Life In Our Foothills February 2016

LIFE IN OUR FOOTHILLS

February 2016

Power to the People

Livin’ Small Tiny house movement reaches the Foothills

Sweet on You February 2016

Valentine’s Day sweets locally made

Terry Schager leads the charge

The Lure of

Canvas and Clay at Tryon Painters and Sculptors

Live the life you choose

Live...

True maintenance-free living on our beautifully manicured 50-acre campus

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in the heart of Hendersonville.

Editor’s note

B

arbara Childs, author of the Dudley column at the end of each issue of Life in Our Foothills, came in the Bulletin office a couple months ago, with a bowl of homemade dark chocolate mousse.

With a twinkle in her eye, she handed it to me and said, “Taste it, let me know what you think.”

Never one to turn down random gifts from columnists, I took a spoonful. And another, and another … to the point where I, like any foodie, was savoring each smooth molecule while at the same time mentally diagnosing a list of ingredients.

She read my mind. “You’ll never guess the secret ingredient,” she challenged.

It was dark, chocolaty, creamy, it was perfection on a spoon. I swooned. I proffered several ideas; she shook her head at each. I took more spoonfuls. This was a tough assignment.

I looked at her, finally, quizzically, and

in defeat.

“Avocado,” she answered, matter of factly. I stopped mid-swallow. “It’s not for the taste or color, it’s for the texture,” she added.

And just like that, Barbara taught me a wonderful lesson about life.

Sometimes if we tune out one sense, we can more heighten another. Sometimes the ingredients of life are unexpected, unusual and you wouldn’t think of putting them together, but in the end produce something wonderful. Sometimes it helps to open our eyes, but sometimes we see better when we close them.

Barbara loved the equine goings-on in these Foothills, and she loved sharing the news through the voices of Dudley and Madeline, two friendly, adventuresome donkeys on a farm, in her monthly column. Sadly, Barbara passed away Jan. 8, but luckily for us, and to honor the voice behind the mischievous donkeys, Judy

Heinrich was able to sit with Barbara in her last days to write her story, which you’ll find on page 38. She led a remarkable life, centered around animals from a very young age.

Barbara left me the recipe to her chocolate avocado mousse but I inherited so much more. I’ll make it for my children on Valentine’s Day and see if they can guess the “secret.”

Claire Sachse, Managing Editor

claire.sachse@tryondailybulletin.com

on the cover PUBLISHER

Betty Ramsey

EDITORIAL

Claire Sachse

CONTRIBUTORS

Gillian Drummond Kirk Gollwitzer Judy Heinrich Carol Lynn Jackson Linda List Michael O’Hearn Mark Schmerling Marsha Van Hecke Vincent Verrecchio Jennifer Wilson Steve Wong

MARKETING Kevin Powell Magan Etheridge PRODUCTION Jamie Dawkins Layken Gibbs Robyn Holm Keith McCoy Amanda Porter ADMINISTRATION Ashley Brewington DISTRIBUTION Jeff Allison Austin Kempton Evan Plumley Austin Hylemon

Terry Schager with Hogback Mountain in the distance.

Photo by Mark Schmerling

Life in Our Foothills is published monthly by Tryon Newsmedia, LLC. Life in Our Foothills is a registered trademark. All contents herein are the sole property of Tryon Newsmedia Inc. [the Publisher]. No part of this periodical may be reproduced without written permission from the Publisher.

Please address all correspondence (including, but not limited to, letters, story ideas and requests to reprint materials) to: Editor, Life in our Foothills, 16 N. Trade Street, Tryon, N.C. 28782, or email to claire.sachse@tryondailybulletin.com.

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Life in Our Foothills is available free of charge at locations throughout Polk County and upstate South Carolina. Please visit lifeinourfoothills.com for a list of those locations. Subscriptions are available at a rate of $35 for one year by emailing subscribe@lifeinourfoothills.com or by calling 828-859-9151. ext. 101.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS COLUMNS

12 Country Living 29 In Good Taste 30 Much Ado

SHORT STORIES

14 Hospice honors longtime volunteer Joe Phayer

FOOTHILLS FEATURED 8 St. Luke’s Donor Holiday Celebration 10 Tryon Midnight

FEATURES

16 The Tiny House Movement 22 Power to the People 32 The Lure of the Canvas and Clay 4 Febr uar y 2016

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APPOINTMENTS

38 A Life Well Lived 44 Marydell Breeds Success

PARTING GLANCE 49 Approaching Storm

CLASSIFIEDS

51 February Marketplace Feb r u ar y 2 0 1 6

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CALENDAR OF EVENTS PCMS students present “The Diary of Anne Frank”

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 7 P.M. Tryon Fine Arts Center Film Series presents “Sleuth” Tryon Fine Arts Center tryonarts.org

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TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 6 P.M. Doug Elliott Pacolet Conservancy & Landrum Library present “Groundhogology – of Whistlepigs and World Politics” featuring Doug Elliott Landrum Library pacolet.org

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 8 P.M. A Night In Old New Orleans Main Stage Tryon Fine Arts Center tryonarts.org

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 5-7 P.M. Kiwanis Chili Dinner Holy Cross Episcopal Church Tryon, N.C.

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 6 P.M. Chase Away The Blues Main Stage Tryon Fine Arts Center tryonarts.org

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 5:30 P.M. Lanier Library Thirsty for Learning Thursday James E. McTeer II lanierlib.org THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 7 P.M. “The Diary of Anne Frank” Polk County Middle School 321 Wolverine Trail 828-894-2215 THROUGH FEBRUARY 13 Have A Heart Hearts created by local artists and donated for auction to benefit Big Brothers, Big Sisters of Polk County.

Closing Reception, Feb. 13 at 4 p.m.

Upstairs Artspace, Tryon upstairsartspace.org

Stolen Hearts to perform at Chase Away the Blues

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 13, 7 P.M. Dr. Charles Tomplins, Organist in Concert Holy Cross Episcopal Church Tryon, N.C. TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 12 P.M. Brown Bag Lunch with Ronnie Mosseller Lanier Library, Tryon lanierlib.org THROUGH FEBRUARY 19 Tryon Arts and Crafts Winter Session 1 Continues tryonartsandcrafts.org

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 3 P.M. Music In Landrum presents the Parrini Trio Landrum Presbyterian Church musicinlandrum.org THROUGH MARCH 4 “Chock” by Andrew Hayes Andrew Hayes: Book Art The work of Andrew Hayes, artist in residence at Penland School of Crafts.

Upstairs Artspace, Tryon upstairsartspace.org THROUGH MARCH 4 “Untitled” by Ayako Abe-Miller On the tip of their brush: Text in the artists’ work Upstairs Artspace, Tryon upstairsartspace.org

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St. Luke’s Donor Holiday Celebration

Photos submitted by Jennifer Wilson St. Luke’s Hospital Foundation held their annual Donor Holiday Celebration Friday, Nov. 20 from 6-8 p.m. at LaurelHurst. Everyone enjoyed the delicious hors d’oeuvres provided by Pat Strother and dancing to music by Minor Adjustment.

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1. David and Gail Cornelius 2. Linda and Andy Haynes 3. Tom and Sherry Dashiell 4. Linda Haynes, Caroline Brown, Sherry Dashiell, Jean Shumway 5. Austin and Caroline Chapman 6. Elizabeth Presnell and Cathy Moore 7. Belynda and Fred Veser 8. Linda and Chris Greensfelder 9. Dr. and Mrs. Ben Woodward 10. Arlene and Walter Kolker

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12 11. Digit and Beth Laughridge 12. Denise and Don Hofman 13. Jay and Lori Geddings 14. Don and Phylis Eifert 15. Mr. and Mrs. Bob Reeves 16. Sandra McCormack and Clark Benson 17. Roger and Joanie Newman 18. Meshelle Colvin and Mike Dickenson 19. Mary Sasser and Ron Wingo 20. Petra and Ed Harrelson

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Tryon Midnight a benefit for

Tryon Fine Arts Center

Photos submitted by Kirk Gollwitzer

It was midnight somewhere, and 9 p.m. in Tryon (close enough!), when Dean Trakas and Andy Millard led revelers in welcoming the New Year in Tryon with the ceremonial ball drop, street party and fireworks.

