Finlay will benefit from his father's name and reputation earned as Columbia Mayor from 1978-1986. Finlay has served on the City Council and has shown a willingness to vote independently for what he believes rather than being sucked into the Columbia "good ole boy system". His ability to embrace compromise, which is what most politics is all about is a question, however.
Steve Morrison, an ultra successful attorney, is also a strong candidate. He has an unmatched record of civic involvement and has demonstrated leadership abilities in a plethora of venues. He has led many groups important to Columbia from the Museum of Art to the Historic Columbia Foundation. He has served on the boards of Benedict University and the Urban League among others that will strengthen his appeal to the African-American community. He is a seasoned leader. Further, he is the lead attorney in the landmark "school funding equalization case," a seminal issue in South Carolina. His resume is certainly impressive.
However, maybe his most appealing characteristic and the one that earns my support is that he actually has a vision for Columbia.
His weakness may be that this is his first, at least as far as I know, foray into elective politics.
With nine candidates, three of whom are very strong, a run-off is likely. Therefore, the outcome may depend upon the voter turnout, especially in the run-off.
This will be a transitional election for Columbia. The well documented financial problems, the dysfunctional City Council, the lack of a long term vision and plan and questions over the form of government that are growing stronger reinforce the importance of this election.
As they say in Chicago, "vote early and often."
]]>Barbara Harley is a 56-year-old mother of six. She is well educated,
personable and presents herself well. Some might find it surprising that until recently, Barbara Harley was homeless.
In the three video segments that follow, you will learn of Harley's journey
from Pennsylvania to being homeless on the streets of Columbia. You also will see how Columbia's Christ Central Ministries is making a difference in her life.
There are lots of stereotypes about homelessness and Harley defies them. In reality, though, the stereotype of the a homeless man panhandling on the street is misleading. There are many faces to homelessness and many of them women. It has been estimated that a substantial portion of the estimated 4,000 who will find themselves homeless in the Midlands are females, often with children.
To learn more homelessness in the Midlands, click HERE.
Click the links for Part one, Part two, and Part three of the video story.
]]> Harley Interview part two
In Columbia, Harley meets a variety of people who introduce her to the Christ Central Institute and how the Christ Central Institute is helping prepare her for ministry. Harley also explains how Christ Central helps set a person up to begin an outreach program by equipping and preparing them with the necessary resources to succeed.
Harley Interview ptart three
As Barbara Harley begins a new chapter in her life, she reflects on how being homeless made her a stronger person as well as her time-table for opening a women's shelter in Columbia. Harley believes that she was bought to Columbia for reason and has no plans on returning to Pennsylvania.
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On February 18, 2010, there was a mayoral forum at the Capital Senior Center, in which, candidates for mayor discussed different areas of interest to senior citizens such as transportation, public safety, homelessness and other topics. Links to videos from the forum are below.
Click HERE to leave a comment.
THE WOMAN WHO ESCAPED THE CURSE OF THE HOPE DIAMOND
We all know what the Hope Diamond is, but Catherine Craig is another matter. She was a feisty, fun, independent cousin of my mother. For a heady two years in the '30s she was tutor-companion to Evalyn Walsh McLean, the daughter of Mrs. Walsh McLean, whose husband had owned the Washington Post as had his father before him.
In 1982, armed with a camera and a tape recorder I took my parents, aged 89 and 85 respectively, on a trip "Back to Our Roots" in West Tennessee to visit all the kin folk living and dead. When we came to a place of memory in a cemetery, former home or with live cousins I turned on the tape recorder. Catherine furnished some rich stories.
Q: "Catherine, how did you get the job?"
"When I was teaching school in New Orleans (at a girl's school) I met a couple who had fled the Cuban revolution. She was American, he Costa Rican: they had met in college in New England, and he was in charge of Sherwin Williams in that area of the West Indies. She had a great aunt who ran a private school-teachers agency in New York. One summer while in New York I went around to see this aunt just in case I ever decided to leave New Orleans. I did leave New Orleans and wrote her 'if you have anything let me know.' She wrote me that Mrs. Walsh McLean wanted a tutor for her daughter.
Well, I never heard of Mrs. McLean. I lived in Ripley (a very small town near Memphis). She hadn't made the Memphis papers. I wrote back that I was just not interested, that I didn't imagine that anybody would pay enough just to tutor one person to make it worth my while. 'Course that was ignorance on my part 'cause I just didn't know folks had that much money. In the meantime, a piece had come out in the Memphis Commercial Appeal (newspaper) about Mrs. McLean's New Years party. Well, I had never heard of a party like that. It seems she had had them before but they hadn't made the Memphis paper. I read it and told Mamma that I was well out of a situation like that. I wouldn't fit in that kind of a place.
