Snapshot



“Kay Burke please come to the office.” Mr. Tackett’s announcement usually struck fear into the heart of the summoned child. What might I have done? Who saw me do what I did? Snickers of classmate, ohs and uh oh’s generally rose from the room anytime an announcement like this was made. Students at PGS heard tales and talk of trips to Mr. Tackett’s office. Legends of children sent to the basement, the wrath of Rube’s devil horns that seemed to protrude underneath his hair, were passed down from sister to sister, brother to brother. And worst of all: the electric paddle! Mr. Tackett stories were the stuff legends were made of in Prestonsburg, he ruled that school – at least in our little minds. Blackcat through and through, Mr. Tackett was a daily presence in our lives, the boys feared him but the girls adored him. So for me hearing that announcement wasn’t a scary event, it in fact was music to my ears, for it is the week before Christmas and there is a lot of shopping that needs to be done! Christmastime in 1969 marked the end of the decade and the end of a “stellar” year in America. We bested those nasty Russians by landing on the moon first, and Star Trek was a favorite new TV show. Of course, most little girls loved “I Dream of Jeanne” and “Bewitched”. I often walked around trying to twitch my nose or blink to get myself out of bad situations like math tests or Mrs. Frazier’s music class. Oh, I loved Mrs. Frazier, but let’s just say that singing was not on my God given talent list. So after a slow morning of math and English and watching Mrs. Warrix swig something liquid out of the top drawer of her filing cabinet, I was ready for a road trip! Fifth grade landed you on the top floor of PGS and Mrs. Warrix room looked out toward the nursing home, the fire department, post office and Court Street. Bounding down those dark brown stairs, my heart is light, for once. “Have you ever been whooped by Mr. Tackett?” I hear Denver call out toward me. “No”, I reply, sure in the knowledge that isn’t my fate to-day either. The main floor is full of little kids, getting drinks of water, going to the boys and girls room, running like ducks. Of course they’re excited, Christmas break is upon us! Soon we will see Bill Petry atop the fire truck on his annual Christmas Eve trip around town. This is one of my mother’s favorite traditions and I see a tear in her eye every year. “It’s so beautiful!” She would always exclaim. Probably the only non Methodist remark she ever made about Christmas. Leslie Burke was about the most traditional woman ever to live. We had mashed potatoes for supper every single night. I never ever tasted a Shake N Bake dinner in my life even if I did like the commercials with the little southern girl. “It’s Shake N Bake and ah hailped”. Nope, that’s not served in the Burke household. I did hear her though, say “sht” from time to time. My mother had a lead foot and I inherited it. We had a yellow Riviera, state of the art! That car had a little needle that you could set on the speed limit you were supposed to obey and it would buzz when you reached it. Buzz, sht, buzz, sht, I heard that a lot. She didn’t stretch it out like most southerners, “Sheeeet”, it was just a little sht, under her breath. I always got a little tickle from that. Christmas thoughts were swirling through my head, when suddenly a dark thought interrupted. I did do something wrong. Earlier in the day as we were doing silent reading, I had stuck my foot out into the aisle, on purpose, and tripped David Banner Leslie. He had slid like a bowling ball toward the blackboard and everyone had laughed. He was so embarrassed, his face as red as a tomato. I don’t even know why I had done it, curious. Nina Fannin whispered to me that I was going to "H-E- double toothpicks" for that. This act had made Mrs. Warrix head back to that top drawer again. So maybe Denver did know something I didn’t know, maybe this wasn’t such a good thing. Maybe if I twitch my nose this day will be over and I will be on Polecat’s bus on the way to Blackbottom. My gait slowed as I passed through the hall, past the big bulletin board in the hallway that the teachers had decorated with construction paper wreaths and hand cut “Merry Christmas” letters in red and green. I watched a little boy rip one of the handprints used to make the wreath and briefly thought about ratting him out to save myself. But from the looks of that kid he had two types of days: those that he had been to the Principal’s office and those that he was heading that way, so I journeyed on. It was nearing lunch and a familiar sight and scent hit my senses as I approached the office area: cigarette smoke and mimeograph fluid. The smoke was rolling, not from the boys and girls restroom, but from the teacher’s lounge. That place was a mystery to me, it appeared that everyone smoked, but you never saw them do it! The mimeograph machine was in full swing, Mrs. Tackett turning that crank quickly, copying jingle bear coloring sheets for the 2nd graders to complete for their parents. Turning into the office I approach the half door of the Principal’s area, the devil’s playground. Little kids are lined up, getting change, buying pencils and cool erasers from Gaye. She sees me and smiles, motioning for the little kids to step out of the way. “Come on in”, she says, “he is expecting you.” “I’ll bet he is I think.” I am about to experience the whoopin’ that Denver asks everyone about on a daily basis. Mr. Tackett is seated at his desk, head down, pouring over some important papers. Probably the papers needed to send me to the pokey I think. As I look at Rube, I’m pretty sure I can see the faint glint of a horn sticking out on the left side of his head, mercy. But my imagination pushes me over the edge, again, and Rube looks up with a smile. “I have a shopping list for you for a run to town”. YES!! A Road trip to Korner Drug. The list contained many items compiled in the teacher’s lounge. There was lipstick for Mrs. Fitch and Mrs. Bennett. Also some Russell Stover candy for Mr. Patton. Mrs. Cooley’s nerve pills and some cologne gifts for Mrs. Hatfield and lunch for all. The lunch list includes grilled pimiento cheese sandwiches, hamburgers and fries, milk shakes, vanilla and cherry cokes and cups of pickles. No money is needed, everyone just adds it to their charge accounts. Happiness abounds in my heart because I get out of silent reading and I get to eat a hamburger and have a coke instead of peanut butter and crackers! Even though I am happy, I do have a nagging guilt feeling about David Banner, I shouldn’t have acted upon that impulse, it’s going to eat at me. I resolve my inner turmoil by promising myself I will apologize when I get back, I may even take him a Blue Monday Candy Bar. But the road, or the sidewalk beckons me. I head down the wide sidewalk that runs toward Post Office Hill and past the nursing home. Dad and I often deliver medicine to the different nursing homes, even to one in Lackey. I love to help dad at the store, it’s easy to tell that I am a Daddy’s girl. As I reach Court Street I love to look up at the tinsel Christmas trees on the telephone poles. I think about other favorite decorations in town. I thought about the big red and white stockings that many people had standing in their front yards with their family name painted in black. The fancy houses on Arnold Avenue had those. I also loved Otis Cooley’s house on North Lake Drive and the giant Christmas tree decorated with the huge colorful lights! It was always a family tradition on Thanksgiving to drive by and see that tree before we went to the Jenny Wiley Basketball Tournament. Nobody ever decorated for Christmas before Thanksgiving and the Cooley tree was always the first. But the most favorite place of all in Prestonsburg for any ten year old had to be TOYLAND. Growing up I never went to a shopping mall, we chose our clothes out of the Sears and Roebuck catalog or Montgomery Ward. But when I think about it, most of the stores in Prestonsburg weren’t really what their name implied. Korner DRUG was way more than a drug store, Clyde Burchett’s JEWELRY had much more to offer than rings and necklaces. But Arrowood’s HARDWARE doubled as a very important place for children – Toyland! They had a doll that wets, badmitton nets, checkers sets and even Corvettes to play with. There were lights and buzzers, horns and sirens, meows and barks, toys of all kinds, and I loved to walk up and down those aisles deciding on which toy I wanted Santa to bring. HONK!! A loud horn startles me back from my daydream, it’s Dan Goble in his white Strand car with the loud speakers and I’ve stepped right in front of him. I’m always doing things like that, dreaming of things imagined and hopes unfulfilled. But it shakes me back to the task at hand and I cross South Lake Drive and climb the huge sidewalk in front of the store. As I step my short little legs up those big steps, a light snow begins to fall, one way or another this day will be the last day before Christmas break! I step into the store to see it full of shoppers and eaters, the smell of grease and smoke and medications assault my nostrils. Of course, Ethel is in all her glory behind the cash register, now she did rule Korner Drug and everyone knew it, especially Dad, Johnny and Hern! Often Dad would bring home something Ethel had baked, and no one liked. Mom would say, “Why did you bring that home?” And dad would say, “How do you say no to a grizzly bear?” So there she was, diamondy fingers running over those cash register keys, making that heavenly “ca-ching”. Barely looking up, almost with a sixth sense, she told me that she had the grade schools order ready, but that I needed to go in the back and wrap the presents. Among the number of things I like to do is wrap presents and today especially, it’s getting me out of lunch and PE. I usually like PE, but lately we’ve been in the gym trying to climb that blasted rope and climb the peg board thing on the wall. There’s no way I’ll ever, ever be able to do that! I’ll wrap a million presents gladly! The presents are on the back counter, cologne sets and a Kodak Pocket Camera. I know the rules: cheaper paper for the cheaper gifts and I can use the pretty silver foil paper for the camera. Task one of my legal “cheat day” completed, I have the gifts and they’re wrapped and marked for what is in each package. As I walk through the pharmacy I notice that Dad is busy, filling out billing sheets. Man if there was ever an example of how neat one should be on their numbers, it’s this job. It was painstaking and if you messed it up, guess what, you were waiting longer to get your money. So Dad was precise in his printing with his mechanical pencil. I knew not to bother him, although I also knew that he wouldn’t have minded. So I grab a big Francis Store shopping bag to put the presents in and head over to the counter. The very last stool toward the kitchen had the back broken off of it. I once forgot that and leaned back, cracking my head on the floor. I still liked that stool and I loved to twirl on it, so I jump on it, starving! Kathy knows my order, I eat the same thing every day: hamburger with lots of mustard, pickles and fries and a coke and she gets it ready for me while the teachers’ lunches are finished. I sit and think about Christmas and what it means and what I want Santa to bring. Some of my friends say there isn’t a Santa, but I don’t believe them, I know Santa is real and I need to pick out what I want. I tell Kathy that I’ll be right back and race up Court Street. The bottom of the big window at Arrowood’s is covered with a big white paper that says “Toyland” and has a red and green holly decoration on it. The hand written sign is used every year and the writing on it was cool! My guess is that they put this paper up every year really low to lure us kiddos into the store to shop, and it’s a good plan. I remember Barbie, and I know that there were popular baby dolls, but I didn’t own a baby doll and all of my Barbies were bow-legged. Why - because all of my Barbie dolls rode on horses. Horses were my favorite thing, so my search of Toyland 1969 took me straight to the cowboy and Indian section. “Bonanza” was a favorite TV show and I already had a Little Joe lunchbox. As I walked toward this section, my eyes started to scan the items and one immediately caught my eye. It was a horse, Little Joes’ pinto horse. He was so cool, he was black and white – a real beauty. But the coolest thing was that he had little ball bearings in his hooves so you could roll him and he looked like he was running! Oh, I wanted that horse so bad and he was #1 on my request list. As I continued to shop and look at all the treasures it occurred to me that I was very late. I needed to get back to school and pronto. I ran past Bob, chomping on his cigar, and yelled bye to him. Racing back to the drug store I was met with folks telling me that they had been looking for me. Lunch was ready and Kathy had it all loaded in a box for me. It was going to be a tough trip back to the grade school with a shopping bag and box full of cokes, and it’s been made even tougher: it’s snowing harder and starting to stick on the sidewalk. So my heart is light even though my load is heavy. After all, it’s the last day of school before Christmas break and it’s snowing. The little town of Prestonsburg is wrapped in tinsel and silver aluminum Christmas trees with revolving lights. The snow is falling so prettily, filling the sky with large snowflakes. I know that when I get back to school the buses will already be there, ready to dispense all the kids back to their homes for their own Christmas traditions and favorite foods. For the Burke family that meant watching Mom make cinnamon hard candy and Christmas cookies shaped like green Christmas trees and poinsettias. It means telling Santa about Little Joe’s horse, which I know is really my Uncle Fred dressed up. It means going to Church at Community Methodist and listening to the Christmas Cantata and the Christmas play. It means spending long hours at Korner Drug, wrapping packages and making bows, straightening up the Christmas card racks and occasionally peaking at customer’s photos and sneaking to read the cover of the True Love magazines and wondering what it was all about. It means getting home on Christmas Eve late after all the shoppers have bought their last present and roll of film. It means standing at the door and looking at the store one last time in the dark and thinking it looks tired. It’s still present today in my head like a snapshot.

