While perusing youtube.com looking for interesting videos about Lynchburg Virginia, I came across this one by Tyler Mowery. Apparently he was just practicing shooting and editing in several locations around Lynchburg, VA. Maybe you will see some sights you recognize? I hope you enjoy his video as much as I did!
Tricycle Gardens is a nonprofit organization with a mission to grow healthy food, healthy communities and a healthy local food system. Since breaking ground on our first garden, we have engaged thousands of neighbors and shown that the simple act of growing food is an incredibly powerful way to change the overall health of our community.
This work addresses a myriad of challenging issues, and ultimately our mission is about FOOD:
F- Focus on community needs
O- Outreach and education
O- Opportunities for healthy food access
D- Design of beautiful spaces
Tricycle Gardens has done ground breaking work engaging individuals, community centers, non-profits, businesses and the city government to bring a collective effort to restore our urban ecologies and create beautiful public spaces throughout Richmond, Virginia. From hands-on experiential learning to more formal workshops and gardening programs, we are leading the way for a new understanding of how, by working together, we can create a healthier community for all.
By bringing urban agriculture, food skills education and healthy food access to greater Richmond, Tricycle Gardens will improve the environmental landscape and strengthen the ecosystems of the local neighborhoods. Through partnerships with the community, schools, neighborhood youth and their families we are starting a grassroots movement for food security that will transform the health and well-being of our community for future generations.
Support our work and stay in touch by:
1. Volunteering.
2. Following us on Facebook and Twitter.
3. Buying local when you shop at our weekly farmers’ market every Thursday from 11:00 AM – 1:00 PM at 31st Street Baptist Church.
4. Supporting our mission and donate now.
The Buzz: Behind-the-Scenes
Photographer Jim Pile had an extra production assistant in the room as he took photos of this issue’s Artist Profile, Kevin Chadwick. 6-year-old Buster (or Buster Boy Brown) escorted the Lynchburg Living team from room to room. The Italian Greyhound was super energetic but always made sure to get out of the way and wait patiently. Read more about Chadwick’s talents on page 22!
#LynchburgLiving
Meanwhile at Bold Branch Beef in Evington, another dog was caught on camera doing good work. Apparently Miss Pawley is very good at “keeping those cows in line.”
Tag your photos on Instagram and you may see them in a future issue! Just use #LynchburgLiving in your post.
Sunlight streams through the upper windows, flooding the central hallway. Appropriately dubbed “Main Street,” this corridor is the primary lifeline of the newly opened Heritage High School (HHS). It’s grand, expansive, and, most importantly, brand new.
“It looks new; it feels new; it smells new, and it sounds new,” Head Principal Tim Beatty said. “Because of the layout of the building and the technology that our students will be exposed to, the new building should be a game changer for our staff and school community.”
So, how much of a “game changer” can one building be, you may ask?
That all depends on how the building came to be and why.
A HISTORY OF LIMITATIONS
“Poor lighting, leaking after rain storms, freezing or suffocating temperatures, narrow hallways, five [congested] floors—” these are “just a few” of the problems that plagued their old building according to Michele Wisskirchen, an alumna and now HHS teacher.
As teachers, “we worry about our students not being safe, not having the access to technology, or not being comfortable as they learn,” Wisskirchen explains. “It’s hard for them to take an SOL test with sweat pouring down their faces.”
“Limited” is how teacher and alumni Alex Drumheller describes education in the old building.
In fact, at Drumheller’s HHS graduation ceremony in 1987 the temperature was higher than 90 degrees when a storm broke and led to rain water pouring through the gymnasium roof.
Ben Copeland summarizes it this way: “This building is new, warm, inviting and bright versus what was old, dark, dingy and leaky.” As the Assistant Superintendent of Operations and Administration for Lynchburg City Schools, Copeland has been leading this project since August 2012.
To arrive at this fresh start, Herculean efforts were required. Input was gathered from “teachers, parents, students, community [members], City Council and the School Board,” Wisskirchen recalls. All of these people were “gathering together, throwing out ideas of what we wanted and needed on endless sticky notes.” Those ideas were distilled to trends then themes and—finally—a design.
