Allen Smith


Allen “ Smitty “ Smith, Maysville High School class of 1958, is arguably the best all around MHS athlete ever. Basketball or baseball Smitty could do it all. A diminutive five foot eight inches and maybe a 140 pounds, his size gave no clues to his athletic ability. He could dunk a basketball with both hands. Shoot a left handed jump shot before jump shots became popular. Quick as a cat he could slash to the basket with the best of them. His scoring prowess places him number two ( 2 ) on the all time MHS scoring list with 1,975 points. As a baseball player he was nothing short of outstanding. I don’t have his high school baseball statistics but I can tell you that he probably hit for over .400 for his high school career. However, it was his pitching that drew raves. In 1958 he pitched the Dogs into the state baseball tournament and then pitched every game in the tournament to give the Dogs its only state baseball title. In 1959 Smitty attended LSU on a baseball scholarship. His pitching record, at LSU, is nothing short of sensational. 1960 he won 5 and lost 5 with an ERA of 2.31, 1961 he was 10 and 2 with an ERA of 1.34 and in 1962 he was 7 and 2 with an ERA of 1.93.
His three years total were: 22 wins and 9 losses. An ERA of 1.82 in 237 innings. He gave up 107 hits, 75 runs, 48 earned runs, walked 73 and struck out 175. In 1961 LSU went 22 and 5 and won the SEC Championship. Allen Smith was named 1st team All American.

Smitty grew up on Houston Avenue the only child of Mr and Mrs George Smith. He married Sandra Case the daughter of Mr and Mrs Linville Case. Allen Smith was a really, really, nice guy

Dr. John K. Farris




John K. Farris, 92, Holly Hill, died Tuesday, July 10, 2007. Mr. Farris was born November 17, 1914, in Bowling Green, Ky. After he received his bachelor of science degree from Western Kentucky University, he started the Simpson County School Band in Franklin, Ky., and he was the Mayesville High School Band Director in Maysville, Ky., for 29 years. In the early 1940s, Mr. Farris played with the Francis Craig Orchestra in Nashville, Tenn. After retiring and moving to Florida in June of 1977, John attended Daytona Beach Drive-in Christian Church. He played in the flute choir in Cocoa and participated in the D.B.C.C. orchestra. His hobby was designing and creating, from scratch, stuffed fabric bears with movable parts. Mr. Farris is survived by several cousins. Memorials may be sent to the John K. Farris Scholarship Fund at Downing Academy for Performing Arts c/o Caroline Reece at 120 Edgemont Road, Mayesville, KY 41056. Arrangements are under the direction of Haigh-Black Funeral Home and Cremation Services. Online condolences may be shared with his family at www.haigh-black.com

Woodrow " Woodie " Crum





In a 1993 tribute to Woodrow "Woodie" Crum, Cynthiana Democrat sports columnist Lee Kendall wrote: "Woodie Crum, as a coach, did not demand respect. The way he handled himself, his demeanor, the aura that surrounded him-commanded it. You respected the man because of who he was, not because he reminded you of what he had done."
Over the course of his 37-year high school coaching career, Crum had definitely acheived a lot, including being one of the few coaches in Kentucky basketball history to win over 500 games-527 to be exact. He was also an excellent baseball coach, with a record of 250 wins in 10 years. A multi-sport letterman at Jenkins High School and 1947 All-State basketball player, Crum was a superb athlete at Union College as well, both in basketball and track, and was elected "Mr. Union" during his senior year. After his graduation in 1951, Crum began his coaching career at Mays Lick High School, before moving to Maysville High School in 1951 as assistant basketball coach. During his nine-year tenure at Maysville, Crum guided his team to three Sweet 16 appearances, and, as head baseball coach, to a state championship baseball title in 1958. His reputation in the state was established and in 1962, while at Daviees County High School in Owensboro, Crum was selected to coach the Kentucky All-Stars. He then moved to that "other" basketball state, spending six years as head basketball coach at Lawrence Central in Indianapolis, making one trip to the Indiana state tournament. Returning to Kentucky in 1970, Crum served as head basketball coach for eight years at Harrison County High School in Cynthiana, capturing the regional title in 1976 and making his fourth Sweet 16 appearance. From 1979 to 1983, he was head basketball coach at Pendleton County in Falmouth, before returning to Harrison County, where he coached until his retirement in 1988. Crum was both first vice president and president of the Kentucky High School Coaches Association, as well as a director of the National High School Coaches Association, and in 1959, served as Union College Alumni Association president. "Woodie was very passionate about basketball," said close friend and colleague, Mike Lenox, "and he strived to make his athletes not only better players, but also fine citizens. He instilled in them high moral character and the desire to succeed, which he knew would carry them far in the 'game of life.' His enthusiasm was an inspiration to many and gained him the respect of both his players and colleagues." In 1995,as a testament to what Crum meant to high school athletics in Kentucky, he was posthumously inducted into the Kentucky High School Athletic Association Hall of Fame. "I respected Woodie not only as a coach, but as a man," said Berny Miller, Crum's assistant coach at Bowling Green High School. "He was successful not only in the number of games he won and number of times he played in state tournaments, but also in his relationship with his players and their parents, who all loved him. His most important success, however, was not as a player or a coach-it was as father, husband and family man."

