Champion News

 

August has started out in a lovely way—cooler than July with some nice rain and sometimes with enough humidity to fog up all the windows in the house. It is a good time to remember some remarkable people who got their start in life in August. Elitta January had a life-long career in nursing. Her big family, her many gardening and bridge playing friends and the many people she helped along the way miss her. She passed away in 2011. August 2nd is for Champion grandson Seamus, now a college student. On the 3rd, Clark Shannon, who some people call ‘Sparky,’ shares his birthday with R.D., that is, Bobby Davis, who was 66 years old in 2018. He will be the first to tell you everybody’s got to be somewhere, just like the old boy said. Skyline R2 School students Genesis Castillo and Caleb Harden share the 5th for their birthday. Back in the spring, Caleb was willing to skip school to go on the Bud Hutchison’s Memorial Trail Ride. That would probably have been ok with Bud. Skyliner Jaxton Harley shares the day with Gina Hollingshad who attended school in Dora and then taught there. These days she is part of the Whetstone Band teaching music to happy neophytes at local jams and performing for every good cause in the area. Roger Wiseman is a good singer, and so are his children, Foster and Kalyssa, mandolin and fiddle. He was born in 1968 on the 8th of August. Lynette Cantrell is the ‘L’ in the TLC Band, Tender Loving Care, and has the 9th for her day to celebrate. Theresa and Carol are with her sharing music in lots of appreciative places. Jaycee Hall and Cryslynn Johnson are in the same grade in Skyline. Their birthdays are the 10th and 12th. They are no doubt really looking forward to the start of school on the 21st. The 13th is for Dean Upshaw. He knows the words of almost any old song you can recall. He has long been a regular Wednesday visitor to Champion, but these days his friends will be visiting him up in Autumn Oaks.

‘Twas an unexpected and most enjoyable meeting with Ethel Leach out in the sunny Town and Country parking lot Thursday. She said Bob is getting along okay on a bland diet and that they have their hay in. She had good things to say about a young guy on a brush cutter working along her county road. Kind words go a long way and kind invitations often prove beneficial to the host as well. A young friend recently shared a “Bee Kind” note with her friend, who then began to think of her beekeeping friends. Lee, of the L and E Organic Farm, has been keeping his bees for three years now and this year has harvested a total of 12.5 gallons of honey. He and Edie were Champions for a short while, having bought Ruth and Orville’s Hicks’ old place. They later found a more developed place some twenty-five or so miles north and have continued developing it for five years now. They are still Champions—in Champion North.

Pleasant visiting occurred on Wednesday out on Lonnie Krider Memorial Drive. Lonnie’s granddaughter, Kalyssa Wiseman, brought her fiddle to join in with the porch jam. ‘Wildwood Flower’ and ‘Soldiers Joy’ and other tunes she shared would have made her Granddad glad. Her mother, Tanna, and her Aunt Stacy, who was visiting from Tennessee, were part of the big crowd on the wide veranda. Because it is hard to transport a banjo on a motorcycle, the young fiddler was accompanied by a most accommodating guy on a borrowed guitar. He had played his banjo many times with her granddad. We are blessed that so many of our accomplished musicians spend good time teaching, helping, and encouraging young people learning to play. Lonnie would be glad to know music is being carried on especially by his descendants and particularly down on the wide, wild, woolly banks of Old Fox Creek in Champion—Looking on the Bright Side.