Hide Article Text (OCR)
... Mrs. Gary Spreads Joy Through Her Work With Children(Continued From Page 6)mmgranddaughter Priscilla to New York, where she hoped todo what he didn’t want to. He get her late husband’s Socialwas satisfied. He was happy in the countrySecurity payments “straightened out. Because their mar-life in New York. He got great riage certificate was destroyedjoy in singing in surrounding churches.“He had a lot of chances to begreater than he was, but he didn’t want to. When he didn’tin the fire, she has been unable to receive their Social Security benefits.“Now when I need it most of all, they won’t give it to me,”want to do something, you she said matter-of-factly.could move Rock of Gibraltar but not Sam Gary!”All of Mrs. Gary’s pictures,When she returns, she hopes to move into a mobile home ontapes and records of her late the cleared lot where her homehusband were destroyed in this once stood.past summer s fire, which also claimed her husband’s life.Although the memories of her husband and his deathSince then, she has been “writ- bring tears to her eyes ating all over the countryside try- times, her five-year-old grand-ing to get his tapes,” she said, daughter, Priscilla, continuesadding that she feels fortunate to provide her with both com-to have gotten back three. “I’ve played one so often Ipanionship and joy.Perhaps that fortune-tellersnapped it,” she said. “He had had something years ago. Her a voice like you wouldn’t prediction of a “cup full of chil-believe.” dren” for Mrs. Gary did comeDuring Christmas, Mrs. true. And with Priscilla, that Gary had plans to take her cup has overflowed.Backwoods Business Booming As Wildlife Art SupplierSULLIVAN, 111. - Hidden in Lake ShelbyviUe,” HarshmanBut the family didn Sport’en Art, the wholesalearmfortuneHELPING THE HUNGRY: Mrs. Sam Gary (left) with the help of Martha Stallings prepares food baskets which were distributed to the needy of the area during theholidays.the backwoods of Moultrie County, miles from the nearest state highway, lies an unassuming gray cottage, its front f , ,strewn with stained glass win- in the proliferation of duckdows. wagon wheels and milk stamps issued by state govern-nts. Beginning in the 1930s,federal government printedand sold duck stamps as a wayto license hunters and raisecans.The whipping wind is thesound- I #| •! I lif I I quiet of the surrounding prai- w license numeia lt;niu miCfhftA rhimron Wnrk rie. Inside, it's pretty quiet too, money for wildlife habitats.JvllUUI VllllUI Vll VVUIIt ufor the hum of computers But states didn’t pick up tNeedy During Holidaysthat churn out pages and pages mailingBut states didn’t pick up the idea for another 40 years. California issued the first duckBy MARTHA NORRISStaff ReporterNEW ELLENTONWilliam Ward, principal at New Ellenton Middle School, heard about the project andUK A V ■ ... _ _Thanks to the efforts of 230 decided to help out. middle school students, their Borrowing an idea fromprincipal and the widow of an Midland Valley (the Emptyinternationally-known folk Stocking Fund), Ward. needy people son, New Ellenton and Aiken had a hand-packed box of food thisworked with the student government to promote competition among the sixth, seventh and eighth grades to see who_ m * A 1 JL — m *school, ” Ward said. “We don’t ask the parents for money. We try to let it truly come from the students. They getthe competition going.” Merchants from the community contribute canned good as well, and Mrs. Gary and other workers at ZionWelcome to the cluttered stamp in 1971, and during thehome of Sport’en Art, a multi- next four years, Iowa, Massa-* chusetts, Maryland and Illinoisjoined the ranks. Today, 29 states issue duck stamps.Sport’en Art combines the duck stamps with limited-edi-______ Harshman, tion prints of the stamp designthe distributorship now has 45 and sells the combination as amillion-dollar ing 8,000 dealers nationwidewith wildlife art.Founded in the late 1970s bythe father-and-son team ofemployees. CommissionedChurchla liuuuaj otaijvn. ~-o-----oThe annual project began could raise the most moneyfears ago when Suzanne for the project.boxes ii church.among“The kids drop in their Volunteers help deliver the1 L. _______UI «U AAnfnin f •** i t fpennies and dimesand sometimespeople she visited as a schoolsocial worker through Green- ----------_—dale Elementary School in Ward. This year the lt;New Ellenton. Acting on her raised just over $lW J°r tneidea, she began collecting food and donations throughthe school.“Most churches give out fruit baskets,” said Mrs. Gary. “I felt they needed food baskets more than fruit baskets. We just wanted to do something for the old and needy. It makes us feel good to be doing this.”Three Christmases ago,project, with the sixth graders contributing almost halfof the money.“We felt we’d like to givesomething to the community,” Ward said. “We’re tryingto’help people here.”Unclaimed clothing fromthe lost and found box as well as some canned goods also are contributed.“It’s all done within theboxes, which contain fruit, candy, canned goods, staples such as rice, beans and potatoes and a ham or two chickens, which Mrs. Gary buys wholesale. Last year volunteers delivered 36 boxes.“I’m so thankful he does this for me,” said Mrs. Gary about Ward. “He didn’t even know me, but now he loads me down so with goods, that my car almost drags the ground. But I got wise,” she added. “Now I drive a truck.” a _____ showrooms inLos Angeles, Denver, Dallas,Seattle and Columbus, Ohio.There, collectors can view Sport’en Art’s array of wildlife prints, duck decoys and other art works.But at the cottage six miles er distributors in Minnesota, west of Sullivan, there is hard- Kentucky and California, ly a clue that big businessthrives inside.“We operated for five years before we knew what we weredoing and before we found out Hills and Yellowstone areascollectors’ item.“No state has the expertise to sell or market prints,” said Curt Bloome, who handlesmarketing and promotion forthe Illinois Department of Conservation.That’s why states have turned to Sport’en Art and oth-Besides duck prints, the business sells note paper with scenes of national parks they’re big sellers in the Blackthingas well as books.Harshman. The company, which keeps 28 He traces the business to 1969 salespeople on the road in the when his family opened an an- United States and Canada,, con-tique store at the site.“In 1974, we got interested in duck prints because we were going to be on the north edge oftinues to sell antiques and lithographs retail from its rural Sullivan location.Tne Associated Press
Newspaper Details
Aiken Standard
Aiken, South Carolina, US
Sun, Jan 18, 1987
Page 41
Full Page
Clipped by
Guest G.
AU 13 Dec 2022
Other Publications Near Aiken, South Carolina
Aiken Daily Mail
Aiken County Rambler
Aiken County Register
Aiken County Journal
Aiken Standard