1. Myles Menetre 2. Stacey Thompson Roper 3. Scott and Gayle Lane 4. Meg Rogers 5. Andy Millard 6. Sherry Eades, Sam Eades and Jenna Eades 7. Robin and Paul Pullen 8. Richard and Holly McKee 9. Shaun Mobley, Sherry Eades, Beau Menetre and Ashley Menetre

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5th annual

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Stolen Hearts Band Chuck Beattie Band

Plus … Jim Peterman Band, Brandon Turner & Freddie Vanderford, Riyen Roots & Kenny Dore

Sat, February 20 Non-stop music — 6-11 pm $30 General Admission, $80 Patron Lounge

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… Emcee Christy Henderson, WSPA Channel 7

media sponsors

34 Melrose Ave, Tryon, NC 828-859-8322 online ticket sales www.tryonarts.org 10 Febr uar y 201 6

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Brunson’s & Furniture Center

Patio Shoppe

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country

LI V I N G

Modern Classics

Written by GILLIAN DRUMMOND Photo submitted by WILLIAMS-SONOMA

T

he new Williams-Sonoma home catalogue arrived in the mail the other day, and I am really excited about their approach to modern classic design.

It starts with, “The luxe cool of 1970s glamour steps into the new century, grounded by hand knotted wool and warmed by sunny yellow.” The collection incorporates well designed upholstery pieces available in three sizes and 80 custom fabrics, leather and stainless steel Bauhaus type modern chairs, clear acrylic and polished nickel tables and lighting which infuse the look with modern sparkle. The rugs are all wool in grays, browns, blue, sandstone and ivory with subtle patterning or plush sheared textures.

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The pillow collection has bright sunny yellows and grays in plush textures, feathery fur, woven leather and quilted suede as well as embroideries and appliquéd velvet. Put all together it is a classically modern approach to design.

In the kitchen they are featuring a very stylish modular kitchen island with a polished carrara marble top and a polished nickel base which has two drawers in it. It would also make a very handsome bar with a piece of Plexiglas placed over the middle shelf that is made of nickel bars.

Also for the modern kitchen or small dining area is a round table with a nickel plated base and a tempered glass top. This is paired with leather chairs with plated nickel bases, very Art Deco and

chic.

The bedroom has a marvelous hand crafted mahogany canopy bed that is very clean and classic. The headboard is upholstered in linen or flannel. It is shown with an Oushak rug in a soft blue/green reminiscent of the ocean.

The next new collection is entitled New Colonial and combines European tradition with American craftsmanship; it is a look that is worldly and warm. The upholstered pieces are classic English with tight backs, plush seat cushions, a classic rolled arm and are shown in deep indigo velvet with dark stained turned legs. This is paired with handcrafted rattan chairs, a blue and white Ikat rug and a contemporary cocktail table in faux shagreen finish (untanned leather covered with small round granulations to resemble sharkskin) over poplar wood with a gold-leafed iron base. This, along with brass trimmed lighting, brings a warm, golden glow of understated luxury. The Regency side chair has a winged back rest with gently tapered legs reminiscent of the 19th century originals and is covered in distressed Italian leather with nail head trim. Then you add the luster of blue and white ginger jars, lots of flowers and plants and you have a comfortable

worldly, eclectic look.

They also make two wonderful rustic dining tables that still have an elegance and sophistication to them. First the Belgian table in rustic ash with a square legged supportive base, and second, the Navarro table crafted of solid ash supported

by X–shaped metal legs. Clean lines and natural materials give you a rustic modern look that feels polished yet warm and welcoming.

The porcelain lighting collection is beautifully designed with gorgeous colors with either clear acrylic or brass metal bases. They are all classic lamp shapes with a clean crisp feel to them. These lamps are a great investment that will never go out of style and will add a note of wonderful color to any room.

Thank you to Williams-Sonoma Home for bringing together such agreat collection of modern classics designed with great style and made with true quality.

Gillian Drummond has her design studio, Drummond House, in Tryon, N.C. Visit www. drummondhouseco.com to view her portfolio and design philosophy. Contact Gillian at info@drummondhouseco.com or 828-859-9895.

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SPINDALE, NC

RIGHT ON BAND

Saturday, February 13, 2016 @ 8PM VALENTINE’S WEEKEND FUNDRAISER

Concerts oncerts | Theater | Venue Rentals

2016 WINTER SEASON

70’s 10-piece Disco Show Band includes Dancing, Dessert, & Beverages

Moscow Festival Ballet’s

“ Sleeping Beauty”

Monday, March 7, 2016 @ 7:30PM Full-length classic ballet in three acts

MAJOR FUNDING BY THE STONECUTTER FOUNDATION, INC

TICKETS/INFO: 828.286.9990

OR FoundationShows.org 14 Febr uar y 201 6

Lovely, kind and gentle, a consummate volunteer Joe Phayer devotes 25 years to Hospice of the Carolina Foothills before his passing Written by MARSHA VAN HECKE Photos SUBMITTED

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n October 31, 2015 this community lost a wonderful man, and I lost a wonderful friend,” said Ron Smith, longtime board member and former board chair for Hospice of the Carolina Foothills.

Smith and Phayer were the dynamic duo, who, working together for more than two decades, spearheaded three building projects for HOCF. “We were a team,” continued Smith. “He did his thing”—the design and build—“and I did mine”—raising the money.

Joe Phayer was the project manager for the Columbus Hospice Center that opened in 2001, the addition of the Founders Wing in 2006, and the hospice inpatient unit in Landrum—The Smith Phayer Hospice House—in 2009.

According to Joe’s wife Bertie, his experience as a senior engineer with ExxonMobil, which assigned him to manage projects all over the world, made his second career with Hospice of the Carolina Foothills a perfect fit.

“Joe had never volunteered anywhere until we moved to Tryon in 1986, and he quickly found a home at hospice.

He loved the mission, the people and just everything about it,” said Bertie.

Joe was named to the board of directors in 1988 and two years later took volunteer training during Jean Eckert’s first year as executive director. “Joe and hospice go back a long way,” said Jean Eckert, who continues to steer the helm at HOCF. “He was in the first volunteer training class that I taught as the executive director in 1990. Through the years, he served as treasurer and vice chairman of the board and on many executive committees. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. He was the research manager for our first database and helped set up our first computer system. He even taught staff members to use the computer.”

“But most significant to Joe,” Eckert continued, “was his service as a patient companion volunteer. He told me once that he was a bit priggish as a young man and that helping hospice care for others at this time in their lives was his chance to make up for that.”

“For instance,” said Eckert, “back in the 1990s, when AIDS made some people nervous, he asked that he be assigned to all patients with AIDS. He was quite a blessing to those families and got to know the hospice nurses and other staff quite well during those years.”

Joe could be found at various unlikely places for a city guy: at the Waffle House with patients who loved to be taken to their favorite local diner where you could visit friends and still smoke; in the tomato fields, gathering a bushel basket of tomatoes for his patient’s wife to can; climbing trees to pick apples; at a fishing pond or on a golf course. These were places where his patients and their families wanted to go, and for Joe, it was all about them.

At some point, Jean learned that every night, Joe prayed for every hospice patient he was privileged to help care for, calling each of them by name.

In the words of patients and families, Joe was: “the consummate volunteer . . . a lovely, kind, and gentle man;” “Very insightful;” “Outstanding volunteer who is particularly good at bereavement;” “An exceptional human being.”

Joe was able to increase the impact of his service through ExxonMobil Foundation’s Volunteer Involvement Program (VIP). The VIP encourages employees and retirees to volunteer with non-profit organizations by making contributions on their behalf. Over the years, the VIP contributed $17,575 to Hospice of the Carolina

Foothills on behalf of Joe Phayer’s volunteer hours.

His final volunteer job for HOCF was as a greeter at the Hospice House on Monday mornings. On his final morning there before his death (which was about ten days later), Bertie recalled his comment as they drove up to the house.

He said, “You know, this really is a handsome building.”

And thanks to Joe, this handsome building, a home away from home for people in our area, has benefitted more than 1,078 patients and their families in the five plus years since it opened.

Although he was never helped by the hospice he loved and served for over a quarter of a century, he—with Bertie ever by his side— received visits from many of his hospice friends during the days just prior to his death.

Joseph Phayer can no longer be found managing building projects in the community, escorting hospice patients to the Waffle House, greeting visitors at the Hospice House or dropping by the Columbus office to search for cookies in the kitchen and chat with his many friends there. But countless, nameless people are incredibly grateful that Joe Phayer found a home at Hospice of the Carolina Foothills. His contributions and presence will live on as long as our hospice work continues.

