Kays Branch News By Bee Spicer

I know the Kay’s Branch News wasn’t in the paper last week. I seemed to have misplaced a few days the week before. The sun came out that week and so did I. I washed windows, mowed the yard, washed more windows and mowed more yard. I got to play golf for the first time this year. Played badly but managed to finish 18 holes.

I was sitting in my easy chair that evening trying to concentrate on the news when Teri called to say that Oscar Perkins had passed away. I told her I would call at the funeral home. I finished the last of the mowing and went out to pay my respects to Alice and their family. Teri, Rachel and Chris were there so I stopped to talk to them. People around me kept talking about the memorial day weekend, having guests and plans for “The Memorial Weekend.” I came home and looked at my calendar and, sure enough, there it was, Memorial Day written in tiny letters under the following Sunday. I hastily gathered my flowers and wreaths and John and I went to Owenton and decorated Mother’s and Daddy’s graves and came back to Monterey and did the same for the graves there. In my zest for sun and house cleaning, I almost missed the whole thing. I did miss the deadline for a holiday Monday. So now you know.

Memorial Sunday was Homecoming Day at Mt. Vernon Church. Fay said they spent most of that week getting the church and grounds ready for the event. She said they had a nice attendance and a good day for it. I didn’t hear from Wanda this week. I guess she was as confused at I am. Our crowd was very small that Sunday. Most everybody had plans elsewhere.

I finished the last of the windows upstairs Monday and started that afternoon to prepare for a test I was to have on Tuesday morning at the Frankfort hospital, when a strange van pulled into the driveway. Both dogs started barking, announcing, “Strangers at the gate,” so I went to the door to greet them. It was David Judy, son of Glenn, Stony’s cousin from Georgia. He had Betty, Glenn, his wife, and two children in the van. They had brought Glen and Betty to Kentucky to visit the family graves and relatives they still had here. Glenn had been diagnosed with cancer a couple of years ago and had been too ill to make his annual trek to Kentucky. I was so glad to see them and to see Glenn looking so well. He said he had gotten a very good report from his last tests and was feeling much better. It’s so nice to get good news for a change. We had a very nice visit.

Jane Eagle called week before last. She and Greg Walcott built the nice little craft shop building on Hwy. 127 across from Don’s store. They have been open weekends now for a couple of weeks. She was telling me about an idea they had for a “farmers’ market” they would like to start on the site. Their property has frontage to 127, off-the-road parking and a very nice yard to set up tables and booths to display the wares. They thought the local gardeners might like a convenient place to sell their surplus this summer. At that time nobody had even gotten a garden started because of the over-abundance of rain. Perkins bottom had their tobacco ground ready that week and Fay said they finally some things in the ground. Billy Ballinger got his garden out. The point I am trying to make is, there won’t be much to sell early, but keep Jane’s suggestion in mind and get in touch with her if you like the idea of a local farmers’ market; and when and if you do have surplus, you have a place to display your wares. Jane Eagle is in the phone book. She would like to hear from you.

In talking to Fay this morning I learned I’d misunderstood Jennifer’s time table. She officially leaves West Virginia the first of July. She is taking two weeks vacation the end of June to give her time to move and get settled in before starting her new job the first of July.

Scotty Humphry is home but is still very sick. Please put him and his family in your prayers.

I mentioned that I had learned of the death of Oscar Perkins. I started to school with him, more years ago than I want to remember. I knew his wife, Alice, when she was a girl in Monterey. Her family members were customers at T’s store. Our families are connected through Ray, Teri’s husband. Life and time has separated us. We lived in different communities and had different interests in life but you never forget the kids you go to school with and in your mind they are always playmates and old friends. Our thoughts and prayers go out to Alice and their children.