panthers. childhood talking to himself.

More than 1,600 games later, the 2020-21 season Utley never set out to establish any records. He wasn’t marked Utley’s 60th year of describing what his beloved sure where the broadcasting job would go, and certainly Panthers were doing on the hardwood. not where it would end. “I’m 81, and I do think about calling it quits. I’ve been blessed. But to be honest, I’m ggg not as good as I think I am,” he said with a laugh. Q 44 K E NT U C K Y M O NT HLY MARCH 2021

k e n t u c k y m o n t h l y. c o m 45

Together.

We Fight Heart Disease.

Heart & Vascular Institute

Dermot Halpin, MD, FACS Cardiothoracic Surgeon

Call for a consultation today.

(606) 218-2202 | pikevillehospital.org

Board Certified: American Board of Surgery, American Board of Thoracic Surgery

46 K E NT U C K Y M O NT HLY MARCH 2021

A section for Kentuckians everywhere … inside Kentucky Monthly.

K ENTUCKY XPLORER E All About Kentucky

Volume 36, Number 2 – March 2021

Photo Credit: NKyViews.com

Wilber Mapother: The Boy President -- page 48 Apples on a Mountaintop Ridge -- page 52 Lindbergh’s Visit to Kentucky -- page 54

“I Remember” By Our Readers

and More!

Featuring Things Old & New About Kentucky

48

THE KENTUCKY EXPLORER

The Kentucky Explorer a magazine published for Kentuckians everywhere Charles Hayes, Jr. g Founder Stephen M. Vest g Publisher Deborah Kohl Kremer g Editor Rebecca Redding g Typographist One Year Subscription to Kentucky Monthly: $20

As I take the helm as editor of Kentucky Explorer magazine, I know I have big shoes to fill. It is obvious that publisher Charles Hayes, along with his wife, Donna Jean, editor Elesha, and manager Darlene, put their hearts and souls into bringing readers the an outstanding publication each month. Even though we are scaling down in the number of pages, our commitment is just as strong.

My lifelong love of history is outmatched only by my love of our Bluegrass State. I love to travel through the hills, gaze at the Thoroughbreds in the pastures, visit the tiny communities, and hit the town in our bigger cities. While I’m doing that in today’s world, in the back of my mind, I’m always trying to picture what it looked like long ago. I’m fascinated with the stories of how towns were laid out, how families made ends meet in coal mining towns, and how farmers tended their crops, whether what they raised grew out of the ground or walked around on four legs.

Old stories not only tell readers how it was in the past but also explain how things came to be the way they are today.

In this quest to meet the needs of our readers and, at the same time, quench my never-ending curiosity, I can’t do it without you. Please continue to send in your stories, photos, articles, recipes and memories. The stories can be short or long, but please limit the lengthier ones to 1,600 words, if possible. Email me at deb@kentuckymonthly.com or mail items to my attention at Kentucky Monthly, PO Box 559, Frankfort, KY 40602-0559.

— Deborah Kohl Kremer

In memory of Donna Jean Hayes, 1948-2019 As of 2021, Kentucky Explorer will appear inside every issue of Kentucky Monthly magazine. Subscriptions can be purchased online at shopkentuckymonthly.com, or buy calling 1.888.329.0053.

FOUNDED 1986, ISSUE 335, VOLUME 36, NO. 2

Wible L. Mapother: “The Boy President” of the Louisville and Nashville Railroad

By Bryan Bush

Wible L. Mapother was born in Louisville, on Sept.

28, 1872. His parents were Dillon H. Mapother and Mary Cruise Mapother. He attended public and private schools in Louisville and completed a commercial course at St. Mary’s College. When he had finished his education at the age of 14, he knew that he wanted to be in the railroad business.

Wible Mapother is the On Oct. 17, 1888, 16-year-old great-uncle of actors Mapother began his career in the Tom Cruise and railroad industry as a file clerk William Mapother. and errand boy for the Louisville and Nashville Railroad. He applied himself and came up with a new filing system, which provided more accurate indexing and cross indexing and reference cards, group classifications, and other ideas that made data quickly accessible. The president of the company heard about Mapother’s new filing system, and on Aug. 4, 1889, the company transferred him to the executive department, which was controlled by Louisville and Nashville Vice President Milton H. Smith. Smith took an interest in Mapother, and, whenever possible, he would show Mapother the problems inherent in the railroading business.

Both J.T Harahan, who was secretary of the L&N at the time, and Eckstein Norton, who was president, did everything in their power to help Mapother learn about the company. Mapother was not like other youths who may have been caught up in athletics. Instead, he spent his time figuring out railroad questions, such as how much coal would be needed to pull a train of 72 freight cars through the Cumberland Mountains. In 1902, Mapother was named chief clerk.

In 1903, Smith became president of the L&N and named Mapother assistant to the president. Mapother became first vice president in early 1905—making him at age 32 the youngest vice president in the country at the time. By 1914, he was named a director of the railroad.

When a local newspaper asked him if he had any advice for other aspiring youth, he said, “There is no shortcut or

Set on March 6, 2015, the record for coldest temperature in March in Kentucky was -15 degrees.

MARCH 2021

fixed formula for success. Every man is the architect of his own life. He must decide what he will build and how he will do it. The thing that applies to all fields, however, is the fact that he must plan well and build substantially if he would produce a structure worthwhile.

That means he must avoid trying to get by on shoddy work of any kind, whether it be in the professional or the mechanical world. In any job, mental confusion is a dangerous thing. A boy or man should make himself master of the smallest detail of his job so that his work will stand out as good and clean, and he should be as interested and enthusiastic about it as he would be in a ballgame.”

Mapother held the position as vice president until 1918, when he was appointed federal manager of the L&N and the Louisville, Henderson and St. Louis Railroads; Birmingham and Northwestern Railroad; Atlanta and West Point Railroad; Western Railroad of Alabama; and certain other terminal properties by William G. McAdoo, secretary of the treasury and director general of the railroads.

When the government abolished the United States Railway Administration, which controlled all systems throughout the country in World War I, Mapother lost his position as federal manager. He went back to working as the vice president of the L&N. On Feb. 22, 1921, Milton Smith died, and the directors of the L&N, who met in New York, had no alternative but to elect Mapother president of the L&N. On March 17, 1921, Mapother became president of the L&N Railroad. He was only 49, which made him one of the youngest chief rail executives in the country. He presided over a railroad that had extensions to 13 states and employed 50,000 people. During his 30 years working for the L&N, Mapother has seen the railroad operating revenues rise from $16,360,241 in 1888 to $76,907,387. The rolling stock rose from 11,589 cars of all kinds in 1888 to 55,344 cars in 1917. There were 413 locomotives in 1888, which increased to 1,102.

In 1888, the L&N averaged net earnings per mile of $8,071, and by 1918, the earnings had increased to $15,161.

In 1888, the railroad carried 180,224,634 passengers, and by 1918, that figure had risen to 743,698,632. When Mapother became president, he decided to spend $33 million for new equipment and improvements of the railroad’s service. One third of the amount—$11 million—would be spent in Harlan County, where there was a coal mine in nearly every mountainside. Mapother planned to spend $6,689,329 for new locomotives and cars that could carry coal from the mountains to Louisville and lay new tracks in Harlan. He would spend $20,750,000 on new locomotives, cars and depots.

While president of the railroad, Mapother was against unions, and, during the strike of the shop crafts in 1922, he dealt with the situation by stating: “Briefly, seniority is nothing more or less than priority or preference of employment based upon the length of service.”

49

Their failure to return to work at a specified time had caused the strikers to forfeit their seniority. Mapother praised the South, and his railroad shared in the development of the agricultural, mineral and forestry resources of Kentucky and the South. He was director of the American Railway Association and a member of the executive committee of the Association of Railway Executives. He also was a member of the Pendennis Club.