William G. Kenton 1941-1981


This Maysville native was elected to Kentucky House in 1969. Became Speaker in 1976 at age 34 and served until death. Achievements include leading legislative independence movement and increasing public participation in government. William Kenton's legislative service continued tradition of grandfather W.T. and great-grandfather Eldrige Kenton.

Many will remember Bill Kenton, with the big booming voice, on the PA system at Bulldog basketball games in the late 50s

Margaret Mitchell's Brother-In-Law


Maysville's connection to " Gone With The Wind "

Lexington Herald (May 3, 1954)
Ben Gordon Marsh, 55, of the Richmond road, a price support specialist, died at 4:20 p.m. Sunday at Good Samaritan hospital after a short illness. Mr. Marsh was born in Maysville, a son of the late Millard Fillmore and Mary D. Toup Marsh. He attended Maysville schools, and was graduated in 1919 from the University of Kentucky, where he lettered in basketball from 1915 to 1919.
He was county agent at Somerset for several years, later worked as a diary inspector in Birmingham, Ala. and for a time owned and operated a diary products plant at Cynthiana. He was a member of the Christian church at Maysville and secretary of the Lexington Chamber Music Society. Mr. Marsh was a brother-in-law of the late Margaret Mitchell, (Mrs. John Marsh) and two years ago made foreign-language editions of her "Gone With the Wind" and personal momentoes of the author available to the Lexington Public Library for display.

W.E. Pyles, Mayslick, KY













The man in the photo is W. E. Pyles father of James Pyles of Mayslick, KY

Interesting that they were shipping chickens to Australia.

James Laurence Pyles, 91, of Locust Bend Farm, May’s Lick, died Sunday, May 22, 2005 at Meadowview Regional Medical Center. Born June 4, 1913 on the family farm, Pyles was the son of the late W. E. and Lillian Van Sante Pyles. He married the late Mary Elizabeth Hutton, daughter of the late D. M. and Grace Linney Hutton of Harrodsburg, on Oct. 26, 1943. Pyles graduated from May’s Lick High School in 1930 as the class salutatorian. He attended Kentucky Wesleyan College and graduated Cum Laude from the University of Kentucky in 1934.
After college, he formed a farming partnership with his father, W. E. Pyles, that lasted until the elder Pyles’ death in 1963. The Pyles’ farm included such enterprises as a chicken hatchery, egg production, dairy cattle, beef cattle and tobacco.

Ed McClanahan Story 1948


ED MCCLANAHAN Story, 1948

Reminds me of my first night in Maysville, in 1948. I was 15, out cruisin' with my new friends Gene and Johnny in Gene's ragtop '34 Chevvy flivver, mustard-yellow with painted fiery red flames blazing out of the radiator, rumble-seat (as the resident 15-year-old, I was in it), foxtails, ah-oogah horn, the works, straight out of Archie & Jughead ..
So anyhow, there we are, putt-putting along down West 3rd Street, when suddenly we see the entire Maysville police force (which is to say, two patrol cars) assembled at the foot of the Maysville-Aberdeen (Ohio) bridge, with their spotlights trained on the tallest spire of the bridge, which is probably 200 feet above the water. Atop the bridge, we find out, is a guy locally (well) known as Wild Bill Dugan , who, under the influence of a copious infusion of gin, had climbed to the top of the bridge 30 days before, and had been assisted down, somehow, by the same police, but had inadvertently left behind a fifth of gin at the top of the spire, and after having served his 30 days (for conduct unbecoming a wino, I guess) and been released, has climbed back up ... to retrieve his fifth of gin!

