High Country Magazine October 2019

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Volume 15 • Issue 2 October/November 2019

That’s Rufus John Mena and Hair Taking On THE HIKE Mary Helen Cole Turns 100 Appalachian Theatre – Such A Beautiful ReNOVATION 620 Plus Seats | 20,000 Sq. Feet | Award Winning Facade October / November 2019

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Home and community information, including pricing, included features, terms, availability and amenities, are subject to change, prior sale or withdrawal at any time without notice or obligation. Drawings, photographs, renderings, video, scale models, square footages, floor plans, elevations, features, colors and sizes are approximate for presentation purposes only and may vary from the homes as built. Home prices refer to the theahouse and options/ or premiums, unless gh C o ubase n tprice r y ofM gaz i ndoenot include October November 2019otherwise indicated for a specific home. Nothing on our website should be construed as legal, accounting or tax advice. 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.

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C O N T E N T S

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Appalachian Theatre’s Dramatic Return For 69 years, the Appalachian Theatre entertained many locals and visitors to the area. Now, after closing in 2007, the iconic theatre is set to restart the show.

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Rufus Edmisten Returns to his Roots Boone native Rufus Edmisten, known for delivering the subpoena to President Richard Nixon during the Watergate Investigation, details his youth growing up as a country boy.

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30 Years of Hairstyles at Haircut 101 Haircut 101 in downtown Boone is celebrating its 30th year in business. Owner and stylist John Mena talks about the journey to this point in 2019.

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Jordan Nelson the “Drone Guy” With nearly 10 million drone video views and over 36,000 Instagram followers, Jordan Nelson has shot stunning videos all across the High Country.

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Taking On the Appalachian Trail Watauga County father and son, Cecil and John Gurganus, talk about preparing for life traveling the full length of the Appalachian Trail.

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Mary Helen Cole Turns 100 Boone resident Mary Helen Cole turned 100 years old on August 20. She tells some tales and shares some memories of her childhood growing up in the High Country.

on the cover Scott Pearson - Scott chose his passion as his career over 34 years ago, logging thousands of hours beneath the surface of the world’s oceans working with The Cousteau Society. Since that time, he has traversed the globe in search of the most elusive wildlife and breathtaking landscapes.

For Scott, photography is not work, but an art form where he has the ability to capture humor, drama and beauty, that may otherwise go unnoticed. Scott’s diversity is limitless and has led to the development of a worldwide clientele for his commercial and editorial photography.

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READER SERVICES ABOUT US

The first High Country Press newspaper was published on May 5, 2005, and the first issue of High Country Magazine went to press in fall 2005. In March of 2012 the newspaper made the transformation to an online newspaper at our new website: www.HCPress.com. Our new “webpaper� is still packed with information that we present and package in easy-to-read formats with visually appealing layouts.

Our magazine represents our shared love of our history, our landscape and our people. It celebrates our pioneers, our lifestyles, our differences and the remarkable advantages we enjoy living in the mountains. Our guiding principles are twofold: quality journalism makes a difference and customer care at every level is of the greatest importance.

Our offices are located in Boone, and our doors are always open to welcome visitors.

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Our magazine is a wonderful way for businesses to advertise to our readers. Our magazines tend to stay around for a long time, on coffee tables and bed stands, and shared with family and friends. To find out about advertising, call our offices at 828264-2262.

BACK ISSUES

Back issues of our magazines are available from our office for $5 per issue. Some issues are already sold out and are no longer available.

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Photography and page reprints are available for purchase. For sizing, prices and usage terms, please call our office. Some photos may not be available and some restrictions may apply.

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Writers and photographers may send queries and samples to the editor at hcmag@highcountrypress.com.

Contact us at:

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FRO M T HE PUB L ISH ER

A Publication Of High Country Press Publications

Editor & Publisher Ken Ketchie

Art Director Debbie Carter Advertising Director Jeffrey Green

The Beginning of a New Era

S

Ken Ketchie

lowly but surely, the 70-year-old Appalachian Theatre is coming back to life after showing its last movie and shutting down in 2007. The renovated theater building is just weeks away from opening its doors to the public again. There will still be a movie shown every now and then, but the newly refurbished theater will now be a venue for a wider variety of entertainment - from concerts to performances to lectures and more.

The renovation efforts that have been taking place since 2016 have included filling up the 20,000 square foot space with 620 brand new seats and a 1,850 square foot stage area with loading dock and freight elevator that will accommodate national touring acts. And it now has a huge community room, new facade and brand new state-of-the-art everything.

When the theater closed in 2007 the movie “The Departed” had won the Oscar that February. It had been a 70-year run of movies playing at the theater where thousands of mountain residents saw the blockbuster movies of their era. When the theater opened in 1938, the Oscar went to “The Life of Emile Zola.” The first movie that played at the new theater was “Breaking Ice.” You can imagine folks lining up at the theater to see “Gone with the Wind,” the John Wayne cowboy flicks, “The Wizard of Oz,” “Mary Poppins” and on and on.

The Appalachian Theatre closed at the beginning of the Great Recession and the theater’s future was up in the air. With such a rich history, there was a groundswell of support for keeping the theater as part of the community. But a developer bought the building in 2008 with plans for a restaurant. During the planning stages, they had the building gutted, but work beyond that never started.

That groundswell of support for saving the theater was still there and began to come to fruition in 2011 when the building became available for sale again and the town of Boone stepped in to purchase it. That same year, a group led by John Cooper formed a non-profit named The Appalachian Theatre of the High Country (ATHC), a 501(c)3 with 24 board members who began their quest to purchase the building from the town, which they did in 2013.

The ATHC has done some amazing things to bring the theater back to life. They are quick to point out that it’s only been possible because of the amazing donations of all kinds folks from around the High Country, from services and goods to fundraising efforts from so many different groups, plus volunteers pitching in where help was needed.

But the biggest donation has been the close to $10 million that has been raised so far from donors giving what they could. The board has made it a point not to spend money on the project before it was raised, so getting to this point without any debt to speak of is something to be proud of.

There’s still time to pitch in if you want to help. Volunteers are still needed and there are still donations needed for the finishing touches. Our new community theater is something we can all be proud to enjoy and support. See you at the Theatre!

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Contributing Writers Nathan Ham Jan Todd Sherrie Norris Joe Johnson Colby Gable Jason Regan

Contributing Photographer Tara Diamond Scott Pearson Jordan Nelson 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 MAGAZINE P.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:

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Calendarof Events

OCTOBER 2019

1 The Fantastic Fall Color Ramble, Grandfather Mountain, 828-963-9522, 1-1:20 p.m.

3-5, 6 Lees McRae College Theatre: The Mel Brooks Musical: Young Frankenstein, Hayes Auditorium and Broyhill Theatre, 828-898-8709

20 Linville Falls Winery, Shelby Rae Moore Band, 3:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m., www.linvillefallswinery.com

19-20 Woolly Worm Festival, Banner Elk, 828-898-5605

24 Watauga County Farmers’ Market, Daniel Boone Park, Horn in the West Parking Lot, 8 a.m. - noon

24 Scholars and Scones: Apples of Cone Manor, Blowing Rock Art & History Museum, 828-295-9099

3 Avery County Farmers’ Market, Old Banner Elk Elementary School, 828-434-0026, 4:00 – 6:30 p.m.

25-26 Ensemble Stage Presents “War of the Worlds”, Hahn Auditorium, 828-414-1844, 7:00 – 9:00 p.m.

4 Music On The Lawn, The Harris Brothers, The Best Cellar at the Inn at Ragged Gardens, 5:00 p.m.

Blowing Rock, 828-295-3466

26 Blowing Rock Halloween, Blowing Rock, 828-295-5222

4-26 Ghost Train, Every Friday and Saturday, Tweetsie Railroad, Blowing Rock, 800-526-5740

26 A Beary Scary Halloween, Grandfather Mountain, 828-963-9522

5 Watauga County Farmers’ Market, Daniel Boone Park, Horn in the West Parking Lot, 8 a.m. - noon

27 Linville Falls Winery, Clay Lunsford, 3:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m., www.linvillefallswinery.com

5 The Knob and the Bonk, Lost Province Brewing Company, 828-265-3506

30 Boone Boo, Downtown Boone, Jones House, 828-268-6283

31 Watauga County Farmers’ Market, Daniel Boone Park, Horn in the West Parking Lot, 8 a.m. - noon

31 Appstate Home Football VS. Georgia Southern, Black Thursday, Kidd Brewer Stadium

5 Blowing Rock Art in the Park, Park Avenue, Blowing Rock, 828-295-7851

6 Linville Falls Winery, Typical Mountain Boys, 3:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m., www.linvillefallswinery.com

6 Modern Visions, Modern Art, Blowing Rock Art & History Museum, 828-295-9099

6 The Starlighters, Memorial Park, Blowing Rock, 828-295-7851

26 Linville Falls Winery, Sons of the South, 3:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m., www.linvillefallswinery.com

NOVEMBER 2019

1 First Friday Art Crawl, Downtown Boone, shop, mingle and meet local artist starting at 5:00 p.m.

2 A Brit of Magic, Ashe County Arts Council, Ashe Civic Center, 336-846-2787

11 Music On The Lawn, Jack Town Ramblers, The Best Cellar at the Inn at Ragged Gardens, 5:00 p.m., Blowing Rock, 828-295-3466

12 Watauga County Farmers’ Market, Daniel Boone Park, Horn in the West Parking Lot, 8 a.m. - noon

7 Watauga County Farmers’ Market, Daniel Boone Park, Horn in the West Parking Lot, 9 a.m. - noon

12 Linville Falls Winery, The Johnson Brothers, 3:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m., www.linvillefallswinery.com

8 Taj Express: The Bollywood Musical Revue, Schaefer Center of Performing Arts, 800-841-2787, 7:00 – 9:00 p.m.

12 Todd New River Festival, Cook Park, Todd, 828-964-1362

14 Watauga County Farmers’ Market, Daniel Boone Park, Horn in the West Parking Lot, 9 a.m. - noon

12-13 Oktoberfest, Sugar Mountain Resort, 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., 828-898-4521

13 Linville Falls Winery, The Harris Brothers, 3:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m., www.linvillefallswinery.com

1 4-16, 17 Lees McRae College Theatre: The Good Doctor, Hayes Auditorium and Broyhill Theatre, 828-898-8709

17 Hayes Faculty Ensemble, Ashe Arts Center, 336-846-2787

1 7-1/28 Festival of Lights, Chetola Resort, 800-243-8652

15 Red White and Bluegrass Jam, Blowing Rock American Legion Hall, 970-227-0420

21 Watauga County Farmers’ Market, Daniel Boone Park, Horn in the West Parking Lot, 9 a.m. - noon

19 Watauga County Farmers’ Market, Daniel Boone Park, Horn in the West Parking Lot, 8 a.m. - noon

22 Christmas in the Park and Lighting of the Town, Memorial Park, Blowing Rock, 828-295-5222

19 Linville Falls Winery, The Jukebox Boys, 3:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m., www.linvillefallswinery.com

22-23 Tweetsie Christmas, Tweetsie Railroad, Blowing Rock, 800-526-5740

19 Valle Country Fair, Valle Crucis Conference Center, Valle Crucis, 828-963-4609

23 Appstate Home Football VS. Texas State, Senior Day/Heroes Day, Kidd Brewer Stadium

19 Fall Wine Hayride, Beech Mountain Town Hall, 828-387-3003, 1:00 – 4:00 p.m.

28 Watauga County Farmers’ Market, Daniel Boone Park, Horn in the West Parking Lot 9 a.m. - noon

19 Appstate Home Football VS. ULM, Homecoming, Kidd Brewer Stadium

30 Beech Mountain Holiday Market, Buckeye Recreation Center, Beech Mountain, 828-387-3003, 10:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m

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High Country Magazine

October / November 2019

CARLTON GALLERY DON’T FORGET 1SZSP`ObW\U !%GSO`a

EVENTS

First Annual Avery County High School Reunion Did you attend or graduate from Avery County High School? Would you like to reconnect with former classmates and friends? Then the First Annual Avery County High School Reunion is for you! The three schools that consolidated to form ACHS (Newland High, Crossnore High, and Cranberry High) have had annual reunions for many years. Avery County High School has been in existence now for 50 years and there has never been an annual reunion for all classes. Big plans are underway for this first reunion to take place on Saturday, October 26, which is the day after Avery’s Homecoming Celebration. The reunion will take place in the ACHS Gym and the doors will open for fun and visiting at 1:30 p.m. Danica Goodman, Class of 2000, is spearheading the effort to establish an annual reunion for ACHS.

Boone BOO! A Day Early This Year

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October 12-November 15 Opening Reception, October 12, 2-5 pm “Retrospective – Linking Past to Present throuth Contemporary Art�

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6]ZWROg =^S\ 6]caS November 29 & 30

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November 29-April 30

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Calling all pirates, princesses, and children of all ages! Every Halloween, the Town of Boone hosts this popular, family event in downtown Boone for kids of all ages. This year’s events will be held a day earlier than usual, on October 30 from 4:30 – 6:30 p.m. King St. (from Appalachian St. to Waters St.) will be closed from 4:30 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. to ensure pedestrian safety and encourage a safe and fun trick-ortreating experience for all participants. The reason for the early scheduling of Boone BOO! this year is because of the App State home game vs. Georgia Southern on Halloween day, October 31. Events at this year’s Boone BOO! will include “Twist the Balloon Man� at the Jones House, a spooky and silly haunted house tour of the Jones House, Arts & Crafts, Apple Tastings, & Magic Show at the Watauga County Public Library, and Trick-or-Treating with downtown Boone Merchants.

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Louisiana Purchase Owners Soon to be Moving to a New Restaurant Location With New Concept

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fter 35 years as a destination restaurant in Banner Elk, the Louisiana Purchase is entering the twilight of its long history. Current owners Patrick and Laurie Bagbey are ready to embark on a new phase of their professional life by building a new restaurant in Banner Elk, which will be called LP on Main after their first initials for Laurie and Patrick, and their history at the Louisiana Purchase. The Louisiana Purchase has been a place of so many memories and great times for so many people over the years, Laurie and Patrick wanted to make sure everyone was aware of the closing so fans and clientele of the eatery can perhaps make plans for a few more visits to enjoy the restaurant’s menu and ambiance before they close sometime after the first of next year.

This September marked the beginning of the Bagbey’s 14th season owning the restaurant. “We have been fortunate to have a really superior staff throughout these years,” says Laurie. “We’ve maintained a year-round business in a seasonal community and have had people working with us who have been part of our business since before we bought it. That has been extremely important to us. We are hosting generations of diners at Patrick and Laurie Bagbey this point, and that’s really so special. The personal connection we have with many of our customers is so unique and obviously, without their support, we wouldn’t still be here.”

The restaurant has only changed hands twice in these 35 years since it was opened

by Fabian Botta in 1984 and has always been in the same location at 397 Shawneehaw Avenue in Downtown Banner Elk. Botta sold the Purchase to Mark Rosse in 1987, and then Rosse sold the restaurant to Laurie and Patrick in 2006. In both cases, Mark, Laurie and Pat were employees of the restaurant who were committed to continuing the founder’s vision featuring a menu focused on houseChef Bagbey in action in the kitchen.

One of their intimate dining spots. made Cajun and Creole cuisine.

Patrick would begin working at the restaurant in 1998 when he was 21 after he was offered some shifts as a part-time dishwasher. Laurie began her work there in the spring of 2000. “My background has always been in the front of the house and Mark trusted me to manage his dining room not long after I started and I did that for six years,” says Laurie. “Patrick went from being a dishwasher in 1998 to owning the restaurant in 2006,” continued Laurie. “During that time Pat was able to work with some very talented chefs and along with his personal grit he learned first hand how to manage the kitchen, his staff and accommodate our guests all while developing his talents. It was a unique and special opportunity for him and our family.”

And it was at the restaurant that a romance blossomed between Pat and Laurie.

“I guess you could say we had an office romance,” chuckled Laurie. “And we had our The upstairs dining area across from the bar area.

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October / November 2019

The bar area upstairs at the Purchase.

beautiful son in 2003.”

In 2005 Mark Rosse would also find love through the restaurant. “ Mark had been a bachelor for many years,” says Laurie. “He met this beautiful woman who had dined at the restaurant a number of times and before long he was thinking about getting married and retiring from the Purchase.”

So just weeks before his impending nuptials, and like his predecessor, Rosse sold the restaurant to the two people he felt were best able to carry on the torch with Louisiana Purchase: Patrick and Laurie Bagbey.