Mapother had three brothers: Dillon Mapother, who lived in France and was executive secretary of the Catholic Knights of America; Thomas Mapother; and Harry Mapother, who was president of the DeSoto Paint Manufacturing Company.

Wilbe Mapother married Amelia Porter of Anchorage, Kentucky, and they had one daughter, Helen Mapother, who married Lt. Leonard Strater.

On Jan. 18, 1926, Mapother left the United States for a vacation with his wife and Whiteford R. Cole, who was the president of the Nashville, Chattanooga and St. Louis Railroad, along with Cole’s wife. They sailed from New Orleans on the United Fruit Company steamer Abangarez as guests of the fruit company for a tour of the Panama Canal zone.

Mapother was walking on a street on Feb. 4, 1926, in Panama City, when he died suddenly of a massive heart attack. At the time of his death, the L&N Railroad employed 60,000 people and controlled 55,000 miles of track in 13 states.

On Feb. 13, 1926, a funeral train of six cars brought the body of Mapother to Louisville, and the casket, which was draped in lilies, was taken from the train to his home on 1429 South Third Street. Mapother’s wife and his daughter left the train at Fourth Street for their home.

Hundreds of people attended Mapother’s Feb. 15 burial at Louisville’s Cave Hill Cemetery. He is buried in Section 11, Lot 215. His estate was valued at more than $260,000, or $3,580,795 in today’s currency.

Bryan Bush bryan_bush16@yahoo.com Park Manager for the Perryville Battlefield State Historic Site

Hope changes everything, doesn't it? Diane Sawyer

4 THE 50 THEKENTUCKY KENTUCKYEXPLORER EXPLORER

Send memories to Deborah Kohl Kremer at deb@kentuckymonthly.com or mail to Deb Kremer, Kentucky Monthly, PO Box 559, Frankfort, KY 40602.

“I Remember” Send your memory in today!

By Our Readers

Mallory Springs Barn Horse Painting

By Jerry Abner

It was the summer of 1954, and school was out. My 10-year-old brother John went to stay the summer with our grandparents, Johnnie and Lucy Abner. Pappy and Mammy were in their 60s at this time.

We grandkids were always welcomed and enjoyed our visits.

Our grandparents had a small farm at Mallory Springs, near Berea.

Their livestock consisted of three cows, a mule, two hogs and several chickens. John’s farm experiences were fairly limited, but he was a worker. His chores were to carry water from the spring up to the house, take the cows up to the milk gap in the morning, and bring the cows in for the milking at night. He also was to pick up the mail at the main road, about a half-mile down from the house. On one trip to the mailbox, he nearly stepped on a copperhead in the road. I’m sure it took a while for the dust to settle on that old dirt road.

Pappy told John to put hay out for the animals in the barn. Hay was in the loft, but John had never taken care of livestock. Not wanting to disappoint Pappy, he opened all the stall gates and threw down some hay. Having seen straw used in the stalls for bedding, he proceeded to scatter hay in all the stalls and through the middle aisle of the barn.

Upon seeing what John had done, Pappy said, “Son, do I need to take

a strap to you? Clean up this mess, and put it where it belongs.” At 10 years old and having seen Pappy’s razor strap hanging on the kitchen wall, John took Pappy seriously.

In a photo book called Red Lick Memories by Warren E. Brunner, there is a picture of a horse and a boy painted on the Mallory Springs barn that is accompanied by the words “Artist Unknown.” John was the artist of that barn painting.

Missing home was taking its toll, so John asked Mammy if he could draw a horse on the barn. Mammy gave John a brush and some red and white paint, and let him paint that scene. This painting is still visible, although faded, after weathering 66 years—a real testimony to the quality of paint from that era.

Pappy died in 1957. Several years later, Mammy told John the painting was comforting to her as she looked at it while sitting on the porch. It reminded her of the time when it was common to see a boy leading a

horse down the road.

During John’s visit that summer, it didn’t take long for home sickness to set in, since he came from a family of seven brothers and one sister. Uncle Jim Lamb, from Waynesville, Ohio, stopped in for a visit. John hitched a ride back home with him and cut his summer visit to Mammy and Pappy short.

Today, these memories keep John and several others going back for a reunion with family at the Mallory Springs shed each year on the last Sunday in September. Willard Turner now owns the old homeplace and continues to welcome the Abner family to meet at the shed every year.

Sadly, John passed away in September 2020, and I would like to dedicate this article to my brother John’s memory and his wonderful life.

Jerry Abner Germantown, Ohio

John Marshall Harlan donated a Bible to the Supreme Court that has been signed by each succeeding Supreme Court justice since 1906.

MARCH 2021

Miss Agnes Davis

The Lady in Red of the Land of Logan: Miss Agnes Davis

By Debbie Grise

Once upon a time in the Land of Logan, a Lady in Red walked the streets of downtown Russellville.

The Lady in Red was Miss Agnes Davis. The farmers knew The Lady in Red as the VC Fertilizer lady. People on the street thought of Miss Agnes as an eccentric older lady. Children remember her as the lady who invited them into her home on Halloween, passing out lots of candy.

My great-grandfather, Dan Duncan, took me to meet Miss Agnes for the first time on Halloween. It was my first introduction to Miss Agnes and her beautiful home, The Bibb House.

I was dressed in an outfit of red, Miss Agnes’ signature color. I never was a shy child, and Miss Agnes and I took a shine to one another.

Over the years, we bonded and got to know and love each other.

On Sundays, my greatgrandmother, Della Duncan, cooked a real Southern meal of fried chicken, creamed potatoes and pecan pie. Miss Agnes didn’t cook, and my family spoiled her with all

the “good cookin’.”

My great-grandfather would get the car out with my grandmother, Elizabeth Burchett, and a little Debbie in tow to deliver Miss Agnes’ vittles. On those Sunday visits, we toured Miss Agnes’ lovely home. She would proudly show us all her new antiques purchased on her most recent trip “Down South.”

The Sunday afternoons at Miss Agnes’ house were like a dream. I had never seen such beautiful and fine things. One day I’ll never forget is when Miss Agnes came by our house to return dishes. She came to the back fence and handed the dishes to Daddy Dan. My little dog, Tinker, was barking viciously.

Daddy Dan told Miss Agnes, “Don’t be afraid of him, he’s just a little bluffer.”

Miss Agnes responded, “Well, he’s a damn good bluffer.”

That’s a side of Miss Agnes we had never heard. One Christmas, Miss Agnes bought me a fancy metal dollhouse with all the furniture. Throughout the year, birthday cards and cards for every holiday were sent and received.

The cards were always signed in red ink: “Love, Miss Agnes.”

There were so many good times shared with Miss Agnes—far too many memories for one short story.

51

Miss Agnes was a tough old bird, but we lost her in the 1970s. I was in high school at the time. Her passing saddened me and my family. All her flowers were red carnations and red roses. The Lady in Red would have loved that. Shortly after I married in 1980, The Bibb House was opened to the public.

A sign on the front lawn, for a short period of time, suggested that Miss Agnes’ wishes were being honored. The sign read: In Memory of Miss Agnes Davis Memorial to The Old South Of course, I arrived on the open house day with bells on and not to mention my Southern belle best attire.

As I walked up the front steps and looked at the massive columns, I felt the same magical feeling as I had as a young girl.

At least on that day, back in the 1980s, Miss Agnes’ legacy lived on. I did my best to make Miss Agnes proud with every tour I gave of her home, keeping her story alive.

I have, in my small way, tried to keep Miss Agnes and her great legacy alive, even though things have changed. I gave a performance portraying Miss Agnes on our local cemetery tours during the Logan County Tobacco & Heritage Festival until 2019.

