By Steve Flairty
NKyTribune columnist
I look forward to speaking at the Kentucky Farm Bureau Women and Young Farmer Leadership Summit in Covington, on July 16. Knowing my audience will include a host of community-involved women who give of themselves generously for others, my topic will center on ordinary, yet heroic Kentucky women from the last several decades. It’s a message to inspired individuals about other inspired individuals, and I believe the connection can create great synergy.
A theme running through the lives of that day’s speaking subjects is their “stick-to-it-tive-ness” in doing what is difficult but worthy over a long period, sometimes for decades and more. Each shows us how to overcome and care for our fellow Kentuckians despite challenging circumstances; they help build character for those who observe them, too. Following are a few of the women I’ll talk about at the KFB conference.
Charlotte Wethington (Photo provided)
Northern Kentuckian Charlotte Wethington, from Morning View, was given the hardest of hard news in 2002 when her son, Casey, died from a heroin overdose at University Hospital in Cincinnati. In describing the hold that substance abuse has on one’s brain, Charlotte stated: “Drug addiction is like dancing with a five-hundred-pound gorilla, and when the gorilla wants to dance, you dance.”
Though devastated by her son’s death, Charlotte has spent her time since the tragedy as a tireless advocate to help those suffering from substance use disorder and their loved ones fight the gorilla — the scourge of addiction. She championed the 2004 passage of “Casey’s Law” in Kentucky, which allows concerned people to petition the court system to order treatment for abusers — something she couldn’t get for son Casey as while he was floundering with the addiction. Since then, the former public-school teacher has used her platform to advocate through several organizations and has been a listening ear for the cries of a legion of people in emotional pain.
Like Charlotte, Fanestia Massey suffered the tragedy of losing a young son. In an odd and heartbreaking twist of fate, son Preston was driving home from a “Project Graduation” overnight program for him and his fellow classmates at Caldwell County High School, in Princeton. The irony is that the event is one to keep graduates away from alcohol-related activities on this landmark night in 2004. Preston, tired from the activity, fell asleep driving home and crashed at the wheel after a wholesome program that his parents lovingly chaperoned.
Fanestia Massey (Photo provided)
Always an advocate for organ donation, Fanestia and her husband gave permission to have some of Preston’s body tissues used for transplanting to others in need in what she called “Preston’s last chance to help others.” She found out later that over 60 people were benefited by Preston’s precious gifts of life. With her son’s death, Fanestia became an active advocate to encourage people to permit their own organs and tissues to be used after death. She has become an encourager to youths and helped create a “Preston Massey’s Project Pick Me” for the program going forward, where people volunteer to drive graduates home after the annual event.
For both Charlotte Wethington and Fanestia Massey, the pain of their losses nearly two decades ago spurs them to tenaciously make something good happen out of something terrible.
Ruth Lature, of Hopkinsville, saw her childhood dominated by the anxiety of being in the classroom. “I had school phobia,” she said. “It was bad. Mother would walk me to school, and I’d turn around and would run away and beat her back home.” Her parents decided to home-school her until little Ruth gave it another try in the sixth grade, and a warm and caring teacher made all the difference. She went on to graduate with honors from high school and college. Though earlier she had vowed not to become an educator, she went on to teach 35 years in public schools and carried an undying passion to help those with reading disabilities.
Early as a teacher, Ruth involved herself outside the classroom with a parents’ group in Hopkinsville helping children with specific learning disabilities. It was like having a second full-time job. “My garage was our storehouse,” she said. “My husband and my cars were relegated to the driveway, and our house became the office.”
The involvement with the program lasted over four decades, and until a few years back, was director of the group, the Dyslexia Association of the Pennyrile. In 2013, she published a nationally acclaimed book called Dyslexia: A Teacher’s Journey. And oh, what a journey it has been, as her steadfast influence has helped thousands in establishing lives of hope and fulfillment.
Sandy Hart, from the small town of Wickliffe in the Jackson Purchase area of Kentucky, told me this in an interview a few years back:
“Everybody should do something once in their lives that others say is impossible.”
Sandy did that, and more than once. In 2004, this passionate advocate for America’s military vets, who is also a loving, doting grandmother, organized, and raised funds for a seventeen-bus convoy transporting the nation’s bravest, along with loved ones, for a trip to visit the World War II Memorial in Washington, DC. It was truly a memorable experience for those involved–815 in all, 517 of them WWII veterans—and likely one they would not have had without Sandy’s valiant efforts
In 2012, Sandy and her husband, himself a US Marine veteran, established a still-thriving Kentucky Veteran & Patriot Museum in Wickliffe, stocked with loving care thousands of items giving tribute to America’s military personnel, many of whom gave the ultimate sacrifice. “I started hearing their stories in 2002,” she explained, “and they just kept bringing me stuff in buckets to help me understand them better. This starting taking on a life of its own.” A place to show the memorabilia and provide for a place of solace moved forward when the couple acquired the vacated Wickliffe Church of Christ building and property on Highway 286 for the price of $150,000. A large following of supporters helped pay for it with their donations and participation in fundraisers. Today, appreciative visitors from across America come to the museum and are comforted by the remembrance of America’s oft-forgotten heroes.
More than once, Sandy Hart has done what others think is impossible.
In the late 1950s, Irma Goss and Peggy Kemner, two women with a burning desire to help people less fortunate than themselves, met in Leslie County while doing church mission work. They soon decided they would partner in a venture to help educate people in the extremely poor area of Stinking Creek, in Knox County. Irma would focus her efforts on teaching in a one-room school and Peggy would use her nursing training to deliver babies for the community. Much of their traveling would be by horseback, and their own lives, just like the people they would serve, would be less than comfortable but something they would accept. Irma described a dilapidated building they found in 1958 that would become their home.
“The flood of ’57 had ravaged that house,” she said. “There were snake trails all through the house and dead birds. The windows were gone and (also) part of the roof. But it was a six-room house, four rooms on the bottom and two on the top. We immediately thought: ‘This is it. This is it!’”
Besides teaching and nursing, the incredible women expanded what they did. They acquired land and a tractor, built outbuildings, and raised produce, both for themselves and others in the community. They called their work and land, simply, the “Lend-a-Hand Center.” They started a 4-H Club for young people, teaching such things as healthier eating and farming techniques. They taught Sunday school classes and informally counseled and mentored troubled youth, along with providing college students opportunities to help in their outreach. The mission of delivering babies was enhanced when Peggy opened a clinic inside the new Center, built in 1965, where many of the other activities were done.
For over decades, Irma and Peggy’s perseverance and dedication was a Godsend for thousands of people in this southeastern Kentucky community and beyond. In other parts of the state, Charlotte, Fanestia, Ruth, and Sandy have made THEIR marks in sticking to their aim to lighten the load for others.
Can’t wait to share these stories on July 16!