Standing in the new building today, Copeland says, “It’s been my major project, and I’m thrilled. I think it could change the student culture.”
Perhaps, even be a game changer.
A CLEAN SLATE
Upon entering “Main Street,” you see soaring, open ceilings, wide walkways, and light, lots of natural light. In fact, “natural” describes the aesthetics all around. Brick, natural wood and burnished concrete floors compose the majority of spaces, creating a warm space more reminiscent of an attractive college campus than a traditional high school. But, after walking a bit, you start to notice the total absence of lockers.
Instead of lining the hallways, lockers are housed in four bays strategically placed around the building. Designed to prevent hallway congestion, they allow students to stop at their lockers without interrupting the flow of foot traffic because they’re anchored at three-way intersections with hallways leading off of them. The bays are also adjacent to staircases and entrances feeding in from the bus drop off zone.
The search for natural light—a priority for everyone—led to this unique building layout according to Copeland. Gone is the double-loaded corridor with classrooms on each side—a design of the past. This building is like “a big academic horseshoe with the main street hallway, an interior courtyard…support spaces in the middles of the hallways, [and] all the classrooms on the outside [where] we’ve got the courtyard in the middle, which allows you to get light to the interior classrooms.”
“Natural light’s proven to help education,” Copeland adds. “It helps learning, so we got as much light into the building as we can.”
When planning began, Copeland says ideas were simply crystallizing; they were asking The Big Questions, starting from the ground up. They needed to know: “What’s it need to look like? Is it going to be a two-story building? What departments need to be next to each other?”
These questions helped to identify “clusters” he says, which became building blocks for the structure and kicked off the process of preliminary design drafts, feedback, revision, more drafts, and so on. Purposeful attention to layout enhances student learning, teacher collaboration and overall efficiency.
Consider the “circulation in the building—the flow,” Copeland says. “You walk down hallways in this building, and every hallway brings you back to somewhere. There’s only one, true dead-end hallway. In the academic wing, if you turn consecutive lefts, you’ll come back to where you started.”
Nothing was done by accident; Copeland was very intentional about gleaning input for each space and function of the school. And it shows.
ENHANCED STUDENT EXPERIENCE
Here’s where things get particularly detailed, and the idea of a “game changer” seems especially apt. Inside each of these bright, window-flanked classrooms, you find an environment primed for learning: visibility is optimized; distraction is minimized. Beatty’s assertion that student engagement will look differently isn’t an exaggeration. Any teacher will tell you that distractions are the enemy of student engagement. A student neglecting to charge their Chromebook (a standard issue item for every HHS student) could lead to the loss of valuable time. However, with the addition of multiple, retractable power cords hanging from the ceilings and the inclusion of numerous wall outlets, Chromebooks can stay continuously powered. And with the implementation of desk clusters and the addition of three TV monitors in every classroom, Copeland says that from “whatever orientation you’re facing” in a classroom—you can see a screen.
Since the old building “wasn’t adequate for modern education [and] didn’t lend itself to education in the last 10 years,” as Copeland says, there had to be what Beatty calls a “mindset shift.”
And part of that mindset shift will be an ongoing challenge for teachers, albeit one they welcome with open arms.
Wisskirchen is in a collaboration room, meaning it has “five different team project-based workstations all linked together via technology, so students can work together in groups,” Copeland says, and then teachers can easily project information onto all of the work station screens at once.
“I have lots of new technology to learn,” Wisskirchen says. “But learning is an opportunity for growth, and new technology will help our students engage in instruction and will help teachers differentiate their instruction for all types of learners.”
Intentional teacher input also influenced particular departments—those “clusters” Copeland mentioned. Drumheller says, “The arrangement of the rooms will. . .provide optimal use of technology and collaboration between students and teacher” because prep rooms are placed between larger classroom labs. . .[and we have] updated lab equipment, [which] will allow us to impact the education of our students in a profound way [because] we have been limited” in the past. He adds, “Being an Environmental Science teacher, it was quite funny not to be able to see outside.” Of course, like many other classrooms, Drumheller’s now faces out to the courtyard from up on the second story.
