LillianLievrouwMiller, 94, of Brevard, NC passed away August 18, 2013 at her residence.
She was born Detroit, Michigan to the late Jules and Flore SteelandtLievrouw. She was preceded in death by a son; Russell Whitehead.
She has lived in Brevard for the past ten years and has been an active member of Carson's Creek Baptist Church. She was very proud to have worked in Detroit during World War II, helping in the war effort. She graduated from University of Michigan with honors and a degree in journalism.
She was owner of a successful yearbook company for over a decade, having worked in the yearbook business for 30 years, she enjoyed mentoring students during the yearbook design process. She even coauthored a book on yearbook publications.
Lillian wrote biographies for the senior section of the Transylvania Times for many years, and was active in the Democratic Party of Transylvania County.
She was an avid watcher of golf, tennis, and college basketball and loved to play the piano, in particular enjoyed playing classical music.
She is survived by one grandson; Greg Whitehead of Maryland and one granddaughter, Laura Smith and husband Neal of Maryland.
A Memorial Service will be held at 2:00 PM, Saturday, August 24, 2013 at Carson's Creek Baptist Church with Rev. Don Waters officiating. Burial will follow at Big Hill Cemetery, Brevard, NC. The family will receive friends from 1:00 PM – 2:00 PM at the church, prior to the service.
Memorials may be made to Carson's Creek Baptist Church, 4727 Connestee Trail, Brevard, NC 28712.
To leave a condolence for the Miller family, please visit "obituaries" at www.moore-fh.com.
Moore Funeral Home & Cremation Services is caring for the family.
It is a rare opportunity to get insight into a world that very few of us know anything about. Fred Greene, of Transylvania county, is a tremendous source of information as he was the warden of Brunswick Correctional Center and later Mecklenburg Correctional Institution in Virginia, retiring after 33 years of service. <BR><BR>
A modest man, he reluctantly talked about his career, doing so only to express his appreciation for those who do such important work in the shadows of society, while getting little recognition for their efforts.
"I was fortunate to have a successful career and I realize that my success was due largely to those who allowed me to lead them, and who performed in such a manner that enabled us to meet our mission of operating a safe, secure and humane prison," Greene stated.
Like many other successful men, Greene's entrance into the world of correctional institutions was influenced by a friend who knew of an opening in that field. As fate would have it, however, Greene's rise to the top was preceded by a series of steps that equipped him to meet challenges in a manner consistent with his beliefs and life philosophies..
Fred Greene was born in Norfolk, Virginia and graduated from high school there. Growing up in a navy town like Norfolk, it would have been natural for him to join the navy after high school; but Fred chose to be an army infantryman. He was in the service for three years and spent 2-1/2 of that time in Germany, which he thoroughly enjoyed.
"I had the good luck for my military service to be sandwiched in between the days of the Berlin crisis and the escalation to the Vietnam War. However, I feel that my service was very instrumental to my development, as I did a lot of growing up in the army,," Greene said.
Montreat-Anderson Junior College in NC was his choice as he attended what was then a two-year college on the GI Bill, running the student union during his third year. He finished the rest of his studies in what is now called Barton College, majoring in Sociology.
Greene started out working for J.C. Penney in retail and was promoted to the Raleigh, NC branch. However, he felt strongly that was not his proper niche in life and wanted to put his Sociology knowledge to work.
While in Raleigh, Greene had a friend whose father worked for a prison unit in the Commonwealth of Virginia; so he applied for a position there and was hired as a Rehabilitative Counselor.
"It was a misnomer; as we were really facilitators for the inmates The job primarily involved first offenders and we helped them adjust to prison life and to manage some of the problems that come with incarceration. We referred them to trade and academic schools, and often represented them when their classifications were established." Greene related..
It was also his first step into another world that he had never known about: criminals and prison life, Greene gained a lot of knowledge as a counselor, which contributed to his later positions in the system as it helped him understand the inmate's position.
After five years of counseling, the Virginia Department of Corrections wanted to start an Ombudsman Program as part of a federal program being put into the prison system. Greene was one of only five or six people that were hired into this new position of regional ombudsman to help institutions design and operate grievance procedures in their prisons.
"It was one of the more rewarding experiences of my career. and it was definitely a challenge. The system allowed inmates to air their grievances and have them resolved within a reasonable amount of time. Working on behalf of both the Regional Director and the departments chief ombudsman, Greene would attempt to mediate differences between inmates and the prison administration and/or investigate and make recommendations to the regional administrator as to how to resolve differences. Sometimes problems would go beyond that point and be decided by courts, so it let Greene cross many lines in the department. He not only learned guidelines and procedures, but he got to know problems inherent in higher administration. Greene felt that this work added greatly to his background and philosophy when he later became a warden.
Then came an opportunity for Greene to be a superintendent with Virginia's road camps. These road gangs of inmates worked with the Department of Transportation to provide various things that needed doing. It was a good opportunity for the superintendent to view inmates in an outside setting under a gun or not, depending on their classification. For the inmates it provided an opportunity to work and earn a little money and enjoy an outdoor setting. Greene was responsible for about 90 inmates and 27 staff and he enjoy the work a lot.
In 1984, six death row inmates at Mecklenburg Correctional Institution escaped. It still stands as the greatest number of death row inmates to escape in the U.S. Although those men were all eventually captured, a political determination was made to change the top team at Mecklenburg. A new administrative team was put in place. The team consisted of four men, An Assistant Warden of Operations, one for Treatment, a Major and a Warden.
So the call came to Greene: "You are going to Mecklenburg tomorrow as Assistant Warden of Treatment." According to Greene, "The Assistant Warden of Treatment was the easier assignment of the four because Mecklenburg had the largest corps of high profile prisoners in Virginia, as well as Death Row. Those inmates were not generally interested in treatment, Greene noted. However, Greene enjoyed and learned much in helping make necessary changes to the prison".
His method of management was communication by listening and responding, a method that his roles of counseling and Ombudsman developed. So, Greene got his baptism by fire in his new role and it wasn't too long before he became Assistant Warden of Operations.
This new position involved the largest number of staff in the facility and meant a lot more responsibility. The experience was invaluable to his growth as a corrections administrator.
Greene was later promoted to Warden at Brunswick Correctional Center and was responsible for about 800 inmates which grew to over 1000 prisoners and 400 staff members. Inmates at the main prison were males, but an institution was built nearby for females and Greene was in charge of both facilities. He remained at that institution for the next nine-plus years and returned to Mecklenburg as Warden where he later retired from in 2003.
"It was like a little city but it had special areas of surprise. There were good days and there were tough days when you would lose your smile. However, I was blessed as no one got seriously injured or died on my watch in the 15 years I was Warden".
"I feel good that we were able to manage some serious situations without any one getting hurt. I attribute that to the excellent training that Virginia gave their officers at the academy and the professionalism of the staff. I had some wonderful people who would take my vision and put it into operation.
"I had an idea of what I wanted and I was totally amazed at how well the staff took to it. Early in my heavier management roles, I learned the value of empowering employees by giving them responsibilities, helping them in their roles, guiding and supporting them as much as I could and allowing them to make decisions at their own level which allowed them to grow. In that way you not only have a much better operation because people are more invested, but they also take pride in their work and they want to succeed. I did everything I could to give them the credit for their achievements".
"My work load lessened greatly as staff began making more decisions. I had less paper crossing my desk and fewer phone calls as to how to handle some issue".
My success was fully attributable to my people who maintained high scores on State and National audits. I never saw anyone shirk their responsibilities during a crisis. When they were in a very dangerous situation, they handled things with great efficiency. . "Some funny things happened, especially early in my career. When I was a superintendent, a friend and I went out to apprehend some escaped prisoners from somebody else's prison. We had been trained in the use of firearms, so we had them on us. We got word that an escapee was in a particular area where there were old farm shacks. We went into old deserted shacks with guns drawn, like Starsky and Hutch, and scrambled over hay stacks in a pole barn in our search. We acted tough and ready to go, of course, but we were actually scared to death.
"When we established there was no one hiding there, we went back to the command post. I took off my firearm and when I looked at it I realized it did not have the first bullet in it because it wasn't loaded. If I had run up against that fellow there was nothing I could have done aside from maybe throw it at him."
"What had happened was that I always would unload my weapon at night when I came home because of my kids; and when I had been called to duty from my house, I just grabbed my weapon and ran. I never made that mistake again!