Debbie Grise Russellville

Debbie Grise portraying Miss Agnes Davis at The Bibb House

I embrace country music because of love, a love of what I came from. Dwight Yoakam

6 THE 52 THEKENTUCKY KENTUCKYEXPLORER EXPLORER

Apples on a Mountain Ridge

By Ronald Robinette

In the late 1970s, my job was to look after the drilling and completion of gas wells in southwestern Virginia.

Since lodging in that area was scarce, the company I worked for kept Room 10 at the Rhododendron Lodge in the Breaks Interstate Park leased for me for nearly seven years. The park, which, at that time, was open only in the summer months, is jointly run by Kentucky and Virginia. The location was central to many areas where I was working, and it offered the convenience to a vast area, where we were drilling for natural gas.

It was the one place I could get some rest, other than in the backseat of my vehicle. Since there were no cell phones back then, I had to use the pay telephone outside of the Rhododendron Lodge to communicate with the Charleston, West Virginia, office.

I had driven those roads night and day for more than a few years and had observed an apple orchard on top of the mountain near where the roads separated and ran in different directions.

One day in the early autumn, I noticed an older gentleman operating a horse-drawn mower in the apple orchard, and, with time to spend, I drove up the narrow road and parked near the edge of the orchard, watching as he finished mowing the large area beneath the apple trees.

The apple trees were hanging with the fruit, and there were apples on the ground, too. One of my favorite fruits is an apple, and I wanted to purchase some to take home when that chance came for me to leave in the next day or two.

The older fellow stopped mowing

and came over near where I was parked. Sitting high up in the seat of the old mower, he asked what he could do for me.

I told him that I passed by every day, had noticed his orchard, and wondered if I might be able to purchase some apples.

The older fellow looked at me and said, “Young man, if you have a bag or a box with you, just go out through here and pick up all the apples you want, and I won’t charge you a penny.”

I had a box in the back of the vehicle, and I retrieved it and began picking up apples that had fallen from the trees. There were Rome, Macintosh, Golden Delicious and other apples that were large and in good condition mainly due to the grass being kept about 6 inches high and the cut grass acting as a cushion.

It did not take long to fill the box that held more than a bushel, and I packed those over and put the apples in the back of the vehicle.

The old fellow had gotten off the mower and was sitting on a bench beneath one of the apple trees. I walked over and once more offered to pay for the apples. He simply waved his hand and said, “I told you to pick the apples off the ground, get all you wanted, and there would be no charge. You did that while I watched, and you got what you wanted. There won’t be any charge for those.”

I sat down on the bench with the man, and we chatted about gas wells and mining and a bunch of other things on that autumn day as the sun was dropping lower toward the horizon far across the top of those mountain ridges. The valleys far below were growing darker from

the shadows of the retreating sun.

The older fellow said, “Times are changing, and when I have to stop looking after this orchard that has been in the family for many years, no one else will look after it. I know. I’ve got two boys, and they are married, and neither will take an interest in raising apples and this orchard. It will simply be taken over by other growth and die out. I love raising apples and selling them.”

The older fellow looked up and down the orchard and continued, “We will be here tomorrow picking apples from the trees and the next several days, too. I’ve got all of the apples already sold, and these apples will be in stores all across the places here in Virginia and I’m sure over in Kentucky and other places, too.

“Now, back over the years, we had people from over in your state, Kentucky, who came in here, and I would haul wagonloads of apples out to the highway, and we’d load them in their trucks, and they took them over around Elkhorn City and even into Pikeville and in other counties to sell. Those folks would make several trips getting apples from this orchard. Now, those folks have found other jobs, mining and working in the gas fields, or just working at some related industry and no longer have time for this simple life that I’ve led.

“I’ve always loved what I did over the years. There’s no beating it. The feeling one gets when late evening comes and you’ve performed a good day’s work at whatever you do is a reward. It’s an accomplishment for all you are interested in with this life we travel.”

I did not question him, nor did I

Henderson’s John James Audubon State Park and Museum houses the world’s largest collection of Audubon memorabilia.

MARCH 2021

say anything of encouragement, for it did seem the man knew well what he was talking about and had accepted the changing and evolving ways of living that had invaded the last days of his own time here in his mountainous place.

We sat there and talked about other things until it was late, and he had to leave for home himself.

I stood to leave and he said, “Young man, any time you come through here and there are apples, you fill you a bag full, take them home, and get that woman to fry a few and bake some biscuits and enjoy a good breakfast, or even a good supper.”

I had to smile and thank the gentleman and bid him a goodbye.

He called after me and said, “If you happen through here tomorrow or the next day or two and see us picking apples from the trees, stop and we will have us another good chat. We just might let you help pick a few bushels, too.”

I promised I would, and he had already climbed up into the seat of the mower and slapped the reins to the horse’s rear, and they headed off into a side road that led down the mountain, into the evening shadows and, no doubt, to his home.

I was reminded that each of us has a life and a story to relate and somehow it ends all too soon. Life is fleeting for all of us.

As a footnote I would like to add that Shelby and I drove by there in

53

April 2020, and the road is now called Apple Orchard Road. There are houses and mobile homes where once apple trees bloomed and produced hundreds of bushels of apples that sold in Virginia and Kentucky.

Yes, times are changing.

Ronald Robinette Prestonsburg Editor’s Note: We were sad to hear of Ronald Robinette’s passing in December 2020. He was a wonderful storyteller, and we are honored to share this last piece. He is survived by his wife, Shelby J. (Hunt) Robinette, a daughter and three grandchildren.

When Covington was laid out in 1815, it was named after Gen. Leonard Covington, who died in the War of 1812.

54

THE KENTUCKY EXPLORER

Aviator Charles A. Lindbergh’s Visit to Kentucky Timeline compared to Floyd Collins Mammoth Cave entrapment

By Bob Thompson

transportation—a Ford speedster car and Lindbergh’s Charles A. Lindbergh, the American aviator, visited Excelsior motorcycle. the Mammoth Cave area in the summer of 1921. Even Lindbergh and his two companions came to the though it has been written in books and newspapers that Mammoth Cave area one Sunday hoping to explore some Lindbergh also was present during the 1925 Floyd Collins caves. They took the traditional tours available at entrapment, there are no photos or documentation to Mammoth Cave at the time but that was not enough for support this claim. them as they wanted Lindbergh was to explore more. As an unknown at the they were resting, time of his 1921 visit Homer Collins, Floyd to the cave region, Collins’ brother, as his transatlantic approached them flight from New and asked if they York to Paris was would be interested not made until 1927. in seeing Crystal Lindbergh’s 1921 Cave, a cave trip would have discovered by Floyd gone unnoticed if it Collins in 1917. were not for Lindbergh wrote handwritten about his Mammoth notations that he Cave/Crystal Cave kept of his trip, experience in his photographs that he 1953 book, The Spirit of took, and a book he St. Louis: wrote later in life.

In June 1921, Lindbergh and two I am in Kentucky, with friends from a two other Field Artillery Wisconsin school, cadets. This is Sunday. identified only as We’re free of Camp O’Connor and Knox’s three-guns and Drewry, traveled to classes. O’Connor and Camp (Fort) Knox, Drewry, in their Kentucky, where streamlined “Bug,” and I they spent the first on my motorcycle, are out six weeks of their to judge the virtues of the summer vacation state. At this spot, we’ll attending an ROTC stop to rest and eat a training camp. The sandwich. men were free on “You fellows been to Sundays to roam Mammoth Cave?” the Kentucky countryside and It’s a local boy who comes did so with their up to ask us—grinning— Charles A. Lindbergh (Library of Congress) two modes of high school age.

In 1784, Simon Kenton founded Kenton’s Station, a frontier fort, three miles south of Maysville.