Well, next January as I was getting ready to take Mamma and two cousins to Florida, and Daddy was in the state senate (and could not go) I got this long wire from Mrs. McLean. It was a hundred words because we counted them. She had heard about me through a woman who ran a private school in Washington who knew the woman in New York who had the agency which I had contacted the year before. She would like to contact me and would I come up and interview her. Well, I didn't know what to do. Daddy was not here to ask -I always asked him. So Charles (her brother-in-law) helped me word the wire that if she cared to wait until April I would come, but my services would not be available until spring.
I found out later that I couldn't have done a wiser thing because everybody just jumped when she said "frog". She said she would pay my way so I went. I must have looked uncertain. As a matter of fact I was just struck dumb. I got into the hotel in Washington and every time I'd start to the phone to call her I'd run back to the other side of the room. It took all day long for me to get up the courage to call her. She told me to get a cab and come out.
She lived in this eighty acre estate on Wisconsin Avenue. A butler, an austere Italian, let me into this enormous living room. Way back in the recesses of the house I heard: "Rouf! Rouf!" I thought, Dear Lord, should I run? Can I make for the front door? That sounds like an awful big dog to me. She walked in with a huge dog. We sat and talked. I guess I looked uncertain, but as I said I was just struck dumb, that's all. She said,' I wish you would think about it. Why don't we try it for a month and see if you like it or if I like it.
I said,'Why that's a good idea, Mrs. McLean, and if either one of us is displeased we'll just call it off'. She said, 'Well, I want you to go home and come back in about a month. I'll be ready for you.' So I wired home--get me a ticket to New Orleans. Daddy was railroad attorney at the time. I said get me a pass to New Orleans. I got to talk to all the people about it, I had just come out of New Orleans teaching (and I needed advice).
I did go back and stayed the better part of two years, coming home, of course at intervals. I liked Mrs. McLean very much. She was a peculiar person. She was used to having hew own way, but I never let her forget that I did not have to work and that I had a family who really wantd me at home. I just never let her forget it. She couldn't have been nicer nor sweeter than she was to me. She was really wonderful to me, but they lived a strange life.
Q: What kind of life did they live?
Well, I never saw her till noon. She came down to one o'clock lunch. Oh, Evalyn and I would do things. We'd go skating. She couldn't go anywhere for fear of being kidnapped. Mrs. McLean stayed constantly afraid of kidnapping. Evalyn had two friends, daughters of one of the bankers in Washington; that's the only place Evalyn ever went except when I was with her.
We'd go skating in the park sometime with the chauffeur sitting in the car watching us. We'd sometimes go to the picture show. We'd go swimming. They had a pool down on the lawn. It was out of sight of the house, and Mrs. McLean said, "Do you mind carrying a pistol?" I said," I certainly do; I'd shoot the wrong person. I'm not going to carry a pistol." She said, "Do you mind wearing a whistle around your neck?" I said, "Yes, I do. I'm not going to wear a whistle 'round my neck." She said, "Well, when you go swimming tell the second butler to tell the gardener to watch. Don't let Evalyn know you are watching her, that anybody is watching, but to watch the bushes. Well, I never knew what Evalyn was going to say or do, but I knew the gardener was watching from the bushes and we'd swim. She'd play that record player all the time.
We did lessons in the morning. Mrs. McLean had said not to press lessons too hard. She'd rather that she like me because she had had some tutors she had not liked. "I want her to know arithmetic and spelling so she can look after her own business.
Q: How old was Evalyn?
She was fifteen when I went there. She had never been in school. She had gone to a private school for a few months, but she didn't fit in any class, and it just didn't work out. You see, she had never had any formal schooling. She had only had tutors. One was a French lady whom she evidently thoroughly disliked. She had only had tutors and nothing else. She read a lot; she had a good mind. She wasn't stupid at all. She was a nice looking girl, tall and blonde, but she wasn't happy; she wasn't a bit happy. She had no reason to be.
Q: She had no communication with kids her own age?
No, not much.
One summer I took her out to Colorado Springs to spend a couple of months. Her grandfather was from there. (Mrs. McLean's father) He was a senator rom Colorado at one point. He was the one who had struck it rich with an abandoned gold mine. She just wanted Evalyn to go somewhere. Mrs. McLean's younger brother had married one of the Mean girls, one of the two girls who were friends of daughter Evalyn (her cousins), the only place that she could go, Eleanor and Ann Mean. They were living in Colorado springs, so we went out and spent two months at the Broadmoor. I was bored to death. We rode horseback some.
Q: What did Evalyn do? You were bored 'cause you couldn't think of enough things to do?
She wouldn't do anything. She wouldn't do any sightseeing. We each had a suite. I read. We had a maid with us, a maid, a chauffeur and a dog. The maid and the chauffeur and his wife and dog went out in the car, and Evalyn and I went out on the train.
Q: Did she(Mrs. McLean ) have many parties? Did she wear the Hope Diamond?
Always. It was on a diamond chain, a chain set with blue white diamonds, and it itself was a definite blue. It was not white like a regular diamond.