Lead art teacher Jon Roark is also excited about the windows and a direct doorway to the courtyard from his classroom.
Roark—whose collaborative work with students is visible all throughout the region from projects with the Academy Center of the Arts to published books—finally has facilities that match the talent he cultivates. The art suite is truly top of the line, equipped with 20 MacBooks, a pottery room with wheels and a large kiln, student work centers, ample storage, and, plenty of natural light.
“Now, we have the option to grow the program,” Copeland says.
FOCUS ON COMMUNITY
By Copeland’s estimation, and many others’, this new building will also finally reflect the community aspect and aspirations of the students who attend.
“My favorite memories are the interactions between teachers and students,” Wisskirchen says. “The school embraces the diversity of its students, and I always felt I was a part of something. . .It is a family atmosphere, and students are accepted for who they are.”
Appropriately, certain elements in the design emphasize this concept of community: the spacious courtyard; the cavernous gymnasium with basketball courts Beatty describes as “beautiful”; the keeping of the indoor track, which has long been Heritage’s claim to fame; the two-story media center with views of the Blue Ridge Mountains and ample seating for group or individual study.
Teachers will also benefit from improved opportunities for collaboration inside their five teacher work centers, all of which have conference tables, small kitchenette areas and flexible seating options.
Wisskirchen is looking forward to “seeing [students] congregate in the commons area, and for the community to see an example of what we can accomplish together.”
Now, at the end of this four-year project, Copeland says this is his favorite part, to see it all completed.
“To be given something like this, as much thought and effort went into it—students can now work to their highest level.”
By Jennifer Redmond
Photos by LaSHONDA Delivuk
“Best Of Lynchburg” Awards
The finalist round for the “Best of Lynchburg” Awards is underway now through September 25. Head to LynchburgLiving.com to cast your votes for the top 10 nominees in every category!
Feedback
Be sure to stay in touch with us on social media about what you read. Nonprofit Vector Space (shown in photo above), featured in the July/August issue, wrote on Instagram, “Thrilled the reporter took the time to really learn and understand our organization. Thank you
@LynchburgLiving for the thoughtful write-up!”
The Town of Rocky Mount shared on Facebook about the May/June issue, “Excellent article on the charms of our wonderful community in Lynchburg Living….Thank you Lynchburg Living for visiting!”
Lynchburg Restaurant Week 2016
The 5th annual Lynchburg Restaurant Week (June 18-25) was a big success with 28 restaurants participating and offering incredible deals. On Facebook, Shay Harris wrote,
“It would be awesome if it could be spread out longer than one week! So many wonderful choices and great eating!”
www.facebook.com/lynchburgliving
www.twitter.com/lynchburgliving
@LynchburgLiving | #LynchburgLiving
This original art creation, named Daisy, beckons to visitors of Dirt Road Treasures on Bridge Street in Bedford. Store owners Michael and Virginia Johnson sell these pieces, along with other works of art, in the store. They make each one from second-hand metal, and no two are alike. Daisy is constructed from a lamp candlestick, metal flowerpots, kitchen pots and a salad serving set.
Photo by Jim Pile
A Time to Build
Some moments leave us breathless with joyful anticipation, yet others swallow us with an avalanche of emotion. Jessica Borah, along with her four children, Rebekah, 18, Scott, 17, Lizzy, 15 and Benn, 14, have learned through the years to live the message from Ecclesiastes 3, “There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens.”
More than 20 years ago, Jessica came to Liberty University as an elementary education major. During summer breaks, she would return home for Bible camp. That’s where she met her future husband from South Dakota, Chad Borah. Jessica’s father gave his blessing on their marriage but only if she finished her degree. So on August 5, 1995, the couple married and moved down to Lynchburg. Upon graduation they applied for jobs throughout the north Midwest but eventually landed jobs in Lynchburg. Jessica began teaching at New Covenant Schools, and Chad started working for Taylor Brothers Home Improvement.