ABOVE: With blueprints in hand, Joe Phayer, seen on the Smith Phayer Hospice House construction site in Landrum in 2009, was a tireless advocate for, and champion of, the patients and mission of Hospice of the Carolina Foothills. (Photo

by Chuck Hearon)

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Tryon Fine Arts Center presents

Eugene O’Neill’s Award Winning Classic

A MOON fOr thE MisbEgOttEN Friday, March 4 8 pm Tickets: $35*

Performed by America’s Oldest Theater Company — Philadelphia’s Walnut Street Theater’s 207th Season MAiN stAgE •A Moon for the Misbegotten, Friday, March 4 • Franc D’Ambrosio’s Broadway, Saturday April 23 season sponsor

event sponsor

34 Melrose Ave, Tryon 828-859-8322 tryonarts.org * price includes 6.75% nc admissions tax and vendini ticketing fee.

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CLOCKWISE FROM TOP: Small and cozy would describe the living area of one of the cabins built by Green River. Cabins are delivered by truck on a custom steel framed trailer and set on site.

A Place For Everything, Everything In Its Place The tiny house movement reaches the Foothills Written by LINDA LIST Photos by MARK SCHMERLING and SUBMITTED

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Old Tryon County Realty Team

Equestrian

Acreage

Mountain Homes Investment

Daryl Hardin Broker/Realtor

828.817.4650 wdhardin@windtream.net

Kim Karaman Broker/Realtor

828.817.2965 kimkaraman@gmail.com

Linda Tinkler Broker/Realtor

828.308.7075 lindatinkler@charter.net

Showing ALL properties. Selling as a TEAM.

OldTryonCounty.com

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EQUAL HOUSING OPPORTUNIT Y

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iny houses are popping up in architectural magazines, on television shows, and newspaper stories about families choosing to downsize. If you’re single and living alone, or a couple ready to shed possessions, 500 square feet might be the right fit for you.

Green River Log Cabins, located right here in our foothills in Campobello, S.C., is the premier place to go and find your tiny dream home.

Green River Log Cabins has been building small, custom homes for 20 years. They began with the RV and campground market. Over the years the demand for their custom cabins has expanded. Ten to twelve pre-sold cabins are built on location each month, with a three-month backlog. The cabins are shipped all over the country, some as far away as Colorado and New Mexico.

Green River Log Cabins provides suggested floor plans.

RV Park style cabins range from 324-400 square feet and come fully equipped with full size appliances and washer/ dryers. The modular cabins range from 400-2,400 square feet. All plans can be customized to fit each customer’s own needs.

The uses are varied. Campgrounds remain a big part of the business. However, the second home market has been expanding. As a result of the recession, people began to realize they didn’t need a large second home. A small cabin in the woods with the proper amenities and lower budget can easily fill their get-away requirements. The log cabins can make a perfect “mother-in-law cottage” adjacent to a main home or a separate home for those “come back kids.”

Recently a father and son looking for a vacation retreat decided on two cabins with a breezeway and porch connecting them. One cabin features a full kitchen including an island with a stove. The second cabin replaces the kitchen area with a complete bar, including a wine cooler.

Another cabin was built for a daughter whose elderly father was blind. She wanted him to be able to live close by, but still have his own living quarters. She had a cabin designed without any interior walls so he was able to walk throughout the home with no impediments.

Some companies have ordered cabins to serve as living quarters for employees. Others have been designed as guesthouses and hunting cabins. With Airbnb (airbnb. com) emerging in the tourist industry, Green River is finding a niche with customers looking for an affordable way to get into this market. A design that allows a one-bedroom cabin to easily offer more sleeping space includes the installation of a Murphy bed in the living area. Folded up when not needed, it quickly is pulled from the wall, ready for extra guests.

Units can offer electric, gas, or wood burning fireplaces, creating a cozy atmosphere in the cabin. Some standard features include a full size bath, kitchen appliances, Andersen windows and screens, a 45-year metal roof, pine wood interiors and hickory hardwood flooring. Some popular

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP: Used as accommodations at a wedding venue, Green River’s customizable and multi-use cabins take on a storybook, chalet in the mountains look. Inside the factory visible from I-26, two cabins can be seen in varying stages of completion. In addition to learning the cabin construction industry from the ground up, Green River’s owner, Dean Garritson, is constantly thinking of ways to improve processes and adjust finished products to meet the climate demands of a home’s ultimate destination.

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options offered are sleeping lofts, quartz or granite countertops, full size Whirlpool washer/ dryers, ceiling fans, plus decks built on site. Every cabin reflects the customer’s unique needs and wishes.

“Communication is the key and customers are treated like family to assure that all stages of the construction go as planned,” says Wayne Gosnell, plant manager. “They can actually watch cabin cams showing their homes as they’re being built.”

Sales manager Todd Garland works with customers to design the cabins to their specifications.

“Because there are so many options, no two are alike,” he explains. “And all must meet building codes and restrictions. Some people find us on the Internet and everything is actually done over the phone. Many customers discover us just by driving down Highway 26. It’s never dull here,” he adds. “Meeting different people and listening to their ideas is interesting and a challenge. One woman wanted several cabins, all with a Swiss Chalet exterior. She has a wedding business and some of the cabins are for guests and some for the wedding itself. An20 Febr uar y 201 6

other customer owns a spa resort. She needed cabins just for bedrooms, no kitchens or other amenities.”

Todd uses large windows to capture views and give rooms an open feel. Curtain rods are featured on all the windows, ready for the owner’s window treatments. Pocket doors save space. Drawers and cabinets are built in for storage, a place for everything and everything in its place.

Dean and Julie Garritson are the owners of Green River Log Cabins. In 2006 Dean was a very busy man, involved with several different manufacturing companies. Every week found him on airplanes headed to different locations and different problems. When he and Julie decided to start a family, he knew it was time to settle down. He found Green River Log Cabins and decided it was the perfect opportunity for him.

“The first couple of years I spent learning the business from the ground up,” he tells me.

“Now I do a lot of research solving problems.

For example, something you might not think about is how different environments in different parts of the country affect the wood.

ABOVE: Todd Garland demonstrates how the cabin’s spacesaving and stylish Murphy bed operates. RIGHT: Cabin interior.

Colorado and New Mexico have very dry climates and over time the wood can shrink. I discovered a special latex to use that molds to the wood, to fill in any spaces. We’re working on some cabins for a plantation in Charleston where the humidity is very high. I noticed buildings there with mold growing on the exterior. So we’ll be using a stain on these buildings that is mold resistant.”

Green River Log Cabins ships each home on a custom steel framed trailer and sets the home on site. This narrow, simple shipping technique is a key advantage, allowing delivery to many more sites than traditional modular homes, and to have wider, more open spaces with higher ceilings. When it’s an off-frame modular, a crane is required to install the home onto the foundation.

If a tiny house fits your lifestyle and you see the possibility of one in your future, visit Green River’s website, www.greenriverlogcabins. com. Todd Garland can be reached at 864457-2444, or follow Exit 5 on Interstate 26 and stop by for a visit. HGTV “Tiny Houses” featured Green River in January. Watch for repeat episodes.

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POWER TO THE PEOPLE

Terry Schager to receive Upstate Forever award Written and photographed by MICHAEL O’HEARN

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hen a small person or singular voice faces a large challenge or foe, we know this as a David versus Goliath moment.

Terry Schager, a retired projects manager, may have felt daunted by the challenge before him last summer when Duke Energy announced a massive 230-kV 45-mile transmission line project from Campobello, S.C. to Asheville, N.C. that would forever mar the mountain vistas the Foothills are known for.

But instead, he became a key leader who rallied thousands from our Foothills area against the corporate Goliath. For his efforts, Schager will be recognized with Upstate Forever’s 2015 Volunteer of the Year award. The awards luncheon will take place at the Embassy 22 Febr uar y 201 6

Suites in Greenville, S.C. on Feb. 23 at 11:30 a.m.

DISTURBING LETTERS “I grew up in northwestern Pennsylvania,” said Schager, “and we had a lot of oil there that was being pumped in the 60s and 70s, and hydro-fracturing was going on. The company had no idea where the oil was or if the ground had ever been drilled. Then all of a sudden people’s water, which was from a well and was sweet water, would either stop running or the faucet would be turned on and this brown, black gook would come out.”

No one could do anything about that, according to Schager, because the fracking company owned the service rights to the land.

So, when his Gowensville neighbor, Cyn-

ABOVE: Gowensville resident Terry Schager will be recognized Feb. 23 by Upstate Forever for rallying environmental groups and more than 9,000 Foothills residents against Duke Energy’s proposed 45-mile transmission line project.

thia Barziloski, received a letter from Duke last June saying Duke’s transmission lines could possibly go over the house they were getting ready to build, her horse barn and pastures, the memories from Pennsylvania came flooding back, Schager said.

“It got me really, really ticked off. That was how I got involved.”