"Another event happened when I was the Warden, during serious moments when three inmates had taken five other inmates hostage in the recreation yard which they had secured in a way that prevented officers from being able to quickly get to them. They had fashioned serious weapons and it appeared that one of them was going to kill one of the hostages. I instructed two armed officers to take positions in a nearby building and gave them orders that upon my signal, they were to come out and if necessary and without waiting for further orders, shoot to stop the hostage takers and protect the hostages. I should have given more thought to my signal which was that I would take my coat off. When I got to the area, I immediately realized that I would not be able to take my coat off as several of our strike force officers were in the field of fire. It was at least 101 degrees in the shade. I'm sure the inmates thought I was crazy to stand there and talk to them in that heat with a coat on. I could hardly take it off without starting a bunch of fireworks. Tuff moment for me, but when it all works out, you feel all the better for it".
"There is one point that I really want to make and that is that it wasn't surprising to me when the firemen and officers responded during the 9/11 tragedy by running into situations that others would try to get away from. Those who protect our citizens, whether in the military, or cops on the beat, firemen at work, or officers in correctional institutions, take pride in doing what many other people would not be able to handle. All these people go into service with lesser expectations of receiving respect and appreciation for their service, either monetarily or from recognition from the general population. So, I want to commend all these brave folks for their service to our country and to its citizenry," Greene concluded.
They met at jubilant festivities on May 8, 1945 when World war II ended in Europe. Ed was a newly-trained pilot in the British Royal Air Force and Elizabeth an ambulance driver. One can only imagine the delirious joy when the war, which had caused such damage to the English countryside and its people, finally came to an end after all those traumatic years of peril.
Ed and many servicemen from other branches had gathered at a pub in Liverpool and excitement ran high as they exchanged hats to celebrate the victory. Elizabeth entered the pub with her sister-ambulance drivers to join in the jubilation. After some time at that pub, they all went down the road to a place where there was dancing. Elizabeth was counting out her money for admission, when Ed came over to ask her to dance and within a two week period they were engaged to be married. That marriage certainly worked out well, as that couple is happily ensconced in Transylvania County in 2009.
Ed Tilston expressed his indomitable spirit with his answer to a comment that the war in Europe fortunately ended before he got into the fight, and that was lucky for him: "At the time, I didn't think so,because I was anxious to get into it. So, I immediately joined the Naval Air Force for service in the Pacific. I was probably the only one who was redundant in two services during the same war. In both cases, the fighting was over by the time I was through with the training, " Ed ruefully declared.
Ed and Elisabeth married in December, 1945, Elizabeth staying behind in England as she was pregnant with heir daughter, Jennifer, when Ed accepted a position in Brazil in 1946 as an inspector of incoming cargo on international freighters. When the baby was old enough to travel, Elizabeth left England on the last coal-burning ship for Fortaleza, North Brazil. Forteleza was the capital of the state of Ceara and a coastal city at the edge of the northern desert, a place of eternal sunshine.
"I had the owner's cabin aboard ship and when the time came to go ashore at Forteleza, the captain wanted to say goodbye to me. When I returned to get my baby daughter, I found that she had already been tossed down into cradling arms on a tugboat, since there was no dock to receive the ship;s passengers. When they told you to jump down to the tug, you just did it!" Elizabeth recalled.
Forteleza was an interesting place to live for two years with many new and exciting aspects for the young Tilston Family. As an added bonus, Western Telegraph had a beautiful place on the beach that was simply gorgeous with miles and miles of welcoming sand; and they used to invite Elizabeth and the baby to spend weekends there.
After two years and a spell of home leave in England, the family went to Sao Luis de Maranhao, where they saw their first shrunken head with red hair. They recalled that a red-haired young man had asked them to look after his mail when he was going into the jungle as a missionary and they were repulsed at the sight. Also, although their house was not really primitive, as it was nicely furnished and they had servants, there were big iron rings under the house where slaves used to be tied.
Their next post was Manaus, 1000 miles up the Amazon River, where Caruso sang in the beautiful opera house built at the turn of the century from proceeds of the rubber boom. The rubber trees grow haphazardly in the jungle, are tapped like Maple trees for syrup for a white substance that turns into a ball shaped like a football. Some rubber tree seeds were smuggled to Singapore, where the trees were planted in rows for easier harvesting.
After Manaus, they were stationed at Iquitos, Peru, which was 2200 miles up the Amazon. There were strong Army, Air Force and Navy contingents there and the Tilstons became close friends with Admiral Juan Francisco Torres Matos, the commander of the naval base and later co-president of Peru. There was very little English spoken in Iquitos, so the Tilstons learned to speak fluent Spanish, something that served them well.
Ed held various positions there: including Agent of Lloyd's of London, Correspondent of the Board of Underwriters of New York, Agent of the Booth Steamship Line, Agent of Panair do Brazil (Brazilian Airline); Fawcett Aviation Company (Peruvian Airline) and British Consul invested by the British Embassy in Lima, Peru.
The Amazon River carries freighters and even gunboats, the entire 2200 miles up that river. In fact, the Amazon carries more water than the Mississippi, the Missouri, the Nile, and the Rhine rivers combined and has 20% of the word's fresh water. The pressure of the current coming out of the Amazon into the ocean is so great that there is still fresh water 150 miles out in the Atlantic at the mouth of the river.
The Amazon has seven tributaries that are over 1,000 miles long each and is navigable all the way. About once a year, when the snow melts in the Andes Mountains in Peru, there is a rising of about 60 ft. of water that comes rushing down the river and helps carve out he deep channels. So, large ships are able to navigate the river all year around. However, they are careful not to stray outside of the channel and get stuck when the water level is low.
Everything to build houses in Iquitos was brought up by ship, including the doorknobs. The Tilston house was huge with a veranda running all around it, surrounded by heavy wire to keep out animals or anything else that might get in. Elizabeth said that the house had an indoor swimming pool and a billiard room; and Ed chimed in: "and The Ghost!"
"Oh, yes I saw the ghost, but only one time. We had just arrived at the house and were in a huge bedroom. It was a funny thing. I woke up at 2:00 a.m., wide awake, and put the light on and saw nothing. The next night, I did the same thing, as I awoke at 2;00. The third night I woke again and there was a man in a sitting position in a beautiful white linen suit. He wasn't looking at me, so I looked at him," Elizabeth revealed.
When asked if she was frightened at the sight of the man, Elizabeth answered: "No not al all. He was so peaceful. the next day I went up the street and told what I had seen. A man went in his office and said: "Yes, I think I've got a picture of that man." I looked at the picture and it was the man I had seen in my room. It turned out that the man had lived in the house previously and had died in it. It must have been at 2:00 a.m. when he died, so he came back to visit. The next night we moved out of that room and I never saw him again," Elizabeth said.
Adrian Edwin Tilston was born, July 25, 1955 in Iquitos and now lives in Sarasota, Florida where he is a computer programmer. From Iquitos the Tilstons went to the Peruvian capital of Lima, where they lived for three years from 1957 to 1959. They then moved to Port of Spain, Trinidad for one year, then back to England for a year. Then they made another move to the port of New Orleans from 1962 to 1963; and thence to New York City. Ed and Elizabeth became American citizens in 1969.
Jennifer and Adrian went to school in England, Jennifer to Roedean and Adrian to Rugby. They also attended Tulane University in New Orleans, where Jennifer was Queen of World Trade Week and given the key to the city. From New Orleans, Jennifer went to the American Academy of Dramatic Arts and then onto the Broadway Stage. Meanwhile, after Tulane, Adrian attended Pace College in New York.
Ed formed his own company in New York, Tilston Roberts Corporation, where he was a General Agent for Overseas Ship Lines. He represented many steamship companies, mostly government-owned lines such as Peruvian, Brazilian, Portuguese, Zairian, Indonesian, Pakistani, P. & O. of London, etc. When their ships called at U.S. ports they came consigned to his company and they then arranged for their cargoes (in and out), ordered tugs, pilots, berths, collection of freight, etc.
Elizabeth and Ed traveled around the world extensively, since it was necessary to visit the different government ship-owners. However, when the container trade replaced the general cargo trade of the government lines and business fell off, he closed the company.
"We lived in New York for a dozen years after retirement and then we were lucky enough to learn about Connestee Falls from one of our friends. We simply love Brevard and the friendliness of the people. We were so impressed on one of our first shopping trips when a Brevard shopkeeper took the time to direct us to another store that sold an item which he did not carry," Ed exclaimed.
