The luminaries were hiding in plain sight.
Among a few hundred guests who gathered Saturday afternoon at the Memorial Building for the Pennyroyal Area Museum’s 50th birthday celebration, they loaded their plates with Pioneers barbecue and listened to bluegrass music by the Todd County Boys.
First among the Hopkinsville notables to be revealed as the party got going was Julia Henry, who last hosted her popular radio program “Julia Comes Calling” in the late 1970s on Hopkinsville’s old WKOA radio station. Miss Julia, as she was known, hosted a daily program — five days a week from 1955 to 1978.
For Saturday’s event, she was portrayed by the museum’s executive director, Alissa Keller, who was a second-grader when Miss Julia was laid to rest in 1988 at Riverside Cemetery.
Keller’s transformation into Miss Julia included a cream white wig with a long braid that wrapped her head like a country woman’s crown. She wore wire-rim glasses, a red cardigan, a blue gingham skirt and sensible shoes.
Miss Julia earned her spot in the birthday celebration because, as Christian County Historian William T. Turner recalls, the idea for a local museum grew out of her radio program. Turner, then in his 30s, was a recurring guest on “Julia Comes Calling.”
Saturday’s celebration centered on a reprise of that show with Turner and the return of his old radio friend holding court from a quickly assembled radio studio on the Memorial Building’s stage.
“William, oh, it is so good to see you!” Miss Julia declared.
“Good afternoon, Miss Julia. It sure is good to see you — on this side of the ground,” Turner said, setting off the first of many rounds of laughter from the audience.
As the program continued with stories of the museum’s establishment in July 1976 at Hopkinsville’s former post office building, several prominent figures from Hopkinsville’s past stood in the audience to “call in” with questions and comments for Turner and Miss Julia.
They included:
- Martha Wood, who joined her husband Bartholomew Wood in 1794 among the first white settlers to Christian County. Ginnie Word Pruitt portrayed her.
- Attucks High School basketball coach William Falls, played by Falls’ former colleague James Victor.
- Newspaperman and historian Charles Meacham, who also served as mayor from 1906 to 1914. He was played by Robert Martin, who chairs the Hopkinsville Historian Foundation.
- Clairvoyant Edgar Cayce, played by Andrew Troche Thompson. Last year he also portrayed Cayce for a short play at the museum.
- Museum benefactor and founding board member William McCarroll, played by Dan Kemp, who is a former Hopkinsville mayor.
- Author bell hooks, played by her sister Gwenda Motley.
- Artist Gant Gaither, played by Cody Noffsinger, who promoted a Gaither-inspired museum gala planned later this year.
As a behind-the-scenes helper and member of the Hopkinsville History Foundation, I can report that Saturday’s program owed much of its flair and entertainment value to Keller’s clever scriptwriting — and to Turner’s ability to hold his own with her comedic timing.
The museum staff and members of the Hopkinsville History Foundation and the museum board created a beautiful setting inside the Memorial Building, and did so in record time. Because of a rainy weather forecast, the party location was shifted last minute to the Memorial Building. It had been planned outdoors at the museum.
If you weren’t able to attend Saturday’s event, you can still join the celebration at the Pennyroyal Area Museum at Ninth and Liberty streets. Many of the stories and personalities highlighted at the party are part of the permanent and special exhibits. The museum’s hours are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday.
Jennifer P. Brown is co-founder, publisher and editor of Hoptown Chronicle. You can reach her at editor@hoptownchronicle.org. Brown was a reporter and editor at the Kentucky New Era, where she worked for 30 years. She is a co-chair of the national advisory board to the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues, governing board past president for the Kentucky Historical Society, and co-founder of the Kentucky Open Government Coalition. She serves on the Hopkinsville History Foundation's board.