“We made some arrangements with Mark, the landlord and the bank and we were able to acquire the restaurant and took over ownership in September of 2006,” said Laurie. “Pat and I wanted to stay in the community – it was very important to us to raise our son here and to be part of Banner Elk which is a very special place for us.” Mark Rosse would say later, “If I would have sold it to anybody else, it wouldn’t be here today. I have complete confidence in that.”

And now the Bagbey’s have come to a bend in the road. “Owning

The main dining area on the main floor.

your own real estate is an enormous thing for a restaurant – and we’ve been working hard toward that goal for many years and are finally seeing that dream come to fruition. This decision has been purely business and we have had to work hard to leave the emotions out of it. decision,” said Laurie. “It’s a little bittersweet. I’ve spent all my 20s and 30s at this restaurant. This has been our family’s business and a part of many lives. We’ve seen lots of graduating classes so to speak, seen some amazing talent come in and out of here. And people from all over the world, we feel very fortunate to be a part of that.”

When asked if the Purchase was for sale Patrick responded. “We’ve never really considered selling the Louisiana Purchase. It would have to go to the right person, and it’s never been offered for sale since we’ve owned it. We’ve just never entertained the thought. I guess we didn’t want it to end up in the wrong hands.”

So, for now, the Bagbey’s will be focusing on their new adventure.

“The Louisiana Purchase is a special entity, but now we have the opportunity to have the entire ownership of space and property and still op-

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erate a business in Banner Elk. You really can’t just pick up a restaurant and move it. Plus, we would like to do something a little different in this next stage of our lives.”

They plan to construct a new one-story 2,500 square foot building, all on one floor versus the three floors that the Purchase has now.

They will have seating for about 60 people and an outdoor patio. This move will also open up a chance for different menu items. “It opens up some new opportunities for Patrick,” says Laurie. “He’s very talented and has been feeding this community so well for many years. And we would like to introduce our clientele to something slightly different and interesting. There will be lots of new things you will enjoy!”

They will be serving lunch and dinner in a beautiful and relaxing atmosphere, adding gourmet foods to go as well. They look forward to carrying on their emphasis on delicious wines that the Purchase is famous for, as well as a bar area and meeting place.

Patrick and Laurie in 2001.

As for the Louisiana Purchase, although the couple did not create this local institution, the Bagbeys are proud to have continued offering the loving approach to food and wine that their predecessors demonstrated before them for the last 13 years of their ownership. “We took over a restaurant that had a tremendous history and reputation, says Laurie. “And I would like to think we have both been a part of that.” It’s been said that when the Bagbey’s took over the restaurant from Mark Rosse in 2006 many folks were not aware of a change in ownership because the outstanding service and food continued on as had been the case for the previous 20-plus years under Rosse’s guidance.

It was a tradition that Fabian Botta inspired when he took the chance of offering a Cajun-style menu in Banner Elk where just a few restaurants The entrance to the Louisiana Purchase. were operating at the time. Botta was a Buenos Aires native whose family becoming a best seller, and that helped pave had emigrated to the United States to Atlanta when he was 12. When he moved to the way for me.”

Botta found a location in Banner Elk and a the High Country he opened a restaurant called the Tack Room in Foscoe in 1977 and then the friend suggested that since it was to be a CaVillage Café in Blowing Rock in 1980. He quickly jun restaurant why not call it the Louisiana Purestablished himself as a premier chef in the chase. “At first I wanted to make it a casual place area. Before moving to the High Country, Botta because the Tack Room was really upscale so had worked in Atlanta’s Joe Dale’s Cajun House, we wanted to go with something a little more where he learned the art of Cajun cooking. casual and less expensive,” said Botta. “But that “I wanted to do a Cajun restaurant because I didn’t go over very well because my customers worked for a chef in Atlanta who had a famous from the Tack Room wanted a little bit more. So Cajun place,” says Botta. “There was nothing Ca- from there it started evolving – and then Mark jun of course in the mountains and I was a little Rosse came on board and the Purchase took a worried about how the locals would feel about whole different turn when he took over with a the spices and flavors of Cajun cuisine. But I was more upper scale idea of the Cajun concept and lucky that about that time the now-classic book turn the place into what it is known for today.”

With the success of the Purchase in BanChef Paul Prudhomme’s Louisiana Kitchen was

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High Country Magazine

Louisiana Purchase

October / November 2019

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Louisiana Purchase

restaurant higher and we started ner Elk, Botta decided to take the averaging $50 a head.” concept to Winston-Salem where After 23 years at the Louisiana he opened a second location and Purchase Mark Rosse met his cursoon after another location in rent wife who was from BirmingRichmond. With his hands full ham, AL. “As we became closer with those two locations, he deshe said ‘well I live in Birmingham cided to move to Winston-Salem and if we’re going to do this you and offered to sell the Banner Elk are going to have to move to Birlocation to Mark. Today, Botta mingham and you can’t be ownhas owned a restaurant on the ing a restaurant,’” says Rosse. “So coast in Morehead City for the I sold the restaurant to a couple past 11 years called the Ruddy that had been working for me.

Duck Tavern, which has been exAnd now they have had it for 13 tremely successful for Botta and years and the core menu is still his partner. the same as when Fabian had it It was in 1987 when Mark because it has still been working Rosse took over ownership of the after all these years. That is a bit Purchase from Botta. He had preunusual because typically a new viously been working as a chef at Mark Rosse and Fabian Botta together this summer owner usually wants to change an upscale restaurant called Cofat a Louisiana Purchase reunion at the Valle Crucis Park. everything.” fey’s in Blowing Rock. “Fabian call by adding items to the menu while keeping And Rosse, like Botta, still me up one day and said he was expanding and going to Winston and he need- the core of the Cajun concept going. “With my drops in every once in a while at the Purchase. ed someone to run the spot up here in the win- background in classical French cuisine, it was He noted that its fun and “good for me” to catch ter of 1985-86,” says Rosse. “I helped him open an easy transition to Cajun and creole style of up with patrons he used to serve and check out Winston and it went gangbusters and then he cooking because they are somewhat similar,” the old stomping grounds.

But as the New Year turns to spring next opened another location in Richmond, Virginia. said Rosse. “Then I started adding specials to He asked me if I wanted to follow him to Win- the menu which everyone does today but was year, this will all be coming to an end. It has been ston and I said no, but I also said if he was inter- a new concept in the 80s. Plus we began buy- a glorious 34 years for the Louisiana Purchase, ested in selling the Banner Elk location I would ing our vegetables and meats locally which of but the memories will continue for many years course is all the rage these days.” to come as a place where first dates took place, be interested in buying it. He said yes.”

It was also during that time in Banner Elk anniversaries celebrated and friends enjoyed Rosse explained that when he first came to the Purchase to help out, Botta had established that only wine was available for sale in the town some of their finest meals and comradery.

“We would love to take care of you! Please a concept of trying to do 200-plus customers at limits, so it was a natural progression for Rosse a ticket price average of around $15 a person. to offer a large and extensive wine list. “At the come over to see us another time in this lovely Rose decided to back off that concept a little height of our wine days I probably had 800 plus space and enjoy some of your favorite meals,” wines to choose from on our wine list,” says Laurie. “And maybe say your farewells to says Rosse. “I found myself with over the Purchase. We would like the chance to 150,000 bottles of wine in our cellar. thank you all.”

It was a lot of fun. And it drove the – Ken Ketchie

The Purchase’s staff holiday party in 2008 16

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October / November 2019

Fabian Botta and staff during preparations for a wine dinner in the early 90s.

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The Appalachian Theatre: the Sequel

By Jan Todd

T

he stage is set, and the arrival of October means it is open- chase the property. ing curtain time for The Appalachian Theatre. It has been Cooper shared, “I long felt there was a need in our commu12 years since the iconic downtown cinema closed, and a nity to have a stage for local groups to play and perform. I think large cast — including many it is especially important for of our community’s “allyoung people to have expostars” — have worked tiresure to a stage. Restoring lessly to restore this historic and renovating the theater treasure and prepare it for was a great opportunity for the next scene. our community.”

The audience is poised “Personally, my wife Faye to enjoy what will surely beand I enjoy theater and mucome one of the High Counsic and live performance, so try’s landmark destinations, we’ve always supported the with theater performances, arts,” Cooper continued. live music, dance, opera and “Our first venture into it was cinema. Situated in the heart 35 years ago, supporting the of downtown Boone, the Appalachian Summer protheatre will serve as a hub of gram. Faye served on one of entertainment for local resithe early boards, chaired it dents, tourists and visitors, for several years. I served on and students at Appalachian the North Carolina State Arts State University.

Council board for six years. I The Appalachian Thesaw the importance of arts in atre originally opened in the communities, the impact Auditorium of the Appalachian Theatre as it appeared in November 1938.

1938 and operated for 69 it had. There’s so much value Image courtesy of the Sams Family and the Appalachian Theatre of the High Country. years as a vaudeville theater, to having arts in our lives.” a music hall, a movie house The sale of the theater and, in its later years, a discount cinema. After its closing in 2007, property in 2008 was conducted as a sealed bid, and unfortunatea group of interested locals, led by John Cooper — chairman of ly, Cooper’s group was outbid. A developer from Florida acquired Mast General Stores and former Watauga County commissioner the property, intending to convert it into a bar and music hall.

— began talking about forming a non-profit organization to pur- The developer stripped the interior and exterior of the building,

The Appalachian Theatre as it appeared on November 16, 1938, two days after the theater opened. Image courtesy of the Sams Family and the Appalachian Theatre of the High Country.

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Detail of the Appalachian Theatre entrance on February 12, 1947.

Image courtesy of the Sams Family and the Appalachian Theatre of the High Country.

Leslie Restivo Photography

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Putting on the Finishing Touches Just weeks before opening night, workers were putting finishing touches inside the new Appalachian Theatre. The theater seats 620 patrons, and the orchestra pit (left) is a unique feature for mid-sized theaters in the community. Photos by Scott Pearson and then ran into financial difficulty and filed for bankruptcy.

“Pilar Fotta, who was then the director of the Downtown Boone Development Association (DBDA), urged the city manager to see if the town of Boone would buy the property, to hold it until we could form a non-profit organization to purchase and begin renovation,” said Cooper.

The town purchased the building in November 2011, and Cooper and a motivated group of over 50 people met at the library a couple of weeks later to discuss the fate of the theater.

“There were people there with lots of different backgrounds and areas of expertise, and many reasons for wanting to save the theater. There were those who wanted to preserve history, some who wanted a place for film, others who wanted to have a stage for live entertainment.”

The group even included the late Doc Watson, local leg20

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end and beloved musician. Watson had made appearances at the original Appalachian Theatre in the early 1940’s.

The Appalachian Theatre of the High Country (ATHC), a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization, was ultimately formed from the group, with a Board of Trustees comprised of 24 members with John Cooper as the chair. With the help of the DBDA, ATHC was able to purchase the theater property from the town in 2013.

Meet Some of the Players

Cooper recruited Keith Martin to join the effort prior to the meeting in Top photos: Then named Appalachian Twin, the theater as it appeared before its closing date in 2007. The theater was converted to a twin screen cinema in 1982, and its original facade was removed and covered by vertical plywood siding.

Middle photo: The Appalachian Theatre during its early stages of restoration.

Bottom: The Appalachian Theatre, as it appeared prior to restoration by ATHC. As seen from the stage area, the theater was gutted by the developer who purchased the property in 2008.

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Carpet in the lobby (top left) and seat designs (top right) were carefully matched from pictures of the original art deco theater built in 1938.

The seats are a bit larger, with spacing to allow for more legroom than the originals, however. The community room (bottom right) has a capacity of 150 people, ideal for large meetings, conferences, wedding receptions, and casual performances. Photos by Scott Pearson the library, back in 2011. “John called and told me he had a ‘little project’ on which he’d love for me to help,” recalled Martin, who had served on the NC Arts Council with Cooper back in the 1990s.

Martin had an impressive resume, including assisting with theater restorations and renovations for Richmond Center-

John Cooper, Chair of the ATHC High Country Magazine Board of Trustees

22

Stage in Virginia, Spirit Square in Charlotte, the Carolina Theater in Greensboro, and the Florida Theater in Jacksonville.

He’d served as the producer and managing director of Charlotte Repertory Theatre, was a registered lobbyist for ARTS North Carolina, and was a resource consultant for 25 years with ARTS Action Research

Keith Martin, Vice-Chair of the October / November 2019 ATHC Board of Trustees

of Brooklyn, New York and Portland, Oregon. When Cooper called him, Martin was the managing director of the Richmond Ballet, The State Ballet of Virginia.

Martin had just been hired by Appalachian State University as distinguished professor of theatre and accepted the position of vice-chair of the ATHC. “The Appalachian Theatre is my seventh similar project,” said Martin. “Same song, next verse!”

Originally from Hickory, Martin’s family has roots in Catawba Country that date back to the early 1700s and he spent a great deal of time in the Valle Crucis area. “Moving to the High Country felt like coming home,” he said.

Martin described the ATHC board as a “dream team.” He

Laura Kratt, Executive Director of the Appalachian Theatre

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In November 2011, the Town of Boone purchased the old theater for $624,500 in a foreclosure auction, and in July 2013, the non-profit ATHC paid the Town of Boone back. After the town purchased the theater, ATHC was formed to take control of the theater and raise money for its renovations. Pictured left to right: Keith Martin, Loretta Clawson, John Cooper, Karen Sabo, Jim Deal, and Pilar Fotta. said, “We have an incredible group with a skill set that includes design and construction, operations and programming, finance, capital campaigns and fundraising, and event planning. Our board is like a “who’s who” of civic leaders who bring so much expertise.”

“John Cooper is a trailblazer. He has put his entire heart into this,” Martin continued. “Frank Mohler — who serves as vice-chair —brings four decades of experience as a theatrical set and lighting designer. He did the conceptual design for Appalachian’s Valborg Theater. Gail Hearn’s organizational skills have been a godsend, Jim Deal’s legal expertise has proved invaluable, and CPA Bob Neill has provided financial planning and fiscal oversight, which has been so vital in our capital campaign. Fiscal responsibility has been one of our most impressive attributes.”

In August 2018, the ATHC hired its first full-time staff person, Executive Director Laura Kratt. With a long career of professional arts management including renovating and managing National Historic Landmark theaters in Georgia and New York, Kratt, who is a native from Charlotte, said the Appalachian Theatre project appealed to her because it combined historical aspects with the arts.

“I admired the commitment of the board to take chances and risks, but at the same time be clear-eyed and pragmatic in determining a business model that made sense,” she said.

The Setting

Fiscal responsibility is a theme that emerges time and time again among the ATHC board. “This is not only a renovation, but as much as possible a historic restoration,” explained Martin. “We didn’t want to do this with borrowed money and insisted on having cash and pledges on hand for each stage of the project. We want to create a sustainable model.”

The process was elaborate, Martin said. The group began raising money in 2012 and chose Raleighbased Clearscapes architectural firm for their experience with historical buildings. The board interviewed civic leaders, user groups, performing arts organizations, independent presenters, and other interested parties to determine what was needed for a state-of-the-art venue.

Restoration of the historic marquee and theatre façade in 2017 was the first step in the construction process, so people could see what the theatre would look like, building awareness and excitement around the project — and contributions for the next stages.

The façade and marquee, built by VPC Builders, replicates the original art deco style from the 1938 theater.

Thanks to remnants of marble from of the original façade found dur-

The restoration of the Appalachian Theatre has been a community-wide effort, with many volunteers, donors, and civic leaders contributing time, talent and funds.

John Cooper has called the project a “labor of love” for the many stakeholders in the new state-of-the-art facility.

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Pilar Fotta

Governor Ray Cooper visited the Appalachian Theatre in August 2017 and commended the community for the Appalachian Theatre project, which he said would attract tourism and better paying jobs to the area. ing the clean-up process, the design team was able to match the colors exactly, using modern materials.

Photos and historical research helped designers choose carpet, décor, and architectural elements that were as true to the original designs as possible.

“We’re trying to embrace that original art deco look that made the Appalachian Theatre so distinctive in 1938, and by celebrating that history, it will be a unique destination for tourists and visitors to come visit our community and create an enriched experience,” said Kratt.

The building includes a 620-seat theater, an expanded stage and backstage area, and a lobby with a ticket office and concession stand. Upstairs is a community room for receptions, meetings, conferences and informal performances, with a capacity of 150 people.

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Economic Impact An independent study by Appalachian State Universities Center for Economic Research and Policy Analysis (CERPA) predicted the following:

• Direct spending by visitors and residents attending Theatre events should total about $3 million per year.