Daisy

My heart is hard. Everyday I must pound the city streets to find food and shelter. In my short little life, I’ve known such pain, people can be so cruel. And loud! I hate all of those honking horns and cars zooming past me. Big brown trucks scream past me each day, garbage trucks and big dump trucks too. People scream at me to get out of their green grass and out from under their trees, it’s impossible to find somewhere to rest, somewhere to get warm. My belly is empty and I am thirsty. Once I was a little girl and my mommy loved me. She fed me and she tried to teach me, but she was unloved herself. My brothers and sisters and I had no chance. Once, when I was just a young thing, someone took me in. I thought I was saved. But they turned out to be cruel, the man would kick me and the woman would scream at me words that I didn’t understand. They kept me tied to a tree with no food or water. I had to pee in the same place that I slept. I was dirty and covered with fleas and I itched. I let my heart get hard, and I got mad. “I’m never going to trust another human as long as I live!” So I escaped. Days and days I chewed that rope in two and I left. I never looked back. I’ve been on my own since then but the world is a cold cruel place. One morning it started to snow so hard and it never stopped until the next day. My feet were so frozen and there wasn’t anywhere to escape the cold and the snow. Even the cars and trucks were stopped by all that white stuff. I had to eat the snow just to get water but it didn’t help my hunger.

So I spend my days hiding in plain sight. I avoid people as much as possible and I forage for food in the dark. One cold winter night I was looking for food around US Bank and a car approached me. I was terrified and I ran as fast as I could down the dark alley and I hid behind a building. My heart was pounding as I watched that car slowly stalk me, I’m sure she intends to kill me. But I noticed that she put some food into the alley. I watched her get back into her car and I listen as she says words that don’t sound mean, they sound soothing and peaceful. She doesn’t sound like the other woman who tied me with a rope and called me stupid. I still will not trust these humans, but I will eat the food they leave.

My life continues to be as harsh as the weather. Last night I was trying to find warmth on Central Avenue when suddenly out of no where this little dog comes toward me and started to chase me! I had to run for my life toward the main road through this little town. I raced toward the street with this killer terrier hot on my heels. He chases me straight in to the road where we narrowly missed getting killed and I’m sure that lady who left the food was watching. I hid in terror after I managed to escape the little terrier and I saw her driving around in the snow. I’m sure she was looking for me. Meanwhile the ice hurts my feet and I am hungry. I have no where to go.

It’s just another cold winter morning and my belly is empty. I ‘ve been hurt by one of those car things and I can’t walk. It hurt my tail and I am in agony. Another woman in another car is looking at me as I’m trying to rest beside this fence. She left gravy for me to eat but I just can’t trust anyone. My heart is hard.

My tail feels as if it’s going to fall off, it hurts so bad, but no worse than my empty stomach. Today I found a pile of dog food at the bank again. I wonder where it appeared from? It was good and it gives me strength and warmth. Uh oh, here come the cops, I must hide!

Today something happened. I walked down to Auto Zone and two women came toward me. I’m still so hurt and sore, I really just want to lay and give up. These women though treat me different. They don’t challenge me, they are so calm and peaceful. I wonder why they are trying to talk to me? I believe they are trying to help me but I swear I am so scared. I am so hurt that I don’t know how I can escape. I don’t want to bite, but if they get too close, I will have no choice. My heart is hard.

Once again, another woman seems to be following me in her car. Why are they doing this? She is pretty and she left me some pizza. These women are sure showing up in my life quite often, it almost seems as if they are communicating with each other to co-ordinate their attempts to help me. What is this, I feel a little soft spot. In my heart...

Today I found a nice place under a tree to rest near the drug store. The weather is better and my leg doesn’t hurt as bad. I lost part of my tail a few weeks ago and it seems to be hurting less and less. Once again another woman has shown up and she has food and I think it’s people food. It’s some kind of fish and it’s so good! I actually hung out with her for a few minutes and I’m proud of myself - I didn’t run away. I walked away, after I ate her food of course. My heart is getting a little softer.

There’s a little one. Just a little woman I think. Just a puppy herself. She has pretty hair and she’s not much taller than me. I can tell her heart is pure, she isn’t afraid of me. And I’m not afraid of her. She touches me and wow does it feel nice. She likes to scratch my ear and my back. I trust her. She has a mommy like I had once. The mommy is starting to put food out for me, I’m so thin and weak! Those big tall people I’m still so afraid of them, but this little one is nice. Maybe the big ones are too!

