THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, October 30, 1994 TAG: 9410280236
SECTION: SUFFOLK SUN PAGE: 02 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: Frank Roberts
LENGTH: Medium: 89 lines
FOR A DECADE, about three or four times a day, Sara Hightower has been seeing herself. She gets to the refrigerator and there she is - or, at least, a yellowing facsimile.
She is 14. A photograph of herself at 4 has been on the refrigerator door since it first appeared in The Sun 10 years ago.
The older she gets, the farther Sara gets from the little girl in the picture.
``I see it now,'' she said recently, ``and I don't even think it's me.''
It's she all right - a photograph taken by Mark Mitchell, who now works in The Virginian-Pilot's Portsmouth office. It showed a painting by Grace Pierce.
Sara attended The Children's Center in her pre-school days. The occasion was Dress-Up Day, a fun thing for little ones - girls, anyway - and li'l Sara donned a pink robe, green dress and old rain hat, items donated to the center.
``I dressed up, and that's about it. My mom worked there part time.''
Mom, who now works at Churchland Primary School, remembers a little more.
``You and Ashley were posing all day long,'' she said, referring to Ashley Gunter, still Sara's best friend.
The Hightower family - the others are dad, Michael, a printer, and younger daughter, Kelly, 9 - live on Pinehurst Drive.
Sara is a freshman at Lakeland High School where she plays clarinet in the band. A favorite hobby is reading John Grisham books.
``I want to be a lawyer,'' she said. ``I want to defend all the teachers.''
Sara, who is outgoing and attractive, recently weathered a storm.
She had major surgery in January, was out for eight weeks, went back to school and landed right back on the honor roll.
The thought occurs to me that if this article and picture wind up next to the other one on the refrigerator door, a 24-year-old Sara and her family can visit mom and check herself at 4 and 14.
Now, when she's 24 I can interview her again, take another picture and . .
A COUPLE OF MONTHS AGO I had the pleasure of writing a story about Franklin artist Mary Soucek. A few weeks ago I had the pleasure of revisiting her and her husband, Zeke, at Village at Wood's Edge when I went there to do a story.
Dining with them there was a joy, and I want to thank her for the nice follow-up letter to both visits.
ANOTHER LETTER I WANT to acknowledge came from Stephen A. McClellan Jr. of Virginia Beach, a Confederate Air Force squadron leader.
He thanked me for the story I wrote about his fascinating organization and extended an invitation that I will gladly accept.
``The next opportunity we have to make a flight to or from a local air show, we will offer you a seat on one of those flights,'' McClellan wrote.
I stayed on the ground when I joined the Army at the tail end of World War II. I was in the Signal Corps, but I well remember that so much of the news of those days concerned the successes of the United States Army Air Corps.
The Confederate Air Force story ran in several Virginia editions and, according to McClellan, ``attracted much interest and many prospective members.''
Great, because their successful efforts at keeping those World War II craft going, and telling the world of the history of the planes and the men who flew them, are worthwhile endeavors.
A COUPLE OF INVITATIONS over the last few weeks were fun to accept. I got a chance to speak to the Cosmopolitan Club and the Obici Hospital Auxiliary.
The topics were varied - the newspaper, country music, my inspiring childhood. Anyway, I enjoyed both meals and both opportunities to run my mouth.
The fun part was meeting a lot of old friends and making a lot of new ones.
A RECENT TRIVIA COLUMN about the locally made movie ``Deuce Coupe'' resulted in a phone call from Jim Bell, who lives in Bennett's Creek.
He tells me the car of the title is now in California. He also says one of the reasons for the non-release of the film has to do with money.
``The movie company didn't pay half of us,'' Bell said.
He and some other area friends who are nutsaboutcars will be the subject of a future article in The Sun. ILLUSTRATION: Photo by FRANK ROBERTS
Sara Hightower, then and now - she was only 4 in the clipping, left,
that hangs on the refrigerator.
by CNB