Q: Was it a sapphire- like blue? An ice blue?
Yes, and about the size of a fifty cent piece, set around with diamonds and on a little diamond chain. She wore it all the time. She said it was bad luck for anybody to touch it. It was all right for her because she and the Hope Diamond were both evil so it didn't bother her. Well, I wouldn't have touched it for a million dollars. She did.
She came down one night (for dinner), and she turned to me and said, "I forgot to pick up the Hope Diamond. Do you mind going up and asking the maid to give it to you?' So, I went up to her room and told the maid; I said, "Give it to me." It was on a pillow. I thought, "Do I carry it by the chain and risk being shot at through the window, or do I hold it in my hand and risk the curse of the Hope Diamond?. I decided I had rather be shot at through the window, so I came down with it just like this (with her arm held stiffly out in front of her, diamond hanging from her index finger so she would miss any bullets).
Another time she had some people out there one night who were sitting around. We always sat in what they called the bar; it was a small room and a comfortable room. She never touched anything to drink. She had been an alcoholic, I think, at one time, and she said she never touched anything because if she did she had to have the whole bottle. She didn't let Evalyn have anything. The only thing Evalyn could ever have was a glass of champagne on New Years.
Other people would come out and she would serve them if they wanted it. This particular time we were sitting around there. Of course I never touch anything. I had a double reason. One was Daddy, and another one was I wouldn't have anyway, in that position. Daddy just didn't believe in drinking.
Mrs. McLean gave Gaston Means who was an underworld character $10,000---I don't know whether it was $10,000 or $100,000, It was something out of my range of experience anyway, because he said he felt like he knew where the Lindbergh baby was. (The kidnapping had occurred 4 years prior) He absconded with the money. They put him in the penitentiary.
This Hoffman had preceded in the government J. Edgar Hoover in what had preceded the F.B.I. ; I think politically appointed . After we got out to Colorado during the summer Mrs. McLean called Ned, Evalyn's brother who lived out there and said J. Edgar Hoover had called her and told her to warn me that they thought Hoffman was headed in that direction and to watch Evalyn every minute. Well, I wasn't very happy, but---
Q: And you knew Hoffman because he had come to dinner?
Oh, he would come to dinner at the McLeans, and he and Mrs. McLean would go in another room and work on these letters. I never did know what they were doing. Working on the Lindbergh case. She never gave it up, trying to find out who did it. She never did believe that the man who did it was named Haupman. She never did believe he did it by himself.
I watched her. Of course I didn't let her out of my sight. We'd go down in the lobby, and I'd go with her. About a week later this Hoffman was found in Denver in an alley beaten up, so he was on the way out there. Now what he had in mind I don't know, but J. Edgar Hoover was afraid he had kidnapping in mind for Evalyn. He was afraid for what he might do to Evalyn. And she was 16.
When we got back Mrs. McLean wanted me to take her to New York for a month. I didn't want to. I didn't want the responsibility. I could look after myself in New York but not Evalyn. She had two big ideas. She wanted to be a social butterfly in N.Y. Well, I couldn't be a New York social butterfly. Mrs. McLean had also suggested one time that I take her to London. I said, "Mrs. Mclean, I can't look after myself in Europe, let alone Evalyn.
Q: Had you been to Europe then?
No, not then. Anyway I decided to come home. But there was a Dr. Richards who was a psychiatrist at John Hopkins, and the funniest little old lady. She was as bright as a dollar and smart as a whip, and she had something to do with all the children who went through the courts for any reason in Maryland went through Dr. Richards hands. Mrs. McLean had heard about her and wanted to meet her. She wrote and told her she wanted to meet her and to come to see her. Well, Dr. Richards wrote her back that she didn't have time. If she wanted to meet her (the doctor) to come to see her, and Mrs. McLean wasn't used to that kind of thing. Everybody just ran to her. Well, she got herself up there to see Dr. Richards, to Baltimore.
She and Dr. Richards got to be good friends, and Dr. Richards would come bucking out in that funny little Ford car and spend the week-end and buck back early morning to her classes. Well, I talked to her about it (her life as tutor-companion to Evalyn) and she said, "You go on home. You have done a good job, and you have done all in the world you can do for that girl. Go on home and lead your own life. If you ever want a recommendation I'll write it for you. So I did. I left. I told Mrs. McLean, I said, "I think I better go home. My family wants me", so I left.
Q: What was Evalyn's life like after that.?
I don't know, but not too long after that, I guess when she was about 18 she married this Reynolds, and I am sure she did it for prominence. Poor little girl, she was just not happy. She had had no kind of life. Mrs. McLean was a delightful person to me: I really was extremely fond of her, and she was so good and sweet to me. She could hold a room full of people in the palm of her hand. She had tht kind of personality.
Q: Magnetism?
Uh-huh, and Evalyn didn't have it, and I think she envied her mother that ability; I think she loved her mother. It wasn't that, but she didn't have that ability. She must have been more like her father, and he was in a sanatorium the whole time I was there. He had fallen in on champagne.