The Tilstons live on top of a mountain where they have a breathtaking view of the countryside. They are surrounded by wildlife and Elizabeth recalls that they had a funny experience with red mulch. They had put three bags of the mulch outside and noticed one bag was missing after they returned from shopping. She couldn't understand why any one would take just one bag. She called the Security Department and they told her it was probably a bear that carried it off. The next day after they returned from another shopping trip, the found that another bag of mulch was missing. Then a hand-made broom that she was especially fond of disappeared from her front porch. She laughed and agreed that the bear probably needed the broom to spread out the mulch
Then, one day, she was sitting in her house and saw a big bear looking at her through the window. "He was eyeballing me and I was looking at him very calmly as I didn't want to move. I had called Ed to come take a picture of the bear, but the bear then got fed up with the whole thing and moved away, So Ed could only get a picture of his departing tail," Elizabeth recalled.
Since their retirement in Transylvania, Elisabeth has taken up pastel and watercolor painting, has knitted hundreds of prayers shawls for people in institutions, plus enjoyed many rounds of her favorite game of golf. Meanwhile Ed writes historical novels and has five of them published: Cape Bojator; The Gateway to Hell; Martin Alonso Pinzon, the mariner who preempted Columbus; The Route to Prester John; The Rape of Tawantinsuyo; and the Methuselah Legacy.
Ed is a very talented writer and has a tremendous facility with the use of the written word. His descriptions of scenes make the reader feel that he is present at the action and make the stories he writes come vividly to life.
Jennifer, the Tilston's beloved daughter, recently passed away and they would like to express their appreciation to the doctors, nurses, and staff of Transylvania Regional Hospital who showed Jennifer so much loving care and compassion during her terminal illness. The Tilstons were exceedingly impressed with the personnel at the hospital and how much the concerned care meant to their daughter and to them. Lorraine Miller Brevard
"A doorknob became a symbol to me," Brevard College's Associate Professor Barbara Boerner exclaimed as she expressed her philosophy of teaching. That came about when one of her students advised her sister to enroll in one of Boerner's business classes, assuring her it would not be boring since Boerner could even make a doorknob seem interesting!
That philosophy must have worked, as Megan Street, Brevard College Class of 2009, corroborated that assessment. "I loved her classes, as she is a great teacher. Her classes are discussion-based where you can express yourself as an individual. She definitely helped me out and I recommend her to all my friends, since you take something important away from each one of her classes," Megan said.
Barbara Boerner was born in New Jersey but moved to the Winston-Salem area of North Carolina when she was in the third grade. Even at that tender age, Boerner had already set her sights upon becoming a teacher and has spent most of her working life in that field. either as a teacher or as an administrator.
She started teaching at a girls private school in the North Hampton area of Massachusetts, and then at the Madeira School, an independent private school for girls in McLean, VA. near Washington, DC. She also served as Dean of Admissions at Gaucher College, outside of Baltimore. MD.
Boerner completed her undergraduate work at UNC-Greensboro, majoring in History and Science. After she received a national science grant to study the physical sciences, she continued her education and received her masters degree at Loyola University. She is now completing her work on her doctorate in international business.
Boerner's parents came to the United States from Europe to escape oppression there.; Even though they could speak ten languages between them, they insisted that English be spoken at home. Her parents put a high value on learning and that an education was of utmost importance, since it was something that could never be taken away from you. Barbara took this advice to heart, and spent most of her life either in learning, teaching, or in school administration leadership.
Her father did insist that she spend one year working for a large corporation in order to familiarize herself with that phase of business. So, she did spend that year as an employee of Western Electric, which was her father's company, and got her feet wet in the corporate world.
After her work as Dean of Admissions, Boerner felt that was enough school administration and started to look for a place to retire. Since her sister had property in the Transylvania area and her brother was located in Asheville, she turned to this mountain area as a place to settle down.
Boerner spent ten happy years living in a log cabin on Round Mountain, southwest of Brevard. She then decided to build a home at Glen Cannon, closer to Brevard College, and enjoyed the beauty of the forests and carefree days playing many rounds of golf.
Barbara Boerner laughs and says that it was actually her dog that got her involved with Brevard College. "My dog was a big lab mix and she needed manners. At that time, Brevard College was offering a dog obedience class through its Continuing Education Program. So, we signed up and my dog loved going to school but she didn't do very well. So, she had to take several terms and during that time I got involved with the college
"That was during the period when Brevard College was transitioning from a two-year to a four-year school, and the college asked if I would like to do a study on the gender balance of students. I wrote up my report and the college then asked me if I would be interested in coming to work to help implement the suggestions for action, since they were going through sustentative accreditation problems at the time and I had a lot of experience in that field. Of course, I said: 'Yes.'
"Then Brevard College asked me to teach a course; and then another; and finally I joined the faculty. I love to teach and they have a wonderful college and faculty here. So, I joined and it has been great." Boerner said enthusiastically.
What Boerner truly enjoys about her work is the scale of the experience at Brevard College. They keep their classes small, the faculty gets to know the students, and the students know their teachers; so they have a good rapport.
Boerner says there has been quite a difference in Brevard College and its students since it became a four year program. They have many more majors now and have a strong core of liberal arts. They also have expanded into fields like lCriminal Justice and Psychology. Of course, college programs are dynamic and always reflect the challenges of both curriculum and pedagogy.
Boerner's program is The Ethical Business Organizational and Leadership Program. The course is three-fold: The ethical core of a business; conducting and sustainability of a business and its environment, and globalization.
"Students must realize they are working in a global economy now and be prepared to function and succeed in that environment," according to Boerner She also has a course which she calls: "Jungles for Sale:" which deals with international eco-systems, business ethics, effective communication, public speaking, and writing.
Of special interest to Boerner is the ethics feature of business development; something that is being added to almost all new business textbooks. She feels that this phase of business is especially topical now after the recent excesses of some corporations and the golden parachutes awarded to the CEO's of companies with failing business records.
Boerner maintains that some CEO's completely missed the ball, because they were absolutely isolated from the general masses and their lives. She feels that corporation leaders have to be sensitive to the environment around them and that many did not fully realize that conditions had changed while they were busy running their corporations into the ground.
Brevard College has a wide range of students, both foreign and American, from all types of cultures, Many of the students are the first collegians in the family.
"As a teacher, I feel that I have to start each year with students having a clean slate. I never look up the records of their prior class performances. These students are considered legal adults at age 18. Iif a parent were to call me and ask me how little Susie is doing, I would need Susie's permission to discuss her work with her parents. We faculty members feel that we are working with the students as mentors, not as their judges," Boerner explained.
"As part of the tuition, Brevard College has an Academic Enrichment Program which is really an incredible asset and is an illustration of the sensitivity. Under this program, students can get tutoring or special help if they need it, free of charge.
"That's what I love about this place. We strive to teach the whole person through relaxed conversation. Personally, I feel that I also am constantly learning. Recently one of my students finally triumphantly handed in an assignment with the comment: 'Teachers like you, just keep after us,'" Boerner recalled with pride.
A sense of humor is tantamount to teaching, in Boerner's opinion, as it puts everything into perspective and lets the teacher loosen up on the need to control.
She did enjoy working in administration, but feels that it was a different type of venue. With administration you move away from implementation to planning; and Boerner feels very fortunate that she got back into the implementation.
"The faculty that is attracted to this place really likes to teach; and all of us carry on some degree of research and writing, but teaching is our primary love. Since we have a very active faculty, these instructors bring the value of their experiences back to the classroom.
"Going into teaching was a quality of life decision and I am thoroughly enjoying my life as an educator," Boerner summed up her life's work.
"Walks with dogs", is how Heide Coppotelli categorized herself, but she is much more than that. Her love of animals, especially canines, is just part of this remarkable woman. She is a highly educated Duke University Ph.D., an accomplished writer and philosopher; and she is a caring human being who has a deep love of justice, humanity, and the Transylvania mountains.
Born Heide Arndt in 1944 in the Harz mountains of northern Germany, she and her younger sister immigrated to Chicago, Illinois with their parents in 1956.
"My father was a journeyman electrician and he was my mother's rock; while my mother was a bookkeeper and his siren. She was the adventuress who instigated the plan to cross the ocean with nothing but her husband and two young daughters," Heide Arndt Coppotelli reminisced.
