Christmas Memories from the Original Messenger Staff

The photo above is of our Messenger staff Christmas trip to Gatlinburg Tennessee. The late Ernie Cox, with Charter Bus Tours, was our driver as was Fred Crump.
The Messenger is no longer in publication .

 Tisha's Memories

 I remember one year I was probably 11 or 12.  The stores came out with these miniature arcade games. They looked like the full size ones, but they were table top size.  Well, I wanted a Pac Man one.  I knew mom had “stuff” hid in her closet.  So one day while she was at work I dug in the closet until I found it; the Pac Man game.  I searched the house over for batteries.  I was so desperate I went over to my next door neighbor Bobby’s house and asked him for some batteries.  Of course he asked why, and I told him.  Well, he had no batteries so I went home and put everything back up.  A couple of days later he asked mom if I ever found any batteries for that game.  I got myself caught.
 My birthday is December 24 and mom always let me pick out something from under the tree for my birthday present.  One year I got a pink Barbie corvette.  My girls today still play with it.  I never got to have a birthday party, but I always felt special because my birthday was on a special day.  On Christmas morning we’d get up and open the rest of the presents.  It is different I guess than having several brothers and sisters.  Being an only child Christmas morning at the Thomas house was a quiet event.  My mom and dad and I would eat dinner then we would hand out the presents.  There is a little more excitement on Christmas morning at my house as Tabitha, Larissa, Lonnie and I open our gifts.  When I was young we’d go to Mamaw Thomas’ house first.  Mamaw would be in the kitchen cooking and papaw would be sitting in his chair.  We were always the first ones to arrive at Mamaws house.  My dad’s brother, Doug, and his family would stop by. We’d eat dinner and then go to Mamaw and Papaw Landsaw’s and would stay at their house for a while.  Then we’d stop back in at Mamaw and Papaw Thomas’ and visit with my dad’s brother Allen because he came in later.  That was Christmas for many years as I can remember. Tisha Thomas Mitchell

Debbies Memories

My favorite Christmas memory was the year I got my record player. I really thought I was cool when I got to play and sing along to the songs on my Partridge Family album. And did I ever think David Cassidy was it as I listened to him belt out the tune of I think I love You.

Christmas at the Gardner house was a fun filled holiday as my brothers Rod, Gary and Jeff opened their gifts of fire engines and BB guns and my sister Rhonda Faye and I opened our dolls. I loved baby dolls but didn’t much care for Barbie dolls. Santa always brought us the prettiest baby dolls. My brother Rod always wanted to do art work on our dolls and would draw them some new eyelashes among other features I won’t mention.

We would always be happy with the gifts we got and we played with them year round. We got things we needed too like hats and gloves to keep us warm in the cold winter months. Mom always cooked a wonderful Christmas meal and each year she would make us some chocolate fudge and cream candy, which was a big deal to us. Just the idea of knowing that our mother made it for us was made the candy very special. Anything that a mom makes for her kids is always special and I realized that even when I was a child. I think we should all truly appreciate each year that we are able to celebrate such a blessed season with our family and loved ones.  Having family who loves and cares for each other is reason enough to celebrate anytime of the year. I try to keep the spirit of Christmas alive in my heart all year long.-Debbie Gardner McCord

Kym's Memories

All my childhood memories of Christmas are special. Back in those days we didn’t get stuff year ‘round so the anticipation of Christmas morning was pure exhilaration.

Mommy always made sure that first and for most we understood the true meaning of Christmas. She would tell us about how Jesus was born and about the Star of wonder and how the kings and wise men followed that bright star to Bethlehem to give gifts to the Holy child.  Daddy loves Christmas and he always made sure all our childhood Christmas mornings were memorable. To this day I don’t know who is more excited, daddy or all the grand kids when we open gifts.

When I think back to those days of Christmas when I was a little girl I remember the excitement of knowing that on Christmas morning we would wake up to find all kinds of new stuff to play with. By the time all six of us had opened our gifts our living room looked like a toy shop.

