Icon:

I wanted to tell you how much I enjoy the Icon. I left Bluffton for good back in 1976, after my last summer working at the Beaverdam Truck Stop.

In the years that followed, I kept track of goings on in my home town through my parents and my brother John, who still lived there. With the passing of all three of them, I lost track of what was happening other than snippets I learned when I was in contact with old friends. How wonderful to be able to log onto the Icon and catch up.

A lot has happened in my life in the past 35 years. After years in the ministry, my wife, daughter, and I moved to Durham, N.C., for me to get my PhD at Duke University. I stayed on after graduation, and am now the Director of the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute here at Duke.

I am a Southerner now, fully intending to live here the rest of my life. But every once in a while, I will hear in my mind the sound of cleats walking down College Avenue on a Friday night toward Harmon Field, or I will see the high school choir in their pajamas singing "Twas the night before Christmas, or I will smell the hot dogs cooking at the Dairy Freeze...and instantly be transported back.

The Icon does the same.

Thank you for the service you do for all of us Blufftonites!
Sincerely,
Garry Crites