The Arndt family put a high priority on education. Heide attended the Chicago public schools, where she learned to speak English. She also began college in Chicago, studying biology. However, her formal education was not completed until after she was a married woman with a young son. She received her B.A. from New College in Sarasota, FL and her M.A. and Ph.D. from Duke University in psychology, with a specialty in clinical psychology. She later taught college courses in that field.
Coppotelli was determined to attend Duke because their graduate programs in clinical psychology were dedicated to an eclectic approach that incorporated anthropology, biology, and other disciplines into psychology. "I thought that was important, and though they were known to have a tough program at Duke, I figured better tough up front than stumped later," Coppotelli asserted.
After Coppotelli completed her residency at the VA in Tampa, Fl, she went into private practice in Jacksonville, FL where she became known for working with the traumatic stress that accompanies tragic circumstances. There she also founded one of the first critical incident debriefing teams in the country.
Only a few weeks after the debriefing team became operational, Jacksonville endured a workplace massacre that cost 10 lives and many more injuries, and her team of specially trained firefighters, police officers, and a few mental health professionals spent hundreds of hours in the service of first responders and survivors of the disaster as they dealt with the impact of that traumatic event. It was in trauma response work that Coppotelli first began to incorporate her dogs into her work as a clinical psychologist.
"You might say that the more I worked with people in desperate situations, the more I longed for the companionship of dogs, not only for myself but also for the people who were suffering. I made up my mind to search for a good dog, and as life would have it, I promptly found myself with two of them; a young German Shepherd puppy (Hope) from a guide dog breeding program and a young adult White Shepherd (Maya) who was found drowning in a creek and who needed a home.
"From the beginning, these two dogs accompanied me in my practice as a psychologist and formed a part of my life, from listening to overwrought victims of tragedy to hiking for hours in wilderness areas. To be honest, it is they who shaped my life from then on much more than I did myself.
"Accompanying me to a debriefing of police officers and firefighters in the aftermath of a tragedy, they would walk the circle of men and women who shed tears few people ever witness. Maya would stop to rest her chin on a knee, Hope would lean against a leg, and burly officers laid their heads against the dogs' ruffs. In the company of my dogs these men and women were able to lay down their burdens and express their grief.
"These kinds of experiences became a turning point in my career, as I discovered how much the dogs had to offer, and how much we humans have left to learn. Maya and Hope were remarkable therapists,” Coppotelli revealed.
These experiences led Coppotelli to close her private practice and move to the mountains in hopes of establishing a training program for dogs who would work with people with disabilities or other pressing needs in a position of partnership and in the context of family.
"My objective was to train them to work with people with physical disabilities, but also with those who had mental disabilities, who were then, and still are, marginalized and underserved," she stated.
Coppotelli moved to the Transylvania Mountains in 1997. Growing up in the Harz Mountains, this area always had a real draw for her; and for years, she and her family had come to Pisgah National Forest to backpack. So when she decided to make a big change, simplifying her life and following her passion of working with dogs, this area was her natural choice.
"For some time after we moved here, I continued to work with my dogs as assistants in my work as a psychologist, especially in area nursing homes where the dogs brought joy and strength to people suffering the losses of health, home, family, and independence. Maya and Hope helped me to have critical conversations with patients about dying, about old regrets, and about painful frustrations of being dependent on others.
"The dogs offered encouragement and support for enduring pain and for finding purpose in trudging forward. Picture a big German Shepherd snuggled in a hospital bed alongside someone lonely and frail, providing a transfusion of hope. Along the way, I lost my beloved Maya to cancer; but true to her name, Hope remained the light in my life that helped me to carry on," Coppotelli said.
"It was Hope who was at my side the morning that we received the news that my son Tino had died in a heart-breaking tragedy. By nightfall, Hope and I had a much larger extended family, with my son's dogs suddenly in need of help.
"Those were the hardest of times, finding myself unable to continue to be the psychologist who helped people through their trauma and losses, as I myself wandered, numb and lost. It was the dogs who became my guides. Like so many dogs who touch our lives, they brought balance, wholeness, and healing.
"I had initially limited my work as a dog trainer and certified behavior consultant to serving as a resource and mentor to my son, whose journey of recovery from addiction took him to working with dogs. He was a natural at relating to dogs with a rare understanding of their minds and hearts, and I was inspired by his style of communicating with them. His love for dogs is the very heart of my work.
"After my son's death, the dogs helped me to complete the work he had begun before he died. Then, they accompanied me on a continuing, incredible journey of teaching people about their faithful companions," according to Coppotelli.
Coppotelli feels that dogs have to be reared - - not merely trained -- to know the roles, rules, responsibilities and limits of life in their family/pack. She says that dogs are their own beings, not little creatures in fur coats. They are domesticated members of their human families who need protection, guidance, inclusion, and consideration for their own needs and personalities. Dogs face many difficulties in meeting the challenges of the human world into which we have brought them.
In fact, Coppotelli stressed, most dog problems arise from shortcomings in human involvement—a lack of adequate guidance and absence of understanding of the mind and behavior of dogs. The most misguided idea, she feels is that what a dog needs most is a boss.
“What dogs need most is to be allowed and helped to play a meaningful role in the lives of their people. We need to be willing to be there for them; to guide them, not just to train them. If we will let them, they have much to teach us,” Coppotelli explained.
Her own dog family has grown and changed over the years. Hope died a year ago, but not until she had helped to train Teddy, the rescued German Shepherd who now wears the service harness on which Coppotelli leans for support.
"Looking back over my life with dogs, I am altogether enormously fortunate and grateful to have known so many wonderful dogs, including those who have followed along with - and often guided - my own steps," Coppotelli concluded.
Nestled within a couple miles of each other, near the border where North Carolina meets South Carolina, live many descendants of the early settlers of the Transylvania mountains. Some family members migrated to other states in quest for employment, or through marriage to a non-Carolinian, while others followed the lure of adventure to distant lands.. However, the clarion call of the mountains has summoned many of them back to their birthplace,
Ruby Robinson Skerrett, who will soon turn a hearty ninety-one years of age, lives in a one-hundred year old cozy and attractive home, across the street from her son, the Rev. Oliver Skerrett, Jr., a Baptist minister.
Within sight is the former general country store and Exxon gas station which Ruby's father, Bunyan Robinson, opened for business in the early 1920's. The original small wooden Cedar Mountain post office was next to the store and run by the Skerrett family. The original post office building is no more, but memories linger in the minds and hearts of those folks that facility served for so long.
"My daddy gave that old post office building away, and I wish he hadn't. but the building that housed the country store remains," according to Oliver, Jr.
Ruby Skerrett is remarkably hale and hearty, has a keen mind, and still drives her car around the mountains. Small in stature, but large in spirit, this remarkable woman embodies the traditions of the closely-knit mountain families
It all started with the large Jones family, with its many sons, daughters, and their descendants. They are a part of the huge Allison-Deaver family. whose recent Brevard reunion inspired a documentary film produced by PBS. The Skerretts and their kin cling to the mountains that are so close to their hearts.
Ruby Skerrett's father, Bunyan Robinson, was a well-known member of the small Cedar Mountain community. In fact, when neighbors went by his place, they would greet him with "Hi, Bunyan"; and that is what they called the general store that he built and ran for so many years, according to his daughter Ruby.
Bunyan was an inventive, creative man who installed the area's first electric light. Aided by the power of a surplus generator, the store had one light bulb that shone in the otherwise dark community He ingeniously would plan just enough fuel to keep the light on for a short time after he closed the business each night. Then when the fuel was depleted, the light would go out by itself.
Bunyan's only child, Ruby, was born in April, at the time when the 1918 flu epidemic swept the world, even afflicting the hearty Transylvania mountain families. Her mother successfully conquered that scourge which killed so many people across the globe.
The nearby state park, the DuPont Forest, was formerly known as Buck Forest and was home to Skerrett's ancestors. Ruby's grandfather lived and farmed near the magnificent High Falls in that forest. "It had rather poor land for farming, but it produced enough food and animals, to keep the family fed, according to Oliver, Jr.
Among the tales told about the early Jones boys, Oliver recalls that of Harlan Jones who hid in a cave for about a year to evade the draft during World War I. He eventually surrendered and enlisted in the service where he was stationed in Sevierville, Georgia.
"The cave has a large room and you can go through a tunnel to another room, It was called "Harlan Jones Cave" for a long time, and later referred to as Moonshine Cave during the prohibition era," according to Oliver.
