On Thursday night the Storytelling Festival
in Athens was a tribute to Ms. Kathryn Tucker Windham. Each
of the tellers who were performing this weekend had all
worked with Ms. Kathryn in the past and had lots of memories
of her.
Charlie Hughes had the pleasure and honor to
be the master of ceremonies for the past 5 years of the
Athens Storytelling and got to know Ms. Kathryn. He said,
"she didn't like to be announced with a lot of words or she
would take the mic away from you, I learned you would just
that this Kathryn Tucker Windham from Selma Alabama and she
tells stories, and boy could she tell stories."
Dr. Denver Betts of ASU wrote a song for Ms.
Kathryn, the guest all sang the song as Dr. Betts lead: (tune
to Waltzing Matilda)
Along came a story teller and sat upon
the Courthouse steps
Around the square on a cool Autumn day
And he sat and he talked and his stories really captured me
I'll come and sit while you share tales with me.
Tell me a story, tell me a story
I'll come and sit while you share tales with me
And they came & he talked & they visited on the Athens
Square
I'll come and sit while you share tales with me! ~ D.
Betts 2011 ~
Andy Offutt Irwin spoke of how Ms. Kathryn
didn't particularly like his guitar playing at times, so at
those times he didn't play. And for a little woman she hit
with a hard punch, which she enjoyed laying an unexpected
hit to his shoulder. He also said she reminded us all of the
4 L's "Learn, Listen, Laugh and Love.
Bil Lepp said of his first memories of
seeing Ms. Kathryn was listening to her tell a story, he
said, "but you didn't feel like you were watching her tell a
story she was telling the most purest life experiences, you
felt you were sitting at the country store participating in
the conversation...even though you weren't allowed to say
anything. She was a wonderful person to learn from.
John McCutcheon told how Ms. Kathryn going
to die he and Carmen Deedy had to hurry to marry so she
could see it. She often used those words to prove her point
and to get her way.
Carmen Deedy spoke of what her memories
about Ms. Kathryn, first she was not a sweet woman she was
offended by that term. She was loyal, she was generous, she
was tough, she was courageous, she knew how to love with a
full heart, but she was not sweet! Another piece of wisdom
Ms. Kathryn gave Carmen after a bad break up was, "What the
eyes don't see the heart don't grieve over!"
Norton Dill director of the 2004
documentary, "Kathryn: The Story of a Teller," gave a
personal tribute to his friendship with Ms. Kathryn and the
making of his film. He was taken aback of her having her
coffin 20+ years prior to death. Then to fast forward to her
funeral service where she was buried within 24 hours of her
death, the coffin was lowered into the ground by a rope.
While the singing of her favorite song, "I'll fly Away" the
workers were unable to remove the ropes, after a time a
small black man jumped into the hole and shortly the ropes
were removed. There was a small problem of now retrieving
the man in the whole. Fred Zeigler suck is hand down hole
and the black man's hand grabbed the arm which was so
symbolic of Kathryn's life; to reach out to each other, look
past colors, look past differences and give a hand to
someone who needs it.
Donald Davis mentioned how 31 years ago he
was at Jonesboro when he met Kathryn. They had similar he
and Ms. Kathryn were, they were both born to older fathers,
their fathers worked at banks, they were both Methodist,
Kathryn was born the same year Donald's mother was born and
they graduated the same years. They were born one day after
the other (many years apart). They continued a long time
relationship even celebrating the turning of the century
together at Kathryn's home.
The tribute ended with Charlie Lucus telling
of his life after meeting
Ms. Kathryn. He is a tin man, an artist who lived next door
to Ms. Kathryn and would keep a look out for her and take
her places she needed to go. One story was them going to
select a Christmas Tree. Charlie and Kathryn headed to the
forest with a saw in hand to select a tree, when they
started out of the forest a lady had called 911 afraid the
black man with the old white haired woman was going to chop
her up in the forest. There were many stories of them
shopping for her a blue-jean skirt, Jeffery her ghost,
meeting Charlie's mom and Kathryn in France.
It was a lifetime told in just a couple of
hours, but it was a great lifetime, told by great friends,
great family and great loved ones.
We miss you Ms. Kathryn and will remind our
children of your life, stories and lessons.
Teresa Todd
AthensPlus.com
October 28th, 2011
