Download - HC Magazine April 2016

April / May 2016 H i g H C o u n t r y M a g a z i n e A

APPALACHIANMOUNTAINPHOTOGRAPHYWINNERS

READYfor

Summer?

IN THIS ISSUE: ET & WNC Train Journey • 17 Year Old Soccer Star • Mega Construction Novelist Leigh Ann Henion • The Avery FFA & Gwen Clark • High Tech Guys Go Big

This Year's

Thanks For Reading Us - Here's Our First of Six Issues For 2016

INSIDE:

Volume 11 • Issue 4April / May 2016

B H i g H C o u n t r y M a g a z i n e April / May 2016

D I A N N E DAVA N T, A S I DM A R G A R E T H A N D L E Y, A S I D PA M E L A M C KA Y, A S I D P R I S C I L L A H YAT T, A L L I E D A S I D

B A N N E R E L K , N O RT H C A R O L I N A 8 2 8 . 8 9 8 . 9 8 8 7P O RT S A I N T LU C I E , F L O R I DA 7 7 2 . 3 4 4 . 3 1 9 0

W W W. DAVA N T- I N T E R I O R S . C O M

DI A NNE DAVANT & A SSO C I AT ESEXCELLENCE BY DESIGN SINCE 1979

DI A NNE DAVANT & A SSO C I AT ESEXCELLENCE BY DESIGN SINCE 1979

Ken's Magazine 2_Ad 6 3/8/16 4:45 PM Page 1

April / May 2016 H i g H C o u n t r y M a g a z i n e 1

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2 H i g H C o u n t r y M a g a z i n e April / May 2016


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Sotheby’s International Realty® and the Sotheby’s International Realty logo are registered service marks used with permission. Each office is independently owned and operated. Equal Housing Opportunity. Property information herein is derived from various sources including, but not limited to, county records and multiple listing services, and may include approximations. All information is deemed accurate.

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C O N T E N T S

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Sharing the History of TweetsieMost who live in the High Country today know little to nothing about the East Tennessee and Western North Carolina Railroad, although it's an important part of the area's history. Find out what one local man and his peers are doing to share it's story with the folks who now call these mountains home.

From Ashe Rec to the UNC PitchWhen Brooke Bingham was 11 years old, she had never played soccer before. However, she was athletic and passionate. Next year, this Ashe County teenager will play for the legendary Anson Dorrance and his fabled UNC women’s soccer program.

A Wanderer of WondersLeigh Ann Henion, a gifted writer based in the High Coun-try, renewed her spirit when she decided to travel to different parts of the world and observe some of earth’s “most dazzling natural phenomena.” Based on those trips, she recently pub-lished her first book, “Phenomenal: A Hesitant Adventurer’s Search for Wonder in the Natural World."

Nurturing the Next Generation of FarmersOver the past 30 years, Gwen Gentry Clark has taught hundreds of students in agriculture and horticulture classes, in addition to being the area’s Future Farmers of America advisor. A native of Yadkin County, Clark initially planned to teach at Avery High School for one year, but she fell in love with the area and a man named Dee.

Silicon HollarWe’ve all seen Shark Tank and heard the term venture capitalists, which usually refers to some entrepreneur scout in Silicon Valley. But Startup High Country? This is a newly formed business along those same lines in the mountains of Western North Carolina.

on the coverTodd Bush – Alone for some soli-tude while backpacking a favorite and incredible section of the Appalachian Trail, approaching Hump Mountain in Avery County, sky condi-tions were completely socked in just before sunset. Storms were kicking around and it was a little worrisome being atop one of the regions high balds in these conditions. But it was lovely, moody and mysterious at the same time. Sud-denly clouds parted just long enough for one or two shots for this image, then blindingly thick mist took over again and night fell swiftly.


Visit www.bushphoto.com

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By April, our friends off the mountain are enjoying the signs and warmth of summer with greening trees and blooming flowers. Up here in the moun-tains, we're still waiting on spring. Although this year the month of March

teased us with a string of warm days with higher than normal temperatures, the weekend of April 9 reminded us that cold weather is not done with us yet. The High Country saw snow showers and temperatures reaching in the teens that weekend! The flowers that did blossom during that warm spell are pretty much all shriveled up now.

While it seems it takes forever for summer to get here in the mountains, at our office, we are reminded daily that summer is not far off. We are already receiving a number of emails from towns and organizations that are busy gearing up for their summer events.

And that’s got us busy here at High Country Press Publications, as we, too, are getting ready for our summer publications. We’ll have three issues of our High Country Magazine coming up for summer – kicking off with our June issue, which is our annual “Welcome Back Summer Residents” edition. We’re also working on our summer Visitor Guide, which helps our summer visitors get the most out of their stay in the High Country. We’re also working on a new publication for this summer called “Home Magazine” that celebrates home ownership and all the projects that come with it.

Our sister publication, HCPress.com, a daily online local newspaper, is perhaps the best way to keep abreast of all the summer events coming up on the mountain. Not only do we constantly update our site with the latest news information, we’re always publicizing upcoming events by announcing them at least two weeks out and publishing reminder stories leading up to each one.

Whether you’re hunting for live music, weekly concerts, gallery openings, art festivals, dinner specials, outdoor adventures, summer camps for the kids, family friendly activities, holiday programs or more, you’ll find everything you need to know this summer in one convenient place — HCPress.com.

So if you’re not a regular reader of our website yet, come check us out! We al-ready have thousands of folks coming to our site everyday. It’s easy to read – new stories are posted to the top of the page, and you can scroll down the front page to see all kinds of news, events and features. You’ll be amazed at what you can learn about what’s going on in the High Country.

So summer is on the way . . . I’m looking forward to putting away my hats and gloves for the season and look forward to being at the Jones House for its weekly Concerts on the Lawn series!

A PublicAtion of

High Country Press Publications

Editor & PublishEr

Ken Ketchie

Art dirEctor

Debbie Carter

AdvErtising dirEctor

Jeffrey Green

contributing WritErs

Jesse Wood

Jessica Isaacs

Kate Cahow

Katie Benfield

Allison West

Tim Gardner

contributing PhotogrAPhErs Todd Bush

Peter Morris

Reproduction or use in whole or part of the contents of this magazine without written permission of the publisher is prohibited. Issues are FREE throughout the High Country. © 2016 by High Country Press. All Rights Reserved.

High Country Magazine is produced by the staff and contributors of High Country Press Publications, which serves Watauga

and Avery counties of North Carolina

HIGH COUNTRY MAGAZINEP.O. Box 152, Boone, NC 28607

828-264-2262

Follow our magazine online where each issue is presented in a flip-through format. Check it out at:

HighCountryMagazine.com

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FROM THE PUBLISHER


Calendar # 1

APRIL 2016 1-30 Grandfather Mountain Dollar Days, $3 Park Admission for

High Country Residents, Employees & their Guests, www.grandfather.com

1-30 Mystery Hill Dollar Days, $2 Admission for NC Residents & Students, 828-264-2792

2 37th Annual Trout Derby, Blowing Rock, 828-295-5222

2 “Still Life with Oranges” Acrylic Painting Workshop, Watauga County Arts Council, 828-264-1789

5 Movies at the Museum: “Throw Down Your Heart” with Mark Freed, Blowing Rock Art and History Museum, 828-295-9099

7-9 Spring Appalachian Dance Ensemble, The Schaefer Center at ASU, 828-262-4046

8 Tweetsie Railroad Opening Day, Blowing Rock, 877-893-3874

8 Murder Mystery Weekend, The Green Park Inn, 828-414-9230

8-10 Ashe Little Theatre: “Lost in Yonkers” Ashe Civic Center, 336-846-2787

14-17 SAVOR Blowing Rock, Food and Wine Festival, www.savorblowingrock.com (See Sidebar)

14 Arty Party: Tree and Reflection with Raney Rogers, Watauga County Arts Council, 828-264-1789

15-16 Cork and Canvas: Wine and Art Workshops, Blowing Rock Art and History Museum, 828-295-9099

16 Corkscrew 5K at Chetola Resort, Blowing Rock, 828-295-5500

16 Downton Abbey Dinner, The Green Park Inn, 828-414-9230

21 TAC Talks: Reflections on a Persistence of Vision, Blowing Rock Art and History Museum, 828-295-9099

22 CONTRA-TIEMPO Urban Latin Dance Theater, The Schaefer Center at ASU, 828-262-4046

28 Scholars & Scones: Nazi-Looted Art During WWII, Blowing Rock Art and History Museum, 828-295-9099

28 Opera: “Cara E Cara” Ashe Civic Center, 336-846-2787

28-1 MerleFest, Wilkes Community College, merlefest.org

29 An Evening of Cherokee Stories with Lloyd Arneach, Blowing Rock Art and History Museum, 828-295-9099

MAY 2016 7 Watauga County Farmers’ Market, Horn in the West,

828-355-4918 (See Sidebar)

7 Village Vision Community Festival, Horn in the West, 8 28-355-4918

7 Salamander Saturday, Grandfather Mountain, www.grandfathermountain.com

7 Blowing Rock’s Art in the Park, American Legion Grounds, 828-295-785

12 Boone Chamber of Commerce Business Expo, The Boone Mall, 828-264-2225, www.boonechamber.com

13 Naturalist Weekend, Grandfather Mountain, www.grandfathermountain.com

19 TAC Talks: The Best in Motion Pictures, Blowing Rock Art and History Museum, 828-295-9099

22 Summer Concert Series: Laura Boosinger and Josh Goforth, Blowing Rock Art and History Museum, 828-295-9099

24 Southern Appalachian Ballads Workshop with Saro Lynch-Thomason, Blowing Rock Art and History Museum, 828-295-9099

26 Blowing Rock Farmers’ Market, Park Avenue, 828-295-7851

29 David Holt and the Lightning Bolts, Tweetsie Railroad, 877-893-3874

Calendarof Events

Merlefest, April 28 - May 1, photo by William Sparklin


OpENING DAY: MAY 7 The splendor and vibrancy of spring in the High Country will come to life when the Watauga County Farmers’ Market returns to Boone for the 2016 season. Early birds and shoppers of all ages will clock to Horn in the West to catch up with neigh-bors, see what local vendors have to offer and re-connect with the community after a cold winter. The market will operate from 8 a.m. to noon and will continue every Saturday through November. Call 828-355-4918 for more information or check out www.wataugacountyfarmersmarket.org.Stick around for the second annual Village Vision festival, which kicks off at 12:30 p.m. and will in-clude popular live music, performing arts, healing arts, kids’ activities, craft and local business vendors and more until 8 p.m. that night.

Calendar # 1

SAVOR Blowing Rock

Formerly known as the Blue Ridge Wine and Food Festival,

SAVOR Blowing Rock has become one of the top events of its kind in the Southeast. This in-credibly popular four-day weekend includes wine tastings, pairing dinners, classes and seminars, a restaurant showcase and so much more.For a complete schedule of events, check out www.savorblowingrock.com. Get your tickets now — you don’t want to miss this! Contact the Blowing Rock Chamber of Commerce at 828-295-7851 or by email at info@blowing rock.com for additional details.

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Winter &Small Works Exhibition


mountain

Premier Sotheby’s International Realty now has a presence in Banner Elk and Blowing Rock with

the 2015 acquisitions of The Sterling Company, Mountain Sotheby’s International Realty and Blow-ing Rock Gallery of Homes & Land.

Premier Sotheby’s is the real estate division of the Naples, Fla.-based The Lutgert Companies, which opened the 1,800-acre Linville Ridge development in 1982. Serving as the exclusive marketing and sales brokerage of many other high-end developments, Pre-mier Sotheby’s represents buyers and sellers of luxury homes and condos in Florida and North Carolina.

Premier Sotheby’s International Realty’s President and CEO, Judy Green, said that one goal of the com-pany has been to “expand our footprint in the High Country.” The company, of course, is already well established locally with its Linville Ridge office, and also has a presence in Charlotte and Lake Norman.

“One of the reasons North Carolina is so important to us as a market and why we expanded our presence is that so many of our customers purchasing prop-erties in Florida are from North Carolina and vice versa,” Green said. “It’s a very good feeder market both ways; it just made sense for us to expand our operations in North Carolina.”

Premier Sotheby’s is an independent franchise of Sotheby’s International Realty, the latter of which was founded by the famed Sotheby’s auction house in 1976, several years after The Lutgert Companies started its real estate division.

Green said that Premier Sotheby’s International Realty has a “unique and far reaching marketing pro-gram,” one that spans the nation and throughout the globe with the ability to place listings on over 550 websites. Its marketing department has 18 employees that “focus every minute of the day” making sure each property has the requisite expo-sure.

Asked about the types of properties that pique the interest of Premier Sotheby’s, Green said that the company looks at proper-ties that are not only luxurious, but also unique and special.

“We look at lifestyles, and we sell lifestyles,” Green said, adding that the property has to be one that Premier Sotheby’s would be proud to put a sign in front of and one that meets the standards of the company.

Properties include new developments, commercial properties,

single-family homes and condos. Special markets include water-front, golf, farm & ranch, historic and ski properties.

This past year, Premier Sotheby’s International Realty recorded a sales volume of more than $4 billion and closed on more than 5,200 sales, a year-over-year increase of 19 percent for both figures, according to the company. Green noted that Premier Sotheby’s is one of the top affiliates of Sotheby’s International Realty, usually ranked as a top three franchise among the brand per volume.

Emily Bish, of the former Sterling Company in Banner Elk, and Don Blair, of the Blowing Rock Gallery of Homes & Land, both cited the power of the Sotheby’s brand when asked why they de-cided to merge with Premier Sotheby’s.

Premier Sotheby’s International

Realty Expands in the High Country

The Blowing Rock LocationFrom left: Don Blair, Linda Tate, Brittney Tensi, Yvonne Ziel, Greg Buchanan,

Jan Blair, Tony Hulbert, Zach Tate, Eric Ritchie, Lynn Hill

The Banner Elk LocationFrom Left to Right (Standing): Derek Rowley, Lawson Fields, Mary Jernigan,

Sarah Whitfield, Loretta Trayer, John Angel, and Gary Waters.(Sitting): Jenny Brown, Emily Bish, Melinda Eggers

echoes


Bish, who was the majority partner of The Sterling Company with Sarah Whitfield and Lawson Fields, noted the enhanced market-ing, networking and international reach of Sotheby’s International Realty and the “re-ferral network” and the “reputation and cul-ture” of Premier Sotheby’s.

“This is an opportunity for us to be able to elevate what we can do for our clients,” Bish said.

In Blowing Rock, Don Blair, who was a partner of Blowing Rock Gallery of Homes with Jan Blair, Zach and Linda Tate, Lynn Hill, Greg Buchanan and Faisuly Scheurer, said that he immediately received calls and walk-ins just because of the Sotheby’s name after the changeover occurred in the middle of November.

Blair said that the partners of Blowing Rock Gallery of Homes & Land had been trying to figure out how they could expand their business reach on a global scale, when-ever Premier Sotheby’s came knocking on their door.

“We knew the name and were interested in talking with them from that standpoint,” Blair said. “Understanding the power of their brand, we felt like that was going to take our marketing and sales efforts to a new level, a higher level and would enable us to really expand our business the way we wanted to.”

For more information, visit http://www.premiersothebysrealty.com or call 1-877-425-6001.

By Jesse Wood

SEVENDEVILS

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Play tennis, hike, shop, tube, zipline or just relax while enjoying some of the best views around! From nature

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whether you stay for a weekend, a season or a lifetime!

Town of Seven DevilsFor Information on the Town of Seven Devils:

828/963-5343 • www.SevenDevils.netFor Zip Line: 828/963-6561

Ad Sponsored by the Seven Devils Tourism Development Authority

The Banner Elk Office

The Blowing Rock Office


Valle Crucis Community Park has served as a natural haven for citizens and visi-

tors since 1983, complete with playgrounds for kids, fly fishing, summer music shows and other special events.

