The Mailbox - July, 1984

Issue: July, 1984

Dear Folks,

I subscribed to The Mountain Laurel last June for my husband for a Fathers Day Gift. I am writing you to tell you that it was and still is the most appreciated gift I have ever given him. He (and the rest of the family) devour each publication as soon as it arrives. We have a cabin off the [Blue Ridge] Parkway near Fancy Gap and we save all our copies and leave them in the cabin for our guests. Everyone from Florida to Chicago enjoys reading The Mountain Laurel, it makes no difference how old they are.

I am enclosing my check for a two year subscription for my husband for Fathers Day again this year. Keep up the good work and you have my gift giving for my husband solved for eternity.

Thank you very much for many, many hours of very enjoyable visits to the past and just plain good reading for today.

Sincerely,

N. Poore
Roanoke, Va.

Dear Ms. Thigpen,

I recently visited Floyd County and I bought a copy of your paper. Everything from the stories to the advertisements is 100% Blue Ridge Mountains. I was intrigued by the title also because I am a songwriter and six years ago, the Bluegrass Cardinals from Ferrum, Va. recorded one of my tunes entitled, "Mountain Laurel."

I am a native of Willis in Floyd County. I have a band that plays bluegrass music and we are appearing at the Iroquois Restaurant in Roanoke on July 28, 1984. Enclosed is a cassette tape which I sell that contains 12 of my original songs. You might be interested in "Rock and Clay" which is a fictionalized story about Buffalo Mountain. I hope you enjoy the songs.

Sincerely,

Randall Hylton
P.O. Box 90813
Nashville, Tenn. 37209

Dear Randall,

We appreciated and enjoyed your tape, especially two songs, "Roscoe Thompson's 1950 GMC" and "Country Poor and Country Proud." If people would like to order the tapes of your original bluegrass songs, I understand they are only $6.00, which includes postage and can be ordered from your address above. Good luck with your music. We proudly brag that these mountains produce some of the best musicians in America.

Sincerely,

Susan Thigpen, Editor

Hi,

I got a Feb. issue of The Mountain Laurel through the mail. I sure did enjoy reading it. That's why I subscribed for it.

I read in the "Memories of Squirrel Spur" about Jim Shepard who was killed in a show battle while participating in a Fourth of July Celebration at Hillsville, Virginia. He was my grandfather.

That happened in 1910. It will be 74 years ago this Fourth of July. He died at 10:00 that night and the next morning my other grandfather, Thomas Weddle, went out to cut down a tree and a limb fell off and hit him on his head and killed him. They were both buried the next day.

I was raised a short distance from my grandfather, Jim Shepard's farm. I really enjoyed living there when I was a child - roaming over those hills.

Thanks,

Mrs. Ola D. Marshall
Galax, Va.

Dear Readers,

Mae Clifton, who wrote the article "My Only Doll" in our April issue has had two bad falls resulting in broken ribs and a broken arm. Thankfully, she is recovering, but slowly. She loves to correspond with people. If any of you would like to drop her a card or letter. Her address is:

Mae Clifton
1144 Knollwood Place
Martinsville, Va. 24112