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• Including hotel stays, restaurant and bar tabs, and other related spending, total economic activity should increase $4.5 million per year. • Increased economic activity will generate an estimated 53 new full-time equivalent jobs, with additional labor earnings of $1.4 million per year.

The vision for the theater was refined as the group worked through various scenarios. For instance, Martin said originally, they planned a fly loft to raise and lower scenery — a system that enables a stage crew to quickly change out backdrops for scene changes. “But after talking to user groups, we realized that a production of that size would need to take place just a block and a half away at the Schaefer Center, a bigger facility with more seats and larger dressing rooms, in addition to its fly loft stage.� “We did install an orchestra pit, though, for the Appalachian Opera and other music events. The Rosen Concert Hall on campus has 440 seats, but no orchestra pit.

So now we’ll have a mid-sized theater with an orchestra pit.

Kratt added, “Ideally, we’d like to be an additional asset to this community, not try to do what is already being done well. We want to attract people throughout the region to come see shows in this unique historic venue.� “Coming in at 620 seats is a sweet spot for mid-sized theaters, with enough seats for moderately-sized productions, yet providing a more intimate setting than larger venues,� Martin explained. “We reduced the number of seats from 999 in the original theater, taking away what people told us were the bad areas for sightlines and acoustics. We added a tech booth, expanded the lobby area, and added spacious restrooms on the main floor.�

Vannoy Construction, which handled the remainder of construction after VPC Builders had finished the façade, was critical to the success, Martin said. “They made it more than just a job. They became stakeholders and partners in the process.â€? “It made such a difference, rather than just hiring contractors to do the work, having people who had seen movies at the theater as kids. They were invested in the success of the project,â€? Martin said.

The Script

Kratt shared thoughts to put the history of the theater in context. “When it was originally built in 1938, there were 999 seats,� she said. “There would have been 1,000 seats, but a tax was levied on theaters with 1,000 or more seats, so the owners kept it at 999 to save money.� “But consider this,� Kratt said. “The population of Boone was only 1,700 when that theater was built. That’s a big, bold vision for bringing people to Boone, from the hills and hollers!� “In an old building, we’re always discovering things,� Kratt described. “People show up with boxes of artifacts and stories. You never know what you’re going to get, and that’s the fun of it.� “We heard from one woman who grew up in Aho. She and her sister used to fib to their mother, telling her they were going to study at a friend’s house. Then the girls would walk nine miles to the Appalachian Theatre to see a matinee, then walk all the way back.� “When the Appalachian Theatre closed, it was a real loss,� Kratt continued. “The model for downtown movie houses dried up and disappeared. We’re trying to reignite that flame, reopen it as a regional attraction. These historic theaters are such wonderful treasures, but you have to throw your arms wide — be expansive and include the whole community to generate the financial resources to preserve, protect, and keep these places viable.

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When choosing programming, Kratt says she is looking for acts that will work well in the space. “For instance, you wouldn’t want to put a small, intimate show in a big venue. It would be too quiet, and not a good experience for the audience. I try to find programs well suited to our 620-seat space: classic films and film series, music that is traditional to this area — blue grass, country, jazz — dance and theater.”

The Theatre is expected to host approximately 200 events per year, 60 of which will be “destination events” including live music or theater, drawing in both locals and tourists.

“We want to be part of the larger arts community and bring diverse cultures to the theater, but at the same time celebrate our local heritage and the roots music of the area,” Kratt continued. “A lot of people come to the mountains and want to experience the arts and crafts, see the beauty of the Blue Ridge and the rhododendron, and hear music that was born on the Appalachian stage.”

Folk, country, blues and traditional artists will be invited to play on “The Doc Watson Stage for Americana Music,” an honorary stage name in the Appalachian Theatre for selected musical acts.

John Cooper said the Appalachian Theatre would be a major stop on the Blue Ridge Music Trails — a collection of special places throughout the North Carolina mountains and foothills. “That will give us some extra recognition,” he said.

Funds are still being raised for the final installations in the theater, and for the first year of operating costs. Ongoing, individual memberships, business sponsorships, and donor campaigns will generate funding to keep ticket prices affordable.

Kratt said, “Communities support places like this because we bring tremendous value — in economic impact, extended nightlife, a draw for tourism, exposure to the arts, and overall quality of life.” t

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And the Lifetime Achievement Award goes to . . .

T

C. J. Hayes and Pauline “Polly” Hayes (left and center) work the concessions counter of the Appalachian Twin circa November 1988.

Image courtesy of the Paul Armfield Coffey Collection, Digital Watauga Project.

hrough all the changes during the run of the original Appalachian Theatre, two characters had recurring roles. The late Charles Jerry “C. J.” Hayes was employed 55 year run at the Appalachian Theatre. He began working part-time at the theater during high school, taking tickets and serving popcorn. He watched movies during his slack periods, including Abbott and Costello’s “Jack and the Beanstalk” on his first day of work.

Hayes joined the army in 1954 when he graduated from high school in, serving in Germany. He returned to Boone in 1957 and spent his days working as a mechanic at his father’s gas station — where he became a master at restoring cars — and his evenings working at the theater.

Hayes married his high school sweetheart, Polly Greene, and the two of them worked the night shift together at the theater for forty years. C.J., who passed away in 2014, and Polly, who passed away last month, will long be remembered for their hospitality and trademark, “How’re y’all doing tonight?” greetings to moviegoers over the years.

Employees of the Theater After The Fire of January 1950 Robert Agle (right) served as theater manager during the Civil Rights Movement era. As written in the “History of the Appalachian Theatre” by Gary Boyce, Craig Fisher, Frank Mohler and Eric Plaag, the theater was originally a whites-only establishment. In 1948, Agle allowed black patrons to attend screenings, though seating was segregated. After the 1960 lunch counter sit-ins at the Woolworth’s Department Store in Greensboro, Agle family tradition holds that Robert came into the theater the next day and announced they would no longer enforce segregated seating — making the Appalachian Theatre ahead of its time in social change.

LEFT TO RIGHT: J. W. Beach, manager of the Appalachian Theatre, circa 1952.

Catherine Garland at the Appalachian Theatre concession stand, circa 1952.

Mack Garland in the Appalachian Theatre projection booth, circa 1952.

Alice Councill Robbins n the ticket booth of the Appalachian Theatre, circa 1952.

Photos by Palmer Blair, courtesy of Sarah Lynn Spencer and the Palmer Blair Collection, Digital Watauga Project.

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Robert Agle, regional manager of the Appalachian Theatre of the High Country, circa May 1956.

Photo by Palmer Blair, courtesy of Sarah Lynn Spencer nd the Palmer Blair Collection, Digital Watauga Project.

The First Act

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detailed history of The Appalachian Theater — which appears on the ATHC website — was compiled by Dr. Gary Boye, librarian in Appalachian State University’s Hayes School of Music; Dr. Craig Fischer, professor in the Department of English; Dr. Frank Mohler, profesCrowd gathered outside Appalachian Theatre on February 19, 1948, sor emeritus in the Department of Thecourtesy of the Appalachian Theatre of the High Country. atre and Dance, and historian Dr. Eric house. From 1919 until 1922, the “Appalachian Theater,� opPlaag of the Digitalize Watauga Project. Some of the highlights are erated by Clarence Ellis and O. L. Coffee, showed movies in a summarized below. courtroom in the new Watauga County Courthouse.

Moving pictures came to Boone in the early 1900’s, brought Neither the setting nor the equipment was ideal, and when by a traveling showman who projected silent films in the court-

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The auditorium of the Appalachian Theatre following repairs after the 1950 fire. Photo by Palmer Blair, courtesy of Sarah Lynn Spencer and the Appalachian Theatre of the High Country.

Arthur Hamby and Ralph Winkler took over the cinema business in 1923, they constructed the first permanent theater building in town, a 410-seat theater located on West King Street between Depot and Water Streets. They opened it as the Dixie Theatre in late 1924 but renamed it as the Pastime Theatre in early 1925.

The Pastime, which offered a mix of movies and live entertainment, was very successful. They added sound capabilities to accommodate the new “talkies” — films with sound — in 1929, and by the mid-1930’s the partners were ready to move their thriving business to a larger, more modern facility.

In 1937, Hambly and Winker purchased the Hahn house, located on the south side of West King Street, and built the new 999-seat theater, using a unique Art Deco design. The front of the building sported black, mint green, and white glass tiles arranged in a geometric pattern. With a marquee overhang and its modern red, white, and yellow neon lighting, the theater was an outstanding departure from downtown Boone’s typical architecture.

In addition to the theater, the building also housed retail space flanking the lobby, one side that operated as Appalachian Sandwich Shop, and the opposite side operated by the Home Electric Company and an adjacent beauty salon. Upstairs, a group of offices was occupied by a dentist and an optometrist.

Upon completion of the building, Hambly and Winkler leased the movie house to A. Fuller Sams and his son A. Fuller Sams Jr., who operated the Statesville Theatre Corporation.

Taking the old “Appalachian Theatre” name, the venue opened on November 14, 1938 with a screening of “Breaking the Ice,” a movie starring the ice skater, Irene Dare. As was common in that era, the feature film was preceded by the animated presentation — in this case, Mickey and Minnie Mouse in “Brave Little Tailor,” — and a newsreel.

In addition to movies, the early years of the theater featured Vaudeville shows, musical performances, and other live acts. Several stars from the Grand Ole Opry, including Minnie Pearl and Uncle Dave Macon, appeared on stage at the theater. Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs, Bill 30

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The Appalachian Theatre stage as seen from the balcony following repairs after the 1950 fire. Photo by Palmer Blair, courtesy of Sarah Lynn Spencer and the Appalachian Theatre of the High Country.

The new Appalachian Theatre marquee being installed, November 20, 2016.

Photo by Frank Mohler.

Appalachian Theatre concession stand, shortly after the 1950 fire. Photo by Palmer Blair, courtesy of Sarah Lynn Spencer and the Appalachian Theatre of the High Country.

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“My Pal Gus” promotion between the Appalachian Theatre and Stallings Jewelers, February 1953,

Crowds line up for Jaws in August 1975, courtesy of the Paul Armfield Coffey Collection, Digital Watauga Project.

courtesy of the Appalachian Theatre of the High Country

Monroe and His Blue Grass Boys, and the young Doc Watson also played at the Appalachian Theatre.

Doc Watson appeared on a bill for a “Hillbilly Jamboree,” which was broadcast live on WDRS radio from the Appalachian Theatre in 1943. It was later discovered, however, that the radio station — housed in the back of the Dacus Radio Service

shop that had taken over the theater building’s retail space from the Home Electric Company — was broadcasting without a license. Federal agents arrested Kermit Dacus, the owner of the shop, and that ended live radio broadcasts from the stage of the Appalachian Theatre.

Legendary Hollywood films, including Gone with the Wind, The Wizard of

Oz, Casablanca, and It’s a Wonderful Life, were screened at the theater, though often months behind the releases in large cities.

Up in Smoke

The original theater had a concession stand up front, with candy and popcorn for sale. The lobby area was very small, however, and the popcorn was popped in a

Dr. Eric Plaag to Speak on History of Appalachian Theatre October 16

A

In conjunction with the exhibit, and palachian Theatre. n Exhibition of Appalachian Theatre Plaag will present the inside scoop on History is certain to attract a large as part of the WCHS Speaker Series, on number of visitors to the main gallery of October 16 at 5:30 p.m. the same hosts how the Appalachian got started, how it the Jones House Cultural and Commu- will welcome Dr. Eric Plaag, chairperson survived a disastrous fire in 1950 and the of the ATHC Archives and History Com- advent of television, and how the new nity Center in downtown Boone.

The exhibit is a prelude celebration mittee, speaking on the history of the Ap- theater will once again be the home for both stage and screen of the re-opening of the performances.

Appalachian Theatre this You don’t want to miss fall and is cosponsored by these combined opportuthe Digital Watauga Projnities to learn all about ect, the Watauga County the theatre — and as deHistorical Society, the scribed by the historians Watauga County Public — “how the Appalachian Library, and the Appalatransformed downtown chian Theatre of the High Boone, the devastating Country.

1950 fire, why the 1950s The month-long extheater was considered hibit of historical images, “Boone’s best babysitadvertisements and other ter,” why the theater ulmaterials related to the timately closed in 2007, history of Boone’s Appaand how the new theater lachian Theatre will bring will help make Boone an back to life memories for arts and entertainment those who remember the hub for Western Carolina venue — long advertised 1938 Opening Night Program, Appalachian Theatre, once again. in its heyday as “Western courtesy of the Sams Family and the Appalachian Theatre of the High Country.

Carolina’s Finest Theatre.”

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closet located behind the movie screen.

On January 21, 1950, just as the afternoon matinee began, a teenaged worker left the popcorn machine unattended while he took some bags of popcorn to the concession stand. When he returned, he found the machine on fire.

He alerted the manager, who evacuated the audience.

Luckily, no one was killed or seriously injured, however the damages to the theater were extensive.

Winkler personally supervised the reconstruction, and the theater reopened in May 1950. A small brick building was constructed at the rear of the theater to house the (new) popcorn machine.

The new stage featured a curved apron to accommodate a state-of-the-art movie screen. Over the next few years, the screen was replaced again with one so large it no longer allowed room for live performances.

The advent of television changed the movie industry dramatically in the early 1950’s. Musicals, foreign films, and monster movies were shown at the Appalachian Theatre as time marched on.

Essantee Theatres leased, and then bought the theater from the Winklers in 1981 and renovated the building. Concerns over the safety of the marquee overhang led to its removal and replacement with a flat sign on the front of the building. The balcony was enclosed and converted to a second theater, and the name of the theater was changed to the Appalachian Twin.

Carmike Cinemas acquired the theater in 1986, and when a new multiplex theater was built on the east side of town, the Appalachian Theatre became a late-run cinema nicknamed “the Dollar Theater.” Carmike operated the theater for just over twenty years before closing it in November 2007, beginning a long intermission.

A developer from Florida acquired the building in 2008, with plans to convert it to a bar and music venue. The developer stripped the building to prepare for the redesign, then ran into financial trouble and filed for bankruptcy. The town of Boone purchased the distressed property in 2011 and held it until an interested group formed an independent non-profit organization — The Appalachian Theatre of the High Country (ATHC) — which bought the property in 2013 and began its quest to save the theater. t

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Rufus Edminsten From Farm Boy to Washington to the State Capital

Growing Up In Boone

By Nathan Ham

R

ufus Edmisten has always been a small-town, country boy at heart.

From growing up on a farm that sat exactly where Watauga High School sits today, to his dramatic tales of Watergate and living a life of politics, Rufus still remembers the great times in the High Country.

“We grew up working hard but playing hard too. We always had horses on the farm and that was one of my loves, tending to a horse and riding around the countryside on my favorite horse named Lady in the late 40s and mid-50s,” Edmisten said. “I could walk down the streets of Boone after a Friday night football game and you would know everybody that you found. So much of my character throughout the years has been molded by growing up in Boone.”

Back during his childhood, Rufus said it was always a really special time when he would get to go into downtown Boone, especially on the weekend.

“On a Saturday, the real treat was going to the Appalachian Theatre. We would pray for rain so we didn’t have to work on the farm,” laughed Rufus.

As was the case in most places dur-

Rufus is pictured here at around the age of 9 with his Grandma Nan. Rufus said she rarely smiled and had a hard life but she loved her family.

All Pictures Courtesy of McFarland & Company, Inc. From That’s Rufus: A Memoir of Tar Heel Politics, Watergate and Public Life © 2019. Rufus L. Edmisten by permission of McFarland & Company, Inc., Box 611, Jefferson NC 28640. www.mcfarlandbooks.com.

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ing the 40s and 50s, families that had farms were able to provide almost everything they needed without having to rely on grocery stores or other people for supplies.

“The only things we would have to go to the store and get were flour and coffee for the grown folks. You mostly grew everything there on the farm. You knew where your food came from and you had a greater reverence for nature,” said Edmisten.

One of the best memories that Rufus shared as he grew up was taking the tractor

“We grew up working hard but playing hard too.” on trips to Boone way before he had a driver’s license. Rufus said he figured he was between 13 and 14 years old when he first got to drive the family’s 1952 Ford tractor into town.

“When I wanted to go somewhere, it was sort of an unwritten rule between country folks and the highway patrol that if you had a tractor out on the road, you were up to some farm business and they wouldn’t bother you,” he said. “A couple of times I went out on a date on the tractor. When I’d go to Boone, I’d hook up the trailer and put a little bit of junk on the back of it like I was going to deliver someRufus recently published his new book “That’s Rufus: A Memoir of Tar Heel Politics, Watergate and Public Life.” The book can be found online and was published locally through McFarland & Company, Inc. in Ashe County.

