“All things belonging to the earth will never change — the leaf, the blade, the flower, the wind that cries and sleeps and wakes again, the trees whose stiff arms clash and tremble in the dark, and the dust of lovers long since buried in the earth — all things proceeding from the earth to seasons, all things that lapse and change and come again upon the earth — these things will always be the same, for they come up from the earth that never changes, they go back into the earth that lasts forever. Only the earth endures, but it endures forever.”

— Thomas Wolfe

When one reaches a certain age, and I am there, one reflects upon changes that have occurred and, once in a while, one thinks about what MIGHT occur in the future. There is one thing for which I am thankful and that is we cannot see into the future, we can guess what might happen, but we really don’t know. Being human, it’s that “not knowing” that sometimes causes us consternation, concern, and, at the very far end of the spectrum, even “fear.”

I remember years ago an old Primitive Baptist minister pointed out at the crowd during a sermon and said “Brethren and Sisters, I love each and every one of you here, but there’s two things certain. You didn’t have a thing to do about coming to this earth, and you are not going to have much to do about when you leave here either, and there’s probably about 75-80 of you in this little house of worship today, and one thing is certain, each one of us is going to die, sooner or later.”

Now, that is a sobering thought, but it made me think a little about something one of my fellow journalists wrote not too long ago in this publication. Walter McKenzie wrote things don’t stay the same, and they don’t. People are born, people die, public officials are elected, re-elected, and un-elected, and kingdoms rise and fall, and that is the truth. Prices change, styles change, the way we go about doing business changes. A couple of things don’t change, folks have always and will always complain about the weather, and there’s not one thing they can do about it and, if you live sooner or later you are going to pay taxes of some kind; even if it’s just sales tax.

In this week’s column, I wish to discuss some changes that have occurred in my lifetime and utilizing my memory alone. I am not going to debate whether they were good or not so good, I am simply going to state they have occurred.

Adams Brothers Country Store closed its doors for business for the second or third time recently. The Adams-Saunders family closed the store Adams Brothers established in 1865, in the late 1950’s after being in business close to a century. The Suwannee River Craft Guild was in the store for a while in the early 1970’s and that closed then, Raymond “Raymee” Cheshire, Wellborn, who was part of two big White Springs area families, the Cheshire’s and the Jackson’s, purchased the store from the Saunders family, and he did so much restoration on the store. There wouldn’t be much of a store had Raymee not the financial wherewithal and genuine care to restore the store; so let’s concentrate on the positive, the building is still there, the centerpiece of the historic district in White Springs.

Now, another change, Brenda Gipson who operated the store will soon be leaving us. She has been such a valued part of White Springs. We shall miss Brenda. She became involved in White Springs. She worked, worked, worked, during the Wild Azalea Festival, for a Christmas Tour of Historic homes and churches, for the annual Mother’s Day Tea, and all the time was friendly and welcoming and made Adams Brothers into such a jewel. That lady worked to create so many various events to improve our small town of White Springs, and I thank her for it.

Thomas Wolfe for those of you who don’t know, wrote among other things, “Look Homeward Angel” and “The Web and the Rock” and won the Pulitzer Prize before he was 40, a literary genius raised in Asheville, North Carolina, wrote:

“You have reached the pinnacle of success as soon as you become uninterested in money, compliments, or publicity.”

Brenda was one of those individuals, and I give her credit for it. She went about doing what she did, and she always did a great job. I hope she knows how much so many of us appreciated her and how very much we are going to miss her.

On April Fool’s Day, I drove past the now closed South Hamilton Elementary School, and I drive past it often, and never without regret. Until the day I die, I shall regret the closing of our school in White Springs. I thought of South Hamilton Elementary longtime head custodian, the late Mr. Frank McPherson. April Fool’s Day was Frank’s birthday. Frank loved the school, its children, the community, and he viewed the cleanliness of South Hamilton Elementary School in a very personal way. South Hamilton was “his” school. He felt a sense of pride in the cleanliness of the school. He was a very kind, mild-mannered individual, and I respected him and held him in high regard. He was a good friend. I had the privilege of working in the school with him for more than a decade, and I loved it, and we shared some laughter and good times, and some frustrations too. He was working with me when Sheriff Harrell Reid phoned me on a freezing night right before Christmas 1989 and said “Johnny, we have to open the school for folks to sleep. The roads are closed.” Who was there the entire time to help me? Mr. Frank McPherson. That entire evening of Dec. 23, 1989, we spent trying to make displaced, frustrated, frightened folks feel secure, warm, welcomed, and as comfortable as possible.

