In a message dated 3/7/03 8:56:13 AM Eastern Standard Time, jmcdgwin@zianet.com writes: > In about 1951, when my daddy, Adrian Gwin, was starting out his career > as the Roving Reporter for the Charleston Daily Mail, John: My great grandparents, Rudy & Myrtle Coleman, were lucky enough to be interviewed by your father for his column that ran 29 July 1963. Great Granny, an expert on herbs & poultices, told your father about the Spicewood birch, the tree for which Spicewood "holler" was named. "That's a little tree-like sort of a bush, grows wild all around here. It smells right good, and you can take and make a tea of it, and it tastes good and is good for your blood too." Great Grandpa, a man of 82, got a little agitated when Mr. Gwin asked if he was retired. "I'm still farmin'! See that stack of fencepoles? Skinned 'em myself the other day. Plowed a right smart of ground this spring, and I've raised a garden and do all the work myself." Above the article is a picture of them sitting next to each other on a glider. They are smiling and laughing. Forty years later, I can still hear their voices. Your father made that possible. Sincerely, Mike Peters npeters102@aol.com