Blue Ridge Country Nov/Dec 2024 - 5

CONTRIBUTORS
THE DAY A YOUNG MAN LIT UP SOME NEON TUBES
FROM THE EDITOR
Stars of Our Town
W
e're about to celebrate one of our
favorite things here in our mountain
town of Roanoke, Virginia.
Our giant neon star, erected in 1949 on
Mill Mountain to face downtown as a holiday
shopping lure, turns 75 on
Thanksgiving Eve.
And we here at Blue Ridge
Country were
fortunate
to
have known-for the last few
decades of his life-the man
behind the lighting of the star.
Bob Kinsey, who passed away
in March at 98, was a careful
reader and overall friend of
the magazine.
One example: There's a
KURT
RHEINHEIMER
of historic detail and, as if he had to earn
such passion and dedication, certainly did so
on the day the Roanoke Star came on for the
first time. He told the story to our sister publication,
The Roanoker, a few years back, noting
that his father's company,
Kinsey Sign Company,
had completed all aspects
of their contract to build
the star-fixtures, panels to
hold the neon, sheet metal
edging, concrete
apron,
wiring and more-in time
for the November 23 lighting
ceremony.
Except one: The wiring
manila envelope on the back
corner of my desk-handdeliverd
by Bob Kinsey in 2023-containing
voluminous detail and careful geologic documentation
about an old ( " no one knows how
old, " according to the Virginia Division of
Geology and Mineral Resources) landslide
on Sinking Creek Mountain where the Appalachian
Trail crosses it.
Bob Kinsey loved such detail, and appeared
at the office soon after I mentioned
Tinker Creek in this space to provide me with
the one thing I had not covered that I wanted
to: the exact location of its headwaters.
Point being: Bob Kinsey was a great fan
The late Bob Kinsey sits
beneath the Roanoke Star
in 2014 at age 89.
to the switch that would
enable Roanoke Mayor A.
R. Minton to activate the
power to the star for the first time at a precise
ceremonial moment.
That's where a hidden Bob Kinsey, 24,
would await the moment of the mayor's
reach to the " switch " to, with perfect timing,
actually illuminate his company's big new
star for the very first time as national broadcasters
Lowell Thomas and Ted Mack along
with Life magazine looked on.
Just one of a million little pieces of history
that Robert A. Kinsey created and
collected in his beloved hometown of Roanoke,
Virginia.
STATEMENT REQUIRED BY THE ACT OF AUGUST 12, 1970, SECTION 3685, TITLE 39, UNITED STATES CODE SHOWING THE OWNERSHIP,
MANAGEMENT AND CIRCULATION OF:
Blue Ridge Country, published bi-monthly at
3424 Brambleton Avenue, Roanoke, VA 24018.
Number of issues published annually. Subscription
price: $22.95 (6 issues), $34.95 (12 issues). The general
business offices of the publisher are located at
3424 Brambleton Avenue, Roanoke, VA 24018.
The names and addresses of the Publisher,
Editor-in-Chief and Managing Editor are: Publisher,
Richard Wells, P.O. Box 21535, Roanoke, VA 24018,
3424 Brambleton Avenue, Roanoke, VA 24018; Editor-inChief,
Kurt Rheinheimer, P.O. Box 21535, Roanoke, VA
24018, 3424 Brambleton Avenue, Roanoke, VA 24018;
Managing Editor, Kurt Rheinheimer, P.O. Box 21535,
Roanoke, VA 24018, 3424 Brambleton Avenue, Roanoke,
VA 24018.
The owner is Leisure Media 360, Richard Wells,
P.O. Box 21535, Roanoke, VA 24018,
3424 Brambleton Avenue, Roanoke, VA 24018.
The average number of copies each issue during the
preceding 12 months:
A) Total of copies printed: Net press run: 44,030
B) Paid circulation:
1) Sales through dealers and carriers, street
vendors and counter sales: 4,380
2) Mail subscriptions: 22,621
C) Total paid circulation: 27,001
D) Free distribution by mail carrier or other means,
samples, complimentary, and other free copies:
6,047
E) Total distribution: 33,048
F) Copies not distributed, office use, leftover,
unaccounted, spoiled after printing, returns
from news agents: 10,982
G) Total: 44,030
The average number of copies of single issue
published nearest to filing date:
A) Total of copies printed: Net press run: 41,000
B) Paid circulation:
1) Sales through dealers and carriers, street
vendors and counter sales: 12,305
2) Mail subscriptions: 22,826
C) Total paid circulation: 35,131
D) Free distribution by mail carrier or other
means, samples, complimentary, and other
free copies: 5,445
E) Total distribution: 40,576
F) Copies not distributed, office use, leftover,
unaccounted, spoiled after printing, returns
from news agents: 424
G) Total: 41,000
Lauren stepp
(Holiday Towns) is
a lifestyle journalist
from the rural North
Carolina community
of Mills River. At 15, she
was hired as a stringer for a
local newspaper. She hasn't stopped
writing since. Her work regularly
appears in Blue Ridge Outdoors,
Smoky Mountain Living, The
Laurel of Asheville and many other
publications.
angela minor
(Artists) is a
contributing editor
and writer of travel
and nature articles
for regional and
national publications.
She's the " Park Watch " Beat Writer
for 10,000 Birds; and she created
and authors the Bird Watcher's
Digest state park birding series.
ginny neil
(Singing in the
Garden) is a
contributing editor
who lives with
her husband on a
farm in the Appalachian
Mountains. Her work has appeared
in Grit, Country Magazine and
elsewhere. She is the author/
illustrator of the picture book " The
Glorious Forest that Fire Built "
(Amicus Ink) and has another book,
" Salamander Song " (Tilbury House)
coming in March 2025. Follow her
at thesingingfarmwife.blogspot.
com.
joan
vannorsdall
(Our Blue Ridge
Towns) knew from
age 12 she'd live in the
mountains, and aside from
a few years in the Midwest, has done
so. She calls Clifton Forge, Virginia,
home, where she spends her time
writing, hiking, practicing yoga and
directing the " What's Your Story? "
oral history book project. She is
the author of two novels, " Solitary
Places " and " The Hearts of Soldiers. "
NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2024 5

http://thesingingfarmwife.blogspot.com http://thesingingfarmwife.blogspot.com

Blue Ridge Country Nov/Dec 2024

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Blue Ridge Country Nov/Dec 2024