Now, the park has been graced with a new feature. In February, park officials opened a welcome center that houses a re-ception area, indoor space for community events, meetings and environmental pro-grams, easily accessible public restrooms and an office for staff.

A capital campaign is currently under-way to raise $260,000 to fund the welcome center’s construction, along with the pur-chase of 3.3 acres of land added to the park in late 2014.

It all started with a $40,000 gift from an anonymous private donor. The rest was raised through grants from foundations and donations by the park’s board of directors and by other supporters.

In total, park officials have now raised $190,000.

Caroline Gandy, the park’s executive di-rector, said she hopes the community will rally together to help them raise the final $70,000 by the end of the year.

“In a lot of ways, when you visit Valle Crucis, you feel like you’ve stepped into the

past,” Gandy said. “But, really, you’ve just stepped into a community that truly val-ues old-fashioned southern hospitality and neighborliness.”

The park has a history of bringing the community together. In fact, that’s how it was founded.

More than 30 years ago, the riverfront property was slated for development as an RV park. The community came together to block that development, purchase the prop-erty and create a nonprofit organization to manage the park.

Still to this day, the park is funded en-tirely by donations and use fees, Gandy said.

The new welcome center adds to the charm of the park, opening in the nick of time for warm weather.

“With the construction of the welcome center and the availability of space for dis-plays and programs, we will be able to do a much better job of educating our visits about the native plants and animals that call the park home, as well as environmental is-sues that threaten our region,” Gandy said.

For more information on the park, check out vallecrucispark.com or call 828-963-9239.

Story By Shannon Cuthrell

echoesmountainValle Crucis Community Park

Flaunts Attractive New Welcome Center Funded by Locals

The newly constructed welcome center is pictured at Valle Crucis Community Park.

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Summertime in the mountains – what bet-ter way to see the countryside than on a

two-day Studio Tour! And to see the best Ashe County artists working in their own studios! On June 4-5 the Ashe County Arts Council will sponsor the Ashe County Stu-dio Tour, a two-day, self-guided, free event in which twenty-four Ashe County artists open their studios to the public in twenty locations.

Tour participants will discover art studios located all over the county - in and around West Jefferson, Jefferson, Crumpler, Laurel Springs, Todd, Creston, Warrensville, and Lansing. Most of the studios are not usually open to the public, so this is a rare oppor-tunity for people to see where these artists work and at select locations, to watch them as they create their art. And it doesn't hurt that getting there takes you through some of the most beautiful mountain countryside the High Country has to offer!

All art on the Ashe County Studio Tour

is handmade, original work designed and produced by the artists in Ashe County. The artists have shown their work regionally, nationally, and internationally. Some have made their art for over four decades and some are relatively new to their art forms, but all have a passion for what they do and where they do it.

In the town of West Jefferson, see en-joy work from artists including Camille Morgan, David Bridge, the “Quilt Square Girls” Renee and Syndi Brooks, Talara Par-rish, Jane Munroe Floyd, Berkeley Brown, Cheryl Williams and Dottie Baker.

Nearby you’ll see creations from Mary Ann Prack, Cynthia Dixon, Pat Morrison, Hollis Wild, Cheryl Roberts and Patrick Robertson.

Head over to Todd to see work from Jeannie Daubar, Helen Barnes-Rielly and Martha Enzmann.

Five miles from Warrensville, you’ll see art by Kelly Clampitt and Kim Hadley and

George Kosinski. In Creston, check out work by North Fork Gallery in the Riv-erview Community Center to see work by Susan Meredith. Other featured artists in-clude by Dawn Wicklow, Delores Somers and Jennifer Gardiner.

Tour maps are available at the Ashe Arts Center and there will be Studio Tour signs along the roadways to help people find their destinations. The studios are open from 10 am to 6 pm on Saturday, June 4 and noon until 5 pm on Sunday, June 5. For more information, contact the Ashe County Arts Council at 336-846-2787 or email [email protected].

STUDIO TOUR 2016echoesmountain


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On Exhibit Now through June 4th

50 Pictures Selected from over 1100 Entries

Already known as one of the premiere photography competi-tions in the Southeast, the Appalachian Mountain Photogra-phy Competition (AMPC) is as popular as ever. Now in its

13th year, the AMPC received a record-breaking number of submis-sions in the fall: 1,162.

Fifty of those images were selected as finalists to be exhibited in the Turchin Center in downtown Boone through June 4. Eleven of these photographs received awards or honorable mentions. With the AMPC coinciding with Banff Mountain Film Festival World Tour, the win-ners were announced when Banff stormed through town in March.

Depicted in the following spread are the 50 finalists that showcase Southern Appalachia’s landscapes, culture and characters.

13th ANNUALAppALAchiAN

MoUNtAiNphotogrAphycoMpetitioN

Photos selected in each category are shown on the following pages. Winner(s) in each category are outlined in GOLD.


Adventure1

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Adventure: Imagery depicting mountain sports such as climbing, kayaking, mountain biking, skiing, snowboarding, etc.

1. Drew Bennett Open Water Workout

2. Dylan McKinneySoul Surfing

3. Eric HeistandGrandfather Mountain Men

4. Kristian JacksonBlack/White Diamond

5. Lynn WillisEdge of a Dream

6. William MauneyStateline Falls – Watauga River Race 2014

7. Brandon Jett Celestial Hangover


Blue ridge pArkwAy - where the parkway Meets the Sky: A rotating category each year with a different theme.

1. Hanna Wilson Thunder Hill Overlook

2. Todd FeldmanRaven’s Roost in Black and White

3. Alison E. FosterCarriage Trail Clouds

4. Andi GelsthorpeWrong Feet The Lump MP264.4

5. Scott RamseyPicnic on the Blue Ridge Parkway

6. Sharon CanterNightfall at the Manor

7. Andrew CaldwellThe Sentinel

Blue Ridge ParkwayWhere the Parkway Meets the Sky

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Culture: Imagery depicting the people, their customs, traditions, architecture, and ways of life unique to the Southern Appalachian region.

1. Elle Olivia Anderson Robert with Christmas Dinner

2. Elle Olivia AndersonTom and Roxie

3. Mitzi GellmanBoone Fork Baptism

4. Jason TarrAmerican Blessings

5. James K. FayKilling Hog

6. Micah J. HenryMaking Molasses, Alexander Co., NC

7. James K. Fay Brother Carol

8. Maggie FlaniganMaggie’s Lights

9. James K. FayHanging the Top

Culture1

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Best InShow

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Our Ecological Footprint1

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environMent: Imagery documenting environmental concerns in Central and Southern Appalachia.

1. Heather Wolf Turner Cannon Memories

2. Keely KernanCoal

3. Keely KernanCabin Creek

4. James M. DavidsonNest, found near Boone, NC, with plastic netting

5. Amy Morrison HaydenOil Beauty After the Storm

6. Adam WebsterPolluted Paradise

7. Sam Brown Helping Hives

8. Jason Tarr Down the Drain

9. Lynda Ward Aftermath


Flora and Fauna

Flora and Fauna: Imagery of plants and animals common to the Southern Appalachians.

1. Deborah ScannellMorning Catch

2. Raven MoffettDripping Triptych

3. Halle KeightonBlack Crow

4. Rob MooreBo the Red-tailed Hawk

5. Chuck AlmarezAfter the Rain

6. Steve YocomWinter Fairy Tale

7. Jeffrey StonerAl dente

8. Joseph BalckenCollection

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People'sChoiceAward

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Landscape

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landSCaPE: Scenic imagery capturing the rich diversity and natural beauty of the Southern Appalachian region.

1. Skip SicklerSunrise, Mile-High Bridge, Grandfather Mtn.

2. Cathy AndersonWidow Creek Falls

3. Annkatrin RoseForest Tunnel

4. Skip SicklerGrandfather Mountain – June 13, 2014

5. Nathan Sales Appalachian Nocturne

6. Kathryn Greven The North Star

7. Chris Almerini Frozen Linville Falls

8. Charles Johnson CJ Ice and Waterscape

9. Tim Williams Wuthering

10. Robert Vance Rock, Water, Leaves


Best in ShowJames K. Fay (pictured right) and the

image Brother Carol (number 7, page 19) took top honors, receiving the “Best in Show” award. The image is a portrait of “Brother Carol” playing the banjo at the Pine Mountain Boys Gospel Jubilee in Ashe County. The setting is under a backyard shelter beside a tobacco field.

“It’s definitely an honor,” Fay said. “There were so many great photographs in the exhibit. To just be a finalist in itself is an honor. I am definitely humbled.”

Fay will take home a cash award of $1,000 furnished through competition proceeds.

People's Choice AwardSteve Yocom’s image Winter Fairy

Tale (number 6, page 21) is the public’s pick in this year’s Footsloggers’ People’s Choice Award. Yocum will receive $350 cash award furnished by Footsloggers Outdoor and Travel Outfitters.

AMPC Category WinnersAdventure$250 gift certificate from Mast General StoreCelestial Hangover by Brandon Jett (number 7, page 17)

Blue Ridge Parkway –Beyond the Black Top$250 award from the Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation and a $250 gift certificate from Mast General Store Picnic on the Blue Ridge Parkway by Scott Ramsey (number 5, page 18)

Culture (TIe)$250 gift certificate from Mast General Store Robert with Christmas Dinner by elle Olivia AndersonTom and Roxie by elle Olivia Anderson (numbers 1 & 2, page 19)

Our Ecological Footprint$250 award from Appalachian Voices and a $250 gift certificate from Mast General Store Nest, found near Boone, NC, with plastic netting by James M. Davidson (number 4, page 20)

Flora & Fauna$250 gift certificate from Mast General StoreDripping Triptych by Raven Moffett (number 2, page 21)

Landscape$250 gift certificate from Mast General StoreWuthering by Tim Williams (number 9, page 22)

Honorable Mention Our Ecological Footprint Aftermath by Lynda Ward (number 9, page 20) Landscape Appalachian Nocturne by Nathan Sales (number 5, page 22)

Photos by Ken Ketchie

and the winners are...


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Sharing the History of the ET&WNC Railroad

Most people associate the name “Tweetsie” with the popular Wild West theme park in Blowing Rock. While the park is no doubt a staple of modern culture

in the High Country, the moniker was first bestowed upon the east Tennessee and Western North Carolina Railroad.

For more than 60 years, the eT&WNC traveled to and from Johnson City, Tennessee, Cranberry, North Carolina and, even-tually, Boone. The little railroad meandered through the small towns along its route, carrying both passengers and important materials for the area’s growing industries.

The railroad remains a key component of High Country his-tory, though many of the folks who today call these hills their home know little to nothing about it’s story.

There’s one man right here in Boone, Dr. David Spiceland, who’s on a mission to change that.

A professor of communications at Appalachian State Uni-versity and an avid railroad enthusiast, Spiceland is part of the eT&WNC Historical Society — a group of like-minded histo-By Katie Benfield and Jessica isaacs

Engineer Jim Miller is pictured next to Engine No. 11, which sits slightly southeast of the depot in Boone. The engine looks out at the tracks, which ran along what

is now Rivers Street, in this photograph, which was captured in 1938. Courtesy of the Cy Crumley collection at ETSU’s Archives of Appalachia.

Photo by Greg Williams


rians who work to uncover and share the mysteries of the short-lived, much-loved Tweetsie Railroad.

Standing on the shoulders of authors, researchers, railroad enthusiasts who have come before him and many of his peers, Spiceland has worked hard for more than two decades to dig up the stories that can’t be found in official documents.

One day at a time, he’s retracing existing research, discovering unseen details, hunting for artifacts and tracking down new leads that will help tell the colorful story of the railroad that left too soon from the mountains.

Little by little, Spiceland and his peers are unearthing the mys-teries of the eT&WNC — but finding the truth is not his only goal. He looks forward to the day when Tweetsie’s little-known history is shared and appreciated amongst the High Country’s modern community, and he has several ideas and plans for the future that can help make that day a reality.

A Brief History of the RailroadIn the wake of the American Civil War, parties from the

North and the South came together with a common goal: to establish a railroad system connecting Johnson City, Tennessee to the community of Cranberry, which was home to one of the largest veins of iron ore in the country, in Avery County, North Carolina.

Initially, financial constraints brought the slow-moving project to a halt on several occasions, with its founders often filing bank-ruptcy before moving from one phase to the next, and the rail-road even changed hands between owners a few times throughout the building process.

Beginning in the late 1860's, bonds were issued to help found-

ers establish a Tennessee corporation and fund the railroad they envisioned. Tracks were completed to Hampton, Tennessee by 1881 and the next year to the Cranberry mine.

Later, the founders saw an opportunity to incorporate an existing logging railroad that connected the Cranberry mines to sawmills in Saginaw, which is known today as the unincorporated community of Pineola.

The existing tracks were undergoing renovation when folks in the nearby community of Shull’s Mills, which boasted a growing logging operation of its own, expressed interest in bringing the

Spiceland is pictured standing along Rivers Street on the campus of ASU. To the left, cars pass by him on the route that was once followed by the ET&WNC. To the right, you can see the Beasley Media Complex, which sits on the same lot that once housed the Boone Depot. Photo by Jessica Isaacs.

Tweetsie's Engine No. 10 is pictured alongside a bus that was also operated by theET&WNC Transportation Company. Pictured among the men standing before them

are Engineer Sherman Pippen (far left) and Conductor Cy Crumley to his right.


railroad to their own backyard.The Dougherty brothers, founders of the teacher’s

college that would later become Appalachian State Uni-versity, were among leaders in the area who agreed that the town of Boone and its residents could also benefit from the connection by railroad to Johnson City and the townships in between.

eventually, the tracks were completed and the rail-road made its way to Boone by 1918 with passenger ser-vice beginning the next year.

Covering approximately 66 miles of mountain high-lands, the railroad began in Johnson City and traveled on its route through Tennessee stops including elizabethton, Valley Forge and Hampton, crossed over the Doe River Gorge and through Roan Mountain on its way to the state line.

Once in North Carolina, it continued through or near the communities of Minneapolis, Vale, Newland and Montezuma before dipping down into what is now Pineola. From there, it traveled up through Linville, around the towering Grandfather Mountain, through Foscoe and Shull’s Mills ending in Boone.

The stretch of the railroad from Johnson City to Cran-berry was dubbed the east Tennessee and Western North Carolina Railroad (eT&WNC), and from Cranberry to Boone was known as the Linville River Railway.

The narrow gauge railway utilized several steam engines, most built by Baldwin Locomotive Works in

A group of men stand beside Engine No. 9 near the Boone Depot along what is now Rivers Street, close to the property that now houses ASU’s Walker Hall. Pictured third from the left is engineer

Sherman Pippen. None of the others have been identified. Additionally, an unidentified child is pictured sitting in the cab.

This image is believed to feature Nat Fletcher, agent for the Newland and Montezuma depots, on the left. Pictured to his right is a man that many enthusiasts believe to be Henry Ford, who often visited the area

to visit notable industry leaders like Howard Marmon, who kept a summer home in Pineola. Courtesy of Johnson’s Depot.

