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November 2, 1977 Around Adair with Ed Waggener The article below first appeared in the November 2, 1977 issue of the Daily Statesman. Topics included Sonny and Lula Bell, Pete Walker's rule on cornbread, motherly judgements on language and preaching from Audrey Waggener, the parrot at Blair House, the Dewey Turner Place, an update on the Dogwood Project, and more. --Pen By Ed Waggener How tight is tight? Circuit Court Clerk Bill Ballou says you can say a fellow is tight when you can say of him, "He's so tight he turns his back to open a pack of chewing gum." Do you know Nancy Luvena? The former Nancy Luvena Gentry Simpson is a well known Columbian, but few would recognizer her by that name. In fact, she is best known as Lula Bell Simpson. How did it happen? Well, when Lula Bell was a little girl, they called her "Tom," because she was such a tomboy. In school she was known as "Lou," short for Luvena. After she married George Simpson, a pharmacist in town started calling George "Sonny," and his wife, "Lula Bell," after the characters in an old radio show called "Sonny and Lula Bell." I never heard anyone call the late Sheriff George Simpson "Sonny." He must have lost the sobriquet quickly. I never knew until Halloween night that Lula Bell Simpson was actually Nancy Luvena Gentry Simpson. But a rose by any name is still a rose, and Lula Bell Simpson by any name is still one of my favorite people. What a possum! Frank Nell said that when he was a boy living in McKinny in Lincoln County he recalls a fellow telling about a good-sized possum he had captured. "The thing weighed out 49 and 3/4 pounds," the hunter said. A sceptic in the crowd said, "Aw, Chambers, why don't you just go ahead and say that it weighed 50 pounds?" The hunter looked him straight in the eye, Nell says, and said, "Look, you're not going to see me make a liar out of myself over a quarter pound of possum!" Cornbread at the Democrat Rally I guess I made a big mistake commenting on the great cornbread the women served at the Democrat Rally a week ago Thursday. I credited Mrs. Tom Roy, who wasn't even there, with the creation, but I have been told, by Mrs. Roy, that most likely the cook who deserves the praise is Mary Ellen Browning. Whoever the cook was, she did a great job. Pete Walker had a rule on cornbread Pete Walker was very particular about his cornbread, and one reason why, when he worked the Southern Indiana, he never made plans to eat there [in Indiana] was their cornbread. "They put sugar in it," he scoffed, as though they'd committed the cardinal sin. For that reason he marked off the whole state as far as eating is concerned. It was, I remember, his greatest peeve, outside of what he considered the greatest vice. One vice is worse than all others I remember talking to Walker one day about a wealthy man. "I guess he ought to have accumulated a lot," I said. "He's worth a bunch of money, by Adair County standards," Walker said. "He's worked hard and he hasn't had to raise any kids and put them through college," Walker continued. "And he doesn't have any vices," I said. "No," Walker said, but thinking awhile he added, "except for one thing: He's a ----ing bore--and I can't think of a worse vice than that." I don't even remember who we were talking about now. But Pete Walker was one of the best-read men I have ever known, and, I guess, to him, enduring a ----ing bore was intolerable -- and the affliction of being a ----ing bore the worst vice he could imagine. A reason for the blanks Of course, there are reasons why I am inserting the blanks rather than spelling out the words. First, good cussin' is an art. So I will leave that to the imagination of the more adept at swearing and blackguarding. And secondly, Mother told me not to put in those words. Mamma scolded me about one column last week. "Now, Eddie, there are a whole lot of words you can use without using ugly words," she said. I told her that I had talked to a preacher after the column came out and he said the words weren't so bad. "Well then," Mamma said, "all I can say is that he isn't much of a preacher." Anyway, I have cleaned up the act. Remember the Blair House The Blair House has been famous because it was the house Harry Truman lived in while they were renovating the White House when he was President. In Columbia, we have a Blair House. It is the residence--but not the official