Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

Blance Hanes Clement

By Linda H. Barnette

Another of my favorite childhood people was Mrs. Blanche Hanes Clement, who was the librarian when the library was uptown on the ground floor of the Davie County Office Building.

As an only child, I found great pleasure in reading and was at some point allowed to walk up to the library. One day when I was 12 or 13, I was looking through the collection trying to find something to check out. Mrs. Clement came over and said, “You have read about everything we have. Would you like to try “War and Peace”? I do not remember if I checked it out that day or not, but I did read it. Obviously, the fact that I recall her comment lets me know that it made a huge impression on me. She was the librarian until the late 1950’s, and she was also a teacher. In looks she was a tall and stately looking.

Another thing that she did was to carefully record the history of First Methodist Church. Many of the notes that I have gone through are hers.  My feeling is that she transcribed Miss Mary Heitman’s hand-written notes, but I don’t know that for sure. Thank goodness for people like those two ladies without which history would be lost to time.  Because of their work, we can pass down information to younger generations.

We know that she also was a friend of Miss Flossie Martin from a footnote in Mr. Wall’s book. In a discussion of where Lydia Morgan, an early settler, was buried in Joppa, it says, “In the 1930’s Miss Flossie Martin and Miss Blanche Hanes Clement read the date as 1742.”  Therefore, it is no surprise that she wrote much of the history of First Methodist Church.

Mrs. Clement was the daughter of Philip Hanes and Sallie Booe.  After ill health forced him to retire from his tobacco company in Winston, Mr. and Mrs. Hanes moved to Mocksville and built one of our loveliest homes, which still stands and is lived in on North Main Street. After the death of her parents, she and her sister, Jane Crowe, inherited the house.  Now it is no longer in the family but remains a beautiful home here.

We are all influenced by so many people.

A Work in Progress

By Stephanie Williams Dean

“This apron belonged to my grandmother, but she never finished it.”

My friend, Pam, held the sheer apron away from her dress so I could get a better look. One pocket was partially sewn – held together with a straight pin.

After her grandmother died, there were many aprons to be given away.  Pam chose the apron that wasn’t finished.

“It’s a work in progress,” I said.

Those words tumbled from my mouth – the Spirit informing me and inspiring this writing with words He gave me – “a work in progress.”

I’m a spiritual work in progress – we all are!

If you’re not a work in progress – you have a problem. And if you never look at yourself objectively – that’s another problem. If you can’t fill up a page with spiritual shortcomings – you’ve got an even bigger issue. I can list a full page of my own –  and no one has fewer. People lack awareness.

Our faith has not matured – we are spiritually immature. We are merely a patchwork of failures, sin, and spiritual shortcomings – so poorly held together like the apron’s pocket with a straight pin. We’re just barely holding it together to get through another day. We don’t have everything sewn up – we’re far from finished.

Some folks are like that loose pocket – they’re not fully engaged in God’s mission and are disconnected from God. When separated from God, we feel spiritually empty – and like the pocket, we’re barely hanging on.

We’re not close to completion. There’s additional spiritual work to be done. Just like Pam’s apron – we’re still a work in progress. But our spiritual growth and maturity will continue until we’re finished.

Rest assured that God does not do anything halfway. What He begins, He will finish. He does not bring anyone to a true saving union with Christ by faith only to abandon them. No matter how pieced together or unfinished we are, God has the design and pattern – one that is not yet finished. Be confident that God began a good work in you, and He will carry it through to completion.

Scripture tells us “He will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Jesus Christ returns.” When you die or Christ returns, we will be finished – we will no longer be a work in progress.

Want to hear more good news? You still have today to work on it.

Road Trip

By E. Bishop

Day three and four of our Christian Tours trip was spent in Stowe, Vt. and nearby attractions. Just as I had imagined, beautiful hills and valleys with maples just beginning to turn red. Free time was spent in downtown Stowe to explore the art scene, museum and restaurants. They also let us loose at the Vermont Country Store in Weston. It is as jam packed as you might think it would be.  All good, just be prepared to let go of some of that cash in your wallet.

The 50-year-old Cold Hollow Cider Mill, one of the most visited attractions in Vermont, showed us the rich agricultural history and the traditional cider-making technique utilizing century old rack and cloth press. All of this, plus a bakery, retail store and cafe, was housed in a 19th century farmhouse and historic dairy barn where a sample of cider was available while watching the apples being pressed. Warm cider donuts too, yum.

The Trapp Family Lodge Vermont Getaway did not disappoint. On the bus ride up, a refresher course (Sound of Music) on the von Trapp story was shown. The movie was embellished quite a bit but the actual truths were still quite compelling after reading and watching an actual documentary by Maria that the hotel graciously offered to show us.

Maria was born in Vienna, Austria in 1905, orphaned at a young age and raised by an abusive relative. At 18, she entered the monastery to become a nun but found herself loaned out to become a tutor to one of the seven children of Baron von Trapp. This is where the story really begins for the Trapp family. The Baron and Maria marry, eventually having three children of their own. Due to the Nazi invasion, in 1938 they flee Austria for Italy, then to England and finally to the United States. Maria stated they only had four dollars on them when they came to the U.S. but somehow they made it.

Indeed, they did make it by touring the world giving concert performances. In the 1940s, they moved to Stow on a 300-acre farm to put down roots, because as the Baron said, “it looked so much like his beloved Austria.” They ran a music camp there when they were not touring and they generously donated to the needy communities back in their homeland.

The original Trapp Family Lodge opened in 1950, when the von Trapp family began hosting guests in their family  home.  In 1980, the lodge burned completely down and was replaced by a 96 room lodge that is now situated on 2600 beautiful acres that guests are invited to explore.  Carriage rides are offered during warm weather; sleigh rides in the winter, hiking/ski trails, and has an indoor state of the art fitness center.  Plans are to add a winery soon.

A family cemetery is located nearby where Maria and the Baron are buried, along with five of the children. The property is still owned and operated by the Trapp family. If you get a chance ,visit Vermont, plan to stay a few days to enjoy all that is offered; you won’t regret it.