54 K E NT U C K Y M O NT HLY NOV EMBER 2 0 2 0

MARCH 2021

55

Lindbergh’s R.O.T.C. Camp on the hotel grounds at Mammoth Cave 1921

“Yes, we just came from there,” O’Connor answers. “We’d spent hours walking through the damp, cool passages.”

“Quite a place isn’t it?” the boy goes on.

“Sure is.”

“This country’s full of caves,” he tells us. “Ya know, we think we got a better one. Like to take a look at it? Isn’t far.”

“Well … sure, let’s go.”

We’ve been hunting for caves ourselves, climbing along the banks of a river, and crawling under rocky ledges where an opening might be.

Here is a chance to do some exploring with the help of an expert and inexpensive guide.

“My name is Homer Collins,” the boy volunteers as we follow him.

“We call ours ‘Crystal Cave.’ It’s a lot prettier and maybe it’s bigger than Mammoth. Some of the passages go further than we been.”

According a 1927 newspaper article, Lindbergh’s companion, O’Connor, mentions that Floyd Collins also was with the group through Crystal Cave.

At Camp Knox, the three spent their holidays roaming the Kentucky cave country, and while there, they made the acquaintance of Floyd Collins, who later drew nationwide attention when he lost his life in Sand Cave.

Collins escorted them through a big cave and entertained

them at his home one Sunday, taking them to a little mountain church in the evening.

Lindbergh left Camp Knox on July 21 and spent the second six weeks of his vacation traveling to Florida before he headed back to school in Wisconsin in September.

Lindbergh’s interest in flying began in February 1922, as he made the decision to leave engineering school in Wisconsin to become a flying student at Nebraska Standard Aircraft Corporation in Lincoln, Nebraska. By March 1924, he enlisted as a United States Army Flying cadet in Texas, and on March 14, 1925 (about three weeks after the Collins’ entrapment), he graduated first in his class from the U.S. Air Service Flying School, Kelly Field, San Antonio, Texas.

It has been written in books and newspapers that Lindbergh was present at Floyd Collins’ 1925 entrapment, delivering news reports and photo negatives by air. The earliest mention of Lindbergh at Sand Cave comes from a Courier-Journal article from Feb. 14, 1954, written by staff writer Joe Creason.

The name of Ellis Jones of Cave City, is often mentioned in newspapers about Lindbergh’s appearance at Sand Cave in 1925. Jones—being a pilot, mechanic and Lindbergh admirer himself—mentioned Lindbergh flying “in from Chicago with a photographer from the Chicago

Clark County was established in 1792 and named after George Rogers Clark.

56

THE KENTUCKY EXPLORER

At Floyd Collins Crystal Cave 1921, showing Collins’ home, left, and the Crystal Cave ticket office (right) PHOTO BY CHARLES A. LINDBERGH

Tribune to get pictures of Floyd Collins’ entrapment in Sand Cave” in a Courier-Journal article from Dec. 17, 1979, by staff writer Byron Crawford.

An Aviation Magazine article from March 23, 1925, mentions the Floyd Collins tragedy and the airplanes and pilots who provided services to carry pictures, etc., but there is no mention of Lindbergh as being one of these pilots. Jones’ name is mentioned in the article as providing services for the airplanes at a new airport landing field, “Floyd Collins Field.”

On Aug. 6, 1927, after Lindbergh’s historic flight across the Atlantic Ocean, he went on a three-month, nationwide tour.

Flying the Spirit of St. Louis, he Floyd Collins on the steps of Crystal touched down Cave (Cave Research Foundation)

in 48 states and visited 92 cities, including a stop at Lunken Field Airport in Cincinnati. From Cincinnati, Lindbergh flew to Louisville on Aug. 8, and, prior to Indianapolis on Aug. 9, he flew over Camp (Fort) Knox.

This is as close as Lindbergh ever came to Mammoth Cave again after he became famous.

After Lindbergh’s most publicized event at Lunken Field in August 1927, he occasionally used Lunken Field as a routine stop for refueling his plane, including a stop in 1928. Jones, who had been a mechanic at Lunken Field since 1927, was present the day Lindbergh touched down.

A photo was taken on March 28, 1928, of Jones filling the radiator of Lindbergh’s Curtiss Robin monoplane, with Lindbergh in the picture. This may have been the only time Ellis Jones met Lindbergh.

It is interesting to point out that books and newspaper articles on Floyd Collins state that Lindbergh was at Sand Cave at the time of Collins’ entrapment, but books on Lindbergh never mention the name of Floyd Collins or Sand Cave. Lindbergh talks in detail about his 1921 trip to Mammoth Cave in his 1953 book but does not acknowledge anything about the 1925 Collins tragedy. If Lindbergh was present at that historical event, it most certainly would have been well documented in books on Lindbergh.

To conclude, unless some documentation or a photo is discovered, Charles A. Lindbergh was not at Sand Cave in 1925.

Bob Thompson Mason, Ohio

Kentucky ranks 37th, out of 50, in land size, with 39,732 square miles. k e n t u c k y m o n t h l y. c o m 56

MARCH 2021

Kentucky, the Cumberland Gap, and the Wilderness Road

By Harold Brown

Kentucky was a part of Virginia until it became a state in 1792. Some called it the “Dark and Bloody Grounds.”

Despite its fertile soils and abundant wildlife, no one had lived here for centuries because of the certainty of fierce attacks by hunters. It was understood to be “zoned” for hunting, not residential land. The Colonists gradually pushed the Native Americans westward. The intrusion into Kentucky and the Ohio area was strongly resisted, largely due to the destruction of bison and other wildlife essential to the American Indians.

European settlers were interested in pioneering and profits via new land, and various entities secured large land grants. Dr. Thomas Walker had been part of Col. James Patton’s surveying expedition and soon became surveyor for the Loyal Land Company. In April 1750, Walker came to a gap in the mountain range, aided by markings made by previous explorers. They traveled through the gap and moved into wooded territory beyond the mountains. Near the present town of Barbourville, Walker built a small cabin and scouted the area. Walker’s party named the Cumberland River for the Duke of Cumberland. When the party passed back through the “Cave Gap” on June 20, 1850, they named it the Cumberland Gap. John Finley and other frontiersmen scouted and promoted the “new” country. Daniel Boone visited Kentucky alone in 1767-68. In early 1769, Finley, Boone and four others left North Carolina and explored the Kentucky and Dix river areas of Kentucky. They found excellent hunting and trapping but also Indian activity that proved to be fatal to some. The true Wilderness Road was cut, where needed, by Boone. It passed through the Gap and continued through the current towns of Middlesboro, Pineville, Barbourville and London. The road forked at Hazel Patch in Laurel County, with the Boone Trace going to Boonesboro and Lexington. The other fork, Skaggs Trace, passed through Crab Orchard, Stanford, Danville and Harrodsburg, and continued to the Falls of the Ohio at Louisville.

Much of the Wilderness Trace or Trail had been made by bison choosing the easiest routes in their search for grass and water for thousands of years. There were wooded, mountainous portions where Boone and 30 axe men cut a path by connecting “buffalo” traces and native trails. Bison were the original “surveyors,” with Indians and future road builders playing close attention to the traces as logical road beds.

By 1792, more than 70,000 settlers had poured into Kentucky over the Wilderness Trail and down the Ohio River. Kentucky’s first governor, Isaac Shelby, took office on June 4, 1792. He quickly promoted improving the road from Crab Orchard to the Gap to better link his new state to the eastern ones. The Kentucky legislature approved this in 1796.

The previous path of U.S. Route 150 generally followed the Wilderness Road route.

57

The Farm House Inn Bed and Breakfast is surrounded by the Daniel Boone National Forest and is near Cumberland Falls.

Walk through a diverse forest to enjoy waterfalls, cliffs, wildlife areas, fishing ponds...or relax and watch farm and forest animals from our expansive porch.