One fine spring day I noticed one of the women who seem to follow me, watching me again. It was the one who sat with me at Auto Zone. She is talking to the angel’s mommy and they’re talking about me! I heard the mommy tell the lady that if black doggie wants a home, she can have one here. I’ve wandered these streets for months. I’ve been cold and hungry. I’ve cheated death in the street and I’m tired. I walked up beside the little girl and I rested my head against her. I am home. Maybe my life can be joyful. Maybe I can have food and shelter and help and love. Maybe I can live forever with this little angel. Maybe she will call me Daisy.

In February, I noticed this beautiful black and white dog crossing the road at US Bank. Her body language was that of terror and she was very, very thin. She touched my heart and I went to the store and bought a bag of dog food and drove back to the bank. I noticed her in a yard close to the bank and thought I could coax her to me. There was no way, so I poured the food out and I watched her watch me. Only after I left did she go eat. I posted about it on Facebook and Crystal Thornsbury Music, Jackie Brown, Jen Lafferty-Kopecky, Paula Goble and Kierstin Woods all began to tell stories about how they had had similar experiences with her. Throughout the long cold winter, we would post whenever one of us saw her and tried to help her. I know her story through my eyes and the above story is what I imagine it would be through her eyes. I know every member of our little “black doggie” group have prayed for this one, looked for her, thought about her. It’s so remarkable that after all these months, she found her own home and has learned to trust us humans again. I like to think that all the little things we did helped her to understand that not all humans are monsters. If you’re reading this and it’s touched your heart, please find a way to help on your own. Help spread the word that we can each make a difference in the lives of a single dog. Spay and neuter your pet, keep them warm and safe and healthy. Look around your neighborhood for opportunities to educate and rescue animals from people who are ignorant. Sadly, there are many Daisy dogs out there who need our help!

The Final Days of Abraham Lincoln

A few days before Abraham Lincoln's assassination, he and Mrs. Lincoln held a levee. Two stories from that dance are memorable to me. When Mary was dressing for the levee, she wore a white ball gown with a train and a low revealing neckline. Upon seeing the dress Abe said "My our cat has a long tail tonight! Seems if some of that tail was nearer the head it would be in better style!"

At the levee he told several friends of his recent dream. He got quiet, reflective, not looking up he began to speak to the hushed room. "About ten days ago, I retired very late. I had been up waiting for important dispatches from the front. I could not have been long in bed when I fell into a slumber, for I was weary. I soon began to dream. There seemed to be a death-like stillness about me. Then I heard subdued sobs, as if a number of people were weeping. I thought I left my bed and wandered downstairs. There the silence was broken by the same pitiful sobbing, but the mourners were invisible. I went from room to room; no living person was in sight, but the same mournful sounds of distress met me as I passed along. I saw light in all the rooms; every object was familiar to me; but where were all the people who were grieving as if their hearts would break? I was puzzled and alarmed. What could be the meaning of all this? Determined to find the cause of a state of things so mysterious and so shocking, I kept on until I arrived at the East Room, which I entered. There I met with a sickening surprise. Before me was a catafalque, on which rested a corpse wrapped in funeral vestments. Around it were stationed soldiers who were acting as guards; and there was a throng of people, gazing mournfully upon the corpse, whose face was covered, others weeping pitifully. 'Who is dead in the White House?' I demanded of one of the soldiers, 'The President,' was his answer; 'he was killed by an assassin.' Then came a loud burst of grief from the crowd, which woke me from my dream. I slept no more that night; and although it was only a dream, I have been strangely annoyed by it ever since."

Abraham Lincoln was assassinated April 14, 1865.

On this date in April 1865, it was Monday and the day after Palm Sunday. Washington City awoke to a terrible thunderstorm. At daybreak a 500 gun salute shook the capital city. Citizens poured into the streets to see what was the excitement. Little boys hit the streets carrying long boards. They would put the boards down in the mud puddles for the finely dressed women to cross the street, earning a penny here and there. The news was exciting: General Robert E Lee of the South had surrendered. The excited crowd made their way to the White House. Military marching bands filled the street and also marched to the White House playing "The Star Spangled Banner". President Lincoln heard the people and made an appearance, and a great roar rose up as hundreds of hats were flung into the air. Lincoln said, "I am very greatly rejoiced to find that an occasion has occurred so pleasurable that the people cannot restrain themselves. I see you have a band of music with you. I have always thought that "Dixie" as one of the best tunes I have ever heard. Our adversaries over the way attempted to appropriate it, but I insisted yesterday that we fairly captured it." I now request the band to favor me with it's performance."Lincoln will be assassinated in 4 days, April 15, 1865

On this date in April 1865, Abraham Lincoln is study in opposites. Washington City was elated that the war was over, as was the President. Every evening the citizens march to the White House and cry out, "Speech, speech", shooting fireworks and guns while bands play spirited music. Every window in the White House was illuminated by hundreds of tiny candles arranged in tiers on slender strips of wood. The people call for more light so they can better see Mr. Lincoln and a lamp is fetched. They heard little Tad cry out, "Let me hold the light papa, Let me hold the light!" The Lincolns were very lenient with their boys, little Tad loved to ride a goat through the halls of the White House. It was said that Lincoln was so amused by his children that if they "shat" in his hat, he would think that was the best "shat" he had ever seen!But even in merriment, the President was forlorn. He was having dreams that disturbed him. He often dreamed that he was on a phantom ship, always going rapidly away from shore - not toward it. He saw his reflection in a mirror and he saw his image reflected with two faces, one much paler than the other and it unsettled him. He believed that the vision meant that he would be elected twice, but not live out his second term.

Lincoln will be assassinated in 3 days, April 15, 1865

On this date in April 1865, John Wilkes Booth spent the day making his final plans with his co conspirators. Booth has been stalking the President for weeks. There is a photo of Booth standing in the crowd behind the President at the Inauguration. He could have shot him then, but chickened out. He then planned to kidnap Lincoln from a carriage ride a couple of weeks earlier but Mr. Lincoln decided not to go on a carriage ride that day. It was then that Booth decided to be a hero and kill the most evil man in the country: President Abraham Lincoln. His first stop of the day was to the stable to rent a horse. He chose a bay mare and was seen that afternoon running her up the street and told a friend, "See what a nice horse I got! Now watch, she can run just like a cat!" Booth, a very famous actor, was well known at Washington City's theatres. His mail was delivered daily to Ford's Theatre and he was very familiar with the layout of the theatre. All the theatre's employees knew him, so his presence was not going to be odd. Ford's was presenting a comedy "Our American Cousin" and although he had never acted it, he knew it well. His plan was simple. He would go up the back stairs to the Presidential Box and wait until Harry Hawk's most memorable line in the play, the line that would draw the biggest and loudest laugh. "You sockdologizing old mantrap!" Then the sound of the gun firing would be muffled by the roars of laughter from the crowd. Then he would leap from the box, run across the stage and exit into the back alley where his horse would be waiting. He and his henchmen would meet up at Surratt's boarding house. Later the proprietor, Mary Surratt would be the first woman hung in the United States. Her son, John, would flee to Canada while his mother was hanged.

Lincoln will be assassinated in 2 days, April 15, 1865

On this date in April 1865, Mary Lincoln is, as usual, worried. Mary has few friends in Washington City. She is seen by the women of Washington's Elite as a Southerner, as a hick and a hillbilly. Her own family is split apart, most of her relatives fight for the south, in fact her brother in law had just been killed in battle. She was forced to sneak her own sister into the White House to grieve for her fallen husband. Mary has acquired the habit of overspending. She has filled and overfilled the White House with knick knacks, gold and silver. She purchased scads of bonnets, shawls and ball gowns, stuffing the excess in spare closets and the White House attic. And she has hidden the bills from her husband. She is in debt to Washington and New York store owners to the tune of $70,000.00. Mary is constantly fretful, especially since her dear son Willie had died from the fever. She cries out constantly, wailing and walking and shopping to quell her nerves. She visits spiritualists to contact Willie. Her true only friend was a free black woman, Elizabeth Keckley, who was her seamstress. One day in the midst of a meltdown after Willie's death, Mary was taken to the window of the White House by the President. "Mother, " he said, "do you see that large white building on the hill yonder?" Mrs. Lincoln nodding, her eyes wide and brimming with tears. Everyone in Washington recognized the lunatic asylum, an imposing landmark on the skyline. "Try and control your grief, or it will drive you mad and we may have to send you there." So even in the jubilation that the city felt, Mary was despondent. The President received hate mail on a daily basis, a fact that worried Mary. Elizabeth tried to remind her that the war was over, that the President had been re-elected, and that the dark clouds were lifting. But even during blue skies, Mary was a storm.Dr. Charles Leale was a surgeon for the Union Army. In 1865 he was 23 years old. On this day, he had taken the day off to take in some of the celebrations and get some fresh air. He headed down Pennsylvania Avenue toward the White House and noticed a celebration there. He watched the President give one of his last public speeches and was intrigued by his facial features. Upon finding out that Lincoln was going to Ford's, he immediately rushed and bought a ticket in the dress circle, close to the Presidential box. His seat was about 40 feet away from the President.Lincoln will be assassinated in 1 day, April 15, 1865

Friday, April 15, 1865. Good Friday. Washington City awoke that fateful day in a fog of celebrations for the cease fire and the upcoming Easter Holiday. The war was over, done with, finished, and Washington had been drunk for a week. President Lincoln started his day at the White House at 7am. As he walked toward the Oval Office, the hall way was already full of the usual morning vultures. “Good morning, Sir, may I trouble you with a favor?” Lincoln was tired, dead tired. “I am sorry, I cannot be of help to you.” This was his standard tired reply to the vultures. His only order that morning: have the fix-it man repair the handle of the carriage for he and Mrs. Lincoln were going on a ride that afternoon.