Ruby Skerrett graduated from Brevard High School and Brevard College and went on to Greenville, South Carolina to work at the First National Bank during World War II. While attending a USO dance in Greenville, she met the man she would marry: Oliver Skerrett, of Yonkers, New York. He was stationed at the nearby Greenville Air Force Base; and, although he had enlisted in the air force, he was suddenly transferred to the army during the perilous days of the Battle of the Bulge in Belgium. He was part of General George Patton's army that swept through France and Belgium, but luckily was never injured during that conflict.
Upon her husband's discharge from the service at the end of the war, Ruby and her young son Oliver, Jr. moved to New York state. Meanwhile, Bunyan Robinson missed his only daughter, Ruby; and when he offered the young couple the general store in Cedar Mountain they happily moved to the mountains of Transylvania and ran that store and adjoining post office for over thirty years.
"It was fun running the country store, but it could get pretty lonely during the winter months when there were few customers, But, as the postmaster of the old wooden post office next door there was a lot more activity and I generally got to know a lot about everybody's business," Ruby ruefully remarked.
The original post office was eventually replaced by another one across from the present Grammy's Restaurant, where Skerrett also acted as postmaster The post office was moved once again and is the present modern brick building which is a couple miles to the north of the former post offices.
Ruby has four children: Oliver, Jr., Rick, Rita, and Ameran. Her son Oliver has four children: Dawn, Angela, Jonathan, and Stefanie, Her son Rick has a son Craig. Her daughter Rita has two children: Robbie and Erin; and her daughter Ameran has two children: Meredith and Lauren.
Oliver Skerrett, Jr. is a Baptist minister and has his doctorate from the Southeastern Seminary. When asked how he chose to be a minister, he replied: "You don't choose to be a minister, it chooses you." And, that's right, when a person receives the calling.
Rev. Skerrett has pastored in Florida, on the East Coast of North Carolina, in Hendersonville, NC, and in the state of Virginia. "I found that people are about the same, wherever you go; but it was amusing to me that the Virginians were so intrigued by my mountain accent," he said.
His Virginia church was built in 1774 before the United States became a nation. It had the unusual name of Pamonkey Church as it was named after the Indian tribe that had lived in that area. The old building was built out of sturdy bricks, had big planks to bar the doors from the inside. and an upper room where the slaves could worship. "We changed that room into a balcony and now everyone worships together," said Pastor Skerrett.
Oliver Skerrett also did tool and die work as a side line and has written a book about pastoring which is now in the process of negotiation with publishers
There is much humor and good-natured bantering, punctuated with laughter, during conversations with Ruby and Oliver Skerrett, as they are content with their lives and feel that the Transylvania mountains present the best in living and spiritual fulfillment.
Three sisters, still living in their own homes, doing remarkably well, and all in their nineties! That's worth looking into!
The life of Dixie Jones Lane, the middle sister, is a great example of aging gracefully. Well into her nineties, Dixie gardens, keeps house, still plays a sharp, weekly game of bridge, and - as she puts it - "I still have a few of my marbles left."
Ninety-six year old Lane said that somebody remarked that the sisters may have lived that long because they were active youngsters and ate organic food while growing up. "But, who knows? I don't think we need all these chemicals and things, and I don't think they are progress, I think they are a hindrance. But we can't do much about it, can we? My sister Vera Stinson, is remarkable at 98 and my younger sister Annie Wickcliffe is 92 and can remember things better than any one," Lane confided.
Lane is the daughter of Solomon Jones who had eleven children, five sons and three daughter surviving childhood. The Jones family lived along the border of North and South Carolina where they owned 165 acres of land and played a prominent role in the history of this area. If you trace way back in time, the mountain natives are almost all related to each other in some way, and the Jones family is no exception.
"Having a large family is a blessing. In fact, there is no greater blessing than to sit down at the table with 10 to 11 people. We worked and played hard and when we sat down to meals, we ate whatever we had. My dad would say: 'If you don't like something, you don't have to eat it. But your mother has worked long and hard to prepare this meal, so don't make any remarks,' We always had plenty of food to eat. It wasn't gourmet, by any means; but I thought it was," Lane reminisced.
Lane feels that part of the problem with families today is that they don't sit at the table for meals and discuss things. "The mothers don't cook much, and I can understand why. The dads are out of the house and are not part of the communal meals, either. The children don't exhaust their energy and whip up their appetites by working and playing outside. "They stay in the house and play with their computers, instead; and I think that's the reason they are not hungry and pick at their food," Lane commented.
"We had a great family and a remarkable mother and father. Although times were tough and there was an unending number of chores, my mother never complained. She was so happy. My dad was so good to her. He would help her out whenever he could. We didn't have money. To tell you the truth, I didn't know you had to have money! Even now, money doesn't mean that much to me We just had each other. We still are all family and stick together," Lane remarked.
Discussing behavior, Lane said that during the first half of the 1900's children did as they were told, out of respect. "If my dad had told me to go out and stand in the middle of the street, I would have gone and wouldn't have asked why. My dad disciplined the boys and my mother disciplined the girls. When they said: 'Do it", we did it. We were much happier than the children of today. I feel that children really want discipline and that is the way it was meant to be. You learned that your parents had more sense than you did!" Lane said.
When the conversation turned to the many present day catastrophes: floods, earthquakes, fires, tornadoes, hurricanes, and droughts: Lane wondered if the Bible was fulfilling its predictions and we are in our latter days.. But, thinking about it, she added: "Of course, nobody knows but the Good Lord. And the drought which we are now experiencing also happened in 1925 in the Southeast, but things later came back to normal. So, who knows?
"For years, around 1925, it was dry, dry, dry. I was 12 or 13 years old at the time. I can remember folks wouldn't let us sing the song: "It ain't going to rain no more, no more," she recollected with humor. "In fact, I heard my husband's father say that the Chattahoochee River dried up so much they had a small turnip patch on the side of the little creek, barely one foot wide, that was left.
"In fact, I remember that drought so well here in these mountains at that time. We used to get our water from a spring near our house and it dried up. We had a spring house with a trough where the water went all the way through it. That's where we put our butter and milk because it was such cold water. In fact, you couldn't bathe in it. We'd catch the water and let it warm up before we got a bath.
"But when the drought came and our spring dried up, we had to find another spring about 1/3 of a mile away from our house. I remember it so well because I had to carry all that water to the house in a bucket. By the time I got to the house, it was about all splashed out and I would have to go back and get another bucket! But lots of people were out of water and had to carry it different places. So the drought we are having now is not so strange. I've always heard, what goes around, comes around. There hasn't been as much rain as we used to have. I think that taking so much of the forest off the high mountains tops has done a lot of harm to the springs. I know I am conservative with my water now," Lane remarked.
When Lane was young, they used to live at a hotel at 'Caesar's Head,where her father was the postmaster. Many educated travelers stayed at the hotel and they taught the children a lot about life! At that time she went to the one-room schoolhouse at Cedar Mountain. It was a long way for a little girl to walk to schooll and her brothers said they wouldn't carry her there. So, she didn't start school until she was eight years old. "I later taught at that same school. In fact, I used to say that I was the teacher, the principal, and the janitor: the whole thing!" Lane laughed as she described the situation.
After Lane took the job, she told her brother she didn't think she could do it because there were seven grades to teach. So, he sat down with her and showed her how to do it. He said: "Now, you'll take the third grade students and have the second and first graders sit with them and have the the younger ones learn from them And then you will arrange the rest of the school the same way:. "So,they all learned each other. They were great kids and were not trying to get out of learning. I loved those children dearly and they loved me," Lane recalled with pride.
When she was a young lady living in Decatur, Georgia, she met her husband, Curtis Lane, on a blind date in Atlanta. They were immediately attracted to each other and Curtis said: "I want to take you back to your home on the 4th of July." And I answered: "I already have plans. I have a date for that time." But he replied: "Well, I would suggest that you cancel that other date, because it would be strange to have two men there at the same time, and I am coming, anyway."
Dixie dated Curtis for six months before they married and she felt that they knew each other pretty well because they had a date every night. Since he played softball for Chrysler Motor Company, they had a lot of friends on the team. They would go to downtown Atlanta to the Varsity Club to see Nipsy Russell, the entertainer, who was often their waiter. Curtis then went to work for the post office , using the trolley or a bus for transportation. Later he was promoted to supervisor of the incoming mail at the Atlanta Post Office.