Some important discoveries made by various historians over the years include but are not limited to:

• Avideothathistoriansestimatewasfilmedaround1937,whichshowstheadventureofpas-sengers traveling along the narrow gauge railway from Johnson City, Tennessee to Boone for a football game between the institutions now known as Appalachian State University and East Tennessee State University. The footage clearly depicts workers selling Coca Cola products to passengers on the train, as well as the breathtaking views of Grandfather Mountain and some of the football game in Boone. As you watch the video, you can clearly see the train traveling along what is now Rivers Street in downtown Boone. You can also point out landmarks that still stand today, like the Daniel Boone monument and the home of ASU’s founding Dougherty family, which has since been moved to the Mystery Hill attraction in Blowing Rock and restored. Use this link to check out the video on YouTube: (https://youtu.be/4Ws5_UPjDn8)

• AcollectionofphotographsdepictingtherailroadinBoonethatsatundevelopedinacameraformore than 60 years. They were finally developed in recent years for publication.

• Apoementitled“HillBillie’sPlea”writtenbyAnnetteVanceinDecemberof1940followingthedestruction of the railway by the storm. Little is known of the author, and the poem was included in the 1941 abandonment file at the National Archives. (Shown above.)


Pennsylvania.There’s no definitive explanation for

how the “Tweetsie Railroad” earned its treasured nickname, but most folks believe the long and lingering “Tweet Tweet” of the whistle was its namesake.

When it pulled into Boone, the train traveled along what is now Rivers Street on the campus of Appalachian State to the depot, which was situated right at the in-tersection with what is now Depot Street. The tracks formed an interesting Y shape on the property that now holds ASU’s Walker Hall, where the train would turn around and back into the depot before

heading back on its way to Tennessee.Although it was primarily constructed

to haul logging materials and other cargo across the state line, the newly created sys-tem also served as an exciting form of trans-portation for local residents seeking transit to and from Boone and Johnson City.

It took almost 30 years to bring the railroad to fruition, and that’s about how long it operated before this short-lived

piece of High Country history seemed to disappear into the hills.

The Storm of 1940In August of 1940, a storm recognized

as Hurricane #3 began to stir in the North Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Puerto Rico. Classified as a tropical storm by the time it hit the east Coast, it brought heavy downpour and severe flooding to western

This image comes from valuation records that were required by the railway of the federal government. Pictured here, you can see the ET&WNC headed for Boone. To its left is the Daniel Boone Monument,

and to its right is the football field located by what is now ASU’s Edwin Duncan Hall. This photograph comes from the Archives of Appalachia at ETSU and is believed to be from the early 1930s.

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North Carolina.Devastated by excessive and reckless

logging, the forestry and lands of the Blue Ridge hill country were left defense-less against the mighty floods, and much of the railway, which took almost four decades to complete, was destroyed in a matter of days.

By that time, the construction of more reliable roadways had for several years foreshadowed the railroad’s demise. Cars and buses were seen more frequently in town, and the eTWNC owners saw the future of transportation changing before their eyes.

“Road building materials were brought in, and you can see it in the cars in some of the photographs,” said Spiceland. “That’s

the irony — Tweetsie was hauling in the seeds of its own destruction.”

So, when storm damage struck the railway, which had once represented the promises of a new era, they didn’t fight to bring it back to life. In fact, they were more than ready to let it go.

“There was terrific damage. You can clearly see in some of the old photos how much was destroyed and uprooted,” said Spiceland. “The abandonment was just when something magical left Boone. It was a sad ending, and, you hate to say it, but I really do believe they could’ve kept the railroad. It was losing money, but if they couldn’t just held on for 40 more years …”

In 1941, the Linville River Railway and all of the tracks between Boone and Cran-

Graphic credit to ET&WNC Society President Chris Ford.

Engine No. 11 sits by the Boone Depot, ready to head back toward Tennessee. An engineer is pictured leaning out from the steaming engine as its conductor stands on the ground nearby. Details from the photograph suggest that the

train was not carrying an excursion car, which means it was likely carrying both passengers and materials at the time. Photo courtesy of ASU Public Relations and the Moretz family collection.

IN TENNESSEE:Johnson City ... mile marker 0Bemberg .......... mile marker 8Elizabethton ... mile marker 9Coal Chute....... mile marker ?? Hampton ......... mile marker 14Blevins .............. mile marker 20Roan Mtn. ....... mile marker 0 Shell Creek ...... mile marker 0

IN NORTH CAROLINA:Elk Park ............. mile marker 32Cranberry ........ mile marker 34Minneapolis .... mile marker 36Newland........... mile marker 41Montezuma .... mile marker 43Pineola .............. mile marker NALinville .............. mile marker 45Now located in Newland behind the Courthouse

Linvlle Gap ...... mile marker 50Foscoe ............... mile marker 55Shulls Mills ...... mile marker 57Boone ............... mile marker 66


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Graphic credit to ET&WNC Society President Chris Ford.

These photographs depict the damage done to the tracks in the wake of Hurricane #3, which brought fierce winds and heavy floods to the High Country in 1940. They were taken by ET&WNC CompanyVicePresidentW.F.Blackwellandareincludedintheabandonment file in the National Archives. Pictured are locations including the entrance to Shulls Mills (top center), Shulls Mills (center), Newland (bottom center), the Shulls Mills depot (bottom right) and what is now the golf course at Hound Ears Club (far left). Photos courtesy of the Archives of Appalachia at ETSU.


berry were abandoned. The eTWNC con-tinued to run for several years from Cran-berry to elizabethton, but the remainder of the railroad to elizabethton was abandoned in 1950, along with most of its depots.

Nearly all of the depots have since been destroyed, although the one in Linville was recently moved to Newland and now sits behind the courthouse in Avery County, where local historians are working hard to restore it for the public to enjoy.

David’s ResearchLet’s fast forward to 1992.Another 40 years after the railroad’s

abandonment, Spiceland takes a teaching job at Appalachian and moves to Boone from out of state.

As an associate professor in com-munications, he’s focused on sharing his knowledge of the industry with aspiring journalists and media professionals at the university. As a history buff and railroad enthusiast, he’s excited to hear his new friends and neighbors telling tales of the mysterious Tweetsie Railroad that once called the High Country its home.

He knew little to nothing about the rail-road when he got here, but as a newcomer to the town was more than interested in digging up its history. Upon looking for more details, he was surprised to find that few in the area seemed to have definitive information about its construction, its life or its abandonment.

His curiosity had been piqued, none-theless, and he soon set out on what would be more than 20 years of research on the eT&WNC. The communications

pro channeled his inner historian, and he was ready to learn everything he could about the railroad.

He was prepared to face many of the rumors that continue to float around town about the railway’s perplexing past, and he was determined to differentiate between fact and fiction.

Finding the truth hasn’t been easy, how-ever, and it’s been difficult to find accurate, reliable information.

Spiceland calls libraries, visits archives, interviews people who know about the railroad and who experienced it firsthand, and he collects photographs and maps from a vast array of websites, books and collectors.

As a member of the east Tennessee and Western North Carolina Historical Society, he has access to both people who can share their knowledge of the railway and re-sources like maps, photographs and land-marks he uses to conduct his research.

He knows the route well that the eT&WNC once traveled, and he pays close attention when construction projects happen in its vicinity, just in case spikes and other artifacts are uncovered that might help tell the story.

“Whenever they tear up the road, I try to peek in and see if I can see anything,”

Hunting for primary resources and arti-facts is tough work, and it can be even more difficult to interpret the information once it’s in hand; but Spiceland knows that ev-ery piece of the puzzle is as important as the next, and he’s always ready to explore the possibilities behind each thing he finds.

“There’s a margin of error with histori-

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36YEARS Spiceland found this prized model of ET&WNC’s Engine No. 12 at a train show off the mountain. You can see the real Engine No. 12 at Tweetsie Railroad theme park in Blowing Rock, where it’s still in action carrying park guests. Photo by Jessica Isaacs.


cal research. You have to realize that you’re working to get as close to the truth as you can,” he said. “Sometimes you say, ‘Okay, I’m sure about this.’ Sometimes you say, ‘Well, it’s possible’ or ‘It’s probable.’

“There’s always someone that’s going to disagree with you. Some people say it’s not a valid form of re-search, but I think it is.”

The deeper he dives into Tweetsie’s past, the more difficult it becomes to find reliable details. Although most of the folks who rode or worked on the railroad have likely passed by now, there may be a few people in the area who have firsthand experiences to share, and Spiceland wants to meet them.

“Many people rode on it,” he said, “and there are very few people left who did.”

Stories and DocumentsAlthough they’re hard to come by, firsthand ac-

counts and primary resources are Spiceland’s preferred methods of research. He’s also fascinated with learning the stories of the railroad that can’t be found in official documents, like those pertaining to Tweetsie conductor Cy Crumley.

“I’ve got pictures of him living in this caboose in the middle of where Walker Hall is right now,” said Spice-land. “He had this little punch with the shape of a heart, so he’d punch people’s tickets and it would leave a heart. They called it ‘the railroad with a heart.’”

Spiceland also enjoys the tales of the eT&WNC stop-ping along its route to pick up passengers who weren’t at designated stops.

He’s amassed an impressive collection of materi-als and files on the railroad’s history, like aerial photo-graphs of the route, pictures of the folks boarding the train at various depots, graphics depicting the trail of the 1940 storm, photos of the damage it did to the tracks, archived abandonment documents and so much more.

He has a copy of the only video footage known to exist that shows the inside of the cars as people travel to and from what is now east Tennessee State University and Appalachian State for a football game.

“This video includes the only video we have inside the cars,” said Spiceland.

The footage is what researchers call a “copyright or-phan,” meaning that it’s creator and rights holders have not been identified, but Spiceland estimates it was shot around 1937.

He also has a host of incredibly detailed maps, all ranging from areas in or around Boone and Johnson City. Using these maps, he’s able to analyze and base his research on specific locations and details they include.

Many of the maps and photographs he’s collected help him find answers, but many leave him asking even more questions — like the image of a young child sitting in the cab of a Tweetsie engine.

“I’ve always wondered who she is. She may still be alive,” Spiceland said. “I have always wondered whey she’s up there in the cab.”

The photos often have historical markers that help him identify when and where they were taken, and he enjoys comparing images of the same location from dif-

Passengers on an excursion tour along the ET&WNC in the late 1930s are pictured on a stop near the Linville Gap shelter, which can be seen to the left of the railway and was

located near what is now known as Invershield.

ferent decades to see how much things have changed.

“That’s the kind of thing I like,” he said. “I like showing the before and after.”

Occasionally, he’s able to identify struc-tures in the old photographs that are still standing in Boone today, like houses near N.C. Highway 105 and Faculty Street that have been standing long enough to bear witness to the entire affair.

Spiceland said, “I’ve always wanted to go up to that house and say, ‘Hey, did you know … ?”

Past, Present, FutureToday, Spiceland is still teaching stu-

dents at Appalachian State, and he’s still on the hunt for answers to his many questions about the eT&WNC. He works in the on-campus Beasley Media Complex, which sits on the exact piece of property that was once home to Tweetsie’s depot on Boone.

Between classes, he can walk down the hall to the faculty lounge and look out at an expansive view of town. He often watches cars, buses, bicycles, skateboard-ers and pedestrians traveling up and down Rivers Street, imagining what it must have looked like when Tweetsie journeyed along that very route.

Although 75 years have passed since the Linville River Railway was first aban-doned, Spiceland remains determined to unearth as much of the railroad’s secrets as possible and bring a greater awareness of its history to the community.

“I wish Boone cared more about its his-tory,” he said. “I want to celebrate the his-tory of Boone and Watauga County, and I think one way to do that is celebrate the history of the railroad.”

As a member of the eT&WNC His-torical Society, he takes every opportunity to get together with others who share his interest in the railroad’s mysterious story.

After all, the more we learn about the people and events that came before us, the more we understand about who we are and what it means to call the High Country our home.

“I’ve always loved trains — I guess I’m a little boy at heart. I love talking about the Tweetsie, even though I didn’t grow up around here. Not to be trite, but it’s an important part of our history,” said Spice-land. “The progress of a people, I think, is marked by their transportation systems — their roads, their trains, if they happen to have railroads. That brings us here and encourages some people to stay. It helps businesses survive, and the school, I think, depended on the train.”

“I love history and I love people’s sto-ries. The more that we can record what these people did, the more it becomes im-portant to who we are today and who we will be tomorrow. Who’s going to tell our story when we’re gone?”

In the future, Spiceland hopes to see historical markers placed around what was once the Boone Depot — an idea shared by his former student and railroad enthu-

siast Kyle Grove.Additionally, he’s open to speaking to any

local groups who are interested in Tweetsie’s history, and he’s encouraging folks who may have more knowledge of the eT&WNC’s past to come forward with any information that could be helpful to his research.

Right now, he’s working to raise funds to create a film project that will share what’s known about the railway’s past and to draw more attention to its history from local people.

If you’re ready to experience what little is left of the eT&WNC, stop by the Bem-berg Depot, which stands abandoned near elizabethton, Tennessee. Make time to visit the original Linville Depot, which has since been relocated to Newland and is be-ing reconstructed behind the Avery County Courthouse — an open house will be held for the completed project on May 29.

As Spiceland continues his work to unearth the mysteries of the eT&WNC, he believes there are still landmark discov-eries waiting to be made, with many arti-facts and telltale photographs sitting with local families in their homes. Those hid-den gems are what he’s looking for, and he hopes to hear from more and more local people as the secrets continue to unravel over the coming years.

If you recognize any of the people in these photos or have information that could help shed light on their history, Spiceland encourages you to contact him through the university.

This plaque, which hangs on the porch at Café Portofino along Rivers Street, commemorates the ET&WNC and its history. It’s said that the building that now

houses the restaurant, which sits directly next to the Beasley building, was once used for completing maintenance work on the engines.

Pictured here, Appalachian State's Beasley Media Complex sits at the corner of Depot and Rivers streets in downtown Boone. The same property was once home to weetsie's Boone depot, and later a bus depot. Today, Spiceland works from an

office in this building. Photo by Jessica Isaacs.

•1866:TheET&WNCischarteredonMay24inTennessee.•1879:Workonconstructingtherailroadcontinuesafterfinancialtrouble. •1881:TherailroadreachedCranberry,NorthCarolinaandtheironoremine.•1882:ThelineofficiallyopenstoCranberryonJuly3.•1899:TherailroadisextendedtothecommunityofSaginaw,nowknownasPineola.TracksontheNorthCarolinasideoftheCranberrydepotbecomeknownastheLinvilleRiverRailway.•1915:AsawmillisestablishedatShullsMills,NorthCarolina.•1916:TherailwayextensiontoShullsMills,whichrivalsBooneatthetimeinpopulation,iscompletedinSeptember.

•1918:A$24,000bondisissuedandtherailwayisextendedtoBoone.•1919:RegularpassengerservicefromJohnsonCitytoBoonebeginsinJanuary.•1926:TheET&WNCTransportationCompanyisformedinDecember,andthebeginningsofthebusserviceindustrybeginstounderminetherailservice.

•1940:Hurricane#3encirclesBoone,causingmassivefloodingacrosstheHighCountry.•1941:TherailservicefromBoonetoCranberryisabandonedonMarch22.•1950:TherailroadrunsforitsfinaltimefromCranberrytoElizabethton,TennesseeonOct.16.Atthistime,railsaretakenupfromElizabethtontoJohnsonCity.


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high country soccer Association's U10 Academy Girls team surrounds brooke bingham, who was recently appointed as the new team's coach. says brooke about why she wants to coach young girls, in particular: "hopefully they will look up to me and

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“Hey, Mom, can I play soccer?”

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the next Alex Morgan or Lionel Messi. More precisely, as of 2006, the U.S. was the number one country in the world for participa-tion in youth soccer with 2.3 million boys and 1.6 million girls between the ages five to 19 registered with U.S. Soccer. Today, the U.S. has more registered girls playing soccer than all other coun-tries combined. However, for numerous reasons – talent, passion, geographical location, time constraints, financial resources … or lack thereof – kids’ national team hopes can be quickly dashed.

