Stories among us : The faces who contributed to the mosaic of our community this year
Posted on Sunday, December 21, 2008
BENNETT MOSTELLER South to Antarctica While many teenagers spent Christmas vacation visiting family and
friends, Bennett Mosteller of Fayetteville met penguins and humpback whales.
Bennett was among 64 students - and the only one from Arkansas - who traveled to Antarctica last holiday season as part of the People to People Student Ambassador Programs' trip to the continent in partnership with the Students On Ice program.
Bennett, who was a home-schooled 10thgrader at the time, was able to pay for the roughly $6,000 trip through money he had saved from selling handmade bath balms and "fizzies" and his part-time job at a local fast-food restaurant.
While in Antarctica, Bennett experienced daylight 24-hours a day, harrowing brushes with glaciers, sub-zero temperatures and gained a better understanding about global warming.
Before Antarctica, he had already been to Australia and Europe through the program. On a separate trip with his grandparents, he visited China. Most recently, he was able to conquer South American on his way to Antarctica. Bennett said he hoped to visit Africa next. After that?
"Space," he said, not missing a beat.
HARRY AND KATHY BLUNDELL It takes two Their names have been synonymous with the Arts Center of the Ozarks for more than 30 years, but for Harry and Kathy Blundell, that was not the original plan.
The couple initially had hoped to become professors and teach at a small private college. That was before they found a home in the Springdale center that, to this day, they find impossible to leave. Some might think that working with his or her spouse could be a less than desirable situation, but the Blundells have made it work through their humor and a keep-work-at-work attitude.
Harry Blundell has served as the center's theater director since 1975. During his tenure he was directed at least 200 productions. Kathy has been working on the administrative side of things for just as long.
When the Blundells first arrived in Springdale, the ACO's theater seats consisted of a collection of folding chairs. Through the support of the surrounding community - both financial and otherwise - the Blundells led the drive for the center's expansion in 1992. The center is currently in the middle of another five-year program to help build an adjacent building next door. As expected, the Blundells are playing an important role in that phase as well.
BRENDA MOOSSY Poetry's muse Brenda Moossy has lived several lives, it seems.
She's a Lebanese-American. She was a selfdescribed hippie and for some time lived in a commune called Blunderosa near the Madison County community known as Red Star. She was, for some time, a nurse who specialized in treating HIV patients. She is also one of the more respected poets in the area, having been published several times and having helped found the Ozark Poets and Writer's Collective, which still exists.
Moossy grew up in Texas and later enrolled in school at the University of Texas. She subsequently failed three times, as she was having too much fun as a child of the late '60s, she said.
Her travels brought her to Arkansas to live on the commune before she moved back to Dallas to be closer to her family. It was then that she began a career in nursing, which, in turn, lead to a career.
After returning to this state to attend the University of Arkansas, Moossy continued her work as a nurse and primarily dealt with those who were dying of HIV.
But, the caretaker never through she would need such attention herself. In October 2007, she was diagnosed with inoperable cancer. A benefit poetry reading was staged for her this year, and many of those who read were those influenced by her words throughout the years.
TERRY BORMAN Taking his time Some readers might not know it, but one of the most acclaimed violin makers in the country - if not the world - calls Fayetteville home.
When it comes to his work, though, Terry Borman is not one to boast. His list of clientele, some of whom are the most renowned classical musicians playing today such Pinchas Zukerman and Kyung Wha Chung, does that for him.
When constructing his violins, he attempts to create as close of a replica as possible of the two most sought after types in the business, Stradivarius and del Gesu, both of which were built back in the 18th century by two Italian master craftsmen. To do so, he uses the exact same materials that the masters used. He travels to Europe to personally select those exact ingredients such as Bosnian maple and spruce blocks from either Germany or northern Italy.
Making a violin, cello or viola is a timeconsuming art. Making one violin takes an average of three months. But the finished product, as his clients can attest, is worth the effort.
SPARKY Just like dad For the past 12 years, Sparky III has been a busy dog. About three times per week, the Dalmatian, owned by the Fayetteville Fire Department and supported through the firefighter's annual pancake feed, has been teaching children fire safety tips.
About three times per week, Sparky III travels to meet young children, where he follows the commands of Sue Butler, the fire department's education coordinator. He knows how to speak, play dead and roll over as part of a "stop, drop and roll" routine.
But Sparky III is 13 years old, which, according to the Dalmatian Club of America, is old for his breed. So, the fire department purchased Sparky IV, Sparky III's son, to become the next Fayetteville fire dog.
During a yearlong process, Sparky IV will learn the same tricks that his dad, grandfather, and great-grandfather - all direct descendants and previous fire dogs - have learned before him. MARY JANE WIGGINS Head of the class She did not want a lot of hoopla on the day she finally retired after working 25 years at the Fayetteville Creative School, but Mary Jane Wiggins did not have a choice. On May 18, both family, friends, co-workers and former students all took time to express their gratitude to the teacher and administrator who was finally calling it quits.
Chances are she remembered most of the names of the students and parents who greeted her that day. Her memory still stuns all those who come in contact with her.
Wiggins arrived in Fayetteville in 1982 and shortly thereafter was able to land a job as a teacher at the school, which at the time was located inside First United Presbyterian Church, after one of the teachers there broke a hip. Before long she was appointed director - and never left.
