Blackberry winter has been over for many weeks so what is this cool spell that has lingered like light-blue fall chimney smoke across our hometown in July? Towards the end of the week it was one of celebrations for Newport Federal Bank serving 75 years and White's Monuments grand opening.

Last week we had been talking with Oran Harris of White Pine about his brother Homer Harris, and growing up in Gulf Fork of Cocke County. Since then, I called Roy D. Brown to refresh my memory about a chat we had months ago. Roy talked about his Dad and a guitar that ended up in Homer Harris's hands. Roy, taking time from his garden chores these cool mornings, referred me to his upcoming book, Snowbird, where he writes about his father, Charles Emitt Brown, the Smoky Mountain Troubadour. Roy's grandson, Eric Ogle, also told me the book is at the printer in Knoxville so we anxiously await its publication this year. During the 1920s, Charlie Brown roamed the nation singing ballads and played on his father's handcrafted guitar. When he married, he sold the beloved guitar to a young mountain lad named Homer. The price was $8. Homer went on to radio, movies and TV shows, says Roy. Eventually Homer sold this guitar as he had several others acquired over time. Roy also recalled Oran and Homer's Dad, Uncle David. "He taught school." And, had a dam on Big Creek for an "overshot watermill." Another modern technique was a mule hitched to a post pulling a contraption in a circle that baled hay. The music tradition was carried on by Roy's brother, Lee Roe "Buck" Brown, whose favorite instrument was the mandolin, much as Oran played as a teenager. There was one last public performance by The Smoky Mountain Troubador in the late 1930s at Green Corner School, said Roy. The Snowbird chapter recounts that event when people paid 25 cents to attend. Now, let me finish our chat about Oran. Before Oran went to war, he liked music and played the mandolin. He and a couple other friends had a band but "WW II changed everything." After the war, he set aside music and went to work at Butcher & Barker hardware, driving a delivery truck. He recalled that American Enka opened its giant Lowland facility in 1948 so he left the hardware and went to Enka. He built 37 years and was a supervisor at the rayon plant. In 1967, the polyester staple expansion opened, Oran noted he helped on this start up. Among those men he worked with were J.A. Ball and Earl Cureton. On July 10, 1948, Oran married Ruby Wallin of Dutch Bottoms. I recall her niece, Phyllis Wallin, who wrote columns for the Plain Talk.  Her Dad, Lane Wallin, worked at the Enka plant. Oran and Ruby had four children. The twins, Linda and Ronnie, were born in 1949, followed by Steve in 1951, and then Keith. Unfortunately, Keith died of cancer at age 55. Ronnie has had some health problems and recently retired after many years at Lear Corporation in Morristown. Linda was born premature at Mims Clinic and suffered with cerebral palsy that affected her legs. She used hand braces, much as polio victims did. But she worked nonetheless and retired from Berkline. Her husband Mike Everidge is an information systems technician at Lakeway Hospital.

Oran earned his retirement in the mid 1980s and took up fulltime his favorite hobbies of hunting, fishing, and camping. To help occupy his time and honor fellow veterans, he joined the honor guard attached to VFW Post 5266 of Morristown. He fires an M1-Girand as one of about 22 honor guard members. They also participate in church and school flag presentations and he was at the recent Rally at the Strip motorcycle event in Newport. One of those recent comrades honored was John Fish who died June 28. He was well known by the "corner of geezers" at the 25-E Hardee's in Hamblen Co. During a year, Oran will participate in hundreds of ceremonies and drives there in his red 1992 GMC. It has 284,000 miles and the engine has never been overhauled. He bought the truck years ago when it had 38,000 miles and paid $9,000. Both Oran and GMC just keep chuggin' requiring low maintenance and appreciate a smooth road.

Other memories were being made in these mountains in July. It was an unusually chilly day at the Cosby Campground where I visited with members of Caton's Grove church for the annual homecoming. How cold was it? Bob miller, Great Smoky Mountains Park management assistant, told me that the previous July record at Mt. LeConte was 38 degrees in both 1988, 1993. "We broke the record twice this month: We had 35 degrees on July 18 and then we saw 33 degrees on July 22." Many more people other than direct Caton descendants attended because the church's membership is larger and there was a special event. A couple of brave souls were baptized in the frigid creek that runs out of the park at a brisk pace. The two young people who were baptized were Carley Leist and Charles Large, who attends Pleasant Valley, the other church in the Methodist circuit. And by the way, there were some smiling references to Methodists baptizing. There were several people from the Plain Talk that I instantly recognized because of one of the baptisms. Carley, 13, is the daughter of Amy Becker, who in turn is the daughter of our circulation district manager Elaine Becker. Her parents, Richard and Marjorie Howard, of Tampa, Florida, were there for the unique event. Photos of the event were shared with me to present here showing Caton's Grove pastor Leroy Morie. He was assisted by Larry Proffitt. I have talked with the Proffitts over the years and got a little more information from his Dad, James Proffitt that day in mid July. You may recall that I first met him at a small country store he operated not far from Sunset Gap in Sevier County.

If you traveled along Alpine Drive and Wilhite Road you probably drove by English Mountain Market. James said it was built in 1994 by owner Gordon Pruitt, who leased it to James. Shortly after the construction, Pruitt died. James and his wife, Norma, operated the grocery until 2004. I was able to take a photo of the entire family group that worked at the store before it was taken over by Jimmy and Sandie Large. James also told me that for at least 10 years he ran a smaller store by the same name off Wilhite. Today, James is retired and has been for years and lives off upper Bogard Rd. where he still practices woodworking and killing time. For awhile he assisted son Keith Proffitt in construction, but that work got to be too demanding for James, who turns 68 in Sept. In addition to woodworking, he also raises a big garden. He still lives on the 30-acre farm of his parents, Charles and Mable Proffitt. James and Norma's other children are Larry, Jerry, and Tammy Phillips, who lives in Savannah.