Many of the folks who produce as well as attend this area’s numerous charity benefits were out in force Monday for the first day of Habitat for Humanity’s Jimmy Carter Work Project. For this performance, the orchestra was composed of the crisp staccato taps of hammers, the whining buzz of saws and the rumbling of trucks plowing through the crowded streets of Wellborn Manor and west Anniston. Some of the “musicians” spotted performing were Tricia and James Daniel, Robert Smith, Jim Tyson and his son, Andrew, Martha and Buddy Vandervoort and their son, Kenneth, Art Brown and his daughter, Carrie, Bud Vann, David Boozer and Zan Elliott. Others playing “heavenly music” at the 80-acre site were Robert Childers and his wife, Terry, Sloan Gresham, Alex Stephens, Quintin P. Woods, Rebecca Littlejohn, Bruce White, Bobby Green and his friend, Lorna Mathias, of Rome, Ga.. and Bill Brown and his daughter, Emily.
Instead of formal attire, the participants were decked out in sneakers, T-shirts and sunglasses as they danced through the dusty streets, crawled up on roof tops, slithered under porches and straddled trusses. Some of the “best dressed” were Gibson Coleman, Rod Nowlin and his son, Newman, Buddy Eiland, Larry Sylvester, Sam Almaroad of Jacksonville, Darlene Raughton of Oxford, Rosa Holland, Paul Jackson, Curtis Simpson of Oxford, Will Downing and David Best.
Instead of floral accents, the decor amid the scenic wooded hills ran more to mottled particle board, white plastic PVC pipes and silvery blue sheets of insulation. Among the “decorators” were Sarah Ballard, Augusta Andrews, Robin Cooper, Phyllis Canup, Jodi Burgess, Jean Flanders, Millie Harris, Dianna Michaels, Brenda Lindell and Karen Gregg of Jacksonville.
Tempting the workers’ palates were cold water and sodas. A few of those serving them up were Jane and John Wheeler, Charlotte and Buddy Mullis, former local, David Schroeder, of Asheville, N.C., and Ridgely Smith.
Cheryl Potts, Jeannie Stanko, Betty Fletcher Hill, Chip Howell, Genny Turpin and Jim Robbins were just a small part of the mob checking out the fine dining offered under the food tent.
Overseeing the action was Habitat’s local head honcho, Dana van Ekris, who had site “boss,” Bill Wright , her dad, Bob Stewart, and umpteen others on golf carts running interference for her. And David Zeigler just kept the volunteers pouring in for more of his cuisine ...
At the end of the day, Katherine Tooker, who chairs Lobsterfest, the annual benefit for Habitat, was seen driving off with a pickup truck loaded with bags of garbage.
Former President Jimmy Carter’s morning news conference began humorously with his confession that he had accidentally campaigned for governor of Georgia in Lanett — Alabama. Not until they realized that they had crossed the state line, did he and his crew politely depart.
We live in a confusing state.
The pervading hands-on presence of Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter and Millard and Linda Fuller — who came to work — added a special sense of purpose to Day One for all the volunteers. It was a meaningful beginning for powerful week of working miracles.
Among the out-of-towners …
Among the influx of out-of-towners coming to build Habitat houses were Linda Lader and her daughter, Mary-Catherine, from Charleston, S.C. They were guests of Josie and Brandy Ayers for the week.
Linda and her husband Phil, formerly the United States ambassador to the Court of Saint James in, organized the concept of Renaissance Weekends in 1981, beginning with yearly events at Hilton Head, S.C. Now six weekends a year, they are held in many different locales, bringing together innovative leaders and their families for panels and discussions on a vast range of topics.
