Woodworkers create treasures

By Marjorie Anderson from The Saturday Independent of Manchester, Sept 29, 2007
Events Editor

Friday night during the fair, Charles and I ventured past the grandstand area to the Morton Youth Village. Many fairgoers miss the opportunity to see the Tennessee Valley Woodworkers Club with their exhibitions and demonstrations, unless told about it, or unless they read about it in the fair book guide.
Wood and its valuable properties were discovered very early in mankind’s beginning. It is mentioned in Genesis 6:14 as Noah constructed an ark from the instructions of a Holy God from gopher wood or cypress wood.
In today’s world of plastic, it would still be unthinkable to not have wood in our lives. The great variety of beautiful designs or patterns found in wood is the main reason for its wide use in cabinetwork and furniture making. God created so many wood types and colors, it’s no wonder most woodworkers, men and women, are people of faith.
It has to be a unique gift of talent to gaze on a chunk of a tree and imagine a lovely, finished, one-of-a-kind treasure in wood. Doyle McConnell put it this way: “The good Lord puts in all the beauty, and we take off just the right amount of shavings.”
Doyle and his wife Juel live in Manchester and are members of the Tennessee Valley Woodworkers Club, and the Foothills Craft Shop located on the Woodbury Hwy. Doyle said he began accumulating woodworking tools prior to his retirement from AEDC.
“Juel is very supportive of my work, and serves as my inspector. She has also done a good bit of scrollwork in the past, and still helps when I do a demonstration or exhibit.”
Doyle and Juel have four children. They are active members of the Forest Mill Church of Christ.
We watched as Karen Browning carved out a bowl, and Henry Davis made miniature animals. We admired Bob Lowrance’s gorgeous hand-carved toolbox. We even talked to Tommy Anderson about his blacksmith hobby, all of this at the Morton Youth Village. I hope you didn’t miss it. To talk with more Tennessee Valley Woodworkers, I visited the Foothills Craft Shop. As Doyle said, “It’s a great outlet for our woodwork, since it becomes hard to store all we make.”
There I met Harold Hewgley, a member of the Tennessee Valley Woodworkers Club about 12 years. He said he had been working with wood since the early 60’s. “I enjoy taking a piece of wood and creating something useful from it. I mostly like to work with cherry or walnut, but I have dabbled in all kinds of wood. Folks sometimes give me wood.”
I turned my camera lens toward a beautiful duo of apple vases he had made from a tree some friend of his had cut down.
Harold lives close to Normandy on a mini-farm, and he and his wife Loretta attend the small but quaint Presbyterian Church there. A native Tennessean, originally from Wilson County, he retired from AEDC in 1994. They have two children, a son in North Carolina and a daughter in Lincoln County who serves as Assistant District Attorney there. Harold and Loretta love gardening; he does the vegetables and she grows the flowers.
Barbara Keen, another Tennessee Valley member for about 15 years, was also working in the shop with Harold. Barbara and her husband Phil live right outside of Tullahoma. They work with all kinds of wood. They had been doing repair work on houses and that evolved into their joy of working with wood.
“I design my pieces,” said Barbara, “and I do about 90% of the work making them. My husband helps out some.”
Barbara and Phil attend Grace Baptist Church in Tullahoma. She volunteers her services in the Attic Outlet, one of the church’s outreach programs. She was proud of her tables, one of black walnut, and the other wormy maple with black walnut insets. They were very unique and beautifully crafted. Barbara also makes flag display cases and wood crosses.
Doyle McConnell explained the purpose of the Tennessee Valley Woodworkers Club. “There are about 150 members from far and wide,” he said, and they meet once a month at the University of Tennessee Space Institute. Their goal is to promote woodworking skills within the group and the community, and to also provide a means of fellowship with those having a similar interest.
Doyle said, “We usually bring an item for show and tell. We have a brief business meeting and watch a demonstration on a new technique or sometimes just learn more about the old ones.”
Lloyd Ackerman said about their Tennessee Valley Woodworking Group, “Seldom do you find a club of its size that is so cohesive and without controversy. Because of its growing size, we had to make some major moves while I served as president, but we lost no members during that shuffle.” Lloyd and wife LaDoris reside in the New Union area.
Bob Reese, another gifted woodworker, said he has been a member for about 18 years. Bob and his wife Rheta live outside of Manchester. They attend Forest Mill Methodist Church. Rheta is an accomplished violinist.
Bob said the Tennessee Valley Woodworking club was “the finest group of people I have had the pleasure of being associated with. There’s not a bad apple in the bunch.
“I am a violin maker. I take what would appear to be firewood and make an instrument that others can appreciate. There’s no feeling like the thrill I get when that piece of wood I fashion becomes an instrument of grace and beauty and lovely sound that others can enjoy.
“We as woodcrafters are blessed with a skill and come together to both learn and teach each other, and it blends beautifully.”
Just as Christ did over 2000 years ago, these woodcrafters put their hands to the wood and make lifetime treasures. Jesus put his hands to the wood, and gave us a treasure of life.
Please look for the Tennessee Valley Woodworkers’ treasures at the Foothills Craft Shop in Manchester

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