But that doesn’t mean that the majority won’t spend some enjoy-able years in rec leagues and travel leagues, high school and possi-bly college developing a lifelong love for the game as a player and a spectator. So when a skinny, toe-headed 11-year-old kid, sitting in front of her television in tiny West Jefferson, NC, transfixed by a professional soccer game, a game she had never even played be-fore, asked that very question seven years ago, it seemed fairly or-dinary. But 17-year-old phenom Brooke Bingham is anything but ordinary. Indeed, her journey thus far has been extraordinary.

In fall of 2017, Brooke, a homeschooled high school junior, will enroll as a freshman at the University of North Carolina,

PitchPerfect

By allison West

BROOKEBINGHAM

PHOTOS By PETER MORRIS


brooke contemplates her options on the pitch as a defensive midfielder

for Region iii and oDP.

in 2011, as a member of hcsA's U13 Girls team,

brooke proudly displays the first of many hard-earned accolades. her dedication has led to

a soccer scholarship to play for Unc-chapel

hill in 2017.

where she will major in Sports Management and play under legendary coach Anson Dorrance for a storied program that currently boasts a record 21 national titles. She hopes to help the Tar Heels add another title or four to the record books. Her dreams don’t end there, however. “I want to play profession-ally,” she says. “Going to UNC is not her final destination,” adds Martina Bingham, Brooke’s mother. The milestone is to get the U20 level of the national team – that level does CONCACAF (Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean As-sociation Football, a FIFA World Cup qualifier), the Olympics. She wants to do something with soccer. It doesn’t stop.” Brooke

From scoring goals to achieving them, Ashe

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strong finish.


provides an exclamation point: “It’s about setting goals. I’ve never really thought about stopping. My dream is to play for the (U.S. Women’s) National Team.”

In the fall of 2009, shortly after the query that set her future in mo-tion, Brooke’s parents, Danny and Martina Bingham, signed her up to play with the Ashe County Rec League, where she spent her inaugural season under the mentorship of former German men’s national team player ed Duerr. even then Brooke began putting in the extra work, arriving early to practices where Duerr, already in his 70s then, taught her soccer’s main ingredient: how to pass. Duerr instinctively picked up on an undercurrent of raw skill, and told Martina that her daugh-ter had talent. Around that same time, Kiki Wallace, director of coach-

ing for Boone’s High Country Soccer Association (HCSA), had been scouting players to recruit for the club’s travel program and stumbled upon Brooke. The fact that she was a head taller than all the other kids certainly made her stand out, he says, but mostly Wallace took notice because “Brooke was one of the more engaged kids in the game. She was by no means a good soccer player, but she had the two ingredients – athleticism and passion – I was looking for.”

Wooed by Wallace and encouraged by an HCSA parent, Brooke and her parents made the transition in the spring of 2010 to HCSA’s newly formed U12 Girls B team, for which she played three seasons followed by an additional year with the U13 Girls team. In the world of youth soc-cer, Brooke’s entry into the game at age 11 was fashionably late. While the U.S. lags behind other soccer-obsessed nations, where children be-gin playing at ages 2 and 3, U.S. kids still receive their initial introduc-tion to youth soccer programs around ages 4 and 5. Brooke had about seven years of catching up to do, which she proceeded to do in just two years with HCSA. Her progression was off the charts, recalls Wallace. “I thought she could develop into a good soccer player, but I had no idea the rate we would see Brooke develop over the next few years. I’ve never seen a player go from where she was as a player at 11 years old to where she was by age 13, and then 14, and then 15, and to where she is now.”

Now would be Brooke’s status as an elite athlete, a 5’ 8.5” attack-ing midfielder for the NC Fusion U18 eCNL team, and the first 2017 recruit for the University of North Carolina, where she will play for the storied program under legendary coach Anson Dorrance. But let’s back up. How has she reached this particular milestone?

Wallace credits Brooke’s off-field dedication. “You don’t excel at the rate she did unless you’re spending that extra time with the ball,” he points out. “Brooke invests in the two ingredients I believe are needed to become a special player and reach full potential. First, she spends hours upon hours of her own time with a soccer ball, training with a soccer ball. Many kids go out and kick around and goof off with a soc-cer ball, but Brooke puts in countless hours of purposeful training, and it’s fun for her. Secondly, she watches the game both in person and on TV. She is a student of the game and has a high soccer IQ because of the time she invests in watching the game.”

Brooke, on the other hand, gives props to Wallace in large part for instilling in her a categorical love for the game. “HCSA helped me so much because Kiki and Ben (Birdsong, a former HCSA coach who is

“It’s about setting goals. I’ve never really thought about stopping. My dream is to play

for the (U.S. Women’s) National Team.”

Danny and Martina Bingham, Brooke's dedicated parents. "I wouldn't be where I am without my parents," says Brooke.

Brooke (top left, back row) sports the black armband as captain with Region III in Como, Italy.

Brooke has played four times with the U18 and U19 U.S. Women's National Teams. Her dream, she says,

"is to play for the U.S. Women's National Team."

– BROOKE BINGHAM


Brooke works out with a personal trainer two to three times per week at Dynamic Fitness and Performance in Boone.

Currently the workouts are aiding in her recovery from an ACL tear she suffered at Interregionals in Florida last November.



now head women’s soccer coach at Shorter University in Georgia) just let me have fun. That was a huge part in how far I made it.” Wallace acknowl-edges that HCSA’s philosophy is “that the game needs to be fun… I think kids get burned out when the game is no longer fun, mostly due to emphasizing results at the expense of the developing player skills.” But amidst the fun there was – and is – a white-hot competitive streak running through Brooke’s veins. Unbeknownst to Wallace and Birdsong, Brooke watched the pair juggle and do tricks at practice and then headed home to mimic them … determined to ultimately best them. “I would go home and juggle for an hour because I wanted to do tricks better than them,” she says. “Just seeing all the tricks they did, I said, ‘I’m going to do that one day.’”

That level of commitment and her ever-impressive evolvement as a U13 player, made it apparent, says Martina, that Brooke would benefit from the increased competition that could be found “off the mountain.” So the family made the decision to move Brooke to Twin City Youth Soccer Association in Winston Salem, where she played on the U14 Girls premier team for one year before making the jump to the Greensboro-based U15 Girls NC Fusion eCNL (elite Clubs National League) team, where she would be part of and play against the best girls in the country. Throughout these many transitions, starting at age 12, Brooke was involved with North Carolina ODP (Olympic Development Program), whose primary mission is to identify elite level Region III (Southeast-ern U.S., spanning from Texas to North Carolina) players and facilitate their se-lection to the U.S. National Team pro-grams. The selection process takes place through state, regional and national trials. each year, Brooke survived the rounds of monthly cuts and was selected to attend Region III camp at Alabama’s University of Montevallo in June. In her third year she was selected to the Region III team. That distinction was followed by an invitation as an alternate for National Training Camp in Arizona in February 2014, followed by a spot at Interregionals in Florida that November. Between Alabama and Florida, which incidentally is where a UNC scout had honed in on Brooke, she squeezed in a last-minute camp to Chapel Hill. Remarkably hum-ble and unassuming, Brooke never imagined she had what it takes to play for a program of UNC’s caliber. “I didn’t think I would be able to play at that level. Doing ODP my last years I was probably the better player on the teams, but at the national camps I was knocked back down.” Not too far down, apparently. The week

after returning from camp, UNC’s recruiting staff contacted NC Fusion’s Andy Butler, the club’s then eCNL Director, and asked Brooke to come for a visit.

The Binghams headed to Chapel Hill to watch one of the Tar Heels’ pre-season trainings. Afterwards, Dorrance asked Brooke to

accompany him on a car ride. A bundle of exposed nerves, Brooke went on a joy ride with the most famous women’s college soccer coach (one of the most fa-mous coaches, period) in the country. He asked her about school, what her dreams were, what she wanted to major in, noth-ing about soccer, Brooke recalls. Her nerves settled. And that’s when she knew she wanted to play for Dorrance. But when did the coach know that he needed her in a baby-blue uniform? “Anson told me one of the reasons he recruited me was because of my athleticism,” Brooke says. But it’s the next reason that makes Brooke smile. “When he was watching me play the first time, I went in for a one v. one tackle with the goalie. The goalie

totally wiped me out, but he said his comment to himself at the time was, ‘That’s Tar Heel material.’” “He said she also has an eye,” adds Martina, “that she was incredibly athletic and could play all positions. He said she was national team material.”

True, Brooke is nothing if not versatile: She plays center de-fensive back for national camp, defensive midfielder for Region III and ODP and attacking midfielder for NC Fusion. “That’s helped me so much. I don’t think I would have been recruited by UNC if I only played one position,” Brooke speculates. The Hall of Fame coach officially made her a scholarship shortly af-

“When (Anson) was watching

me play the first time, I went

in for a one v. one tackle with

the goalie. The goalie totally

wiped me out, but he said his

comment to himself at the time

was, ‘That’s Tar Heel material.’”

Brooke goes strong to goal with NC Fusion ECNL. Her coach, Patrick Bridges, says Brooke is "delightful" off the field, but "once it's game time, that look changes

and you do not want to mess with Brooke, case closed."

– BROOKE BINGHAM


ter the ride, says Martina. “Brooke wanted to jump out of her skin,” she laughs, “but we said we needed to think about it.” They didn’t have to think long.

After committing to an athletic scholar-ship at UNC, it would be understandable to expend less energy and reduce risk by tuck-ing into the metaphorical tailwind of secu-rity. But that’s not Tar Heel material. Since the offer, Brooke upped her game both physically and mentally, continuing to shine on her club team; playing four times for the U18 and U19 national teams; making an appearance as team captain in Como, Italy, with Region III last April; selected as one of the top 11 players from a pool of more than 80 of the best female soccer players at the prestigious 2015 Nike National Training Camp in Portland, Ore.; and most recent-ly taking the pitch with the 98 Girls team at Interregionals in Florida in November 2015. It was there, in the final game of the last day, where she tore her ACL.

As soon as she went down, Brooke says, she knew the damage that had been done. “The trainer didn’t have to say anything,” she remembers. “My first thought was, ‘I just tore my ACL.’ Then I remember thinking to myself, ‘Why did this happen to me?’ I didn’t understand because I was in top shape. I was crying not because of the pain, but because I knew how long the recovery would be.”

As of press time, Brooke is entering month four of the six- to nine-month recovery pe-riod, the majority of which is taking place at Boone’s Paul H. Broyhill Wellness Center. But she continues to work on gain-ing strength in her knee at Dy-namic Fitness and Performance in Boone, where she works out for 30 minutes three times a week (down from her typical in-season regimen of an hour-long twice a week sessions), under the guidance of owners and strength and conditioning professionals Amy elliott and Dave Shableski. There she undergoes a series of exercises such as step ups, mini squats, leg presses and lunges. eventually she will reach the point in her recovery where she can incorporate jogging, sprints, agility exercises, dribbling and shooting, scrimmaging and final-ly, competitive play. Despite the setback, neither Brooke’s work ethic nor her enviable determina-

tion has wavered. In fact, if it’s possible, her resolve has strengthened. “Tearing my ACL has made me realize not to take one minute on the field for granted. I am going to train even harder to get to the highest level pos-sible for me. The road to success is not easy. There are many challenges to overcome, like injuries.”

encouragement came quickly to Brooke from numerous sources, including Coach Dorrance, who just after the injury phoned Brooke to say, “Make no mistake, you will be back better than before”, and her cur-rent eCNL club coach, Patrick Bridges, who describes Brooke as “delightful,” “al-ways smiling and laughing with her coaches and teammates”…until she hits the field. The portrait Bridges paints of Brooke’s lit-eral game face underscores Dorrance’s con-fidence in Brooke’s return to form: “Once it’s training or game time, that look changes and you do not want to mess with Brooke, case closed. She will find a way to beat you or run herself into the ground trying. She does not want to come off the field, she does not want to let her team down and she does not want to lose.”

Brooke’s competitive flair is built natu-rally into her DNA. Martina, born in Stut-tgart, Germany, was a martial arts maverick as a kid, and Brooke says her mom’s killer

Brooke was 11 when HCSA Director of Coaching Kiki Wallace recruited her to play travel soccer for his U12 Girls

B team. She had only played one season of rec soccer at that point, but "she had the two ingredients – athleticism

and passion – I was looking for," he remembers.


instinct surfaces even during a so-called friendly game of ping-pong. Dad Danny played basketball in high school in his home-town of Columbus, Ohio; middle sister erin is a champion-ship track star at Lees-McRae College in Banner elk, NC; and oldest sister Kimberly, who recently graduated from Mars Hill College, is part of the four-person alliance that typically forms to beat Martina even at board games. Brooke’s frustration at her inability to execute intense training and daily workouts is straightforward: “Now that I’m injured, I look back and realize I should have done more.”

Her misgivings are both admirable and surprising. For the last five years she and her family have sacrificed what some people take for granted: time. Infinite hours have been spent in cars for thrice weekly round-trips to Winston-Salem and Greensboro for practices; club games and national team camps from Maryland to Virginia, Ohio to Indiana, Florida to California; hitting the pitch for daily workouts and training sessions. And somewhere between the soccer commitments,

there’s school. You know, learning things like math and science and language arts. explaining why Brooke’s parents chose the homeschooling route is stating the obvious. But Brooke had actually been homeschooled right up until her freshman year in high school, when she attempted to transition to Ashe County High School, where she remained only through the first se-mester of her sophomore year. Suffice it to say that the public school academic calendar doesn’t exactly carve out time for students to attend national camps for weeks at a time.

“It was so stressful,” Brooke recalls of trying to juggle school and travel commitments. “But it worked out.”

But what if it didn’t? It’s a parent’s nature to make sacri-fices for their child, but how do you know when the sacrifices are misguided, when it’s more of the parents’ desires than the child’s? How do you decide if your child isn’t good enough to put the entire family through such a rigorous daily challenge?

“Danny and I always thought we wouldn’t do it if she weren’t good enough,” explains Martina. “As a parent, that’s a difficult decision to make. We thought she was good, but we thought that’s because we were her parents. We questioned it a lot. I will say that if you see potential, go for it. But parental support is everything. I don’t care how much talent you have, you cannot do it without your parents.” And while the whole family makes sacrifices for Brooke, Martina adds, “Danny is the one who does most of the driving. I give him a lot of credit.”

echoes Brooke: “I wouldn’t be where I am without my par-ents. Most kids burn out because their parents burn them out, but my parents have done a really good job,” she notes, prais-ing the tightrope they walk between overwhelming pressure

Brooke leads practice with the HCSA U10 Academy Girls,

followed by some post-training

socks and cleats modeling.

“Always follow your dreams and don’t give up,” she asserts. “Set

your goals higher than you think you can ever reach.”

– BROOKE BINGHAM



and reasonable expectation. “Some par-ents on my team praise their kids and are happy with the level they are at. Mom and Dad have always said they are happy, but that I can always get better. They’re right, you can never be happy with where you are. You have to keep pushing.”

Which brings us back to what makes Brooke so unique: her relentless combat-ive spirit. “Being competitive is a really big thing in soccer. If you lose the ball, you go get it back. You have to win it back.” Brooke’s combination of “remarkable athleticism and technical proficiency” is undoubtedly special, purports Wallace, but “the part of Brooke’s game that kids should emulate is her work ethic, desire and dedication. She didn’t become a suc-cessful player by doing what millions of kids in America are doing in going to soc-cer practice twice per week and playing a couple games on the weekend. She has trained every day and worked hard to get where she is. She spends time with the ball every day, she’s in the weight room, im-proving her fitness, and watching games as a student of the game and not just a fan.”

Bridges accentuates Wallace’s point, stressing that Brooke “is a phenomenal athlete, but she also takes care of her body.