I can’t decide whether my favorite memory was the Christmas we all got new bicycles or the year I got my first tape recorder or the year we got those big wheels or maybe it was the year Dwayne got that race car track. I didn’t really like baby dolls or Barbie dolls. I loved the dump trucks and BB guns my brothers opened on Christmas morning.  Our house was filled with lots of noise as we tore into our gifts. Christmas Eve night was our traditional time to go to Mamaw Pettit’s house to open gifts and to have our Christmas dinner. Papaw always had each of us a little brown bag filled with fruit and holiday candy. I remember how I was always fascinated with the nativity figurines that always sat beneath mamaw’s Christmas tree. I loved the tiny and delicate baby Jesus in the manger and the rich colors of the wise men’s robes and turbans. Somehow I managed to get mamaw to give me those old family heirlooms that once belonged to my great grandmother.  Each year I carefully unpack the time worn figures of Mary, (uh, well I have lost Joseph) and the three wise men to be placed among my own Christmas decorations.

Our house is still filled with lots of noise on Christmas day when our family gets together to celebrate. Each year it is like having an extra special gift to open as we watch our kid’s excitement on Christmas morning and we let our memories drift back to our own childhood.

Kymberly Hawkins King

From the hearts and homes of the Messenger Staff, to the hearts and homes of everyone, we wish you a Very Merry Christmas season and a truly meaningful New Year filled with love, health and prosperity.

Fun in a small town

Roller skating was so much fun. My sisters and I would skate all over town and a few times April and I roller skated all the way down Flat Creek road to our friend Diane Whites house. 

My sister Claudia was quite brave on her roller skates. One day she told me how much fun it was to grab hold of the back of the garbage truck as it came down the stop light hill. Well, she was right; every once in a while we could both be seen rolling down the hill holding on to the back of the garbage truck. (Please do not try this).

In the summertime, when it got dark, we would go up town and skate down Sharpsburg’s main street. We would skate for a while then go down to Burton’s Country Boy’s Grocery and buy us a fresh peach and sit on the side walk in front of Richmond’s pool room and eat our peaches.

Skating under the stoplight made us feel like we were stars in a skating show.

When the light would change it would cast pretty colors of faded green, red and yellow on the highway.

Sometimes my best friend Missy Pettit and I would start at the top of the stoplight hill and skate all the way down the road to the entrance of the Sharpsburg School house.

One time we only made it half way down the hill before crashing into the ditch. That was not so fun. But no matter how many times we fell and busted our butts, we loved lacing up our skates every day.

Sometimes we would get to go the Salt Lick skating rink where we got to skate to music. But the best fun was spent skating on the streets.

When it turned cold and the ground was covered with snow we would spend hour’s sleigh riding. Sometimes the whole community would get together and build a bon-fire to keep us warm.

I remember the Martin’s, Doug, Mike, and their parents, Dorothy and Raymond, Daphne, Larry and Donna Fair, Jeff and Greg Martin, Mike and Danny Warner and a most of us Hawkins’  sledding down the alley behind our house.

Most of us had a sled but we also used old car hoods.  We would take the car hoods over to the Hart farm where there was a big hill to slide down. The car hoods would go down a hill super fast. Please don’t try this either, car hoods have sharp edges that could be very dangerous.

During the long days of no school we would spend nearly the entire day out side playing in the snow. April and I loved to make snow angels, and William always made him some kind of snow skies out of old curtain rods and would ski down the hill behind the Marathon station.

We would have snowball fights and build snow houses and just plain old had a lot of fun back in those days.

It would be fun to go sleigh riding again and join the whole community in keeping warm by a bon-fire, and it would really be fun to put on a pair of roller skates and skate to my hearts content then sit on the side walk and eat a fresh peach.