Q: He was an alcoholic?
Yeah. She'd had him picked up in Paris and put in a sanatorium, and Dr. Richards said he was off his rocker. Of course she had two boys, Jock and Ned, and I think it was Jock said the mother put him there for safe-keeping; there was nothing wrong with him. Well, Dr. Richards said there was. He was off his rocker. It's a sanatorium outside of Baltimore, I can't remember the name of it. It's something Pratt, a very famous one. Anyway I never saw him. He was in that sanatorium. Mrs. McLean would go once a month to see him, and Dr. Richards, I think, went out there once a month to check on him.
Mrs. McLean was the one who had inherited the money from her father---?
Ned McLean had money too. They were from Fairfax County, Virginia.
McLean, Virginia is probably named after them.
I'm sure it was. Anyway, they were a prominent family. He owned the Washington Post, but he lost it through bad management. His father had owned the Washington Post, but he must have been sort of a derelick. I'm sure he was.
Q: What happened to Ned and Jock?
I wish knew. I know when I was there Jock married a New York girl.
Q: Did you go to the wedding?
No, because he married out in Reno. He married Agnes Pines. She was a New York 400. She had been married to another a New York 400, Buddy Baker. She went to Reno to get a divorce so she could marry Jock. Jock went out to Reno and took a seat and waited for the divorce to culminate. As soon as it was over they married and caught the boat to Hawaii. I don't know whether Jock stayed married to her. Once or twice somebody sent me short clippings about Jock out of the paper, once in Florida, once in Texas. He had a daughter whom he named Evalyn who lived on a ranch in Denton, Texas, a ranch that she owned. She lived up there by herself, and she was found murdered. I don't know anything about it; a friend in Texas saw it in the paper and sent me the clippings.
Ned and Ann eventually got a divorce, and Ned remarried some movie actor's wife--can't remember which one it was. I wish I knew what had become of those boys.
They were very nice and sweet to me, always. I know Jock said to me once, "How do you stand it?" talking about his sister Evalyn. I said, "Jock, I am very fond of your mother and very fond of Evalyn." But those boys were very nice to me.
Q: Well, you were not a lot older than those boys when you went there, were you?
Well, Jock was 21 when I went there and Ned younger. Ned married while I was there, and he married a Catholic girl, Ann Mean. It was a home wedding. She got a special dispensation because Catholics are supposed to marry only in the church, but her grandmother couldn't get to the church so she got a special dispensation to marry at home, and I went to the wedding. It was a small home wedding. They moved to Colorado. Ned had a chest condition. He wasn't a very well person.
Jock weeded a wide row in New York. When he was 21 his grandfather had left him some money. I have forgotten how much. It seemed like an awful lot to me then, but when they talk about millions now like they were pennys it got me completely confused money-wise. It was to be given Jock when he was 21. It was in a fund. He took that money and went to New York, and he really did New York. Golly, he got rid of that money in nothing flat.
Q: Well, now tell me about entertaining. Did you go to any of the parties?
I was included just like a member of the family.
Q: Didn't your wardrobe have to be pretty extensive?
No, not too extensive because she didn't do a lot of entertaining. She didn't do much. She had that New Years party. She always had a dinner party for the horse people. When I say the horse people it was an organization in which each year a foreign country sent horse people over here. I don't remember why nor what, but the year I was there the Belgiums came. The King of Belgium had been a friend of, I believe, old Mr. McLean. When her first son was born - and he was killed, an automobile hit and killed him when the little boy was just about nine years old----
Q: Whose son?
Mrs. McLean. She had had this other son, the child who was killed. But when he was born the King of Belgium sent her a gold leaf cradle. I never saw it. It was in the attic. She had an attachment or the "Belgium people, and when the Belgium horse people came to put on a show she had a big dinner party for them, I think about 200 people. She was just as careful to seat me by somebody she thought I would like as she was anybody else. She seated me by Arthur Godfrey. He was such a nice person. He didn't know who I was unless he found out from somebody else I wasn't anybody. I got right tickled. He was from Fairfax County, and he was just on the rise radio-wise, really. He said, "Do you like to ride?" Talking about horses. I said, "Yes, I like to." "Well, I would love for you to come out sometime and ride" .I thought to myself the only thing I have ever been on was J.T.'s old Belle and a mule (from my grandfather's stable) but I didn't tell him that.
Q: Did you go?
No, and he didn't mean it. He was just making conversation. But my point was that he was nice to me and he was an attractive person, and a likeable person, and he was part of the horse crowd out in Fairfax County. She used to entertain the press once a year. It nearly killed her when they lost the Washington Post. That really hurt her, and he lost it through bad management. She was quite a newspaper addict. Mrs. McLean was, I am sure, self-educated, but she read the newspaper from front pace clear through to the last, and she was well-posted on everything.