Rufus Edmisten now lives in Raleigh where he still practices law and likes to sit back and enjoy a nice smoke from one of his favorite cigars.

Photos by: Jill Lanette Photography

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This was the steep, rocky road that the family used to have to walk down through mud and ice because the family car couldn’t make it up through the rutted roads.

In addition to his farm work for the family, Rufus would often plow gardens on the side for some extra spending money. This 1952 Ford tractor also let Rufus make trips to downtown Boone, sometimes delivering farm goods but other times going on dates.

Rufus Edmisten’s parents, Walter and Nell, pictured here in their Sunday best not long after their 1929 marriage.

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thing. I would head up to Boone and park behind the Appalachian Theatre with my tractor and go to a movie.”

Rufus said he kept making more and more trips to Boone on that old Ford tractor and considered that along with the other aspects of living a country life to be something that he just would not change for anything.

“We might have been considered in the lower end of the economic scale, but we were always extremely blessed to have so much food on the table and it was just amazing. We ate better than folks up in Boone I thought,” Edmisten said.

Rufus had four brothers and one sister that his mom had to cook for every day and his father would work sometimes three jobs at a time to make sure the family was able to make ends meet. One brother, Joe, lives in Pensacola, Florida but has a farmhouse in Avery County and another brother, Baker, is a retired U.S. Marshall and still lives in Boone.

One time, Rufus decided that it was time to try his hand at driving something else. In his early teenage years, he thought it would be a good idea to take his father’s wildlife officer uniform and his car and go look for people that were fishing out of season.

“I was about 13 years old and mama and daddy had gone somewhere that night and there was his car. I decided I was going to go catch some violators that night so I went to sneak into his bedroom, pulled out all that stuff and put it on, the pant legs flipped below my feet and the shirt was six inches past my wrist. I had to put a piece of newspaper inside the band to get it to fit,” Rufus said. “I went out to take that car out for

A photo of Three Forks Baptist Church around 1945 when Rufus and his family attended services there.

Rufus had four brothers and one sister that his mom had to cook for every day and his father would work sometimes three jobs at a time to make sure the family was able to make ends meet. a spin down to the New River Bridge. I guess I went about 30 feet and off in the ditch I went.”

Thankfully, Rufus wasn’t hurt, but he knew he was in trouble.

“I heard the distinctive sound of a Dr. Pepper truck coming around the corner and I thought oh my god, if Bill (Gragg) could just get me out of this. I waved him down and said please just get me out of this place, just get this car out of here and I’ll be an indentured servant to you the rest of my life,” Rufus said. “Bill got the car out and I started singing Amazing Grace. I was so nervous I had him park the car back in the driveway.”

Before his parents got home that evening, Rufus took the garden hose and started washing the mud off the car. Just as he had finished taking off his father’s uniform and putting everything back where he found it, his parents had pulled in the driveway. His father asked him why the car was dripping water?

“We didn’t have a television at the time so I said I just wanted to wash the car because I didn’t have anything to do, and until the day I was running for governor in 1984 I never brought that up until my dad was at a Wildlife Federation meeting in Winston-Salem being honored. I thought that was the time to confess and I confessed the whole thing to a look of astonishment and chagrin on my father’s face while the audience is rolling over laughing at the story,” Rufus said.

Another infamous memory that Rufus laughed about as he told the story was during his young athletic career at the old Appalachian High School. The football team traveled over to Beaver Creek High School in West Jefferson on a Friday night in the fall. Rufus said he picked up a fumble but lost track of where he was on the field and ended up running towards the wrong end zone. He said by the time he realized his mistake and

Rufus is pictured here with the enchanting Rachel Rivers. He was one of Mrs. Rivers’ escorts to the Debutante Ball in Raleigh in their younger years.

The Daniel Boone chapter of the Future Farmers of America at Appalachian High School.

Pictured here are John Critcher (sentinel), Jimmy Stewart (reporter), Johnny Bodenheimer (treasurer), Rufus Edmisten (president), Earl Keller (secretary), R.T. Tait (advisor) and Dale Moretz (vice president).

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Rufus and college roommate Daniel “Remus” Edwards at left. turned around, he was able to run the ball back to where he recovered the fumble.

“The ride back on the bus from Beaver Creek to Boone was rough. Here I was, president of the student body and a state champion wrestler. Boy I was a fool for the day,” laughed Rufus.

Rufus remembers when the family built their new house and how much it meant to his mother to make sure that the house was close to the road.

“We had all this beautiful land. We could have built the house off the road, away from the traffic, but mama said that she was so tired of lugging groceries up that rocky, rugged road. In those days you couldn’t pull the car right up to the house, it was just an old farm road. You parked down at the gate and you’d carry everything up to the house,” he said.

“When we built that house, that was a big deal. We did most of the work ourselves.”

As the Boone native continued to share his tales of growing up, he reminisced about a special bond with another popular lady around the High Country, the former Watauga Democrat publisher Rachel Rivers-Coffey.

“She was quite a character – the character of all characters. She was way beyond her age and her maturity,” said Rufus.

He talked about being one of Rachel’s escorts to the Terpsichorean Club’s North Carolina Debutante Ball in the state capitol in their younger years. Rufus commented on how “strikingly beautiful and delightful” of a person she always was to him and got a nice chuckle thinking about how strange it all felt during that time at the ball.

“It was a week of frolicking around and going to these parties and here’s this country boy, I didn’t know what to think of all this stuff,” Rufus laughed. “Here I was in all this high society in Raleigh wearing a tuxedo that I had saved up the money to rent.”

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Rufus on the football field at Appalachian High School.

The Edmisten Family’s new house in 1952. Rufus recalled just how much his mother disliked having to haul groceries up the rutted, rocky farm road to their old house. The car in the driveway belonged to Walter Edmisten and was the same car Rufus once drove into a ditch.

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Rufus with his wife, Linda, and many family members on the steps of Three Forks Baptist Church on their wedding day, December 22, 1983.

After finishing up high school, Edmis- membered nationwide as the man who de- history that ten headed off to the University of North livered the subpoena to the White House tee served a Carolina at Chapel Hill where he would for the Watergate tapes, the first time in poena. go on to graduate with a degree in political science in 1963 and continue to law school. Rufus attended the George Washington University Law Center in Washington D.C., setting the stage for where his fame would begin to skyrocket. During his time at George Washington University, Edmisten joined the Capitol Hill staff for North Carolina Senator Sam Ervin and upon graduation of law school in 1968, he was named chief counsel and staff director of the SenThis is the barn where Rufus spent a lot of time feeding and milking ate Subcommittee on the several cows as well as hanging barley and tobacco for curing.

Separation of Powers.

It was later used to hang his campaign posters Rufus Edmisten is re40

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any Congressional Commitsitting president with a subWhen Sen. Ervin retired, Edmisten was elected at the 46th Attorney General of North Carolina where he served for 10 years. In 1984, Edmisten put his name in the hat for the race for North Carolina’s governor seat, running as a Democrat.

Unfortunately for him, the political tides were not on his side as Republican James G. Martin defeated him with 54 percent of the votes to Edmisten’s 45 percent.

“The Reagan coattails were wide and long,” Edmisten acknowledged.

Many Republicans across the nation in House, Senate

Rufus and the Watergate Hearings

R

ufus Edmisten can tell you stories from his childhood up through the latest episode of his weekend radio gardening show that he co-hosts in Raleigh. Regardless of what stories are told, he will be forever known as the man who delivered the subpoena to President Richard Nixon to turn over the Watergate tapes.

Edmisten was serving as the chief counsel and staff director of the Senate Subcommittee on the Separation of Powers during the Senate’s Watergate investigation. Rufus admits that up until recently, he never quite realized what a huge moment that was in his life.

“When I got into public office on my own, I forgot about Watergate for years. I was so busy running for attorney general, governor and secretary of state. In recent years it has just dawned on me how that the Watergate years were probably the most important part of my life,” said Rufus. “It would be quite a homecoming when I would come home. People would be coming by to say they saw me on TV every day. It was quite something.”

Rufus pictured with Senator Sam Ervin and Sam Dash early in the Watergate hearings.

BEFORE October / November 2019

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and Gubernatorial races came into power thanks in large part to the sway of Ronald Reagan, who won the 1984 Presidential Election in a landslide over Democratic challenger Walter Mondale.

Reagan won 49 of 50 states with Mondale’s home state of Minnesota being the only state that Reagan did not carry.

Edmisten chose to continue his political career, being elected twice as Secretary of State before retiring from politics and becoming a lawyer with a private practice. He is also a co-host for the Weekend Gardener radio show on WPTF 680 AM in Raleigh.

Even after all of this time spent away from Boone, from his days in Washington D.C. to his time now spent in Raleigh, Rufus will never forget where he grew up. “I still go to work every single day, I think about Boone every single day and the things that have changed, both good and bad.

It’s still a magical place for me. I love going up there,� he said. “Boone was really good for me. It was hard, hard work but I went across so many different social lines, folks way out in the country that were my friends, and folks around town were my friends and I plowed all their gardens.�

He recently attended the 60th class reunion for Appalachian High School Class of 1959 and still remembers a lot of his classmates just like it was yesterday. Rufus will be back in the High Country in early October for a special book-signing event at The Jones House. His book entitled “That’s Rufus, A Memoir of Tar Heel Politics, Watergate and Public Life� is now available for purchase.

Rufus offered one last word of advice for everyone living in Boone: “Keep Boone as pure as you can, don’t let the polluters take over and keep it the place you want to remember 50 years from now.� t

Rufus is a very active gardener and is even a radio co-host for a show each Saturday called the Weekend Gardener that is broadcast on WPTF 680 AM in Raleigh.

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Haircut 101 Story by Joe Johnson • Photography by Tara Diamond “Shut up and get a haircut. Haircut 101.”

T

he first advertisement in 1989 for the mainstay hair salon in Downtown Boone included those now iconic words plastered below an image of a woman with overgrown hair draped in front of her face.

It spawned a new era of casual hairstyling in a region that was dominated by the “Betty Bouffant” style hair salons of a bygone era. “Shut up and get a haircut” perfectly encapsulates the atmosphere that John Mena, owner and stylist at Haircut 101, has strived to create in his salon since its grand opening in 1989; one where everybody can be sure to feel welcomed and accommodated in any one of Haircut 101’s seven chairs backed by talented stylists dedicated to making you look and feel better about yourself. In other words, it doesn’t matter what you need done to your hair or how unique you’d like to look, Mena and his staff are able to accomplish what you need, so “shut up and get a haircut!” at Haircut 101, celebrating its 30th anniversary this December.

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Mena’s story begins in Brooklyn, where he was born to a Sicilian mother and a Puerto Rican father. “They were a West Side Story growing up in Brooklyn,” said Mena. Mena’s father joined the military in 1954, but ended up leaving in 1957 because Mena’s mother was, “not going to marry and live like a gypsy,” that is, constantly moving from base to base as John grew up. After Mena’s father started a business that failed in 1959, he decided to join the military once again. Mena’s family moved from Brooklyn to Fort Rucker, Alabama, to Fort Bragg, North Carolina, all the way to Munich, Germany for a three-year stay. Mena’s brother Michael was born in Fayetteville and his brother Eric was born in Germany. When the family arrived back in the states, Mena’s father embarked to Vietnam for a year to fight in the war; Mena’s sister, Elizabeth, was born while their father was in Vietnam. “When he came back, we went to Fairbanks, Alaska at Fort Wainwright and froze up there for three years, which was great training for moving to Boone,” said Mena, “We went from Fairbanks to Fort Knox,

Haircut 101 is currently in the space that previously served as the Boone Honda Motorcycle shop from the early 1970s until the mid 1990s. The space is 1800 square feet.

Kentucky, and then from Fort Knox back of time spent building furniture and deto Fort Bragg where I finished up junior signing for a living, Mena decided that high while also working with the Com- it might be time to scratch the itch in munity Theater acting program. I did some community college stuff too, mostly art and graphics. I started building furniture and almost cut my finger off on a table saw one day and decided to become a hairdresser!”

Mena was indoctrinated in the ways of hairdressing from a young age; his grandmother, great uncle, and uncle were all hairdressers as well. Mena realized he wanted to be a hairdresser in the third grade, when he visited his uncle’s salon that was located directly off Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles. “When I visited my uncle’s salon out in California, he was bigger than life! He just personified Hollywood at that time, during the 60s,” said Mena, “I was just mesmerized by all the people, the hairspray, and the entire atmosphere; it sparked something in the back of my mind. When my sister was born, I John Mena may be laidback on the surface, would put braids in my sister’s hair but he and his coworkers take and send her off to school when she hairstyling seriously. was old enough to go. It was always there in the back of my mind to become the back of his brain and start learning how to professionally style hair. a hairstylist.”

After taking courses at community “I graduated from high school, went colleges in art and design, and a period to a couple community colleges, and

then decided to go into hairstyling,” said Mena, “I graduated from Robeson Technical College in Lumberton, North Carolina; they have a terrific department there. Bettie Biggs was my instructor; she came by about three years ago to check out what we were doing here. It was really good to see her and last I heard she was still cutting hair down near Lumberton.”

Mena found an artistic outlet in hairdressing; one that could fulfill his hunger to create something beautiful such as he had been doing building furniture and designing art.

Mena feels that hairdressing is working with a different medium, but it is still art; instead of working with pencils and paper, a stylist works with hair. They color, cut, razor, chip, stack, and tease; all kinds of methods are used to achieve the end goal of a beautifully created head of hair. Mena stated that hairstyling is a great artistic outlet for the artistically inclined as well as being a form of instant gratification. “You have somebody in your chair for an hour or two hours and you turn out a piece of artwork,” said Mena, “It’s also a great way to make a living and a great way to travel and meet people.

I went into it because I’m a real people

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John, sometime in 1989, purveys the newly installed tile in the original haircut 101 location.

(left to right) Jennifer, Dolores, Danny, Julie, Tracy, and John Mena (seated) shortly after Haircut 101 opened its first location in 1989.

A typical day spent “stacking and whacking,” as John Mena affectionately calls hairdressing, at Haircut 101’s original location.

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person, I like to build relationships with people and find out where they’re from, what they’re all about; we all have a lot of shared experiences in life and everybody wants basically the same thing. They want a decent paying job, a roof over their head, food to eat, and a good haircut!”

Mena continued his journeys into the world of hairdressing, starting out in Fayetteville and Myrtle Beach, Orlando Beach, Florida, and then working for Honeycutt Supply Group out of Virginia Beach, Virginia, traveling 3000 miles per month calling on salons, doing educational classes, introducing new product lines, and working at a salon in Virginia Beach on the weekends. As the thousands miles of traveling started to catch up to him, Mena fell in love with standing behind the chair and styling peoples’ hair again. He made the move to West Palm Beach Florida and landed a job at a highend salon in Boca Raton as a stylist working with 16 hairstylists, six manicurists, a masseuse, and an all-star clientele; tennis stars such as Martina Navratilova and celebrities such as Linda Wagner, an actress who famously portrayed Wonder Woman, frequented the salon where Mena worked.

In 1988, the path leading Mena to Haircut 101 continued when his friend Nelson Garcia suggested the pair open up a salon in the High Country. Mena was reluctant at first, as he was unfamiliar with the area; however, Mena flew up to the High Country for the first time in February of 1988 and immediately fell in love with the place. Appalachian Ski Mountain ended The original Haircut 101 façade, up having to rescue complete with neon signage.

Garcia and Mena, as they became stranded in the snow due to bald tires on their rental vehicle.

“We weren’t prepared for snow, much less cold weather, so we had on all of our clothes that we had packed,” said Mena, “We called up some of the ski mountains and Appalachian Ski Mountain sent over a van for us and we went skiing for the day. We fell in love with the place and the people; I’m still friends with a lot of the people that we met on the first week here!”

A month later, on March 1, 1988, Mena and Garcia moved up to the High Country and began working at Garcia’s salon called “Nelson of Ball Harbor Hairstyling Salon” at Tynecastle. Mena handled a lot of the design work for the salon, including logo designs, and also handled managerial duties. Toward the end of the second season, the owners moved back to Miami; Mena did not want to leave the High Country, and decided to open his own salon in the Boone area. Thus began Mena’s journey into opening up his first ever hair salon where Rock Dimensions, the rock climbing shop, is currently located in downtown Boone. Mena opened

Haircut 101 with a single employee on December 5, 1989.

