Cooperative Living November/December 2020 - 4

ViewPoint | by Richard G. Johnstone Jr., Executive Editor
Vol. 74, No. 11
ISSN 1529-4579
RICHARD G. JOHNSTONE JR.
Executive Editor
WILLIAM V. SHERROD, JR.
Editor Emeritus (1954-2020)
STEVEN JOHNSON
Editor
LAURA EMERY
Field Editor
GREGG MACDONALD
Senior Writer/Editor
JANET BAILEY
Production Manager
JOHN GROTT
Production Coordinator
JIM ROBERTSON
Creative Services Specialist
TOMMY CAMPBELL
Design & E-Media Coordinator
AMANDA S. CUNNINGHAM
Marketing Coordinator
NINA JACOBS
Administrative Coordinator
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contact your electric cooperative.
For editorial inquiries, contact
the magazine at (804) 346-3344
or editor@co-opliving.com.
Published by the VA, MD & DE
Association of Electric Cooperatives
PATRICIA S. DOREY
Chair
RUSSELL G. BROWN
Vice Chair
WADE C. HOUSE
Secretary/Treasurer
RICHARD G. JOHNSTONE JR.
President & CEO
Board of Directors: Christopher D. Bott, Belvin Williamson Jr.,
A&N; C. Michael Sandridge, Michael J. Keyser, BARC; George
N. Goin, Gary E. Wood, Central Virginia; Robert E. Arnold,
Micheal E. Malandro, Choptank; Jeannette S. Everett, Steven
A. Harmon, Community; James E. Huffman, Jeff M. Ahearn,
Craig-Botetourt; Patricia S. Dorey, J. William Andrew, Delaware;
Fletcher B. Jones, John C. Lee Jr., Mecklenburg; Russell G.
Brown, Bradley H. Hicks, Northern Neck; Wade C. House,
Stan C. Feuerberg, Northern Virginia; Randell W. Meyers,
Powell Valley; Herbert R. Patrick, Casey J. Logan, Prince George;
Sanford Reaves Jr., John D. Hewa, Rappahannock; G. Todd
Van Horn, Greg S. Rogers, Shenandoah Valley; Frank W. Bacon,
Jeffrey S. Edwards, Southside.
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issues, by the Va., Md. & Del. Association of
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they are asked to inform the Editor.
A Season Most Welcome
The close of a difficult year reminds us that faith,
family and friends are the most precious gifts of
the season
I
n this year, far more than most, we are
thankful that seasons change. That
political seasons end. That holiday seasons
follow. And that our focus now shifts from
the woes of our nation and our world to
our faith ... our family ... our friends ...
the table we share ... the hearth around
which we gather. During the holidays.
Holidays whose gatherings build a rich
storehouse of memories, year upon year.
Memories of magical journeys by night,
the car seemingly propelled by the
gravitational pull of familiar places, arriving
at our grandparents' home, faint moonglow
lighting our tentative steps, cold breath
wreathing our red faces, their home -
our home - a bright sentinel in the
darkness.
Memories of doors opening wide,
a generous cloud of sweet smells and
welcoming voices washing over us as we
entered the warmth.
Memories of feasts enjoyed once a
year, but remembered for a lifetime, silken
tablecloth showcasing ambrosia, roast
turkey, ham slices, beef tenderloin,
oyster dressing, sweet potato casserole,
hot biscuits, fudge, divinity, blackberry
jam cake.
Memories of church services at night,
our family huddled together, singing carols
of joy, silently filing out of the small
sanctuary with candles aglow, carrying
flickers of goodwill into the larger world.
And back home, memories past midnight
of wood fires hissing, crackling, fading into
embers, their molten glow transfixing sleepy
children, transforming the familiar den
into a magical shadow-world of dancing
darkness.
Memories, too, of favorite passages
from seasonal literary classics, a couple
of which we publish now, before closing
these holiday well-wishes with a beautiful,
hopeful invocation, offered as we move
resolutely toward the fresh start of a
new year:
2
Imagine a morning in late November.
A coming of winter morning more than
20 years ago. Consider the kitchen of
a spreading old house in a country town. ...
A woman with shorn white hair is standing
at the kitchen window. She is wearing tennis
shoes and a shapeless gray sweater over
a summery calico dress. She is small and
sprightly, like a bantam hen; but, due to
a long youthful illness, her shoulders are
pitifully hunched. Her face is remarkable -
not unlike Lincoln's, craggy like that, and
tinted by sun and wind; but it is delicate,
too, finely boned, and her eyes are sherrycolored
and timid.
" Oh my, " she exclaims, her breath
smoking the windowpane, " it's fruitcake
weather! "
- Truman Capote, " A Christmas
Memory, " from " Selected Writings of
Truman Capote, " 1956
This week, many will be reminded that
no explosion of atoms generates so hopeful
a light as the reflection of a star, seen
appreciatively in a pasture pond. It is there
we perceive Christmas - and the sheep
quiet, and the world waiting.
- E.B. White, " The Distant Music
of the Hounds, " from " The Second Tree from
the Corner, " 1949
Lord of the Universe, Help us to love
our families, friends and all the peoples
of the world; to treat our colleagues,
employees and co-workers fairly; to seek
justice and peace among the nations; to
help those in need; to be the best that we
can be and to add value to the lives of
those we serve, and to live by those ideals
embodied in your 10 commandments.
Grant all of us wisdom, strength, vision
and good health. Amen.
- Stan C. Feuerberg, NOVEC President
& CEO (Invocation to open the July 2020 Annual
Meeting of the Virginia, Maryland & Delaware
Association of Electric Cooperatives) ■
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Cooperative Living November/December 2020

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Cooperative Living November/December 2020