Mrs. Lincoln was birdlike and happy that morning, chattering about at breakfast. Their eldest son, Robert, was home from the war. At breakfast he told tales of the front and the genius of Grant. Mary did not like General Grant, and she liked his wife even more. Weeks earlier she and Mrs. Grant had paid a visit to City Point Virginia, the war front. Mrs. Lincoln was anxious to get there, Mrs. Grant was slower to ready herself, so they were late. It is told that Mrs. Lincoln berated Mrs. Grant the entire buggy ride, screaming at her and then screaming at the driver until all parties were exhausted. Mrs. Lincoln said that she had tickets for Grover’s Theatre, but she would rather see “Our American Cousin” at Ford’s. Mr. Lincoln absently agreed to just about anything she said.

Mary Surratt was at her boarding house, fixing a breakfast of eggs, flapjacks and coffee. Lots of coffee. There were several men there, Booth and his co-conspirators. Her attitude was one of forced cheerfulness, as though she was being brave in the face of impending disaster.

Lizzie Keckley was up early that morning and on the way to The White House with the bodice, skirt and sleeves for a new spring frock to fit for Mrs. Lincoln, an embroidered French muslin with cap sleeves and a delicate lace trim around the neckline. Mary Lincoln would soon be moving to the Soldiers’ Home for the summer, where she hoped her husband would rest and regain his vigorous good health. Lizzie, always worrying about the President and Mrs. Lincoln, was fretting about the knowledge of how much money Mrs. Lincoln was spending. At last count, Mary had purchased 300 pairs of gloves!

Booth was up early as well. He was hearing rumors that the President and his party would either celebrate that night at Grover’s or Ford’s. He also heard that General and Mrs. Grant were also in town, and expected to be in the President’s party. What luck, two for the price of one!

Lincoln will be assassinated tonight, April 15, 1865

Friday, April 15, 1865, about 12:30pm. President Lincoln receives notice that General and Mrs. Grant will not be joining them at the theatre. The couple decide to continue their journey northward to New Jersey to see their children. The President accepts their apologies but in his heart he must know the real truth: Julia Grant dislikes Mrs. Lincoln very much.

Mrs. Surratt is at her boarding house in the city when Booth comes in to see her. He has a request: take this wrapped package to your boarding house in Surrattsville. He does not tell her the contents, but this little "favor" has heavy implications. This simple task is what will kill her. Booth leaves and heads to Howard's Stable to rent his favorite horse for the evening.

At Ford's Theatre the morning rehearsal is wrapping up so the stagehands can begin preparation for the show. A member of the staff heads up to the attic to fetch the red upholstered rocker reserved for the President. Also in the subterranean passage were two sofas which were also brought up and dusted and put in the box for the ladies. The President's rocker was placed at the very rear of box number 7, in a corner where the President would be hidden from most of the audience by a heavy contoured drape. Ford himself got onstage and climbed a ladder to set the flags in place. He draped big American banners across both boxes. He then went to the Presidential boxes and inspected everything to be sure that they were clean and placed exactly right. Then he opened the door to 7, and closed it. He opened the door to 8, and closed it. Everything was in order. It didn't occur to him that neither door locked. Ford's Theatre was ready.

Friday, April 15, 1865, about 2:00 pm. "Madam", the guard said. "The President is busy, he cannot see you!" She may have screamed, or sobbed, because the noise she made caused the door to open and through her tears, she saw the wavering figure of the President of the United States. He looked down at her, and he was smiling. In his deep tones, he said: "There is time for all who need me. Let the good woman come in."She was Nancy Bushrod and she took her time to compose herself before speaking. She told him her name and how many babies she had and that her husband's name was Tom and that both of them had been slaves at a plantation outside of Richmond. When they had heard about the Emancipation Proclamation they heard it meant that they were free and they had run away and come to Washington. In thankfulness Tom had enlisted in the Army of the Potomac, leaving Nancy in a little shack with twin boys and a baby girl. His pay kept coming regularly, then stopped. She started to cry again. Would the President help please about Tom's pay? "You are entitled to your husband's pay," Mr. Lincoln said. "Come this timeto-morrow and the papers will be signed and ready." As Mrs. Bushrod told it later, she said: "I couldn't open my mouth to tell him that I was going to remember him forever and I couldn't see because the tears were falling."When he had escorted her to the office door, he said: "My good woman, perhaps you will see many a day when all the food in the house is a single loaf of bread. Even so, give every child a slice and send your children to school." Then, as she looked on, he bowed "like I was a natural-born lady."

The President will be assassinated in 8 hours, April 15, 1865

Friday, April 15, 1865, about 4:00 pm. President Lincoln is attending to the last business of the day, a meeting with Mr. Dana of the Department of War. He has intelligence that shows that former Senator Thompson of Mississippi has returned from exile in Canada and has sneaked across the border. He wants him arrested. Lincoln says, " Well, no I rather think not. When you have an elephant by the hind leg, and he's trying to run away, it is best to let him run." With that business decided, the President is now free to go on a carriage ride with his wife on this beautiful Good Friday afternoon.

Booth is also attending to his last business of the day, renting a horse from Pumphrey's Stable. The actor walked around the excitable mare, who actually tried to bite him. Booth was an imposing figure in black hat and black, smartly tailored coat and tight legged trousers. His tan boots were brightly polished and his spurs gleamed like gems. He had a letter to write. "Editor, National Intelligencer", he wrote on the envelope. He wanted no confusion about the perpetrator of this deed. He wrote swiftly to the skating pen to explain his act. He expected criticism of his act, but someday time would justify him. Then he did a mean thing. Instead of signing it with his name alone, he decided to commit his friends, his fellow conspirators to his deed. He signed it: "J.W. Booth, Paine, Atzerodt, Herold. He knew that this put the noose around their necks.

Lincoln will be assassinated in 6 hours

Friday, April 15, 1865 about 5:00 pm. Abraham and Mary, married couple of 23 years, leave the White House to enjoy their first peaceful evening in forever. The weather is nice, and their hearts are light. She asks him if he wants someone to ride with them. "No" he said, with a twinkle in his eye, "I prefer to ride by ourselves today." On this drive, Abraham was in rare humor and passerby heard Mrs. Lincoln's laughter peal from the coach. It rang out wholeheartedly and Mr. Burns, up in the front seat, grinned without knowing the joke. As they trotted along, the President raised his silk hat when groups of citizens hailed him from the walks. "Dear husband," Mary said. "You almost startle me by your great cheerfulness." "Mother, I consider this day the war has come to a close." He patted her hand, as though he hoped to infuse her with what he was going to say. "We must both be cheerful in the future. Between the war, and the loss of our darling Willie, we have both been very miserable." Abraham talked about the future to Mary. He spoke of reconstruction in the South, completing his second term in office, and then perhaps a trip to Europe. He also wanted to see California and the Pacific Ocean. "I never felt so happy in my life."

Abraham will be assassinated in 5 hours.

