FOND MEMORIES

Have you ever been to Abingdon, Virginia?  No?  Well, let me tell you.  Abingdon is a beautiful, historic little town located in Southwestern Virginia near Bristol, Tennessee, and in my mind, Abingdon is famous for 4 things:

SLICK - My uncle Slick (Ezra was his real name) and Aunt Jean (that’s her real name) lived there . . . on Rt. 58 on the road to Damascus. (Uncle Slick passed away last year). Together they were warm and gracious people . . . together they were Jesus with skin on - to me and Sally. Aunt Jean loves to cook and laugh and Uncle Slick loved to eat and tell stories - so they got along real well. When I think of Abingdon, I think of my mother’s kid brother and his wife . . . and I smile.

WOLVES - And when I think of Abingdon, I think of Daniel Boone. “In late 1761, Boone and Gist were camping at a site where Black’s Fort would be built. During the night they were attacked by a pack of ravenous wolves and with great difficulty beat off the animals with rifles and axes. They named the place Wolf Hills, but late settlers changed the name to Abingdon.” (p. 68. Boone: A Biography. Robert Morgan 2007).

AMNESIA -  Ever hear of John Steinbeck? Of course you have. The grapes of wrath and mice and men John Steinbeck. Anyway, he wrote a cute little book he called Travels with Charlie. It is a travel log of an across the U.S. trip he took with his dog Charlie. I read it in the summer of 1976. And I remember little else about the book save this. He wrote: I can remember nothing of the trip after Abingdon, Virginia. Literary amnesia. When I think of Abingdon, I think of . . . ah . . . . I forgot what I was going to write here.

ROWDY REUNION - If you check out www.familyorigins.com you will discover that my family is descendants of Hans Otto Riedi who arrived in Philadelphia August 27, 1739 from Rotterdam. They settled in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. Many of his descendants changed the spelling of their last name to Reedy and moved south to Virginia. Thems my people. And the largest Reedy reunion in the world is held every year in Abingdon, Virginia. Once a year, Abingdon is crawling with Reedy’s partying like its 1999. I’ve never been to one. The Abingdon Reedy’s are too wild for me. I hang with the Reedy’s who gather up in White Top Mountain, Virginia. So there you go.

OK, when you think of Abingdon, Virginia what do you think of? Just wondering.