I am fortunate to live in a community that is full of history. Everywhere you look you can put your hands on things that are 200 years old or more. There are many places where we know our great-grandparents and great-great-grandparents lived or farmed. History is everywhere we look.
And our community is more than fortunate to have many people who I would consider to be living history. We are fortunate in many families to have four and five generations who get together on a regular basis. Some of the great-grandparents are still very active and “still have their mind”.
I'm not one of those families. I wish I was. But what I do have is the curiosity so that I can “adopt” some of these great-grandparents and listen to their stories. Or I get to listen to their kids and grandkids to hear their stories. Because they have stories.
We lost one of those living historians this week. He wasn't one to boast about his stories but if you got him talking he would tell you stories throughout his life. I was usually on the outskirts of those conversations but I always enjoyed listening to what he had to say. He was a quiet man, always pleasant, and always spoke to you if he knew you. He had a habit of sitting on his front porch, having a smoke, and talking with anyone who came by. There weren't a lot who did but those that did he would appreciate being able to just sit and visit.
I became aware of some of his historical stories a couple of years ago. It was around picnic time and there was a camera crew coming in, wanting to get a story on the essence of the picnic. They wanted to know about the politics but more about the history of the politics than anything else. They filmed all around the picnic grounds, talking to everyone who had anything to do with the picnic. They talked with the guys who barbeque the meat. They talked with the organizers of the picnic. They even talked with a couple of politicians. But they wanted more. They wanted to talk with someone who knew more. Jimmy suggested talking with Connie Elliott. He said that Connie knew more about the history of the picnic than anyone else. He had been the political chairman of the picnic for years. He didn't make a big deal about it but he had probably forgotten more about the picnic than most people had ever known. The film crew was thrilled.
I didn't go with them to film what he had to say. I had other stuff to do. But I remember when they came back. They talked for a long time how this was the reason they did what they did. They loved hearing the stories from 50 and 60 years ago; stories that so many people had taken for granted that they had all but been forgotten. I can remember being mad that I hadn't gone to listen. I always liked listening to his stories.
When the piece came out I was amazed. I couldn't believe just the little bit that they talked about but how he had remembered the story as if it had happened a year or two before. I'm not sure if this story had made the piece or if the film crew had told me about it. Years ago, when George Wallace was running for President, after he had survived an assassination attempt, he spoke at the Fancy Farm Picnic. Everyone will tell you the story that it was misting that day and there was a photographer who was in the front of the crowd taking pictures. This was back when flash bulbs used to “pop” when they got wet. The flash bulb went off once and Wallace told the crowd that he was a little “gun shy”. After it happened a third time the police removed the photographer. It was either that or Wallace was going to leave the podium. Everyone will tell you that story.
But the story that Connie tells was so much better. He told about George Wallace staying at his house overnight. And this is just like Connie. Wallace spent the night on his couch. And Connie didn't get any sleep because the Secret Service agents spent the night walking around outside of the house. They kept waking Connie up. I mean, can you imagine, having a Presidential candidate stay at your house? And sleeping on the couch? And fussing because the Secret Service kept you up? But I'm sure he fed him a big breakfast in the morning and thanked him for coming. That's just the way he was.
The film crew told how they could have spent the entire day listening to him. They could have done the entire story on him. And they said how nice and kind and accomodating he was.
That doesn't surprise me either. It seems that the people of Fancy Farm are very nice and kind and accomodating; most of the time more than they need to be. We love visitors to our area. We love telling them all about our community. We may not want them to stay but we want them to tell people about their time here and invite them to come back.
Connie's not the only one in the area who has a story to tell. There are so many. And so many stories that need to be told. I wish I could sit down with everyone in town and hear their story and write about it. Maybe one day I will. But I think each family has somebody who can listen to the stories and remember them, and maybe sit down and write them down, even if they are just for their family members. There are so many stories worth telling, worth listening to. I hope we don't let one of them be forgotten.
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