Q: Why do you say she was self-educated?
I don't believe she ever went to school too much. I don't believe she did. I never heard about it. I'm sure she went through grammar school and probably high school, but I'm sure that's all; they came to Washing when she was quite young, I guess, and she went society, for they had money. So I imagine a lot of Mrs. McLean's knowledge was acquired just through reading.
I'll have to tell you about the monkey dogs. She had two dogs what were Monkey dogs, and there were only nine in the United States, and they were raised by a woman out of Chicago, and they were a cross between a dog and a monkey, supposedly. They were a German breed. They were little black shaggy-haired dogs. They screeched instead of bark like a regular dog. You'd turn them loose and they would climb all over furniture. They really acted like they had monkey in them. I don't know how you can cross a monkey and a dog, but they surely acted like it.
Q: They had tails?
Oh, yea, they looked like a dog. She would bring them down to dinner on a leash every night, and to lunch, and tie them on each side of her chair and feed them cream cheese and turkey and chicken. That's all I can remember the monkey dogs ate. They had their own dishes on the floor at her feet. We went to New York a couple of times. We always took the monkey dogs with us. We took some dogs with us all the time. Jock had two dogs. Evalyn had five dogs, all little assorted dogs; Mrs. McLean had the two monkey dogs. We always took the dogs with us to New York. I think we stayed at the Hotel Pierre.
(Then Catherine told of having a hairy ride in a cab with the dogs and saying she wouold never do that again and furthermore if one of those animals bit her she'd knot it silly.)
Q: Tell me about the New Year's Eve Party
I told you at the beginning that I read about this New Year party in the paper the year before and told Mamma I was well out of a situation like that. While I was there she was going to have another, and she wanted me to come back to it. . So I did. I came home for Christmas, but I went back there for the New Years party. She sent out engraved invitations, and she said:" Is there anybody you would like to invite?' I said, "Mrs. McLean, I don't know a man north of the Mason-Dixon line, and I sure don't want another woman. I can look after myself. Then I remembered Joe (Joe Stanley, my cousin but no kin to her). I had known him for two summers in Annapolis when I stayed with J.T. and Ellie (my uncle and his wife). I knew Joe was down in Norfolk in the Air Force. I told her the name and address and said, "Send him an invitation."
When I wrote Joe and told him I said I cannot promise to introduce you to anybody because the reason I am asking you is for my own self "cause I need somebody with me, but I promise you a good show. He said he would come. He'll probably never forgive me for making him rent a high-topped silk hat. I said, "You have to!" He said afterwards, "All in the world they did---I don't know what he paid for it. He probably paid plenty to rent it--he said, "They took it away from me at the door. That's how long I got to wear it." Anyway he came, and he swore that I ran him by every bar. Of course she had bars set up through the house. I 'spect I did not let him have a drink.
Q: Oh, you wouldn't let him have a drink?
No, I wouldn't let him have a drink. She had plain clothes bouncers. I didn't know whether Joe drank. I just didn't know. I knew that I didn't. I didn't want a bouncer to get ahold of him. He moaned, "You ran me by every bar in the house."
They had pitchers of mile on every bar, and I thought they had them there just 'cause some folks like milk, but I didn't know that milk's supposed to sober you up if you get too much to drink.
Well, anyway we were backed up against the wall watching the show - we danced some- she had two orchestras.
Q: Where was this party given, at her home?
Yes. They had an enormous rambling house, and she always closed in the front porch. She put in radiators and palms and everything and made another room, and she had a dinner party beforehand, for about two or three hundred people and then I think about a thousand in to dance, two orchestras. Miles (Davis?) and Hal Kemp. Anyway we were backed up against the wall watching it, and I said, "Joe, what do you think?"I think it is real interesting, but I'd hate like hell to have to do it every New Years." I said, I agree with you.
About 4:00am he said, "Do you mind if I leave? I've got to fly a plane to the west coast today." "Poor thing. So he left there at 4:00 and flew a plane to the West Coast. I'm glad he got there after that..
Addendum: I believe this was New Years 1936. In 2009 Joe Stanley, my nearly 102 year old cousin, laughed and told me that was just the tale he told so he could gracefully leave. I would never have attempted to fly across the continent after a night like that" It would have been suicidal.
For more information on Evalyn Walsh McLean click HERE.
Now on my fourth "improved technology" computer I find I am spending all that saved time and more trying to master all the steps and undecipherable icons that are so simple for the school children who have been using computers before they even go to school! Small hits by wayward fingers erase words that took an hour to put down! Thankful for the means to keep up with children and grandchildren who travel the world through Skype and Facebook, suddenly I have to manufacture excuses for not keeping up with many "FRIENDS" I never knew I had!
Time saving technology is devouring all my time!
After three weeks and many delightful hours of probing, I came up with my own view of the man, and more admiration than I had ever expected. The book review became books, and the bad cold silently went away.
