11/14/2020
Dear Friends, Welcome to The Final Countdown
By DALE GRAHAM
I’ve always thought that when people retire from their jobs they would throw a party, yell “I’m Free” at the top of their lungs, and then happily move on to their leisure days with pleasure.
So as I’ve thought about retiring the last couple of years, and more and more about it this last year and feel torn every time I do, I’ve wondered if I’m making a mistake.
Then things changed. We lost our youngest child, Jessica. Nothing, and I truly mean nothing can prepare you for the kind of changes that can come your way after such a loss. I remember when my beautiful sister Jennifer died suddenly of a brain aneurysm in 1994. We felt the amazing support of our beautiful community then, as we do now. For several years to come the only thing I could really do was my job. It gave me sanity, made me think about things other than the sadness and loss I felt every minute of every day. The South Cheatham Advocate became my friend in those days, and I was grateful.
Our little community paper has been with me through all kinds of trouble and worries: pet deaths; health issues, some quite serious; joint replacements (6 of them for me over the years); loss of both of my loving parents; and the death of the man (Jim Lewis) who hired me (like he had a choice!) and taught me a lot about what a community newspaper should be good at.
So the short version is: I’m retiring as of the December 19th edition of this beloved newspaper. Barring something unforseen, that will be the last edition in a 30 year stretch. Not bad I must say.
There isn’t one particular reason, no one to blame, nothing to regret. It’s just time for me to turn my attentions elsewhere, and maybe even do some other things I enjoy, things that don’t come along with stress and a Tuesday deadline!
So for these last 6 weeks, I will do a little reflecting on things that really stand out for me. I would love to print a lengthy list of thank you’s to the businesses who have made this 30 year run possible. That won’t happen, there’s not enough space and I would absolutely forget many. To everyone who has ever purchased space in the S. C. Advocate, I thank you from the bottom of my heart.
The South Cheatham Advocate Newspaper was born the 1st week of February in 1991. I came along sometime later that year and presented Jim with six “For the Birders” columns that I had written in hopes that I could get my foot in the door. It worked, and I worked for Jim for free for the first couple of years until advertising picked up enough to pay me. It was never much, but I was happy.
Back then Jim and I realized that the best and most important thing we could do with the paper, was to focus on the kids, and schools of south Cheatham County.
I went to every event I had time to go to, taking pictures and getting information for stories. I had three young children at home as well, 3 very busy children. I had pictures to take, and stories to write. Our lives meshed in those days. I ran the sidelines at football games, protected by the Indians when my camera eye got in the way of my safety. I (and of course many others) coached in the new arm of the Youth Basketball Association, Kingston Springs kids got to play for their own school. I spent a lot of time away from home, shooting pictures of kids, (including mine). Kids who LOVED having their pictures in the paper, taken doing the things kids love to do.
Somewhere along the way I realized that I would have to commit more personal time to Kingston Springs Elementary School. Money was always needed, and most of us parents couldn’t afford to sell and buy that many candy bars. We started a recycling program at the Elementary School, collecting cans from the kids and their parents once a week, “Helping Hands for Planet Earth”. We would take them in for cash which we would save for prizes for the top collectors, and for special needs for the school.
Another method of fundraising that I am particularly proud of was the Gee Haw show. It was a variety show like Nashville’s “Hee Haw Show”, only with local folks. We wrote skits, gathered performers and a big pile of talented parents, and then for 1 night we held our breath and put on a show for anyone who wanted to buy tickets. We raised a lot of money for the school, and had the time of our lives, year after year. The South Cheatham Advocate was our only source of PR, and it worked like a charm.
I enjoyed my time as an officer with the PTO, Betty Davidson was a brave Principal and she trusted us when we would say, “I’ve got this idea…”. Priscilla Doris was the same way. I’ll never forget the day Mrs. Dorris came to me as we were starting to plan for the next Gee Haw Show. The shows generally had some sort of an underlying theme, and she had a problem at the school she thought we could help her with. “Could this year’s theme be ‘head lice’”, she asked. “Of course it can”, I told her, and that year the song “Lice, Lice Baby”, hit the stage. It’s amazing what people can do when they have great, positive, creative people to work with. The list of events and projects that a small number of people (you know who you are) worked together on is too many for me to remember, from Cook Books, to Sock Hops, there were endless ways to raise funds without sending the kids out on the streets to sell stuff.
After my sister died and my kids moved onto middle school and high school, I focused on sports and county politics. More about that in next week’s S. C. Advocate.
Pictured: James A. Lewis
