I Miss Mentone

I understand that change is inevitable, but how you change is not. I have been here a long time and really know what Mentone means to all that are homegrown. Mentone is not a magical place. It is a place that has left the world behind because we want to live as neighbors and enjoy a simple life.

In the last ten years or so I have watched as people have moved in to enjoy what we have and to get away from the stress of city life. Once they settle in they start wanting to change our town to like the place they moved away from. I can’t speak for all of us but I can speak for a lot. Mentone didn’t just happen to be this way. The people from Mentone have always kept it this way.

Let me tell you what you don’t see about Mentone. This is just a small list of people that make this place so enjoyable.

I have seen people like Jesse Crabtree and others take the old weapons carrier from the rescue squad building and work all day into the middle of the night going to different houses and plug the generator into people’s freezers to let it run so things wouldn’t spoil when the power was out then leave for another neighbor and do the same.

I have seen Bobby Brown do the same and pull people up the mountain that couldn’t make it home on the snow and ice. I have seen, and they still do it today, Danny and Tater Hopper spend long days cutting and splitting wood just to take to folks in need. I have seen neighbors sit up with sick neighbors and the community cook and carry food. I see the fire department go out in the middle of the night and clean fallen trees out of the roadway. I have watched Don Brown at Bill Russell’s station leave to carry gas to someone in need and do it just because.

I miss when you could go to the market and see Willis Blalock’s Bass mounted on the wall and LM Flanning’s rocker chair that nobody else sat in. Seeing old friends and sharing gossip and yes greeting travelers or any new folks to the area. We could go to the market and buy groceries from William Blackburn while Brutus laid between the counters. Leave messages for anyone at any of the places and know it would be delivered. This is the reason Mentone was the place everyone wanted to flock to.

Well all of those days are gone but the memories remain. Now we offer very little for our old folks in way of service and now we have the eyesore of ATM machines right in the middle of our town complete with a cross way with lights and paint all over the road.

Mentone is still the best place in the world to live but it was much better when neighbors were neighbors and helped each other and loved each other. I have two sons that were raised here and I hope they retire here when their working years are done. I just hope some of Mentone still remains.

I guess I’m just an old man who doesn’t want to change a way of life, the life we had here before all of this change. I know some of you will not agree, but I will say this — we had a very special place here that will soon enough be forgotten and our quiet and serene place will be gone forever.

Thank you so much for your time.

—Larry Smalley

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