Barziloski called neighbors, asking them if they had received a letter. “Some of them that should have didn’t, and speculation went on with Terry for about two weeks before they [Duke] actually had a meeting about it,” said Barziloski.

In her words, Duke’s first public information meeting was “pure chaos.”

“They had maps and computers with proposed lines drawn on GPS, cell phone maps,” Barziloski recalled.

“There was no person speaking. People were wandering around and little bits of literature were passed out. Finally, I got in line with a computer and a gal working the computer system and they called up my piece of property and, you know, I have 11 acres and the line just went diagonally right through it.”

PUTTING TWO AND TWO TOGETHER At the time of this discovery by Barziloski, the Foothills Preservation Alliance was formed. Madelon Wallace of Walker, Wallace & Emerson Realty in Landrum is one of the founding members of the alliance.

“Terry really got this area, you know Polk County, Spartanburg County and Greenville County, our Chamber of Commerce area,” Wallace said. “He tied it in with the guys from MountainTrue and the Carolina Coalition and they had some technical experts and they worked on the technical aspects. They said this is a want, not need, for Duke Power and what they wanted to do was not necessarily what they needed to do.”

Wallace said she touched base with Schager in the beginning because she had neighbors who had received letters.

“My secretary drew a line on the map of where we were and, all of a sudden, we started putting two and two together,” Wallace said. “Terry had never gotten a letter and we started talking to people we knew in Polk County who had, and in four days we arranged a meeting for anyone who was concerned. That was when the Foothills Preservation Alliance was born and the Facebook page.”

Through this Facebook page more people were found who had received letters.

BUILDING ALLIANCES Schager recollected his campaign over the summer, starting with the connections he made with various enFeb r u ar y 2 0 1 6

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vironmental groups around Gowensville and further up into North Carolina.

“I kind of rallied the folks down here from Gowensville and got everybody involved in the Gowensville Equestrian Nature Trails system, and just really started communicating with all of these folks on what we needed to do to get this campaign going and to make a lot of noise about how we weren’t going to be allowing this to happen,” Schager said.

“After that, I reached out to MountainTrue in Hendersonville to build an alliance with Upstate Forever and started organizing a message distribution process for the environmental groups that were fighting this thing,” Schager explained. “That started with telling people we needed a common message in what we were going to be doing to fight this thing.”

Mark Stierwalt is the southern regional director at MountainTrue. According to Stierwalt, MountainTrue is Western North Carolina’s overarching environmental nonprofit covering Transylvania, Henderson, Polk and Rutherford counties.

“Though we do cross state lines rarely, it would have to be a situation just like this,” said Stierwalt. “Terry was really good at crossing the state line, you know making sure that information was flowing through the different groups like Upstate Forever, the Foothills Preservation Alliance and the Carolina Land Coalition, which we formed.”

Joan Walker is the campaign coordinator for the Carolina Land Coalition.

“When we heard the announcement of Duke’s modernization plan, we started engaging with local groups and what happened was the folks along the route got organized and informed their neighbors about what was going on,” Walker said. “What we did as MountainTrue after Duke announced their plan was we called the different leaders of communities through Western Carolina who wanted to discuss these issues as a bigger group.”

GETTING THE WORD OUT Through this process, Schager began to realize the public at large had a lack of knowledge about Duke’s proposal.

“I started to realize that the problem was 30 percent of the people up there didn’t have computers. There were a number of folks from Gowensville, neighbors close to me, that had 24 Febr uar y 201 6

absolutely no idea what Duke’s plans were,” Schager recalled. “So, at that point, I put together a PowerPoint presentation and started talking to folks and communities like Saluda, Avery Creek and down here in Gowensville and started doing information sessions that were designed for folks who didn’t have access to the Internet to tell them what was happening.”

Schager explained, “MountainTrue had put together a number of folks that were retirees or in the utility industry that knew how to build power plants, who knew what they were talking about … how we could counter it and question it.”

Stierwalt said Terry put a lot of time and energy into his process to keep the continuity of information going across the North and South Carolina line.

“It’s hard to fight something when you don’t know what their points are,” Stierwalt quipped. “And Duke was holding a lot of those points close to their chest, so I feel like Terry was one of the few people willing to go around and make a presentation. Not being tied to a particular organization allowed him to have some freedom to express himself and his opinion whereas a larger group could have been legally liable.”

A NONPROFIT’S DREAM VOLUNTEER

TOP AND LEFT: Peeking over the side of Melrose Mountain will reveal a huge expanse of the Foothills down through Upstate South Carolina.

Running through the center of this field of vision are electricity towers and an existing right-ofway cutting through the Foothills and past the North Carolina and South Carolina state line.

Spartanburg can faintly be seen on the horizon on a clear day. RIGHT: The kind of volunteer that nonprofits dream of having, Schager offered his time and expertise to educate Foothills residents about Duke’s proposal.

Brad Wyche, Upstate Forever’s founder and senior advisor, commented on Terry’s work over the summer, saying Schager did a tremendous job getting people informed about the modernization project.

“Terry did extraordinary work fighting the Duke transmission and substation project,” Wyche remarked. “Terry is the kind of volunteer nonprofit organizations dream about.

He’s passionate about the work, knowledgeable about the issues and totally reliable.”

Wyche expanded on Schager’s passion by detailing an example of Schager’s enthusiasm with the project.

“Someone told me we needed to take photographs of the proposed routes and I said, ‘Well, the guy to do that would be Terry Schager,’ and said we would schedule something,” Wyche explained. “I called Terry after that conversation and I said, ‘Terry, when would you be willing to meet to show me around?

Maybe tomorrow or the next day?’ and he said, Feb r u ar y 2 0 1 6

25

‘How about right now?’ I can do that in about 20 minutes.’”

KEEPING AN EAR TO THE GROUND Schager’s response to Duke’s November announcement they would scrap plans for the transmission lines was to be optimistic, but cautious.

“I think we need to stay vigilant,” Schager said. “In fact, the MountainTrue technical committee and I are keeping our ears to the ground waiting for the public comment period on their new proposal to start and of course they haven’t released the new proposal yet.

As soon as they do, we’ll be studying it very closely to see if there’s anything that’s going to create, well, basically what we were fighting.”

A new, smaller substation is being built by 26 Febr uar y 201 6

Duke Energy on Oak Grove Road near the Greenville and Spartanburg county line, according to Schager, and how it factors into the new plan he has no idea.

“As long as they don’t change the new station, as long as the towers stand 80 feet as they are and they’re not wanting to build another right of way, I’m not going to oppose them,” Schager said. “They can do what they want but we’re going to remain vigilant and make sure that is the case.”

“I think I can speak for the entire group when I say we were relieved, but guarded, waiting for the other shoe to drop,” MountainTrue’s Stierwalt said. “We’re waiting for the proverbial, ‘Yes, we’re not going to put in the transmission line nor are we going to put in this oversized, unnecessary power plant, but…’

You know, we are waiting on the but.”

ABOVE: On the top of Melrose Mountain, Terry Schager overlooks the existing towers placed there by Duke Energy. Duke’s proposed modernization plan would have doubled the heights of the towers while also creating a second right-of-way for new towers to be placed down the mountainside.

"I wasn’t the only one who succeeded in making it go away.

Nine thousand-plus people did."

- Terry Schager

with a goal toward not building that third power plant Duke wants to do if they have to Schager’s focus has now turned to how in 2023. The project should be now doing the people can reduce their energy footprint. things we need to do to negate the need for “We can do that through solar panels on that power plant.” our roofs or better insulation in the house, Schager spent four months fighting with replacing the windows with better glass, power the environmental groups and residents of the saving appliances, performing energy audits Carolinas to preserve his home and where he and, strangely enough, working with Duke to lives, sometimes putting in 12-hour days durreduce our footprint,” Schager said. “Overall, ing the process. our electricity usage has declined about 10 “I wasn’t the only one who succeeded in percent in the last five years. So it went from making it go away. Nine thousand-plus people combatting Duke’s energy project to now get- did,” said Shager of the Foothills residents, ting people on the bandwagon for some serious who, through their collective power, were able demand reduction strategies.” to hold back a Goliath.

“We can do better with what we do as far as “You know, this is a great place and we how we build houses, how we remodel them,” want to preserve it,” Schager said. “I wish Schager said. “We can do a heck of a lot better people would understand it’s better as it is. It to reduce the amount of power we consume doesn’t need to be changed.”

WE CAN DO BETTER

ABOVE: Terry Schager and Brad Wyche, founder and senior advisor for Upstate Forever, share a celebratory moment.