Lane's children, Nancy and Barbara, were born in Atlanta where they went to high school until Nancy's last year. The family then moved to Decatur and Nancy attended Druid Hills High School. Lane would chaperone the kids on trips to Daytona Beach, Florida and Savannah, Georgia. "I would say: 'Now, you make your own rules; but you've got to go in pairs wherever you go and you have to be back in bed by 1:00. One girl said she wasn't coming in at that time. So, I told her:''You know, there's a bus leaving at 9:00 in the morning; and, if you don't get back by 1:00, you'll find yourself on it.' She was back by 1:00!" Lane related
When her husband Curtis retired, her brother Joe Earl and his wife, Blanche, let them come to live in their garage apartment near her old homestead.. Joe Earl and Curtis have both passed, but Dixie and Blanche are best of friends and dearly love each other.
Nowadays, Lane is known by many as the "Dahlia Lady', as she has grown such magnificent specimens for years. In fact, there are long even rows of stakes planted in front of her home where these flowers. grow. Lane explained that the bulbs usually do not freeze in her garden and do not have to be dug up and replanted each year. However, they do multiply and it is necessary to separate the clumps every two to three years. Replanting the new clumps increases the plants and her garden keeps getting larger.
Lane is interested in current affairs, has a positive outlook on life, and embodies the strength and spirit of the local mountain women. She is a fountain of information about the old days in this area and is an inspiration to younger people. Each 4th of July her grandsons and their families, who live in Pompano Beach, Atlanta and Cincinnati, come to visit and are welcomed home, as there is a deep and abiding love and kinship between them. They are all drawn back to the mountains which they love so much.
Born a Smucker, she became Barbara Anne Liggett when she married her college sweetheart, Bob Liggett. "I'm fourth cousin once removed from the Smucker Jelly president; no beneficiary, but I do make our own jams and jellies," Barbara said.
She was born March, 1938 on a farm in Northwest Ohio, the same place her dad was born. Her mother died when she was a year and a half old, "So my father and I went to live with his parents in a rural town a mile away," she related.
January 1, 1942, Alma came from Minnesota to work at a small airfield nearby Needing a place to stay, she rented a room from Barbara's grandmother for $8.00 a week, including meals. "That year, for my birthday, she gave me my first book and read stories to me. I don't know if that was to amuse me or to snag my father," Barb recalled. Red Smucker and Alma married August, 1945 and continued to live there until five years and four babies later. Barbara's family then moved to the farm.
Barbara attended Capital University in a two-year teacher program. By the end of this course, Bob was a senior and ready for graduate school where he earned a M.S. in Bacteriology at the University of Cincinnati.i. They married that fall. Barb taught 2nd and 3rd grades in Cincinnati public schools for four years. "This was a learning experience for me as much as for the students, who were either African American or Appalachian," Liggett said.
At that time, the Liggetts lived in a suburb of Hebron, Kentucky; however, their dream was to live on a farm some day. Their son, Robin, was born in 1962 and the family moved to a 117 acre hill farm that same year.. The county seat, Warsaw, was five miles away and on the Ohio River "Although our house had many drawbacks, we ignored them; instead enjoying the beauty of the area and the isolation. Only four cars passed by during the day, and we knew who they were," Barbara recalled.
"We had a large garden and I canned and froze all our vegetables. There was a tobacco base on our farm and we grew it on shares. Mr.Reed farmed with mules and it was a thrill to hear the harness jingle early in the morning when he walked his mules up to cultivate the tobacco. When it was time to cut and hang the tobacco in our barn, we all helped," Liggett explained
Three years after moving to the farm, Heather Anne was born. When Heather started school, Barbara became a substitute teacher. This gave her an opportunity to learn about the people and the politics of the county. "I'd always been involved in Extension Programs since I was a kid in 4-H. Now, I joined the extension Homemaker Club and learned all kinds of skills, from reupholstering to decorating and needlecrafts," she said. (Barbara is now helping with a needlepoint project for St Philip's Church.) Throughout her years she's been a 4-H leader and held club, county and state offices in Homemakers.
"One of my passions is books and there was no library in our county. So, once a week I drove the children thirty-five miles to the nearest library, It was our day out for shopping and errands and books. I wrote a letter to the district director of libraries and about fifteen years later I was on the library board and a new library was built in our area," Barbara said.
When a job opened up through extension for an EFNEP (Expanded Food and Nutrition Program) , Barbara applied and got the job. She received nutrition lessons through the University of Kentucky and taught low-income women how to cook from scratch, and can and freeze vegetables from their gardens. In the summer, she held day camps for program family kids and recruited her own children to help out. With her connections in the school, it was easy to bring nutrition programs into the classroom, where nearly 50% were on reduced lunch programs. For this she won a state award.
There was no kind of agency such as Sharing House in the county, but the needs were the same as they are here in Transylvania. She proposed a project to start a food pantry with the minister of the Christian Church in town. He met with other ministers who asked their congregations for food donations which were then stored in his church basement; while Barb got volunteers to 'man the store' on Saturdays. This proved to be a big help for many people. At Christmas, she requested homemaker clubs and the Women's Club to give hats and mittens and toys for the program family children. More volunteers were recruited to help deliver the items. Barb worked in EFNEP for five years and then sold ads for the county paper for a few years.
Barb and Bob planned to build a house on the hill in their woods some day. "Finally, in 1978, we got a basement dug. We hired a local carpenter who framed the house with Bob and Robin's help. We finished it, with most of the work being done in the summers when Bob was out of school. Working part time, this took six years. By this time we had finished putting in the electricity and had all the floors and walls finished. That Christmas I stated that the tree would be up in the new house. Christmas is a happy time in our house, so the kids decided we'd be in the house, too," Barb related.
Three days before Christmas, when Rob was home from college, he talked his sister Heather into helping him move the furniture while Barb and Bob were gone to work. What a shock Barb had when she came home to see the pickup truck going up the rutted dirt lane, loaded with furniture. Heather was leaning into a marble topped dresser with all her 100 pounds.
"That night Bob and I slept on the floor next to the Jotul woodstove, our source of heat in our original house. Up the hill with no heat, Heather and Robin spent the first night in our new house. The next day, with the help of neighbors, we moved in, too. Our heat that first winter was from a Kerosun heater that the neighbors lent us," Barb remembered.
One day, soon after Bob retired from teaching, he asked Barb if she'd like to go back to school and get her degree. They had put both of their children through Transylvania University and now Barbara enrolled at Northeren Kentucky University and she graduated with a B.S. in Mental Health and Human Service. "This gave validity to all the things I had done without it," Barb said.
They spent nearly twenty years enjoying their house on the hill. However, gradually their quiet was invaded by increased noise from more traffic to the Cincinnati airport, the roar from a NASCAR track that they could hear although it was five miles away, as well as lights from a casino on the Indiana shore of the Ohio River punctuating the evening lights with its beams. Also, more people who didn't respect the land or other's property were moving in.
"We learned about Connestee Falls through a newspaper ad that listed places to retire. Barb's aunt and uncle lived in Naples North Carolina where she visited frequently over the years, first as a teenager and then with our family; but we had never been to Brevard. We made a trip to look at Connestee and loved Brevard. So, we went back home and put the farm up for sale and subscribed to the Transylvania Times to keep up with the area news. Each week we were thrilled to see all the things happening in Brevard and to read about all the volunteering that was going on," according to Barbara.
Finally, the farm sold in September of 2000 and the Liggetts moved to Connestee. A week later they read in the paper that Vera Stinson was going to demonstrate how to smoke apples at the Cedar Mountain Bird Migratory Festival. Bob was surprised because he had taught school with Stinson in Cincinnati forty years before. So, they went to the festival and Bob was even more surprised that Vera recognized him after all those years. When Barb met Vera Stinson and heard her stories, she offered to type them up for Stinson's book, "Stumbling Blocks Were Stepping Stones in Appalachia". Their friendship flourished and is alive to this day.
After her many years of service to her communities, Barbara Liggett declares that she is a :retired" volunteer and that she will now content herself by enjoying her mountain home with her husband.