As the young couple began to settle into Lynchburg living, they resolved that Virginia was becoming their home and knew they would be planted here for a while. So they began to hunt for property. After a year of searching and waiting, they discovered a piece of land in Amherst County that wasn’t graded for construction.
“We looked at other homes already built, but I grew up in a log home and was familiar with my dad building log homes,” Jessica said. “We waited for this property. We drove for over a year looking. Mountains were not something we were familiar with, but the Amherst Realty Company helped us get that spot to be able to see the mountains.”
Since the land had not been cleared, Chad climbed a tree to scope out the view ensuring they would have Virginia’s iconic mountains as part of their scenery.
“I was just worried about him falling,” Jessica said.
The property was very well priced at less than $1,000 per acre, so they planted their roots on that country hill.
Jessica grew up in Northern Michigan in a log home built by her Dad, so when it came time to build a house, her father was instrumental in the process. As a gift to their four children, her parents, Jack and Dolores Geers, offered Jack’s labor and time to build homes for each of Jessica’s siblings. Through an auction bid, her father won the rights to harvest as much cedar timber for three years as he wanted on a plot of land in Michigan, which enabled the Borahs to build their first house. In fact, it saved them so much money that hauling the logs to Virginia cost more than the actual logs themselves.
In Michigan, while much of the cedar timber resides in swamp, in the winter it freezes, making it easier to harvest logs. The couple traveled north that winter and helped Jessica’s siblings harvest logs for each of their homes. The Borahs had estimated they would need roughly 400 logs to build their now-five-bedroom, four-bathroom cabin, so with chainsaws, four wheelers and snow mobiles, they trudged through the swamp cutting down cedar. Then, they peeled off the bark and let the wood dry. It was a family project.
“Everyone helped each other,” Jessica said.
After several trips north to secure their wood, the Borahs came back to their life in Virginia. By the summer of 2000, a truck from Michigan hauled the wood to their new home. That fall they had their basement dug. Since a wood basement is not typical in Virginia, they had to convince building code inspectors that it was acceptable. Once the basement was approved, the pea stone gravel, plywood and sub-floors were installed. During Thanksgiving weekend that year, family, friends and church members pitched in and helped them put up walls. In log homes, it is ideal to thread for the electrical wiring while the exterior walls are being installed, so Jessica found herself making decisions on a whim to determine where outlets and switches should be placed. Since they were doing all the work themselves, they did not have a professional blueprint to work from—they simply relied on her father and brother’s knowledge and the graph paper they had sketched.
“We did everything ourselves,” Jessica said. “We learned how to wire with books from the Amherst County Library. I called him Edison—I was very proud of him for that.”
There are little oddities in the house that are now fun memories to Jessica. Since the couple literally touched every wall and stair, Jessica said any mistakes are also a part of the home’s story. There is one light switch in the house that is still a mystery.
“That one light may be turning on a light in China. I don’t know,” Jessica said in jest.
A Time to Embrace
In May 2001, the Borahs took a break from building because their third child Lizzy was born. Just two weeks after her birth, they packed up their rental house in Madison Heights and moved into their new log cabin. Every holiday Chad had off, he would invest his time into finishing the house. Memorial Day that year he laid hardwood floors. During the Fourth of July, he stained and finished those floors, and over Labor Day he worked on the deck outside. It was then that he came down with a bad case of what they thought was the flu. He backed off of working on the house for a while, but even so, his health got worse. By Thanksgiving he started to work on the home’s aesthetics, but he continued to feel bad and couldn’t even eat Thanksgiving dinner.
On December 16, 2001, he called Jessica from work and said he was going to the Emergency Room. He told her to stay home, and he would call her. (This was before cell phones were prominent, so it caused Jessica to worry while waiting.) By the next morning, they learned Chad had stomach cancer that had progressed significantly.