Feb r u ar y 2 0 1 6

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in good

TA S TE

Decadent, delicious locally made chocolate Written by CAROL LYNN JACKSON Photographs by MICHAEL O’HEARN

F

ood connections with romantic love make us think of rich red wines and champagnes, oysters and candies.

Most special occasion foods comprised of exotic ingredients can fill the bill. Yet no month is better to associate food with romantic love than February and its St. Valentine celebration. Perhaps no food better associates with romance than chocolate.

Right here in our Foothills, we have an inspired Swiss-trained chocolatier who uses the finest Belgian chocolate available to carefully prepare and beautifully present exquisite treats. Jacqueline Chocolat bars, specialty bars, barks and powders are made in small batches for utmost attention to quality.

It all began in the kitchen of Beneficial Food Natural Market in Columbus, N.C. Several years back, one of the chefs for the market, Robbie Booth, wanted to make a batch of dark chocolate truffles.

Robert began by ordering ingredients from Belgium and began work on his future chocolate masterpieces. Weeks of testing and re-testing flavors, appearance and textures for his truffles consumed him joyfully. Who wouldn’t want the job also of tasting and re-tasting?

The gift of chocolate, for chocolate lovers, is special any time of year. Robert’s truffles and other specialty chocolate creations have since filled shelves at Beneficial Foods Natural Market where Jacqueline Chocolat was born. He is joined by Kathy Brown of Beneficial Foods Natural Market commercial kitchen in creating, assembling and packaging the evolving line of scrumptious treats.

Jacqueline Chocolat products can be

purchased locally at the Flower Cottage in Columbus, Southern Delights in Landrum, through Manna Cabanna’s CSA program, Belue Farms in Boiling Springs, Polk County Farmers Markets and of course at Beneficial Foods at Adawehi in Columbus. Look for bars such as Vanilla Bean & Cherry, Fleur de Sel, Cacao Nibs and Chili Pepper.

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP: Locally crafted chocolate treats make the perfect gift this Valentine’s Day.

Feb r u ar y 2 0 1 6

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much A D O

The Color of Love?

It Ain’t Chalk Green

Written by STEVE WONG

W

hen my wife and I bought our house 26 years ago, it was green. It was green, inside and out. Outside was the exact same shade of chalky green on the siding, on the trim, on the shutters, on the bricks. On the inside, that same green was on the walls, ceilings, trim, even in the closets. It was a one-story, ranch-style, 1950ish chalky green house in the middle of a peach orchard in the Carolina Foothills. As a young couple with a twoyear-old child and another on the way, we had found our home.

After 26 years and several coats of paint of every imaginable color, the house is still in the middle of a peach orchard, the kids are grown and gone, and, despite my efforts, if you look closely in all the wrong the places, you’ll still see that chalky green reminder of lost love gone astray. I have purposely left the ceiling in my closet that original color as a reminder of what not to do when my wife asks something of me.

The first few years of living in the house and repainting everything, my wife and I often wondered what could have caused a homeowner to paint every square inch of a house inside and out the same color… and why such an ugly color. Was chalk green ever in vogue, like robin egg blue of the ’50s or harvest yellow of the late ’60s? It was beyond strange to us, and we knew there had to be a reason. As we got to know our neighbors, we began to find out…

According to local legend (or gossip), the house was originally owned by a member of a 30 Febr uar y 201 6

local prominent family whose name will not be used here to protect the innocent—and just in case the whole legend thing is a crock.

It is said that during the couple’s marriage, the wife had asked the husband to paint the house green. But for whatever reason, he refused. When I hear this story, I get the feeling it was a marital bone of contention. As experienced husbands and wives, we all know how some small, simple, and innocent request from our significant other can cause us to dig in our heels, stand our ground, and just shut down. Just because he/ she said so, the other says no… no way, no how, just no plain and simple for no other reason than to exert some misguided measure of his/her authority.

If you don’t relate to this common game of marital tit for tat, either you haven’t been

married very long or you both won the $100,000,000 grand prize in the marriage lottery. It seems that the wife made her appeal repeatedly, only to be refused again and again.

Then she died.

I don’t know if she died young or old, or how, but she died, leaving her stubborn husband alone always wanted to be in a house she had his grief (and/or guilt), green. In the wake of the house green, inside the husband painted extreme that we found and out, and to the - Bullet ago.

Point it in 26 years Point Until -aBullet neighbor told me this story, my wife and I Bullet Point just thought some crazy previous homeowner had an Bullet Point infatuation with chalk green and gone overboard with Here that this was the color of denied it. Little DBA didName we know love and guilt — the same color as wintergreen Tums.

Talk about heartburn.

000-000-0000 Today, our house is some shade of light blue/gray Street Address with a hint of green with dark blue/gray shutters — City State Zip just whatwww.servicemasterclean.com my wife wanted. She also wanted and got an orange front door. Whenever my wife gets the itch to $00 Off paint something, I am always consulted and agree with Offer description whatever she wants.

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In all of her work, Denise Rose wants viewers to see and feel a story. In the head study “Approaching Storm,� her sixth bust, a viewer may be taken by a soulful tale expressed in the eyes.

32 Febr uar y 201 6

The Lure of the Canvas and Clay Written and photographed by VINCENT VERRECCHIO

T

o see personal truths about a few of the risk-takers in our Foothills, come into 78 North Trade Street in Tryon. You will be standing in the new home of Tryon Painters and Sculptors (TPS). Their works in two and three dimensions with innumerable colors call for your attention from both sides of the main floor. There is a lower level and a staircase centered ahead inviting you to wonder what is out of sight below.

If you accept the proposition that art cannot lie about the mind sight of the artist, then all that you see about you is how others truly think and feel. Each work is a uniquely personal perspective that an artist is putting on canvas, or paper, or in clay — risking your appreciation or

disdain, acceptance or rejection, and empathy or indifference to a part of themselves.

With so much at stake, what then is the lure of the canvas and clay or other medium? Why does a lifelong painter and TPS member like Pat Cole-Ferullo continue to commit so much of her time and self into her work?

Why does a second-year sculptor and TPS member like Denise Rose lean into her clay hour after hour in search of form and motion that only she can see until the work is done?

THE PAINTER “I do sell my paintings but I don’t paint to sell,” says Pat. “I paint because I have to. Painting is a dance and I paint for the joy of the physical activity, the actual Feb r u ar y 2 0 1 6

33

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP: Pat Cole-Ferullo, award-winning painter, international art teacher, and TPS member with her new diptych “Bad Wolf, Good Wolf,� inspired by her current interest in Native American history, art and philosophy. As an early step in teaching one of many watercolor techniques, Pat Cole-Ferullo sprinkles powdered pigments over paper. She will next spritz over all with water and gently rock the sheet for the colors to mix and flow. Pat Cole-Ferullo is enthused when expounding on the limitless color possibilities of blending earth pigments for watercolor abstract expressionism.

34 Febr uar y 201 6

motion of painting.”

She has felt similarly since childhood when she loved both drawing and dancing. Early memories of sketching from magazine photos overlap with recollections of her dance lessons as a teen. Then there were private lessons with Eliot O’Hara, famed watercolor artist and teacher, because her Florida high school did not offer art classes.

Between then and now, she earned a BA in fine arts with the goal of being a fashion illustrator, and then found a short-term position in an advertising agency.

Across the following decades she continued to study and work with oils, acrylics, and watercolors, experimenting with the harmonies, concepts and emotions that she enjoys expressing on canvas, paper and board. As she increasingly found herself as an abstract expressionist, judges in national and international competitions awarded her top prizes. Private and public collectors added her works.

“And I’ve always loved teaching art,” she says. Her first classroom was a Quonset hut for a junior high school near the Everglades. In 2006 it was studio classes in Italy, and today, we sit in her Tryon studio where she still teaches. I can see her latest work, a diptych titled “Bad Wolf, Good Wolf.” The two panels are inspired by her current interest in Native American culture. We have just finished discussing universal sacred geometries and the use of earth pigments in watercolors. Her smile broadens after I ask how that’s done. “Would you like to learn?” she asks.

Through a mesh strainer she sprinkles powdered turquoise green pigment onto white paper. Burnt sienna is next added, dusting in places over the lighter green.

Then she spritzes water over all and gently rocks the sheet. Time has not dimmed her pleasure at seeing the colors flow into diffuse depth and fanciful shapes.

A good teacher engages and inspires a student, and as she adds yellow and explains the interaction of the colors, I want to know more and try on my own.

