John-boy, has Christmas Eve become Groundhog Day?
This may get me on Santa’s naughty list, but I honestly can’t remember whether I watched “The Homecoming: A Christmas Story” when CBS first aired it on December 19, 1971.
Since my mother is an antique collector and regales everyone with tales of growing up during “hard times,” and since many of my ancestors came from Virginia, it’s certainly PLAUSIBLE that I got in on the ground floor of Earl Hamner Jr.’s heartwarming classic about the Great Depression.
(Granted, being old enough to have been ELIGIBLE for watching that premiere, I also struggle to remember having written the previous paragraph. Hey, why did I enter the room with the laptop in it?)
At the very least, I watched the reruns of the holiday special after it spawned the long-running series “The Waltons.” (If you thought I was going to type that it spawned the long-running series “Joanie Loves Chachi,” the Baldwin Sisters have probably slipped a little too much of “papa’s recipe” into your eggnog.)
And I’m looking forward to the November 28 airing of 50th anniversary remake “The Waltons’ Homecoming” on the CW network. (Some newspapers will publish this column before that date. Some will publish it after that date. The remainder will be receiving coal in their stockings.)
My wife and I love CW, but its reputation for comic-book adaptations, social justice pandering and quirky casting gave me momentary trepidations about a Waltons makeover.
Imagine the remake containing dialogue such as “Nooo! You tugged the wrong cow’s udder and ripped a hole in the time-space continuum!” or “We’re anxiously waiting for the family PATRIARCH to get home in a snowstorm? Isn’t this a good opportunity to be DONE with the patriarchy and its systemic evils, especially if Daddy doesn’t bring that new dolly?”
No, I’m going to put those fears out of my mind. I’m genuinely heartened that films such as this and “Dolly Parton’s Christmas of Many Colors” can add a little variety to the types of yuletide movies offered nowadays.
Let’s face it: except for the occasional special-effects Santa fantasy, most Christmas movies settle into two comfort zones. They glamorize dysfunctional families and sex-starved singles, or they use an algorithm to sell greeting cards via mix-and-match happy endings.
As for the former, I would hate to see John Walton, Sr. experience a full-blown Clark Griswold meltdown when his Christmas bonus comes up short – even if it would trigger the lucrative sequel “Avalanche on Walton’s Mountain.”
Regarding the other style of movie, it would pain me to see Jim-bob and Elizabeth getting such an unrealistic view of world events. Franklin Roosevelt and Adolf
Hitler would get off to a rocky start, but by the final act they would be roasting marshmallows during a fireside chat. (“Mussolini – keep those chestnuts running on time!”)
Wait – I forgot the action-oriented Christmas movies. Wouldn’t you hate to see Bruce Willis’s cop John Mcclane show up with guns blazing near the outhouses? Instead of “Die Hard,” it would be “Wipe Fast.”
What about it? Is watching “The Waltons’ Homecoming” part of your holiday plan? Would you like it to launch a wholesome weekly series and have “Good night, Johnboy” reverberate throughout the land again?
While I await your email (tyreetyrades@ aol.com), I’ll be shopping for coal at Ike Godsey’s store.
“I’ll be breaking and entering for Christmas, if only in my dreams…”
death. While there, he served over thirty business, school and civic organizations and charities over the past 75 years.
He served 20 years on the Board of Directors of The Star house for recovering alcoholics, organizer of Rome Boys and Girls Clubs, Floyd County and Georgia State units of the American Cancer Society, as well as volunteer with American Red Cross Blood Drive, YMCA, March of Dimes, Northwest Georgia Alzheimer’s Association, William S. Davies Homeless Shelter, and Morningstar Treatment Center for troubled and abused children.
Well-known among Baptist Church life, he served as Deacon, Life Deacon and Deacon Chair at The First Baptist Church, where he taught Bible Study for over
\HDUV ¿UVW WR +LJK 6FKRRO Boys, then Single Adults and Developmentally Disabled Adults, while leading committees for World Hunger, Christian Life Ethics, Youth, and Missions. Statewide he served as Trustee of Baptist Children’s Homes and Shorter College/university.