During that holiday season, the festivities were not their priority. After a brief hospital stay that ended December 23, they knew they were coming home with three young children to a house that wasn’t decorated for Christmas. But when they arrived, the family found a shower of blessings, thanks to Hyland Heights Baptist Church in Rustburg where they attended church and Taylor Brothers where Chad worked.
“Our home had the largest Christmas tree it’s ever had,” Jessica said. “Our home was taken care of.”
The tree that year stood nearly 22 feet tall in the loft area and was draped in decorations that Jessica still uses each Christmas. Friends took care of all the Borah’s physical needs that year and encouraged them both emotionally and spiritually. During that memorable Christmas, Chad’s family, including his two brothers and parents from South Dakota, also came into town as a surprise.
After the holidays, they threw all of their energies into Chad’s healing, focusing on possible surgery, chemotherapy and radiation treatments. But by February 2002, outside of a miracle, they knew the prognosis was not good. By that point Chad could no longer work, and all of the details left in the house came to a screeching halt.
“He lived in the comfort of the house not worrying about unfinished projects but being thankful that he had a home for his family… while he was busy fighting to live longer with us,” Jessica said.
Since Jessica had been so focused on her husband’s health, she had not taken time to care for herself. She thought her body was reacting to stress and didn’t realize until she was five months along that she was pregnant with their fourth baby. It was during one of Chad’s oncologist appointments that she confided to the nurses her thoughts. They gave her an ultrasound in the adjoining office that day.
“I went into the x-ray rooms with Chad not knowing,” Jessica said.
“The Lord protected Benjamin. I knew the Lord was watching over him.”
The nurses recognized the sex of the baby but didn’t divulge the gender to Chad and Jessica upon their wishes. So Chad decided they should write both a boy’s name and a girl’s name on a piece of paper, let the nurse circle the correct gender and then fold the paper in case they ever wanted to know—but they never did.
“I carried that slip of paper from May until September as a symbol of hope, not needing to peek to find out in case Chad wasn’t around—he was going to get better,” Jessica said. They kept that little slip of paper to themselves until Chad passed away on September 16, 2002.
At his funeral, Jessica put that undisturbed piece of paper into his hand in the casket believing he knew what God had given them even before their baby boy was born. Their son Benjamin Jack was born October 4, 2002.
“It was so tender to bear a baby and Chad not be there, [but] what a joy when Benn was born,” Jessica said. “I knew that Chad knew and was with me.”
During that season, Jessica said she found comfort in scripture and felt very safe and protected on that country hill.
“I found solitude up on this ridge,” Jessica said. “It was very healing. I found the peace and serenity and protection of the Lord. Chad is a part of this home and his children’s home. It is a physical reminder their dad cared for them. He built this for them, and they can look and see what their Daddy in heaven has done for them.”
A Time to Heal
With the help of survivor benefits after Chad passed away, Jessica and the children lived for a season on the generosity of others.
“It met our needs and some of our wants,” Jessica said. “The amount of generosity from Taylor Brothers and Hyland Heights, those two bodies, sustained us. The first five Christmases I didn’t even need to buy my children a present. People gave monthly [to our family] for years because they wanted to — there are people that do that. We were never in want. It inspired me that I need to behave that same way.”
After time and distance began to heal, Jessica was able to get her wits about her and began making small but thrifty additions to the home. During that time, she also started to homeschool the children, which welcomed her into a new circle of friends. Due to the long distance drive, as well as the physical reminder that Chad’s presence was missing each Sunday, she made a change. With their blessing, she left her home at Hyland Heights Baptist Church in 2004 and started attending Providence Church in Lynchburg.
“I stepped from one family into another,” Jessica said.
In 2008, Jessica returned to New Covenant Schools as a part-time teacher, which also allowed the children to attend school there. She said the distance from their home became a blessing because the drive time provided them each a chance to exhale and clear their minds after school.
A Time to Plant
During the fall of 2009, Jessica attended the wedding of a friend from New Covenant Schools. At that wedding she sat on the bride’s side while a gentleman named Robert sat on the groom’s side. They began talking and formed a bond. In June 2010, they were married.
