Books

Reviewed

by:

Cindy Martin

In her most recent novel, Heather Norman Smith uses a dual timeline with descriptive settings and relatable characters to capture the reader’s imagination. In 1963, twenty-year-old Annie dreams of managing the dance studio where she has trained since childhood. She longs to marry her high school sweetheart and live happily ever after. Instead, Annie is forced to put her dreams aside when her special needs sister, Ruth Claire, gets pregnant and is faced with deciding whether or not to bring shame to the family or put her baby up for adoption. Annie makes a life-changing decision that could affect her family for generations to come.

Missy Robbins in present day has always lived in her sister Erica’s shadow. Both are musically talented, but Erica’s making it big in Nashville while Missy is a stay-at-home mother of four. Missy’s unexpected teenage pregnancy sped up her marriage to Ray, causing her to question her worth and hide her beautiful singing voice. When Missy unexpectedly has to step out of her comfort zone and perform at a birthday gathering, the church choir director recognizes her gift and invites her to join the choir.

This new pursuit puts Missy on a path of self-discovery and reclaiming her discarded faith, when she discovers Grandma Annie’s sixty-year-old secret. Then she must decide if she should remain silent about Grandma Annie’s deception or, in good conscience, reveal the truth. You won’t want to miss the stunning conclusion of Songs for a Sunday.

Find Songs for a Sunday and Heather Norman Smith’s other inspirational Southern Fiction at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Christian Book Distributors, and other retailers. Visit Smith’s website at www.heathernormansmith.com.

In addition to being a compelling author of inspirational Southern literature, Smith is a talented singer/songwriter of spiritual music.

Sample her original Southern gospel songs on YouTube and download them on Google Play and iTunes.

Author: Eileen Heyes

Illustrator: Dare Coulter

Reviewed

by:

Cindy Martin

This beautifully illustrated book chronicles a year in the lives of the Hauser and Sawyers families in Pinnacle, North Carolina, in 1900. While giving an up close and personal account of neighbors working together and helping each other survive and thrive, the author guides readers through the seasons, detailing the daily duties of farm life. This is a story of two ordinary rural farm families, one white and one African American, raising crops, rearing children, and building a community.

Although much change was happening in the big cities at the turn of the last century, farm life had not yet benefited from the recent technological advances. Folks grew what they ate and made what they needed. Some farms yielded enough extra produce for a family to sell, and some families raised tobacco to help purchase essentials such as salt, coffee, sugar, material for clothing, shoes, and farm equipment. However, subsistence farming was more the norm.

The local population of Shoals Township at the turn of the century included people with a mixture of racial backgrounds. A particularly poignant moment in the story is when Lettie and Adam Sawyers lose their infant son Andy. Since there was no African American church or cemetery at the time and the Sawyers were tenant farmers, Charlotte continued on page 61 any painting project. Whether you’re just needing a little guidance… or the whole idea.

Before you replace the wood on your deck, talk to us about…DECK RESTORE™ or DECK REVIVE products. Both products revive and protect wood surfaces such as wood and composite decking, stairs, docks and more. They install at a fraction of the cost of total surface replacement while adding years of life to older wood decks!

Mike Cassell volunteers at the Mount Airy Disabled American Veterans (DAV) office in Mount Airy as a trained Chapter Service Officer (CSO). “I try to help veterans any way I can,” he said. To Mike, it’s important veterans receive the education, medical benefits, monetary compensation, and respect they deserve. His duties range from answering the phone, scheduling drivers to transport veterans to their doctors’ appointments at the various Veterans Administration (VA) clinics and hospitals to helping veterans and their families with filing comprehensive claims to obtain services and benefits from the VA. However, Mike goes above and beyond, reaching out to those who have just returned home from being in the military, offering them a helping hand when needed and advising them of what benefits are available.“I encourage people just to give these veterans a call to ask them how they’re doing,” he said. “It means so much to these folks.”

In addition to being a lifetime member of Chapter 61 of the DAV, Mike belongs to Post 123 of the American Legion in Mount Airy. He believes all the veterans organizations are a team and should work together for the greater good. He feels fortunate to know so many veterans from all walks of life, men and women who have served in WWII, Korea, Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan, and those who were in the military during peace time or the Cold War or the Gulf War.

Mike joined the Army in 1986 and was sent to Fort Benning where he was attached to a Mechanical Infantry Unit in the National Guard. When in training for hand-to-hand combat, he was thrown, injured his back, and suffered a broken left ankle, which required surgery to attach a metal plate and five screws to stabilize the bone and allow healing. After his hospital stay, he went back to the barracks to help out in the Supply and Arms rooms until he was medically discharged in 1987.

When he returned home, the VA paid for Mike to attend Surry Community College to be trained as a machinist. After that, he was employed by Westinghouse and Deere-Hitachi until, in 2010, his back injury became so painful he could no longer work. He went so far as to have a stimulator surgically installed to relieve the pain and get him off the high doses of pain meds he was taking. His doctor refused to help him obtain his disability benefits. The nurse told him he would have to do it himself. After seeing what a long time and how difficult it was to get assistance from the VA, Mike decided he would help others get their benefits. “It was so hard,” he said.

