Monthly Stories Begin For 2011

     The BCS monthly storytelling programs began the evening of February 3 at the 606 State Street Gallery. Storytellers were Glen Williams, Mimi Rockwell, Carl Jenkins, and Becky Vickers. Guest CanJoe John read some original poetry that will soon be published, and Johnny Garland played some bluegrass tunes on his harmonica.  Some pictures follow:

Glen Williams tells a Jewish tale of a farmer outsmarting a King

CanJoe John reads some original poetry about the "HouseMouse" who symbolizes his wife who is dying of cancer.

Carl Jenkins entertains with some tales of famous people and their indirect effect on Carl's family

Mimi Rockwell shares some Spoonerisms

Johnny Garland entertains with some bluegrass tunes on his harmonica

Becky Vickers is the M.C. and also tells a tale

Sam Samuels shares some anecdotes about funny barroom comments

Graveyard Tales 2010

      Beaver Creek Storytellers entertained an appreciative audience of around 50 people Sat. night at the 13th annual Graveyard Tales. Tellers were Mary Grace Walrath, Glen Williams, G.Lee Hearl, Becky Vickers, Carole Ann Miller, Pat Musselman, and Mimi Rockwell. 

     Mary Grace opened the program with the classic story, "Tailey-Po." Glen Williams followed with a story of his college days and the haunting of the theater's rehearsal room. G. Lee then told his much-loved tale of "Coffin On A Rail."

     It was a warmer night, or should I say less cool, than it has been. However, between the stories and the sun going down, it was quite chilly by Intermission time. The hot chocolate was goooood!  

     Some State Street stores had donated some very nice items for door prizes and about a dozen were given away during the Intermission. 606 State Street Gallery had donated admission to an art class; Blakely Mitchell Men's Store donated three quality men's ties; Kiln-N-Time donated a pottery piece; and The Blowfish Emporium donated

a print of a tropical scene. Some books, jewelry, a Mikasa glass dish, and toys made up the rest.

     After the break, Becky Vickers told a tale of a frightened girl in a graveyard with a surprise ending; Carole Ann Miller with a delightful Scottish accent told a story of a Scottish princess who sewed britches for a humiliated brute who had been haunting the village; and Pat Musselman told the classic scary tale of Mary Culhane.

     Mimi Rockwell, who had been M.C. for the program, ended the program with a story to help you face your fears--but she had to scare them first.

     It felt good to have many of the old gang back together. G. Lee's surgery has given him new energy, and Mimi is back using stories to help recover from Rocky's death.

     Because my camera batteries kept losing their charge, I did not get many pictures. I'm posting what I got in the sidebar. As other members send me some of what they took, I'll post those later.  

Doug Morrell, 1931-2010

Doug and Sue Morrell, BCS Christmas Lunch, 2008

One of our most faithful members, Doug Morrell, died on Feb. 27. He will be remembered for his cheerful personality and a ubiquitous smile. He enjoyed telling stories and his favorites were those about his military experiences as an M.P. in Germany, events of his youth in Bristol, TN, and characters in his painting business. Doug was born July 14, 1931, in Sullivan County, TN. He retired from the U.S. Army in 1968 as a Master Sergeant having served during the Korean War. He then returned to Bristol where he became the owner/operator of Morrell Painting & Decorating, from which he later retired. Mr. Morrell was a member of Sunrise Baptist Church, the Lone State Writer's Guild, and Beaver Creek Storytellers. He had written a book, "Painters Have More Fun Than People."  Survivors include his wife, Sue Morrell, two daughters, three sons, and eight grandchildren. The funeral service will be held at 11 a.m., on Wednesday, March 3, in the Weaver Funeral Home. Military Honors will be conducted by the Bristol VFW Honor Guard. The committal service and interment will be held, at a later date in Arlington National Cemetery, Washington, D.C. Online condolences may be registered by visiting www.weaverfuneralhome.net 

Story Tellabration 2009

Pictured above from left are Glen Williams, Mimi Rockwell, David Claunch, Becky Vickers, Paul Conco, and G.Lee Hearl.


BCS had a good Tellabration last night at the community college in Abingdon. There was a small audience but they had big hearts and brought canned goods for the Second Harvest Food Pantry.


David Claunch started the stories off with a tale about his trip to Bhutan, a country near India. He told about amusing the monks with a red clown nose, then bubbles which they named "prayer bubbles" since they had a similarity, floating through the air, to their prayer flags. 


Becky Vickers went next with her story about a pet dog and cat she had when she was a child. The cat tormented the dog until Becky bought a new chain for the dog which gave him an advantage and he finally got back at the cat.


Paul Conco was the third teller and shared a lot of research he had done while writing his story about the 1918 flu pandemic. It was a sad, scary story that could happen again with the current flu epidemic.


Mimi Rockwell told the fourth story about the first client she had when she was doing an internship for her therapist degree. His actions were very mysterious and ghostly,


Glen Williams who is new to BCS and has a degree in Theatre told of his student days and ghostly happenings also. It ended with humor so we lived up to the old adage, "Always leave them laughing."


The next time we tell will be at Old Christmas on Jan. 6 after the New Year.

The Art Of Story III

Mary Grace Walrath and Paul Conco were the featured storytellers for the Aug. 23 session of The Art Of Story, a series of storytelling and education produced by Director G. Lee Hearl.

An audience of 25 applauded heartily at the four stories selected. Paul started off with a tale of college including a tribute to his muumuu-wearing mother who paved Paul's way with letters to those in charge. He later told an adaptation of a Russian folktale featuring his uncle, a Judge, who meted out justice to a local baker who wanted to charge for the aromas that emanated from his shop.

