The Outreach

We were quite lucky to talk to Harriet Woodruff for our next patron interview! Harriet was born in Bellingham, Washington. Some of her favorite childhood memories are playing in the mountains that surrounded them. Her father worked for the railroad and at one point she, her parents, and her brother lived in a refurbished train car. That was a blast! She was even able to learn how to cook from the folks who worked in a nearby dining car. Harriet has lived in many different places, including Idaho, Oregon, North Dakota, Illinois, Georgia, New Jersey, New Mexico, and Texas. She has been in Westerville for about two years now. Ever since she retired, she has loved to travel. One of her proudest moments is going on a cruise by herself. She has been on many cruises and has traveled to the Grand Canyon, Hawaii, Alaska, and Canada, among other locations. If she could travel anywhere in the world now, she would like to go to Ireland and Scotland. Harriet loves to read romance novels and does needlework. One of her creations is an embroidered image of Woody the Woodpecker for her late husband, Kenneth “Woody” Woodruff, whom she met on one of her cruises. She did enjoy school, although she always liked English better than Math. Her favorite season is Spring because she loves seeing all the new, green life come out. Her favorite food is steak and she loves to eat at O’Charley’s. She loves to listen to golden oldies and is a big Gene Kelly fan. Her favorite Gene Kelly musical is Singin’ in the Rain. It was such a pleasure to talk with Harriet and learn more about her. We look forward to our next interview! Let us know if you are interested and we can get to know you better, too!

PATRON SPOTLIGHT - HARRIET WOODRUFF

September/October 2012

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~UPCOMING EVENTS~

September 2… The 2nd Annual Cool Cars, Hot Stuff Festival. From 9-7pm at CaJohn’s Fiery Foods Westerville Headquarters (816 Green Crest Dr.). Enjoy salsa and chili judging as well as the 28th Annual Sertoma Car Show. October 7…The 4th Annual Ned Moser Apple Butter Festival. From 1-4pm at McVay Elementary (270 Hempstead Rd.) Enjoy apple cider, pulled pork sandwiches, and more. Call 614-776-1409 for more details. October 13-14… Westerville Quilt Guild 2012 Quilt Show. From 10am-6pm and Saturday 10am-3pm at the Westerville Community Center. Enjoy over 100 quilts on display, many demonstrations and vendors throughout and a raffle!

Liquid Gold by Carolyn Walker

How times have changed. We have twenty-four hour news reports these days, it’s like 4g coverage. As it is happening you are apprised of it! People leave their televisions on all day as well and most times it is numerous screens in several rooms. I only watched three times today, noon, six o’clock and eleven. At each news cast the weather forecaster mentioned the price of gas. It had gone up each time I tuned in and by the end of the day it had risen 20 cents. It made me think of the fifties when I was a teenager and my father carpooled with three other men. Now mind you gas was at an all time high of twenty-five cents to twenty-seven cents in those days; but for one person to drive and waste gas costing that sum of money it was unheard of! My Dad would drive around the block until he found it for the 25-cent price. Of course there was a gas station on every single corner back then and you didn’t even have to get out of the car and pump it your-self so it wasn’t exactly a burden.

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He car-pooled with men he worked with in Wilmington, Ohio. The drive from Washington Court House took about forty minutes because every one had to be dropped off and picked up at their homes. No meeting at a central location to save time because time was not as valuable as money back then. They rode to-gether taking turns every week for at least the six years I was home and aware of it. I found it unusual though that these were not men who were buddies with each other. All they had in common was that they worked together. There was no bowling as a group on weekends or stopping for a cool one on the way. It was strictly a business arrangement to save hard earned money and to keep from pay-ing that ridiculous price for a gallon of gas! I think President Obama is right the price of gas will not come down until we change our ways of using it. When not enough people are buying; the price is less. We have seen that these past few years during our desperate economy situa-tion with other goods and services. If no one is buying the seller has to lower his prices to make a sale. When my sister turned sixteen and got a drivers license Dad bought us a car to use, an old nineteen forty-seven Pontiac. He had been getting up at eleven to pick us up at school sox hops and ballgames. For a man that went to bed at nine and had to leave for work at six this disturbed his sleep. We had strict rules on the car though; we had to buy the gas for anything over and above the driving to school and he knew actually how much gas that would be required. We solved that by charging three other girlfriends a dollar a week to take them to school and that money we used for cruising at night on weekends. We weren’t allowed to go out of town but we found that if you put your hand up under the dashboard we could unscrew the mileage meter. Which Dad would check every Sunday Night. I still feel guilty about that today! There was a dance place about ten miles away and that was our favorite hangout. No alcohol was present so it was safe. Mom never drove a car as she had no license and even if she did she wouldn’t have had time. What with hanging clothes on the outdoor line (no dryers then) and canning her own vegetables from the garden she tended, and cooking three meals a day without frozen foods available she kept busy! We did a lot of walking in those days and I think it made us healthier.

P a g e 4 STAFF PICKS!

Ellyn An Invisible Thread by Laura Schroff

This inspiring true story recounts a friendship formed

between and eleven year old panhandler and a

business executive that spans three decades.

Tootsie (1982, PG)

Julie

City of Tranquil Light by Bo Caldwell

After receiving a call from God, Will (from the Midwest)

moves to China where he marries fellow missionary

Katherine and they soon learn that the crumbling gov-

ernment will expend all their efforts helping the people

of Kuang P’ing Ch’eng.

Strangers in Good Company (1990, PG)

Marie

The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde

In a world where one can literally get lost in a book,

Thursday Next, a Special Operative in literary detection

searches for the world’s third most wanted criminal to

stop him from kidnapping characters from

books...including Jane Eyre.

Cats and Dogs (2001, PG) Heather Bring Up the Bodies by Hillary Mantel

This sequel to Mantel’s Wolf Hall follows the dramatic trial

of the queen and her suitors for treason and adultery.

A Shock to the System (1990, R)

Thomas Bedbugs by Ben Winters

FOR RENT: 2 story beautifully renovated brownstone, 2 BD, 2Bth, No

brokers fees. Susan and Alex Wendt have found their perfect

apartment but it seems to have a little bug problem. Or does it?

Susan awakens with bites but her husband and daughter (even the

exterminator) find nothing until a more sinister explanation explains

itself. Chronicle (2012, PG-13)