The Woman Who Moves Mountains

The little girl with the pigtail plaits had no idea who she would grow up to be, but she always knew she was somebody. Her parents taught her, and both of her sisters, that good things were expected of all of them. This was during the time that little children were expected to drop out of school by the eighth grade because their future was in service to White people and they had no need of an education beyond the basics. The parents never had an opportunity to receive an education and they were determined this was not going to happen to their girls.

So, when the girls completed the eighth grade, the parents hugged each one, waved goodbye, and sent each one, in turn, to a private school four counties away that was operated by the Methodist Church. This school was over a hundred miles away, on the other side of a mountain, and it was each girl’s first time away from home. But it was the only way these girls were ever going to have an opportunity to reach their potential.

The youngest girl graduated and went on to distinguish herself with a career in the military, retiring from the United States Army/Air Force as a master sergeant.

The next oldest was an accomplished poet who was able to instill her ethics in her young son before succumbing at an early age to pulmonary sarcoidosis.

And the oldest daughter? Well, that is who this story is about. Ann Miller Woodford became, or always was, an artist. First, she became an airline hostess, then she moved to California, met the actress Esther Rolle, and these two ladies joined forces to create dolls for children. They turned out hundreds of dolls. Ann created and sold playing cards that featured African American kings and queens; she worked for a while in the health care industry, all the while painting and painting and painting.

Then, one day Ann got the call that her precious mother, who worked her entire adult life as a domestic for White people, was dying of cancer. Ann packed up her car and drove almost 3,ooo miles from California back to the mountains of far western North Carolina so that she could take care of her mother - the mother who had loved her girls enough to part with them so that she could guarantee them an opportunity to have a better life than she had. After her mother passed, Ann stayed in western North Carolina because her father was elderly and needed her.

The problem was that there were few s in far western North Carolina and very little industry. Ann’s father had spent his life as a butcher, but he, too, was getting on in years. So, Ann moved into her little one room block building that had once been the town Laundromat, and set about doing what she did best- painting and thinking up ideas to improve the quality of life for all people in her community - not just the ones.

Ann took whatever job was available- County Planner- Chamber of Commerce director- and then she realized one of her best ideas. She convinced Black women in the county to come to a meeting so that she could present her new idea to them. She outlined her idea and twelve women agreed and each one of them plunked down $100 of hard-earned cash to support her idea. Thus was created One Dozen Who Care, the first established 501 C-3 nonprofit organization in far Western North Carolina. The vision of One Dozen Who Care, Inc. is to strengthen leadership among local women and youth and to create strong community bonds through common cultural, economic and social interactions. ODWC has accomplished its goals by implementing a variety of community programs that empowers, educates, and encourages economic development for women, youth and elders in far Western North Carolina to bridge cultures and create community bonds. Examples of some of these programs are:

· The Multicultural Women's Development Conference is an annual 2-day conference where women of all races, religions and other differences can come together to discuss their varying differences and commonalities. Invariably, attendees at this conference agree that they have left the conference with a better understanding and respect for the things that unite us as women and as humans.

· 10-10-10 is a program that takes 10 children, 10 projects and over the course of 10 months exposes these children to books, culture, social manners, and respect for all cultures.

· The Elder Dinner- Once a year ODWC hosts a dinner honoring the sacrifices and accomplishments of the most senior of our citizens.

· The Martin Luther King Storyteller's Guild was an opportunity to gather community storytellers of religions, genders and races to come together to share the stories of our heritage and history.

· As if this were not enough, Ann came up with the idea of a community Chautauqua event and she went to Chautauqua New York to learn how to produce the event, which included the entire community in the celebratory Many of the leaders of the New York Chautauqua attended the one in Far Western North Carolina.

Most recently, Ann has researched and published "When All God's Children Get Together A Celebration of the Lives and Music of African American People in Far Western North Carolina" This work is available on www.annstree.com, in regional bookstores across Western North Carolina. It is used as a reference book at Murphy, NC High School, Western Carolina University, Mars Hill College, and many other places where African American history and heritage are explored.." This book is available on her website, www.annstree.com, at Amazon.com at regional bookstores across Western North Carolina and at many other places where African American history and heritage are explored.at regional bookstores across Western North Carolina and at many other places where African American history and heritage are explored.

Ann has served on the board of directors of The Craddock Center www.craddockcenter.org, Handmade in America www.handmadeinamerica.org, Cherokee County Council for Women, Cherokee Arts Council, and a handful of other organizations. Wherever she goes and whatever she does her goal is always to seek to create and enhance a unified community that honors and respects racial and cultural diversity. Always, she paints and plans her next project of how she can move the mountain of racial inequities out of her beloved mountains.