\
f.v3rdner-Webb College Lih
Special Collections
f- .O, Bo>; 836
ina SPrinss, nc 28017
The Foothills View
Friday, October 14, 1983
B»k. Postage Paid
BOILING SPRINGS NC
Book Has Local Roots
Patsy Daniels Cornwell came
to Lattimore this week to visit
her husband’s parents, the James
Cornwells. She wanted them to
see the first copy of her new
book, right off the press at
Harper and Row’s San Francisco
publishing house.
The book, “A Time For
Rembering: The Ruth Bell
Graham Story,” is predicted by
the publisher to be a major best
seller of the year, with uncom
monly large first-printing of
65,000 books due on the market
in early November.
It is a biolgraphy of evangelist
Billy Graham’s wife Ruth,
whose hearthside has been a
happy haven to Patsy Cornwell
since she first visited the
Grahams as a seven-year-old, 20
years ago. Out of that long and
warm friendship came this book.
A book about herself was not
Ruth’s idea, for she has been the
woman behind the famous
preacher and occasionally beside
him, but by choice never in the
forefront. She was reluctant.
“But I kept after her,” Patsy
says, because she wanted others
to know something about the
strength and depth and inspira
tional character of this
remarkable woman.
Patsy, now 27, grew up near
the Grahams’ home in Mon
treat. As a child she was such a
regular visitor at the home of
Ruth Graham’s parents. Dr.
Nelson Bell and his wife
Virginia, that she entered their
home without knocking and
helped herself to homemade
custards from the kitchen. She
liked to hear Mrs. Bell tell stories
about China, where the Bells
had been missionaries for many
years, and where Ruth was bom
and grew up.
She met Ruth first at the
Bells’. Ruth was a beautiful, live
ly woman, Patsy remembers - a
relaxed natural friend to
children, and the mother of five.
She was also a revival “widow”
-left alone while Billy Graham
was off around the world on
crusades, fully responsible for a
complex household, and
sometimes overwhelmed and
lonely, and showing only calm
and fortitude.
And sometimes, she was im
pishly playful. She had blacked
out her teeth and come to meet
her suitor Billy barefooted, as he
came to the mountains to court,
and bring her an engagement
ring. She loved to ride a fast
motorcycle, and once served a
dignified guest a bowl of swimm
ing tadpoles, as others at the
table ate soup.
Some of these things Patsy
observed and stored, as she grew
up. Others came from trunks of
letters and diaries, which Ruth
Graham shared with her, when
she finally consented to the
book.
It was something Patsy had
long wanted to do. After she
finished Davidson College, she
went to work at The Charlotte
Observer, where she was, in her
last job there, a police reporter.
The experience sharpened her
perceptions and ability to dig for
facts and assemble them quickly
and with accuracy,
She had chosen to stay on in
Davidson, living in a little house
on Lake Norman. Three years
ago she married Dr. Charles Cor
nwell, a Lattimore native and
one of her former Davidson Col
lege professors. A year later he
left teaching to enter Union
Theological Seminary at Rich
mond to study for the ministry,
and they moved to Virginia.
They moved into a small stu
dent apartment at the seminary,
and Charles began his school
work and Patsy her book. Pro
gress was not aided when, short-
4
>M
mmi
ly after they arrived there, Patsy
got her feet tangled in some
debris while running on the
sidewalk, fell and broke both
arms. The work continued for
several weeks in casts, for the
publisher was enthusiastic and
the deadliners loomed.
Much of the editing of the
book was done by Charles Corn-
well, along the way. So that first
copy that his parents Jim and
Sarah Hamrick Cornwell leafed
through on Wednesday was
doubly a family product.
Charles, with a year after this
one to go in seiminary, is
preaching at a Presbyterian
church in Richmond. Patsy goes
on tour to publicize her book
next month. One engagement
being arranged is with the
Friends of the Library, at
Gardner-Webb College, at a time
to be announced.
College Receives
Cannon Grant
Tech
Schedules
Courses
has been estimated at $600,000.
The building, completed in
1925 was originally called
Memorial Building in honor of
the students that served during
World War I. In 1937, a fire gut
ted the interior of the building
leaving only the walls standing.
Because of the financially dif
ficult early years of the college,
the building was not restored un
til 1943. It was then renamed
E.B. Hamrick Hall in honor of
Boiling Springs businessman Eli
jah Bly Hamrick, who along
with his father, Charles J.
Hamrick established the Boiling
Springs store, C.J. Hamrick and
Sons in 1875.
Four generations of Hamricks have walked up the steps where
Clifford Hamrick, Sr., stands with College President Craven
Williams, Sr.
Gardner-Webb College has
received a $25,000 grant from
the Cannon Foundation for the
purpose of renovating the E.B.