Driving on US-276 from Brevard toward Greenville, S.C is quite challenging to the novice mountain driver because the road is replete with sharp curves and an almost constant uphill climb. However, about eight miles south of Brevard, there is a large area of flat land. There are several real estate agencies there, plus an overlook for the double waterfalls called Connestee Falls. This area has an interesting background and one person who can relate the stories is Michael Hendricks of Brevard. The Hendricks family has lived in the Transylvania area for several generations. His grandfather had a small business there where patrons could ride ponies. "The poor ponies would make about four or five turns around the area and then wouldn't want to go any further," Hendricks recalled with a laugh. Michael was born at the Transylvania Community Hospital when it was housed in the present Brian Center building His family owned a large yellow wooden house on the property which now is the Brevard Post Office. Hendricks had three sisters: one is a real estate broker, one teaches Lamaze, and the other is deceased. He also has a daughter, Mary who works at Doc's restaurant, and four other children. Hendricks graduated from Brevard High School where he played football "Instead of going on to college, I signed up for the Marine Corps and didn't further my education, which disappointed my father a lot," Hendricks recalled. Hendricks fought in Vietnam and is now a disabled war veteran. "I was standing quite close to a mortar dump and we just got through putting about 12 mortars into that pit when they shot a mortar right into the pit. The explosion was so bad that I lost about 60% of my hearing and am still on medication at the V.A. for injuries I got," said Hendricks. When Hendricks was discharged from the Marines in 1968, he came back to Brevard. "If you had your uniform on, you just stood out and people were throwing coke bottles, cursing, and spitting on you; all over, every where. I went for a long time worrying about how the returning Vietnam vets were treated, but I'm not going to worry about it, any more We did some terrible things over there. War is an atrocity and I'm not for it, but I'm for the warriors. Thank God, we've got them," Hendricks said He couldn't find a job in Brevard upon his return from the military. So he took a job at Sea Pines in Florida as a salesman, selling lots in a new development Realtec was building. This company was owned by a Florida man called Stanley Whitcomb, who still has a house in Connestee Falls. Hendricks was part of a forty-man sales team when the company started developing Connestee Falls in 1971. However, he had been born in the area and had a lot of local knowledge. That's where the story of the large flat area on US-276 comes into the picture, as it was the staging area for the sales force and Hendricks is very familiar with what happened there. Hendricks walked around the area, pointing out various venues. "Before we moved in here, this was a big parking and "sparking" area. It was full of empty beer cans when we first took it over; which we cleaned up, of course. There was a beer garden on top of the nearby hill to the north in 1935-40. It is gone now, but the outhouse still stands there. Also, in the 70's there was a snack place up there run by a guy called Landreth Bagwell and later by a Galloway. Also, there was an old grist mill located at the falls, called Summey's Mill. "The county being dry at the time, there were whiskey stills in that area and we found about seven of them; that is, pieces and parts of them. We also found stones from log cabin fireplaces that had been built. Unfortunately, people starting taking the stones. Since we had about 4,000 acres, it was kind of tough to secure all of it," Hendricks related. That entire old parking lot was used by the sales department at the inception of Connestee Falls. They flew in prospective buyers from Florida and other areas every weekend. "There were times when we had 60 couples looking at the property for lots, and 55 of them would buy. We used to keep the parking lot well policed Every thing was carefully manicured and the food was the best. "We were constantly washing down the lot. One funny incident I remember was when one of our young guys got a five-gallon can of concentrated soap and started spreading it around the parking lot. I can still remember the glug-glug-glug sound as he walked along, emptying the can. He then tried to wash it down with a pressure hose. The more he washed it, the deeper the suds got until the suds were up over people's cars," Hendricks recalled with humor. They had quite a marketing effort as the program developed. At first, they used a trailer that looked like an interrogation room where they interviewed prospective buyers. The room just had a coke machine and they would bring coffee in for them. They later built a sales office up on the hill and several roundette buildings; one was used as a restaurant and others as housing for overnight guests. One of the main drawing cards was the presence of Eddie Arnold, the movie actor who starred in the TV comedy series: "Green Acres" with Eva Gabor. Many of the scenes in Arnold's movies were shot around Asheville and Brevard. The series also featured Arnold, the pig that could do so many tricks. "I asked Eddie Arnold how they were able to teach that pig all those tricks and he replied that they had about 12 to 15 pigs and each one could do a couple tricks," Hendricks revealed. Realtec hired a bunch of good-looking young girls from Brevard, dressed them up in fringed short skirts and boots, and had them drive the prospective buyers to the salesmen in golf carts so they could make their sales presentations. Then the salesmen would take the prospective buyers out to look at the falls. They started a ritual where the buyers would throw money down the falls before they started out on the tours. They would stand there and throw half dollars, quarters and dimes as far down the falls as they could throw them "After we were all through selling, I went down the sides of the falls with a metal detector and found $185.00," said Hendricks. The salesmen just followed the bulldozers on the new roads that were put in. They had plans for all four lakes and started with Ticoa, but were working on all of them. "There was a lot of earth moving going on. There was a huge wheat field where Lake Ticoa is now, near the old Batson Creek. The crew had standing orders to bulldoze the log cabins down and most were originally destroyed. The site for the old Batson home has recently been discovered. In fact, there will be a historical site grand opening there on the morning of August 9th, 2008 for the residents of Connestee. "While excavating for the lakes, we found an old carriage stuck in the mud, way down over its wheels. We tried and tried to pull it out, unsuccessfully; so we just covered it up with dirt, Many of the salesmen would just ride through the wilder areas on horseback, following the bulldozers as they opened up new areas. We had a map and we would show them where a lot was located. They originally set up thirty-two units, numbering the first lot in each unit with the number 1. I remember thinking, 'people buying those lots ain't never going to find their lot again, if they don't do something to mark them more carefully.' However, If people bought a lot they couldn't readily identify, we'd give them a time frame to come back when it was accessible. We didn't have that many people that were going to start building houses right away, as they were just looking to buy property at that time, We figured that was going to happen when we started selling the lots," Hendricks recalled. "It was never the idea to make it the retirement community it is now. It was originally planned with 1/2 acre lots as a summer place where young people could come and vacation in their cabins." Hendricks smiled as he remembered those days. The main dirt road coming in was originally called Johnson Road. It was later named Connestee Trail. The original tour was only about 10 miles long; although there are, at least, 50 miles of paved roads in the community at present. "One time, we broke out the Cherokee Dictionary and every one set down and started laughing and naming the streets. I said: 'Those people are going to hate us with those complicated names. Some of the names are not too bad, but some are almost impossible,'" Hendricks recalled with amusement. There were a lot of wild animals living there: bears, mountain lions, bobcats and such; although there were only a few deer at the time. (DuPont imported herds of deer and they migrated to the new area and multiplied where they were protected from hunting.) "There were plenty of rattle snakes and copperheads, but we ran most of them out," said Hendricks. One time, Hendricks was showing a lot to a prospective handicapped buyer who was in a wheel chair. The man wanted something flat; which is difficult to find in these mountains. However, when he was shown such a lot, they came upon a rattle snake which Hendricks killed with a little stick. The man was horrified and said that if he had known there were snakes, he wouldn't have looked at the lot. With good humor, Hendricks told him that each lot was only allowed one snake and he had already taken care of it. The golf practice range used to be where the tennis courts and the walking track are now. There also was a toboggan run down the side of the hill at that spot. Hendricks explained that it used to get much colder and that the many rainy days produced quite a lot of snow and ice. "We built a 300,000 gallon water tank near the first clubhouse. You could see the water splashing as it flowed over and filled up the whole building after a line freeze in 1976. Also, when the water tower was put in near Lake Ticoa, there were very few houses near there at the time. The pressure was so great, that those homeowners had to put suppressors on their lines," Hendricks reminisced as he toured the present area. However, the economy fell apart in 1973-74 and housing took a hit. They stopped building because people couldn't sell their houses any where. The economy was in a downturn with the Vietnam War, just about like it is now in 2008. After the marketing program closed down, Realtec sold some of those roundettes. However, one still remains and is still there in commercial use at present. Hendricks built his family one of the first log cabins in the development on Moy Toy Road. It had a wooden roof and wooden gutters; with a large fieldstone fireplace which he built himself. His five children were born in that house. His daughter, Mary, was the first child to be born in the community. The family drove them down to the main gate where they were picked up by the Brevard school busses to go to school. Hendricks says he was very lucky to be able to live there. Hendricks is now retired and spends most of his time fishing. He suffers the effects of the disability he received during his Vietnam service and has started a little project in retirement. He has an invention he has patented and is selling. It attaches to a fishing pole, vibrates when manipulated, and attracts fish. It is called "Grandpa Carl's Fish Caller." He can be located in the Transylvania phone directory on Island Ford Road, if anyone is interested in the fish lure. While touring the present day community, Hendricks remarked:"I think that, all in all, the people that worked here did a good job. What I see here now in 2008 pleases me, so much. We got it all done and were really doing our best. Now that so many people are living here, they all seem to be happy with it and that makes me feel good," concluded Hendricks. Lorraine Miller
They would never have met, if they hadn't both been in the service and stationed at Camp Gordon, Georgia (now Fort Gordon), at the same time. She was from Missouri and he was from Long Island N.Y., a good distance from each other. But, when they met, a romance started that resulted in a happy marriage of over 50 years!
