About The Eatonton messenger. (Eatonton, Ga.) 18??-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 4, 2025)
» Your hometown newspaper since 1861 The Eatonton Alessenger THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 4, 2025 | C5 For Heaven's Sake Mike Morgan PERHAPS A WALK IN THE 0 SUNSHINE C Y WILL GET 7MY MIND OFF ALL THE • 2 3 DISCORD L THESE ;V.DAYS. % Most of the local tell ings — it’s not gossip — come from two places: the beauty shop and the funeral home. When Tink moved to the rural South, he had only been to two funerals in his life. On average, we have a visitation or a funeral about once a week. He’s become a pro. In fact, I was crunching away on a deadline when he came storming down the stairs to tell me that the mother of a church friend had died. Tink had never seen her, never met her. “What time do you want to go to the funeral home?” Proudly, I smiled. My husband, New England bred, California raised, had learned the ways of the rural South. We don’t just go to funerals of close kin. We pay respects to the family of those who are acquaintances or nearly a bare stranger who once did us a kindness. I looked at the work spread before me. “This is due tomorrow. There’s no way I can go.” Tink didn’t hesitate. “I’ll change into a suit and tie and I’ll go for both of us.” In 30 minutes, off he went. When he returned, he recited conversations (he doesn’t get stuff like I do) and brought three funeral home calendars which I use to tell the signs of the moon, mostly for surgeries — the others, I give away to those who’ve requested them. Sometimes, when we are going to a visitation where I know a lot of friends will be, I’ll say, “You take your car and I’ll take mine. I’m not going to be in a hurry to leave. % $ 8 in U a 00 EVERYBODY° nIS TAKING SIDES AND DRAWING T BATTLE LINES, anV Grave digging Ronda Rich Dixie Divas There will be many people I want to talk to.” More than a few times, I have closed down a funeral home after visitation. At the beauty shop the other day, I was sitting with foil wrap in my hair for highlights when one of the kids in our family came in for a haircut. He’s a high school senior with dark, good looks, a reputation as an excellent athlete, and remarkable intelligence. I’ve loved him since he crawled around, following me wherever I went. As soon as he could speak, he took to calling me, “My Ronda.” He called me that until he grew up and went into the first grade. While my highlights cured, I sat in a chair and talked to him about his plans after graduation and such. “You gonna work this summer?” “I got a job now.” “Really? What’re you doing?” “Diggin’ graves.” “Diggin’ graves!!!” I exclaimed so loud that the whole beauty shop stopped and he blushed. “Are you serious?” He nodded. These days, they use EVEN MY . SUNGLASSES 6 ARE 2 POLARIZED! 09 a backhoe to dig a grave and put someone six feet under, then cover it with the dug-up dirt. It’s a mound of deep, red clay that is about two and a half feet high. There is a phrase that sticks in my mind. I can hear my Daddy praying it on Sunday morning when a church member or someone had died, “Dear Lord, please, be with and comfort those who have returned from a new-made mound.” I always sat on the front bench, sometimes the second, and still do to this day. I was about 13 when Daddy finished a prayer that included that line. After his amen, I looked out the window to the cemetery and saw a new-made mound of an elderly woman named Miss Irene. In my childhood, graves were dug by hand. Sometimes, a snow would come or a deep freeze would keep a shovel from digging in. ”Well,” the undertaker would say. “We’ll just need to keep the body out until we can get a grave dug." In the attic recently, I found Daddy’s enor mous black umbrella, used only for burials. A memory flashed: Daddy, in a brimmed hat, a black dress raincoat, holding that umbrella, sidestep ping gravestones as he left the cemetery. Sadness always clinging to him. The Gothic South. May it never be forgotten. Ronda Rich is the best-selling author of The Stella Bankwell Mystery series. Visit www.rond- arich.com to sign up for her weekly newspaper. 