By Steve Flairty
NKyTribune columnist
This is my Kentucky by Heart column No. 100 since launching it a few years back. With an already busy schedule, the weekly deadline keeps me scrambling, but it sure has been a fun and gratifying endeavor, especially with the wonderful feedback received.
I’ve tried to stay true to my promise to share a variety of state-based experiences, born out of real passion, in order to help my readers “connect with their own ‘inner Kentucky.’
This week, let’s take a look back at a sampling of the previous 99. Many of them are archived at this link.
Gary Knight, Crittenden, bullied as a youth, has shared many of his summers as a volunteer counselor at a camp for special needs individuals, called Handi Camp, in Falmouth. His fun-loving nature and proverbial laughter makes Gary a favorite among campers and an inspiring presence for those who work alongside him. He could have lived as an angry adult; he chose to spread hope.
Steve Flairty speaking to school children in Owensboro (Photo Provided)
In one light-hearted column, it was fun sharing a passel of interesting names of small towns throughout Kentucky. Places such as Totz, Oddville, Dwarf, Tiny Town, Shoulderblade and Nancy. Note: for a good time, be sure to take in Pleasureville or even Whoopie Hill. Some might pick Booger Branch as a favorite.
I wrote a personal piece about my writing room and how it is well-stocked with books that are by Kentucky authors or have settings in the Bluegrass. The room is both a sanctuary for me and a way to take a virtual trip around the state. Plus, it saves on gas money taking real trips!
I also featured other books in a variety of columns. One was a memoir and book of advice by Nicholasville resident Rita Setness: Surviving Child Loss. Rita’s offering dealt with the unexpected loss of her 26-year-old son, Jonathon, and she shared coping measures based on her personal religious faith.
It was both fun and informative to share Murray State University professor Dr. Duane Bolin’s book, Home and Away: A Professor’s Journal. Dr. Bolin’s work as a historian has added much to thousands of Kentuckians’ (and beyond) sense of place, and I am especially inspired by his productive work ethic.
Battletown Witch: Leah Spock, the Evolution of Witchcraft and the Last Witch Burning in America was authored by Gerald Fischer, Meade County. Fischer writes with passion and strong research in this wide-ranging book on a subject that has been around for centuries. On a lighter note, Evelyn Christensen’s delightful children’s book, The Twelve Days of Christmas in Kentucky, is a beautifully illustrated and educational look at important aspects of our state’s geography and culture. Adults might find it to be a helpful and concise study, too.
My Kentucky by Heart slices of life started as a child, and so it’s been a joy to talk about special times and places from my past. Who of my readers, at age 12, raised Red Gold Hybrid fishing worms in their basement and sold them to people in cars passing by their house? I did, though the project didn’t end well because the wrigglers didn’t grow very fat.
Many can recall memorable family trips when young. I loved visiting my second cousins Esther and Gordon in Lincoln, Nebraska, where the eating was good and we took side trips to places like Boys Town and a huge fallout shelter for cattle.
Some columns featured Kentucky towns, with the one about Cynthiana being one of the most widely read. Beth Underwood remembers her childhood there as doing lots of sleigh-riding with other town kids on the golf course at the local country club. “What probably stands out most,” said Beth, “is the fact that we were able to walk and bike just about anywhere without a care in the world.”
Her father, Dr. A.C. Wright, was a beloved physician and is now a surgeon in Cynthiana.
Pendleton County and its largest town, Falmouth, was the subject of an intriguing article written in the early 1900s, and I decided to review it. The article provided a curious look at how the introduction of sweet clover to the community’s landscape dramatically changed the local agricultural economy. The county became, as the writer of the article noted, the “land of milk and honey.” It made a fun Kentucky by Heart column to write, and I got the impression that this historical community tidbit was not one many were aware happened.
One of the amazing things about Lexington, where I lived for 21 years, is that its history is replete with accounts of major fires. I shared information about a significant number of them by looking at Winston Coleman’s book, The Squire’s Sketches of Lexington. Fortunately, things are much better today in that realm.
Safety and risk management expert Keven Moore commented in the article about how tougher regulations and improved technology have cut down, percentage-wise, the sheer number of such events today. Yes, the good ol’ days were not always so good when it came to Lexington.
Some columns were simply profiles of very special people, like 88-year-old Louise Rhodus, who has scored six hole-in-ones over her lifetime on the golf course. Or, Benjamin Summay, a super nice young man working at a coffee shop in Lexington; he made so many good friends that they came together to buy a replacement for his stolen motor scooter that served to transport him to work.
Then, there was the tobacco raising son of Falmouth farmers who grew up to be the co-winner of the 1993 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine, and a story about Marvin Taylor and grandchild Katie, who ran a vegetable and flower produce business together for many years.
Along with those and others, I was happy to share an account of my last conversation with Uncle Donnie before his unexpected death while I was in college…words that were very important for me say. Writing Kentucky by Heart also gave me an opportunity to publicly give tribute to my only sibling, brother Mike, who always seems to come through for me when I need him most.
So…here’s hoping you’ll find time to catch up on past articles, and I look forward to writing more of the same and helping you to get in touch with your “inner Kentucky.”
Steve Flairty is a teacher, public speaker and an author of six books: a biography of Kentucky Afield host Tim Farmer and five in the Kentucky’s Everyday Heroes series, including a kids’ version. Steve’s “Kentucky’s Everyday Heroes #4,” was released in 2015. Steve is a senior correspondent for Kentucky Monthly, a weekly NKyTribune columnist and a member of the Kentucky Humanities Council Speakers Bureau. Contact him at sflairty2001@yahoo.com or visit his Facebook page, “Kentucky in Common: Word Sketches in Tribute.” (Steve’s photo by Connie McDonald)
