Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, October 24, 1994 TAG: 9412010032
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BETH MACY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
"Is that a maple?" she asked. "Here I am forgetting my nature, and I had a wonderful nature-studies teacher."
Then she waved her arm in front of the red, yellow and green landscape. "Look at that blur of color, it's just heavenly," the 89-year-old retired school teacher said. "It looks like an artist came along with a paint brush."
Weld was among a van full of Our Lady of the Valley Retirement Community residents who rode up Bent Mountain last week to ooh and aah at autumn's sights.
The point wasn't that they couldn't recall things as well as they used to, nor make out the copper dome of the First Union Tower from 10 miles away. It was that they viewed the annual color collage with reverence and awe - as if they were they were taking it in for the first time.
"We're lucky we get to see this, you know," said John Paul Bavely, a West Virginia native who moved to the home two months ago. "First, you thank God for letting us see this, and then you thank the Virginia Highway Department for making this road."
Bavely had been hoping to meet a new "friend" on the trip. And so it was no surprise to find him sitting beside - and flirting with - the elegant, white-haired Kathleen O'Neill. O'Neill couldn't remember how old she was, but she did chime in with this quip when a reporter asked Bavely to give his age:
"He's as old as his tongue and a bit older than his teeth."
Joe Fagan, 95, was eager to impart his own pearls of wisdom, on topics ranging from the stock market to health maintenance for the elderly.
"My grandpappy said to me, 'Son, to grow old you need to remember three things: Keep your head cool, your feet warm and your bowels open.' That was his recipe and a darned good one," Fagan recalled.
"Why do they call it Bent Mountain?" someone shouted as the van snaked up U.S. 221.
"Because it bends, of course," said Doris Lovern.
The van stopped at Smith's country store in Copper Hill, where the residents lolled among the apples and iron skillets. Roanoke native Dorothy Snyder, 78, told owner Ray Smith about a nearby pond where she used to ice skate.
"You didn't have to pay; you just came to skate," she said. "You came up here because it wasn't freezing down in Roanoke."
"That's the Huff farm, and it was right behind the store here," Smith said.
"See this here?" He pointed to a scar shadowing his right eyebrow. "I got this from falling on that very same ice."
Lenora Brunckhorst, whose mind is as sharp as her black knit pantsuit, shopped hardest of all. The 86-year-old tried on a Virginia Tech ball cap, then bought a jar of molasses for her seat mate, Rubye Weaver, who stayed in the van.
Brunckhorst also picked out an assortment of nickel candies, then purchased a flashlight for a friend who couldn't make the trip. "She likes to keep one under her covers at night."
Handling a head of cabbage, Brunckhorst enthused, "I love spaghetti slaw! And I'm sure Paul [Rice, the food service manager] will appreciate it."
Spaghetti slaw?
"I'll have to give him the recipe for it," she said, describing the cole slaw and cooked spaghetti combination. "He'll have to make it if I'm paying for the cabbage."
Activities director Sherry Reynolds headed the van back to Roanoke via the Blue Ridge Parkway, which drew even more enthusiasm.
"New England, eat your heart out," Brunckhorst said. "This has got to be the prettiest I have ever seen it."
"Look at that - way way out there," Bavely said. "That's West Virginia!"
"Oh, no, it isn't," Fagan snapped. "That's Roanoke. West Virginia's back the other way."
As the van rolled back into Roanoke, O'Neill sealed her new friendship by whispering to Bavely: "Let's remember what each other looks like so we can visit again later."
Bavely smiled, dropping his head to her shoulder.
by CNB