THE SCULPTOR Denise Rose’s journey to TPS and clay sculpting began with drawing as a child and an interest in equine illustration while attending universities in Texas. She had a passion for horses and for a time decorated wood furniture with equine images. But to better pay the bills, she took a detour as a logistics manager for a steamship company followed by a career in real estate. “When looking at a floor plan as realtor, I automatically envisioned it in 3D and assumed everyone saw it that way,” she recalls.

“It was in 2013...waiting for car maintenance...that I wandered into the [TPS] gallery, liked what I saw, and asked if there were classes in sculpture for beginners.”

Feb r u ar y 2 0 1 6

35

A class was starting that week and the clay captivated her at first touch.

“When I see a photo that I like, I wonder what I could do with it in three dimensions.

For me then, a 25-pound block of clay represents a challenge to the coordination of my eyes, hands, and mind.”

Denise talks about the mental absorption in envisioning the back of a subject after she’s sketched the front on one plane of the clay. There’s the problem-solving of fixtur36 Febr uar y 201 6

ing unsupported curves and delicate balances while she adds and subtracts material, smoothing and texturing, peeling and pressing with tools and fingers. There’s the waiting until the varied thicknesses have dried just enough before the next step. Then it requires finesse and daring to hollow out a sculpture to prevent exploding when baking at 1,800°F or more. And always, she needs the patience to take a step back.

“I was so focused on the neck,” she re-

ABOVE LEFT: Much of Denise Rose’s work is born of her lifelong passion for horses.

members, gesturing to her current “Serengeti Tryst” of giraffes, “that I grabbed a lump of clay without looking and began kneading it.

It was the finished head of one of the figures.”

In all of her work, she wants viewers to see and feel a story and each piece is finished only when it makes her happy. She mentions a head study in the gallery she calls “Approaching Storm.” Denise says, “I like looking at her...like the satisfaction of seeing

what I’ve done.”

This is only Denise’s sixth bust and I was taken by a soulful tale expressed in the eyes.

If you want to discover original art, the works of Pat, Denise, and other TPS members are on display on the main floor for appreciation and sale, Tuesday through Saturday. If you want to chance discovering an artist within yourself, classes on the lower level will help you develop talents with canvas, paper, clay, and more.

ABOVE RIGHT: Second-year sculptor and TPS member Denise Rose enjoys the challenges of unsupported curves and delicate balances as she adds and subtracts clay, smoothing and texturing, peeling and pressing with tools and fingers.

Feb r u ar y 2 0 1 6

37

APPOINTMENTS

A Life Well Lived Written by JUDY HEINRICH Photographs SUBMITTED

I

first met Barbara Childs several years ago when she asked to write about my experiences as a (not very competitive) Limited Distance Endurance and Competitive Trail rider. Since we mostly talked about me I didn’t learn much about Barbara, although I continued to follow her as a fellow writer and the voice of Dudley the Donkey in Appointments.

Then, very recently, I had the opportunity to ask Barbara about her life and was fasci-

nated at its twists, turns and detours – many of them self-directed. It made me wish I had gotten to know her better, sooner.

If you ever met Barbara you already know two things about her: First she was tiny, just 5 feet 2 inches and very petite – a “mere slip of a girl” as they used to say. Second, she had a very welcoming and sharing presence. As her good friend Katherine Pfaff put it, “Barbara loved everything and they loved her right back – people, animals and plants.” I suspect she

LEFT: Barbara Childs with her last riding partner, the dressage stallion Jacques.

Feb r u ar y 2 0 1 6

39

also had a great sense of fun and wonder.

But what became most apparent as I listened to Barbara was her strong inner compass and core of quiet determination. Having once made a decision – however unconventional – she was going to do whatever it took to see it through, no fanfare necessary. And she seemed to enjoy the entire process, both the fun times and the hard work that it took to get wherever she had decided to go.

You couldn’t cover Barbara in just a magazine article but here are a few snippets that I hope will give you a glimpse into an unusual life, well lived.

R YO N TBUILDERS

Barbara was born in 1943 and grew up as an only child in Chicago, bicycling, taking ballet, and accompanying her father to Arlington Park Race Track. Those trips to the track were her only childhood experiences with horses but she fell in love with them. Her parents couldn’t afford to get her one so she read every horse book she could find and planned for the day when she’d have one of her own.

When Barbara graduated from the Dominican University in River Forest, Ill., with a degree that qualified her to teach Junior High and High School, she applied to the Chicago Public School System and arranged to take a position in the inner city schools. Why that choice? Because, she explained, “I wanted a horse more than air, and you got a little extra pay at those schools.”

That little extra pay would go into her “equine bank account.” And while her account slowly grew, she invested in riding lessons so she’d know what she was doing when she got that horse.

“I WANT A HORSE” When her account reached $1,500, Barbara withdrew it in cash and put it all down on a table in front of Tom Hughes, a well-known polo player at the Oak Brook Polo Club, then the largest in the U.S. “I want a horse,” she told him. “Come back Tuesday, I’ll have some for you to try,” he said.

Tuesday came, Hughes had five horses for her to ride, and she picked a five-year-old mare named Stage Magic.

A Thoroughbred since this was the ’60s and the Warmbloods had not yet invaded. She trained Stage Magic for

40 Febr uar y 201 6

the Hunter ring and the pair did very well in Show Hunter classes in the B shows.

Barbara knew she could move up to the A shows the next year if she had an A horse. So she passed Stage Magic on to another rider and bought herself a horse called Model T, which her trainer Bunny Kizorek had found at Danada Farm in Wheaton. Danada bred champion racehorses, including the 1965 Kentucky Derby winner Lucky Debonaire. Again Barbara trained her horse – this time for Jumpers – and they had success at the A shows.

SUMMER BREAK JOB

manager, that she owned and showed the Danada youngster Model T. “Two other girls and I would break the young horses and gallop them,” she remembered. “It was so exciting and the horses were so good. They were from stakes horses and it was like they knew what to do. It was lovely.

“We worked from 5:30 to 11 a.m. six days a week for $100. I loved it and didn’t really want to go back and teach school,” Barbara said. But she was in her mid-20s at the time so she did the responsible thing, and only got to work at Danada for one summer.

“IF I DIE, GO TO THE POST OFFICE”

When school broke for summer, Barbara applied for a job helping train the yearling Some time later Barbara was living in racehorses at Danada. Even now she thinks she Hinsdale, Ill., in the private residence of an got that job because she told Lester, Danada’s older lady. “My landlady had been like a foster

ABOVE: Barbara on her beloved Jacques at Cross Creek Farm, 2015.

Feb r u ar y 2 0 1 6

41

mother to me and had told me, ‘If I die, you take yourself and your horse to Wayne, Ill., which is very horsey. Go to the post office and ask the lady there where you can live.’”

Sure enough, the landlady did die and Barbara followed her instructions. “I ended up living in a beautiful coach house on the Leo Menners estate for two or three years.” Her horse ended up boarding at Lamplight Stables, now Lamplight Equestrian Center. Because Lamplight focused on dressage, Barbara eventually switched to that discipline.

This chain of events led her to lay eyes on a young Bavarian Warmblood being longed by the well-known Swedish trainer Bo Tibblin.

42 Febr uar y 201 6

“Oh, this one I want to take home,” Barbara said. “Too big, too expensive, too young,” said her trainer Natalie Lamping (now an S dressage judge who has judged most of the major USET Olympic, World Cup and Pan American Games selection trials). But Barbara couldn’t get the horse out of her mind and Natalie decided having Barbara ride it might dissuade her. It had the opposite effect.

“I got on him in the indoor ring on a blustery cold day and I didn’t want to get off him. I didn’t know how I was going to afford him but I knew he was going to be mine,” Barbara said. Of course she made that happen, and promptly renamed him Bagheera after the

ABOVE: Barbara Childs and her Scottish Deerhound, Stella.

black panther in Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book. Then in 1987 she showed Bagheera to the US National Championship at First Level and Reserve Champion at Second Level.

They apparently became just the team she had known they would.

started writing for Appointments when it was a black-and-white sheet, and has covered the equestrian scene here for about 12 years. She met Dudley, the donkey, when house-sitting for his owner, Dr. Joy Baker, and has given him a voice ever since.

And of course she got involved in show“HERE’S YOUR NEW DOG” ing at FENCE, competing her Thoroughbred Rilian through 2nd level and Rebecca Kemp’s Between her various horse pursuits Barbara horse Gus at 3rd level. In the years since, had taken time to get married in 1979 to Rob- she has ridden horses for clients and friends, ert Childs, nicknamed Chico. He was a Yale most recently being Katherine Pfaff’s dresgraduate and naval PT boat commander who sage stallion Jacques (Jacobean), a son of the had been awarded the Purple Heart and made famous dressage horse and Grand Prix jumper his career in the financial industry. They were Roemer. Katherine says the arrangement had still living in Wayne when Chico lost his dog, made both Barbara and Jacques very happy. a rescue Lab mix. He was thinking of getting another Lab but Barbara had never been able END OF A CHAPTER to get Scottish Deerhounds out of her mind after seeing them in “Out of Africa.”