This blogger remembers it well. I was 10 years old and we lived on 5th street with a great view of the bridge. He didn’t just climb it once, he climbed it twice within a month or so.

Lewisburg, Mason Co KY 1950s


Lewisburg School


There’s something about the location of your birth that never leaves you. I was born on a hot July day at Lewisburg, Mason Co, Kentucky. The house I was born in belonged to my Downing grandparents. For almost 40 years, I returned to and lived in that house. Granddad died in 1945, Grandma in 1958, Dad in 1968 and my wife and I bought the house. Consequently, my memories of Lewisburg covered a period from the early 1940s to almost 1980 and beyond.

Lewisburg was once a thriving little village of 250 plus. It was a great place to grow up. Russell Muse Jr, Richard ( Dickie ) Breeze, Gene Brammer and myself made up a group called the RARs ( Raggedy A** Rascals ). Charley Frank Lee, proprietor of Lee’s General Store hung the moniker on us. In later years the name was applied to a uchere tournament held each year at the store. I grew up in the last big white house on the left before you crossed the bridge going toward Flemingsburg. The old two care garage would later become Bill’s Delicatessen ( now Jollys ) Bill was dad. He opened the store in the early 60s. He and Mom ran it until his death in 1968. This was my Downing grandparents house. Built by her parents in the late 1890s. I actually lived with my parents, sister and brother in Maysville. But Lewisburg was where I spent my time on the weekends and during the summer. On Friday afternoons, during the school year, I went to the corner of Lexington Street and Forest Avenue. Shorty Breeze worked at Walds and would pick me up on the way home. Dad and Mom would come and get me on Sunday.

We knew just about everybody in the village, and, of course they knew us.
Elmer and Ella Uline lived next door. Mr Uline worked at Carnation in Maysville.
Mr and Mrs Royse lived in the next house and the King Brothers lived in the house near the curve. They never had any electric in the house. They would buy groceries at Dodd’s store and pay with those old time “ over sized “ dollar bills. The old coal yard was next door. Between the coal yard and Lee’s store was the foundation of an old building. Many years ago it was a poolroom. Dad worked at the poolroom at one time. Up on the hill was the Berlin house. The Lee’s lived upstairs over the store. Mrs Lena, Charley Frank, Charley Burns, Barbara and Bud.

Across the road from our house was an old double. Mr. Harry McElfresh lived in one side and Mr Jim Alexander lived in the other side. Next door to them was a big old building that once was an auto repair shop. Next was a double white, connected building that set back from the road. Bill and Minnie Roe lived in one side and Elmer and Ollie Dodd lived in the other side. Minnie and Ollie were sisters. Elmer and Ollie ran the grocery store and sold gas. Elmer called me “ the bologna kid “. Grandma would give me a ten or fifteen cents and I’d go to the store, buy that amount of bologna and sit on the bench out front and eat it. Next to the store was an alley that went back to a couple of barns. Bob and Laura Crosby lived in a little white house next to the alley. Next to them was Jack Hutchison’s Garage. Jack did all kinds of repairs and drove a school bus.


Old man Davey Branch lived in a trailer behind the garage. Davey was the father of Earline Breeze. Russell and Mary Muse lived in the next house and Mr and Mrs Flem Brammer lived in the big white house in the curve. Both the Muses and the Brammers raised a bunch of boys. Mary Sally Brammer was the only girl in both households. Russell Muse was a painter and Flem Brammer traded cattle. Both had sons named Howard. Howard Muse became Maysville Chief of Police and Howard Brammer became a relator. He also owned the White Light, great little hamburgers like today’s White Castles. A lot of his brothers and Mary Sally all worked there, as did my mother at one time.

