The missionary has arrived! Well, 1956 "has arrived" in my research as of yesterday. Ever since I started interviewing former students and teachers at Pilot Mountain School I've heard about Mrs. Lettie Hamlet and how she impacted them. What they don't know is that I had been reading about her back when I was into researching World War II and its impact on the children at the school. Lettie, Mrs. Hamlet, (sorry, I still can't call a teacher of this generation by her first name) and her husband had been living in China for years when Japan invaded and herded all the missionaries into containment camps. They spent months at this camp, under harsh conditions, I might add. They were exchanged for Japanese prisoners of war in 1944 and made their way home to Morganton. Now she's here, at the schoolhouse, ready to begin her distinguished career as a teacher. Now, as in 1956, now. Chapter seven in my manuscript now.

Catch of the day.

Gretchen