There’s no doubt that if many of us just went to the river and tried to reduce the trout population we’d be calmer. The White River, which was water-ballooned into Beaver Lake in 1965, still has its mesmerizing current below the dam where sun, air, water and land animals are flipped out and oblivious.
Fishing isn’t for everybody, but walking along the riverbank or paddling a boat shaped like a totem pole can be as refreshing as a haircut.
So much local anger has spilled over the dam of common sense recently that it feels like a whole season of cloudy, cold weekends.
And who’s to blame? Cell phones. They’re not people, they don’t have names, but they are willing to do our dirty work. They thrive on our outlook and attention. They’re like miniature gangs. They sit in meetings, on desks and dashboards. They get plugged in to be fed every night.
We have no idea what others are dealing with in their head, so just unplug and be nice. It’s that simple.
How?
Think about Wilsie Ripley Sherman, the cookie guard at Equity Bank. Guard is the wrong word. The cookie cooker. The cookie giver-outer. The woman who will take your sack of a year’s worth of loose change and show you how to work the coin counter but do it for you anyway. “I love this machine” she’ll tell you.
She’s on the left when you enter the bank, and the only time she isn’t there is when she crispies a batch of chocolate chip cookies and brings them to our office because those are our favorites.
“Normal people won’t eat these,” she tells us.
Wilsie was born and raised in Eureka Springs and grew up to raise, or at least babysit, an arena of other people’s kids in addition to her own. She and Bob bought the Le Roi Motel back when doors had keys that didn’t much matter.
Campbells, Featherstones, Jordans, Nedra’s boys Richie and John Paul – kids loved Nana. And now their kids walk into the bank and still call her Nana. Wilsie pulled Sonny McClung’s first teeth, bet you didn’t know that.
Parents going to “The Back” to apply for a loan leave their kids up front with Wilsie and it’s good for everybody. At least everybody gets a cookie. Dogs, goats, monkeys and even a skunk got treats.
Wilsie regularly goes out for her favorite meal, fried chicken at Myrtie Mae’s, with her best friend forever, Paula Wilson.
Wilsie started the nursery at Faith Christian, worked full time at the Child Development Center at Harmon Park, and did a full-time stint with the Chamber, all while tending the next generation.
She’s involved without being involved. Quiet. Smart.
One old-timer said, “Wilsie is the most cordial, loving, sweet, wonderful woman I’ve ever known. Besides my wife. I just don’t know any dirt on her. Never have.”
Wilsie’s retiring. Well, from the bank. She’ll stay busy.
So if you don’t have time to go fishing on Friday afternoon, go to Equity Bank at 3 for Wilsie’s Retirement Reception. Try to tell her what a sensational woman she is without embarrassing her.