Point Pleasant Writers Guild meets the music man

Point Pleasant Writers Guild meets the music man

Members of the Point Pleasant Writers Guild met in May and enjoyed having as their guest, Barry Taylor, a resident of Mason, West Virginia, and 1985 Wahama graduate.  He is thinking about writing a book, perhaps about his life on the road in the music industry or about an event that took place years ago in Mason County.

           Barry’s education after high school led him to become an Audio Engineer in the recording industry.  He is Production Manager for Bobby Vinton, well-known singing celebrity.  Barry has also made radio commercials and jingles, winning two Silver Microphone awards, one for Roy Clark and one for promoting Branson, Missouri, once famous for its fishing before becoming known as the New Home of Country Music.  Barry’s skills include composing music, turning poems into songs and writing arrangements for other people’s music.  He is available to consult with churches and schools regarding their audio/video devices and/or musical plays for young people.  Find Barry on Facebook as Synthbarry.

Members shared their writings having to do with Mother’s Day, Memorial Day, and other things.

Janet Hurlow read “Little Monkey Doll”, a toy her mother had made for Janet during the short time she was in her life.  She also read an account of flying to Colorado on Memorial Day in 1979, a day following the air disaster that took the lives of Dr. and Mrs. Roy Eshenaur of Point Pleasant.

For Mother’s Day, Ilse Burris wrote of her grandmother, Oma, who used to spread her newly washed linens in the meadow to be bleached by the sun.  It was Ilse’s job was to sprinkle them if they got too dry.  Ilse’s poem about Memorial Day in America described how it differs from Memorial Day in Europe.  When she was growing up in Germany, Memorial Day took place on November 1^st, a gloomy, somber time of the year when plant life is dying.  She was so happy when she came to America to find that Memorial Day takes place when flowers are blooming and they can be used to decorate the graves.  For Ilse, grief is softened by the fragrant smell of blossoms.

Joe Ingerick wrote a poem memorializing his late mother.  Marilyn Clarke read an excerpt from a new story she has started about six women who graduated together, and she also read an excerpt from her story about Julie’s daughter, Rose, who is facing more than just a college education at the age of 17.

April Pyles shared combined memories of her mother, grandmother and two of her great grandfathers who served in the Union Army during the Civil War, reminding everyone that Memorial Day got its start as Decoration Day, a day set aside to decorate the graves of soldiers who had died during the Civil War.

Carol Newberry read “Legacies” about her grandmother, her mother, herself and her daughter as mothers.

In closing, Patrecia Gray read “Mom and the Polar Bear”, memories of when she and her mother stopped for ice cream at a Polar Bear in northern Ohio.  She also read her poem, “Will You Sit With Me While I Lie Dying?” and her thoughts on how we celebrate Memorial Day---as an occasion to honor the dead and have family get-togethers, and a time that marks the beginning of summer and bringing out the white shoes.