Thanks to volunteers that keep the town looking good

Beautiful Spring Day

June 1, a beautiful spring day in Appalachia. Blue skies and white clouds and no rain!

Visit from Oak Ridge

Danny Bush from Oak Ridge, TN visited us last week for a few days. The weather was nice enough for us to sit on the porch and reminisce of our younger days growing up in Inman.

I finally had to break out the old Appalachia year books we had in high school, “Accolades”. This brought back a lot of memories and events we enjoyed while attending our old beloved school.

It was amazing to see ourselves and friends 55 years ago and then counting how many have passed out of this life since our graduations. 

We are the senior citizens and the “older generation.” One thing is true. We cannot do anything about it, just enjoy the few senior benefits.

Miss Grocery Store Visits

I always enjoyed going to our local grocery store and seeing and talking to people we had known all our lives like J. Fred Tate and other friends.  Now people are having to place their grocery orders by phone and curb pickup, which is a great service because when we were in our 14 day quarantine in May we had to do that.

Gary and Danny were talking about working at “Bonds” store and customers called and placed an order and they took a buggy and filled the order and then placed it in a truck and Don Honeycutt drove and they delivered to the customer. Those were the days!

Walter Blair, Randy and Rick Blair, John McCarroll, the Bush brothers, June Klenick, Thelma Lester, Edith Gillenwater, these people made this their job, to serve the people.

55th Wedding Anniversary

Last week Brenda and Robert Anderson celebrated their 55th wedding anniversary!

Brenda being a proud Viking and Robert being a proud Bulldog, they overcame and enjoyed 55 years of marital bliss and raised two sons, Robert Jr. and Travis and now two grandchildren.

They look back on 55 years and have enjoyed all the years they have shared and look forward to more anniversaries in their future.

We all wish them a Happy Belated Anniversary.

Appreciate Volunteers

We do appreciate the volunteers Chris Williams, Johnny Johnston, Janet and Johnny Chandler for keeping the Town of Appalachia’s grass mowed and  looking good. There is a lot of mowing associated in this small town. Let these men and lady know how much we appreciate them. Great job!

Maintaining the water line delemmas and garbage truck problems keep our small working crews very busy during the day and the inmates are not available now. We do appreciate all the volunteers and town workers and especially the town manager. He has a big hand in all this.

Learned of Passing

I was so surprised to learn of the passing of Jimmy Woods. Last year he was at the Cultural Arts for the home boy reunion in August. First time I had seen him since we graduated 55 years ago at AHS.

He told me all the things he had been involved in since we graduated and seemed very pleased with his life.

We send our condolences to Jimmy’s family.

Great News

The Lions Club in Appalachia will definitely meet on June 11 at 7 p.m. in the former Senior Citizens building on Main Street in Appalachia.

Susie has the meal ready to prepare, pinto beans, kraut and winners, fried potatoes, killed lettuce/onions, deviled eggs, punch bowl cake and ice cream.

62nd Anniversary

Bob and Jenny Taylor are celebrating 62 years of marriage on June 7th. Happy Anniversary to a great couple.

Donations Needed

Please remember to send your donations of whatever you can afford to help maintain the mowing of the grass at Riverview Cemetery in East Stone Gap.

The mowing is done by contract mowers. It is a much needed service to keep this cemetery looking good and we know there are families not living close enough to care for their loved one’s graves.This is an opportunity for you to send donations to help the committee pay for the mowing. Treasurer is Randall Hicks, P.O. Box 162, East Stone Gap, VA 24246

Spring and Summer Events Cancelled

Not too much happening in our area of Appalachia. The coronavirus has pretty much been responsible for the closing of all the spring and summer events which brought people together for fun and entertainments. Wise County Fair, Gathering in the Gap, Best Friend Festival have been cancelled and reunions are not this year.

It would be hard to go to an outdoor event wearing a mask and staying six-feet apart. Now masks are required. Seeing and talking to people is what these events are all about so there is no need to try.

Have not heard any official news on the Trail of the Lonesome Pine Drama this year. Probably won’t know for a few more weeks. July and August was the time period they held the drama. Maybe by then, wait and see.

Mama Bear and Cubs

Last week our neighbor on Templeton Street, Keith Lancaster was awakened to a noise and he looked out and saw a mama bear and three cubs tearing into his garbage can. This was “BAM!”

He made pictures of the mess and shared them online. They are not wearing masks but they are free to roam. We need to be very careful.

Telephone Call

Bruce Large telephone us last week just to say hello. Bruce usually drives over once a month to see how things are going. Like us he misses how life in Appalachia used to be and the people.