Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, June 8, 1993 TAG: 9306080127
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Kathleen Wilson
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Printed on recycled paper it featured what appeared to be a custom-designed painting of Cycle Systems, the Roanoke recycling station, by local artist Eric Fitzpatrick.
Bruce and Terry Brenner were inviting us to celebrate and dedicate Cycle Systems' 75th anniversary sculpture with cocktails and dancing.
At Cycle Systems.
But, what to wear?
"What does one wear to a party there?" a friend asked last week.
Good question. . . . Something recycled, I guessed. So I wore the outfit I'd worn to a birthday party earlier in the day.
Seemed I wasn't the only one fretting about the dress code.
"A woman asked me if she was dressed right," Roanoke City police Sgt. J.C. Martin said. "What do I know about fashion? I'm wearing a uniform."
Martin was one of three uniformed police officers posted near the entrance to Cycle Systems on Broadway, off of Franklin Road.
If you forgot to bring your invitation, you were just plain out of luck.
The police were intended to keep out the uninvited riffraff.
Like that Amy Morris, the reporter over at WDBJ-TV.
"My mother has my invitation," she pleaded. "I'm not here to do a story or anything. I just want to go to the party."
After a brief summit, they let Amy in.
"At last count, we had something like 348 people coming," explained Kenneth Beachum of Cycle Systems.
Chateau Morrisette catered this chic alfresco affair. And even though it was late in the afternoon on a Saturday, the men were wearing neckties.
Judy Tenzer was wearing this oh-so-vogue two-piece suit with the metal accents that looked like art deco by way of the Jetsons.
It didn't look like anything I'd seen around here.
"That's because I bought it in Paris," she said.
It was designed by French couturier Thierry Mugler. And how to describe its unusual color?
"That's lemon-chartreuse," teased former state senator and local big shot Granger Macfarlane.
He asked where he'd find this column in the newspaper, but seemed a little disappointed when I told him to look in the Extra section.
"The Extra section?" he repeated. "I've never been in the Extra section. Good news or bad I've always been on the real front page." nn
Cycle Systems' nine-ton sculpture is 30 feet tall and recycles 300 gallons of water a minute. It took Floyd County sculptor Adam Cohen two years to finish.
They call it "Recycling in Motion."
It looks a lot like a big, upside-down stainless steel pineapple.
Take a look at it the next time you do your recycling in the morning. Adam promises you'll see lots of little rainbows, thanks to the morning sun.
A party I'm sorry I missed was the one thrown last week by the now-unemployed temporary telemarketers at Sears.
Even unemployment wasn't going to sour this group's sense of humor. The invitation instructed you to bring everything: bathing suits, food and drink.
"We're going to supply the soap and water and that's it. Remember, we're unemployed."
It also had some very specific instructions on calling if you got lost.
"When you call, let the phone ring twice, then hang up and call again.
"If you don't to it this way we'll think you're a creditor, and we won't pick up the phone."
Friday's storm sure worried Leona Haymaker, who lives at Smith Mountain Lake.
"We didn't have electricity, and all of the food for this party was in my refrigerator," she explained.
Leona and her seven sisters and brothers spent a month planning a birthday party for their father.
About 100 neighbors and church-goers turned out Saturday morning at the Family Life Center of First Baptist Church to help Dee Martin and his family celebrate his 90th birthday.
And though his wife passed away some years before, she was very much part of this party in spirit.
"I was lucky to have been married to the finest woman in the world," he boasted. "I kept her 63 years, and if she were still alive, we'd have been married 70 years in July."
Among all the cards and gifts and a bunch of balloons, there was a framed black-and-white photo of the entire family. The Martins raised 10 children.
Thanks to his daughters, Dee couldn't think of a thing he needed or wanted for his birthday.
"My six daughters pick me up every Wednesday and take me to breakfast at The Roanoker," he smiled.
"Most of the time he buys, too," teased Leona, giving her dad a squeeze.
by CNB