“I knew that if and when I ever married, it would have to be a very special man,” Jessica said.
She acknowledged that she didn’t want Robert to feel like Chad was always present and the family was comparing. But with his personality, he got to know her and the kids and completely stepped into his new role.
When Robert, along with his three sons, now ages 15, 19 and 22 joined the family, they added a new and fresh dynamic. With four young children, Jessica never had the time to focus on landscaping, but Robert took the liberty to add a huge vegetable garden, providing the family with an abundance of bounty, including blueberries, strawberries and blackberries, along with 20 different prospering fruit trees. He also introduced them to chickens that provide eggs. When it’s time to get fruit, all the kids climb trees to help out; the boys take care of the chickens. Throughout the fall, the boys are expected to get up and cut wood to help heat the home during the winter months. In turn, the girls help gather from the garden and have learned from their mom how to prepare and can vegetables.
“Robert had a vision,” Jessica shared. “He plants it, he waters it, he’s the voice and we try to keep up with it. It has helped everyone try new things that I may not buy in the grocery store. It is very satisfying.”
Robert also helped upgrade the log cabin’s heat source and finished the basement, adding one bedroom and one bathroom to accommodate his older boys when they are home.
“He picked up what Chad started and has carried on,” Jessica said. “Chad is their Daddy in heaven, but Robert is their flesh and blood Dad now.”
Photography by Tera Janelle Auch
A few years ago, Valeria Chambers, clerk of Lynchburg City Council, told a coworker she’d like to travel abroad someday.
As it turns out, the coworker was a member of Lynchburg Sister City–Plus, a local nonprofit that promotes cultural exchange and general goodwill between people in Lynchburg and its sister cities, Rueil-Malmaison, France, and Glauchau, Germany.
“She said, ‘I belong to this group called Sister Cities,’” Chambers recalled. “I’d heard of it, and she said, ‘We’re having a picnic. You can come with me and be my guest and find out more.’”
Chambers went to the picnic and then joined Lynchburg Sister City–Plus. The group is part of Sister Cities International, an organization created in 1956 by President Dwight Eisenhower. Eisenhower, supreme commander of Allied Forces in Europe during World War II, thought future wars might be prevented if people from other countries just got to know each other better.
Since 1956, 545 U.S. communities have been paired with sister cities in 145 countries—2,121 total partnerships. Some cities, like Lynchburg, have more than one sister city. Lynchburg partnered with Rueil-Malmaison in 1996 and Glauchau in 2007.
This year, Lynchburg celebrates the 20th anniversary of its relationship with Rueil-Malmaison. In the spring, a delegation from the French city, including Mayor Patrick Ollier, will travel to Lynchburg to celebrate.
“We decided to have it [in 2017] with the new city manager and new mayor and vice mayor,” Bert Dodson, president of Lynchburg Sister City–Plus, said, adding, “We’re looking forward to that event.”
In addition to special events like the French mayor’s visit, Lynchburg Sister City–Plus hosts social gatherings and fundraisers throughout the year. Lynchburgers also have traveled to both Rueil-Malmaison and Glauchau, and people from the sister cities have visited the Hill City, too.
In 2013, for example, a choir from Glauchau performed three concerts in Lynchburg. The concerts included songs in German and English, including gospel music. “That was really fun, hearing Germans singing gospel,” said Angelia Mibus, who with husband Manfred serves as Lynchburg’s liaison with Glauchau. “That was fun. They were really terrific.”
There also have been exchanges of firefighters, police officers and students; in October, four firefighters from Glauchau will visit Lynchburg.
Lynchburg Fire Chief Brad Ferguson visited Rueil-Malmaison several years ago with a group of Lynchburg firefighters.
“I certainly enjoyed it,” he said. “Sightseeing [at] different places around Paris. We took a bus trip to Normandy and really enjoyed that. We had some free time to do what you like. It was a really good trip.”