She keeps a healthy diet and works out nearly every day she is not at training. She’s always maintaining her fitness outside of soccer. … To be a special player you have to have a special mentality. Brooke has a mentality like I have only seen in only one or two players. Her training habits and

work rate are normally harder and more intense than actual games, therefore one of the main reasons she makes the game of soccer look so easy.” Plus, he adds, in what may be the most critical ingredient to success, “She is never satisfied with where she is. She has always been the best or one

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Brooke with HCSA Director of Coaching Kiki Wallace, who she credits as one of her primary inspirations. "I would go home and juggle for an hour

because I wanted to do tricks better than (him)," she recalls of her years with HCSA.


of the best players on the field, and for most athletes they settle at that point and become complacent. Brooke, on the other hand, is the opposite. If she is the best girl in the club, she wants to be better than the boys in the club. She’s constantly looking to be the best.”

even now, as accolades and distinctions are discussed, Brooke, unsolicited, states, “I think my foot skills need to be better.” Hav-ing personally witnessed her command of the game on the field – the precision, the accuracy, the proficiency, the efficiency, the

athleticism, the anticipation, the awareness – further improve-ment is hard to fathom. But you hang national team goals on mas-tery, not adequacy. “I never thought I would be where I am now,” she acknowledges. But her devotion to mind and body (eating healthy, drinking a lot of water, getting enough sleep, profound work ethic) is complemented by her faith. “My motivation comes from God,” she asserts. Martina concurs: “I subscribe a lot of Brooke’s success to our faith. She’s been blessed with a talent, be-

ing at the right place at the right time. But the odds have been stacked against her -- where we live, her injury. The injury was a setback, but I can see a divine intervention. No matter what happens, she still comes out on top.”

Brooke’s ongoing hopes for the future involve soccer in manifold iterations: a tremendously successful college career at UNC, gainful employment with a professional team, the rare honor of representing the United States as a member of the U.S. Women’s National Team, and, fi-nally, coaching … in college, for a club, wherever she can ignite a spark. “I think it’s important to have someone to look up to for motivation,” she insists, “to realize dreams really do come true. I would really like to coach younger girls in club soccer. Hopefully they will look up to me and ask for advice as I always looked up to Kiki and Ben when they coached me.”

As Brooke works diligently to return to fighting form in the next few months, she is concurrently fulfilling another future objective far earlier than anticipated -- coaching a girls club team. HCSA was recently in need of someone (preferably female) to helm a U10 Acad-emy Girls squad comprised of 10 nine to 10-year-old girls. Wallace’s thoughts immediately turned to Brooke. “I knew she is currently rehabbing from injury and un-able to play herself,” he says. “It’s a great opportunity for sidelined players to stay connected to the game.” In a nice twist, Brooke will be working directly alongside someone she herself idolized as an emerging player: Ke-brina Keys, a former HCSA star who just wrapped up a four-year career as forward/midfielder for Appalachian State University’s Women’s Soccer Team. Keys will be leading the U9 Girls team. “I always looked up to her because she really loved the game and was going to play in college,” Brooke reflects. “And that’s what I wanted to do.”

Brooke is now on the other side of that equation, set to become a role model to the aspiring athletes under her charge. So what words will she impart as inspiration?

“Always follow your dreams and don’t give up,” she asserts. “Set your goals higher than you think you can ever reach.”

You mean like stepping foot on the hallowed grounds carved up by the cleats of Hamm, Chastain, Morgan, Wam-bach, Lloyd, Sauerbrunn? Because that’s not just a fantasy anymore, it’s a destination. The captivated little kid who asked her mom if she could play a sport she’d never played before is now making a run for a strong finish, soccer par-lance for "scoring goals ... and achieving them.". And as Brooke works toward a high percentage shot as a USWNT player, Wallace, for his part, is ready to queue up, declar-ing, “I’ll be first in line to buy a ticket!” ♦

InsideBrooke Bingham

She may eat, sleep and breathe the beautiful game,

but Brooke reveals she also has a few other favorite things:

Singer: Sam Smith

Song: “Like I Can” by Sam Smith

TV Show: “Criminal Minds”

Movie: The Hunger Games (“all of them!!”)

Book: The Vision of a Champion by Anson Dorrance

Food: Pizza and Pretzels, or following a long soccer week-end, a “hamburger and fries”

Hobbies: If she’s not playing soccer, Brooke admits, she’s usually watching it. But she loves the outdoors and spends some free time hiking, swimming and fishing.

Inspirations: Kiki Wallace, Ben Birdsong, Kebrina Keys

Professional Team: Liverpool

Male Athlete: Steven Gerrard (former Liverpool captain)

Female Athlete: Becky Sauerbrunn (USWNT defender, who Brooke says is “so good but doesn’t get noticed enough. I’ve watched her play and taken notes, and she doesn’t make bad plays.”)

Pre-Game Ritual: Listening to slow music, like Sam Smith and Adele. “I like getting really calm before I play. A lot of girls like getting pumped up, but I like getting calm. I picture myself on the field and think about what I’m going to do. I get so nervous before every game. A good nervous, though. That’s why I like getting really calm.”


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57174

Phenomenal JourneyFirst-Time Author and Boone Resident

Leigh Ann Henion Comes of Age in Her Craft While Exploring

Far-Flung Corners of the Earth

At 4,200 feet elevation, the air is cool and heavy with moisture – no heat to be had from Kilauea Volcano, the crater glowing

in the distance. Leigh Ann Henion is encircled by a group of young hula initiates and their in-structor Keikilani Curnan, privy to an ancient interchange of natural phenomena and spiritual practice about to take place.

Curnan and her students are present to pay homage to Pele, goddess of fire, who resides within Kilauea, the most active of Hawaii’s five volcanoes. Henion is present to bear witness to the event.

As Kilauea smolders, active yet docile beneath a mantle of sulfuric acid, the girls tune their voic-es to the volcano’s reflecting pitch. Their offer-ing to Pele builds, sweet vocals expanding and merging into one. Henion takes note:

“each line of the chant is a flow of smooth lava, new slipping over old … a show of transfor-mation, life longing for itself in molten stone and the soft tones of voices just beginning to come into their own.”

Lyrical and vivid, Henion’s words encapsulate a single moment in the weave of natures’ tapes-try. One moment among many that culminates in what was for her truly the journey of a lifetime. A journey that took her to five continents and two islands over a period of five years. A journey with a firm intention: seek out and witness several of the earth’s most spectacular natural phenomena, then chronicle the entirety.

STORY BY KATE CAHOW

PHOTOS BY LEIGH ANN HENION

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Her list of must-see marvels could surely turn many a seasoned-world travelers’ backpacks green with envy:

Tracking the world’s largest annual migration •of wildebeest, zebra, giraffe and other hungry critters in search of greener pastures across Tanzania; Camping out in a stilt village – or palafino – •beneath the near-continuous raging of Catat-umbo lightning storms on Lake Maracaibo, Venezuela; Swimming in a sea of plankton-induced biolu-•minescence – or living light – in Vieques, Puerto Rico; And gazing into the miracle of a monarch-•filled sky on a mountaintop in Mexico’s Sierra Madres – over-wintering site of the entire North American Monarch population.

(See sidebar for a complete list of Henion’s phenomena chasing.)

“If you pay close attention with all your senses you start to see connections everywhere all the time...

because everything is connected.”

Leigh Ann Henion, pictured above, was privy to an upclose-and-personal performance of hula students chanting to Pele, goddess of fire, at Kīlauea Volcano in Haaii’s Volcanoes

National Park. Hula, considered by native Hawaiians to be an ancient spiritual practice, honors the natural phenomena of their beautiful island home.


In 2015, with the publishing of her first book, Phenomenal: A Hesitant Adventurer’s Search for Wonder in the Natural World, Henion accom-plished her goal. Her effort has been praised by O, The Oprah Magazine, elizabeth Gilbert (author of Eat, Pray, Love) and Ruth Ozeki (author of A Tale for the Time Being), among others.

Penguin Press released the book in paperback recently. The publisher writes of Phenomenal, “Convinced that the greatest key to happiness … lies in periodically allowing herself to venture into the wider world beyond home, Henion sets out on a global trek to rekindle her sense of wonder … [Her] wanderlust puts her in the path of modern-day shamans, reindeer herders, and astrophysicists … seekers [who] trust their instincts, follow their passions, shape their days into the lives they most want to lead.”

Ozeki writes, “Reading Phenomenal will give you courage – courage to explore the world we live in … courage to explore yourself.”

And Gilbert, a favorite author of Henion’s, sug-gests the book poses a powerful question to today’s modern women regarding their love of and pursuit of adventure: “Is it possible to be a wife and moth-er and still explore the world? [Henion’s] answer seems to be that this is not only possible, but essen-tial.” (Read sidebar for further praise of the book.)

Over the past decade and a half – and years be-fore she put pen to paper on Phenomenal, Henion has proven herself a highly adept and gifted writer, focusing her talents primarily in the genre of travel writing. Her feature articles have appeared in The Washington Post Magazine, Smithsonian, The New York Times, Orion, Oxford American, Southern Liv-ing and Our State Magazine. She’s also a winner of the Lowell Thomas Award.

An assignment to cover the monarch migration for The Washing Post Magazine in 2007 sparked Henion’s epiphany to enlist her wanderlust in the shaping of her first book. Memories of the experi-ence sustained her when three years later she was struggling with major life challenges: the birth of her son, questions and doubts facing all young mothers, insomnia, lack of time and energy to keep up with friends, with health issues, with her life outside the home.

In the introduction to Phenomenal, Henion elu-cidates her decision to pursue a wish list of natural phenomena she dreamed up years ago by asking, “Couldn’t exploring just a few of earth’s most daz-zling natural phenomena … make the world simi-larly new again, reawakening that sort of wonder within me?”

The answer to that question was a resound-ing “yes!” And since then, whether at her beloved home in Boone, NC on the New River or some-where on the other side of the world, Henion has been in pursuit of what she calls “an epic quest for wonder.”

Horses from the village of Macheros, Mexico, can be hired to transport visitors to the monarch’s overwintering site at the top of Bald Mountain.

During her trip to Sweden to pursue the Northern Lights, Henion stayed in the original ICEHOTEL in Jukkasjärvi. Each winter, the hotel is built with ice harvested from the Torne

River, and each summer it melts back into the waterway. During the daylight hours, she had the opportunity to spend time with reindeer herders.


Growing into Her Writer’s SkinI first met Leigh Ann back in 2002, a vivacious, lovely young wom-

an, full of laughter and smiles. We shared a love of writing and talked about the challenges of freelancing.

Over the next 14 years I followed her career, impressed and inspired by her get-out-there-and-just-do-it attitude. Impressed by her talent. Articles published in the country’s most prestigious magazines! A pub-lished and successful book! Wow! When presented with the opportunity to write about her for High Country Magazine, to hear her story, go back to the roots of her journey as a writer, well, how could I resist?

Henion grew up with a deep sense of place, and this certainly con-

tributed to the type of writing she would choose to focus on. A North Carolina native and child of public school employees,

she’s lived in every corner of the state, including Perquimans County in rural eastern North Carolina during her high school years. A house in the middle of a huge cotton field, the Perquimans River and Albe-marle Sound nearby, cypress trees and Spanish moss.

She was an avid reader and lover of literature from early on. Books were nighttime companions – she snuggled up to and slept with the written word. Her mother fed and encouraged this love, and crafted tiny blank books for the young storyteller to record and illustrate her imaginings.

Family, friends and fans gathered at Appalachian Mountain Brewery in Boone to celebrate with Henion the publishing of Phenomenal in March of 2015.

Wildebeest saunter in the middle of the road, blocking traffic as they make their way across Tanzania in search of green pastures.

“We’d been watching the largest wildebeest herd I’d seen in the Serenghetti, roughly 10,000 animals grazing and shuffling their

feet in migration,” Henion writes of the experience.

“Writing is important to me because it’s how I make sense of things. It’s a process of discovery

— and often of self discovery.”



“I wrote my first novel in middle school,” Henion laughs, mirthful at the remembrance of this initial literary effort. “It was a great adventure story about a girl and her grandfather out in the American Southwest. everyone in my family took note. ‘Leigh Ann is writing a book!’” Her tone feigning their amazement.

Always enamored of stories and the story-telling process, Henion was drawn to other forms of chronicling the world around her. While pursuing cultural stud-ies at UNC-Asheville she got excited about photography, recognizing the companion-ability of film and text to hone in on detail, to craft narrative.

After receiving her bachelor’s degree at UNCA, she headed north to The Salt Insti-tute for Documentary Studies in Maine where she completed a graduate certificate in documen-tary studies. Quite the achiever when it comes to academia, Henion also holds an M.A. in Appala-chian Studies from Appa-lachian State University, and an M.F.A. in creative writing from Queens Uni-versity in Charlotte.

A year out from Maine, Henion found herself couch-surfing with friends in Boone, contemplating her next

step. Amidst a childhood of occasional relocations and school changes, the High Country region was what she refers to as “the one constant in my life.” She grew to love the area while spending summers at Camp Broadstone in Valle Crucis. Still a dreamer and would-be purveyor of words and images, she hit on writing for the lo-cal newspaper as her next gig. She began attending the Mountain Times’ editorial meetings, back when Ken Ketchie was the publisher.

“There wasn’t a job for me, but I showed up and announced I’d like to write some feature articles,” she says. “I came up with ideas, gave myself assignments, and turned in story after story.”

When it comes to natural phenomena in the High Country, Henion has a special affinity for precipita-tion and waterways, which she recently wrote about in Our State magazine. Henion is pictured here at

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The Phenomenain Leigh Ann Henion’s Phenomenal

MonArcH ButterfLy MigrAtion, MexicoEach year, nearly 250 million monarchs, from all over North America, gather in a small mountain-ous swath of land in Mexico to wait out winter. An assignment to write about this phenomena for The Washington Post Magazine partially inspired Henion’s larger pilgrimage. BioLuMinescence, Puerto ricoIn Mosquito Bay, plankton-induced bioluminescence appears to mirror stars in the night sky. cAtAtuMBo LigHtning, VenezueLAThe Catatumbo lightning—a near-continuous noc-turnal lightning storm—rages more than 300 nights a

year over the rivers that feed Lake Maracaibo.

VoLcAnic eruPtion, HAwAiiKílauea has been active—as far as volcanologists know—since its formation roughly 300,000-600,000 years ago. nortHern LigHts, sweden

When Henion was in pursuit of the northern lights above the Arctic Circle, she drove a reindeer sledge and slept in the origi-nal ICEHOTEL. tHe greAt MigrAtion, tAnzAniAThis mammal migration—consisting of wildebeest, zebra, and other animals—constitutes the largest in the world. totAL soLAr ecLiPse, AustrALiAA total solar eclipse occurs with the moon completely covers the

sun, making its corona—and the movement of earth—visible. Henion witnessed one in Queen-sland, Australia, not far from the Great Barrier Reef.

Photos courtesy of Leigh Ann Henion, the US Geological Survey Department and other sources.

“I kept doing this until they finally brought me on as a staff writer and pho-tographer,” she says.

In the end, her time at the newspaper proved the perfect training ground for a freelance writer. The day-to-day tasks of preparing for and conducting interviews, writing and rewriting copy, and working with editors became secondary to her as she crafted stories about the people inhab-iting her adopted home.

“I fashioned my own version of Humans of New York – the King Street Stories,” she recalls, memories of her interviews bub-bling up. “I’d take a photo of someone at

work, interview them, then pull a quote and publish it with the portrait.”

“I found that no matter what people’s occupation, whether a midwife, the guy who plowed the snow-filled streets of Boone, someone who worked at the old movie theatre or even the late Charles Church about his broccoli, they all had a kind of life philosophy that connected to their work.