Mary Grace chose a personal story, also about a college experience in which a professor caught a liar with a unique invention. She then shared a cleverly modernized adaptation of an old German folktale in which a young girl enjoys sampling roasting chickens until she's devoured them and then must concoct a "story" to explain their disappearance.

A brief business meeting to discuss our upcoming Graveyard Tales followed the stories. It will be held on Sept. 26 at 7:30 p.m. at the Weaver-Union church picnic area on Weaver Pike.

Our New Director, G. Lee Hearl

 Our new Director of Beaver Creek Storytellers, G. Lee Hearl.

It was unanimous last Thursday night, May 21, when members of BCS voted in G. Lee as our new Director. G. Lee has asked Joyce Moore to stay on as Secretary and Pat Musselman to stay as Treasurer. Pat has agreed since some of the stressors in her life have resolved themselves and she wants to be as supportive of G. Lee as possible.

I have been asked to keep the website, http://www.bristolstorytellers.org up to date. Other than that, I plan to lay back awhile and give my attention to Rocky and my health issues. I will prepare a ghost story so I can participate in Graveyard Tales if called upon. My intent now is to refrain from any obligations unless I know I have a back-up who can substitute for me if at the last minute I cannot attend.

Doug Morrell and Terry Benz were the main storytellers at our Java J's program Thursday night.

Doug told a story about a dangerous curve he once lived on and all the cats that were "dumped" near his home just beyond the curve. Terry told two stories, one a ghostly story that involved Margaret Mitchell, the author of Gone With the Wind, and a little boy who was having a joke played on him.

His second story took me back to my childhood as he told about The Lone Ranger. Terry put his radio voice to good effect as he imitated the radio announcer, and closing my eyes, I could pretty much re-live the childhood experience.

G. Lee closed the evening by playing a couple of songs on the auto harp and sharing one brief tale. 

The evening was a gentle closing to my 12-year reign as Director and an enthusiastic beginning to what we hope will be at least an equally long reign to our new Director. I will continue to keep up this blog but it will be subjective from my point of view and not be anything "official." 

Java J's March 19

 I arrived at Java J's on time last night. Terry was already there; however, we found our space occupied by the Bristol Business and Professional Women's Org, too many to take on in a fist fight! :) Actually, they were very friendly and quickly admitted they had assumed they could have that space without checking first.

By 7:00 Leon had arrived. We bought coffee drinks and settled at a large Mission style round oak table a little ways away from where the BB&PWO had ordered food and spread out their papers all over the rectangular table that along with their chairs, took up our entire "telling space."

A guest, Carl Jenkins, a prospective member, joined us and we all decided to wait until just before our program was to begin and if we had an audience, we would ask the women to move. Well, it never came about. No audience, other than Carl, showed up so we carried on telling anecdotes and tales among ourselves at the round table built for four. 

Carl and Terry are both beginners, and since Leon and I are old-timers, we were able to answer a lot of their questions about creating and telling stories. Terry told a very entertaining story he had hoped to tell in front of an audience about Andrew Jackson's three duels. Jackson is a well-known figure and legend in this region due to having been a lawyer in Jonesborough for some time. Terry was open to comments and suggestions  from us as we gave him feedback.

Leon told an anecdote he had recently heard from his mother about a relative's childhood during the Civil War. Carl is a Civil War re-enactor and discussion moved into "Us (Confederacy) versus Them (Yankees)." Interestingly, two of us had been raised in Tennessee, and two of us moved to the area as adults after we had been raised in Indiana and New Hampshire respectively.

I expressed some feelings I had about being labeled an "outsider" and related some incidences of culture clash I had experienced during my 25 years of residency. (Terry has been here only one year.) Carl who is retiring soon as a high school history teacher talked about the reasons current Southerners won't let the Civil War die. He made good points about not wanting their cultural heritage taken away from them, and the history of "northerners" coming into the area to tell Southerners what they thought was a better way of doing things. It has now grown into a credo of "don't mess with the way I do things," or "mind your own business." 

When someone who is not a local speaks out about something they think is of national interest,

the local hears it as "I know how this should be done better than you do," and thinks his business, individuality, philosophy is being demeaned. The example I had given was my asking a neighbor to paint out some graffiti on his corner shop that I thought demeaned the whole tiny community we live in, and he refused saying if I wanted it repainted, I could do it myself. I saw myself as a concerned citizen interested in our community, and thought he was being obstinate and rude, while, Carl pointed out, my neighbor saw me as not minding my own business and telling him how things should be done. 

They said my approach was too straightforward and confrontational. I didn't think it was confrontational at all, although I will agree I was upfront with what I wanted. My colleagues last night suggested I should have pressured my neighbor through his church or a community group. Perhaps, but that is a piece of passive-aggresive-ness that I have tried to discard from my character traits.

Well, my discussion with the guys last night did help me to understand my neighbors better if I think about it. I did present some points, however, my friends eventually agreed with, such as "Southern" and "Yankee" qualities are not in the DNA but are ways of looking at the world. 

I'm amazed that as their Director I've lasted as long as I have with few disagreements. Perhaps because I've been ready to listen and to compromise.  My goal now is to mind my own business, and if, for the good of the group, I must mind their business, I find another way to approach and talk about the problem.

The problem BCS  now has is that the group is not supporting each other as well as they could. They don't attend  the monthly events if they are not scheduled to tell, and the feeling of a group community is not nourished until a Special Event when everyone greets everyone else like it's a family reunion. I'm hoping to help the camaraderie grow through the Story laboratories that are planned for this summer. We'll see. I'd love to put someone else in charge of the labs, preferably a Southerner who will know better how to motivate them. Hmmm, let me think about that a bit.