In 2007 Barbara had a bout with breast While Deerhounds weren’t common in the cancer, went through treatment, had regular U.S., Barbara found a breeder just 20 minutes checks, and had been living cancer-free. Only from Wayne. She went up without Chico and recently had she learned that the cancer had chose a young male who had a heart condicome back, this time tion; she was told he would need special care in the liver. and would probably die an early but peaceful Barbara faced death. Chico took to him right away and, after whatever was to come, one early, unplanned deer chase, took him supported by hospice on long but careful walks. Between that good and surrounded by conditioning and some mysterious daily medi- her friends, includcation from Cuba, the renamed “Baloo” (after ing her latest dog, the the bear from The Jungle Book) lived eleven15-year-old Chihuaand-a-half years – long for any dog of that size. hua Sophia.

Baloo was the first of several Deerhounds she She exhibited and Robert welcomed into their lives. her usual sense that everything would work out. “I’ve done everyLOSS AND A NEW LIFE thing I’ve loved to do and that includes horses and riding, having my dogs, being at the barn, In the early 1990s Barbara lost her husgardening and writing.” band, father, mother and Baloo within just No doubt part of her acceptance came two years. After taking care of her mother’s af- from two of the other unusual turns that her fairs and later suffering one of Chicago’s worst life took long ago, when she spent four of her winters, Barbara called her friends Larry and teenage years with the Franciscan Sisters of Carol Stuenkel, who had moved from Chicago Chicago and the year after her mother’s death to a wonderful farm in Landrum. They told at the Cloistered Contemplative Monastery of her to come on down and bring her horse.

Poor Clares in Rockford, Ill. Both times her “I liked it here right away,” Barbara says. health eventually suffered under the rigors of “The mountains were very strengthening, I convent life and, as Barbara described it, “the liked the people of the equine community, and Mother Abbess said God decided I needed to I liked that my church was close by – Saint go back into the world.”

John the Baptist Catholic Church in Tryon.”

In the end she was once again ready to go Barbara had two children’s books published where God decided; but she is sure to have here, Sammy and the Cowbird (2009) and had some ideas of her own once she got there.

Dear Bianca, Yours, Rudyard (2010). She Godspeed, Barbara.

" I didn’t know how I was going to afford him but I knew he was going to be mine."

- Barbara Childs 1943 - 2016

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Marydell Breeds Success Written by JUDY HEINRICH Photographs SUBMITTED

T

he past two years have been stellar for Marydell Farm of Columbus, one of the country’s top breeders of Warmblood sport horses. Owners Maryanna and Wendell Haymon are now showing the fourth generation of horses from their celebrated Grand Prix stallion Don Principe, and the accolades keep coming. 2014 and 2015 saw horses bred by Marydell Farm – identified by the initials “MF” after their names – take top honors at Dressage at Devon (Pa.) and the USDF Dressage Finals at the Kentucky Horse Park, in a variety of in-hand, under-saddle and championship classes (see box).

44 Febr uar y 201 6

As the Haymons near retirement and prepare to downsize their operation, Maryanna says they have accomplished everything on their bucket list in their 20 years of breeding. Among many things, that includes being named US Dressage Federation (USDF) Breeder of the Year and US Equestrian Federation (USEF) Breeder of the Year, and having produced four winners of the USDF Traveling Trot Trophy, awarded annually to the highest scoring dressage sport horse in-hand for all breeds, all ages, and both genders. The Haymons are the first breeders to accomplish that, which they did from 2011 to 2014 with

ABOVE: Don Principe.

Duet MF, David Bowie MF, Danseuse MF and Danae MF, respectively.

So did the Haymons’ breeding success build on generations of expertise on either side of the family? Not hardly, according to Maryanna.

She grew up on a potato farm in central New Jersey where the family “never had an animal that didn’t have a job,” she says. “We had milk cows we would breed to harvest the calf for meat. That would devastate me but I grew up knowing it was going to happen.”

Maryanna was also able to have horses, a pastime that became her passion.

As an adult dressage competitor the idea of becoming a breeder only occurred to her as a way to help fund her gelding’s show career after marrying Wendell and having a combined five children. “Like most naïve people I was going to sell a baby a year to pay for everything,” she laughs.

Between her years of showing dressage, her childhood on the farm, and a career that included being an emergency medical technician and neonatal nurse, Maryanna was at least as prepared as most new breeders for the

expected or unexpected. And she and Wendell took their learning process seriously.

“We knew the quality we needed for broodmares and went looking for it, but quickly found out we couldn’t afford it. But we did find a young mare with the right bloodlines who needed hock surgery. We bought her and she gave us a daughter who I can honestly call our foundation mare, who gave us nine babies. Over time they sold for enough money that we were able to move out of the older, injured foals into buying quality foals in Europe to be our broodmares.

“The turning point in our breeding career came in 2000 when we went to Germany for the first time and took a breeder orientation course. Seeing the depth of quality, the sheer number of pedigree combinations, what was selling, what wasn’t selling – it gave us a better idea of what we were doing wrong and what we needed to do to be successful.”

After years of paying stud fees and counting up those costs, the Haymons decided it made sense to buy their own stallion. It was a decision that would change everything for them.

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Maryanna first met the horse that would change their future on another trip to Germany. She saw Don Principe as a two-year-old son of Donnerhall (often called “the dressage sire of the century”) who had not passed the Hanoverian licensing. “He wasn’t fancy enough to pass at that age. But I really liked him. He was ‘normal’ as a youngster, which I think is what the horses who are going to be great usually are.” He also was not for sale at that time.

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She saw Don Principe again when he was four and had just finished third in the performance test. “I fell in love with him, I can’t really articulate it. He is my equine soulmate, it’s a connection you can’t explain. You hear of a dog of a lifetime, a horse of a lifetime – he is all that and more for me.” Maryanna bought him in 2004, left him in Germany for a year, and brought him home in 2005.

“Prince” not only produces top quality offspring, he is one of the few top-level stallions

ABOVE: Doctor Wendell MF.

2014-15

Marydell Highlights Here are some highlights from Marydell Farm’s 2014 and 2015 competition seasons.

2014 DRESSAGE AT DEVON • Danseuse MF (Don Principe–EM Fuerst Dancer MF) is Overall Champion at the Dressage at Devon Breed Show as well as highest scoring horse of the entire show with an 89.2%.

• Get of Don Principe won the “Get of Sire” Class for the second consecutive year with an overall 84.6%.

2015 DRESSAGE AT DEVON • Doctor Wendell MF (Don Principe– Sandro Hit) was third in Prix St. George and 4th in Intermediare I. • Danae MF (Doctor Wendell MF– Rotspon) won Yearling Fillies, Reserve Champion Filly, Young Horse Champion, Reserve Grand Champion, Highest Placing Hanoverian and the Traveling Trot Trophy.

• Debonair MF (Doctor Wendell MF– Rotspon) won the 2-year Colts and Gelding Class with an 83.5%.

• David Bowie MF (Don Principe-

who has maintained an active competition schedule. And he has competed successfully under a number of different riders, including Jim Koford, Michael Bragdell, Courtney King Dye, Jen Marchand, Jen Baumert – even Maryanna herself in his early days here. He is now back with Jim Koford and will continue to compete as his breeding career winds down.

“As he was recuperating from the collection of frozen semen last fall, he seemed so

ABOVE: Danae MF at 2015 Dressage at Devon.

Rotspon) won the 3-year old Colts and Gelding Class with an 81.8%.

• Debonair MF and David Bowie MF were named Champion and Reserve Champion in the Devon Colt Championship.

• Get of Doctor Wendell MF were 2nd in the Get of Sire” Class with an overall 78.7% 2015 US DRESSAGE FINALS • Doctor Wendell MF was named National Champion at the Prix St. George.

depressed. One day we took him down to a horse show just to play and he immediately got happier. So he’s the horse who will have to show until the day he dies.

“In my mind Prince is the most perfect horse in the world,” Maryanna says. “Logically he’s not perfect – he couldn’t be since he has been out-producing himself. But he is everything you want a horse to be: handsome, kind, generous, loves people better than horses, loves work, gets depressed if he can’t Feb r u ar y 2 0 1 6

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compete. It’s fun when you have a horse that is that competitive.”