Friday, April 15, 1865 about 6:00 pm. Many of the principles of this day are on the road. Mary Surratt has delivered Mr. Booth's package to her boarding house in Surrattsville and is on her way back to Washington City. Booth's henchmen are scattered over the city, in search of Booth. Booth is in the alley behind Ford's theatre feeding his horse for she must be rested and strong. Abraham and Mary are finishing up their carriage ride, their mood is gay and happy. At the door of the White House two of his friends await. He tells Mary that he won't be long and they go into the Oval Office. The two, seeing the one so unusually happy, fell into a mood of horseplay and all three roared with laughter. Lincoln, again tells of a dream he had before he came to the White House. He was lying on a couch in Springfield and he glanced up at a mirror and saw two images of himself: one glowing bright, one ghastly in death. Th meaning he said, was decipherable: he would be healthful in in first term of office, and death would overtake him in his second. He called dreams "Children of Nature" and he had a deep respect for them. Eventually the friends bid each other farewell, and Abraham rejoins his family for dinner.

Lincoln will be assassinated in 4 hours.

Friday, April 15, 1865 about 8:00 pm. Night came like a gentle sneak and the city lamp-lighters fought it with ladders in one hand and taper in the other. Ladies about to go out for the evening studied the sky and decided to take good warm coats. White House guard William Crook was mad, but he was good at hiding his feelings. His replacement was 3 hours late to begin the night shift. Thankfully though, his replacement did show up. As he was leaving, Abraham looked at him and said: "Good-by, Crook." On his way home, Detective Crook thought about it, the President always said "Good night Crook." Why would he change it to good-by? Near the theatre district, boys ran through the streets, passing out specially struck handbills: Ford Theatre The performance to-night of "Our American Cousin" will be honored by the presence of President Lincoln.

It was 8:05 when Mrs. Lincoln, in pretty bonnet with tiny pink flowers, and low-necked white dress, stood in the office doorway pulling on gloves and said: "Will you have us be late?" President Lincoln slowly arose and asked Lizzie to "brush down his bristles in the back of his head", put on his silk hat. "I am engaged to go to the theatre with Mrs. Lincoln. It is a kind of engagement I never break." He waved to all, as the carriage pulled away from the White House.

Booth and his conspirators met for the final time. Booth would go alone to Ford's. His strike time was approximately 10:15. Afterward he would flee fast on his horse, headed for the Navy Yard Bridge, to Virginia, then to the loving arms of the South.

President Lincoln will be assassinated in 3 hours.

Friday, April 15, 1865 about 9:00 pm. The President's carriage turned north at Fifteenth Street and east on H Street. It pulled in front of the home of Senator Ira Harris. The Lincoln's last minutes guests are Miss Harris and Major Rathbone. Although he was was a Major, tonight he was unarmed. Act One was being played to an almost capacity house, although a small queue of patrons still waited for tickets at the box office. When the carriage arrived, the night shift detective, Parker, dismounted his horse and went inside to make a quick check of the Presidential box. Everything looked all right. Parker, a particularly lazy man, felt as if his job was done. Now he would lead Mr. Lincoln, by a pace or two, into the theatre. Later, he would sit outside the corridor, and in time, see that the President got back into his carriage. At twelve midnight, Parker would be on his way home. The play, already begun, was already starting a buzz of laughter in the audience. Dr. Leale, present in the dress circle front of the theatre, was only mildly interested. His main reason to be there was to examine the very interesting facial features of President Lincoln. As the party enter the theatre the star of the play, Miss Laura Keene, noticed them right away. She ad-libbed "Anyone can see that!", as she thrusted her arm toward the incoming President. Professor Withers raised his baton and the band swung into "Hail to the Chief", as the party made their way upward to their box.A soft rain begins in the cool night sky.President Lincoln will be assassinated in 2 hours.

Friday, April 15, 1865 about 10:00 pm. It's go time. Mr & Mrs. Lincoln are enjoying the play. Mrs. Surratt is at her boarding house, nervous, waiting for the return of the conspirators. Detective Parker is becoming bored with his post outside the box door. He got up, pushed his chair against the dress circle wall, and walked up the aisle and out the theatre. "How would you like a little ale?", he asked the carriage driver. The two started down the street to Talavul's Bar. Inside the theatre there were 1,675 persons. At least one was in a romantic mood. This was the President. He reached and found Mrs. Lincoln's hand and held it at the side of the rocker and did not let go. Mrs. Lincoln leaned close to her husband and whispered: "What will Miss Harris think of my hanging on to you so?" "Why," the President said, not taking his eyes from the stage, "she will think nothing about it." This will be his last known words.

The President will be assassinated in 1 hour.

John Wilkes Booth shows up backstage at Ford's. He has left his horse out back, her reins being held by a stage hand. He coldly, calmly smiles at the actors who are star struck by his presence. He is listening to the lines of the play, lines he could mouth with them. Unknown to him, one of his conspirators has already chickened out. Atzerodt, who was the kill the Vice President, is getting hammered at the Union Hotel. Booth, after realizing that he has time to kill, walks back to Taltavul's for a whiskey. He drinks just down the bar from the President's coachman AND his protector. When giving the whiskey to Booth, the bartender exclaims: "You'll never be the actor your father was." The conspirator smiled and nodded "When I leave the stage," he said quietly, "I will be the most famous man in America."Countdown

Booth walks back up the street and into Ford's Theatre slightly ahead of schedule. He heard the lines onstage and he knew he had about two minutes. He looked down at the little white door and saw the empty chair. Confused, he looked at patrons sitting in the dress circle chairs and quickly realized that he was going to get into that box with no trouble, no challenge, no fight, no stabbing. He was going to be able to walk in as though Lincoln had been expecting him. Now was the time. Booth knew that, in a few seconds, Asa would be alone on the stage. He turned the knob, pushed the door, and walked into the darkness. The door closed behind him. He found the pine board he had put in their earlier and wedged it in the door so no one could enter. The conspirator crouched and pressed his eye against the gimlet hole. What he saw was clear. The high back of the horsehair rocker was in plain view and the silhouette of a head above it. He watched. He waited.

Booth turned the knob. The door swung inward. Lincoln was about 4 feet in front of him. Booth moved along the wall toward his prey."Wal, I guess I know enough to turn you inside out, you sockdologizing old mantrap" The line was met with the expected huge laughter.The derringer was behind the President's head between the left ear and spine. Booth squeezed the trigger and there was a sound as though someone had blown up and broken a heavy paper bag. In came in the midst of laughter, so that some people heard it, some did not. The President did not move, rather his head inclined toward his chest and he ceased to rock. Mrs. Lincoln, her faced still creased in laughter, turned toward the noise. Booth with no maniacal gleam or frenzy said, "Sic semper tyrannis" and thrust his knife into Major Rathbone. The assassin moved to the ledge of the box and shouted, "Revenge for the South" as he jumped from the box and onto the stage. It is done.

Dr. Charles Leale wisely documented his treatment of Mr. Lincoln after the shooting. His account, "Lincoln's Last Hours" documents what happened next.He was the first person to reach the white door, which was blocked inside by the pine board. After it was removed with much difficulty, he entered the box. Major Rathbone was the first to be administered to, as his arm had been slashed and was bleeding severely. After seeing that the Major was in no danger, he then attended to the President. His eyes were closed and his head had fallen forward. Mrs. Lincoln was weeping bitterly, but still able to hold him in his chair to keep him from tumbling to the floor. While examining his patient, he lifts his eyelids and sees evidence of a brain injury. He writes: "The President had been shot in the back part of the head, behind the left ear. I easily removed the obstructing clot of blood from the wound, and this relieved the pressure on the brain." He asks for brandy and pours a small quantity in the President's mouth which was swallowed and retained. "I then pronounced my diagnosis and prognosis: "His wound is mortal; it is impossible for him to recover." This message was telegraphed all over the country. We decided that the President could be moved from the possibility of danger in the theatre to a house where we might place him on a bed in safety. We slowly carry him to Mr. Petersen's house, diagonally opposite. This we did, not having been interrupted in the slightest by the throngs in the street, but a number of the excited populace followed us into the house." The vigil, the watchnight begins...

During the long night, many government officials gathered at the Petersen boarding house. A stenographer was sent for and he took down all the events of the long dark night. Mrs. Lincoln came into the room, many times, only to behave so crazily that she was sent away by the doctors. Dr. Charles Leale, a very young army surgeon, administered to the President all night. Alternating with pouring brandy into Lincoln's mouth and removing the blood clot in the wound, he kept him alive much longer than anyone imagined. At 7 am his respirations slowed, then ceased. Secretary of War, Edwin Stanton, uttered, "And now he belongs to the ages" as Dr. Leale took two large coins from his pocket, placing them on his eyes. It was done!

