Faces and Places

American diarist and suffragette Ellen Birdseye Wheaton one wrote, “All my scattering moments are taken up with my needle.”

Van Wyck seamstress Janie Straight knows that truth first hand.

A self-professed former hippie in 1970s California who has worked as a waitress, journalist, typesetter and sign painter (to name a few), Straight, 56, left the chaotic world of Los Angeles and settled in South Carolina with husband, Dennis, 16 years ago.

– Editor’s note: Mr. Evans is taking a well-deserved break this week. Due to reader response, we are reprinting this Remember When column, which was originally published in the July 26, 2009, edition of The Lancaster News. It is especially timely with the Lancaster County Fair opening Tuesday.

They called it a carnival. For me, it was more or less a county fair wannabe.

This small outfit popped into town during the lull of my summer vacation.

HEATH SPRINGS – There’s a little piece of Lancaster in Tena, Ecuador, right now.

If you don’t believe it, just ask someone from Flint Ridge Baptist Church.  That piece is there, all right – on the edge of the Amazon rain forest, and it’s there to stay.

That little piece of Lancaster?

It’s their hearts. They were left behind in a Bible that Peter Wing left with a 10-year-old boy named Jimmy after the two became friends.

Heather Curless has joined the ranks of successful Lancaster natives who are making their mark in the world. 

She has turned her personal passion into professional success, and is helping others build a healthier, more environmentally friendly world for themselves and their communities. 

Her retail store and showroom, Greener Stock, (www.greenerstock.com) in Cincinnati, Ohio, celebrated its first anniversary in January of this year.