A note from the editors...
News from Our Members
Arthur Smith Graduates!
.
|
|
Congratulations to Arthur Smith of Forfar, Scotland, upon his graduation from Arbroath, Scotland in October 2007 with a degree in Sports Coaching and Development! He is pictured in the photographs at left and below.
For Newman and me it has been a busy year. We very much enjoyed
the Gatlinburg Scottish Festival and Games in 2007. This was the only
Scottish event that we had the opportunity to attend. We only got to
attend on Saturday, and we really missed being there on Sunday,
but that afternoon was the farewell picnic for our beloved friend and pastor
Rev. Eric Rieger and his wife Marion at our church. After six years of
being the pastor at our church, Gatlinburg First United Methodist
Church, they were being moved to a larger church in Knoxville. So
this was a very important Sunday in the life of our church and in our own
personal lives.
At the games, however, we enjoyed getting to visit with other Clan Smith
Society members and other old friends from other Clans too.
One interesting thing that happened to Peggy was to discover that she and Mark
Smith are distant cousins on her father's side of the family! No
relation to Smiths, but interesting nonetheless. What do Peggy,
Mark, and Elvis have in common? The same great, great, great, great
grandfather!
The weather was good and it was wonderful to hear the pipes and other Scottish
music of the weekend.
We had wanted to go to Grandfather Mountain last year, but when July
came something was happening with Newman that turned out to be that one of his
four by-passes had completely occluded and disappeared, leaving his
right arterial artery over 90 per cent blocked. In August the surgeon
put in a medicated stent, which helped some, although,
unfortunately, it did not completely fix the circulation as had been
hoped. Still, Newman is busy working in our shop and making knives
and when not there, tending to trustee things at our church, which
he also enjoys. Peggy stays busy between scrimshaw and being music
director/choir director/organist at our church, which she loves
doing. We both are very thankful for each new day.
We hope that some of our members will be able to make it to the 2009 Gathering
of the Clans in Scotland. It sounds like a wonderful event.
Meanwhile, we hope that all of you in Clan Smith Society have a
wonderful year!