FARM HOUSE INN BED & BREAKFAST 7 3 5 TAY LO R B R A N C H R O A D, PA R K E R S L A K E 606.376.7383

FA R M H O U S E I N N B B . C O M

Reach 120,000 readers with classified advertising available in Kentucky Explorer. Classified ads $50 per issue (up to 25 words).

Contact Deborah Kohl Kremer at deb@kentuckymonthly.com

CLASSIFIED ADS WANTED: Collector buying antique radios, working or not.

Also, tubes and radio-related parts. I will come to you with cash and pick up from attics, barns or whatever. Call (859) 396-6095.

WANTED TO BUY: All types of antiques and collectables. Top prices for gold, silver and costume jewelry. Scrap gold. Gold and silver coins. Wrist and pocket watches. Collections. Early post cards and fountain pens. Civil War swords and other military items. Vintage toys. Pocket knives. Lighters. Old eye glasses. Pottery and stoneware. All types of railroad items.

Advertising signs. Handmade quilts. Marbles. Jars. Much much more. Complete and partial estates. Call Clarence, buyer for more than 30 years, at (606) 531-0467.

WANTED: Your memories, stories and old photos! Please submit your content to Kentucky Monthly, Attn: Deborah Kohl Kremer, PO Box 559, Frankfort, KY 40601 or email to deb@kentuckymonthly.com.

The biggest human temptation is to settle for too little. Thomas Merton N O V E M B E R 2 0 1 8 • K E N T U C K Y M O N T H LY

57

off the shelf

(P)-Paperback (C)-Clothbound (H)-Hardback

A Reverent Hymnal

Filling the Gaps

Battling Demons

In his latest poetry collection, Eric Scott Sutherland travels across Kentucky’s farmlands and forests, revealing the gospel he found in the “divine dialogue” of “trees taller than steeples” and water that “shapes every surface.”

Earth Is My Church is a hymnal written in reverence to Kentucky’s landscape, and the poems exquisitely capture the thoughts of an ecological poet who has taken his time “slowly learning the language of land.” Sutherland carefully names Kentucky’s flora and fauna that coexist beneath “a big blue sky surfed by red-tailed hawks.”

The poet also observes environmental devastation—the loss of animals, plant life and habitat— and how being in constant survival mode while navigating claustrophobia-inducing cities creates melancholy in people “at the end of the day.”

Despite touching upon these darker realities of modern living, Earth Is My Church remains hopeful that Kentucky’s wild spaces will be preserved for present and future generations to enjoy if people “pay attention to every step” and tread gently on the earth entrusted to their keep. Sutherland, a Shelbyville native, ultimately reminds readers that people decide “what to preserve” and “what to destroy,” what to worship and what to waste.

“Oh, Ed!” are the two most essential words in Ed (a.k.a. Sonny) McClanahan’s latest tapestry of “mostly true stories,” a 177-page volume that fills in many of the gaps in the 88-year-old’s autobiographical pieces.

This time, the attention is focused mainly on McClanahan’s father, Edward Leroy McClanahan, a successful Bracken and Mason county businessman, and Sonny’s gloriously mediocre days at Eustace J. Spoonbred University, Home of the World’s Longest Concrete Footbridge.

Junior Ed is often at odds with Senior—mostly over cigarettes, a habit his father shared but never escaped—but the impact of the 30-year relationship is unmistakable and universal. Senior’s passing and the memories left behind shape Sonny’s well-versed view of the world, even when they conflict with his own beliefs.

McClanahan, a 2019 inductee into the Kentucky Writers Hall of Fame, makes his home in Lexington. Of Not Even Immortality Lasts Forever, Southern author George Singleton says it is McClanahan’s “best book yet,” and Mayfield’s Bobbie Ann Mason calls it “immortal.”

McClanahan’s other books include the well-received The Natural Man and, my favorite, the comical Famous People I Have Known.

When a rich American takes his love of the bottle down south to Mexico, it’s not hard to imagine that something bad could happen to him. Paul Hampton found out the hard way, first nearly being murdered, then waking up in a strange place in one of many drunken stupors after fighting his mental “zombies.” He would continue to fight the nasty creatures from the recesses of his mind while facing a hellish stint in prison, beatings, and struggles against the forces of nature, and combining such with his own noble efforts to save friends.

In Dancing on the Rim, Frankfort author Chris Helvey shares a riveting tale of a human being flailing away at his intrusive demons but with little help.

Hampton is, according to his firstperson narrative dialogue, existing in a dreamlike “darkness” but having “altruistic dreams, too … [and] I wondered if I’d get one more chance to rewrite the script.”

As flawed as the author’s protagonist is, he nevertheless engenders a sympathetic nod from the reader, and that might be because all of us, at times, wrestle with our own zombies on some level.

By Journey McAndrews

By Stephen M. Vest

Earth Is My Church, By Eric Scott Sutherland, Accents Publishing,$16 (P)

Not Even Immortality Lasts Forever,

By Ed McClanahan, Counterpoint, $25 (H)

58 K E NT U C K Y M O NT HLY MARCH 2 0 2 1

By Steve Flairty Dancing on the Rim, By Chris Helvey, Wings ePress Inc., $16.95 (P)

FOLK ARTS & CRAFTS CAPITAL OF KENTUCKY

A Tale of Two Kentuckians

Familiar Characters

Slaves, Slaveholders, and a Kentucky Community’s Struggle Toward Freedom provides a nearly parallel look at two very different people from the same part of Kentucky and the effect of the Civil War upon them.

The first is Joseph Holt, a slaveholder from Breckinridge County, who evolves to become an advocate for abolition as he eventually works for President Abraham Lincoln in the War Department. The second, Sandy Holt, is a slave who had been owned by Joseph and goes on to become a soldier in the United States Colored Troops.

Both Joseph, best known for heading the Lincoln assassination trials, and Sandy on the front lines play an important part in the war’s eventual victory. Published by University Press of Kentucky, this book brims with interesting facts and well-researched background information to help the reader follow both men’s lives before, during and after the war.

Author Elizabeth D. Leonard is a history professor emerita at Colby College in Maine. She has written five books, including Lincoln’s Forgotten Ally: Judge Advocate General Joseph Holt of Kentucky.

Predominantly set in a number of small towns and rural areas in West Virginia, this collection of short stories portrays perspectives not often explored and offers refreshingly candid depictions of average people, their circumstances, and settings Kentucky readers likely will recognize. Although brief, these stories give a glimpse into the lives of an assortment of easy-to-identify-with characters and are as skillfully written as they are sometimes humorous.

Mature and undisguised, the conclusions and themes presented in Fissures and Other Stories are meaningful and certainly will resonate with readers.

Timothy Dodd’s first publication of short stories ultimately demonstrates his clear perception and understanding of realities Kentucky readers will find sympathetic to their own.

Currently working as a public school English teacher in Philadelphia, West Virginia native Dodd is seeking a publisher for his first collection of poems entitled Modern Ancient and is putting together a collection of Appalachian poetry.

By Deborah Kohl Kremer Slaves, Slaveholders, and a Kentucky Community’s Struggle Toward Freedom,

By Elizabeth D. Leonard, University Press of Kentucky, $50 (H)

By Emma Stone (of the Gatton Academy)* Fissures and Other Stories, By Timothy Dodd, Bottom Dog Press, $18 (P)

* Not to be confused with the Academy Award-winning actress.

SHOP. DINE. STAY. EXPLORE. 800.598.5263 | visitberea.com

past tense/present tense

by Bill Ellis

Y’all, You Betcha, Eh!: Dialects, Accents and Peculiarities of the English-Speaking World So far into my 81st year, I am suffering only a slight case of Atelodemiourgiopapyrophobia, which I understand is the “fear of imperfect creative activity on paper.” So, you might have to put up me a little while longer.

