West Virginia

I drove to West Virginia in 1978 in my little red pickup truck to meet and photograph people across the state for a regional edition of The Women's Yellow Pages® Sourcebook. One day, I had to take my friend to the emergency room, and I struck up a conversation in the waiting room with Bill Bell, a former fire boss in a coal mine. When I explained why I was in West Virginia, he enthusiastically invited me to stay with his family and offered to introduce me to some of the locals. Thanks to Bill I was able to go into a coal mine to photograph the first women miners. Later in the trip, I bought a beautiful traditional quilt at the Cabin Creek Quilts Cooperative, and tracked down the maker, Garnett Alford, who asked me to come stay with her and watch her work. We ended up corresponding for the next decade, with her letters always signed, “your West Virginia Grandma.” I fondly remember how welcoming everyone was, from serpent handlers and tobacco farmers to students at Morris Harvey College, where I taught a workshop on book development.