Before her tenure at the school, Wiggins had taught high school students in New York and adult education courses in California, but she quickly found that her passion was working with preschool children.
BARBARA LUDWIG Coats and care It's hard for a student to succeed when they are hungry, cold or their tooth hurts. Barbara Ludwig knows these things. As the nursing coordinator for the Springdale School District, she sees such underprivileged children struggling with school work on an almost daily basis.
And so for the past 25 years, she has used the district's social services fund as a means to help. It started rather meagerly, with just a few dollars meant to buy coats and shoes for needy children. In its 25 years under Ludwig, the program has grown to a $25,000 enterprise. It serves some 2,000 students per year, or about 12 percent of the district's student population.
The makeshift warehouse in the basement of the Special Services Building on Emma Avenue in Springdale contains dozens of shoes, coats and outfits for children who otherwise might not have anything to wear.
The program also provides dental exams and a few other routine medical procedures free of charge.
With the economy sputtering, the need has been even greater this year, Ludwig said. She acknowledged a one-time donation of a coat, meal or pair of shoes isn't a permanent solution.
But if one more student can concentrate on a test because they aren't worried about the hole in their coat, Ludwig is happy to do her job.
BOB THOMAS Behold the dragon It's too cold right now, but when the weather warms
up, it's a safe bet you'll find Fayetteville resident Bob
Thomas at the Botanical Garden of the Ozarks. He'll probably be there with a large white net or a high-tech camera taking part in one of his favorite pastimes: catching and studying dragonflies and damselflies.
Last summer he gave several free demonstrations at the garden about his fascination with the insects that he shares with a growing number of people across the country.
His passion started while taking pictures in 2003 of plants and flowers at Ziker Botanical Gardens in Austin, Texas, where he lived before moving to Northwest Arkansas in 2007. All of a sudden, a bright red dragonfly known as a Neon Skimmer landed in front of him and made itself available for a wonderful photo opportunity. Thomas was hooked at that point. He started seeking out dragonfly experts and reading book after book on the subject.
Since arriving to Fayetteville, he has claimed three identification records in Washington County by being the first person to either photograph or capture a species from a particular county. JOHN D. LEVAN Rockabilly forever John D. Levan was playing rock 'n' roll, or a version of
it, before it was ever given the name we call it now.
After catching some hot sounds on his crystal radio set while growing up in Oklahoma, Levan traded a $3 tent for a guitar and taught himself to play. He's rarely stopped since. He got his start playing in rockabilly groups in Oklahoma, which is where he met some of the other budding players of the early '60s, namely, Charlie Daniels and J.J. Cale. Levan got a gig as a guitarist for the Jaguars, a band led by Charlie Daniels before Daniels went on to fame with songs such as "The Devil Went Down To Georgia." After Daniels departed, Levan took over lead vocals before eventually leaving himself to do a couple of tours as Roy Orbison's guitarist. In semi-retirement from the business, Levan moved to Northwest Arkansas in the late 1980s. He now lives near Sonora. But he's no longer in semi-retirement, despite a bout with throat cancer he thought would take his life. Joining friends such as Earl Cate onstage for occasional gigs rekindled his passion for music, and Levan formed a new band for himself. He routinely performs in the area with that band, John D. Levan and the Thunderboltz.
Levan was inducted in the Rockabilly Hall of Fame in 2004.
CHRISTOPHER LACY Playing through the pain Christopher Lacy's doctors weren't sure if he was ever going to walk again. He'd just had major surgery to remove bone fragments from his spinal cord.
But no one told him yet. So, the day after the surgery, he walked down the hospital hallway with the aid of a walker.
The University of Arkansas faculty member and the director of the opera theater program ignored - against his better judgment - warning signs that something was going wrong with his body. But he was accustomed to a busy life as a composer, vocal coach and even a high-end chef, and he tried his best to go about his life.
Until the day several years ago when his legs seized up while jogging in Fayetteville's Wilson Park, that is. He finished preparing for an upcoming piano recital, then went to visit a surgeon.
It was agreed that surgery was needed, and Lacy has spend the past few years trying to maintain an active schedule despite an associated medical condition that has locked up the muscles in his upper legs and makes it difficult for him to move around.
Lacy has resumed work at the university and also spends much of his time tending his backyard garden, a difficult task considering his mobility issues force him to complete the work while crawling on his hands and knees.
CRAIG EARL NELSON Faces in focus It was an accident, but a good one. Fayetteville photographer Craig Earl Nelson wanted an escape from a series of bad days. So he retreated to one of his favorite hangouts, Brewski's Draft Emporium, with a camera in hand.
Equipped with instant film, he snapped a few photos of his friends in the bar's foyer using the natural light that was pouring in from the west. All of the shots were candid, close-up images of the faces of the subjects, and after letting them develop, Nelson noticed something.
The photos were capturing the emotions of his subjects in real and interesting ways. Inspired, he returned over the course of several afternoons and began shooting more of the images that would become the project "Strangers & Not So Strange."
More than 150 people have been photographed for the project, which has included many faces familiar to Nelson and the occasional random passerby he has coaxed to sit down. Nelson got a late start in photography, but he has found a passion for work behind the lens. He said he hopes to continue the project in the near future.
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