Keepin up Appearances

I sure need to update this place a little more often.
It's been a busy week with covering drug busts and parades and a family getting to fulfill their dreams of being homeowners with the help of our local Habitat For Humanity Chapter and a fun nite bidding for cool stuff at the Quarter Auction that was held at Double S Entertainment.

Lots of fun  and rewarding time spent with my two pumpkins, Ada and Macy, my sweet, sweet little grandbabies.
And the excitement of Swing on Main this Saturday, so stay tuned for photos of that wonderful event.


You can view photos and stories I have covered at www.flemingcountybulletin.com

Above is a photo of the Quarter Auction.....next one is Monday, Oct. 4.....bring a friend, you never know what great item you get, and you could get it for just 25 cents!!

My two little pumpkins, i like them A LOT

Readin, Writin' and rithmitic.......

                       Claude Roberts and his favorite teacher Mrs. Emma Jean Lightner Emmons.

I love the charm of one-room schools. This is the Posten School in Fleming County. Students in Mr. Charles Berry's Ag. Department renovated this treasure a few years ago. The following article is one I did for the Messenger when the renovations were still underway.

When the students in Charles Berry’s Agriculture Construction class were given an opportunity for a realistic glimpse into the past they jumped at the chance.

Several months ago Charles Berry, who is the Agriculture Construction teacher at Fleming County High School, approached the Browning Family with an offer to repair and restore the old Poston School.

The Fleming County Nature Preserve Project, Amy Kennedy with the Buffalo Trace Area Development District, and Steve Donovan, director for the Fleming County Economic Development, have provided assistance for renovations to the school.

Located alongside the edge of the woods near Browning’s Orchard in rural Fleming County, Poston School was originally a log structure.

“I found a date of 1916 on a piece of wood,” Berry said. “There was a log school here that burned in 1915 and this school was built at the site.”

At the end of the school term in 1953 the Poston School closed and students were sent to a two-room school in the nearby community of Wallingford.
Berry and his students have accomplished quite a bit of work since last October to preserve a slice of local history in the community.

Once work began Berry was surprised to find out how sturdy the old building was despite years of neglect.

“When we started work last summer poison ivy and taken over the place,” Berry said. “We cleared out all the overgrowth and hauled over 100 wheelbarrows of dirt.  One corner of the building had to be raised two feet and the county donated a load of rocks so we could replace the foundation,” Berry said.

Berry attended a one-room school when he was a child and has always wanted to renovate a one-room school.

“When I was in first and second grade my early education took place in a one-room school just outside of Ashland, Kentucky, “Berry said.  I was excited to discover the old Poston School and thrilled with the opportunity to renovate the building. This is something I have wanted to do for a long time,” Berry said.

Most of the exterior and the inside walls are original but a new floor has been added and stained to look authentic.

“We made a mixture of stain for the floor with a gallon of burnt motor oil, kerosene and black paint,” Berry said. “What we ended up with was a blackened, oiled floor that looks just as it would have when students filled this room.”

While Berry and his students labored to remove the damaged part of the old blackboard they discovered a mural hidden beneath the surface.

“As we carefully removed a piece of the blackboard we could see some artwork and writing,” Berry said. “The discovery of the mural was so exciting.  Sixty or seventy years ago one of the students had cut out characters from a coloring book and painted cows on the wall behind the blackboard and they had titled the mural “Before we go to Poston School we bring in the Cows.”

The mural has been sent to be professionally restored and will be brought back to claim its original place at the school.

The windows and doors have also been sent for repairs. The roof has been repaired and a fresh coat of paint has been added to the inside walls.

Covered Bridges

In Fleming County we have three remaining covered bridges and every August we celebrate those timbered tunnels of our past with a big festival.

Our most photographed bridge is the Goddard White Bridge. With the quaint country church in the background it's easy to see why so many people love to take photos of this bridge.

Ringos Mill Covered Bridge

Grange City Covered Bridge

Writer's Block?