The Mail Box - August, 1983

Issue: August, 1983

Dear Ms. Thigpen:

Thanks for the copy of the May issue of the Mountain Laurel. The articles were most enjoyable and to us of WPAQ the one on Mountain Music particularly was super! As the enclosed card might suggest, this is right down our alley. Enclosed is a check for a one year subscription. We plan to run an ad in the Mountain Laurel and will be submitting it later. Keep up the good work!

Sincerely,

RADIO STATION WPAQ
R.D. Epperson, Owner

(Editor's note... WPAQ is a radio station in Mount Airy, N.C. The card mentioned says, "Your Blue Grass and Old Time String Music Station". They also play country and western classics and Gospel Blue Grass. The music is live from their station on Saturdays. If you are in the broadcasting area, they are an AM station located at 740 on your radio dial.)

Dear Mountain Laurel Friends,

Our first copy of your delightful paper arrived Monday and we could hardly get through it for thinking of all of our friends who would enjoy it as much as we. The "elderly lady" in 'What I miss most" could have been my husband's mother, talking of "Miss Tootsie" and the old days in Sharpsburg, Georgia. I do hope you have an extra copy with which to start her subscription. And the recipe for Wild Strawberry Preserves nearly drove me right into the kitchen except for our lack of wild strawberries in Norfolk, Va. Please start off our subscriptions to the two people on the enclosed sheet. I'm sure we'll add more as time goes by and we'll certainly look forward to our next copy.

Sincerely,

R.M. Morgan
Norfolk, Va.

P.S. Those tempting real estate ads may make us neighbors some day!

Dear Mt. Laurel Editor,

We have just received a complimentary copy of the Mountain Laurel from our friends. I must admit once I opened the paper I could not put it down. While reading your paper I felt as if I were traveling through the backroads and mountains. It was so beautifully explained. We have visited the area several times and have always enjoyed it. Enclosed is a check for our subscription.

Again Thank you,

J & J Demko
Dameron, Maryland

Dear Susan:

Thank you very much for sending me The Mountain Laurel. I not only will be very interested but want to subscribe for my mother who lives in California. I was raised in Pulaski, Virginia but my grandfather was Norman Kelly Howlett of Hillsville. I remember many things about the area and love it. I do arts and crafts as a hobby and every time I do something from that area with a story, it sells like crazy. I have painted, drawn, sketched, wood burned Mabry Mill, The Puckett Cabin and many other area things. Yes, I have read The Man Who Moved A Mountain. Bob Childress book and one time I met him in my Uncle Andy's Streetcar restaurant, I never forgot him. He was a loving caring person. Please keep up the good work, there are many who are away from there who want to keep in touch, it is special. I am fully convinced, mountain people are more creative, inventive and self sufficient. I am convinced that I have been blessed by having grown up in that time and place.

Thanks again,

Don Howlett
Overland Park, Kansas

P.S. Afterthought, there are many people here in the Midwest from that area. There is a lady artist that I met who has a brother in Floyd. Also (Small World) Mrs. John Foley who lives up the street from me was a Mabry from that area. By the way, since I was a child, I think Meadows of Dan is the most beautiful name I have ever heard.

Editor's note... It really is a small world. We met Mr. Howlett the other day in the Country Whale at Meadows of Dan!

Dear Editor:

Just a quick note of great appreciation for a delightful newspaper. I am so appreciative of something to read that doesn't leave me with a great let down and with all the mean, ugly things that are happening all over our world today. Your Backroads traveling is like a vacation joy ride through our lovely county. Probably many residents did not know of such interesting places within a days journey of their homes. Thanks, too, for the article of dulcimer making. My children and grandchildren think its something for grandpa to be written about in a newspaper. Keep traveling and writing such an enjoyable paper.

Sincerely,

Ralph M. Spradling
Floyd, Va.

P.S. Enclosed is my yearly subscription.

Dear Folks,

Enclosed find my check for $6.00 for which please mail me a year's subscription. of your nice paper. I think it is grand. I have seen only one copy but I am a native of Black Ridge in Floyd. I am 84 years old. I know and loved a lot of people you write about. Wishing you much success, I am-

Sincerely,

Ida H. Ridinger
Bassett, Va.