Not long after, he was able to grow his business to accommodate four more stylists in his salon; among them was Nelson Garcia. Garcia is still a hairstylist today in the Boone area. “John’s always been a front man; he’s easy to talk to,” said Garcia, “He’s done well, I’m proud of him.”

Mena designed, laid out the plans, and built up the original Haircut 101 location with two of his friends and his brother. It took three months to eventually get the place up and running. Mena made sure to build the salon in his vision that was drastically different than any of the other salons found in the High Country area, a unique image that is still upheld by Haircut 101 to this day. “It blew everybody away. I had neon in the windows and everybody was like ‘whoa!’ It was cool because the first advertisement I ran said ‘shut up and get a haircut.’ It just had a picture of a woman’s face with all this hair and underneath it in big block letters it said ‘shut up and get a haircut. Haircut 101.’

And the phones started ringing,” said Mena, “People were saying ‘well if you can say that, you have to know what you’re doing.’ It blew everybody away because everybody was so used to these Betty Bouffant box places around here.

You’d walk in and have a small mirror and the place reeked of perm solution with hair all over the place.”

“It blew everybody away. I had neon in the windows and everybody was like ‘whoa!’

It was cool because the first advertisement I ran said ‘shut up and get a haircut.’

John is all smiles in 1996 as the new Haircut 101 location opens up across the street from the previous location.

John Mena The casual advertisement strategy worked so well, in fact, that people were coming into Haircut 101 from across the High Country to get their hair styled in the unique, laidback, yet expertise-filled atmosphere.

“There was a little kid one time who dragged his parents here all the way from Mountain City,” said Mena, “They had The Mountain Times advertisement I did and the 12 or 13-year-old boy wanted his hair cut at our place. I made a little splash just being loud and obnoxious. People are like ‘what’s this guy about?’”

Mena named Haircut 101 partly as homage to his earlier employer from his hairdressing stint in Virginia Beach, Haircut 100. However, Mena sought out to put a twist on the name to reflect the nearby Appalachian State University. “Haircut 100 was a great name; that was a name of a band in the ‘80s that were a one-hit wonder,” said Mena, “I figured Haircut 101 would be like ‘English 101’ or ‘Sociology 101’, it is a required course that you have to

Haircut 101’s current location opened in 1996 with twice as much space and twice as many stylists.

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Haircut 101’s receptionists are able to match you ith the stylist that fits your personal needs.

Haircut 101 features a wide array of products made for every type of hair imaginable.

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go through before leaving Boone. I wanted to market to App State from the beginning; We’ve had so many ASU students that have been through here over the years and it’s really heartening to see them come back and say hello. It’s kind of timeless; you’ve got these new faces and fresh heads coming in every semester. It’s almost like time stops because you’ve got these excited kids coming in constantly.”

Business was a success at Haircut 101, however, tragedy struck Mena when the original location burned down in June of 1996. Mena had been at the beach with his son, Cory, for the previous week and when he came home to Boone, he found Haircut 101 in a raging inferno. Thankfully, Mena had acquired loss of use insurance, which was good enough to be able to pay his employees throughout the four months that Haircut 101 was out of business.

Haircut 101 opened up in its current location just across the street from the old location on November 1, 1996, continuing to provide its clientele with top notch, consistent hairstyling that you can be confident will turn out great. Not only will your hair look great after your visit to Haircut 101, but you will feel like you were just welcomed into an atmosphere you can be a part of no matter your age, ethnicity, or personal affiliations. “We’ve had 96 or 97 year old women in here getting their hair cut next to a 14 year old kid getting a purple Mohawk,” said Mena, “The difHaircut 101 is partnered with the ferences in the Davines product line from people make me Parma, Italy feel good. I love to have that vast variety of clientele come in here regarding age groups and ethnicities. Working near ASU we’ve had clientele of every sort of background come through here. No matter your political affiliation, age group, or religious background, everybody needs a haircut! I think a beauty salon is an equalizer; it’s really cool.”

Mena is proud of the team of hairstylists and manicurist that he works with at Haircut 101; specifically, Mena is proud of his team that not only provides excellent hairstyling services, but also knows how to treat customers well and communicate with them in a way that leaves the customer enlightened about their hair. Mena has welcomed many stylists into the team throughout his years as owner of Haircut 101, some of whom have moved on to create their own hair salons. Particularly, Mena is proud of the education Haircut 101 has provided to hairstylists that beauty schools have not. “We have done a lot of in-salon education and lots of classes, not only cutting and coloring, but also retailing, just being able to talk to people, communication skills,” said

“I’ve got clients right now whose hair I’ve been styling for 30 years. I’ve got kids who I gave their first haircuts, and now they’re bringing their kids in for their first haircuts.”

John Mena Mena, “I feel it is very important that hairstylists be able to not only do a nice cut and style on a person but to educate them on the style and how to take care of their hair, how to brush it, how to shampoo it, when to shampoo it, what type of conditioners to use; there are a lot of great products out in the market, it’s about finding the one specifically for your hair type, the density, and the style that you’re looking for. There are a lot of variables that go into making your hair easy or hard to take care of.”

The reason Mena feels like Haircut 101 has been successful throughout the years is not only because of the exemplary hairstyling, beauty services, and products offered at the establishment, but also because of the welcoming, knowledgeable customer service and attitude exuded by the employees. Mena emphasized the importance of attitude regarding employees in any type of business. He feels that the biggest challenge a lot of hairstylists face is not listening to the clients or not being able to reiterate to the clients what exactly they are looking to do with their hair.

According to Mena, the communication aspect is one of the most important things to keep in mind when styling hair. Mena is proud of Haircut 101’s stylists for being personable and attentive to the clients of the business. “I’ve got clients right now whose hair I’ve been styling for 30 years. I’ve got kids who I gave their first haircuts, and now they’re bringing their kids in for their first haircuts. I did their first haircut, then I did their hair for their prom, then I did their hair for their wedding; it’s a relationship you build where you become a part of their family and

Mena “stacks and whacks” a client with two other stylists working by his side

All types of hair are nurtured and maintained at Haircut 101 with the help of expert stylists.

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Tara Sullivan puts the finishing touches on a bride; it’s not uncommon for a whole wedding party to come into Haircut 101 for styling.

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they become a part of your family. It’s a magical thing, it’s what all of us do each trust that you have to build up with clients, and every day. You get up and drive 30 or 40 minutes each day or you can move I feel that is very important to the job.”

Mena and Haircut 101 are dedicated closer to town and walk to work. I think to environmentally friendly products it’s real important that we all do as much and practices within the business as well as we can to minimize our environmental as uniquely catered service. Haircut 101 footprint. I like the products used in here boasts a notably low monthly energy con- because they’re environmentally friendly, sumption rate due to an Icynene Styro- biodegradable, and sustainable.” foam roof and the numerous LED lights and skylights used throughout the building. Mena has also made the move to featuring the product line Davines, a 98% organically derived beauty product line that is headquartered in Parma, Italy. All the ingredients in Davines products are from local Italian area farms and the product line is common in beauty salons throughout Italy. Mena decided to partner with Davines because of their phenomenal products and minimal environmental impact. The production facility in Parma is run entirely off solar and wind power and all of the Davines packaging is food-grade and reusable or recyclable. Haircut 101 is dedicated to recycling whatever they can possibly recycle to reduce their environmental impact. “That’s important to us. It’s important for all of us to look at the carbon footprint we are putting 65% of Haircut 101’s clientele are men and boys.

Men care about their hair and how it looks out,” said Mena, “We talk about sometimes more than women says Mena. carbon footprints like it’s this

October / November 2019

John Steinbeck – “Hairstylists, whether we believe it or not, hold a lot of sway with people. There are a lot of people that are not physically touched by anyone else but their hairstylist, which puts a lot of responsibility in a hairstylists hands.� “It’s all true,� says Mena, “Clients listen to us more than they listen to their spouses or doctors sometimes. We hold sway over a lot of their feelings.�

“I came up with the name Haircut 101 being so close to ASU. It’s as if you have to come through here before you graduate.�

Mena emphasizes the knowledge of Haircut 101 hairstylists and their ability to find which products are right for you and your unique hairstyle. Haircut 101 has a wide array of products that specifically address scalp issues such as eczema, seborrhea, psoriasis, dry scalp, and overactive sebaceous glands.

Mena emphasized that a lot of the problems that people have with their scalp and hair are due to the products they are using; a lot of artificial ingredients, such as artificial fragrances, are a detriment to scalps and hair and cause people to develop physical issues. Going to Haircut 101 and becoming educated about

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“It doesn’t even feel like it’s been 30 years.

It feels like it’s been a few years, but I can’t wrap my head around 30 years.”

John Mena

John participating in a photo shoot that was used for a Haircut 101 marketing campaign eight years ago.

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your own hair and scalp will make a major difference in your life. “There are a lot of great products out on the market; the secret is finding the right products for you,” said Mena, “The best thing is going in and talking to a hairstylist to determine what you need. Whether you’ve got fine hair, thick hair, grey hair, whatever. There are different products out there specifically designed for different hair types. That’s why we’ve teamed up with the Davines product line; it’s a family owned and operated business.

You can look at the labels and they will tell you what the ingredients are, which farm it came from, and even the farmer’s name.”

Mena’s legacy, and the legacy he has built for Haircut 101, resides in the personality and hardworking attitude that he has been bringing to the chair in Boone since 1989. “I always knew that John had so much potential,” said Diane Martin, realtor and longtime resident of the High Country, “I always knew that he was a keeper around here; he was always somebody that I knew we would like to have around here. He is just such a great guy. I’ve never considered myself to have what you’d call ‘good hair’, but somehow John eases the pain of that by giving you a great cut and showing you how to style it. His genuine concern for his customers and friends is one of his biggest assets along with a tremendous sense of humor. He’s a great businessperson for the Boone community because he sees the bigger picture and acts in support of that focus. He always has the community in mind; he’s like a brother to everyone.”

John is also famous for his Hairy Fairy costume that he dons every Halloween.

“The Hairy Fairy was thought up for a Halloween costume contest in 1984 and lives on every Halloween,” says John.

Dana Willet, graphic designer at Advertising Design Systems has been doing graphics and advertising design for Haircut 101 since he first opened. She still remembers the impact his personality and talents had in her life as well as others. “The first time I ever laid eyes on John Mena was when he walked into my shop in December of 1989,” said Willet, “He said, ‘woman, I need some advertising, and obviously, I also need to fix your hair!’ And at that very moment in time, I was as sure of him, as he was of himself. He did my hair and he did it well; he has been doing my hair for the past 30 years! As they say, ‘Only your hairdresser knows for sure,’ Here’s to John Mena and to many more years of Haircut 101.”

Not only do Mena’s work and the work of the hairstylists at Haircut 101 impact the town of Boone and the High Country, but also the extravagancy and beauty of the hairstyles that come out of Haircut 101 reaches from coast to coast. “In 1993, my husband and I were visiting Los Angeles. I was walking down Rodeo Drive and I saw this girl whose hair was absolutely gorgeous,” said Norma Moretz Horvitz, longtime client of John Mena and Haircut 101, “I just couldn’t help myself; I walked up to her and I said ‘your hair is gorgeous, do you go to a local person?’ she laughed and said, ‘you’re going to be really surprised, but my hairdresser is John Mena at Haircut 101 in Boone, North Carolina!’ And that’s how I met John, because my husband and I were

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–

John and his wife, Kate, were married on June 19, 2015.

building a house in Boone, and I was actually born there. I was born in Boone, and I come to find out the best hairdresser is in Boone! It was amazing.”

Mena has become one of the faces in Boone that everyone is bound to see during their stay in town. His hairdressing is not the only thing Mena is known for around the High Country; he also ran for mayor of Boone, twice, due to his growing concerns with the local community.

Mena threw his hat in the ring because he felt that nobody else in Boone was stepping up to do so; he felt that the same rhetoric is used in Boone government each year, perpetuating a cycle of politics that ultimately ends with nothing getting done in the community. “You have to have a really thick skin about politics. All I wanted to do was see the town progress in a sustainable fashion. We can do a lot to

improve our lifestyle here; the government would rather go off the mountain and use consultants to tell us what we need to do. They say they’re going to do this or that and nothing ever comes to fruition. If you look back through the notes from 1988 town council meetings, everything was about Howard Street and how unsightly and unsafe it was. It is still unsightly and unsafe; they have not done anything about it.”

Mena doesn’t see himself retiring anytime soon, and is enjoying his life running Haircut 101 and serving as one of its stylists.

Living with his wife, Kate, and two Alaskan Malamutes, Nikki and Nukka, walking to work from his abode near downtown Boone, and servicing the High Country with styling that makes clients feel like they are their best self; Mena can’t imagine leaving the business of hairstyling in the

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John attempted to enter Boone politics, running for mayor twice.

“My skin’s just not think enough for politics,” said Mena. focusing on my employees after my first location burnt down. My clients were calling me up and giving me words of encouragement and whatnot. For a while as I was building this current place, I was traveling around and doing some of my good clients’ hair. I put all the color in the back of my pickup truck and I was going up to Linville Ridge, Elk River, Grandfather Country Club, and Blowing Rock to do hair and then come back here to continue fixing the place up. Whatever it takes, that’s how business is; you have to be willing to do whatever it takes.”

Mena strives to make Haircut 101 the hotspot for hairstyling in the Boone area and has succeeded in his vision for the past 30 years with a team that provides uniquely catered beauty services to its clients and with that, a sense of pride and confidence that you cannot get from any other establishment in the region. It doesn’t matter what kind of hair you have, what you’d like to do with it, or how you think you’re going to feel afterward; Haircut 101 has you covered, and the employees will treat you with a sense of welcoming and exuberance. There is nothing the dedicated staff cannot accomplish regarding your hair, makeup, and other beauty needs; Just “Shut up and get a John poses with his son, Cory, who was 26 at haircut” at Haircut 101. t the time.

near future. “It doesn’t even feel like it’s been 30 years. It feels like it’s been a few years, but I can’t wrap my head around 30 years,” said Mena, “People ask me all the time if I grew up here and I say ‘yes, I did grow up here!’ Because before I grew up here I was not grown up. I was pretty wild and having a great time; but it’s all been great, it’s all about how you see it and how you want it to be. I’ve had bad days, you just have to pick yourself up and keep going. Sometimes you do it for yourself; sometimes you do it for other people too, and you have to focus on them. I was

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Jordan Nelson’s Business Took Off in 2013 Story by Jason Reagan • Photography by Jordan Nelson

The Valle Crucis Flood of May 6, 2013 Jordan Nelson tried out his new drone camera high above the flooding that occurred in Valle Crucis in May of 2013 and posted it to his Facebook page. The video went viral and Jordan says that is when the “lightbulb” went off for a business idea.

I

f you’ve lived in the High Country for a while, chances are you know Jordan Nelson.

You may not realize you know him – but you probably know him.

He’s “that drone guy.”

The guy with the compelling aerial flooding videos on Facebook? That’s Jordan.

The breathtaking mountain vista vid56

High Country Magazine

eos on Instagram? That’s Jordan.

The Appalachian State gameday films from on high? Yeah, the ones that make your blood pump Mountaineer black-andgold? That’s Jordan Nelson.

Since 2014, Jordan has helmed Nelson Aerial Productions (nelsonaerialpros.com) and to date his amazing drone videos have been viewed almost 10 million times and he boasts more than 36,000 Instagram fol-

October / November 2019

lowers. As of this press date, Jordan is two clients away from hitting the 200 mark.

“It was all organic,” Jordan said. “I only started by posting a few videos on Facebook and Instagram. The business all grew by word of mouth.”

Using unmanned vehicles – usually multi-rotor copter drones – mounted with the latest in video and photo technology, Jordan shoots footage for a variety of cli-

By the End of September, Nelson Aerial Productions Has Made 2737 Flights Has 198 Happy Clients 36,710 Instagram Followers and 9,921,337 Video Views ents from construction companies to Realtors.

What started as a local business has expanded nationwide. One week may see Jordan on the coast filming aftermath damage from hurricanes for safety officials while the next may see him in Florida piloting his drone in Jacksonville, Fla on a tunnel inspection gig.

In total, Nelson Aerial Productions have launched almost 2,800 flights.

But had you asked Jordan Nelson in 2013 if he’d be the biggest name in the regional drone game, he would have replied: “What’s a drone?”

Caldwell County Roots

Jordan grew up in Hudson – “just down the mountain” – and attended Guilford College as a geography major. He played football and baseball and intended to pursue a career in city planning or civil engineering.

He transferred to App State in 2011, graduated in 2012 and took a job three months later for the university’s building services department to pay the rent fresh out of school.

