Alumni recall ‘Brooke stories’ before soccer
Casen Brooks Culbreth, 22 months, gets full leg extension on his soccer ball kick. Casen was practicing just prior to the annual alumni soccer game played in honor of his late aunt, Brooke Culbreth, on a sunny Saturday afternoon, April 20, at Farragut Soccer stadium.
Brooke Culbreth could tear you down, for your own good, then build you right back up.
On a sunny, mild Saturday afternoon that found tiny Caden Brooks Culbreth, 22 months, kicking around a soccer ball with joy, his father, Bradley Culbreth, was among 23 Farragut High School soccer alumni on hand to honor the memory of Brooke, Bradley’s little sister.
Seventh Annual Brooke Culbreth Memorial Alumni Soccer Game, dedicated to the program’s beloved and inspirational team manager from 2003 through 2006, was held at Farragut Soccer stadium April 20.
Two former Admiral players recalled special moments as Brooke, a 2006 FHS graduate, died in September 2006 due to heart-related complications. She was 18.
During the 2004 season, “At one of the practices, she called us after we lost, and told us on coach Wallie [Culbreth’s] phone that we ‘needed to suck it up,’” said Austin Rhodes, a forward from the Class of 2005. “She pushed us. She was like a little sister to all of us. We loved her.
“Trust me, we all miss her still.”
After Brooke’s scolding, that 2004 Farragut team went on to win the program’s second consecutive Class AAA state title.
On the other hand, “She could always take the load off of very intense games,” said William Beuerlein, a multi-position player from the Class of 2008. “Even though she really wanted us to win and everything, I always felt like she had a way of lightening up the bench, helping us out.
“Calling us out a little bit, but getting us going, too, in a positive way,” Beuerlein added. read more
Art in the Park recognizes winners
Ambler Brown stands next to his winning photo.
To get his Best of Show-winning photograph, titled “Blue Skies – Hackney Mill,” Ambler Brown took 271 images and went to Hackney Mill three different times.
Along with other winners in the paintings and photography categories, Brown was recognized at the Farragut Art in the Park Reception & Gallery Sale Monday, April 29, at The Gallery | Renaissance Farragut.
Brown shot photos on the Saturday of the Art in the Park weekend.
“I was there at dawn, got there right at 7 that morning, Saturday morning, went back about 11:30 and then back about 6:30 in the evening and just shot different angles and different light configurations that, to me, gave me the best look that I was hoping for,” he said.
From 271 images, he whittled it down to 70 before enlisting his wife for help in the selection process, he said.
Brown said he believed the winning photo came from his mid-day session.
“The thing I like about the image is the color: the red roof, the green of the grasses and the trees and the blue sky and the white clouds,” he said.
Going into the competition, Brown planned to snap photos at the location multiple times, as the light changed, he said. read more
2013 Dogwood Arts Festival Luncheon
From left are Linda Workman, Dale Workman, Deb Henry and Eleanor Sergent at the 2013 Dogwood Arts Festival Luncheon.
Campbell Station Park was home for 2013 Dogwood Arts Festival Luncheon, held Wednesday, April 10.
Farragut dignitaries and Festival brass joined Hallerin Hilton Hill, local radio personality, Knox County Mayor Tim Burchett and Knoxville Mayor Madeline Rogero among area dignitaries on hand.
In addition to Burchett, Rogero and Hill, other event speakers included Erin Slocum, Dogwood Arts marketing manager, and Bob Markli, Farragut alderman.
For more photos from this event, please see Westside Faces in our print edition.
Whad’ya want? to Look younger or just not look older?
I watched the Academy Awards and couldn’t wait to hear Barbra Streisand sing a tribute to her close friend Marvin Hamlisch. She sang The Way We Were and I wish she were the way she was. I’m not positive, but I think she’s had a facelift and bless her heart, she looked wonderful, butwhen she sang, her lips didn’t move! I love her genius as a singer, actor and producer, but I was disappointed that she put herself through that procedure. We’re the same age and she definitely looks younger than I do, but at least my lips move when I talk!
What is it really with us women? Do we want to look younger or just not look older? When we were children I know we wanted to be older, that’s why we’d answer, “I’m seven and a half.” But we didn’t think about wanting to look older. I do remember having to show ID in my twenties because I looked younger than 21, but I didn’t have a desire to be or look older, because drinking wasn’t my thing and age really didn’t concern me.
However, at about 35, I started seeing the first signs of looking older, as daring, stray, gray hairs began sprouting at my temples. I paid the kids a penny a hair to pull them. By the time I was 55 my offspring had moved on to better paying jobs and besides if they’d still been willing to work for me, I’d have been rendered 2/3s bald. At 60, I dyed my hair for the first time, but after about four years I let my real color grow out and the gray take over. I got tired of hearing a wolf whistle, turning around and shocking the life out of some young guy who thought he was going to get the attention of a young lassie only to find an old lady glaring at him. I actually prefer being a “Q-Tip” because the wolf whistles have stopped and I am officially invisible to the opposite sex. It’s a good thing. read more
Working Joe: Rev. Victor Herron
Multilingual minister charms customers
Father Victor Herron shares some information from “Modern Aramaic Dictionary & Phrasebook” with Laurel Riblett, fellow Prestige Cleaners customer service representative, during a company break at the Farragut location.
Inspired to pursue multiple languages by his mother and a Latin teacher at Farragut High School, the Rev. Victor Herron makes good use of his fluent grasp of five secondary languages.
One is Aramaic. “It is the prayer language of my church, the Syrian Orthodox Church,” said Herron, a 1971 FHS graduate who has been a Syrian priest for 30 years, most recently at a church in Kodak.
“It’s an ancient language. It’s the language that Jesus spoke, and his disciples,” added Herron, who also oversees Syrian Orthodox churches
in Cookeville and Black Mountain, S.C.
While also “pretty good” in German, Greek and Arabic, Herron also has made use of his fluent Russian as a clerk at Prestige Cleaners in Farragut.
“One of my Russian speaking customer here who is from Russia, when she picked up her things I thanked her and said goodbye to her in Russian,” using “the old word for comrade,” Herron said.
“And she laughed and laughed and she said, ‘I haven’t heard that in so long.’ I think I have three Russian speaking customers,” he added.
“What I have discovered is that when I make any effort at speaking someone else’s language, they light up and they appreciate it so much. They see someone making an effort to bridge a certain gap that exists between us.” read more
Coleman’s receive Habit-Kroger, home
Greg Coleman works on his Habitat for Humanity home.
Greg Coleman, an employee of Kroger Marketplace in Farrugut, received keys to his new Habitat for Humanity home at 4004 Skyline Drive in Farragut at 4 p.m., Friday, April 12. Though all Habitat stories are special, Coleman’s is made even more so in that the home was built by more than 125 of his Kroger colleagues.
“Knoxville-area Kroger employees began building the house on Saturday, April 6 — accounting for more than 800 hours of hands-on building,” said Glynn Jenkins, director of communications and public relations for Kroger’s Atlanta Division. “This home is a special and deserved gift for one of our own, and we applaud each person who took part in creating a new living space for Greg and his family.” read more