In the aftermath of Lincoln's murder, his family suffered greatly. Poor Mary. She never saw his body, she refused to go to the funeral, witness a ceremony, ride the train to take his body back to Illinois. His body was taken back, with the body of his son Willie, to be buried in Illinois. She refused to leave the White House for 6 weeks. Her state of mind allowed expensive treasures of the Lincoln White House to be pilfered through, while she took trunks of worthless junk with her. She gave away many personal belongings of her husband. She eventually settled in Chicago. In the summer of 1871, she was a victim of the Great Chicago Fire, spending the evening running in terror through the streets, eventually ending up in the water of a lake to survive. Additionally, she again suffered through the death of another child, Tad, at the age of 18 to a sudden illness. She refused to attend his funeral. Her only living son, Robert, finally makes the decision to have his mother placed in a sanitarium because of her constant erratic behavior. Mary Todd Lincoln, from Lexington Kentucky is a very complex and interesting character!

Soaring

I was sitting on my front porch to relax and read, it’s something I enjoy doing. Again today I saw her, circling the neighborhood. I don’t know her name, but I admire her for she is always richly dressed. She wears beautiful shades of brown; tan and burnt umber, ecru and rich gold. And she whistles a nameless song as she travels. I wonder why she does that? I find myself gazing at her and wondering what her story would be. I ponder her habits and I wonder if she is in control of her actions or if she is powerless to change. She is driven by unseen forces of nature, I believe. I know she watches the people who call Blackbottom home. She gazes as smoke trails up from Dairy Cheer filling the air with savory scents. She spies lovers in cars on University Drive, making plans for the future. She whistles as she watches a cat smooth his fur on Burke Avenue. She laughs to herself when a silly yellow dog jumps toward her as she glides through the sky. She is a hawk and she has a nest somewhere in the trees across North Lake Drive near my Uncle Johnny’s house. And the things she does, the habits she has are encoded in her; how to hunt for dinner and how to soar into the thermals and hover for long periods as she watches a mole run for cover. So yes I do believe that for her, she is powerless to change. After all, she isn’t likely to land in my yard to receive the small bits of bread that I toss out to sparrows. She isn’t going to swim down the Big Sandy River and dip her head under or paddle around like a goose. She doesn’t worry when the crows start chasing her; she can easily soar higher and faster than they can. Nor does she fret at the woodpecker as he bangs his head repeatedly into a tree. For she is a hawk, a soaring bird, a huntress. She will teach her young how to whistle and battle and snatch and climb into the wind. And she will stay true to who she is and if you meet her with blood on her feathers, then that’s how it is.

As humans, are we like that? Are we powerless to change? Is it so ingrained in me to be fearful always? Am I destined to perpetually repeat my mistakes? How can I ever learn to eat vegetables at my age and wear high heels, am I a hawk? Will I always be introverted and introspective; can I learn to be a different me? I’ve watched our society go mad in the last few years. We watch the crows and the woodpeckers of our world and we fret and worry about what they do; we do not soar above it. I wonder if we can learn to love one another even though we see fault, even though we do not agree. Is it logical to admire someone who speaks the truth, then bash them for their truth? Are the bits of letters and words and texts and little smiley faces that we expel through the atmosphere real? Have we lost the ability to live in a real world, free of technology as the hawk does? As the moon and the stars and the sun slide through our sky, I pray that I am not like the hawk, that I can find a way to change little by little each day. I hope I can learn to be more open and unafraid and tolerant. As the moon and the stars and the sun slide through our sky, I pray that I am more like the hawk. I hope I can be who I am, unafraid to speak my truth and show who I am. And I hope each day we as humans can grow a little and change and learn to forgive and give each other a little space on the earth.

Bill Loftus

Bill Loftus

Some people just have Sparkle.  Bill Loftus had sparkle.  His students this week were shocked and saddened to hear of his passing.  I visited an impromptu memorial at his office door today and was moved as I viewed the hallway filled with warm memories and small tokens of appreciation.  His good friend and fellow professor Toufic  Saad recalled to me the support and love Dr. Bill showed him during their years together at Big Sandy.  Toufic said, “He walked by my classroom daily and before he walked to the end of the hallway to enter his classroom, he walked in mine and ask for his ‘Man Hug’. So we hugged often. I am a two-time cancer survivor and he was always there for me, for moral support, uplifting messages and texts, and mostly "Man Hugs".  I am going to miss those the most.”

   Colleagues and students speak often and vigorously about Dr. Bill’s passions in life.  He loved his family, his wife Teresa and his son Balin, more than life itself.   He often spoke of his devotion to his family during class, and students remember the proud look in his eye when he spoke of his son.  He loved his students and he loved helping them to reach their full potential and to see the true wonder of life.  The students who have gathered at his doorway have left messages of hope, and admiration for their professor and friend.   Nathan remarks, "You were a true inspiration" and Amber writes, "Thanks for being one of the coolest dudes I've met."   Tavis speaks of Dr. Bill’s sense of wry humor and wit and his wicked laughter.   He fondly remembers the class as a happy little circle that was “the house of love”.  As his classroom would fill with his students and friends, he would shut the door and cheerfully exclaim, “Good morning, ladies and gentlemen!”

He was a humanitarian who gave freely to others. One of Dr. Bill’s causes was “The Green Dot Initiative”.   This initiative strives to raise awareness that society can reduce violence in our community and on our school campuses.   Dr. Bill was instrumental in bringing the initiative to Big Sandy.  

A rich full life is attained by living fully and freely.  Bill Loftus did just this.  He loved his family and his students.   He loved a great joke, a good game of golf and an ice cold beer.   He loved cool jazz and warm Hersey Kisses.  He dreamed of traveling to Ireland one day.  Dr. Bill was expressive, quirky, funny and deep, everything we should inspire our children to be. 

As I said before, Dr. Bill had Sparkle.  He especially had the paper towel kind of Sparkle.   Dr. Bill, just like many of us, hated hand dryers in restrooms.  A few years back, hand dryers were installed in the bathrooms.   He hated them.  He and his students waged a war against the dryers until finally paper towel dispensers were back living happily in the campus bathrooms. 

As with everything, life continues.   I believe that Dr. Bill would want his friends and students to strive to live life to the fullest.       

Korner Drug History

Korner Drug History

In June 1915 a church was built on the corner of Lake Drive and Court Street and was named Irene Cole Memorial Church.  On a very cold January night in 1942, a terrible fire broke out at the church and the building was destroyed.  My friend and I were in the Abigail Theater, which was next door to the church on Court Street when suddenly the movie was stopped and all were asked to evacuate the theater.   Our little fire department did the very best they could to battle this fire in horrible conditions.   It was so cold that fire hose froze, the water freezing right in the hoses.   The firemen clothes froze stiff while they were still wearing them.   I saw it so I know it is true.  The church was able to build a new building on Front Street and is now the First Baptist Church. 

 The location of the property where the church once stood was a prime location.  Lake Drive, then known as Mayo Trail, connected Paintsville and Pikeville with Prestonsburg being right in the middle.   The bus station stood where Community Trust stands today and the Floyd County Courthouse stood where our new courthouse is.  The town’s only red light was there as was a large filling station which was located where the old First National Bank building still stands.  And the Abigail Theater was right up the street!   A business would be an excellent choice to build on the site. 

   The church property was purchased by Banner Meade and John Allen.  Together they built a two story cream colored brick building.  The first floor consisted originally of three sections and the upper story was sectioned into several rooms.   The corner section of the building's first floor was rented by Fred and Ethel Burke Dickerson.   Fred and Ethel opened a fountain and they named it Fountain Korner.   It quickly became the town's gathering place, a place where you could get a burger and milkshake, magazines and perfumes.   This fountain had a large curved arc front window, from which the comings and goings of everyone in town could be seen.   In the mornings before the sun rose, the business men in town would meet at the Korner.   They would gather for good food and coffee and to play Liar's Poker, a game with dollar bills.  By lunch time, the ladies of Prestonsburg would meet for iced tea and spicy talk, sitting at the tables at the curved window.  In the afternoons my friends and I would gather at the Korner and the tables near that window became favorite seating places of many of us, including me!  We always tried to get a table at the window before going to the movie matinee.   The store was an instant success, opening each day at 5am and closing at 11pm, seven days a week. 

  When my friends and I would go to a movie at the Abigail, which we often did, we would always stop at Fountain Korner to get our Cokes, and then we would buy our popcorn at the movie.   One Sunday evening as we walked up onto the cool diamond patterned front stoop, Ethel was locking the door.   We later learned that Fred had shot and killed James Roark, a former classmate of mine.   In court, the verdict was self- defense.   Neither Fred nor Ethel went back to the store after that.   Ethel eventually went back many years later.  Ethel’s two brothers, Joe and Johnny, had returned from World War II where they served overseas.   Both had found jobs and had married – Joe to Leslie Comstock and Johnny to Helen May – the girls were cousins.  So the couples bought the Korner and went to work.   Soon it really was the place to meet for a friendly welcome and the food was delicious.  (I soon would be joining the fun!)

