ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1995, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, December 7, 1995 TAG: 9512070094
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: Beth Macy
SOURCE: BETH MACY
He was naturally shy, and being only made of veleveteen, some of the more expensive toys quite naturally snubbed him. The mechanical toys were quite naturally superior, and looked down upon everyone else; they were full of modern ideas, and pretended they were real.
- ``The Velveteen Rabbit''
There will be Power Rangers. There will be Radio Flyer wagons. There will be basketballs, stuffed animals, Game Boys, mini bulldozers with remote-control steering, and lots and lots of manufactured plastic.
But amid all the flashy toys donated for this year's Toys for Toys giveaway there also will be Foster Askew's wooden toys: a pine dumptruck with a walnut chassis, a road grader, a front-end loader with a big scoop.
Askew, a retired phone company engineer, calls the full package of three ``a construction set.'' No batteries are required - just an eager set of hands and a child's curiosity.
He remembers growing up in Depression-era North Carolina when the only toys available at Christmas were the ones he dreamed up himself, hammering together rollerskate wheels, some nails and a few 2-by-4's.
``We didn't have a lot of toys then,'' the 68-year-old recalls. ``But we always had plenty to eat, clothes to wear and shoes on our feet.
``A lot of people couldn't say that.''
Compared to his parents, Askew says, he and his wife Faye are affluent. They live in a comfortable Southwest Roanoke County home, and like to travel and visit with their five grandkids. While Faye walks regularly to exercise her bad back, Foster's hobby is puttering around in his back-yard wood shop - making bookends for his daughter, cars and trucks for his grandsons, a curio cabinet for Faye's cherished carnival-glass collection.
He says he'd never dabbled much in charity work before, beyond the organized activities at Westhampton Christian Church. But for some reason this spring, an idea took hold of him and wouldn't let go.
He recruited three of his buddies from church - fellow retirees Ron Pamperl, John Montgomery and Raymond Agee. He taught them how to sand, glue, carve and drill.
Since June, the four men have met weekly in Askew's workshop. All told, they've spent 352 man hours creating some 600 wheels - each with an intricate set of tire treads - for 90 toys.
``We had great fellowship doing it,'' Askew says. ``And nobody got cut.''
The construction sets are the only handmade items donated to this year's Toys for Toys benefit for needy children.
They will, quite likely, outlast the others, being there long after the puzzle pieces turn up missing and the doll's leg disappears with the dog.
Like Foster Askew's rugged, wood-worn hands, the toys are not fancy. But they are durable.
And they are a reminder of a Christmas some 60 years ago - when a little boy's dream toy arrived not from the mall by car, but through the pluck of his own imagination.
Askew doesn't think his simplistic toys will win over many of the kids accustomed to the conspicuous consumption of a credit-card Christmas. ``But if a kid's got no other toys to play with, I think they'd be a gold mine.''
In this season's kaleidoscope of loud, manufactured toys, maybe the quiet rolling of Foster Askew's dumptrucks, graders and front-end loaders will stand out after all.
Maybe it takes a needy child to truly appreciate the value of these one-of-a-kind toys.
``It's said that a woodworker once made wooden toys and sold them to his rich neighbors. And when he was asked about making them, he said it was hard work,'' Askew says.
``Likewise another woodworker made wooden toys and gave them away to needy kids. And when he was asked about making them, he said it was a joy and a pleasure.''
LENGTH: Medium: 77 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: Mike Heffner. Men and their toys: Foster Askew (left)by CNBwith his toymaking friends Raymond Agee, Ronald Pamperl and Paul
Montgomery. color.