In times of crisis, Lynchburg and its sister cities have reached out to each other. After the Paris terrorist attacks in November 2015, for instance, Lynchburg Sister City–Plus held a vigil at Monument Terrace. It was filmed, and the video was made available to the people of Rueil-Malmaison, which is a suburb of Paris.
“That’s one of the reasons Mayor Ollier is coming to see us, because they were just taken aback by the vigil we had,” Dodson said, adding, “It showed how we felt about what went on in relation to the attacks that happened, since a number of us have been to Rueil in the past and made many friends over the years.”
Soon after she joined Lynchburg Sister City–Plus, Chambers learned the group was planning a trip to Rueil-Malmaison. She wanted to go and asked longtime friend Pat Gentry if she’d like to join her. Gentry, who had recently moved back home to Lynchburg, had heard about Sister City from Chambers.
“She was telling me about belonging to Sister City, and she was talking about going to Paris and all, and I was telling her, ‘I think I’d like to go. That would be a nice trip,’” Gentry said. “So one day, she just called me and said, ‘Pat, are you ready to go to Paris?’ I said, ‘What do you mean?’ and she said, ‘I’m going, and I need a companion to go with me,’ so I volunteered and I went.”
Chambers, Gentry, Dodson and about a dozen others from Lynchburg traveled to Rueil-Malmaison in October 2012. While there, they toured many sights, among them the local history museum, Saint-Pierre Saint-Paul Church, and Chateau de Malmaison, home of Napoleon Bonaparte’s wife Josephine.
“It’s a very attractive place to visit, and it’s on the road of the impressionist painters,” Francoise Watts, Lynchburg’s liaison with Rueil-Malmaison, said of the chateau, adding the empress was known for “importing plants and trees from the new world” and for her “elegant lifestyle.”
The group also traveled to Normandy, where U.S. military forces landed on D-Day. Gentry, who retired from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, said visiting Omaha Beach was “so emotional.” She said she’d read about the “Bedford Boys,” but “once you visit, it was just heartbreaking.”
In Central Virginia, Watts said, the National D-Day Memorial in Bedford is a must-see for those visiting from Rueil-Malmaison. “The people of Rueil-Malmaison love the relationship with Lynchburg because of the proximity of the memorial in Bedford,” she said.
“When they come … they will ask to go and reflect at the memorial. They are very thankful to Americans for the role they played in the liberation of France and the liberation of Paris, and somehow Lynchburg is a symbol of that relationship.”
During the week-long trip in 2012, the Lynchburg delegation stayed with host families, which is a big part of Sister City.
“The idea of Sister City is for people to get to know people from other countries in their family environment,” Watts said. “The idea is not to stay in a hotel [but] to get to know the families.”
Chambers and Gentry stayed with a couple and their children. Having never traveled out of the U.S. before, Gentry said spending time with the host family was “pretty interesting.” From how the two women described it, the cultural differences were also interesting, sometimes humorous.
For example, Chambers said, if you bought a chicken at the market in Lynchburg, it would be wrapped in plastic wrap. In France, it’s in a brown paper bag. And bread goes directly on the table, no bread plate. “What they said about the Americans was we’re too clean,” she said.
Before traveling to France, members of the Lynchburg delegation were instructed about customs and etiquette. One tip was, “Meals last for a long time and are typically served in a sequence of courses; so do not fill up too fast: there is more to come!”
For Gentry, this was a new experience. “It just took so long to eat dinner,” she said. “I thought we’d never finish dinner because they would bring one thing, and you’d sit there and eat that and drink wine and talk, and then it seemed 15 minutes later they’d bring you something else and you’d eat that and sit there.
“I’m thinking, ‘Gosh, do these people ever stop drinking wine
and eating?’”
Staying with host families not only helps travelers better experience another culture, it also keeps costs down. “Traveling does not have to be expensive,” Watts said. “When you travel with Sister City, you stay with families. You don’t pay for hotels. … It’s not the same expenses as if you were a tourist, living in hotels and having to go to a restaurant all the time.”
Watts said traveling with Sister City can be “very affordable,” particularly if you have airline miles and are able to travel at times of the year when flights are cheaper, such as early fall and early spring.
