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I had spent several weeks in the heart of Appalachia. This is coal country near the eastern ends of Kentucky and Tennessee, the western part of Virginia, and the southern section of West Virginia. I still did not have a lead picture for the story, and I was beginning to worry. But when a rural health care worker took me to the brightly painted home of Iree and Bass Bowlings, I knew I was in luck. Iree is an amazing woman, caring for an ailing mother, her disabled husband, and an array of adult children and grandchildren. In her spare time, she sews wonderful quilts and sells them for seed money. As she showed me her quilts, I saw the picture I wanted.
All the elements of the Appalachian people were in one frame—their intense religious beliefs, their independence, their proud heritage, and the stalwart Iree Bowlings. |
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