A thought swirled in my head as I drove from Hillsboro to my home in Frost last Saturday night. “Pocahontas County has produced some incredible women.” Not to say that our county has not fashioned some incredible men—it has. However, for me several events last Saturday just hammered home the valuable contribution of our local women.

That evening I had attended the Fall Social at Hillsboro Library, wonderfully planned and implemented by the Hillsboro Library Friends Group. The theme was literary, “Poets Of The Pocahontas Hills: Louise McNeill To The Present.”  The program included traditional Appalachian music, a keynote address by Concord University Professor James Baker, and well-written and performed original poetry and storytelling by local people.  Folks brought in food to share. All of us basked in the warm community spirit that is in such rich abundance in the Hillsboro community.

A number of people gave inspiring renditions of selections from Louise McNeill’s poetry. Her poems, more than any other poetry that I know, comes vibrantly alive when read aloud with expression and movement.  Her poems tap deep roots into the soils of our local people and history and tradition and soil.

Jaynell Graham’s article in last week’s Pocahontas Times provides an excellent sketch of Louise McNeill’s life. To quote Graham, “The love of the land and agriculture are in the blood of this family, and McNeill found her voice and life’s work in putting words, not plows, to the soil.”

Earlier in the day, I had attended the funeral of Emma Beard. She lived her 101 years to the fullest. Story after story kept flooding back into my memory of this extraordinary woman. The seeming contradictions synthesized so wonderfully. Elegant yet down-to-earth; particular but never petty; personally frugal yet magnanimously generous to her community; friend to the powerful while equally friend to the small. Even though I only occasionally visited Emma Beard, I realize I could fill pages of stories and memories. And maybe I will.  Some people have such charisma and life-force that every encounter is memorable and life-impacting.

One of Emma Beard’s dearest friends has been Jessie Brown Beard Powell. At 95, Jessie is a trove of historical knowledge, has a sparkling wit, and is graciously hospitable.  Spending a bit of time with Jessie at the funeral, I realized the treasure we have in our county’s remarkable and grand older people.  We impoverish ourselves when we do not hear their stories, drink from their wisdom, take counsel from their advice.

I drove home proud to make my life in Pocahontas County, a beautiful place with a legacy of some extraordinary people.