His love for classical music and the arts led him to his participation in Rome Little Theatre, construction of the Sarah Hightower Regional and Rome and Floyd County Libraries, Rome Community Concert Series and Civic Music Association, while enjoying establishing WRGA Classical Music weekly program and serving in Georgia Business Community for the Arts.
In business, his training in the UGA Business School catapulted Storey into roles as Director of Georgia Forestry Commission, Georgia Existing Industry Assn., Greater Rome Chamber of Commerce as a life member and Rome Kiwanis. He served as charter Director and member of First Community Bancshares, the organizing group for First Rome Bank.
Storey served as advisor for the Business Administration graduate program at Berry College, member of Martha Berry Society, Trustee and Chair of Sarah Hightower Regional Library, Trustee Chair of the Thornwood School and as Trustee of the Darlington School, elected as Life Trustee in 1993, and served as a member of the Board of Trustees at Shorter College.
All was eclipsed by his love for bringing justice and equality wherever he saw the need. In 1997 he spearheaded First Baptist Church efforts to sponsor four Kurdish families seeking refuge and asylum from Middle Eastern wars. Storey marshaled over four hundred people to assist 16 Kurdish refugees by renting apartments, furnishing 11 bedrooms, 4 kitchens, and documentations for labor, support, and licensing IRU WKHLU ¿UVW GD\V +H KDG already led projects to collect foods and clothing numbering two thousand items in truckloads for Kosovo refugees in a New Jersey Army post.
Having grown up in the Crystal Springs area in northern Floyd County, he graduated from Gore High School in Chattooga County, he was privileged to call several neighboring families his lifelong friends. These friends helped build the strong reputation for excellence in the Storey Lumber Company. He was honored in 2012 by the Boy Scouts as Distinguished Citizen. In 1951, Harold Storey was recognized as Young Man of the Year for Rome and Floyd County by the Rome Jaycees and one of the 5 Young Men of the Year in Georgia.
Storey was recently featured in the 2021 winter issue of Alumni magazine of The Terry Business School at UGA He was recognized in 2016 by France with Legion D’honoure for liberation of France in WWII. The highlight of his life as a solGLHU DQG YHWHUDQ ZDV ¿QDOLY chronicled in his recently published book, A MAN OF PEACE GOES TO WAR, published and available through Good Faith Media.
Born on September 21, 1922, Storey was predeceased by his parents, Stella and S.I. (Sike) Storey, by his brother, Bernard Storey, and sister-in-law, Jacqueline Storey, and by a daughterin-law, Terry Raine Storey. He is survived by his wife of 71 years, Rena Mebane Storey, to whom he was married September 27, 1950. Also surviving is his daughter, Rena Storey Henderson (Bill), Black Mountain, NC, and a son, Harold Mebane Storey, Rome. Four grandchildren survive, Maryanne Henderson and Will Henderson, Washington, DC and Blaine Storey and Sarah Storey, Atlanta. Two great grandchildren survive, Baylor Storey Tumlin and Hayes Storey Tumlin.
Burial will be Saturday at Myrtle Hill Cemetery with Bob Berry, Bob Hortman, Bill Kelly, Jim Abney, Buford Harbin and Blaine Storey serving as pallbearers. A memorial service will be held at 3pm Sunday, November 28, at First Baptist Church of Rome. Dr. Bill Henderson, Dr. Floyd Roebuck, and the 5HY %LOO 'DYLHV ZLOO RI¿FLATE with remarks by his longtime friend, Otis Raybon. Visitation will follow in the sanctuary. The family asks that masks be worn. Flowers will be accepted, or memorials can be made to the First Baptist Church World Hunger Fund at P. O. Box 1189, Rome, GA 30162.
Henderson & Sons Funeral Home, South Chapel, has charge of the funeral arrangements.