Newspaper Page Text
10A I DAWSON COUNTY NEWS I dawsonnews.com
Wednesday, September 5,2018
A letter brings back memories of what once was
A letter came the other
day. Just like an old-fash
ioned epistle from the past,
a time when people sat
down, took pen in hand,
used stationery, put it in an
envelope and send it
through the mail.
It is a tremendous stack
of mail that arrives daily at
the Rondarosa and takes
quite a while to sort
through and handle. I
picked up the envelope,
opened it and pulled out a
three page letter written in
cursive with ink. Though
time was anything from
plentiful, I dragged out a
chair, sat down at the
kitchen table and started to
read this personal form of
communication. I eyed it
with interest and did not
hurry. I savored its words.
Just like people once
did.
She explained who she
RONDARICH
Columnist
was and the connection we
share. This she did not
have to do. Though I
haven’t seen her since my
pre-teenage years, I
remember her clearly.
Dinah Cantrell was a
beauty of a young woman.
She was in her mid to late
teens when I was four and
quite taken by her average
height, slender figure,
short, dark hair with curl
that twisted beautifully at
the ends, a pretty smile
and a face and spirit of
pure kindness. She resem
bled the actress, Elinor
Donahue, who played
Andy’s girlfriend on the
Andy Griffith Show. I
thought she was simply
beautiful.
Dinah and her family -
the Cantrells and Wheelers
- attended a tiny church
that Daddy pastored,
Antioch Baptist, in the
Kellam Valley of the North
Georgia Mountains. In
those days, preachers were
treated much differently
than they are today. They
were revered always and
mocked never. And, each
Sunday, a member of the
congregation invited the
preacher and his family
home for a home-cooked,
large meal. Feeding the
preacher was a big part of
his compensation since the
rest was a modest love
offering and vegetables
from summer gardens.
Those same folks shared
whatever they had, meager
though it might be. Green
beans, tomatoes, peas,
corn, peppers and squash
from their summer gardens
as well as com meal they
ground at the mill, jam
they made or a pig from a
new litter. And, always
without fail, when we left
someone’s house, they
rummaged around the cab
inets and root cellars until
they could find a jar of
something to send home
with us.
Alma Calhoun, of
Nimblewill’s beloved
Calhoun family, sent many
things home with us over
the years but nothing ever
more loved that a gallon of
sweet milk from their cow
that she milked a couple of
times a day as well as an
extraordinary gallon of
buttermilk that she
churned. To this day, hers
is my favorite buttermilk
which had little pieces of
light yellow butter floating
in the creamy soft white
milk.
Dinah’s family was
much the same. We visited
on Sundays to see the ail
ing and elderly. Her grand
parents Wheeler who lived
in a plain, two story white
clapboard farm house with
a weathered porch and
hand-hewn rocking chairs
were part of our visiting
rotation.
“What I will always
remember,” she wrote, “is
how your daddy and my
granddaddy would sit on
the porch, Bibles in hand
and discuss the Word of
God.”
I teared at the memory
as I recalled that two men,
in dark Sunday clothes,
huddled close together as
they rocked gently and
read aloud scriptures that
led to deep conversation,
meant nothing to me then.
Still in my pretty dress but
my lace-trimmed socks
and shoes tossed in
Mama’s lap, I ran through
the thick, deep green grass
and examined closely
bright yellow sunflowers
that I had never touched
before. Those are the
things I remember most.
Her thoughtful letter
brought back what once
was before but, sadly, is no
more. I wish I had paid
closer attention to things
other than green grass and
sunflowers.
For those things have
wilted away but the words
those two men spoke, live
on today.
Ronda Rich is the best-selling author of
Mark My Words: A Memoir of Mama.
Visitwww.rondarich.com.
FROM 1A
Charged
The report states that six
female juveniles as young as
11 were allegedly touched and
groped inappropriately by Dew
on several occasions.
Dew was arrested by the
Cherokee County Sheriff’s
Office for eight felony counts
of child molestation on Dec.
19, 2017. A Cherokee County
arrest report for Dew states
that he was released from the
Cherokee County Jail after 88
days, making a bond of
$20,000.
He was arrested in Dawson
County on March 16, 2018 for
felony counts of child molesta
tion and enticing a child for
indecent purposes. Dawson
County court records state that
these charges stem from an
incident that took place in
August 2017.
The Forsyth County
Sheriff’s Office has charged
Dew with two felony counts of
sexual battery against a child
under the age of 16 and he is
being held in custody at the
Forsyth County Jail under no
bond.
Attempts to reach Dew’s
legal representation were not
successful as of print time.
Although they provided an
arrest report, the Forsyth
County Sheriff’s Office
declined to comment further
on this incident.
.. sp
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