Yesterday, on my way home from St. Louis, I did something I haven’t done before on the highway between St. Louis and Nashville, Illinois, where I normally get on Route 127, a two-lane road. I missed the exit. I didn’t realize it until I saw the exit for Route 51, another two lane road. Had I discovered my error sooner, I could have exited there. Instead, I went to Mount Vernon andsouth to Marion in I-57. What’s funny is that someone at lunch that day asked how far Mount Vernon was from St. Louis. I said about 90 minutes, but added, “I never drive that way.”
Was I caught in the left lane or was I deep in my thoughts? I think it was a combination of both. I remember a long line of trucks in the right lane and passing them. I remember thinking of things I hadn’t done when I was in St. Louis, like asking Shawn for a Leadership Institute dangle to put in the shadowboxes I was working on and then turning my thoughts to the aftermath of the Gatlinburg fires.
My office for three days. I took this when I was almost done and had cleaned up a bit. I knew I needed plenty of space to spread out. I used the back corner of the breakroom. I smiled when I saw my Foundation friend Betsy’s comment, “20 Tables and I found her working on the floor twice! “
I was thinking about my Pi Phi friend whose house was the only one left standing in her neighborhood on her mountain. She and her husband have started on the clean-up while, at the same time, spearheading a toy drive for the children of Pi Beta Phi Elementary School to ensure that Santa will come to town despite the fires. (The school was once the Pi Beta Phi Settlement School, but today the fraternity has nothing but a historical and loving connection to the elementary school.)
The Mountain Press reported that 264 students and 17 employees lost their homes in the fires. Pi Beta Phi Elementary is being cleaned and repaired and the students have been shifted to other locales. More than $500 million worth of private and commercial properties, nearly 2,500 structures, were damaged or destroyed and 14 people were killed. Sevier County native daughter Dolly Parton started a “My People Fund” and raised nearly $9 million to help those affected by the fire.
Arrowmont, the arts and crafts school in the heart of Gatlinburg, also has as it roots the Pi Beta Phi Settlement School. Arrowmont was Pi Phi’s Centennial Project. Arrowmont has come into its own, under the extraordinary leadership of talented glass artist Bill May, and is an independent entity. Even so, on the cusp of the fraternity turning 150 and Arrowmont’s 50 birthday, there is a shared history. Pi Phis across the country speak lovingly of Arrowmont and those who have taken classes there often use the phrase “life-changing.”
On that Tuesday morning little more than two weeks ago, when Bill May posted on Facebook that most of Arrowmont’s campus was still standing, I sent in a check to help with the rebuilding of Hughes Hall and the Wild Wing. A thank you letter was in the mail when I arrived home.
I am thankful Arrowmont’s permanent collection, library and especially the archives are safe.
Visit Arrowmont’s website (www.arrowmont.org) and help in the rebuilding campaign. If you can, visit Gatlinburg and help it get back to normal.
© Fran Becque, www.fraternityhistory.com, 2016. All rights reserved. If you enjoyed this post, please sign up for updates. Also follow me on twitter @GLOHistory and Pinterest www.pinterest.com/glohistory/