Mike and his wife Eva live in Mount Airy. They have three daughters, two sons, six grandsons, and one granddaughter, one Yorkie (Anna), one Jack Russell terrier (Bentley) and one cat (Ash—because she’s gray.) Family matters most to the Cassells. Mike and Eva and their loved ones enjoy traveling to the beach, fishing, cooking out, and even planting a few tomatoes in the summertime.

To contact the DAV, call 336-789-0328. Their email is disabledamericanvet61@gmail.com.

The office is located in Veteran’s Park at 767 West Lebanon Street in Mount Airy. Volunteers are always welcome and appreciated.

And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.

Romans 8:28

Rebekah Myers, dreams of singing on the radio, making a career with living history, attending college, and the most challenging of all, getting her pilot’s license. These are not just day dreams, but real ones she is beginning to pursue. Having grown up in the shadow of Rendezvous Mountain where her father, Bob, was a park ranger until his retirement. Her father, says Rebekah has greatly influenced her love of singing and colonial history. One of the Myers’ ancestors fought as a patriot at the Battle of Kings Mountain in 1780.

Her inspiration to fly comes from a complete outsider, Amelia Earhart. “When I was 13 I saw a movie about Amelia. I love mysteries and became very interested in her and her disappearance. That’s the big thing! I looked her up on the internet and I read all the books I could find about her life.” Rebekah has been captivated with Amelia Earhart’s life. “She had red hair, was a country girl, liked to be outside, ran around in the woods playing, liked history, just like me!” Rebekah shared her feelings of a connection to Earhart. “She was real. She studied all about air planes and how they worked and was able to work on her own plane. She wrote books with raw emotion. She did what people didn’t think she could do.”

Shortly after this interview we found out about the Young Eagles here at the Wilkesboro airport and made arrangements to take Rebekah up in a Skyland Cessna for a short spin around Wilkesboro and Millers Creek.

Pilot Steve Miller, Rebekah, her dad and I climbed aboard. Rebekah rode up front and with the help of the pilot experienced driving down the runway. It was her first ride and later she reported, “It was the most amazing experience in my life.” Rebekah says one day she would like fly missionaries or work with Samaritan’s Purse flying to places where people need help.

Rising up we could see parts of Kerr Scott Lake and then turning north began to see recognizable landmarks in Millers Creek. Rebekah and her Dad were looking down to find their home in Purlear.

This young girl was beside herself with joy and wonder. From my perspective in the back seat I can say she conducted herself quite well with confidence as if she was where she belonged; anxious, but not afraid.

Coming back in for landing we passed over the Wilkesboro Speedway. It is huge and so exciting to see the work being done there. Our landing was smooth. As we taxied to the hanger Rebekah laughingly commented, “While I was up there and saw the horizon it came to me what I had read from Amelia Earhart’s book, ‘The horizon and the sky came out to play touching each other because they were already friends.’ I immediately knew what she meant.”

Now in the Young Eagles, Rebekah is in the process of studying to obtain her private plane flying license. Under the leadership and guidance of Steve Miller she will succeed.

Another dream for Rebekah is to one day sing on the radio. That may seem unusual to hear from a young lady in our day of modern technology. When is the last time you heard someone wanting to sing on the radio? One clue to that may be that Rebekah listens to the radio a lot, “I listen

Rebekah Myers

This Girl has Dreams

WRITER • PHOTOS/ Mary Bohlen

Yadkin • Valley PEOPLE to the songs and tunes and then try to play them on my guitar.” Her Dad said they began to recognize Rebekah’s musical talents when she as pre-school. She would hear a note, or listen to a note and then go to the piano keyboard and pick it out.

She has been singing with her father for several years now, at churches, musical gatherings for living history events of the OvermountainVictory Trail.

One of Rebekah’s favorite things to do is to be part of living history programs for school children and for the public. She has worked with me at the historic Cleveland House at the Wilkes Heritage Museum many times helping at the hearth. The first time Rebekah helped me she was just six years old. I asked her to tell me about her love of history. “That first day, I remember it very well. I put on that dress and it all sort of came to life for me. It was a little pink dress with flower patterns and my Mom stayed up all night to make it and I was so excited. Then I saw you (writer Mary) and what you were doing and I knew, this is what I’ve got to do. That day we made parched corn in the iron skillet like the people would have done getting prepared to go the Kings Mountain in 1780. I got up on a stool to reach the table and take corn off the cob. In my mind I knew I was being a part of what it was like a long time ago; I loved those simple things and everybody around me made me feel like family.”

Rebekah is right. All folks working together to share our history are like a big family. I had actually forgotten some of the details of that day but when Rebekah shared her memories it all came back at the Wilkes Heritage Museum. Rebekah says, “One day after finishing college I would like to work at a living history museum and be a guide or teacher, sharing what life was life back then.”

In recent years Rebekah has started taking on more responsibility and skills in history programs in the Yadkin Valley. She is currently assisting her Dad on weekends at historic Fort Defiance in Lenoir.

Rebekah Myers is a remarkable young girl who has been gifted with talents and will use them to her best ability as she makes her dreams come true.