“That was meaningful to me in so many ways. I was providing a conduit for people’s stories and that felt like a special role to play in the community. I loved the project, and I loved my time at the paper.

It was a great place to begin writing, to ex-plore my curiosity.”

These many years later, as a young writ-er coming of age in her craft, a wife and mother, an English composition instructor at Appalachian until this past fall, and still a resident of her beloved Boone, Henion marvels at the trajectory her journey has taken – her journey to Phenomenal.

“It’s like I’m coming full circle,” she says. “I began writing at the Mountain Times with Ken Ketchie as my first editor, and now I’m celebrating the publishing of Phenomenal in his magazine.” Her voice rises, “What are the chances?”


Bringing the Journey Home to BearIt’s mid-December 2015 and I’m on the phone with Leigh

Ann. She’s recounting some of the details included on the copyright page of Phenomenal. To say that the voice coming through the receiver is anything short of ecstatic would be a huge understatement.

“Kate! The Library of Congress referred to me as a woman shaman. Can you believe it?” Henion’s laughter is girlish, sweet and contagious. She is reveling in the experience, pinching her-self with the delight of a hard-won accomplishment, yet abso-lutely cognizant of the huge effort it took to get to this place.

The Library of Congress has indeed referred to her as a woman shaman. The fact is, in the process of writing Phenom-enal, also referred to as a spiritual biography and memoir, He-nion came face to face with herself as an artist reaching a pin-nacle in her craft, a modern-day shaman who believes in that which cannot be seen but can be discerned and felt with the senses, the heart.

Given the scope of the book – that she travelled to far-flung corners of the world to experience her list of seven natural wonders – and the huge amount of travel and logistics details she had to coordinate, she says she still marvels that the project came together as it did. It involved a very serious proposal, and a lot about it wasn’t clear in the beginning. But she kept repeat-ing to herself, “I’m going to do this. It’s probably the most am-bitious project I could think of but I’m going to do it.”

In hindsight she believes she was embarking upon a pilgrim-age, though to what end she wasn’t certain. “I didn’t know it was a pilgrimage at the time. I could only sense the potential was there. That’s part of the story, why it’s extraordinary. I felt compelled to pursue this path.”

The experience left her with an enduring sense of intercon-nectivity – a feeling of being connected to all living things, in-cluding that which we can neither see nor explain. She could

While tracking the Great Migration through Tanzani, Henion encoun-tered hippos, giraffes, zebras, wildebeest and more. Scientists generally believe the event is related to weather. “These animals are not focused on a destination or goal,” she writes. “They are simply ... headed toward life, greenery ... toward wherever they seasonally need to be.”


no longer look at one phenomenon without seeing a connection to another.

“I’d be standing on the edge of a volca-no and learn about something called infra-sound, a sound emitted by volcanoes that’s beyond the range of human hearing yet still can be measured,” she said. “Then while I’m gazing up into the Northern Lights I learn that they too emit this sound.

“If you pay close attention with all your senses you start to see connections every-where all the time. And while you’re look-ing and experiencing, the extraneous falls away. You sense that you’re insignificant, yet somehow that makes you feel more sig-nificant in context of the larger experience because everything is connected. We all are part of this big, amazing thing called life, and it is part of us.”

Later, when I ask Leigh Ann about her

writing process and why writing is impor-tant to her she pauses for a moment – a few moments actually. As a writer myself I understand her hesitation answering that question, the attempt to define and encap-sulate on the spot feelings and self-knowl-edge that may not be readily accessible or easy to put into words. Not like the details of her stories and adventures. No, those are on the tip of her tongue. Eventually the words roll out.

“Writing is important to me because it’s how I make sense of things,” she says. “It’s a process of discovery – and often of self discovery, of taking the world in, en-gaging with one’s thoughts. My thoughts often move at a rate that my mouth has trouble keeping up with. Writing helps me to center, to take those thoughts and ex-press them in a way that allows others to experience or see what I’m seeing.”

And what she sees is often beauty to a reader’s eyes and ears: a sea of living light cascading over fingers submerged in the ocean; tiny dancers communing with a fiery goddess who resides in a volcano; lightning that crackles and rages over a lake nearly every night of the year, a bull elephant who charges her Land Cruiser – his tusks fully framed in the windows.

It doesn’t hurt that her capacity for

exploration, for following her curiosity, is nearly limitless. “The first step for me in my creative process is curiosity,” she of-fers. “I always have ideas. I’m interested and curious about almost everything. And when I have an idea that won’t leave me alone, that keeps coming back, well, those

“It’s like I’m coming full circle. I began writing at the Mountain Times with Ken Ketchie as my

first editor, and now I’m celebrating the publishing of Phenomenal in his magazine.

What are the chances?”

Judy Matthews, a Monarch Watch volunteer from New York, caught up here in a swirl of butterflies.

She was one of the travelers Henion met while visiting the monarchs’ overwintering site.

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In Praise of Leigh Ann Henion’sPhenomenal“This is a gorgeously written and

deeply thoughtful memoir … that in-spires endless self-examination and con-versation – and hopefully maybe even some life-transforming adventures.” – elizabeth gilbert, author of Eat, Pray, Love and The Signature of All Things

“Leigh Ann Henion’s exhilarating book (and life!) is everything the title suggests and more … With moments of breath-stealing beauty, wild intelligence, and unrelenting honesty, Phenomenal is a true gift for everyone who’s ever been curious.” – ruth ozeki, author of A Tale for the Time Being.

“Even a cynic reading Phenomenal will yearn for a taste of wonder.” – Sydney Morning Herald (Australia)

“Fleeting, extraordinary glimpses of something that left us groping for rational explanations in the quicksand of all-encompassing wonder.” – O, The Oprah Magazine

“What would it be like to experience the world with a child’s sense of won-der? That is the question that Leigh Ann Henion succeeded in answering … Her quest was ambitious, inspiring her into encounters with Arctic reindeer herders, astrophysicists, and unforgettable light-ning storms. A refreshing wake-up call to living in the natural world.” – Barnes & Noble Review

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ideas are often magical.” Like the article she had published in

Our State Magazine in January. A portrait of Boone, the title beckons to readers: “Wel-come to the Southern mountain town whose personality is in its precipitation.” (Online at: https://www.ourstate.com/city-portrait- boone-north-carolina/) Like much of Henion’s work, including Phenomenal, the piece is a study in place, impressions of a spot near and dear to her heart. It keeps coming back to her because readers are smitten with the work. As am I …

“The long-range views from Boone can make one feel small. So can the realization that, in this ancient landscape, not every-thing is under human control. Just as these mountains tend to make people feel either suffocated or cradled, Boone’s oft-extreme precipitation can be viewed as either fright-ening or empowering. Because it demon-

strates that we’re undeniably a part of na-ture, something larger than ourselves.”

Henion’s Phenomenal theme of that-which-is-grander-than-thee is perfectly present in the piece. As is her lyrical prose, her probing voice, her immense love and wonder of nature. She says of the reader feedback, “I don’t believe I’ve ever had a response to a piece like this. What’s really fantastic is this is my home, a piece about natural phenomena in my own backyard.

“There’s this amazing full-circle beauty here,” Henion marvels. “For the book I went on a global pilgrimage. I needed the reawakening I got from that journey. But in the end there’s nowhere I love more than my own backyard. It’s my favorite place on earth – looking out on the New River. The tremendous reader response to this piece has brought the wonder of my larger jour-ney home to bear.” Just as the voices of

fans of Phenomenal from across the globe bear assurance that Henion’s journey as writer, as explorer of nature and hesitant adventurer in search of wonder and self-discovery will, indeed, continue.

My voice joins the chorus in apprecia-tion of the personal journey her words and stories precipitated. Finishing the book left me with a strong desire to compose a list of my own phenomena to explore, piqued my sense of adventure and curiosity for the world around me, reawakened my shaman-within. Following her lead, I envision my-self traipsing to far corners of the earth – or at least pursuing the wonders of nature in my own backyard.

I am inspired and deeply touched by the opportunity to write about her journey outward and then back to the source – her heart. I thank you, Leigh Ann! Now, back to that list …

Some new and different sights and experiences Henion was treated to on her wonder-chasing pilgrimage include Venezuelan street scenes and the traditional stilt dwellings of those who live on Lake Maracaibo, Venezuela (top left and lower right photos), the architecture and sculpture of the ICEHOUSE,

and a meal served in a traditional lávvu – temporary dwellings of the Sami people of northern Scandanavia (lower left and top right photos).

Future Farmers of Americaavery county

Avery County High School

FFA Members

FFA Officers 2015-2016


FFA Gwen Clark # 2

Gwen Gentry Clark could aptly be described as an interesting, like-able and colorful person. Those

around her notice many great attributes, including: a strong love for God, her country and her family; noble affection for Avery County High School; an ever-burning eagerness to teach and inspire her students to reach their potential; and a seemingly endless energy that drives her to make a difference in the community.

Her professional career spans three decades of teaching agriculture and hor-ticulture at Avery High in Newland, as well as growing the school’s successful Future Farmers of America program as its faculty advisor.

"I got the agriculture and horticulture bug when I was growing up, and it's never quit biting," Clark said with a loud laugh. "It's like a disease for which there is no cure. My enthusiasm has never waned for horticulture, agriculture and growing plants, Christmas trees, vegetables and practically anything else that will grow out of the ground.

“It’s a passion for me. I wanted to teach and share what I had learned about the topics to others. It’s extra rewarding when your work becomes so important, and, often times, a passion for your students.”

A daughter of Bill and Mary Gentry and a native of the Yad-kin County town of Jonesville, Clark graduated from Starmount High School in 1982. She then attended Surry Community Col-lege, where she received an associate’s degree in 1984. From there, she transferred to North Carolina State University to at-tend its nationally recognized agriculture program, and earned a

bachelor’s degree in agriculture education with a concentration in horticulture.

After exploring several other teaching opportunities, she was hired at Avery High the fall semester following her college gradu-ation, and she’s been teaching there ever since.

She later earned a master’s degree from North Carolina A&T University in 199.

“I had originally planned to stay a year at Avery High and then possibly go back to my hometown area and take a job there

Gwen Gentry ClarkThe Inspiring Leader Behind Avery High’s

Blooming Agriculture and FFA Programs

By Tim Gardner

Gwen Clark speaks to a group of her students at Avery County High School. Many of the students who attend her courses in agriculture and horticulture are inspired by her passion for the fields of

study, and are then motivated to get involved with the Future Farmers of America organization.

Gwen Clark



when a position came open,” Clark said. “But, I decided to stay another year at Avery High and the rest is history. Dur-ing my second year here I met my future husband, Dee Clark.

“I realized how much I love this area and its beauty, as well as the school, its students and all the friends I had made here. I've been offered other jobs through the years, but I never wanted to leave. Avery County is a great place to live and work. I’m so glad this is where God chose to put me.”

Learning & growingIn the classroom, Gwen’s students ap-

ply the knowledge, skills and technologies they learn and eventually master to grow

intensively produced plants for non-food uses and for personal and social needs and wants.

Their work involves plant propaga-tion and cultivation with the aim of im-proving plant growth, yields, quality and resistance to insects, diseases and envi-ronmental stresses.

“What happens in my classes is always different each day,” said Clark. “I use the North Carolina Course of Study for Agriculture Education, but I try to put a spin on it so that students can learn what they need to use the information in their lives now.

“They learn about plant biology, read-ing, writing, vocabulary, technology and sciences. They also incorporate math, his-

tory and how to daily use all subjects in life. In some of the courses I teach, we focus on lots of different topics to explore, and we concentrate on life skills to a great extent.

“Record keeping, taxes, business prac-tices and agriculture and horticulture trends are also focal points. Public speak-ing is important and my students practice that in my classes often. Most people call that presentations, but I like to work on skills that students will use in churches, volunteer organizations, fire departments and other local groups of which they are members.

“Naturally, the FFA also is an integral part of everything we do in class. It’s a large part of our curriculum — at least a third of it. Each student has a Supervised

Avery High students Cade Jones, Bridgette Smith, Jared Jaynes, Cade Johnson, and Bri Cuthbertson work with Clark in an out building, using recycled paper from the

school to build soil material. The shredded paper is combined with peat moss, mixed with water and allowed time to decompose. The decomposed material is then used to

raise worms that enrich the soil, as well as to raise mushrooms.

Capital outlay school funds, donations, and grants helped establish this state-of-the-art greenhouse in 2010, which replaced two older greenhouses that were built in 1971. The greenhouse provides an irrigation and fertilization watering system and plenty of space to raise plants, hanging baskets,

vegetables and cooking herbs, all of which the students sell through the annual plant sale in late May and early June.


Agriculture Experience project. They keep up with the activities they perform, how long it takes and money spent or earned on each. This promotes record keeping and budgeting.

“As FFA members, students can earn awards for their records. We also experi-ment with plants — seeding, transplanting, grafting and transplanting.”

Her students gain knowledge about numerous varieties of woody and herba-ceous ornamental plants, including big and

little ones with a seemingly endless vari-ety of forms, shapes and colors. They also learn about evergreens, especially Frasier firs, and their home county’s role as “The Christmas Tree Capital of The World.”

Essentially, the growing process is never ending, the plant palette is ever-expanding and their hard work results in a rewarding experience.

“Working in agriculture and horticul-ture is good exercise, which makes it good for the body,” Clark said. “It’s also good

for the mind, because there’s always some-thing new to work with or another thing needing attention of some manner.”

Clark has detailed philosophies about the world of education and the practice of teaching.

"Some may disagree with my ideas, but any teacher or educator needs to discover what students can do and what they can become,” she said. “You have to remember that parents trust you with their most pre-cious possessions — their children. Some-

Avery Agriculture Teachers and FFA Advisors. Pictured are Lakean Stamey Byrd, Gretchen Holden Blackburn,

Gwen Gentry Clark and Olivia Watson Haigler.

Gwen Clark is pictured with Dwayne Krege, Gretchen Blackburn, and Olivia Haigler, former students who

are now agricultural education teachers.

Pictured are some of the 95 students who make up the 2015-16 chapter of Future Farmers of America at Avery High.Avery County Future Farmers of America 2015-16

Clark's leadership in the classroom has inspired many students to get involved with the FFA, but many have also gone on to pursue careers in agriculture education. Here, she is pictured (left) with Gretchen

Blackburn, a former student who now teaches alongside Clark at Avery High and serves as an FFA advisor.


times you spend more time with their children than their parents do. I like to say that students are 'somebody’s everything.'

“You are a teacher all the time, and you should make learning creative and fun. No one philosophy of teaching works in every situation and with every student. Some of the new teaching tech-niques that have gained attention the last few years are the same ones I used when I started teaching. They're not new, just different approaches.

“Some ways of teaching don't work and you have to quickly adjust to what your students need and will re-spond to. Teaching and work-ing in education is not for the faint-hearted, quickly of-fended or those who think it's easy. You have to be totally devoted to the profession, and your family must believe in the same things you do about education and teaching.

“Many times, your life revolves around your teaching. I would tell any aspiring teacher or educator to make sure that being such is truly what you want. I consider teaching my calling. It's all about your students.

"All students can learn. They each learn differently, and it is your job to awaken this desire to learn. My students usually show me a side of them academically that they may not show in other

classes. It's rewarding when students realize that agriculture and horticulture are sciences and that some of the same topics they study are the same as they learn in their other classes.

“Teaching pays rewards that you may see many years later. Sometimes you know students are learning immediately, but usu-ally its years after they graduate that they come back and tell you

they realize what they learned in your class.