  In April 1949 their older brother, Hern, returned from Germany after 6 years in the Army.   He had learned photography while in Germany.  He joined his brothers as a full partner.  They each had a shift at the store, morning, afternoon, evening.   They would rotate shifts weekly.  No brothers were closer, each had their job to do and they respected each other’s opinions.  Their oldest brother and his wife, Heber and Minta, both worked at Nunnery Grocery Store where Minta was the manager and Heber was a meat cutter.  He made the best meat loaf!  Each morning all four brothers would gather for  coffee before opening for the day.

  I mentioned my friend earlier – she was Mary Sue Prince Herold.   She was married to a distant cousin of mine and they had two children.  While in the service he decided he wanted a divorce.  Most of our friends and relatives had moved to Ypsilanti Michigan to work at defense plants.  Mary Sue stayed and moved in with her mother who watched her children while she worked.   It also allowed us to go to the movies – that was our favorite thing to do.  In fact it was the only thing to do!

  I was working at Leader Department Store in July 1949 when a customer came in.  His name was Hern Burke and I recognized him as I had known his family since school days.  I spent many nights at their family home in Blackbottom with his sisters Ruby and Goldie.  He had returned home in April after six years in the Army.  He served three years in combat in Europe and two years in Germany.  While in Germany an old man taught him the art of photography.   While talking to him at The Leader I learned that he had seen me coming down the steps at First Methodist Church one Sunday morning and that he had a darkroom in the basement of his mother’s smokehouse.  I was always making pictures, so I was glad to have them developed here instead of mailing them away.    Anyway, we had our first date in July 1949.  It was a date in which we spent no money; we went first to the old Prestonsburg Hospital in West Prestonsburg to see Johnny and Helen’s newborn baby boy  - John Jr.  The date was July 29, 1949. After visiting the new parents at the hospital, we went to the Prestonsburg Drive In, located here in Blackbottom.   The Drive In gave businesses two free passes if they would place an advertising sign in your window.   So we got 2 free passes, we fixed us a Coke at the Korner and popped some corn and Granny and Papaw's house. From then on we were together two to three times a week. 

  Joe was accepted in to the pharmacy school in Cincinnati that fall and he, Leslie and Jeanne moved to Cincinnati.   In October they wanted to come home to see the family, especially his sister Goldie and her family who were visiting from Michigan.   Joe and Leslie had no car and Hern’s new Pontiac had just come in, so we met them at the bus station in Lexington.  I guess that was my proposal, for Hern said, “Let’s get married and have Joe & Leslie be our witnesses.”  We got married in a Methodist parsonage in Mount Sterling on October 7, 1949.  Funny thing is that we kept it a secret, and I’m not sure why, we definitely were old enough.   The week after we married an auction was held of the property from North Lake Drive to the river, the property where we have resided our entire marriage.  Hern had sent his money to his mother while he was in the service so he had enough to buy the 100’ foot lot.  We built the house that I have enjoyed for 64 years.  As I write this, Hern has been gone for 31 years, April, 28, 1983. 

While Joe was gone to pharmacy school, it fell upon Hern and Johnny to keep the store up and running.   Everything was running ok with only two brothers working at the store, until Johnny developed rheumatic fever.   He was admitted to a V.A. hospital in Louisville.  This unfortunately led to Joe having to leave pharmacy school and come back home to resume his tasks at Fountain Korner.  I believe this happened in November 1949.  In the first part of December it was decided that Hern would take Papaw Burke and Helen to Louisville to visit Johnny in the hospital.  Of course without the Mountain Parkway back then, it was a trek of about 7 hours.  Naturally it would be necessary to spend the night so that’s when we told our parents of our marriage.   Neither family wanted us to rent a house, but offered us a place to stay with them while we saved money to build a house on the lot Hern had purchased earlier.  We borrowed $5,000 which paid for the materials.  Hern and our dads built the house.  My brother came home from Cleveland and did the electrical work.   We paid Nelson Baldridge $100.00 to sand the hard wood floors and Bill Holbrook built the chimney.  Soon other houses were being built, and vacant lots were all taken up.  When Joe and Leslie moved back home from Cincinnati, they too moved in with Granny and PaPaw.   They brought with them the first TV set that I have seen and I believe it was the first set in Prestonsburg.   It had two stations out of Huntington and on Saturday nights we would gather together to watch wrestling.  You should have seen PaPaw and his nephew Harry Burke, Harry Robert’s dad, get down in the floor in front of the TV and wrestle! 

  We stayed with Granny and PaPaw Burke the most as PaPaw as wasn’t doing well.  So as my welcome into the Fountain Korner family, I inherited the job of making the potato salad.  Granny had been making it since her sons bought the Fountain.  She helped me with it until we moved into our house.  I was still working at The Leader so I got all the ingredients ready the night before and then mixed the salad dressing before going to work.  I made one to two gallons each week on Mondays and Thursdays.   The recipe was 6-8 pounds of potatoes, pickles, onion, pimento, salad dressing, celery, carrots – no mustard.  And a secret ingredient.   I did this from 1950 to 1985, continuing even after Hern’s passing in 1983. 

  I quit work in November 1952 and became a full time mother on April 2, 1953.  What a beautiful baby girl we had!  She was such a daddy’s girl too!   As she got a little older, I added other duties for the Fountain; I made hot dog sauce and homemade pies.   The chili sauce was 15 pounds of hamburger, gallon of kidney beans, gallon of ketchup, onions and plenty of spices.  Leslie made the famous pimento cheese, no where could you find any better, especially when she could make it with commodity cheese.  I also made 4 homemade pies a week,  a fruit pie and a cream pie, twice a week.  Customers stood in line to get seated at the Fountain.  Later, the GE Store, which occupied the center of the building, closed down.  So the wall was torn down and Fountain Korner was enlarged.  In addition to the fountain, our family added a restaurant at the other end of the building.  The restaurant served hot meals, pinto beans and chicken and dumplings  but it didn’t affect the popularity of Fountain Korner.

  In addition to his duties at Fountain Korner, Hern was also a very popular photographer and he still had his developing to do each Friday.  Eventually he outgrew his mother’s smokehouse basement darkroom and rented a space in the Town Center Building, about where Dr. Hyden’s office used to be.  He had more space and money and was able to buy more equipment.  One item that I was glad to get was a printer.  Every Friday night Hern would bring home all the prints and negatives that he had developed that day.  We would spread 20 – 40 rolls of pictures out on the floor.  We held the film to the light and matched the pictures.  When each roll had matched pictures, I cut the negatives apart, added them up, put them in a photo envelope, priced them and started on the next roll.  We usually finished this task around midnight and I had to go into my job at The Leader at 9am on Saturday morning.  Hern and his brothers still rotated shifts, so some Saturdays it was Hern’s turn to open up at 5 am.  

Hern’s photo reputation increased, so his business grew to include portraits, weddings and accident scenes.  He did several deer shots during hunting season, but he didn’t like that.  He said their eyes seemed to say, “Why would you shoot me?”  But it was a bad part of his profession.

In early December 1956 at about 4 am we got a call that the store was on fire.  Mark Reed, a friend of the brothers, stopped by every morning to get his Lexington paper from the stack left on the front stoop.  He felt the heat of the brick and rushed to the Fire Department.  We had a knowledgeable fire department and upon arrival at the scene they knew to not fling open the doors.  If they had the building would have exploded.  The beloved circular window in the front didn’t even have a crack in it, but the store itself was destroyed.   There was a large display of dolls over the fountain.  Their little faces were melted, they looked so unhappy as they were to be some little girl’s Christmas gift.  The clock beside the dolls melted too.  It hurt to see all the damage.  It was so hot inside the store that the patent medicine tablets such as aspirin disintegrated inside the bottles with the labels shrunken and falling off.  All the beautifully colored lipsticks melted leaving a red waxy trail.  All the display cases and wall cases had to be refinished due to the smoke and water damage.  The insurance company declared nothing could be saved and as they were there inspecting the damage they picked up a Little Golden Book.  Hern said, “I told them my baby had been wanting this book for Christmas.”   The inspector gave the book to Hern.  Della was 3 ½ years old at the time and still has the book.  After the fire, the incoming merchandise was moved over to the photography store in the Town Center Building and the Christmas buying season was salvaged as much as possible.   We were able to keep the bills paid and have Santa come to our children.   They stayed there until the Fountain was able to be used again.  In the aftermath of the fire it was discovered to be arson.   Four Prestonsburg High School boys broke through a small window in the storage room.  They took smaller items, watches being the most expensive.  It amounted to a few hundred dollars.  As they left, they set fire to the wrapping paper.  The paper smoldered but did not burn so that made that part of the clean-up easier, but the smoke odor was so strong and lingered for years.   Thank God for fire insurance!  The guilty ones were found and punished and most of the stolen good were returned.  The Korner had to be redone from top to bottom with new paint and new tile floors.  All the nice wooden cabinets were ruined and had to be refinished, which took some time.  Ackerman's Repair Shop did all the cabinet work.  The barstools were screwed into the floor from the basement ceiling. 