36 49 25 31 54 60 63 66 13 16 19 41 26 50 45 27 55 22 32 51 20 28 37 33 42 61 64 67 17 38 56 14 34 52 46 29 43 23 39 47 21 65 68 44 53 62 15 18 30 48 57 10 24 35 58 11 40 59 12 CLUES ACROSS 1. Fairly large 6. Barrels per day (abbr.) 9. Cover the entirety of 13. Leafy appetizer 14. Showy ornament 15. Norse personification of old age 16. Athletes 17. Closes tightly 18. Attack via hurling items 19. Where the reserves stand 21. Sword 22. Begat 23. Damage another's reputation 24. Northeast 25. Turf 28. For each 29. Hours (Spanish) 31. Western state 33. One who offers help 36. Flanks 38. A woolen cap of Scottish origin 39. Free from drink or drugs 41. Tunnels 44. Mature 45. More dried-up 46. News organization 48. Steal something 49. Forms one's public persona(abbr.) SEE PUZZLE ANSWERS » PAGE B3 The Tatonton lessenger Support local journalism msgrnews.com — 706-485-3501 51. Female fish eggs 52. Small petrel of southern seas 54. Edible starches 56. Historical 60. In a place to sleep 61. Horse grooms 62. Off-Broadway theater award 63. Chinese dynasty 64. Resembling a wing 65. Small projection on a bird's wing 66. Of the Isle of Man 67. Derived unit of force (abbr.) 68. Plate for Eucharist CLUES DOWN 1. Vipers 2. Ancient city in Syria 3. Slog 4. Emits coherent radiation 5. "Pollock" actor Harris 6. Bleated 7. Monetary units of Afghanistan 8. Tooth doctor 9. One who takes apart 10. Commoner 11. Beat poet Ginsberg 12. Cave deposit material 14. Home energy backup 17. Begets 20. Face part 21. Frocks 23. Hill or rocky peak 25. Giving the impression of dishonesty 26. About ear 27. Male parents 29. Popular grilled food 30. Vaccine developer 32. Not conforming 34. Polite address for women 35. 1970 U.S. environmental law 37. Astronomical period of 18 years 40. One who fights the government 42. Center for Excellence in Education 43. Watches discreetly 47. An electrically charged atom 49. Hymn 50. Arabic given name 52. Popular pie nut 53. City in Zambia 55. Species of cherry 56. John , British writer 57. Be next to 58. Make angry 59. Give birth to a lamb or kid 61. Unhappy LOCAL MATTERS newspaper at www.msgrnews.com Lake Oconee Lutheran Church A Stephen Ministry Congregation We are a Christ-centered, mission minded church with traditional worship eager to include you in our church family. 7 Q x Pastor Meg Jackson Clark GREENSBORO, GEORGIA Read breaking news online and subscribe to your hometown 11 706.485.3501 and ask to advertise on the Worship Page, today! BYTERI Website - fpog.org Phone: 706-453-4956 a PC(USA) Church Sunday Scripture Study - 9:45 a.m. Sunday Worship Service - 11:00 a.m. First Presbyterian Church of Greensboro 117 South Main Street, Greensboro, Georgia (next to the Post Office in downtown Greensboro) All Are Welcome 2 Sunday Bible Study I 9:00 a.m. Sunday Worship 10:30 a.m. Pastor Steven Hayden ============ 706-485-4600 Office LAKE OCONE e , LUTHERAN CHURCH officelolc@gmail.com www.lakeoconeelutheran.org CHURCH Wednesdays Sundays: 5:15 p.m. - Family Night Supper 9:45 a.m. - Sunday School Children & Adult Bible Study 10:50 a.m. - Worship Dr. Craig Williamson, Pastor First Baptist Church 115 Madison Avenue • Eatonton, Ga 706.485.3331 www.FirstBaptistfEatonton.orgl 1089 Lake Oconee Parkway (Hwy 44) Located behind the Lake Oconee Lutheran Community Center Corrie ten Boom Episcopal Church All Angels Episcopal Church 405 North Jefferson Avenue Eatonton, Georgia Holy Communion at ten on Sunday morning When I try, I fail. When I trust, He succeeds. Eatonton First Methodist Church 103 West Magnolia Street, Eatonton, GA 31024 706-485-5871 |www.eatontDnfmc.cpm1 Pastor David Wofford Wednesday Night Activities Dinner starts at 5:30 p.m. with bible study at 6:30 p.m. Sunday 8:45 a.m. Traditional Worship in Historic Sanctuary 10.00 a.m. Sunday School 11:00 a.m. Casual Worship in Historic Sanctuary GLOBAL METHODIST CHURCH