“It reminds me of planting a fruit tree. When you get the tree, it’s small. You plant it, fertilize it, prune it, shape it, care for it, and then, in several years, the tree bears fruit. Stu-dents are the same. They need caring, nurturing, facts and time to mature and bear fruit

of their own."The greatest respect you can earn is that which comes from

your professional superiors and peers and, as a teacher, those who learned under your tutelage. Those associated with Clark give her high marks.

"Gwen's students have performed well, and that's a direct re-flection of her teaching ability," said Avery County Schools Super-intendent David Burleson. “Through her hard work and dedica-tion, Gwen has helped our FFA become what many consider the best in the entire State of North Carolina's school system. Gwen

Avery High students Jared Jaynes, Bridgette Smith and Cade Jones show the proper lab technique for the micropropagation of plants.

Jared Jaynes is pictured using the proper industry lab technique for micropropagation of plants.

Students in the lab work with plants that are ready to be separated. Pictured are Cade Johnson (left) and Cade Jones (right).

“Teaching pays rewards that you may see many years later. Sometimes you know students are

learning immediately, but usually its years after they graduate that they come back and tell you they realize what they learned in your class."


cares deeply about her students and has often sacrificed her own personal needs to provide their needs.

“Another tribute to Gwen is that those involved in the State FFA competitions have repeatedly commented about how friendly, well-mannered and behaved Gwen's students are, be-sides how well they have succeeded in their studies and compe-titions. And that's through the example she has set for them as their instructor."

Avery High graduate Shayna Vance, who is now a junior at Wingate College, agreed with Burleson.

"Gwen was one of my favorite and best teachers. She is a lot of fun and really encourages students. She makes you want to learn. And she helps you develop, and then fuel, a similar love for horticulture and agriculture like she possesses."

future farmers of AmericaClark is particularly noted for her deft leadership as a prima-

ry advisor to the Avery Future Farmers of America program. An intercurricular student organization for those interested

in agriculture and leadership, FFA is one of three components of agricultural education.

FFA is not just for students who want to be production farm-ers; it also welcomes members who aspire to careers as teachers, doctors, scientists, business owners and more. For this reason, the name of the organization was updated to reflect the growing diversity and new opportunities in the agriculture industry.

The National FFA Organization remains committed to the

Jared Jaynes and Cade Jones are pictured with Clark as they work to transplant bedding plants, which students will water, fertilize and monitor as they grow.

Bridgette Smith waters bedding plants in the greenhouse at Avery High.

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individual student, providing a path to achievement in premier leadership, per-sonal growth and career success through agricultural education.

The FFA continues to help the next generation rise up to meet those challenges by helping its members to develop their own unique talents and explore their in-terests in a broad range of agricultural ca-reers. They are still the Future Farmers of America, but they’re also the future biolo-gists, future chemists, future veterinarians, future engineers and future entrepreneurs of America.

Under the umbrella of state associa-tions, the FFA is made up of local chapters like the thriving one at Avery High. FFA programs are funded through sponsorships and individual donations at the local, re-gional, state and national levels. All levels include Avery FFA members.

To list the honors, accomplishments and good deeds of the Avery County FFA and its members would fill this whole magazine.

The FFA has a degree system consisting of: Greenhand Degree, Chapter FFA De-gree, State Degree and American Degree. Each has different requirements for FFA members, but all involve public speaking, parliamentary procedures, FFA activities, maintaining good records on your SAE and participating in FFA events.

There are 32 areas of Proficiency Awards for FFA students. Students earn these awards for their agriculture work outside of the classroom in fields such as raising cattle, working in and raising a gar-den, working in all aspects of Frasier Fir Christmas tree farming, working in gro-cery stores, welding, any jobs involving home improvements, mowing lawns and greenhouse work.

Also, there are various Career Develop-ment Events, which are competitions stu-dents can work on individually or in a team setting: Parliamentary Procedure, Public Speaking, Horticulture, Tool Identifica-tion, Agriculture Mechanics, Floriculture and Truck/Tractor Driving. The Avery FFA participates in 14 CDEs, and often places high in these events in state competitions.

Avery FFA members participate in an-

nual local, state and national conventions and leadership conferences. Through these happenings, FFA members learn new ways to be leaders and practice skills in order to help them grow as such, and use them in all aspects of their lives.

This academic year, the Avery FFA is represented by State FFA Officer John Clark, who will travel, present leadership workshops and visit other FFA chapters to help them develop skills.

The Avery FFA was last represented by a State Officer, Kevin Jones, during the 1993-94 school year.

Most every FFA member earns the Greenhand and Chapter FFA Degree. The State FFA Degree is very exclusive and is only held by two percent of FFA members. It’s the highest state FFA honor. Avery has had approximately 10 FFA members earn this distinction each year, and nearly 300 former FFA members have earned this award in the past — a most impressive feat, indeed. For the 2015-16 school year, Avery will have 11 FFA members receive this degree at the 2016 North Carolina FFA Convention in Raleigh in June.

The Avery FFA has had an astound-ing 11 American Degree recipients. The American degree is an acknowledgement of a five-year accumulation of work in agriculture, community, school, jobs and leadership positions.

In 2011, Jared Clark and Olivia Wat-son became the first recipients from Avery County. Following were Lakean Stamey in 2012 and Katie Stamey 2013. Six claimed the prestigious achievement in 2014: Mi-chelle Cuthbertson, Dustin Clark, Shayna Vance, Carson Clark, Codie Hicks and Dakota Guy. Avery had the second most American Degrees of any FFA chapter in North Carolina that year. In 2015, Abi-gail Griffith claimed the degree. Avery has nine candidates for the honor in 2016, and those approved will be announced by the State FFA in July.

Clark said that she encourages others to support their school’s FFA and any career technical education courses and student or-ganizations by lending their expertise and donating time, money and other services to help students in all levels of education.

Gwen Clark is surprised with a cake created by FFA alumna Amy Cooke Buchanan, who now

works in the baking industry, on her 25th anniversary with the FFA in 2010.

John Clark, pictured, graduated with honors in 2015 from Avery High, where he served as an Avery FFA officer and a Northwest Region FFA

officer in 2014-15. He is now a student at North Carolina State University and currently

serves as a 2015-16 State FFA officer.

> My parents> with me at the NCSU Awards-

Gwen Clark's horticulture teacher, LQ Thomasson, is pictured with his wife, Jean.

"He inspired me," Clark said of her teacher. "He pushed me to be my best and work hard in FFA.

He believed in me and knew I had potential."

"Some may disagree with my ideas, but any teacher or educator needs to discover what students can do and what they can become. You have to remember that parents trust

you with their most precious possessions — their children."


FFA Gwen Clark # 8

gwen gentry clarkAs a horticulture and agriculture buff, it seems that Clark was

destined to marry someone with similar, or almost blueprint, in-terests. That came to fruition in 1988 when she wed Dee Clark of the White Pine Community, located between Newland and Cross-nore. In fact, the two make their home on White Pine — a fitting name for the home of an agriculture and horticulture expert.

Her husband works with his family on the Clark Family Farm and Nursery, where they raise Fraser Fir Christmas trees as well

as nursery/andscape trees and shrubs. He has served on the North Carolina Nursery Landscape Association Board of Directors and he is active in helping with research to promote North Carolina agriculture products in the nursery industry.

The Clarks are the parents of two children: a son, Jared, and a daughter, Carson. Jared is a 2010 Lenoir-Rhyne College gradu-ate, where he was a Teaching Fellow, a leader in the Campus Cru-sade for Christ and part of the Bears baseball team there. His de-gree is in Elementary Education and he has certifications to teach Middle and High School. He married is college sweetheart, Emily

The Clark Family (from left): Dee, Gwen, Jared, Emily, and Carson.

> My parents> with me at the NCSU Awards-

Gwen Gentry Clark is pictured with her parents.

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Pinnix. Jared teaches middle school in Catawba County and Emily does the same in Caldwell County. Carson is a junior at Meredith College in Raleigh, where she is majoring in nutrition and will graduate in 2017. She is active in the school’s nutrition club. She works as a nanny, and, like her parents, she loves to garden and helps work in the Meredith College flower gardens. Jared and Carson have been active as leaders in the Crusaders Union in Bible study and mission work. In fact, Jared has trav-eled outside of the United States to work in the mission field.

As Clark’s professional repertoire keeps growing, she feels most gratified when the goals are achieved and she can look at her work with perspective.

"The gratification comes after you finish and you see the effect it has on students and their families," she said. "When

you give to others to help them learn and maybe influence their lives in a positive way, you're giving the most important thing you can give, and that's the human element.

“Many of my former students live in Avery County and are in leadership roles. Some have served on Boards with Farm Bureau and Agricultural Extension. And some became teach-ers and law enforcement officers, while others have worked in church, government and countless other roles. It’s fun to teach the children of my former students. Seeing a student graduate high school is particularly gratifying. Remembering that a stu-dent has a dream and they get to live out that dream through your class is thrilling. Many dreams and goals have been shared in my classroom and I’m thankful to have witnessed them.”

About her teaching legacy, Clark said, “I want to be known

Meet Jared Jaynes. He's a junior at Avery High and an FFA Offi-cer. He's on the Parliamentary Procedure team and will receive the State FFA Degree in June. In addition to leading several projects within the Avery FFA, he works in many areas of agriculture on his family farm and works with his friends in a greenhouse. Along with fellow classmate Bri Cuthbertson, he is conducting a STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) Project called "The Giving Garden." Together, the two are writing a grant, seeking donations and working to build the newest on-campus commu-nity garden at Avery County High School.

ffA officer Jared Jaynes

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as a teacher who cared, helped and worked hard and productively. I want students to look back and say that I’m a teacher who taught them something they can use each day. I’ve tried to do my very best with what I have been given to make people happy and teach them useful things. As a result, I’ve been able to experience life in a mighty way.”

Clark has enough years teaching to retire, but is unsure when that milestone may hap-pen.

“I pray God will let me know when I need to retire,” said Clark, who also coached cheerleading at Avery for five years, worked with the majorettes in the Marching Vikings Band and helped es-tablish the school’s National Technical Honor Society. “But as long as I’m able, I’ll still be active and work to help out as I am needed and wanted, regardless if I’m still teaching school or retired.

“I’m a lifetime FFA member and alum-nus. My role may change, but the FFA will always be a part of my life. I’m not sure what else I may do when I retire, but I think opportunities for me to serve oth-ers will continue to be presented. The FFA Motto is ‘Learning to Do, Doing to Learn, Earning to Live, Living to Serve.’ My life runs parallel to that.”

-Tim Gardner is a freelance journalist who makes his home in the North Caroli-na High Country of Avery County. He’s an Avery High graduate. Tim’s articles have appeared in national, regional, local and specialty publications.

-Pictures accompanying this story were supplied by Gwen Clark and Ken Ketchie.

“I pray God will let me know when I need to retire. But as long as I’m able, I’ll still be active and work to help out as I am needed and wanted, regardless

if I’m still teaching school or retired."


When James Bance and Sam Glover gaze out over the High Country from Howard’s Knob, they see what we all see – downtown Boone arrayed before them;

Grandfather Mountain’s stolid profile and the gorgeous “hol-lars,” hills and peaks that have captured the hearts of so many.

But James and Sam see something else – an opportunity to transform the region from solely a thriving tourist/university area into the next huge success story sweeping smaller cities across the nation such as Burlington, Vermont; Dublin, Ohio; and Boulder, Colo. It’s a success story that begins with smaller, tech-oriented startup companies and continues with the trans-formation of the local economy to a new elevation in better jobs and business opportunities.

Meet Startup High CountryJames and Sam form the core of Startup High Country. The

nascent partnership is a hybrid incubator, startup accelerator and consultancy group. Wait. What does that mean?

“What that means is we provide mentorship, software and web development services, physical space and, in some cases, we’ll be providing seed investments to local entrepreneurs who have an existing company or a new business idea,” James said.

The duo teamed up with Chris Grasinger and Jeffrey Scott, two longtime High Country residents and advocates for local entrepreneurship and, together, the group hopes to blaze a new trail with the vision of building a technology and entrepreneurial ecosystem to support quality jobs and provide investment oppor-tunities for everyone in the High Country.

“In the High Country we have a fantastic variety of entrepre-neurs in the area, we have a thriving university and high speed internet infrastructure,” Grasinger said. “We created a title and an organization to help brand and organize the efforts of connecting and accelerating these elements.”

“I can remember growing up and people always talked about distribution and sales going off the mountain, but the beauty of technology is that neither one of those is an issue,” Sam said.

Meet Startup High Country

STOry By JaSOn reaGan

an opportunity to transform the region

James Bance Jeffery Scott Chris Grasinger Sam Glover


“The world becomes your market and there’s no need for overhead, shipping and warehouses.”

“[Sam and I] had been blessed in that we’ve worked for amazing companies, like Google and Shoeboxed,” James said, adding that the duo “rec-ognized that many of the residents here hadn’t felt the financial benefits of the 21st century. So, we set out with this completely auda-cious goal.”

The SHC DifferenceThat all sounds great,

right? Better jobs, a higher quality lifestyle, access to better technology. But can it really work here? Local residents have heard this before – the blossoming of a new startup and venture-capital paradise nestled in the Appalachian Mountains has to some extent been only a dream in the High Country for years.

The Startup High Country difference? It boils down to experience. The four-per-son team has tons of experience as startup entrepreneurs – you might say they’ve climbed this tech mountain many times.

“We’ve all experienced the successes and

the scar tissue that comes with the territory of starting a company,” James added. “We want to short-circuit a lot of the inevitable early mistakes that first-time entrepreneurs will make and then put them on a track to ramp up faster.” In fact, Startup High

Country has already started mentoring and providing services for four companies.

It’s Business and It’s PersonalFor James, the startup culture has been

part of his DNA for most of his life. He co-founded his first tech company at 21 af-ter moving to the Bay Area from his native Wisconsin. Over the past 15 years, he has built a solid resume in the tech and invest-ment world, occupying roles in leadership, sales, marketing and business development

at companies like Bazaarvoice, (a 2012 IPO), Adometry (which was acquired by Google 2014), AOL/Verizon and John Hancock. He knows his stuff.

However, James’ High Country jour-ney started in Deep Gap. He and his wife,

Sharla – along with their children, Blake and Mila, – moved to Blowing Rock from Austin (another Amer-ican startup success) four years ago to be closer to Sharla’s parents, Deep Gap residents John and Vicki Unmack.

“They’re amazing people and have a heart for serving others so they’ve built deep relationships here. My wife

and I decided to make the move to be clos-er to them.”

As happens so often with new resi-dents, James and his family immediately fell in love with the outdoor life of the area from skiing to cycling. But the Great Out-doors will only take you so far when the siren song of Entrepreneurship calls.

A High Country native, Sam attended UNC-Chapel Hill and is known through-out the region as an innovative entrepre-neur and growth leader. Over the past

Startup High Country co-founder James Bance operates out of the group's headquarters in the Greenhouse Building on Depot Street in Boone. Over the past 15 years, he has built a solid résumé in the tech and investment worlds,

occupying roles in leadership, sales, marketing, and business development.


six years, he’s worked with several NC-based startups. Sam helps them define core metrics, accelerate growth and scale product development. He recently launched and sold his first company, Zip-Services -- a technology platform aimed at disrupting the commercial laundry and linen business. Currently, he’s VP of Operations for Shoeboxed, Inc. Like James, he lives in Blowing Rock with his wife and dog.

Silicon HollarWhile the High Country may never match the startup

tech horsepower of Silicon Valley, Startup High Country believes the region can brand an appropriate moniker – Silicon Hollar. The name arose after a conversation with local entrepreneur James Bauler, referring to the deep, rich valleys (hollows or hollar as we say ‘round here). Because SHC is already working with the Appalachian Regional Commission to attract angel-fund investors, the Hollar metaphor resonated immediately.

