Miss Lucy
In the summer of 2003 I had just come aboard the good ship "East Kentucky Broadcasting". I did not know Lucille Smith from the ladies who clean the studios. Maybe it was better that way.
When I was handed the job of engineering "The Personal Touch" I had no idea what I was in for.
(If you listen closely now, you will hear laughter from Heaven).
But I had heard the stories.... Lucille Smith WAS Pikeville, she knew everyone who was anyone and what she didn't know....was not worth knowing.....So to say the least I was a bit intimidated by her "rep"......
So we began "our" journey, a journey that Lucy had already been on for 37 1/2 years. Every day rain or shine, hot or cold, in season and out.....she was there at the microphone.
I did not even know how to address her. My parents had raised me never to call anyone older than myself by their first name ( wasn't proper I was told ). So I couldn't call her Lucy...and my moms name was Lucille, so she wasn't getting THAT one either... Mrs Smith???...no that was to formal ( radio people are very informal ). So I came up with Miss Lucy.......and you know what???? She liked it!
And I, like the rest of Pikeville and Eastern Kentucky....fell in love with Miss Lucy......We had a time she and I every day from 5:00pm to 5:30pm. (actually most afternoons Miss Lucy came in around 4:45 and went over her notes......yep she kept notes on everything.....( sometimes she would lose a note while on the air.............i hear laughter from Heaven again ).
What I came to discover was that Miss Lucy was in fact, Pikeville Kentuckys very own time capsule.....She chronicled the births, deaths and everything in-betweens that went on in this lovely place tucked into the mountains.
We actually had more fun off the air than on the air ( radio people are crazy) we sometimes got to "carrying on" and would come back either laughing or late from a commercial....
Lucille Smith taught me the value of every single person.....She touched everyone and made them better for it. To say I will miss her does not begin to fill the void of her absence.
The last time I spoke to her I told her that we were going to have a Christmas toast together....She responded by reminding me that her doctors would not let her....( she was most disheartened by that rule ).....
Pikeville lost its shining light on November 6th, 2007. But if you look up in the night sky and strain a bit.....she it still watching over us.....
I love you Lucy.....
When I was handed the job of engineering "The Personal Touch" I had no idea what I was in for.
(If you listen closely now, you will hear laughter from Heaven).
But I had heard the stories.... Lucille Smith WAS Pikeville, she knew everyone who was anyone and what she didn't know....was not worth knowing.....So to say the least I was a bit intimidated by her "rep"......
So we began "our" journey, a journey that Lucy had already been on for 37 1/2 years. Every day rain or shine, hot or cold, in season and out.....she was there at the microphone.
I did not even know how to address her. My parents had raised me never to call anyone older than myself by their first name ( wasn't proper I was told ). So I couldn't call her Lucy...and my moms name was Lucille, so she wasn't getting THAT one either... Mrs Smith???...no that was to formal ( radio people are very informal ). So I came up with Miss Lucy.......and you know what???? She liked it!
And I, like the rest of Pikeville and Eastern Kentucky....fell in love with Miss Lucy......We had a time she and I every day from 5:00pm to 5:30pm. (actually most afternoons Miss Lucy came in around 4:45 and went over her notes......yep she kept notes on everything.....( sometimes she would lose a note while on the air.............i hear laughter from Heaven again ).
What I came to discover was that Miss Lucy was in fact, Pikeville Kentuckys very own time capsule.....She chronicled the births, deaths and everything in-betweens that went on in this lovely place tucked into the mountains.
We actually had more fun off the air than on the air ( radio people are crazy) we sometimes got to "carrying on" and would come back either laughing or late from a commercial....
Lucille Smith taught me the value of every single person.....She touched everyone and made them better for it. To say I will miss her does not begin to fill the void of her absence.
The last time I spoke to her I told her that we were going to have a Christmas toast together....She responded by reminding me that her doctors would not let her....( she was most disheartened by that rule ).....
Pikeville lost its shining light on November 6th, 2007. But if you look up in the night sky and strain a bit.....she it still watching over us.....
I love you Lucy.....
