Amy and iI celebrated out first Christmas as residents of Floyd County in 2004. after 23 years living in the National Capitol Region of Washington, DC.

For me. it was a return to the county where I spent my high school years. Willis was my fourth home for a native Floridian who later lived in Prince Edward County of Virginia. I left Floyd in 1965 after high school, lived in Roanoke for four years as a reporter for The Roanoke Times before taking a new reporting job at The Telegraph in Allton Illinois, part of the St. Loui\s, where I met, and we left there in 1981 so I could become a staff member of Rep. Paul Findley of Illinois. After seven years of working for he and later Rep. Manuel Lujan of New Mexico, I left government work and spent five years as Vice President for Political Affairs for The National Association of Realtors in their DC office.

Amy was an actress who had been the resident heroine on the Goldenrod Showboat on the Mississippi River, among other roles in her profession. We met when the Alton Little Theater asked me to be the villian in their summer show and Amy was brought in as the pro to anchr the cast. After or move to Washington, she worked there and in New York City, where she was asiked to help on an Lincoln Center celebration of the life of acting mentor Lee Strasberg. She worked with Al Pacino on the event.

I returned to reporting, primary as a contract reporter and photographer for The Washiington Post, New York Times and other newspapers and traveled extinsively to cover news, a lot in trouble spots like Isreael, Gaza, Iraq and Afthanistan. Amy joined me to visit Israel, Rome, London and other location. s.

We made the decision to leave Washington after 9/11 and came to Floyd in 2004 to help take care of my mother, whose health was failing. She diied in 2010 shortly before her 90th birthday. I had a serious motorcycle accident not long aftter her death and affter two and a half months in the hospital and six plus months of rehab, we thought about moving, again, but Amy put her foot down and said “this is home.”

And it is. This past year has been a rough one. I suffered a minor stroke, then was hospitalized for a leg wound that put me on a vaccum pump for six weeks while it pumped out the facteria from a serious infection that laves me limping with my legs wrapped during days that begin with a pump that massages both legs for an hour each morning and a second hour each evening.

We begin a the upcoming time as time on the mend. I’m back shooting photos of athletics events for The Floyd Press, coving Circuit Ccurt and continuing to document the music heritage of Floyd County, Southwestern Virginia and the Crooked Roai with photos and video.

Speaking of video, the short one at the beginning of this report tries to capture the Christmas season of our area. I shot and edited it a few years ago and have updated it several times.

It is our way to say “Merry Christmas” and our best wishes for a Happy New Year.