    February 1957.  The historic flood hit Prestonsburg hard.  No one ever dreamed or expected the amount of destruction leveled on the area.  It rained and rained and then more rain, swelling The Big Sandy River and all the streams in Pike and Floyd Counties.   In Prestonsburg the main part of the city began at the corner of Court Street and N. Lake Drive, around the only red light.  Fountain Korner was on the higher side of the street and First National Bank was on the opposite side of the street on a much lower corner.  A large drain was in the middle of the street and it carried out all the water that drained from the hills surrounding the city. Lots of times in the past this drainage system struggled to carry all the water and it often got clogged with debris.  Typically the firemen would wade in and unclogged the debris but this time the flooding was coming from the other side of town, from The Big Sandy and the open sewer lines.   The streets soon began to flood, overflowing businesses and homes.   The First National Bank flooded before Fountain Korner, as the corner where Fountain Korner is was much higher.  Eventually the flood water reached the store, and stretched to the top of the doors and the newly painted walls.  Remember the cabinets that I mentioned from the fire?   Well, they had just been completed and were soon to be delivered back to the store.  In fact, some had already been delivered to Granny and Papaw's house.  So luckily all of those custom cabinets had not been placed back in the store and they were not damaged in the flood.  That would have been a costly repair as we did not have flood insurance.  The waters got in every business on Court Street from the Fountain to Wright Brothers Barber Shop and in the other direction to the Post Office.   It reached Sparks Bus Station and almost to the top of the telephone building.  I got a call from Hern at 4 am.  He and the brothers were at Brother Heber’s store eating bologna and crackers.  They were safe and he told me of the damage uptown.  The phones soon went out and were out for several days.  The brothers could not get home in Blackbottom but they knew we were safe and likewise we knew they were ok.  They had worked furiously to pack up the store and move it upstairs, and they got all the merchandise moved.  The camera store and darkroom across the street wasn’t as fortunate.   They packed up as many cameras as they could and developing supplies into our large car, a Chrysler New Yorker, and brought them here.  As the flood waters rose, I would keep moving that car to keep it and our merchandise safe.  We lost all of our printers and larger items and some photos that belonged to customers.   We lost some recital pictures and sad to say, some wedding photos.  Soon when it was obvious that there was nothing anyone could do, Hern, Joe and Johnny were brought home down Lake Drive in a boat. 

  Hutsinpillar’s Drug was located down the street, about where Clyde Burchett’s Jewelry Store was located.  Around 1960 the third partition of the store was removed and the Burkes bought that section.   They bought Hutch’s Drug Store and moved it in their building on the corner of Court Street and North Lake Drive and renamed the business Fountain Korner Drug.  As an extra bonus from that transaction, we acquired the Fostoria Crystal account which was very popular with the ladies.  At the time a Fostoria cup cost 90 cents and a plate cost $1.50.  The store by this time was a major hub in the flow of life in Prestonsburg. I remember Hutsinpillar as a very kind man and a quiet man and gentleman.  He taught Sunday School at the newly built Community Methodist Church in Blackbottom.  In the 1960's and 70's,  Fountain Korner Drug continued to be a gathering place, a hub of activity and commerce in Prestonsburg.  The time between Thanksgiving and Christmas our little town transformed into a beehive of activity.  Eastern Kentucky folks came to Prestonsburg for their shopping and no trip was complete without a trip to Fountain Korner.  I was at Korner Drug helping dad gear up for the Christmas shopping season.   Early in the fall sales women from Revlon, Max Factor, and Canon Cameras would start to appear to take our Christmas gift giving order.   I believe it was a mix of bravery and insight, so much was at stake!   If you by too much cologne that turns out to be stinky, then you're going to have some expensive alcohol.    Or if you choose stuffed animals that the kids don't connect with, then you've got dirty, dusty teddy bears come spring.  I always helped Ethel unpack the perfume shipments, the gift sets of Jovan Musk and Love's Baby Soft.   The expensive bottles of Chanel No. 5 or No. 2, I wasn't allow to touch those.   Windsong, Charlie, Jean Nate', Cachet were all so popular.  For men I remember Hi Karate, English Leather, Old Spice and Brut.   It was a tedious job, counting to make sure the shipment was correct, then using the price gun to affix the price on each bottle.  One of my favorite jobs was to wrap all the Russell Stover candy that First Commonwealth Bank would buy for their very best customers.   I remember cases stacked upon cases that were just waiting for me to wrap after school in that dusty store room behind the pharmacy. Scissors were always in high demand, and always getting lost.  One day after a long search for scissors dad got a piece of twine and tied them to a post in the pharmacy.   Satisfied, he walked away firm in the knowledge that his prized scissors would never been taken!   Imagine his horror when later he went to look for them and lo and behold; someone had used the scissors to cut the twine.   Laughter filled the store as we watched him storm up to Arrowood's to buy a chain!  Soon the Ambassador Cards shipment would come in.  That was a task!    Each different Christmas card type would have its pre-destined home in the rack, the kid's cards together, the cards for lovers and friends and neighbors, all decorated in reds and greens and vivid blues.  All the racks had to be cleaned and dusted before unpacking the boxes in the week before Thanksgiving.  It was also time to decorate the windows with tinsel and paper.   Dad would give me like 10 bucks and allow me to go "uptown" to purchase tinsel ropes, garland and holly to decorate the tree that we would have in the window.   We always had trouble with the sun pulling the color out of the boxes, so we had to be creative to showcase our items for sale.  We always used Fostoria for the windows and we would rotate the boxes of perfume and cameras in and out of the window to protect the boxes.   The camera department was Hern's domain.   He made all the camera decisions and had to keep all the film, batteries and flash bulbs well stocked for Christmas Eve shoppers.  Eventually Dad and our pharmacist, Burl Whitt, got involved in the camera purchases, especially for the more expensive Canon cameras.  Oh how I wish I had paid attention to all the great photography tips they shared around giant cups of coffee!  Everything you wanted and needed, could be had on Court Street, Prestonsburg Kentucky.    I imagine that some people have fond memories of shopping trips to bigger cities, but not me.

Doc Hutsinpillar retired during the mid 1960's and Cloyd Johnson became our Pharmacist.  I remember Cloyd had a large hump on his back.   Abe Smiley, one of the drug store regulars, would always come back to the pharmacy to visit with Cloyd.  Naturally he would ask how Cloyd got that hump on his back.   Every day Cloyd would tell him the story of being in the war.   He said he was talking too much and swallowed a cannon ball!  Abe would laugh and laugh and then come back the next day to hear the story one more time.  I also remember this story about Abe.   Abe would go to each table with one of the lawyers who hung out at the Korner during lunch.   The lawyer would have a nickel and a dime on his hand and he would ask Abe which one he wanted.   Abe would take the nickel and oh how everyone would laugh and laugh.   One day dad asked Abe why he didn't take the dime, surely he knew that a dime was worth more than the nickel.   Abe quickly said, "If I take the dime, he'll quit doing it!"   So Abe was making 20 or 30 cents a day, enough to buy him a Pepsi a day.   He was a smart cookie, he always said he wished he had Johnny's Cash and Charlie's Pride. 

The pharmacists during the 70's were John Burke Jr. and Burl Whitt and Della and I became pharmacy techs in the late 70's.  What a time we had, most days fluctuated between ball breaking pranks and crazy fast paced work - well fast paced for that time period.   Burl was what I would call an interesting character.   Smart as a whip, keenly curious about the newest invention - computers - Burl was a genius.   Photography was his passion, I wish I knew the things he had forgotten.  John Jr. was the other pharmacist and I had to watch were I walked because he was likely to be practicing karate kicks and jabs in that small space.