Prince’s seven-year-old son Doctor Wendell MF is following in his sire’s footsteps in both competition and breeding. (Both stallions are represented for breeding by Hilltop Farm of Colora, Maryland.)

Doctor Wendell was 2015 USDF National Champion at the Prix St. George at the US Dressage Finals in November, and his offspring took second place in the 2015 “Get of Sire” class at Dressage at Devon. He is expected to make his Grand Prix debut this year on the winter Florida circuit.

HIGHS AND LOWS Anyone in breeding for any length of time can tell you that along with the highs come lows. “This year I’ve had some of the lowest lows and the highest highs,” Maryanna said.

“We lost three horses within five weeks. One was a yearling that got stepped on and was too injured to recover. Another died in the foaling process. And the third was a pasture accident, with a fractured femur.

“But then Prince, Doc and Duet do super at a horse show and you’re ‘up’ again. “It’s a roller coaster ride,” says Maryanna. “The business takes you from the peak of the mountains to the depth of the seas. I’m an adrenaline junkie, what can I say?

“Most breeders will tell you they do it because of the joy of seeing new life and the hopes and expectations for the future. We watch them at play when they’re first born and can tell what they can do within three days: how quickly do they stand, run around, do flying changes in a straight line? Once they’re under saddle you can tell whether they will be amateur, national or international level.”

As important as physical ability to Maryanna is the reputation that Prince and his offspring have for their temperament and willingness. “My breeding program has evolved to the point that I am wanting amateur-friendly Grand Prix horses that someone like myself can ride but could also hand off to a trainer and they could go to a CDI. That’s what Prince is like – I trail rode him weeks after having hip surgery and I knew he would take 48 Febr uar y 201 6

care of me. And then he can go out and win an FEI CDI, which he did with Courtney King Dye.” Beyond Marydell’s own horses, Don Principe offspring are successfully competing with junior, amateur and professional riders, from Training Level through Prix St. George.

The Haymons are expecting six foals this spring and will breed to have at least two foals next year. “For every generation I put on the ground I have to look at, ‘can I support them this long, until they are seven?’” says Maryanna.

If she had one wish, it would be that more American riders would look at American-bred sport horses. “There is still a cachet about being able to say you imported a horse, but there are excellent sport horses being bred here now and I’d like to see more support for the American breeding programs.”

With results like the Haymons and Marydell Farm have achieved, it’s hard to imagine that it’s not on the horizon.

ABOVE: David Bowie MF (Don Principe–Rotspon) relaxing at home (Photo by Judy Heinrich)

Parting glance Painter Grace Lertora, in the background, gives a parting glance at the last juried show she helped manage as president of Tryon Painters and Sculptors. Painter Christine Mariotti is the new president of the non-profit gallery and arts education organization starting January 2016.

The sculpture in the foreground is TPS member Denise Rose’s “Approaching Storm.” (Photo by Vincent Verrecchio.)

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Western North Carolina | 828.278.9296 | TheSanctuaryAtTryon.com

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Mailing Address: 2025 Sandbranch Road P. O. Box 1147, Black Mountain, NC 28711 All information believed to be accurate but not warranted. See Representative for details.

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Ashley Meadows Apartments Columbus, NC Now accepting applications for large 2 & 3 BR units. 858-894-2671 •CNA 1st & 2nd FT/PT •LPN/RN 2nd FT/PT •LPN/RN Weekend 8hr & 12hr open •CNA Weekend We offer flexible schedules and great benefits. Please apply in person at 501 Esseola St, Saluda, NC 28773 or call Heather Gosnell, ADON at 828-749-2261.

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CDL Driver with Passenger Endorsement needed to drive 24 passenger bus from Spindle to Hendersonville and return.

5:30am-8:30am and 5:30pm8:30pm sales@eastsidetransportation.co 864-609-5466 Ask for Delon First Staffing is pleased to announce the opening of our new branch location in Polk County. The new office will be located at: 1987 Lynn Rd. Suite A • Columbus N.C. 28722.

Come by and apply today!

Fox Mountain Landscape: Lawn maintenance, stone work, waterfeatures, patios & walkways, paver, irrigation systems and grading. Free estimates - 12 years experience.

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Call 864-706-4405 for appointment or stop by 345 N. Blackstock Rd, Landrum.

Henson Building Materials We’re More Than Just a Lumberyard!

22336 Asheville Hwy • Landrum, SC 29356 (864) 457-4115 Hospice of the Carolina Foothills (EOE) has the following openings: PRN: CNAs for Hospice House For more information, and to apply, please visit: www.hocf.org NEED CASH? I BUY MOST ANYTHING THAT’S A BARGAIN. CAR--TRUCK--RV/CAMPER--JEEP 68 CAMARO--TRAILER CARGO SUBURBAN--4-WHEELERS--GOLF CART--TRACTOR--GUNS--LAND-HOME. NO JUNK! MUST HAVE TITLE. DON’T CALL IF NOT A BARGAIN! 828-551-7176 Lake Cooley -- 220 Canady Road 1.9 acres. $285,000.

300 ft. waterfront w/dock. 3BR Double-wide. (864) 457-2432 As-Needed Receptionist. Days, Nights, Weekends. Must be able to multi-task. Word/Excel experience preferred. Please Apply in Person: 334 Thompson St., Hendersonville, NC No Phone Calls

Full-time Server, Exp. Med Techs (cert. req’d) and CNAs Incl. weekday & weekend.

Background check, drug screening req’d. APPLY IN PERSON. Laurel Woods Assisted Living & Memory Care, 1062 W. Mills St, Columbus, NC 28722.

No phone calls.

Private House Cleaning Weekly, Bi-Weekly, Monthly or 1 Time. 15 yrs exp. References upon request. Free In-home Estimates!

Marjorie 828-817-6350 Mitch Contracting Serving your demolition needs since 1918. We offer roll-off waste containers for home and commercial use.

Call 828-252-0694 or visit us at www.mitchcontracting.com.

FIREWOOD Split $75 a cord/long bed.

Available on short notice & good quality. We stack the wood for your convenience. Dependable and honest. Let us be of service to you! 828-817-5600 828-817-9218 864-316-2229 Help Wanted Inside Salesperson - Tryon Must have outstanding phone skills. Base pay plus bonus. Email resume to: kmanndo@gmail.com.

Help Wanted Graphic Designer and Layout Artist Full Time. Creativity and Photoshop skills are essential.

Competitive pay. Please email resume: kmanndo@gmail.com RENTALS Go to www.tryonrealestate.com For Furnished and Unfurnished Long and Short Term Rentals Contact Pat Martin at First Real Estate 828-859-7653 Reclaimed Wormy Chestnut Island Tops, Base Cabinet Tops and Vanity Tops Wholesale Prices For More Info Call Paul Levi (828) 712-9808 Small Antique Log Cabin 1 Story with Loft Wormy chestnut logs.

Logs delivered & erected for $12,500.

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828-694-2300 241 Pavillon Place, Mill Spring NOW HIRING Full-time and part-time positions in Housekeeping, maintenance/ landscaping, kitchen.

Apply in Person: From 10 am-3pm 85 Pine Crest Lane No phone calls, please.

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Let FHM help with new projects or home repairs!

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828-894-6581 or 828-577-0513 83+ Acres for Sale in Rutherford Co •6,000 Feet River Frontage •1500 Feet Highway Frontage •City Water, Wooded •4k Per Acre (864) 909-1035 $10 OFF Preventative Maintenance (Reg $75) Rutherford Heating and Air 828-287-2240 Aphalt Seal Coating Asphalt Micro Surfacing 40 Years Experience Residential and Commercial www.sealcosc.com (864) 494-5526 SKIPPER’S TREE SERVICE One call does it all! 25% Sr. discount. Free estimates.

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Sharing the Gift of Health & Wellness At St. Luke’s Hospital, we provide the gift of health and wellness through convenient emergency surgical and medical care, preventive care and strong patient - doctor relationships, and through screenings and health talks to promote a healthy lifestyle. To help you and your family enjoy the gift of health, St. Luke’s Hospital and physicians through St. Luke’s Physician Network are committed to ensuring access to education and prevention, diagnostic screenings like mammograms and bone densitometry, and support from caring professionals. For a snapshot of our services from Emergency Care to General Surgery, Orthopedic Care to Rehabilitation, please go to www.saintlukeshospital.com.

As your community hospital, St. Luke’s Hospital is proud to be here for you, providing the gift of health and wellness with exceptional care, close to home.

For Exceptional Care, Close to Home 828-894-3311 ~ SaintLukesHospital.com ~ 101 Hospital Dr. ~ Columbus, NC 28722