Issue: 87 May 17, 2003
A
Love Story
(Please
Note that as of December 2004 this monument has been erected
on site)
I need your assistance to put the final touches
on a real life, high profile, love story. Sometimes, I must get my
feet out of the mud, crawl out of the damp crawl space, hot attic
and take on a cause. This has nothing to do with home inspections
but everything to do with the vibrant life and history of our
community. Please indulge me and give serious consideration to
assisting me in this endeavor. I know many of you may not be
residents of my community, but you will enjoy this and we would love
your participation as well.
This is the real thing; today’s editorial
page of the Winston-Salem Journal uses words such as “fitting
memorial” and “worthy project”. The editorial closes with:
“Chris Hilton, a local developer, has taken charge of this worthy
project. If he knocks on your door, open it.”
I am knocking on your door, please open it by
allowing me a little of your time to consider how you might be able
to help with this worthy cause.
Because of my past involvement in many high
profile projects (like this one: Older Homes),
the front and editorial pages of the Journal and involvement with
reporters is not strange to me, but this time it's much more
emotional. I became involved in this by a fluke of my curious
nature, knowledge of Winston-Salem history and being in the right
place at the right time. My own life experience and the deep love I
have for my wife, the love of my life, and loss of my mother last
July has made this a very personal undertaking for me. This is about
more than a piece of stone, it is about protecting the memory and
honoring a lady and her family who have done more for this community
than any other single person or family. It’s about our mothers,
lovers, wives, sisters and daughters who contribute so much to our
lives that go unrewarded.
Although this has been well covered on the
front page of Tuesdays Winston-Salem Journal and again on today’s
(Saturday) editorial page, I am sure it has escaped many. If you
click on the pictures at the bottom of this page you can view the
actual articles, but read the balance of this first. My purpose of
sharing it with you is not about promoting myself, but about begging
for your help in spreading the word about the need for a response.
Here is
the love story:
Richard Joshua Reynolds, as a young man,
bounced his young cousin Katherine on his knee and promised that one
day she would be his bride. She would become his secretary, lover,
wife and mother of his four children. Katherine, thirty years
younger, became what RJ never really was, by using their financial
resources, a true benefactor to her community. Although she didn’t
live to see her children into adulthood, she instilled this same
fire in them. R.J. Reynolds shrewd business acumen greatly impacted
the growth of this community, but the spark started in Katherine’s
heart contributed more than any other single person to make
Winston-Salem what it is today. It is difficult to imagine what this
community would be today without the tobacco company which carries
this families name, but try to imagine it without Reynolda, Reynolds
High School and its wonderful associated auditorium, Wake Forest
University and its associated Bowman Gray School of Medicine and
Baptist Hospital. Do we owe this woman a debt of gratitude? You bet
we do.
As with most love stories, this one shares
tragedy. RJ died shortly after occupying the marvelous Reynolda
Estate, created by Katherine, leaving her with four young children.
Katherine, although grief stricken, has love rekindled over the next
few years through her relationship with the new principle of her
Reynolda School. A child is born only to die and leave her in poor
condition with the doctors warning that she should not attempt to
have another. The birth of the next leads to her death a few days
later. Devastated by the loss of his beloved bride and confused and
frustrated by his new position as co-executor of a vast fortune,
co-guardian of RJ’s children and father of his first born child;
Ed Johnston vows to erect a monument in her honor at Reynolda and
does.
You can read about the monument and other
details in the newspaper articles accessible below, but finish
reading first.
What does this have to do with us? If you were
no longer alive and had intended a perpetual monument to your
beloved and it was removed, would you want someone to step forward
and force the relocation of the last remaining physical evidence of
the love you shared and the wonderful woman it represents? I think
that you would and what more befitting place than at Reynolds
Auditorium, Katherine’s gift to the community in honor of her
first love?
The groundwork has been laid for this to occur.
There is a commitment from the current owners of the monument to
return it. There is permission and a site located by the school
system for a new home for this monument. The Friends of Reynolds
Auditorium have agreed for their organization, formed for the
auditoriums renovation, to be the agency through which funds are
handled making contributions tax deductible.
I need your help with two pieces of this
puzzle:
- Please
share this by talking it up and passing a link to this
newsletter on to your family, friends, clients, builders and
business associates.
- Consider
making a contribution yourself with the thought of this honoring
those in your life, like my wonderful bride, who have been the
“love of your life.” We need $25,000.00 to make this happen.
$10.00 from 2100 of you would get us very close, but needless to
say, everyone will not participate so please go for a little
more and help spread the message. On guy sent $250.00 stating
that he thought 100 others should do the same and I couldn't
agree more.
Checks should be made payable to: Friends
of Reynolds Auditorium
Please write on the check: For
Katherine (Reynolds) Johnston Monument
Mail the check to me at: 1028
Beecher Road, Winston-Salem NC 27104
Please be aware that the Friends of Reynolds
Auditorium still need to raise in the range of $600,000.00 to repay
a loan from the county used to complete the renovation. Any funds
received over what is required to secure and re-erect this monument
to honor Katherine will be used for repayment of this loan used to
renovate her monument to her first love.
Thank you in advance for your consideration and
assistance.
The
newspaper articles can be viewed here (click
on the pictures to enlarge):