Mary Urso was born Mary Geneva White in Southern California in 1936 during the Great Depression. "Jobs were not to be had, at that time, and Mama and Daddy wandered all over trying to find work. I can remember back to when I was three years old and we went to live with my great-grandmother in a town called Marshall, Missouri. That woman had raised my Mama, too," said Urso.
It is strange what children remember from their childhood, those events that made an impression and remained in their memories. "We lived in a tiny little house and my Daddy drove a "Cat". He knocked over trees and one killed a mother squirrel, leaving six little babies. So Daddy put the baby squirrels in a little box and brought them home. Mama raised them, feeding them milk from one of my dolly baby bottles. As they grew up, those little rascals got into everything in the house. Finally, my Daddy took them outside and let them free. I was about four or five years old and I cried when the little squirrels left," recalled Urso.
At age 72, bright and alert, Mary Urso now lives at the Brian Center in Brevard. Sitting in the social area on her floor, she needed no introduction as her welcoming smile immediately identified her as the person waiting to be interviewed.
Her spirit shines through with Christian acceptance of her physical limitations. as Mary is handicapped and uses a walker. But she has a very optimistic outlook on life and is a joy to visit with. Sitting, side by side with her, surrounded by several people who were being served their lunches , she seemed in no hurry to be served her food. She eagerly started a friendly conversation, her brown eyes sparkling as she spoke.
Urso smiled as she related that she had cataract surgery on her one eye the past Friday, and she can see much better now because every thing is so much brighter. She apologized for interrupting our conversation while the aide administered her eye drops. Mary will have the other eye done soon and is looking forward to it, as she wants to be able to read and do her embroidery. Her spirit is strong and she is determined for her health to improve.
Urso is eager to talk about her life experiences and starts right in with her story. "I was born Mary Geneva White in Southern California in 1936 during the depression time. I can remember back to when I was three years old and my Daddy and Mama wandered all around seeking whatever jobs they could find; but jobs were hard to find So, although my dad was from California, we went to my mother's family in Marshall, Mo. to live. We stayed with my great-grandmother who had raised Mama," Mary recalled.
Urso had an aunt who had been in the U.S Army driving an ambulance during World War II. Mary was very impressed with that adventure; and, although she kept it a secret, her ambition always was to join the service, also. As soon as she was eighteen years old and of age, she did just that. She joined the service, just near the end of the Korean war.
"I went through all that eight weeks training, you know. I was crawling on the ground, getting into fox holes with bullets flying overhead, to end up as a Medical Technician, which is really a glorified nurse's aide. I was at Fort Houston in Texas and then at Fort Jackson, South Carolina. Then I went to Camp Gordon in Georgia," Urso reminisced.
Then came the coincidental meeting which was to change Mary's life, as her future husband was also based at camp Gordon,where he typed the records of who was present and who was AWOL, she related.
"The ward that I worked on faced the front door of the ward where he worked. It was the last of May, or early June, and I was at the back door taking a little break. It was oh, so hot. There was hardly any breeze. Down the road came this really green '49 Ford and stopped. So I really looked at the man who came out because I had never seen such a man like him before. He was about 5 ft. 3" or, maybe 5 ft. 4". I was used to men who were five foot ten or more - big men, you know; and I thought he was so cute
Matters progressed a a rapid rate. "I said: 'How do you do? My name is Mary Geneva.' I didn't know what else to say. We went swimming on a picnic. I had to borrow a swim suit. I was a big girl at 5', 8" and measured 40-28-40. I was solid, but not fat at the time. I didn't know how to swim. but I could float so that's what I did. We then went out on a Friday and he said: 'Would you take a chance and marry me?' I took that chance and said: 'yes'. It was a good match. We both had a good sense of humor, were old fashioned Christians as we were both brought up in the faith, and we were married for 51 years, We had our ups and downs, like all married folks, but we made it," Urso reminisced.
Urso explained that she had signed up for a four year hitch, but when she became pregnant after their marriage, she was no longer able to stay in the service. They eventually had five children in all. The children were mostly named after family members, some of them relating to Urso's Italian heritage. In order, the children were: Giovanni for her husband's father, but they called John. Then, a daughter was born called Tina. Frank didn't want any of the children named after him, but Mary named the next son Thomas Frank, anyway. Then came daughter Judith Marie, followed by the last child, Wayne Peter. Mary explained that she and her husband were both great John Wayne fans and thus came the name Wayne.
After Mary and Frank left the service. they started moving all over the country. One of their homes was on Long Island, New York; where they opened a bakery shop. Frank was an Italian baker who was famous for the delicious bread he baked. He made cannolis, donuts, pastry, bagels, rye bread, White Mountain Rolls, and Tiger Rolls. He really worked hard, starting his ovens early in the morning to have his wares ready for sale when the store opened. "I helped him all I could. He baked and I cleaned up the mess after him. I was carrying my daughter Judy at the time," Urso recalled.
Their traveling ways continued as they moved to Cumberland, Virginia. They bought a long strip of land, five acres in size. "We cut our way through the trees, right up to the top of the hill. There, we pitched a tent while we were building our cinder block house. The kids loved living in the tent, as they thought we were camping. We lived like that for eight months while the house was being built.
"Frank got a job as a machinist. But when that job ended, he went to work for the Biggs furniture people, who built reproduction furniture The company had contracts with Monticello for building reproductions. However, the furniture was high price because it was all made out of mahogany. My husband was building Benjamin Franklin Roll Top Desks. We got one for ourselves and it had all kinds of secret places to put things. We never told the kids about the secret hiding places because that is where we kept our papers. Afterwards, we sold the cinder block house and started moving again from one place to another," Urso explained.
"We finally moved to South Carolina to the Greenville area. He became a tutor there for people who couldn't read or write. A young man came to him, asking him to help him because he had a job at the hospital and needed to be able to read. So, Frank taught him, right from the first grade and on up to the high school level. This worked out so well that he taught several men to read and write and they all became good friends. The State of South Carolina honored the high school students who he taught for their success; but they also honored Frank with a plaque as a master tutor for illiterate people," Urso explained with pride.
"Unfortunately, Frank died the year before last from heart trouble. At the end, he was in a wheel chair because he was passing out all the time. I was gaining weight and I was not in good health, myself. I was suffering from heart trouble and had to have open heart surgery. But, I developed a bad infection, because I was allergic to the surgical metal they used during the operation. I couldn't stand the surgical metal they used. They had to open me up again and take out all those copper wires and other metal, while removing part of both of my breasts," Urso explained.
I was in the hospital in Greenville at the time. However, they brought me to North Carolina to the Brian Center. The doctor told me I had to lose weight before they could operate, because I weighed 365 lbs. So I lost 100 lbs, and I said to the doctor: 'Now, can you operate?' and he said 'yes,' So, I went to Asheville to the doctor and he operated on me. But that wasn't the end of the problems, because then I got uterine cancer. Got that taken care of and got over that. But, there's no end to it. Now, I'm having trouble with the cartilage in both knees and they want to replace them. I'm not anxious to have more surgery. If I can get by with cortisone shots for the pain, instead of operations, I'm going to do that," Urso said with quiet determination.
Mary Urso loves music, according to Lorraine Mitchell, the Activities Director at the Brian Center. A group from the Brevard Music Center came over to entertain the patients at the Brain Center and Urso was so thrilled that she walked them to the door when they left, and said: "Thank you for bringing music back into my life." "So we took Mary Urso to the Porter Center to hear the music and arranged for her to go backstage to meet the musicians. It was one of Urso's moments of great joy," said Mitchell.
Urso is happy that her children are nearby, except for two of them. They come to see her and she seemed contented with her life. When asked about how she felt, she said: "I try to make the best of it, but now at 72 years of age, I just want to get along as best I can. I try to get as much out of each day as I can." Her strong faith and positive attitude have gone a long way in helping her to accept her illnesses and handicaps and keep up her good spirits.