I

always find fascinating how the English-speaking world has such varied accents, slang and pronunciations.

Which country has the greatest number of English speakers? You guessed it: India. From the old George Gershwin song: “You say potato, I say potahto; You say tomato, I say tomahto.”

If we all speak the same language, why is there so much disparity, even misunderstanding? Geography does make a difference. People also react differently in meeting others. A Southerner typically will ask a stranger, “Where ya from?”

A “Yankee” invariably will ask a stranger, “What do you do?” Several times in conversation with people from certain states north of the Ohio River, I have pointed this out.

Some would nearly tell me their entire life story without even asking about mine.

I have previously written about accents and the little peculiarities of speech that give away our background. I kid some Canadian friends who claim they have forced themselves never to say, “Eh!” as it has become so identifiable and clichéd. Probably some Minnesotans work hard to keep from saying, “You betcha!” On the other hand, I am proud to say, “Y’all.” My email friends in New Zealand, Canada and England appear to appreciate it, so why disappoint them?

Unfortunately, there has developed a scourge known as “uptalk.” More younger women than young men have developed the habit of ending a declarative sentence as if it were a question with a rising vocalization at the end. There is some debate as to whether it developed first in Australia or the American West Coast. It is annoying to me.

However, I find most of these nuances endearing. If we all spoke exactly the same without different accents and word usages, it would be a dull world. ggg

Over the years, I have found that Eastern Kentucky University students who had moved around the world with parents in military service (they called themselves “service brats”) spoke with a standard American accent.

Marshall Myers, a retired EKU English professor, refers to our general Kentucky accents as representative of the South Midland region of the United States. How We Talked

by Verna Mae Slone is a compendium of Appalachian expressions, which Marshall identified as a subcategory of the South Midland.

Midwesterners often make fun of any speakers south of the Ohio River. If you listen closely, you’ll notice that 60 K E NT U C K Y M O NTHLY MARCH 2 0 2 1

those more southern speakers invariably pronounce “fer” instead of “for” and “ar” for “our.”

Dixie Bale Mylum, a good friend of my mother’s, was a colleague of mine at EKU for many years and had a “soft” refined western Kentucky accent that always intrigued me. I kidded her a lot, prompting her to always correct me when I said, “My wife warshed” the clothes.

She would gently remind me that the word should be pronounced “wosh.”

Many years ago, Professor Gordon Wilson of Western Kentucky University fascinated me with his ability to guess within a few hundred miles where a person had grown up by asking that individual to pronounce a few words such as “route,” “greasy,” “ration,” “syrup” and “pecan,” among others. Can you think of other quite different regional pronunciations?

My wife, Charlotte, who is from Graves County, speaks with something resembling a western Kentucky “Southern” accent. She elongates some words. Gov. Ned Breathitt probably had the best example of a true “Southern” accent of the western Kentucky variety.

As State Historian Jim Klotter concluded, “Kentucky speaks with many voices, from the midwestern tones of northern Kentucky to the southern ones of western Kentucky to mountain twangs of the East to the variations across the state. I like them all.” I could not agree more. ggg

I have to confess that I learned to cuss—or curse, for you “Puritans”—when I was a kid. When I was about 3, my parents and I lived in a small frame house across from Centre College in Danville. My pop worked at the Kentucky Utilities Gas Plant, where coal was heated into coke, a byproduct of the process of making coal gas. So the story goes (I don’t recall it, though Mom enjoyed repeating it until her dying day), I was playing in the tiny basement one rainy day. Actually, the basement was little more than a coal bin and a coal furnace. She heard me playing cheerfully with some small toy cars, when I suddenly yelled, “Well, I’ll be a somabeech.” Her first thought was to rush down the stairs and spank me. However, she recalled that she started laughing, knowing where I had heard such language. I bet Pop got a good talking to that night. I have, sadly and all too often, uttered a curse word.

My wife, on the other hand, never recalled her parents cursing. On occasion when exasperated, she will utter “fiddlesticks.” When really mad, she exclaims a loud “piffle,” which I have read in English novels, but heard nowhere else. “Out of pocket” is another western “Kentuckyism,” meaning not available or not in my usual place. What are other distinctive variations in our state?

One semester, an EKU male student who was not doing

well in my class asked if I could “cut him some slack.”

Somewhat befuddled, I asked what he meant. He, of course, wanted me to grant him leniency, which I did not do. I don’t recall the end of this minor confrontation. I probably told him to study a little harder.

I have peculiarities. I continue to say “y’all” but always in the plural. I also say “naw” for “no” in polite conversation and “yeah” for “yes.” If feeling badly, I tell people I am “peaked,” with an emphasis on the end of the word. When I am well, I reply, “I am on foot and taking nourishment,” in the words of my Richmond friend, Harold Richardson Jr. Grandmother Ellis always referred to a “mess” of beans, so I picked that up early in life. She also referred to a mixture of several ingredients as a “gom.” One online dictionary identified this as “any messy substance” such as a pie or cobbler mixture, a culinary delight at which she excelled. ggg

Our use of language changes. Now, when a person has died, the usual explanation is that he or she has “passed.” I still prefer “passed away.” “Passed” still seems to me to be what happens if you complete coursework successfully.

I have difficulty understanding English spoken by some Yankees, much less English speakers from other nations. While spending six months in New Zealand in 1989, I found that I could understand English-speaking Maori students much better than their Pakeha (white) counterparts.

When I opened a checking account at a New Zealand bank, the teller pronounced it a “cheeking” account.

Accents in New Zealand varied. James Watson, my good friend and colleague at Massey University, has a distinct Yorkshire English accent. Though he was born in Adelaide, Australia, he attended primary school in England up to the age of 9. He moved with his parents around the British Commonwealth, finally settling in New Zealand.

I know only one Dwight D. Eisenhower joke, and it pertains to the ribbing he took from his English counterparts during World War II, when he was Supreme Commander Allied Forces Europe. It came about with the word “schedule,” which he pronounced as “skejool,” but the English military officers pronounced as “shedyoll.”

Eisenhower joked that he pronounced it that way because he had not gone to the right “scool.”

As spoken in jolly old England, “pattern” is pronounced “patten.” An Australian golfer who does commentary on one the major networks has a distinct accent. “Putter” always comes out as “putta,” and “bunker” is “bunka.”

Through some Indiana friends, we met a couple from Romford, England, more than 30 years ago. They were a wonderful working-class couple who visited with us once in Kentucky, and we visited them once in their hometown. The wife had a strong Cockney accent, which I could understand only while watching her lips move.

So, here’s to all the accents, nuances, variations and complexities of the English language.

Uniting Kentuckians Everywhere

K E N T U C K Y M O N T H L Y. C O M k e n t u c k y m o n t h l y. c o m 61

gardening

by Walt Reichert

Garden for the Smell of It

O

ne of the joys of gardening is inhaling the wonderful fragrances of trees, shrubs, perennials and annuals in bloom.

I’m reminded of that every March, when the Viburnum carlesii (Korean spice viburnum) planted below our deck fills the air with sweet perfume.

The white blooms against the dark green leaves of this viburnum are showy, but it’s the aroma that keeps the plant a must-have in my garden.

Modern plant breeders often neglect fragrance when they’re creating offerings for the gardening public. Many modern varieties of plants that once perfumed our gardens have been bred to be showier, more disease resistant and colorful but smell like nothing at all.

That’s especially true of roses. In their zeal to create roses that resist mildew, blackspot and other maladies, breeders often have left out fragrance. A rose without fragrance is just another flower.

