I was born in 1942 in Fayetteville, Tennessee. My parents, both sets of grandparents, and a couple of sets of great grandparents are all buried here at Bee Spring Cemetery, along with assorted cousins, aunts and uncles of varying kin. So it is that my connections with the area run long and deep.

I remember on Memorial Day, or Decoration Day as some call it, 1954, when then-Governor Frank G. Clement, famed as the keynote speaker of the 1956 Democratic Convention, visited and delivered an inspiring address to a church overflowing with people.

I have been to many funerals, memorial days, and just quiet times here to reflect and ponder on what was and what might be. I never leave without a newfound respect for our ancestors and what they accomplished in settling this area.