As with so many High Country residents, Jordan had a passion for snowboarding. By 2013, he already had a keen interest in photography but described himself mostly as an amateur iPhone buff.

As with most successful businesses, he got his start by asking, “I wonder if?”

In Jordan’s case: “I wonder how I can get capture better snowboarding video?”

App State/Miami Game Jordan captured this drone shot of the Miami game on September 17, 2016 where a record crowd of 34,658 fans filled the stadium.

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Beech Mountain

Snowboarding’s Loss Equals Jordan’s Gain

In the winter sports world, the GoPro is the Mercedes of videography equipment – from high-resolution cameras to study camera mounts for helmets and snow-

Jordan at the controls of his DJI Inspire 2 drone that weighs about 8.5 pounds.

It is capable of flying in heavy winds at much quicker speeds.

boards. A quick “GoPro” YouTube search opened Jordan’s eyes to a whole new world of videography – a view from above.

“One of the top searches turned out to be from some company called DJI,” he said – a Chinese company recognized as the largest in the world.

In 2013, videographers had started to see the marriage of drone tech and GoPro mounts as the Reese’s candy-bar combo of amazing footage.

“I thought,” ‘that’s a really cool perspective to capture my snowboarding,” he said.

At the age of 24, Jordan bought a DJI Phantom 1 and attached a GoPro camera without a gimbal (that keeps the camera/ footage stable with the ability to pan up and down). Since he could only point the aerial camera in one direction, he never got around to using captured snowboard footage.

And that fateful decision turned out to be a watershed moment that would define

Boone 4th of July Parade

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Jordan Nelson’s career – a literal watershed, in fact.

On a torrential day in 2013, Jordan decided to use his new-found gadget to capture video in the wake of heavy flooding in Valle Crucis.

He posted footage to his Facebook profile with the term “viral” never crossing his mind. Within hours the videos went there – garnering thousands of views.

“After the flooding video – seeing how many people saw it and shared it and commented on it – the lightbulb went off for [future clients], Jordan said.

“That’s when I started to get calls.”

From Hobbyist to Entrepreneur

Six years ago, the commercial drone industry had been around a handful of years.

However, most folks viewed the word as a negative – conjuring mental images of unmanned military vehicles bombing civil-

Linn Cove Viaduct

ians. The commercial industry mostly used rotor vehicles (think four rotor copters) rather than the small fixed-wing planes used in warfare.

However, as time passed, people began to see that drone technology had a nonlethal, economic future. As drones became more commonplace, Jordan saw opportunity as clients began to find him.

“It got to the point that I had clients request stuff in the middle of the week,” he said. “It was becoming more frequent. I needed to use vacation days to do the work.”

Even as Jordan continued his work at ASU, his business began to grow organically. Finally, the potential income of a full-fledged business outpaced his full-time salary and he launched Nelson Aerial Productions.

“I enjoyed the freedom of being able to go places and do different things instead of the same thing every day,” Jordan said.

“I was not yet making the same as at ASU,

but I knew if I did it full time, I could surpass my salary.”

“I decided to go out on a limb and pursue it.”

Many of his first clients hailed from the world of real estate. With such a gorgeous backdrop of mountain scenery surrounding homes for sale, Realtors could not resist the chance to wow clients with an aerial perspective of their dream home.

A colossal tipping point flew into Jordan’s vision when demolition firm D.H. Griffin Company hired Nelson Aerial to film the historic implosion of the Winkler Hall dormitory at Appalachian State in 2014.

Built in 1974, the aging 11-story building succumbed to carefully placed charges and toppled slowly while a crowd gathered. Jordan captured it all, adding to his already growing reputation as “That Drone Guy.” Since that implosive day, Jordan’s client base has gone national. Clients in-

clude Vintage & Specialty Wood, LeesMcRae College, Allen Yates Realty, UNCChapel Hill and Sotheby’s International Realty. National media outlets have also worked with Jordan to feature headlinegrabbing footage.

In 2016 Jordan made a video of himself proposing on Grandfather Mountain that ended up being shown on Good Morning America and the Today Show.

Blowing Rock Main at 221

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“Jordan does just amazing work. I think he brings a rare blend of being a great pilot and also a great editor and storyteller with his work,” WCNC Charlotte Chief Meteorologist Brad Panovich said.

“I work with a lot of great photographers and even some amateur drone pilots and we all agree Jordan does some of the best

work we have seen.”

Proposal from Above

Flying into the world of drones changed the course of Nelson’s professional path, but it’s also affected his personal life.

While on a hike with his girlfriend at McRae Peak on Grandfather Mountain in

2016, Jordan stopped at the summit and unloaded his drone a move that didn’t surprise Meghan Frye.

What happened next did.

As the drone circled the couple on autopilot, Jordan bent to one knee in front of Meghan and proposed.

“I decided to propose on top of McRae

The History Of Drones

W

ould you believe the first unmanned aerial vehicle was created almost 170 years ago?

The first stop in our drone history timeline is the very early history of drones. First, for those who don’t know, it’s important to establish that the word “drone” simply refers to any aerial vehicle that is unmanned.

That is, the pilot does not sit or stand within the vehicle itself.

By this definition, the earliest unmanned aerial vehicle in the history of drones was seen in 1839, when Austrian soldiers attacked the city of Venice with unmanned balloons filled with explosives.

The invention of winged aircraft changed everything for manned and unmanned vehicles alike.

Fortress and the SR-71 Blackbird.

It’s known that both the US and the USSR used unmanned drones to some extent to spy on each other during the Cold War, but the specifics are still classified and the leaked reports are often contradictory.

What we do know is that modern drone warfare began in earnest in 1982, when Israel coordinated the use of battlefield UAVs alongside manned aircraft to wipe out the Syrian fleet with very minimal losses. The Israeli Air Force used military drones to recon the enemy’s position, to jam communications, and to act as decoys that would prevent the loss of pilot life.

Modern History Of Military Drones

According to a Wall Street Journal report, the history of non-military drone use began in earnest in 2006. Government agencies for disaster relief, border surveillance and wildfire fighting, while corporations began using drones to inspect pipelines and spray pesticides on farms.

As unmanned aerial vehicle tech-

UAV technology improved throughout World War II (which saw a number of technological advancements as we all know) and into the Cold War as well.

But they were largely seen as unreliable and expensive novelties – nowhere near as reliable as the exciting new innovations in manned aircraft like the Flying

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Modern History Of Commercial Drones

October / November 2019

nology improved in the military sector, those same technological improvements could be used in the private sector.

However, you may be surprised to hear that recreational drone use actually only took off (pun intended) very recently, and it’s grown fast. One of the main reasons for this is that the Federal Aviation Administration had to be convinced that commercial drones were safe to allow and determine proper regulatory measures.

2006 was the first year that the FAA issued a commercial drone permit. They issued an average of two of these permits a year for the next eight years – that was all that was requested.

Then, in 2013, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos announced that the company was considering using drones as a delivery method, igniting the public’s interest in drone history. In 2015, the FAA issued 1000 drone permits, a number which more than tripled to 3100 permits in 2016 and which has continued to grow in the time since.

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61

Peak because that is actually where we went on our first date nearly three years to the day. I always took my drone with me so I knew she wouldn’t think anything of it.”

The video immediately garnered the attention of Good Morning America and the Today Show. Oh, and Meghan said “yes.”

They were married a year later.

“I had footage go viral before but not on a personal level like this. About a year later, Google actually used some of the footage for one of their national ad campaigns.”

Success is in the Air

Jordan was hired by the demolition company that did the implosion on Winkler Hall dormitory at Appalachian State in 2014. From that experience, new doors opened for Nelson Aerial Productions for their use of drone video. Pictured here is the implosion of the Georgia Dome in Atlanta.

An example of a thermal imaging picture from a drone that Jordan has used for search and rescue operations. The bright orange spot in the bottom half of the picture are two people.

The drone also has attachments for a spotlight and loud speaker.

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Looking back, Jordan realizes some measure of his success – his talent notwithstanding – was being in the right space at the right time.

“I think in every industry there’s always an opportunity for someone new to take the industry by storm,” said. “I think the amount of work, the commitment and the quality have to be much greater than when I started in 2013 just for the fact that the industry is so established now.”

The fact that the quality of drones has increased significantly, and the price has decreased also makes it harder.

Almost everyone can afford a decent drone, so it means the competition is much fiercer which makes a quick and easy success story even harder.

Nelson Aerial Productions

Today, Nelson Aerial Productions is a leader in aerial drone photography and cinematography. As they like to say, “This isn’t a hobby or part-time job, it’s a passion driven career for us.” They are a fully insured drone company and have successfully passed the Part 107 Remote Pilot exam. Their safety precautions are exercised before and after every flight.

They are still based in Boone but are traveling throughout the U.S. and parts of the world as clients keep calling for their services. “We take the perfect blend of passion and hard work that results in a professionally finished product for our clients,“ says Nelson. He adds, “As the old adage goes, “If you think it’s expensive to hire a professional, wait until you hire an amateur.”

Nelson Aerial Productions can be reached at 828-850-0603. Or visit their website at: www.nelsonaerialpros.com t

Jordan is able to land his DJI Inspire 2 Drone in his hands, which comes in handy in difficult terrain or dusty landing conditions.

Jordan’s Advice for Commercial Drone Enthusiasts

M

y advice for those getting started is to do things legally. Have fun flying and learning but before you do any sort of work for anyone (even free work can be for the betterment of a business meaning it was still a commercial drone flight). Having the proper credentials will go a long way in the success of your business and unfortunately in the drone industry far too many people don’t do that. Drones can certainly be dangerous if operated by careless people who don’t want to do things legally. Those people not only jeopardize themselves and others around them but also the industry as a whole. I don’t want to see someone careless ruin the industry and the progress it has made over the last 2-3 years.”

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October / November 2019

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Journey

through the

Green Tunnel

How a Father and Son Made their Way through the Appalachian Trail

By Colby Gable

M

ost people refer to the trail as ‘the long green tunnel’ and they mean that in a derogatory way.” But for Cecil Gurganus and his son, John, it was exactly where both of them wanted and needed to be. In 2008, after months of deliberation and questioning whether it would actually happen, the two of them completed the long historic hike across the entirety of the Appalachian Trail. Unraveling the “why” in this story, as in why would Gurganus and his son leave comforts of a normal routine and modern life to hike the Appalachian Trail, splits importance between the context of leading up to the hike with the actual journey through the trail, or “AT,” itself.

The beginning of Cecil’s life started near Atlanta, Georgia, where his interest in traditional music developed during the folk revival of the 1960’s. A decade later after college, he moved to Watauga County and since has been an active member of Watauga County’s old-time music and dance community. In addition to performing, he has built several instruments, and his home is the site for an annual old-fashioned molasses boiling.

In the 1980s, Cecil started playing music with Mary Greene, a Watauga County native, and Eric Olsen from the influential Fuzzy Mountain String Band. Through Greene and Olsen, he met Ora Watson, a fiddler and North Carolina Folk Heritage Award recipient from Watauga County with who he spent many years playing and performing with.

While his son John was growing up, the family had made day travels up a few times to Grandfather Mountain and backpacked as a family through the Grayson Highlands State Park, but that declined greatly once John and their daughter Sallie started focusing more on sports. Cecil had hiked the Smoky Mountains while still in college and part of Georgia’s sect of the AT as a boy scout, but neither he nor his son had any significant experience to fall back on when compared to going the distance on the

Appalachian Trail. Up until the hike, along with continuing to teach music through the JAM (Junior Appalachian Musicians) program, Cecil had spent his time crafting cabinets in nice contem-

Distance markers like these can be commonly seen along the length of the pathway, this one being an example from Caledonia State Park in Fayetteville PA shows the full stretch of the Appalachian Trail.

At the start of it all: June 5th, 2008 at Harper’s Ferry, West Virginia, where Cecil and John first started out on their hike to Katahdin.

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Pictured on the left, August 27th, 2008, after almost two months, John and Cecil are seen here reaching the summit at Katahdin in Maine at the end of the Northbound trip. And pictured on the right, November 15th, 2008, the two finally reaching the top of Springer Mountain, arriving on the same day as Cecil’s wife Julie’s birthday porary homes, which he attributes as being part of the draw to nature as much as anything. His work intertwining with expensive architectural excess led him to considering how much we as people really need in order to live prosperous lives. Meanwhile his son had been taking classes at the University of North Carolina Wilmington for recreational therapy, and after completing Junior year decided

to invite his dad on a “thru-hike” of the Appalachian Trail.

A year before in December of 2007, Cecil had already started taking hiking classes led by Dr. Warren Doyle of the Appalachian Trail Institute, one of the most experienced thru-hikers in the Appalachian region and had completed the journey multiple times.

The class, along with some specific literature are cited for inspiring the foundations

of the trip such as Awol on the Appalachian Trail by David Miller, a journalistic piece Miller wrote of this thru-hike along the entire 2,172 miles from Georgia to Maine.

For Cecil, the book goes beyond thinking about the experience through the eyes of a “tour guide,” and captures the sense of spirituality which Cecil was more personally drawn to before the start, and what he says was more in tune with his own walk.

The duo’s original plan was to start March of 2008 from Springer Mountain, so John could return to college for Senior year. Yet due to constraints with work, it became obvious they wouldn’t be able to leave until June 1st at the earliest.

Cecil sought advice from Doyle who’d taught his class about a Southbound trip (a hike from Katahdin in Maine to

Cecil and his father Ransom hiking in the Smoky Mountains in 1972. Continuing this exploratory tradition, the photo adjacent is Cecil next to his children, John and Sallie, on one of their numerous excursions to Grandfather Mountain.

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Pictured Above - Cecil has also been making molasses since 1978 and even grows his own cane sugar.

“We started at the suggestion of some people in Valle Crucis where she worked at the conference center, so we started growing molasses and growing cane, and have done it every year since then. The shot here i is from our house using the boiler and mill we eventually set up.” Pictured to the left, Cecil seen here working with his son, John, at his woodwork shop.

Springer Mountain in Georgia), and suggested for various reasons, including the June blackfly season in Maine, to start at Harpers Ferry, West Virginia, head north, then catch a ride back to Harpers and head south. Beginning a thru-hike near the mid-point of the at Harper’s Ferry makes for a much easier break-in period than starting at Springer or Katahdin. The flat and relatively gentle ups and downs of Maryland and Pennsylvania are perfect for getting in shape for what’s coming in

New England, and the scheduling of the trip fit perfectly.

Preparation and Equipment

One of the most frequently asked questions about the hike through the AT is what exactly one needs to traverse such distinct wilderness. Both John and Cecil carried worn 1970’s hiking packs which had been used years before, but even the inclusion of older and a lesser amount of gear than what bigger department stores

and websites might say are completely necessary, exemplifies their journey in particular. John talked about making due with decades older equipment despite some of the wear-and-tear issues that come with “outdated” materials; “I stuck it out the whole way, he (Cecil) gave up towards the end and bought an alternative pack. I did have to repair the belt three times, one of the shoulder straps broke at one point but it made it the whole way.”

The somewhat minimalist point of view

It’s not unusual for square dancing to take place where ever Cecil and his fellow musicians played music.

Cecil with Strictly Strings, a band formed around 2014 of former fiddle-playing students from the JAM program, an after-school program for children in grades 4 – 8 and beyond that introduces music through small group instruction on instruments common to the Appalachian region, such as fiddle, banjo and guitar.

He is currently an instructor for the program and has also played for square dancing and local events with the band. Members pictured left to right: Kathleen Burnett, Willow Dillon, Anissa Burnett, Caleb Coatney, and Cecil.

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Cecil pictured here on his solo hike and John on a hike they took together on Mt. Mitchell.

Both have continued to share a love for the outdoors and hiking of all kinds after their 2008 thru-hike when approaching the trail comes from a shared reverence from Cecil and John both of taking a clean break from the oversufficiency of the postmodern world they both felt a sense of strain from. Their hike in itself could be seen as reactionary from them both to the overly-consumerbased lifestyle which we as a people have become so accustomed to.

More of a result of necessity to retain minimum weight to carry, their clothes were kept rather lightly packed as well.

John’s wardrobe of sorts included “three pairs of socks, two for hiking and one for wearing at camp in order to have dry socks which was a really small comfort coming in from the cold all day. Then a

hiking shirt, two extras, lightweight pants, and board shorts. I’ve only hiked in board shorts for all my AT trips just as a personal preference, they’re breathable, they’re lightweight, dry really quickly, and they were fun; they were bright colored, and I always had to have some weird obnoxious color on me at some point.