Also, even in retirement, I am able to study history weekly. Currently, the late Middle Ages are livening my life. Sometimes I despair of our 21st century lives, but I haven't learned about any age yet in which I'd rather find myself, unless like current "time travelers," I could go and come at will. I'd love to see Rome, but I wouldn't feel safe there for more than half an hour.
Now I'm searching again. The Revolution that created the United States should be revisited -- and remembered --by all of us who follow. We have a proud story to tell.
Click HERE for more info about the Middle Ages.
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I want to write a story about my daughter, Boo Major, who is the Head Coach of the USC Equestrian Team. Boo was always interested in horses. I think it is something that she was born with. She started riding at the age of three at the JJ Ranch in Blythewood. They had an overnight sleep over for all those interested in horseback and she was one of the first ones to sign up. Her sisters rode also but it was not that important to them; they ventured out in other fields. As time passed Boo was really serious and wanted her own horse... ]]>
We leased a large white horse named Ajax and she was thrilled. She took riding lessons from Betty Belser, who was a wonderful teacher and very disciplined in her techniques in riding. We carpooled the riders out to a horse farm called Belle Grove owned by Sinkler Manning. This was an ideal set-up and Boo made many friends who were also interested in horses. They didn't mind mucking stalls, cleaning tack or doing whatever needed to be done. She rode there for three years then settled in at Hickory Top (a facility out the Sumter Highway), where she rode and taught through the 12th grade.
When it was time to go to college, she wanted to go to Sweetbriar in Virginia because they had a fine equestrian program. She mucked the stalls and worked in the tack room to help pay for tuition. She then came back to Columbia, enrolled at USC and continued her interest in teaching, riding and participating in horse shows throughout the region.
In 1998, she heard that the University of South Carolina was starting an equestrian program which she applied for and was hired by USC to start this program on July 1 of that year under the Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972. This act was designed to promote gender equity in education and athletic programs. It required that the percentage of women enrolled in a college equal the percentage of women involved in that school's athletic programs.
USC leased a barn and property near Irmo called Irish Oaks Equestrian Center and offered a very small budget and no scholarships. The first students that were part of the Equestrian Team rode out I-26 to ride and learn. In the years following, the equestrian program has flourished, adding a western rider's coach and two more assistant coaches and a barn manager. The USC Equestrain Program now owns their own property at One Wood Farm in Blythewood, with beautiful barns, an indoor ring, two or three outdoor rings and twenty five horses.
The Equestrian Team now offers 15 scholarships and has won the national championship in 2005 and 2007. On February 20, the team defeated Oklahoma State.
There was a huge bonfire burning adjacent to the National Tree and the State Trees, so the children happily sought out all the trees from the states in which they had lived. My 8-year-old, of course, could only look for South Carolina and Virginia! And to his dismay, he found that all the lights on ALL the trees were white. We did not stay long, but even by then our feet were numb.
Drowsily on the way back home in the car, the youngest said: "Mom, those weren't real Christmas Trees--they didn't have colorful lights!" and for days after, he fumed and fussed about the white lights. Finally, enough was enough!
"Andrew, if you are unhappy with what the government chose, then why don't you write President Ford a letter and ask him to do something about it?"
The next day he presented me with his 8-year-old version of his best printing and asked me for an address. I thought this might be a great a learning lesson, so I looked up the official White House mailing address, stamped it and took him to the post office.
Christmas came and went, as did New Year's and Valentine's Day. Then, an official letter arrived from the Department of the Interior, Washington, D.C. thanking him for his suggestion. Someone was obviously impressed.
More time passed and again it was Thanksgiving weekend. We drove up once more, barely remembering the previous year's experience. When the Mall came into sight, Andrew jumped up, clapped his hands and said "Look! Mom and Dad! I made a difference! President Ford read my letter!"
Begin early.
I remember when we were little; my grandmother would go into town to collect her money from the people whose babies she delivered. Some people would pay her with chickens and vegetables and very little money. My mother had a part time job in a restaurant and my father was somewhere playing his guitar. That left all the kids, 22 of us, at home on Saturday with the older kids (14 to 17) supervising the younger kids. It was at that time we would play our favorite games. This was the day we would play church to include preaching, singing in the choir and there would be a huge dinner. Long time ago people would have big dinners at church. My big cousins decided they would have this big church dinner. I remember they killed my grandmother's favorite laying hen. They did a pretty good job taking off the feathers; however, the inside was left in since we were not allowed to use the sharp knives. They cooked and cooked that hen but could not get it done. That was one tough bird. Since we could not eat it, they decided to have a funeral and bury the hen. My Uncle Booker "T" preached the funeral. Our grandparents did not appreciate any of this, but those were exciting times for us.
My grandparents raised animals (cows, pigs and chickens) for food. They let me have one of the pigs as a pet. I took very good care of my pet. I did not see my pet as food. When I came home from school one day my father had butchered my pet pig. That was a very sad time for me.