“There are a lot of creative ways to travel, and you just have to understand that when you are there, you have friends,” she said. “You have friends to take care of you for an extended period of time. So that’s a very generous way of traveling, a very creative way of traveling.”
As for Chambers, who is now the secretary for Lynchburg Sister City–Plus, she’s looking forward to traveling abroad again. “Now, I’m trying to go to Germany,” she said.
Lynchburg Sister City–Plus membership is open to everyone. Annual dues range from $25 for students to $100 for patrons.
Funds are primarily used to cover expenses related to visitors from the sister cities and with student exchanges. For more information, visit www.lynchburgsistercity.org.
By Suzanne Ramsey
Occupation: Coordinator for the Office of Exceptional Learners (for Lynchburg City Schools)
Resides: With her husband, Brian and two children, Orion (9) and Trulie Grace (5), in the Rivermont area of Lynchburg.
Tell us a little bit about your current role with Lynchburg City Schools.
I am currently the coordinator for the Office of Exceptional Learners for Lynchburg City Schools (LCS) where I have the privilege of working with students with unique learning needs. I also get to collaborate with school staff and families across the division as we team together to achieve our mission of reaching “every child, by name and by need, to graduation!”
You came to that position from E.C. Glass High School. What did you do there, and why did you choose to pursue a career in special education?
I actually student taught at E.C. Glass in 2004 and spent 10 years teaching there. During my time as a Hilltopper, I worked as a special education teacher in both the Division Wide Autism Program and the Functional Living Program. Working with students with (dis)ABILITIES is my calling. My husband Brian and I both work in special education, and I truly can’t imagine being in any other profession.
Outside of your work, you have another passion related to special education. Tell us about Team Hoyt and how you first learned about the program.
As I mentioned, my husband and I both work in special education and are really passionate about serving that community. We also both love exercising. About five years ago I started running and at our first big race, in Virginia Beach, we saw a man pushing a boy. After the race, he told us about Team Hoyt—an inclusive athletic team. Runners push athletes with disabilities that would not otherwise have the opportunity to participate in road races. Team Hoyt is named for the father/son running team in Boston that founded the organization.
That led to you and your husband participating in a similar effort in Lynchburg. What type of involvement does your United Athletics chapter play in the community, especially during the Virginia 10 Miler?
United Athletics is a very similar group to Team Hoyt that started in Richmond and has a local chapter here in Lynchburg. Our group is fairly small still, but we have athletes and assisted athletes that participate in road races and triathlons throughout the year. The Virginia 10 Miler is one of our favorite races and for the past three years, my husband and I have pushed athletes who are LCS students.
What’s your favorite memory from the Virginia 10 Miler so far?
Oh wow, that is a hard one. The past three years have been full of great memories! Last year we pushed a 5th grade student who started high-fiving people around mile four. By the end of the race, she had over 600 high-fives! Perhaps even greater though, my best memory is seeing the student cross the finish line each year. To see their family members smile and hear everyone in the crowd cheering for them is truly magical!
It can’t be easy to push someone for a full marathon. How do you manage to do it, and what keeps you going?
Physically it is more challenging, but as many marathon runners would agree, running long distance is also a mental challenge. Our athletes give us so much inspiration that they make the run worth running! I honestly would not want to run a race without assisting an athlete. My husband and I always say that we are our athletes’ legs, but they are our hearts!
As you look ahead to your future, what are your goals and aspirations, both in your career and in your passion with inclusive athletics?
A personal goal of mine would be to assist an athlete in an Iron Man. But, my true aspiration in both my career and for inclusive athletics would be to continue to help people with and without disabilities see each other as people first. I am humbled to help students and their families realize that all things are possible!
Any advice for runners?
My husband and I both have really benefited from cross training. We do Crossfit at Crossfit Lynchburg and that has been a huge help in building our endurance and strength. And of course, I would say for any runner who enjoys races, come run with United Athletics Lynchburg and experience the joy of sharing your race with an assisted athlete!