INSPIRING PEOPLE ›› giving
AUDY PERRY W HUNTINGTON, WAYNE COUNTY What Would Grandma Have Said? We could use some old-time wisdom about now. if your roots are in appalachia, somebody in your family was amazing. It is their hard work, perseverance, ingenuity, and spirit that inspire us forward today into an unknown tomorrow. They had no guarantees about the next step, but with
faith and determination they overcame seemingly insurmountable obstacles to make our lives possible. During this historical period we find ourselves in, I encourage you to look back into your own roots and share those stories with your quarantine family. For me, one of those amazing people was my Grandma Mylar. I would love to be able to talk about the coronavirus pandemic with her. Unfortunately, she passed away in 2013, a few weeks shy of her 101st birthday. She was a spirited lady who grew up in rural Wayne County and spent her adult life in Huntington. During her long life, she saw the days of horse and buggy transition to the automobile, airplanes, and space shuttles. She saw two world wars, terrorist attacks, race riots, and many other human heartbreaks, both personal and public, during her centennial life. However, I never heard her ever issue a disparaging or downtrodden remark. She had definitely taken to heart the mantra, “If you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all.” My favorite example of this came when my then-10-year-old daughter was interviewing her 95-year-old grandmother about the Great Depression for a school project. Rebekah was honing her journalism skills and hoping for a hard-hitting expose about this dark time in American history. Grandma said, “Oh yes, things were certainly difficult, because there weren’t many jobs to be found and money was scarce. But we all just pitched in and did what we could—swept streets, dug ditches, sold walnuts, etc.—and loved each other and got through it.” Rebekah refused to be denied and tried several different angles to get to the pain and heartache. But each time, her seasoned subject wrapped every truthful answer in love and kindness. Another good example of a chance Grandma had to be “less than kind” was when my dad had to explain to his mother-in-law that he was moving her daughter and grandchildren from a nice southside brick home in Huntington to a burned-out log cabin at the end of Harveytown. Taking a deep breath, she looked at the poor structure and said, “Well, it will be nice someday.” I so love that response—probably the closest she ever came to saying what everyone else in the world was thinking: “You are crazy!” Grandma’s life was not easy. Her father repaired shoes; she was one of eight children and raised four of her own while running a licensing business long before it was commonly accepted for a woman to be in both work worlds. She saw many personal tragedies to her family and those she cared for but never lost her love for the Creator, His creation, and its people. If I were able to speak with Grandma about this pandemic where the schools got closed, many people lost their jobs, and a new level of fear and unpredictability entered the world, I think she would acknowledge the difficult times we are in but would then remind me of something very important: Live each day so that, when your grandchild someday asks about your pandemic experience, you can say, “we all just pitched in and did what we could, loved each other, and got through it.” And the next time I start to doubt where all of this is headed, I’ll take a deep breath and say, “Well, it will be nice someday.”
Brains AND Brawn An appreciation for one of the many heroes. So many people across the state have done heroes’ and heroines’ work to keep families fed during the pandemic. This appreciation for one of them appeared on the Facebook page of Morgantown anti-hunger activist Roark Sizemore on April 11: Know Your Community Heroes My first experience with Professor Daniel Brewster was when I was a junior at Morgantown High School and started taking WVU classes. He is the best introduction to taking a college class— interesting, non-monotone, and in touch. Since that time we have worked together, traveled for WVU Student Government, and he has been an advisor, mentor, and professor for me. He gives his whole heart to projects and he makes the work we do possible. This photo says it all—dedicated, loyal, passionate, hard-working. Thank you Brewster! You help make feeding so many possible. It looks like Roark is not Daniel Brewster’s only fan—his post inspired almost 200 likes and loves.
24 wvl • the community issue 2020
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