A very scary time happened on a Saturday night. We heard the blaring of car horns. We rushed to the front porch and I saw ghosts driving cars and waving flags. We were terrified, my mother was crying, we were all crying. My mother told us later that they were not ghosts but the KKK was waving the Confederate Flag. That scene has never left me as I still see it often and I still get an eerie feeling each time I see it. By the way, one of our citizens, an African American, was found hanging from a street sign the day after that frightful Saturday night.
Our lives changed after that frightening experience. We were very sheltered by our family and the adults around us. Many members moved to northern cities to escape the hardships and abuse we were faced with. My mother believed we should stay put and bloom where we were. She provided experiences that colored my life. We traveled to larger cities in South Carolina and Georgia. I liked to visit an aunt that lived in Columbia in Allen/Benedict Court in the summer time. We traveled in small circles and saw some of the same people. Every now and then we had cousins visit from New York.
I graduated from high school in a very small class. We were all friends who lived in the same area and who did things together like going on picnics, bike riding, and playing cards. Our mother would take us to the movies and of course we would sit up stairs. It was these types of experiences that colored my life and helped to shape my future.
My mother did not want us out late, we were in the house by sundown and she was at home with us. It was a critical time, but if you wanted to protect your family that was what you had to do. I actually enjoyed growing up in a small town and enjoyed who I was. I still have a wonderful sister and a brother and wonderful cousins. Growing up in Blackville was sometimes hard because my father left us to go to Miami, FL to play in a band and my mother seemed so sad at times. I was almost happy when he left because he was not always a nice man. I saw him hit my mother many times and he didn't really provide for our family. When my dad left us, I really missed the music he played and I guess I missed him a little too. I had a lot of anger at that time because I thought it wasn't fair for him to leave us. However, he left us with his music inside us. We inherited his talent for singing. My sisters and I formed a trio called the "Brooks Sisters," and we enjoyed singing in churches and at other events on weekends. We didn't worry about things that we didn't have...we just did what we had to do. My mother was just one great person. She did so many things for us and with us. We didn't want for much, except the freedom to be all we could be.
I always knew I would graduate from college, and I knew it would be the same college my uncle, mother, and her best friend attended and graduated. I attended Vorhees College, Benedict College, Temple University, and the University of South Carolina. I met my wonderful husband at Benedict College and we were married on our graduation day. Today, fifty-five years later, we have two grown children, nine grandchildren and seven great grandchildren.
Without my father, my mother had to play a dual role, that of father and mother. Even though it was obvious that she loved us, I could sense her hidden frustrations. With little or no means to support her family, she sometimes projected her frustrations toward her boys. At times we thought she was domineering and unsympathetic. As I grew older I understood, somewhat, why. My mother grew up in the rural area on a farm. She often told about driving the mule-drawn covered-buggy to school where she completed the third grade during "lay-by" season.
Lay-by season occurred during three months of the year when crops were not being planted or harvested. At that time period children were free to attend schools. Schools for Negro children were provided mainly by the black churches, not by the state. Mom saw education for us as priority one. During early years, she read and recited stories to us daily despite her lack of an extended formal education. She encouraged and helped us to study hard and do well.
As for me, while living in the rural area with my maternal grandmother, my formal education started in a one room elementary school with seven grades. Later in the school year, upon the death of my grandmother, I transferred to a school downtown; and the following year to the newly constructed Rosenwald School in my community where I remained and completed the seventh grade. During my earlier years and later, I exhibited a withdrawal tendency when it became time to associate with peers. Basically it seemed like all of my peers had everything they needed and my brother and I had so little. At times I became hostile toward them and even responded with temper tantrums merely from a slight unintentional provocation.
The elderly citizens of my community, including Mom, had deep seated religious beliefs which obviously, must have been passed on to me from which must have formed the basis of my moral judgment. Sometimes living without the bare necessities can stop you in your tracts, make you feel hopeless and cause you to make foolish choices. This is not what happened to me.
Despite the hardships, my mother nurtured us through early childhood and adolescence to mature young men. I graduated from Jackson High school in Camden as Valedictorian of my class. You see, I was told when I was very young, that if you love God, you can do and be anything you want to be if you work hard, believe in God, and yourself. Totally without funds to attend college, I said to Mom: By the help of the Lord I'm going to college. Her response: "You can do it, Baby". I believed her and I did. Benedict College accepted me; and with about $200 after a summer of work, life started anew.
I enrolled in Benedict College in the fall of 1950, was initiated into a great Fraternity, was elected Student Government President, graduated magna cum laude and married my college sweetheart on graduation day, May 25, 1954. My employment in the Columbia Public School as a teacher was interrupted by military service. I was drafted in the U.S. Army and served honorably as a military policeman and troop information and education non-commissioned officer. I was discharged from active duty in 1956, and served six additional years in both the active and inactive reserves. I enrolled in the masters program at Columbia University and graduated with a Master in Education Supervision and Administration in 1960. I did further study at Atlanta University and the University of South Carolina professional service training programs. My lifetime experiences and careers have been rewarding.