I shall never forget the many letters we received later from folks who stayed at South that freezing December night. Wonderful, glowing letters. Scores of folks wrote and many sent money for our PTO. Things change. Frank is no longer with us, but when I drive past that school, I still think of him, being there early in the morning before anyone arrived, plunking on the piano, giving prizes to the classroom who kept their room the “best” out of his own pocket. It was a privilege working with him, along with many others, but he came to mind. You couldn’t purchase that kind of service. My Daddy always told me son “A man who will work, will work for fifty cents an hour, and if he won’t work, you can’t pay him $500 an hour and turn him into a worker. The work ethic is either there or it isn’t.”

Now, since I have worked here, there, and everywhere, I am going back into the files and write about a few other folks I have known and who loved what they did, and you knew they loved it.

One still lives near Wellborn, Florida, Ruth Mizell, for years she was known as the lady with the beautiful blonde cotton candy “high hairdo” and she operated the Bookmobile for the then-burgeoning Suwannee River Regional Library System. In those days, so many rural schools and individuals didn’t have access to library services. Here would come “Miss” Ruth with that bookmobile. Always a marvelous, bright smile, always a warm greeting, always welcoming folks and encouraging folks to read. She lifted the spirits of folks where ever she went. The world “opened up” for us when we saw “Miss” Ruth coming with the Bookmobile. We couldn’t travel to a lot of places, but she came to us. I am so thankful she did. There will always be a place in my heart for her. In thinking about the burgeoning library system in this area, had it not been for the foresight of folks such as the late Mrs. B.W. “Laura” Helvenston III, who was every inch a Southern lady and who delighted in the positive, as well as the late Mrs. Ernest S. (Virginia Bridges) Chandler, Jasper, there wouldn’t be much of a library system. They believed libraries were positives for all communities, and they worked to improve the communities where they lived. The communities they loved.

One more, and I am close to being finished. Penny McCall, Live Oak. Penny worked with special needs children, those who had physical and mental disabilities for many years in Suwannee County’s public schools. Nobody loved those children more. Nobody was more of a champion for them than Penny. She not only taught them, she became part of their lives, and she never stopped loving them.

I am writing this on April Fool’s Day. I think of it each year. The State of Florida Department of Education, when I was assistant principal at then-Suwannee Elementary East, had gotten sure enough serious about the Sunshine State Standards, Standards, Benchmarks, etc. being referenced in lesson plans, but, it was the early stages of that inception, and to say, we were liberal at enforcing that statute, at that time, is a safe admission. I phoned our wonderful Superintendent, Mr. Wyman Harvard, Jr., who I will comment was a true gentleman and a great educator. I asked him if I might go on the intercom and say the district had an impromptu visit from a representative of the Department of Education who would be randomly checking lesson plans at Suwannee Elementary East, looking particularly at the referencing of the Sunshine State Standards and Benchmarks etc… He gave me his approval, but told me not to upset them too long and to say: “April Fool” pretty quickly.

I made the announcement, and Mr. Russell Mapp, then School District Psychologist was “in on it” too. He said: “Now Johnny, you have to give them at least ten minutes for the reality to sink in before you tell them it’s a joke.” I followed his advice. I made the announcement, and my word, the rush to that front office. Some teachers wanted to leave, some were upset, and then I came on and said “April Fool’s.” Penny McCall told me “I am going to get you back for that.” Did she ever. She had a field trip that day out to the Spirit of the Suwannee Music Park. I was spending a couple of quiet moments in my office, Dr. Robinson was away at a conference, when the phone rang, and it was Linda Cheshire, wonderful teacher assistant who worked with Penny McCall, she very excitedly told me one of their children was lost on the river at the Spirit of the Suwannee Music Park, and in the background, I could hear this lady screaming. I now know it was Penny, but I thought it was that child’s mother. I was frantic. I ran down to retrieve emergency information, was about to phone then-Suwannee County Sheriff Al Williams, when Penny phoned back and said “April Fool.” My God, my blood pressure was off the chart. I had pictured the child being drowned, oh, I was beside myself. Well, wonderful memories, and Penny McCall, one of the BEST teachers and one of the best friends ever. I love her. I do. Always have, I always will.

Well, I have roamed “here, there, and everywhere,” but here’s the thing, the world would be a marvelous place if no one cared who got credit for doing the “right” thing and the “good” thing for a community. Want to see what dedication is. I’ve met several whose watchword was “next.” See how much they love a place or a community when the community is of no more use to them. A lot more “takers” than “givers,” and regrettably that is the truth.

From the Eight Mile Still on the Woodpecker Route north of White Springs, wishing you a day filled with joy, peace, and, above all, lots of love and LAUGHTER. Laughter is the BEST medicine.