LAUREL COUNTY, Ky. — I’ve just spent the last two Wednesdays in your lovely neck of the woods as part of the Living Treasures project. Once again, recording the life stories of four remarkable Laurel Countians has been an absolute delight and I was reminded of the power of a life well lived.

The first installment of Living Treasures, a London Downtown project, ran in The Sentinel last week and featured the charming Mr. Leonard Gilliam, loving husband, father, World War II veteran who was overseas for 34, yes 34, months, and dedicated farmer in the Greenmount area.

Mr. Gilliam and I talked for several hours after he greeted me on the glorious grounds of his farm, made so pretty by his late wife Wilma. With the creek babbling in the distance and his sleeping great-granddaughter curled like a cat in the chair beside us, I was riveted by what he had to say, not only about the Battle of the Bulge but about how much he loved his wife.

Next Wednesday will feature Buddy Westbrook, a fixture at nearly every public meeting that meets in Laurel County. I first met Buddy, as he generously allows me to address him, at a Tourist Commission meeting several years ago when he presented me with a bag of stoneground cornmeal he’d gotten at McHargue’s Mill. He’d apparently read about my trials and tribulations baking biscuits and decided to steer me in a new direction.

The fact that someone I’d never met was giving me a gift was overwhelming enough. The fact that he was giving me such a thoughtful one was enough to get me teary-eyed.

On the morning of our interview, Buddy greeted me with a lovely breakfast of croissants, marmalade and tea and we got down to our chat. You’ll enjoy his inspiring story.

Mrs. Alice Helton is our third Living Treasure to be featured, with her story running in the May 16 edition of The Sentinel. Sitting in her recliner surrounded by her daughter and granddaughter, she recalled keen memories of childhood and child-rearing in Keavy, delicately painting a picture of a gentle caregiver whose home was always the center of the party.

Lastly, Mrs. Toni Ryser tells her fascinating story, which includes how Ryser’s Furniture and Flooring came to be. Elegant, humble, fashionable, she laughed about how many times she’d broken her nose playing ball when she was a kid and how, after she’d opened the furniture store, she coaxed the high-school principal to “lend” her some teenage boys to move furniture for her. Not only did I want to instantly redecorate my home while sitting in her living room, I also so wished I could have been born a little earlier so I could have known Mrs. Ryser for a lot longer than an afternoon.

Actually, I felt that way about all the Treasures.

And after my days with them, I realized there are characteristics they all share. First, none of them were ever afraid of hard work. In Mr. Gilliam’s case, he even credited working hard for his long life, saying that if he’d ever sat down he wouldn’t have gotten up again. Whether it’s working in the garden, getting up in the middle of the night to deliver furniture, starting a new business or milking the cows, they all have this invaluable ethic that drives them.

I also noticed that all of the Treasures are happy. I hate to apply the phrase “positive attitude” because it somehow sounds paternalistic, but I suppose that’s the only way I can think to write it. These people seem genuinely, bone-deep content. They don’t complain and they don’t dwell. They just plow through and don’t seem overly bothered by the bumps they encounter.

Finally, the Treasures are all deeply connected to their families. Up until their deaths, most of them in their 90s, Mrs. Helton’s seven brothers and sisters would gather once a week to play board games, competitive evenings that would occasionally even end up in sour grapes but not so acerbically they didn’t all gather together again the next week. That, to me, is special, and each of the Treasures talked about their own version of family togetherness.

If you were to take these qualities they share and apply them, I’d say you have a recipe for a good life. And that’s one priceless lesson.



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