Quoting my wife: "You have had a glimpse into his early life. Measure the man from his meager beginnings to the man he is today. Many people helped him and he learned from all of them. His passion is providing service to those in need." ---February,2010
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February 14 is a day florists look forward to because of all the money that is spent on roses and other floral arrangements. Candy in red velvet heart shaped boxes is another money maker for drug stores and specialty shops. Godiva and Ghirardelli chocolates really impress a lady! The giving of candy goes back to Civil War days...]]>
In recent years teddy bears, perfume, and singing telegrams have moved up in popularity on the day that Cupid made famous. The world is made up of many personalities; some like roses, exotic lingerie, dark chocolates and expensive jewelry. I have changed through the years and am probably too practical. Gifts that really make me happy are things for my home; like a new vacuum cleaner, a food processor, or the latest digital camera, because I do take many photos when I travel. Of course, the gift would not be complete without a beautifully worded card to add to my collection.
We had not had any snow to speak of in over seven years. The schools were preparing to let the students out early so that they could be home before the driving became dicey on the icy way...
At least the worst of it would be on Friday night and Saturday morning, when most of us were off work and home anyway.
The grocery stores were doing great business as people will always stock up on milk, bread and donuts as well as bottled water and things that do not need to be cooked. We had to remember batteries for our weather radio and all those flashlights that must be in every room.
Now that we have all the staples we need we must eat the ice cream because of the electricity goes off it might defrost and become a milkshake which is not that bad as you can eat it without a spoon as it liquidities.
Oh no, we forgot to get paper towels and toilet paper! While back at the store we realized that we were almost out of dog and cat food.
After careful consideration we choose the cheapest kinds as we didn't know if they would make it through the storm.
After it started to snow, the dog did not want to go out as usual at 10:30 p.m. It is amazing how animals seem to know when rain or storms are on their way. Spooky, the cat is in for the night and has climbed up on the washer/dryer where her food is safe from the short legged dog, Oscar, who is a Dachshund and can eat all day long if you give him a chance.
The next morning we had at last six inches of snow on everything. The sun was starting to come out and it was a winter wonderland! Columbia Metropolitan Airport reported eight inches and most of the area had at least six!
Thank goodness it was Saturday and people were happy to not have to go in to work. The young people were up early and building snowmen and throwing snowballs. The neighborhoods where there are hills, anything that would work like a sled was used to slide down as fast as they could.
By Sunday, the snow had melted except in the areas in the shade and everything was back to normal and waiting for the "next big snow"!
First, he does represent hope and positive change to millions of people. His election as our first non-white president has brought the potential for amazing social change. Having lived in the south for most of my seventy years and witnessed so much prejudice and segregation, it is still mind-boggling to me that a black man [well, half black] could really be our president. I've always lived with the assumption, as I imagine most of my peers have, that US presidents have to be white men. Obama turned that assumption upside down by having the audacity to hope that his election was possible. I find that exciting.
His election has extended hope for more racial equality worldwide. Most of the citizens of our world are not white, and the fact that he is the leader of the United States of America does make a statement that is understood by non-white people of many nations. I had the privilege of visiting South Africa prior to the 2008 election. While there I talked with several citizens of that beautiful country who were thrilled about the possibility of an African-American becoming the leader of the free world and the message that would send about racial equality.
Another reason I find our president exciting is his fine intellect. I recently read Scott Turow's classic book about his first year at Harvard Law School titled One L. It paints a very clear picture of how smart one needs to be and how hard even the brightest students have to work to excel there. The honor of becoming a member of the prestigious Law Review is highly coveted, but granted to very few. Not only did Obama receive that honor as a twenty eight year old, but he also became president of the Review. In these challenging times we need our leaders to be very, very smart.
Much has been said of Obama's oratorical skills, a lot of it with sarcasm, as if his only skill is sounding "elitist." In thinking of other past presidents I do tend to remember the manner in which they spoke, often more than what they actually said. "Give um hell, Harry" Truman's speech was earthy and folksy, and word mangling "W's" was often comic. Obama may not have the down home charm of these two former presidents, but I find he speaks with clarity and I remember his explanations.
On January 29th of this year Obama took a bold step by attending a conference of his political opponents for an open question and answer session on current issues. Watching it again on YouTube I was impressed with the skills he has in engaging people in productive dialogue. Reaching agreement on divisive issues is never easy but he sets a good example of how to go about it.
I don't think that Barack Obama can walk on water. I don't think he is a socialist with a hidden agenda of taking over this country for "his" people. I don't think he is an elitist with his head in the clouds, and I don't think he has all the answers to all the problems we face as a nation. I do think he is a politician; that seems to be a requirement of the job. Regardless of that, I do admire him and think he has the potential to become one of our better presidents.