Life on the Trail

John went over some of the specifics of how he, who was more in charge of reading the woods and their trail guide, directionally managed the AT, “I found it relatively easy to plan ahead of where I needed to be. It’s about looking for the best trail options in order to reach checkpoints and

campsites, along with designating meal times and sleep schedules parallel with the hiking.” The mornings and starting out on the Trail begin early but also relative to the conditions since “Once we got into a routine of heading out with full water and a full pack (no heavier than 35 pounds), we would wake up on a sun-dependent schedule, usually between 5:30 and 6:30 AM. We had a set plan to take down 18 miles a day and like clockwork would take breaks every two hours in-between.”

Cecil spoke about the start of the trip and some of the initial thoughts he had about factors like the surrounding elements, saying: “Weather and its uncertainty plays a major part in every thru-hike, but starting

Boardwalk over a low country swamp near Vernon, NJ.

”Mountain Do” coming across bog boards in a mountain bog in Mass.

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”Papa Smurf” crossing a footbridge in NY leading to the Appalachian Trail RR Station.

Roan Mountain

H

Tent Camping

aving a reliable camping tent was one of the most essential pieces of equipment Cecil carried not only for the apparent reason of keeping safe from weather, but the versatility it provides when sleeping on a variety of surfaces, and the option it gave him to avoid hiking shelters; “When you’re looking for a place to camp, you look for flat land, but mostly water. Shelters are usually built around water, but the tent has netting in it and comparatively that’s a significant rest away from the bugs. Even if you have to cook or pack up from the rain, you can do all that in a tent.” Pictured here are the various camping spots that Cecil used along the trail.

Typical trail camping setup Unionville, NY

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501 Shelter, Pennsylvania. A small shelter building made for hikers on the AT designed to keep insects out and included sleeping bunks where Cecil and John stopped overnight, “This was an enclosed shelter which is a rare thing, and at the time we reached it we were caught in a thunderstorm and it became an oasis for us.” They were even able to order food and had a pizza delivered Here.” in June in West Virginia guarantees no cold weather at the start, and the possibility of very little cold in the north, if the hike is completed around Sept 1st. The season was right, and we found plenty of fresh blueberries along the Trail all the way to Maine.”

The discovery of places being shared with his son was just as important as the overwhelming surrounding environment, and the interaction to new physical spaces such as the New England woods, which Cecil notes as being his favorite region along the Trail, held a singularly special quality.

“I had never been to New England, I had never been to Connecticut, Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire, or Maine. And I’d never really seen it in the woods on foot as I did then. And the

further North I got the more beautiful it became,” he added. “We have endangered hemlocks here, and when you get to Connecticut you start seeing beautiful hemlock forests that are still lush along the streams like it used to be here.”

On August 27th, they had finally arrived at Katahdin, or “the greatest mountain” in Maine, and almost a week later were ready to head back to Harper’s Ferry and travel to Springer Mountain in north Georgia.

While the first section of the excursion had been relatively mild as far as temperatures and availability of resources, the last half would prove to hold more difficulties than in the beginning. The connections they had made in first trip carried over to the second, not only with the people, but the

land, and now specifically North Carolina and of their home. Of the return Cecil has said, “Then, as we started back south, we felt we were walking home, with Julie enjoying the feeling of reconnection as we walked ever closer to North Carolina.

Hiking through Georgia, we passed all the places I had walked in the 1960’s during my backpacking infancy. Plumorchard Gap, Tray Mountain, the old Cheese Factory, and Blood Mountain were all familiar names from 45 years before when my Dad and I had carried our packs on numerous trips through these same mountains.”

Returning to where we started out after being away from it for so long is bound to impact any of us in some way or another, and for Cecil this was another one of

One of Cecil’s hiking partners from South Dakota, Nagel, reacting to them finding a sign for “trail magic,” designated spots hikers refer to on the trail where random people from the surrounding community align along the trail to hand out supplies, water, food, and other amenities people might need 70

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the main highlights, as the intertwining of memory and awe came together; “There is absolutely nothing like walking through the changes of autumn in the South. The fall season and leaf drop turned the Trail into a padded carpet with a full spectrum of colors, though hiking through heavy acorn drop in some sections was akin to walking on marbles, just like in cartoons.

We experienced bitter cold and snow south of Erwin near the end of October, but sunny and cool through the Great Smokies.

We climbed Springer Mountain on November 15th in an icy rain, joined by Julie and our daughter Sallie. The sun came out as we descended the summit, completing our second finale. And 2,175 miles of the Appalachian Trail.”

Life After their Hike

After Cecil and John had finished the walk, John had discovered a calling for the outdoors and now works in the farming community. “When John did it the first

time, he came back and finished a degree program working with incarcerated youth.

By the time we had almost finished the hike around Tennessee by the end of October, John was ready to be done, but it gave him a focus and sense of self-reliance which is why four years later he was drawn back to the trail and completed it alone.”

On the return those four years afterwards in 2012, John talks about different aspects like the desire for a “pure hike,” one which starts in Georgia and finishes in

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Bear Mountain Bridge over Hudson River

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Mt Moosilauke, NH Maine, as opposed to one beginning halfway at Harper’s Ferry. “It never really went out of my head. I think for me, I really had this strong desire to finish on Katahdin because as cliché as it is, it’s the best hike on the Appalachian Trail, and for me the best part of the Trail. I felt like for me personally there was something missing by having that (Katahdin) as our halfway point as opposed to being able to say, ‘I’m done’ on top of it.”

After the solo trek, John went back to the restaurant where he was employed during college and became the farm-to-table manager for Dockside restaurant for seven years. This year in 2019, he decided to take a job as a farm manager for a hemp production company in Wilmington, NC. John has also spoken commendingly about the effects the shared AT journey had on the dynamic between he and his father, “We were two very different people. At that point in my life I felt like we were never agreeing on much and holding different visions for what I was going to do with my life, but essentially typical issues.

This all sort of came around when I decided to take time off from college, and when I asked him about the trip he really jumped at the opportunity…In a lot of ways I feel like because of that trip we really regrew our relationship, we really came together over the trail. We’re still really different people, but the combination of our personalities ended up being a good thing and it made the trip easier.”

Years after, Cecil had continued playing music with his band of former JAM members, Strictly Strings, and working in his woodworking business, but in 2018, a second trip began to make its way into his thoughts and soon enough the planning for his own trip had started.

Eleven years after completing the walk with his son, Cecil felt a familiar sharp “call to be back in the woods,” and was ready to return to the trail as soon as possible. After a friend he’d met through his wife and thought would be his partner in the hike was forced to delay due to a family illness, Cecil had to choose whether or not to continue alone. Ultimately with gear and provisions ready to move, he decided against it, until a phone call with his son convinced him to change his mind. “Suddenly I was ready,” and in the spring of 2019 began his second trip along the AT. He started as before, in the middle, at Harper’s Ferry, West Virginia, once again at the confluence of the Potomac and Shenandoah Rivers, heading north on the path to Katahdin.

Starting out this time was vastly different. Although on this walk he was equipped with a cell phone which he didn’t have last time, and mainly used for keeping his wife Julie updated, he was without the company of his son, which apart from the additional physical toll was difficult because John had served as the two’s navigator in 2008. Julie talks about how the difference between the two hikes saying, “the

Cecil meeting fellow hikers on his solo trip. Pictured below to the far left was Cecil’s hiking partner for a majority of his solo trip to Katahdin and went by the trail name “Thoreau” for his love of Walden

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Waiting on the plane to arrive for the trip back home in his hospital shirt because it was “the cleanest available.”

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Abner, Cecil’s roommate at the hospital in Maine boys’ first trip didn’t allow for as much communication as I only heard from him (Cecil) about once a week, but on his solo trip, I heard from him almost every day at least once a day! So of course, that was a real change, and I think it kept us connected...the second time almost felt more like a vacation.” But almost 794 miles later, the addition of a tick bite, a fever of 104 degrees, and the following symptoms of Babesiosis, stopped Cecil from being able to complete the expedition to Katahdin. Stuck in Franconia, New Hampshire, he had come up short by one state.

Bed-ridden and coming seriously close to reaching his goal, Cecil never allowed the illness to stop him from sharing the experience of the hike with doctors, nurses, and even other patients in the hospital.

Cecil shared, “It was a complete journey for me, from beginning to end, just as it was, and I found another mountain to climb in the hospital in Maine, where I was in treatment. The AT is still there, Katahdin is still waiting for me to summit again, and I will.”

After all, the people who he had met and forged connections with in the hospital were as much a part of the trip as any other hiker he had passed along the way on the trail itself. His mention earlier of how “80% of the people who start out on the Appalachian Trail end up never finishing it,” exemplified how while this hike had just barely snagging him in the unable-to-finish- part of the statistics, yet for Cecil this was simply part of what made it his journey.

October / November 2019

One aspect where the allure of the walk is found comes by how thru-hiking truly does bring people together in unique and unconventional ways, and the relationships developed with those in the hospital are ones which have impacted him as much as those developed on the trail.

He credits the misfortune as a blessing in disguise, due to how close it brought he and his sister Cathy together after she travelled to New Hampshire to bring him back home and help out while he was at the hospital. All of this comes together in a way for Cecil that shows while this hike had just barely snagged him in the unable-to-finish-part of the statistics, it was simply what made it his journey.

“If it weren’t for the tick I’d probably still be hiking.” This attitude of seeing the Appalachian Trail as a true journey sepa-

The Appalachian Trail

August 13th, the first time Cecil or Julie had seen each other since he left for his solo hike and were reunited for the first time in months. rate from anything we tend to experience on a daily basis is what keeps Cecil so intent on going back to it. His mindset for this next hike is one of optimistic acceptance, saying, “I like being out in the woods with all I need on my back. It is a grind. But you get into that routine and you just do it.

If you accept it and you’re able to put up with the negative part of it, you can appreciate it. That to me, when I look back on it, I think about the stuff I liked, not what I thought was hard, and that’s part of why I want to do it again so much.” t

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Mary Helen Cole Still Blazing Trails at 100

By Sherrie Norris

J

ust days after her 100th birthday, Mary Helen Cole of Boone proudly reminded us of her kinship to the pioneer Daniel Boone who once roamed these hills. “I guess you could say that’s why I’m still blazing trails,” she said with a chuckle.

Full of life as she reached the century mark recently, having been born August 20, 1919, Cole celebrated with a large crowd of family and friends at the Family Life Center of Greenway Baptist Church, where she has served for many years — and is the senior most (charter) member.

Met with warm embraces by all who came to wish her well on that special day,

Cole quickly waved off the offers for her to sit down to rest; she chose, instead, to stand and greet her guests as they formed a line. She welcomed each one with a smile, a hug and words of gratitude for their time and attention.

“Oh, it was something else,” she later described, talking about her party and those 100-plus guests who came, some driving long distances for the celebration.

A week later, her home was still filled with flower arrangements and gifts, each holding a special place in her heart. The large box filled with cards, she said, would bring her comfort and joy for many days to come as she looked over them, time and

Mary Helen Greene and her parents, Harriett and Isaac Greene, are captured in this early photo near their home in Caldwell County.

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again. The scrapbooks and photo albums, assembled by her daughter-in-law, Judy Cole, were still displayed, allowing her the opportunity to highlight items of particular interest: her high school and college graduation programs were among those treasured mementos, as was a more recent letter from Franklin Graham, commemorating her milestone.

During our visit on a lovely late-summer morning, Cole pointed out her flowers, plants, her small corner garden that she nurtures, and the street sign bearing her name. Then, she began reminiscing about life and how good it was to reach 100 — and also about how Boone had

Mary Helen Greene poses in front of her family home in the Collettsville Community of nearby Caldwell County.

Lifetime friendships are especially meaningful to Mary Helen Cole, pictured with her friend, Rose Cook, during her milestone celebration. Photo by Sherrie Norris changed since she moved there as a young said, and reading her Bible. “I don’t know ver spoons and bells, most with a story how anybody can get through this world to tell, including her mother’s dinner bell girl with her family. once used at the family’s boarding house, Appearing much younger than a cen- without the Lord.”

Upon her walls are collections of sil- years ago. “I always loved to get it out tenarian ought to, Cole maintains a keen and ring it to call everyone in to mind and a quick wit. It’s imporeat,” she shared. tant, she said, to keep busy —in Cole has been a pillar of mind, body and spirit. Stacks of the Boone community for well puzzles, both jigsaw and crossover eight decades, after moving words, are evidence of just a couwith her family from the nearby ple of her favorite pastimes.

Caldwell County community of “I love working puzzles and I’m Collettsville, where she was born. still learning new words! If I don’t It was after the Great Depresknow what something means, I’ll sion, she recalled, when her dadlook it up in the dictionary. You are dy, a well-respected businessman, never too old to learn.” had lost everything, “including Her piano certainly doesn’t his general store,” and they trangather dust, as she proved with a sitioned up the mountain for a mini concert of sorts, her fingers better life. rolling across the ivories with The life of Mary Helen Cole was encapsulated with an “He thought if he moved us great ease and precision. “I love intriguing display during her recent birthday party at to Boone, things would be better my piano. I never had a lesson in my life, but I just picked it up Greenway Baptist Church, complete with family pictures, and we could get a college educascrapbooks and historic keepsakes, along with her tion here. That’s what he wanted from watching my daddy.” handmade quilts and other items. for his children,” Cole shared. “I She loves the old hymns, she October / November 2019

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A lovely young woman, Mary Helen Greene Cole was, at one time named first-runner up as the prettiest girl in high school and also in the Miss Boone Beauty Contest. was in the sixth grade when we moved.

My daddy didn’t realize what was happening as the Depression set in. He sold groceries and shoes, cloth, etc. My brother and sister ran the store and let people have anything they wanted on credit. My daddy couldn’t pay for it, so he was sued over it.

He was so embarrassed, and said, ‘We’ve got to get out of here.’”

She spoke of her parents with great respect, and how her father, Isaac “Ike” Green and her mother, Harriett Estes Greene, were “good, hardworking people who always did right by others.”

“My daddy was the greatest man I ever knew. He did everything. In addition to the store, he had owned a sawmill, a flour mill and a corn mill. I remember he’d give me a nickel to sweep the floor of that big old mill. Then I’d go to the store and buy me a big orange drink. Back then, women weren’t supposed to drink from a bottle.”

He was also a song leader in the Baptist Church in those early years, and Sun-

day School superintendent, his influence having a lasting effect on those who knew him best.

“I was just a little girl when I developed an interest in music, just by watching him from the front row of the church,” Cole said. “I was playing the piano by the time I

Pictured on the front row, far left, Mary Helen Greene graduated with the Boone High School Class of 1936.

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Mary Helen Cole was a beloved school teacher who retired after 30 years in the public schools.

October / November 2019

was five years old, and learned shape-note singing, too, which he taught.”

Life in Boone

The family easily settled into Boone, first living in a rented house in front of Grace Lutheran Church and joining the

A handsome couple, Mary Helen Greene and Harold Cole were married during the war, having met in Maryland and marrying just six weeks later, in 1943.

Mary Helen and Harold Cole enjoyed many happy years together before Harold died in 1997 at the age of 77.

of her junior year at ASTC, when she Baptist church nearby.

Her father eventually built his family a asked her daddy not to make her go back home in the Perkinsville area, near where to school — that she didn’t want to be a teacher. “He told me that he wanted his she lives today.

“The school buildings were pitiful children to have a chance that he didn’t when we first got here,” she said, com- have, that he had the money in the bank, pared, especially, to the nice school that and that when I finished, he would buy me a car. He said I was his only hope, since my her daddy had designed “back home.”

Before graduating from Boone High School in 1936, she was named runner-up as the prettiest girl in high school, and in the Miss Boone Beauty Contest, too. “I’ve never been first, but I cane pretty close a time or two,” she said with a smile.

She did become the first college graduate in her family, receiving her teaching certificate at Appalachian State Teacher’s College in 1940.

Just last year, she was invited to represent her class in the annual homecoming parade at App State. “As far as I know, I’m the only one left in our graduating class,” she said.

Mary Helen and Harold Cole are seen above She reflects upon the start celebrating their 48th wedding anniversary.

siblings had already dropped out.”

The very next week, she said, her daddy had a brain hemorrhage and died. “At that time, I wouldn’t have quit school for anything. I did not want to disappoint him.”

When her father died, he owned a pickup truck and a car. “I was also the only one in the family who learned to drive, so I started driving myself to school,” she said.

She later rode to college with a neighbor, whose brother drove them every morning on his way to work. “But we had to walk back in the afternoon,” she said After classes, at night and on the weekends, Cole worked in the Appalachian Soda Shop in 1938 when the Appalachian Theater opened up in the same building.