Hamrick Hall, the oldest
the
building remaining on
Gardner-Webb campus.
Renovation of the building,
which has been placed in the Na
tional Register of Historic PLace
Hamrick also served as a
member of the school’s board of
trustees from 1905 until his
death in 1946.
The Continuing Education
Department of Cleveland
Technical College has scheduled
the following courses:
Stained Glass begins October
25, from 6:30-9:30 p.m. at
Shelby Junior High School. The
class will meet each Tuesday
evening until December 6. The
instructor will be Neal Seism.
Total hours 20. The registration
fee is $15.00.
Upholstery begins Nov. 2,
from 6-9 p.m. at Campus
Upholstery Shop. The class will
meet each Wednesday & Thurs
day until January 25. The in
structor will be Doyt Johnson.
Total hours 66. The registration
fee is $10.00.
Upholstery begins Nov. 8,
from 9-12 a.m. at Campus. The
class will meet each Tuesday and
Thursday until January 12. The
instructor will be Charles
Knight. Total hours 60. The
registration fee is $10.00.
His great grandson, Clifford
Hamrick III is currently a stu
dent at the college.
Beginning Sewing begins Oc
tober 31, from 6:30-9:30 p.m. at
Campus Room 883.
The registration fee is $15.00.
All persons 65 years of age
and over can register free. For
further information, call
Cleveland Tech.
Fall Gourds
Full Of Uses
Mr. and Mrs. James Cornwell, with their daughter-in-law,
author Patsy Daniels Cornwell and her book.
These days, gourds are used
mostly for handsome autumn
decorations, but it has always
been that way.
In many early civilizations,
guards were grown for practical
purposes: as utensils for eating
and drinking.
American Indians used them
as containers for liquids of all
sorts. Thrifty American settlers
found the forms of gourds useful
in many ways: as salt shakers,
sugar bowls, powder horns and
even stocking darners, thereby
saving the cost and trouble of
importing or making these
devices.
Some peoples made them into
percussion and wind instruments
for music-making, and the
Chinese carved and decorated
gourds for decorative cricket
cages.
When the slaves of Haiti over
threw their French colonial
rulers in 1804, their leader,
Henri Christophe, declared
gourds to be the standard curren
cy of the island country, and
they served this purpose for
almost a year until conditions
stabiUzed. In memory of this
time, the standard coin of Haiti
is still known as a gourde, spelled
in the French manner.
Gourds are members of the
plant family called cucurbits,
which include pumpkins,
squash, cucumbers and melons.
The cucurbita, or ornamental
gourd, is native to America and
has yellow day-blooming
flowers. Ornamental gourds are
found in many diverse forms:
smooth, warty or ridged, and
plain, colored or striped.
Another type, lagenarias,
originally tropical natives, are
descriptively called bottle or dij>-
per guards and have white
flowers which dry well for ar
rangements.
When planning to pur gourds
into the garden, it is useful to
remember that they do no
transplant well; so start them
from seed in the location you
want them to grow. Plant them
in the spring after the weather is
warm and settled, sowing
mounds with six to eight seeds,
about eight inches apart, and
thinning to the strongest four
seedlings.
They like hot weather, lots of
sun, well-drained soil and ade
quate moisture.
Harvesting should be done
just before the first hard frost,
selecting mature gourds judged
by the browning and dryness of
the stem. It is important to leave
part of the stem attached to the
fruit during subsequent process
ing.
Gourds should be handled
carefully to avoid spotting and
bruising. With washing in soapy
water after harvesting and rins
ing with water containing a few
drops of vinegar. After drying
the gourd should be stored in a
warm dry place for several weeks
after which it may be polished
with wax.
Four Candidates
Run For Election
Boiling Springs will hold its
elections for town council Tues
iday, November 8. The polls will
be open from 6:30 a.m. to 7:30
p.m.
Voters will elect three town
council members from four can
didates. Three candidates, John
Washburn, Jr., Albert Glenn,
and Jerry Bryson are in
cumbents.
Barry D. Harris, is seeking his
first term. Council members are
elected to four-year terms.
According to town clerk
Margaretta McKee and assistant
town clerk Nancy Hamrick,
Bryson is seeking his second
term.
Celebrates Birthday!
,1 « t 1..
Mrs. Etta MeSwain of Moorsboro, N.C. celebrated her 98th bir
thday October 6. A birthday dinner was held on Wednesday at
the home of Mrs. Lorene Sorratt in Boiling Springs. Others at
tending were Eloise Hamrick, Ann Bridges, Marjorie Hamrick,
Ruth Daves, Eunice Hamrick, Evelyn Greene, Lucille Huskey,
Erma Bridges.
I
[[■ .
a
• '
c:::