The same goes for peonies. Vases full of the old varieties of peonies such as ‘Festiva Maxima’ and ‘Sarah Bernhardt’ could perfume an entire house. Many of the “improved” varieties of peonies have stronger stems and don’t flop in heavy rains, but they often lack fragrance.

FOLLOW THE SMELL Fortunately, there are still plenty of plants that provide wonderful fragrance. Let’s talk about looking for some plants at your garden centers this spring that will bring fragrance back to your garden. For those wanting fragrance throughout the seasons, we’ll divide the horticultural offerings by best smell time.

EARLY SPRING: Anything blooming in early spring is a joy, and it’s a treasure if it blooms and smells good, too. The perfume from a bed of hyacinths that bloom this month will bring you to your knees. Many

narcissus species are fragrant. Of course, you need to have planted hyacinths and narcissus last fall.

Remember that in October.

Sweetly fragranced lilac shrubs also bloom early. The old-fashioned lilac, syringa vulgaris, is still best for fragrance, though some hybrids may have prettier flowers. Most azaleas that bloom in early spring have little or no fragrance, but if you find native azaleas, you’ll get not only hardier plants but more fragrant ones as well.

MID-SPRING: Many of our most fragrant perennials and shrubs will bloom in early April through early May. The viburnums—including carlesii, Burkwood and Judd’s—are fragrant shrubs. Mock orange, daphne and spicebush are also great choices for mid-spring blooming shrubs.

Don’t forget trees when selecting for fragrance. Fringetree is a great, small native tree that will bloom in mid-spring; its fragrance is subtle, but it’s there. All of the apples, including crabapples, will bloom in mid-spring and unleash a wonderful fragrance.

Peonies will bloom now through late May. Be sure to select varieties described as “fragrant.” You can’t go wrong with the above-mentioned ‘Festiva’ and ‘Sarah’ as well as ‘Kansas’ and ‘Karl Rosenfield.’

LATE SPRING/EARLY SUMMER: Roses are the fragrant stars this time of year as long as you have types bred for fragrance. Any of the musk, sweetbrier and damask roses will have powerful fragrance. Among the hybrid tea roses with excellent aroma are ‘Fragrant Memory,’ ‘Radiance,’ ‘Fragrant Cloud’ and ‘Perfume Delight.’

A bed of lily-of-the-valley will cast perfume a long distance on a warm, humid morning in late spring. So will dianthus (pinks). The shrub calycanthus, also called Carolina allspice, will bloom in early summer, and its flowers, though not particularly showy, emit a fragrance sometimes

Readers may contact Walt Reichert at editor@kentuckymonthly.com 62 K E NT U C K Y M O NT HLY MARCH 2 0 2 1

described as like pineapples, sometimes like strawberries.

If you have room for a vine, Hall’s honeysuckle makes a sweet-smelling addition to a trellis. Hummingbirds will thank you all summer.

SUMMER: A wonderfully fragrant summer-blooming shrub is clethra. It is a native shrub that has been bred in different sizes and colors, but its strongest suit is fragrance that will radiate through the air in July and August. Clethra also tolerates wet sites.

Sweet alyssum, sweet William and flowering tobacco (Nicotiana) are among the few annuals that are known for their fragrance. Nicotiana is especially fragrant on a warm, humid night. Another nighttime star is moonflower. It grows as a vine, so give it space, and it will reward you with white flowers that spray the air with perfume after dark.

While magnolias are marginal growers in most of Kentucky, an established southern magnolia or sweet bay magnolia will perfume the summer air with a lemony scent. The fragrance of magnolia makes dealing with its large leathery leaves (almost) worthwhile.

LATE SUMMER/FALL: Roses will put on a flush of bloom in early fall. In fact, they are often showier and more fragrant at that time of year than in the spring. Another strongly fragrant plant that blooms in late summer/early fall is sweet autumn clematis. If you plant this white-blossomed vine, keep it under control in your garden. It can escape and become invasive.

One last note: If this garden season is anything like last year’s—and let’s hope it’s not for a variety of reasons— you need to shop early for the best choice. Last year, garden centers and mail-order houses could not keep up with the demand for plants and seeds, especially of vegetables. So make your list, check it twice and shop!

field notes

Wade Fishing

I

recently shared a boat with an angler I did not know, the friend of a mutual friend. A string of unusually mild, sunny winter days had triggered a hastily pulledtogether trip to Kentucky Lake to prowl the massive reservoir’s shallow gravel bars in search of early-season smallmouth bass. This is sometimes referred to as the “rogue bite” after the hard bait that many anglers use for this approach. Bites are infrequent, but they frequently are memorable. I was invited to go along, and, having a flexible afternoon, I went.

It was pleasant enough. During the course of an afternoon that yielded a couple of heart-stopping strikes along with a chilly boat ride in a gleaming Z-series Ranger Comanche, I was asked my favorite way to fish. This is a common query among anglers that really has no specific answer or real interest but is an easy and convenient tool for making small talk on the water when the conversation begins to lag.

The questioner is usually asking your favorite species to target: Largemouth bass.

Smallmouth. Crappie. Red ear.

Stripers. Redfish. Catfish.

Marlin. Tuna. Carp. There is no wrong answer, but every answer generally begins with a version of, “I really enjoy all kinds of fishing …” or “I don’t really have a favorite …”

I stuck to the formula.

“I really enjoy all kinds of fishing,” I said. And I do. But being a guest on the boat, I decided to go full disclosure.

“But I’d say my favorite way to fish is wading.”

“Wading?”

“Yeah. Wading. Wade fishing.”

“Umph.” Then, after a slightly longer than necessary silence, he added, “What kind of fish do you catch?”

“It depends on where you’re fishing, but just about anything, really. Bass. Sunfish. Trout. Catfish. It really depends.”

“Umph.”

I really do love to wade fish, be it in the Cumberland tailwater for trout, a headwater creek for sunfish or a salt flat for bonefish, although I don’t often promote the activity because it does involve some inherent risks, which, in order of disaster severity, include but are not limited to falling/ getting wet, becoming hypothermic and drowning.

Tailwaters, like the Cumberland, can be particularly risky to a fisherman on foot and lethal to those not attentive. The United States Army Corps of Engineers, which manages the water release for Wolf Creek Dam (Russell County) and, thus, the Cumberland River

by Gary Garth

tailwater below it, posts a daily generation schedule.

Find it at tva.com/environment/lake-levels/Wolf-Creek.

But generation and water-release schedules change, sometimes without notice. It’s important to watch. If you are wade fishing a tailwater and the water begins to rise, leave the river. Immediately. John Berry, who guides on Arkansas’ White and Norfork rivers—which, like the Cumberland, are cold-water tailwaters loaded with trout—recommends wading anglers know the planned generation schedule, keep an eye on their watch, and exit before rising water arrives. It’s good advice.

The right-fitting equipment boosts the safety level, too.

Buy waders and wading boots that fit properly, advises John Frazier.

Frazier knows what he’s talking about. He works for the Montana-based Simms Fishing company and has plenty of experience on the water in gear that fits like a tailored suit and stuff that hung like it was less than tailor made.

“The importance of fit in terms of safety may seem like a small thing, but in all honesty, a wader that doesn’t fit right is only going to increase your chances of falling and filling the wader up with water,” he said, adding that a wading belt is also a must-have piece of gear. (“Always wear a wading belt,” he said. “Always.”)

“When you wear a wader that’s too small or too big, in a lot of ways, you’re making yourself clumsy, which, in a river, can be incredibly dangerous,” he noted. “You really want a wader with the best fit possible. I know for me, I’ve worn waders that didn’t fit quite right in the past. It’s uncomfortable; it causes me to fixate on discomfort instead of focusing on fishing; and, like I said, it really can be dangerous.”

