The annual Urban Forestry and Horticulture Conference sponsored by the city of Florence and hosted by Cross Point Church was a great success. The experience reminded us of the blessings and responsibilities involved with our natural resources.

Of great personal important was the opportunity to visit, again, the magnificent community of Florence and its gracious folks. The lasting impression of college days there are held in my memory with respect and thanks. And I would venture that the spirit of nurturing responsible and hardworking people still exists and is active in the citadel that gleams “in the heart of Dixie on the Tennessee.”

The environment for young college students could not have been any better than that which existed in the mid-20th century in Florence. The atmosphere was almost parochial, the people were polite and helpful, the college and community were ahead of the state in desiring to give opportunities to folks who would work to better themselves in all areas of decent, legal and productive endeavors.

Though I was no “alpha tutor” and without financial means, the college and community gave me jobs. There being no government student loans for students like me in those days, the college would make short-term loans to students to pay for tuition and give the student a job with which to pay it back. It does not get any better than that.

Perhaps the world should not know of the rapture of Florence as I do because it would become too crowded with, perhaps, less-desirables.

Bill Graham

Athens