Herding up the cattle!

Westie Awards 2016, Charleston, SC  

The part of town I live in is called West Ashley - for west of the Ashley river. One of our landmarks is an old dairy sign that includes a rotating cow on a pedestal. It's quirky, it's cool, it's us! So when the West Of newspaper wanted to come up with an neighborhood award, what made more sense than winning a cow? We love it! It's our local version of the Oscars. I won one a few years ago and it still tickles me.

This evening the 2016 Westie Awards were held at Gala Desserts in Avondale and a group of worthy individuals were honored. Congratulations to all our honorees! Pick up this week's newspaper to learn all about them. We were delighted to have our new mayor John Tecklenburg and his wife Sandy come by to receive his award.

Westie Awards - 2015

Westie Awards 2015, Charleston, S.C.

Telling someone "not to have a cow" might not normally sound like a positive thing but in this case winning a cow is the goal! The Coburg Cow sign is the symbol of the West Ashley neighborhood and our own newspaper West Of has used the symbol for the annual Westie Awards honoring people who make a difference in this part of town.

This year's award program was held at the new dessert/coffee cafe Gala Desserts and they laid out a delicious spread of food. As a previous cow trophy recipient, I nominated a few worthy souls this time and was proud as punch to see them honored. Congratulations to Dr. Andrew Eugene Geer, my volunteers Charles Williamon, John Hogg and all the other recipients of this year's award. Congratulations folks!

John Hogg, Dr. Gene Geer, Charles Williamon, Lorne Chambers

Nursing School reunion - 75 years later

I was tickled to see this picture I took last Friday on the cover of West Of newspaper on the stands this week. These two ladies were nurses who graduated from the old St. Francis Hospital Nursing School class of 1939. Marilla Powell - 97 and Mary Mayo - 96, were best friends and the only two left from that class. They came back to the current hospital to have a little reunion lunch in the hospital cafeteria last Friday.

What stories these ladies had to tell. They rhymed off names of physicians that sounded very familiar and were probably grandfathers, fathers and uncles of some of our current doctors. They brought their white nurse's caps and wore their school pin on a chain. They talked of mixing their own saline and sterilizing their glass syringes. Dr. Cuddy stopped by to say hello and Marilla Powell offered to be his "sponge nurse" in surgery. You can read the story here: West Of

I had a cow!

"West Of", Westie Award, Charleston, S.C.

I won a cow! Since I moved West Ashley I was eligible to win one of the annual "Westie" awards from "West Of" newspaper named for our local icon - the Coburg Cow statue. Nothing could have tickled me more. I think you can enlarge the image below to make it readable but I was primarily nominated for all the student mentoring programs I coordinate at Bon Secours St. Francis Hospital. Happy day!

Editor Lorne Chambers dropped off my cow on Friday afternoon and I've been grinning ever since. Thanks folks!