“Silicon Hollar is simply an idea, a concept to rally around, a place and a metaphor for the tech ecosystem here - much like Silicon Valley in California or Silicon Prairie in Nebraska,” James said, adding “it’s not an at-tempt to become, or to be thought of as another Silicon Valley, we don’t want that.”

Using a strong and memorable branding metaphor like Silicon Hollar has the potential to highlight the unique-ness of the High Country and leverage its strengths, along with technology, to set the standard as a beacon in rural Appalachia and to demonstrate what a successful tech community can look like.

“What I love about the [Silicon Hollar] metaphor is that is gives people in the area something to rally around and be proud of,” Sam said. “It’s a network of people interested in bettering the High Country through entre-preneurship and technology.”

“Most people have now heard of Silicon Valley, so the name will usually make some sense to individuals,” Chris said. “The truth is our Silicon Hollar will have its own unique personality - similar to the valley, we aim to be a hotbed for high growth entrepreneurship, but we also value adventure, outdoors, and the beautiful envi-ronment in which we live.”

It Takes a Community to Raise a StartupSetting a vision like Silicon Hollar and offering start-

up resources is all well and good, but to really succeed, Startup High Country will need community buy-in.

Fortunately, the High Country has already blazed a small-scale trail in both tech and other startups, thanks to a few local pioneers. A prime case study is ECR Software (ECRS) Corporation, a startup icon founded and head-quartered in downtown Boone.

The company has not only transformed the way we shop, but has also helped lead a renaissance in “Main Street” development. Housed in a former auto dealership building, ECRS was founded in 1989 by Peter Catoe, who was a marketing student at Appalachian State at the time.

The software/hardware company holds the exclusive rights to their self-checkout register software– systems that allow consumers to easily scan, bag and pay for their

Dale Yarborough is pictured collecting information for his company, Gidoa. The business aims to provide transparency and accountability

in the charitable donations industry.

Zak Ammar from Vixster is pictured with his crew. Vixster.com facilitates a peer-to-peer removal service for trash and recycling,

pairing up drivers with customers for lots of options.

Sam Glover grew up in the High Country and remembers people talking about distribution and sales going off the mountain. "But the beauty of

technology is that neither one of those is an issue today,” he said.


groceries at thousands of retail outlets across the country.

According to the company’s website (ecrs.com,) the local business offers a plethora of retails systems “from front-store systems including point-of-sale and self-checkout, to comprehensive back of-fice, warehouse, and inventory manage-ment solutions. Clients include grocers in San Francisco, Montana, Toronto, as well as beverage companies, breweries, health-product distributors, fuel suppliers and

healthcare systems.”"When I was first approached by the

core team at SHC, I was struck by their level of energy, optimism, passion and entrepreneurial vision they have for our community,” Catoe said. “In addition, I've also really enjoyed observing the Sili-con Hollar meetings. It's very exciting and heart-warming for an old tech entrepre-neur, such as myself, to see so many young entrepreneurs coming together within our community, and being excited about build-

ing great products and great companies,” he added.

Watauga County has also transformed the startup environment by becoming a Certified Entrepreneurial Community. In partnership with AdvantageWest Economic Development Group, the county launched a strategy in 2007 to create “overall busi-ness climate, policies, regulations, and op-portunities to learn and grow [that] are simple to find and available.”

“When you put it all together you can

THE MEETING SPACEDale Yarborough from Gidoa, videographer

Jeff Bud, James Bance and Vixster's Zak Ammar are pictured above sharing ideas

from SHC's downtown Boone office. James is part of a team at Startup High Country that

mentors local entrepreneurs, "We provide mentorship, software and web development

services and physical space," said Bance.

Miah Zimmerman and Emily Scarborough, with Jeff, Dale, and Zak


see that SHC is filling a void that was pres-ent, because free enterprise can only be transformative within a community when entrepreneurship is valued and most of all, nurtured," Catoe added.

James says a key component to Startup High Country’s success lies in the already available resources at Appalachian State University. Local university contacts like Dr. James Wilkes, Sara Beth Hopton, Er-ich Schlenker and Ged Moody have helped pave the way by linking SHC with students and faculty who have a vision and drive to start new companies locally.

Other community resources include Mike Quinto from Pulsara, James Bauler from Cruxolve, and Dave Walker from As-cent. “They have been integral in creating the momentum behind Silicon Hollar and we couldn’t have moved the needle with-out them,” James said.

ASU’s Transportation Insight Center for Entrepreneurship has also launched a unique enthusiasm for startups both among students and local community leaders. Di-rected by Schlenker, the center’s staff em-powers those with new startup ideas and partners with them to research and crunch

numbers to determine if there’s a market and viable business model. “Entrepreneurs can use the center’s office space and other on-campus facilities while center staff con-nect them with professional services, fund-ing and mentors,” notes a recent report in ExitEvent.com

“It’s easy to be excited about ideas and opportunities, but the difference between having success and not having it is being willing to start,” Erich said.

Real ResultsAs SHC’s Silicon Hollar concept gains

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the team behind Startup High Country.


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traction, the group is seeing new success stories blossom across the board.

“We’re really focused on job and investment opportunities, and by getting several startups off the ground and funded within the next 12-18 months, they will quickly make a really positive impact in job creation,” James said.

Promising young entrepre-neurs, like Zak Ammar from Vix-ster and Dale Yarborough from Gidoa (pronounced Gi-Dough), stand out as success stories for SHC. Vixster, for example, is a trash and recycling service com-pany that facilitates a peer-to-peer removal service for commercial and residential customers. Think of it as Uber for trash service. By using a digital, GPS platform, us-ers can create an account, request an on-demand pickup – pay for it online, and Vixster will match them with a driver in the same vicinity to pick it up. Gidoa aims to provide transparency and ac-countability in the charitable donations industry. Both are finalists for the recent 2016 Pitch Your Idea Competition at ASU.

“We’ve had a really nice response from the community to what we’re doing,” James said.

Startup: The Next GenerationA tech-oriented community will wither on the vine quickly

without a fresh infusion of talent and software experience. To

meet that challenge, SHC plans to break new ground in software coding education.

“In order to stay competitive globally, not just locally, we need to get more of our kids exposed to software coding before they hit the post-secondary level,” James said. He is among a growing num-ber of startup leaders who believe computer coding classes should be required in high school curricula.

"We’re really focused on cod-ing education,” Sam said. “We’re hosting a summer camp - High Country Coding Corps - with App State’s Gear Up program, teaching rising 6-9th graders computer pro-graming through something they all love - Minecraft.

“For most of us coding is a for-eign language, but kids who make coding their native language will be well equipped to snag high-paying jobs and work at amazing companies like Google and Ama-zon, or even locally at ECRS,” James added.

Making Headway in the HollarWhile most people can get on board with Startup High Coun-

try’s vision and enthusiasm, everyone involved also realizes the road ahead, like the region’s soil, will yield a lot of bumps, rocky ob-stacles and steep climbs.

Although the High Country offers many advantages for startup incubation and recruitment -- Outside magazine has named Boone

Get Involved wIth SIlIcon hollar

“I tell everyone, this is challenging work, but it’s good work. All we need is a few lighthouse companies -- those companies that shine brightly and that others can follow and avoid the rocks. With Startup High Country, we can invest in entrepreneurs ‘on the mountain’, so they don’t have to go ‘off the mountain’ to build their companies and fulfill their dreams,” Startup High Country Co-Founder James Bance says. “The easiest way to stay connected with the tech initiatives in our area is to sign up for the mailing list at siliconhollar.org and come out to the events. We help curate the site, but it’s really a public space for everyone to use; it’s a gateway to all things tech in the High Country.”

“You don’t have to be a computer programmer or work for a technology company to be involved. The beauty of a startup community is that almost anyone can get engaged. It takes many different disciplines to drive success, not just tech. Designers, photographers, executive assistants, writers, project managers and more, are all essential to the mix.”

App State grad student Zak Ammar, who has networked with Startup High

Country, likes to call the rural trash and re-cycling convenience stations outside of the city limits “inconvenient” when pitching his new tech startup, Vixster.

Vixster.com pairs a network of screened drivers to residential and commercial cus-tomers who would prefer to pay for trash, recycling and hazardous household waste removal services rather than drive across town to the dump or to a more regional “convenience” center. Customers have the option of scheduling a regular pickup time or enlisting a one-time pickup within 12 hours of signing up online.

Raised in Houston, Texas, Ammar received his undergradu-ate degree at Texas State and is currently completing his MBA at Appalachian State University, where he created the idea for Vixster at a social entrepreneurship competition.

“I thought it was ridiculous you have to haul your own trash

and recycling to the dump,” Ammar said. “I figured there had to be a better way.”

Ammar noted that two-thirds of the population in Watauga County resides outside of the city limits and that the rural population of surrounding counties faces a similar fate. Vixster currently operates in Watauga County and its surrounding coun-ties. Development of the company started in the winter and sales began in March. A mobile app is planned for release this summer.

With recyclables filling up landfills across the country, sustainability is a core principle in Vixster’s mission. Ammar said that 5 percent of revenue will go towards sustainability issues in the community.

“We are actively seeking ways to invest back into the com-munity and leverage our resources to help out,” Ammar said.

For more information, click to www.vixster.com or contact Ammar at 1-802-587-2740 or [email protected].

Local Tech Startup Makes Trash, Recycling Convenient

Zak Ammar, Founder of Vixster.com


one of the “10 Best Small Towns in the U.S. – job creation has always suffered due to a variety of factors, including cost of living and geography.

“It’s no secret that there’s a serious lack of quality, high-paying career opportunities in the High Country,” James said. “It’s not an indictment on anyone here, it’s just a real-ity.”

And the future for the High Country may grow bleaker if economic strategies fail to adapt. According to the N.C. State Institute for Emerging Issues’ Future Work Job Dis-ruption index, Watauga County outranks all other counties in North Carolina in potential job losses due to technology automation.

“I see SHC as an opportunity for our com-munity to get ahead of the forecasts and take control of our future, to push back against that prediction,” James said.

“Let’s use what we know: creation, inno-vation, and technology to rewrite our com-munity’s economic story.”

“In order to stay competitive globally,

not just locally, we need to get more of our kids exposed to

software coding before they hit the post-secondary level."

– JAMES BANCE

“For most of us coding is a foreign language,

but kids who make coding their native

language will be well equipped to snag high-paying jobs and work at amazing companies like Google and Amazon, or even locally at ECRS.”

– JAMES BANCE


Soon the shell of the 340,000 square feet of residential, commercial and amenity space in The Standard of

Boone development on Blowing Rock Road will be wrapped and interior fin-ished. Cars will dot all five levels of the 155,000-square-foot parking garage as roughly 560 students unpack in prepara-tion for the fall semester.

But for now, motorists and pedestri-

ans have an X-ray view of the massive student-housing project. The project first began in January of 2015 when crews de-molished the old Red Carpet Inn, Scot-tish Inn and a number of old houses and apartments on this stretch of property that’s been blighted for years. The creek running through the property was then daylighted and parcels graded. Construc-tion began this summer.

PHotograPHy by todd busH

A MOMENT IN TIME - MarCH 24, 2016

The Standard: By the Numbers• $42millionproject

• 561beds(1,2,3,&4bedroomluxuryapartments)

• 12,600squarefeetofcommercialspace

• 300yardsfromHolmesConvocationCenter

• 224-foot-tallcraneused

• 4,000to5,000cubicyardsofconcreteused

• 1,000linearfeetofcreekdaylighted

• 340,000squarefeetofresidential,amenity&retailspace

• 155,000-square-footparkingdeckwithabout500spaces


Standard Construction # 5Building, Crane and CreekThe four-story building is made of light

gauge structural steel and constructed us-ing a panelized metal framing system with joists and deck as the floor. The parking deck, which will accommodate about 500 spaces, was erected using precast concrete, and for about two months, 10 to 15 trucks were delivering precast pieces to the site. The parking garage panels were 11-x-30 feet in size. Lifting these panels into place was a 224-foot-tall crane capable of lifting 300 tons without bucking.

The site is located in between Blowing Rock Road and Faculty Street. The creek that runs through the property has been daylighted and rerouted to the Faculty Street side of the development. The day-lighting of the creek, which impressed the Boone Town Council, cost an estimated $2million.

The Standard of Boone is located roughly 300 yards from the Holmes Convocation Center on Appalachian State University. The development is advertised as luxurious, amenity-filled student apartments.

Landmark, Harrison and Stonegate

The project is a joint venture between Landmark Properties, Harrison Street Real Estate Capital and Stonegate Developers.

BasedinAthens,Ga.,withover$1bil-lion worth of student housing developed and constructed in the past several years, Landmark Properties is a fully integrated real estate firm specializing in the invest-ment, development, construction and management of high quality communities.

Based in Chicago, Harrison Street Real Estate Capital is a real estate private equi-tyfirmthatmanages$7.3billioninassetsthrough commingled funds and public securities products.

Based in Charlotte, Stonegate Devel-opers is a commercial development firm with over 200 projects, including student housing, retail stores and restaurants, as well as mixed use and office develop-ments, in the Southeast and Midwest.

Artist rendering of the finished project

Photos by Ken Ketchie


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Parting Shot... By Ken Ketchie

Colleagues and friends surprised Dan Meyer at a recent Business After Hours event at Fairway Cafe in Boone on his 70th birthday.

Dan Meyer Turns the Big 70 and Announces His Retirement

The Boone Area Chamber of Commerce and the local busi-ness community came together on March 31 to put a special twist on the organization’s monthly After Hours

get-together. It brought entrepreneurs from across the High Country together for networking like all After Hours events do, but this one included something special — a surprise party for Chamber President and CEO Dan Meyer on his 70th birthday.In the wake of a huge show of support from his colleagues, friends and neighbors at the party, Meyer announced the fol-lowing Tuesday his plan to retire from the chamber in August.He has served at the helm of the chamber as its chief executive for 12 years, and before that served as the director for Appala-chian Brian Estates.

“It’s just time,” he said in a release from the chamber. “I came to the chamber fully committed to making a meaningful contri-bution to the community that has become our home. Now it is time to fulfill other commitments.”

To the fresh eyes of new leadership, Meyer said he will leave be-hind a healthy, enthusiastic, fiscally stable chamber of commerce. In the months remaining before his retirement, Meyer’s colleagues will be sure to express their gratitude for the work he’s done in the community, business related or otherwise.

“Dan is just one of those feel-good people, you know? He’s provided a lot of leadership in this community, as well as a lot of

love and compassion in bringing people and businesses together,” said Barbara Armstrong, the chamber’s director of operations. “It doesn’t matter how big or small the business or person is — Dan always makes time to be there for anybody in need, whatever that need may be. It doesn’t have to be for chamber members, either.

“He is one of the most kind and compassionate people I’ve ever met, and he truly has a giving, loving heart to serve, no mat-ter the capacity.”

During his tenure at the chamber, Meyer has been instrumen-tal in developing new programs and advancing the organization’s work, including: Program Partners, Watauga Leadership Chal-lenge, Young Professionals, ShopLOCAL Campaign, everGREEN ini-tiatives, BOONE: My Hometown, securing the new office on West King Street, Hand of Hospitality Program with the Town of Boone, Signature Sponsorships of special programs and more.

Another milestone waits around the corner for Meyer, who will soon celebrate 50 years of marriage with is wife, Pam. In retire-ment, he looks forward to seeing more of his family, crossing some things off of his bucket list and continuing to grow in his faith.

“My grandchildren are my legacy and I want to spend quality time with them,” he said. “I also have a spiritual commitment to fulfill to be involved in mission projects locally and globally. Shar-ing the Good News of Christ is one privilege I cannot retire from.”

By Jessica Isaacs


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