October / November 2019

Remembering the Early Days of Boone

Cole remembers those early days with clarity, including the joke about the college, its acronym ASTC often referred to as

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Mary Helen Cole was honored to be invited to participate in the 2018 Appalachian State University Homecoming parade, representing the Appalachian State Teachers College Class of 1940, and driven by Ruth Ann Teague.

At 100, Mary Helen Cole is still quite the adept pianist, rolling out those favorite old-time hymns that have always meant so much to her.

After the party was over, there was still much evidence of a fun time, including flowers, gifts and especially, her favorite indulgence — Hershey candy bars and Cokes. Photo by Sherrie Norris

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October / November 2019

“Apples, Syrup, Taters and Cabbage.”

“That’s what we had a lot of to eat in the cafeteria,” she said with a chuckle.

She recalled how “Dr. Dougherty, a bald headed, strict and old-fashioned man who never married” rarely let the students get the best of him. “But, there was that one time.”

She told of how the boys often slipped into the girls rooms at night, “three stories up,” by climbing the “rope” the girls had made from tying bedsheets together and lowering it to the ground for the boys to climb on. “Well, one night they felt a tug and began pulling it up, only to see Mr. Dougherty’s bald head coming up the wall. They quickly dropped him back down. I don’t remember the consequences, but I bet it wasn’t good.”

Coincidentally, she said, many years earlier, “Dr. Dougherty had taught school down the mountain and had my mama and daddy in the third grade. One time, he called my mama up to the board to work a problem and she needed a little help, so he sent my daddy up to help her. Nobody had any idea that at that age, 8 or 10, they would get married one day.”

Cole remembers when there were just two doctors in Boone — and no hospital.

“When my mama got pneumonia, the hospital in Lenoir sent a brown ambulance up here after her. They had to cut into her side and remove a lot of fluid off her lungs.”

She remembers Dr. J.B. Hagaman in the later years, who had an office in his home upstairs. “That’s where four of my babies were born. I don’t know how I walked up those steps — and me pregnant. He had one nurse, Mary Krider. I can remember her so good. Every time I went to her, she gave me a shot. I told her she just stood there with a needle in her hand, waiting for me.”

Cole remembers well among the town’s early mayors, “Watt Gragg, was a big man who always smoked a pipe. Another one, Gordon Winkler, a nice man.”

In those days, she said “We didn’t have many stores, but one of the first ones I remember was Smithey’s. I wish it was still there. It was a landmark.”

The Appalachian Soda Shop and the Appalachian Theatre, housed in the same building, both have a special place in her memory bank.

“I could tell them a lot about that theatre,” she said. “No one else is living that was there back then. John Yount, the son of the Lutheran pastor, was the manager and had one girl who worked regular.”

She worked in the soda shop prior to getting a teaching job, Cole said, and had been bashful and quiet. Up to that point. “The boys would come in for a fountain coke

for a nickel and they began to flirt with me. That’s where I learned to flirt. It was just one of four places in Boone where you could get a fountain drink and an ice cream cone — and the only place open at night for the college students,” she said.

“I really enjoyed making cherry cokes and all that.” She also enjoyed working at the Carolina Pharmacy.

Located between the soda shop and the next building, where the municipal parking lot is now, she said, “There used to be a big house called Greene’s Inn. Mr. Dougherty’s sister and her husband owned it and ran a boarding house there. In the basement was a little shop where you could buy records to play on your Victrola. One time, a boy asked me to go to see the Alexander’s Ragtime Band. I couldn’t get off work, and I needed the money, so he went to that music shop and got me the sheet music to play on the piano. I thought that was awfully nice of him.”

She remembers Jerry’s Barber Shop being on that lower level, too; the first beauty shop she went to was upstairs across from the Baptist Church. “That’s where I got my first permanent when I was a senior in high school.”

The Presbyterian Church and the parsonage were already in that area, too, and nearby, was the Goodnight’s home.

“Mr. Goodnight and his sons had started a big fruit and vegetable store in Boone; and to think, they now have that big ham shop out at Industrial Park.”

At one time, Cole said, “Watauga County was big cabbage country – there were hillsides full of cabbage everywhere you looked. And there was a kraut factory on the upper end of town, owned by a Miller family. They were good Christian people and our families were good friends. They would wash their cabbage and let the water run down into the creek, so it became known as Kraut Creek.”

She also remembers when the rock post office was built on King Street. “It was so pretty. And then the next building, an Esso service station. Where the police department is, there was a Texaco station.

Marvin Russell and my husband owned that together.”

She remembers well the original courthouse in Boone, and when the State Farm, for which today’s bustling road is named, was an active dairy farm.

“The college owned the farm and kept cows and used the milk for the college cafeteria.”

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Her five children and their families have brought much joy to Mary Helen Cole, pictured here together in an earlier photo, and more recently at her 100th birthday party, the latter of which was provided by Blue Jar Photography. Her children are: Doris Kerley, Mary Doris Coffey, Harold, Danny and Johnny Cole.

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bustling farm site, as well, Cole recalled. “A nice family owned a farmhouse there near where that silo still is today. Everything but the silo was torn down when the highway was built through there. I’m glad they kept the silo.”

Boone has just about got too big, now, Cole said. “I’ve seen a lot of changes – I guess I’ve seen them all and have enjoyed most of it.”

“Boone used to be so Democratic. If you weren’t a Democrat, you wouldn’t get a job. It was just that simple,” she surmised.

Remembering the ’40 Flood and Teaching School

The year 1940 is forever etched in Cole’s mind. “Not only was that the summer I graduated from college, and turned 21,” she said, “but it was when the historic flood claimed several lives and caused a lot of destruction in Watauga County.”

At that time, she recalled, Watauga County didn’t have enough schools for all the new teachers just coming out of college.

“I wasn’t hired to teach, but Mr. Yount, who owned the soda shop offered me $10

October / November 2019

a week to keep working there,” she said.

“I was honored. In those days, you could buy a hot dog for a nickel and a hamburger for a dime.”

Following the first week of school, one of Cole’s college mates, who had gotten a teaching job, came to her in tears.

“She said she just couldn’t do it, and asked me to take her place. She was real smart and would’ve been a good teacher, but she had made up her mind. She had already been to see the superintendent, Mr. Howard Walker, and recommended me as her replacement,” Cole said.

Around 9 p.m. on Sunday night, Cole remembered, Walker was knocking at her door with a teaching contract in his hand, requesting that she start to work the next morning in Foscoe. “He was so sure I would take that job. And he was right.”

“I didn’t even know where Foscoe was — or how to get there,” she said. “But he had already talked to another teacher who agreed to pick me up and take me there. Teachers made $96 a month in 1940 and that was good money.”

That was soon after the flood, she said, and the roads were in terrible shape.

“All the soil underneath the railroad tracks had washed away, leaving the tracks just hanging. You know that the Tweetsie train ran through there, don’t you? It came from Tennessee and turned around in Boone and then went back. It would go right by my school. But after the flood, it was sold to some famous movie actor, I think Gene Autry, who took it out west. The Robbins brothers in Blowing Rock eventually bought it and brought it to Blowing Rock. Their daddy used to be the mayor of Blowing Rock and they owned the Blowing Rock attraction. Their sister, Peggy, was one of my students when I moved over there to teach. She gave me a real nice bowl one time from their gift shop. I still have it and always loved it.”

Despite the damage from the flood, “which was much worse on down the mountain, and claimed several lives,” Cole said, “we still made it to school.”

Cole’s teaching career began with 17 students in the two-teacher school in Foscoe, which taught students through the seventh grade. “Two miles up the road was Grandfather Mountain and they had a school, there, too. The school bus would come along and drop me off a few children and then go on up the road.”

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the road, she recalled. “ I’d give him a nickel every day and he’d go get me a Coco-cola to drink with my lunch.”

The school was closed soon afterward, and the students were sent to Valle Crucis. That’s when she transferred to Blowing Rock School, where she taught “until Pearl Harbor changed everything.”

Keeping Time and Finding Love

Soon after the war began, she stopped teaching, and went to Maryland on a Greyhound bus with two other local girls.

She got a job as a timekeeper at the Army Proving Grounds base. “That was way before computers and I had to write everything by hand — for 150 employees.”

It proved to be a providential move, she said, as she met a dashing soldier and coworker by the name of Harold Cole.

Following a six- week courtship, the couple was married in 1943.

They remained in Maryland for three years, during which their first child, named for his father, was born.

“When little Harold was a few months old, my husband was sent to Texas,” she said. “My mother came to help me with the baby.”

In the meantime, Cole joined a drama club, which once performed for 500 people at the White House in nearby Washington, D.C. Landing the leading role in one particular play, Cole was still wearing heavy makeup when she returned home one night to find her husband had come to move his family back to Texas with him.

“He was a little surprised to see me all made up, but he knew I wasn’t out doing anything wrong,” she explained. “We packed everything up in our ’38 Chevrolet, brought my mother back to Boone and headed out to Camp Bouie.”

They were care-free, she said, even with a six-month-old baby, no money or a place to stay.

They eventually found a garage apartment, but the landlord didn’t want to rent to a family with children. “She said it was too easy to get attached, but once they saw little Harold, she took us right in.”

Thankfully, the apartment was furnished, she added. “All we had was one cooker and some silverware. Harold was just making $80 a month, and $40 of that going for the rent, so we had to be careful with our money.”

Harold was shipped out six months later, sending her and the baby back to 84

High Country Magazine

Today, Mary Helen Greene Cole looks back with fond memories of this school, which was designed by her father, one of many accomplishments for which he was known “in the good old days.”

Boone to live with her mother.

Shortly after Harold returned home, the couple learned they were expecting their second child. “Johnny was born 15 months after his brother,” Cole said.

Another little boy, Danny, came along soon afterward. “I had to wait 10 years for my little girl, Helen Delores, and three years later for Mary Doris.”

Doing “everything with a purpose,” she said, all five children were given a middle name beginning with the letter “D” — to honor her daddy. “It’s important to maintain family tradition,” she added.

There were few jobs available during that time, Cole recalled. “No industry whatsoever, and it was hard for Harold to find work, but he did whatever he could and we made out all right.”

It was a “real blessing,” she said, that her mother welcomed the family to live with her in her big house.

Cole returned to the classroom, first as a substitute — “anytime, anywhere a teacher was needed” — before going full time.

As their family grew and the economy improved, the Coles bought land and built a house.

Cole’s former student, Betty Jo Norris, came to help take care of the children — “the best baby sitter I ever had who did anything else that needed to be done,” she said.

Cole said she tried to quit teaching

October / November 2019

four times, but her resignation was never accepted.

“After a 30-year career in education, at age 56, I finished at Elkland School at Todd,” she said. “The next week, Harold and I went to Florida and stayed for 15 winters. We came home for Christmas, but stayed there at least five months each year.”

Those were glorious years, she said, “We didn’t have a care in the world.”

Harold later developed emphysema, which was attributed to his smoking and the lead paint he used in painting houses.

He also hung wallpaper.

“When he became disabled, we came home to stay,” she said. “I took good care of him as his condition deteriorated, over a three-year period. When you love somebody — and they are good to you — you will do everything you can for them.”

On his deathbed, Cole said, Harold told their pastor, Harold Bennett, how good she had been to him and how proud he was of their children.

“He was such a good man; he died in 1997 at age 77,” she said.

Cole has many fond memories of their time together, including that of a crosscountry trip on Amtrak and two trips to the Bahamas.

Cole has always been involved in church functions, especially anything music related. “But I’ve always done everything they’ve asked me to do,” she said.

“I’m the oldest person still left there. Ev-

eryone else has either gone to a nursing home or died.”

She said she especially enjoys time with her family. “We all get together on holidays and in August when we celebrate eight of our birthdays,” she said.

“I’ve got five of the most wonderful children in the world and they have blessed me with seven grandchildren, 11 great-grandchildren (one on the way!) and five great-great-grandchildren,” she said.

Cole loves to cook and wash dishes.

“My dishes — not anybody else’s.”

Her favorite snacks? “Hershey bars, and yes, I still love my Cokes. Everybody knows that —and I got some for my birthday! A little something sweet won’t hurt you, if you don’t overdo it.”

Earlier in life, she had little time for hobbies, but learned to quilt and make knotted bedspreads during those winters in Florida. She also learned to embroider, and is known for the initialed pillowcase sets she often gives as gifts.

She still drove until recently. “But I’m keeping my car,” she said. “There’s nothing wrong with it. In fact, we just got it tuned up.”

One thing she hasn’t given up — “and won’t as long as I can go” — is the week-

ly appointment with her hairdresser. “A woman needs to look good as long as she can,” Cole said.

She attributes strong family genes and good, clean living to her longevity.

“One of my sisters lived to be 103,” she said. “I hope to live that long, at least, if I feel as good as I do now. Dr. Mark Harter does a good job at keeping me well. He’s been so good to me.”

Cole said, “I’m as happy as I can be.

I enjoy life — there’s so much to enjoy if you just see it. The only trouble with that is, so many people don’t try to see the good. They don’t want to. I want to stay busy, I think that’s what helps keep me young.”

She doesn’t waste time on taking naps during the day. “That’s just an excuse to get out of doing something.”

And, what about politics? “I don’t care a thing about politics. None of my family has ever been involved in it — and I’m glad for that.” She added, “I will say that our current president has done more for our country than a lot of others have, but somebody’s always out to make him look bad. None of us are perfect. That’s all I have to say about that.”

She still wears the golden wedding

CHILDREN’S

Cute-tique!

band on her ring finger. “That ring meant something to me then, and it still does.”

“Long after Harold’s death,” she said, she tried dating one time, but admitted “It didn’t amount to anything.”

“Harold had been sick and bedfast for years, and I got to thinking it might be nice to have companionship. So, I agreed to start seeing this one man who began calling me. His wife had died, too, and he was lonesome — but I soon discovered I’d just as soon be by myself. I’ve got my family close by and they check on my every day. I can still do everything I need to do for myself, practically, and see no reason to get bogged down with someone who has more problems that I do!”

That’s Mary Helen Cole’s story in a nutshell. A delightful lady who can teach us all a thing or two about life. She is full of wit and wisdom, and even when a thought doesn’t develop as readily as she thinks it should, she’s quick to say. “I must be having a senior moment. It will come to me, eventually.” And, it always does.

(As this magazine was in production, Mary Helen Cole and members of her family were enjoying a week at the beach.

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Parting Shot...

A C

D

B

Stadium Parking Lot Transitioning Into Student Housing

T

he Stadium Drive landscape on Appalachian State’s campus continues to go through some immense changes. If you remember how things looked even just a couple of years ago, you’d remember the old Owens Fieldhouse that stood for 45 years, the sprawling Stadium Lot full of cars and tailgaters on Saturdays for game days at Kidd Brewer Stadium, and even the open field above the duck pond with students lounging around or tossing a football back and forth.

Now, thanks to a brand new parking deck, the $45 million Kidd Brewer North End Zone project and the $191 million student housing project, things look so different on top of the hill.

The Stadium Lot Parking Deck has enough space for all the cars that fit in the old Stadium Lot plus some, totaling 477 parking spaces.

“The opening of this facility is another tremendous milestone as we build infrastructure that supports and elevates Appalachian’s educational mission,” said Appalachian Chancellor Sheri Everts at a special dedication ceremony for the parking deck held in August.

“More available parking spaces on campus also help better distribute the overall parking needs throughout Appalachian and the town of Boone,” said Associate Vice Chancellor for Campus Services John Eckman at the same event.

When all of the ongoing projects on Stadium Drive are completed (expected to be done by fall of 2022), the area is sure to display one of the finest student housing villages of any college or university in the state with an additional 2,200 beds available for incoming students.

–Nathan Ham 88

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October / November 2019

A

Stadium Lot Parking Deck – Opened on August 14 and had parking for 477 cars. Deck has 10 emergency call stations, 52 security cameras and LED lighting.

B

Kidd Brewer Stadium North End Zone – The $45 million project will provide 88,000 square feet of space for athletic and academic uses. The facility replaces the 45-year-old Owens Fieldhouse and is scheduled to be completed by the fall of 2020.

C Building 100 and Building 200 (the housing projects currently underway) is expected to be completed by the fall of 2020 and add 900 beds.

D Building 300 and Building 400 will add an additional 1,200 to 1,300 beds for a total of 2,100 to 2,200 beds that will complete the $191 million student housing project by the fall of 2022.

Southern Charm in the High Country

HOME ·

215 Boone Heights Dr., Boone ·

GARDEN ·

bbandminteriors@gmail.com ·

GIFTS

www.thebeeandtheboxwood.com · October / November 2019

828.386.6212

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