one--of our Mayor, W. R. Murphy, and Mrs. Murphy. There was a sign at the house when Mrs. M.E. (Victoria or Toria, as she was known) Blair lived at the house at the corner of Lindsey Wilson and Campbellsville Streets; the sign said, of course, "Blair House." Mrs. Blair was one of the town's great cooks, especially of pies and pastries. There was a Polly Parrot which presided over the front porch with great authority. Often, people tell me, they look at the Murphy's porch today as they pass and expect to get squawked at by that old parrot. I haven't seen a parrot in Columbia since that one. The Blairs also kept roomers at the house. In fact, they never turned a deserving stranger down who wanted a room, Mrs. Murphy says. There was a door to the basement which was always open. "She left it open because she said she'd never know when a stranger might come by needing a room late at night," Mrs. Murphy said. "Mrs. Blair said that sometimes they would pay, sometimes the wouldn't," the Mayor's wife concluded, "but there was always a place for them." A restoration job much needed Holland Harvey, the father of Upper Jamestown Street, says that he has a project which he intends to carry out. "I want to get some stones erected to my ancestors down at the old cemetery on the Dewey Turner Place. Harvey says that the big old weathered house by the side of Crocus Creek on Highway 704 is now about 200 years old. "I know that it was built before 1800," Mr. Harvey says. The house is located at the foot of Dug Hill on 704, just past the Crocus Creek Bridge and the turn-off to Melson Ridge. It is a hauntingly beautiful old place, which besides needing a historical marker, is worthy of restoration, Harvey says. Cheerleaders may take on Dogwood Project Ralph Roy, my brother, says that Cleo Shively, the Adair County High School Cheerleaders sponsor, wants to get her 15-member cheerleading squad into the Dogwood Project. "I think," she told Ralph, "that people here ought to start doing something instead of just talking about it." Ralph says that the idea now is to let the cheerleaders and possibly other civic groups sell the dogwoods, and also to let them take orders before we get too many dogwoods from McMinnville. The project is being accepted, it appears. Don Moss, the State Farm Insurance Agent, has endorsed the idea. And Mary Sullivan told me that she would take 10 of the trees for her home at Crocus. Ralph has assigned responsibility for making the plants live to the Honorable Wayne Livesay, the Adair County Extension Agent. Livesay is supposed to have sent off for the brochure on the subject already. After he reads it and becomes an expert, we can rely on his advice in transplanting them. In the meantime, anyone who wishes to volunteer advice or help in the project should call Ralph Waggener at 384-xxxx or (xxxx nights). Carter must be overjoyed at the taping Representative Carter is appearing to be very offended at Governor Carroll for taping the coal conversation, but I doubt if he were very anguished that it happened. My guess is that he and Louie Nunn were both elated when the Governor made the big political blunder. How else could Representative Carter get so much statewide publicity for so long without the Governor doing a thing which made him appear, well, dumb, in this instance? There really wasn't a more polite way to put it. The closest county-wide race? Don't ask me to explain it, but the talk in the county is that the Republicans will win handily in all the county-wide races save one. The one where they are expected to have possible trouble is the Neagle-Young race. Even some Republicans, who say Hailey Neagle will be re-elected, say that the margin will be much less than for the rest of the ticket. And Hailey has done a good job. This story was posted on 2020-05-10 07:55:42
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May 5, 1978 Around Adair with Ed Waggener January 18, 1978 Around Adair with Ed Waggener February 9, 1978 Around Adair with Ed Waggener May 1978 Around Adair by Ed Waggener April 29, 1978 Around Adair with Ed Waggener February 2, 1978 Around Adair with Ed Waggener March 14, 1978 Around Adair with Ed Waggener April 18, 1978 Around Adair with Ed Waggener March 7, 1978 Around Adair with Ed Waggener March 2, 1978 Around Adair with Ed Waggener View even more articles in topic Around Adair with Ed Waggener |
 
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