Lee’s General Store was a thriving business. It was also “ the local hangout” for men and boys alike. Charley Frank Lee was the operator. Charley Frank, his two children ( Barbara and Charley Burns ) his brother Bud and his mother ( Ms Rose ) all lived in the apartment above the store. Empty pop bottles were worth a penny, a pack of Marvel cigarettes was a dime, pop was a nickle. RC Cola and Moon Pies. Yum Yum. Gas probably sold from 19 to 25 cents a gallon. After supper in the evening local farmers would begin gathering at the store to loaf and play euchre in the back of the store. Usually in attendance were Gus Tolle, Ed Brannen, Russell Muse, and other locals. Jr. Muse and I were allowed to play some evenings. If you won, you kept on playing, if you lost you got up and others took your place. At exactly 9 p.m. Charley Frank “pulled the plug”. Everybody got up and went home.

From Lee’s Store, headed toward Maysville, the next house was Jack and Sudie Mae Hutchison. Jack ran the garage and Sudie Mae worked at Brownings in Maysville. They had two girls. The next house was the Breezes. Shorty and Earline.
They had 3 boys: Tom, Dick and Billy. Across the road the first house was old man Muses’ house. He was Russell’s father. The next house was Owen Tolle, then a garage and a little house which was Alma McClain. Ms McClain was an educator in Maysville and Mason County schools. The next house, going down the lane toward the creek, was Izola Ledford followed by the Brewer home. Ray Brewer sold cars in Maysville. All the way down at the end of the lane was a big white house. Wid and Mary Owens lived in it. At one time they owned the Dairy Queen in Aberdeen.
Up the hill toward Maysville there was a store just below the fire house which was run by the Poes. First time I saw a T.V. It was Saturday night wrestling.
Mr. Rudy ran the skating rink. Link Catron owned the bar on top of the hill. Later, after Link died, his wife Ruth ran it for several years.

My father developed Eastern Hills sub-division on what had been the family farm. My grandfather Downing bought the 87 acres for $3,500. I have the cancelled check.

Most of the folks I have mentioned are gone. Route 11 now bypasses Lewisburg but of course so has time.

Town Drunk


Maysville had a “ town drunk”. It wouldn’t be appropriate to give his name but stories about him are classics. I was walking past him, sitting in a downtown doorway, and heard him say, “ The hold world is an S.O.B. but me “.
Once when the jailer had him sweeping Market Street he sold his broom to a farmer and they had to go get him out of one of the bars. Another time police told him they weren’t going to arrest him and let him spend Thanksgiving in jail. He threw a brick through a plate glass window downtown and sit on the curb until they came and got him.

Reprinted from Maysville 50 Years Ago " One Man's Recollections "

Hazel Kinney


The Art of Charley, Noah and Hazel Kinney

Hazel Kinney was born in 1929 in Mason County, Kentucky, and married Noah Kinney in 1960. She lived with the Kinney brothers on their farm in Toller Hollow until Noah’s death in 1991. Hazel began painting in the late 1980s and has pursued her art more seriously since the deaths of Charles and Noah Kinney. Charles and Noah were both renown artists Her earliest drawings were made on scraps of lumber, and she continues to draw on anything she can find, including rocks. Hazel mixes a range of materials including watercolor, felt markers, pens, colored pencil, and oil pastels on poster board, paper, and wood panels. Her subjects include those topics most familiar to her – Bible stories and country life in Appalachia. With little concern for conventional perspective, her paintings often depict scenes where dogs, cats, birds, and fish appear larger than their human companions. Her bold compositions and use of color complement the simplicity of style that makes her work so engaging. Hazel Kinney’s art sells for hundreds of dollars

The Kinney brothers, Charley and Noah, who were born and lived all their lives on the family farm in Toller Hollow in Lewis County, produced some of the most interesting depictions of animals in Kentucky art.
While both Charley (1906-1991) and Noah (1912-1991) did a lot of drawing as children, it wasn't until much later that they began making art with greater purpose. In the early 1970s, Charley painted on window shades, depicting desert landscapes filled with animals. He also used modeling clay to create figures such as ducks and sheep.
At about the same time, Noah also began making art. His first piece is reported to have been a small saddle for a toy horse, but his widow, Hazel, believes that his first animal carvings may have been of various pet dogs the couple owned. "He just loved dogs," she says. "We always had all kinds of dogs lying around."
THANKS FOR VISITING THE BLOG.
Y'all come back ya hear !
Free Web Counter
Free Counter Visitors To Our Blog
Powered By Blogger