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— 3C
— 4-8C
May 2, 2018
Phone: 770-867-6397
Fax:706-621-4115
sthompson@barrownewsjournat.com
Section C
★★★★
High heels and the
Southern women
who love them
Recently, a friend was telling me that her mother,
a most charming Southern woman, had to give up
her high heels. She is 76 and the loss for her has
been immense.
“She wore them three or four years longer that she
might oughta have,” she said.
I understand.
It’s hard to accurately describe my love affair
with high heels. When I was a sports writer, I wore
them on the sidelines of many a
football game. At least twice, I
was able to outrun a couple of
running backs who were forced
into the sidelines by the defen
sive line.
In all the years that I was in
NASCAR, I never once went to
the track that I wasn’t wearing
heels at least three inches high.
One year, back in the days when
Daytona’s Firecracker 400 was
run on July 4 beginning at 10
a.m. and lasting until 2 p.m.
or so, I was dressed in a red
pencil straight skirt and high heels. I was in the pits,
watching the scoring board. None of my Buick driv
ers were in the top five. With two laps to go - and
thinking that a Chevy was winning - I sauntered
down pit road, heading back to the garage area when
I noticed a lot of tension in Bobby Allison’s pits. He
was one of my drivers.
“Why are y’all so anxious?” I asked one of my
friends on Bobby’s crew.
“Because we’re about to win this race!”
I glanced at the scoring board then looked back at
him. “No, you’re not. Bobby’s a lap down.”
“The board’s wrong. He’s leading the race!”
My heart stopped. I was at least a half of a mile
from the garage area and the truck where my Buick
hats were stored. This was my most important job:
Getting a Buick hat on a driver when he pulled into
Winner’s Circle so we could get press coverage. It
was a hundred degrees and there I was in high heels
- but I took off a-runnin’ like a bear was chasing
me. This is a pretty unusual sight - a woman in a
skirt and heels running through the pits. The guys
watched as I ran past them, urging me on, “Run,
girl, run!”
I made it to the truck, got the hats, and ran over a
half-mile back in the same heels and heat. I got into
Winner’s Circle just as Bobby pulled in. I plopped
the hat on him as soon as he came out of the car
then sank to the ground beside the car. Bobby was
in a very good mood, having just won the race, so
he looked down and laughed. “What’s wrong with
you?”
“Don’t ask,” I replied as I fought back total col
lapse.
Even that incident didn’t drive me toward wearing
more sensible shoes. I had been an admirer of a
woman, well into her 80s, who was late for church
every Sunday morning. Normally, she would arrive
about 15 minutes before the sermon ended. Ceremo
niously, she’d throw open the front door then prance
down the aisle. She was always exquisitely dressed
and tottered quite well in a pair of very high heels.
She was my hero, to the extent that I immortalized
her in my first book.
About three years ago, I went to visit at the hos
pital. I got on the elevator with a woman who was
probably somewhere in her 60s. She cast an eye
downward to my high heels.
“I used to wear heels like that,” she said in a
somewhat angry tone. Then hatefully she continued,
“Enjoy them while you can.”
“If I get to where I can’t wear high heels,” I
replied. “I’ve told everyone to just shoot me like a
downed horse and put me out of my misery.”
She didn’t laugh... which was good because I
wasn’t joking.
Ronda Rich is the best-selling author of Mark My
Words: A Memoir of Mama. Go to www.rondarich.
com to sign up for her free weekly newsletter.
ronda
rich
Celebrate Life Banquet
i ii
COME ALIVE MINISTRIES HOLDS 27TH ANNUAL EVENT
Come Alive Ministries of Barrow County, a pregnancy-care center, held its 27th annual Celebrate
Life Banquet on Saturday, April 14, at the Winder Community Center. Organizers said the event
was successful with Annette Herndon serving as the keynote speaker. Rev. Lindell Hunsley
served as master of ceremonies, and Sisters By Grace performed music. The Masters Table
catered the banquet dinner. Hunsley is pictured above, speaking at the banquet. Submitted photos
PERFORMING MUSIC
Sisters by Grace performed at the banquet.
KEYNOTE SPEAKER
Annette Herndon of Annette Herndon Ministries
was the keynote speaker at the banquet.
CELEBRATING LIFE
Come Alive Ministries staff members and banquet volunteers were recognized at the banquet.
Winder Library announces upcoming events, new eBooks available
The following events are
coming up at the Winder Pub
lic Library:
•Ready to Read Pre-K Story
Time - 10:30 a.m. on Thurs
day, May 3, for ages 2-5 years.
•Creative Arts Studio - 9:30
a.m. to 2 p.m. on Friday, May
4, for all levels and types of
artist.
•Lapsit Story Time - 10:30
a.m. on Tuesday, May 8, for
infant to 2 years.
•Genealogy Meeting
“Finding Your Irish Roots” 2
p.m. on Tuesday, May 8.
•Ready to Read Pre-K Story
Time - 10:30 a.m. on Thurs
day, May 10, for ages 2-5
years. The library is located
at 189 Bellview St. Library
hours are: Mondays, 9 a.m.
to 8 p.m.; Tuesdays through
Thursdays, 9 a.m. to 7 p.m.;
Fridays and Saturdays, 9 a.m.
to 5 p.m.; and closed on Sun
days. For more information
contact library manager Julia
Simpson at 770-867-2762 or
go to www.prlib.org.
NEW EBOOKS
AVAILABLE
The following list of new
eBooks have been added to all
the Barrow County libraries
this week:
•After Anna - Lisa Scotto-
line
•Antiques Wanted - Barbara
Allan
•The Cutting Edge: Lincoln
Rhyme Series, Book 14 - Jef
fery Deaver
•Death of a Cookbook
Author - Lee Hollis
•The Fallen: Amos Decker
Series, Book 4 - David Bal-
dacci
•Fascism: A Warning -
Madeleine Albright
•The Feather Thief: Beauty,
Obsession, and the Natural
History Heist of the Century
- Kirk Wallace Johnson
•The Girl Who Smiled
Beads: A Story of War and
What Comes After - Cleman-
tine Wamariya and Elizabeth
Weil
•Hide and Sneak - G.A.
McKevett
•Llama Llama Misses Mama
- Anna Dewdney
•Meghan: A Hollywood
Princess - Andrew Morton
•Murder in the Locked
Library - Ellery Adams
•One Last Breath - Lisa
Jackson and Nancy Bush
•Redemption Road: A Novel
- John Hart
•Shattered Mirror: Eve
Duncan Series, Book 23 - Iris
Johansen
•The Sixth Day - Catherine
Coulter and J.T. Ellison
•Things That Make White
People Uncomfortable
Michael Bennett and Dave
Zirin
•Twisted Prey: Prey Series,
Book 28 - John Sandford
Library patrons only need
their library card and pass
word to sign in and check out
eBooks. Password resets can
be done through any Barrow
County library by calling and
giving the library card number.
The libraries can be reached
at: 770-867-2762, Winder;
770-725-4785, Statham; or
770-513-2925, Auburn. You
can also get help with eBooks
at ebooks@prlib.org.