No, I'm not talking about the women at "First Prez" here in Wilmington, NC -- or even practicing Presbyterians. I mean a couple of women who influenced me greatly and who deserve recognition. Both were brought up Presbyterian and are Scots to boot (I think).
Pictured above is Nancy Babcock, who got me going to serious lectures in Atlanta before she moved to California, turned me on TOTALLY to cats, planted idea-seeds in me that sprouted over time -- AFTER I got out of sorts with her and caused our friendship-seperation.
(She doesn't meantion it on her site, but she once partnered with Madeleine Pickens (wife of Texas Energy Tycoon T. Boone Pickens) to help save horses from slaughterhouses. She's currently writing a book about horses, Odes to Our Horses, and will soon ask for readers' contributions . . .
Read about her legendary father, Torchy, and her upbringing here: http://www.nancybabcockwrites.com/bio/ . Her blog's homepage is here: http://www.nancybabcockwrites.com/ .
* * * * *
It would take a lifetime to tell all the Hilary Stories that have actually been proved to be truthy -- or at least half-false, so I'll pick on her Crazed Presbyterian Female Ancestors instead!!!
When (out in California, where Hil was born and learned to call red onions "Merceds" -- which I, while living together with Hilary and an assortment of literary-characters-made-flesh as Hilary, her now-husband Chuck Pritchard, and I grew the beginnings of Whale's Tale, KNEW it best for peace in the kitchen to call them the same), Hilary's mother, Barbara, met Hilary's father, Kenneth Russell, she knew she'd found a diamond in the rough. She gave him the middle name Seton, married him, polished him, and voila'!!!: Kenneth Seton Russell became Vice President of Sterling Drugs.
Now, Barbara Russell is MY kinda woman (although one time, years ago before Chuck and Hilary wed, Joanne Eschevaria, owner of a guest house where the Russells had just stayed on a visit, announced that Barbara had gone batty and was excited that I -- the homosexual Scott Kenan -- was to marry Hilary. MUCH hilarity ensued -- especially from the Queen of Conchphilia, Sue Hobbs!!!)!!!
Also to her credit, Barbara Russell taught Hilary how to make Chiles Relleno, but NOT how to read the degree of hotness on cans containing green chiles. Hilary made a HUGE plate of them that could have been photographed of for the cover of Gourmet magazine. Fortunately for me, they were scalding hot, and when no one else could eat them, I took off my shirt and devoured them all, PRAISE JESUS!!!
But even more wildly Presbyterian (or possibly NOT Presbyterian), Barbara's mother had (before Barbara was born), gotten bored in a marriage on the East Coast, and just picked up her things, moved to California, and voila'!!!: She declared herself single, married with greater success, and produced Barbara. I thank her posthumously!!!
Now can there be any question WHY I am now a practicing Presbyterian???
PRESBYTERIANS ROCK!!!
>>> Special Note about Chuck Pritchard: His late, great father, Leland Stanford Pritchard -- The Southern Gentleman -- (and documented as such by his grandson Collin Pritchard), hailed from Wilson, NC, a town whose politics and economy were long-dominated by my distant Kenan relatives -- more so than almost any almost other NC town.
>>> Late Breaking News:
1. I had nearly hour-long, completely joyful talks with my mother, sister Jane, and brother Mike in the last 24 hours.
2. Looks like my niece, Taylor Kenan is going to go to UNC Chapel Hill next year!!!
3. Robbie Trayhan, the man everyone in Wilmington is always happy to see for 10 seconds or less, is reported to likely be with his buddy "Jersey" after the pair of them picked up a record (even for them) FOUR open-container tickets earlier this week. It is rumored they are in Wilmington's fave dry-out tank after appearing in court.
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