If you’re not a wade fisherman, give it a try. Regardless of your preferred fishing tool (spinning rod, baitcaster or fly rod), being in the water forces you to simplify your approach. In the Louisville and Frankfort areas, Otter Creek, Floyds Fork and Elkhorn Creek are wade fisherman friendly. Elkhorn is known for its smallmouth bass. Otter Creek receives trout year-round, and Floyds Fork, which is easily accessible via the Parklands of Floyds Fork, receives seasonal trout stockings. But wherever you live in the Commonwealth, there is a creek near you. Find a spot at fw.ky.gov. Give it a try. And don’t forget your polarized glasses and wading staff.

Oh, yeah: the 2021-22 fishing license year began March 1. Update your license. k e n t u c k y m o n t h l y. c o m 63

vested interest

Jackie’s Glory Day All things can change so fast Still, nothing can set off your heartbeat As when you return yourself to your past.

— Harry Chapin

D

o you ever feel like a character in a Harry Chapin song? Or maybe it’s Dan Fogelberg or Billy Joel. Do you see yourself in episodes of This Is Us or The Wonder Years?

I do. Yes, a growing portion of my time is spent dwelling on the past. Maybe it’s because of COVID-19 and being sequestered, kept away from friends, wondering how Sandy, Slick and Bruce are doing. And Chuck.

I’ve been following the distancing guidelines with one exception. A small group of high school friends has been getting together weekly for dinner at various Louisville-area haunts, trying to keep their favorite establishments from having to close their doors. They often visit Hoops on Southland Drive, Angilo’s on Berry Boulevard and Bonnie and Clyde’s on Dixie Highway.

I join them once a month— after all, I live 53 miles east, in STEPHEN M. VEST the small town we call the Publisher + Editor-in-Chief capital. I’m careful to wear my mask and not laugh too much— that potentially spreads the virus, and I’d hate to be the cause of spreading possible infection.

Most weeks, the lineup is the same. There are Donnie and Kathy; Wayne, who goes by Earl; Brian, who goes by Victor; Druie, who is better known as Cowboy. Bobby “You’re Killing Me” Smalls, Danny and Julie rotate through, and lately Eunice-Marie has shown up. And then, there’s Whitus. Oh, yeah, don’t forget Kirk.

We talk about our daily lives, but that goes only so far since we’re prevented by COVID-19 from doing anything interesting. Inevitably, we turn to tales we’ve repeated dozens of times. One of my favorites involves Jackie Haycraft, a cheerleader at Dear Old Harry Doss High School, who somehow ended up married to Kirk.

Jackie was a year ahead of me, and I’ll never forget her class awards day because of a special visit from Mr. Scott Detrick, then-president of the school board, who for decades was known as “Louisville’s Santa Claus.” His story reads like something out of Miracle on 34th Street. In 1946, he was so disgusted by the appearance and whiskey breath of a department-store Santa that he spent the next 50 years growing natural whiskers and, in the months leading up to Christmas, dressing up as Saint Nick any time he left his house near Iroquois Park. I remember seeing him getting into his car during the snowy winters of 1977 and ’78. The legend says he would drive around early in the morning before conferring with the superintendent on whether to cancel school. We missed three weeks in each of those years.

Let’s get back to Jackie. In the final week of the 1978-79 school year, we, the 1,200 Doss students, all filed into the Leon Mudd Gym to see the senior awards presented— best math student, best science student … You get the drift. Through it all, Mr. Detrick sat, unidentified on the side of the stage, holding a massive award wrapped in brown paper.

When his turn came, he rose from his chair and slowly made his way to the lectern for his presentation.

With a crackle in his voice he began: “On a late summer morning in nineteen sixty-six—a little girl with pigtails—pulled up her socks—and boarded the school bus for the first time.” He rolled through the years, mentioning stops at Kerrick and Kenwood Elementary Schools, Lassiter Middle and Doss High School. He made mention of each year, peppering in references to Vietnam, Martin Luther King Jr., and what amounted to more than 2,340 school days.

“Every day, she continued to get up—every day—and not once in all that time did this student miss a single day,” he said dramatically, deserving of the occasion.

“Today I am here to honor that little girl … Miss Jackie Haycraft.”

(Silence) “Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you, Miss Jackie Haycraft.”

(Again, silence).

After what seemed an hour—more like an awkward moment—Kirk yelled from the upper reaches of the gym, “She’s not here.”

Kwiz Answers: 1. B. Shatner kept, among other things, two horses, two dogs, “all horse semen,” and horse equipment. 2. A. 3. C. He reprised his role in the 2005 sequel Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous. 4. B. In the same skit, Shatner asked SNL cast member Jon Lovitz, dressed in Vulcan ears, whether he had ever kissed a girl. (Spoiler alert: No.) 5. C. Shatner got back in the carriage and won the class. 6. A. 7. B. 8. A. 9. C. Shatner’s appearances were 18 years apart, showing the durability of both the actor and the series. 10. B. Devil’s Revenge also stars Jeri Ryan, another alum of the Star Trek universe. 11. A. Shatner was shopping at Joseph-Beth Booksellers when the shooting took place. 12. C. The statue was created by Douwe Blumberg (Kentucky Monthly, June/July 2020), a sculptor and former horse trainer who lives in Pendleton County.

64 K E NT U C K Y M O NT HLY MARCH 2021

WE HAVE A

1 in 50 children were abused or neglected in KY in 2019*

BIG PROBLEM

1 in 68 children were abused or neglected in IN in 2019*

Dear Grown Ups, I am a child at the park. I am your neighbor. I go to school with your children. And I need your help. Kentucky and Indiana have a big problem–child abuse.

Kentucky and Indiana rank first and 15th in the nation in cases of child abuse and neglect.

You likely know a kid who needs help. Will you protect them by supporting Kosair Charities’ Child Abuse Prevention efforts?

The pandemic has been hard. Not being able to see our friends, having to wear a mask, and learning online aren’t easy. I am safe in my home, but not every child is so lucky. Some kids live with people who hurt them. Since we are not going to school or other activities, we aren’t seeing the adults who typically help watch over us. Child abuse reports have decreased by 29%** since the community shut down, and I am scared for what that means for my friends.

I hear grown-ups say raising kids is the hardest job of all, so we have to help each other.

Will you check on your neighbors, learn signs of abuse and neglect, and support prevention efforts?

Your donation to the Kosair Charities Child Abuse Prevention Fund could provide funding to hundreds of non-profit organizations who help protect kids like me, as well as doctors, nurses, forensic units, and so many others. These are the HELPERS who prevent, recognize, and report child abuse, as well as offer resources to parents and other caregivers. They need your help to continue this crucial work.

Will you stand up for kids like me and be the face that ends child abuse?

Sincerely,

A child you know

Support the Kosair Charities Child Abuse Prevention Fund:

kosair.org/donate-face-it * 2019 Child Maltreatment Report ** KY Department for Community Based Services: Reports of suspected child abuse/neglect fell by 29% from March 1-June 30, 2019 to March 1-June 30, 2020.

Achieve the

Return of a Lifetime

with a Gift Annuity at Berea College You deserve a unique legacy, one that offers an unmatched opportunity to invest in lives of great promise.

A charitable gift annuity at Berea College returns your generosity with guaranteed payments for the rest of your life and supports the next generation of scholars, leaders and innovators. Learn how Berea College invests in students with its Tuition Promise Scholarship and how a charitable gift annuity can work for you while supporting our mission.

SAMPLE ONE LIFE RATES Rates set by the American Council on Gift Annuities.

Effective July 1, 2020.

AG E

R ATE

55

3.7%

65

4.2%

75

5.4%

80

6.5-8.4%

90+

8.6%

Invest in lives of great promise at berea.giftlegacy.com

Monica ’18 Major: Business with a concentration in Finance

Contact the Office of Planned Giving at giftplanning@berea.edu or call (800) 457-9846.