Nobody in recent memory could report a human interest story better than the late CBS correspondent Charles Kuralt. His “On the Road …” reports are noteworthy not only for briefly shining the spotlight on unheralded Americans, but also for the simplicity and directness of his writing.
In more than 600 segments of “On the Road,” at least twice Kuralt touched on bicycling. One was about June Curry, the Cookie Lady of Afton, Virginia. Another was Jethro Mann, the bicycle man.
Even though these segments were produced more than 20 years ago, both these people are still going strong.
The Bicycle Man
Kuralt compiled several dozen reports in a book (“On the Road with Charles Kuralt”) in the late '80s. The script for the piece on Jethro Mann is included.
Mann repaired bicycles for kids in Belmont, North Carolina, and lent them out for kids who didn't own bikes. As Kuralt wrote: “And so, while Jethro Mann knows he can't find the solution to everything that's wrong in the world, he decided he could do something about this.”
Jethro Mann is 89 now and still repairs bicycles for kids, writes Joe DePriest for the Charlotte Observer.
He's skinnier than I expected. Like a strand of copper wire. But the handshake tells you that even at 89 he's made of steel. … Mann wears a worker's jumpsuit, yellow hard hat and tie. Business as usual. He's ready for anything. …
His work continues. Mann still repairs and loans bikes. He's still the subject of magazine pieces, and film crews occasionally show up from such places as California.
More about Jethro Mann at the Carolina Camera archive.
The Cookie Lady
At 85, June Curry of Afton, Virginia, is still serving water and cookies and a place to stay for cross-country cyclists.
My friend Bruce and I stopped to visit on our climb up the mountain to the Blue Ridge Parkway in 1984; she'd been serving cyclists for 8 years at that point, ever since the first TransAmerica route riders passed through in 1976.
More than 11,000 bicycle tourists have stopped for cookies, cool water or lemonade, and to jot down their names and get a Polaroid picture in her scrapbooks. The Bike House still serves as overnight lodging for many of those cyclists.
Three years ago, Adventure Cycling Association gave June its first Trail Angel Award, named in her honor. Last year she suffered a stroke and a broken wrist, and local members of the Zero Milepost Bicycle Club came to her aid to help run the Bike House and help pay medical costs.
Four cyclists are creating a Cookie House Registry of everyone who ever visited and had their pictures at the Cookie Lady's. There's also a list of stories and journal entries that have been written about the Cookie Lady.
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[…] The bicycle man never had a bike as a child. He never got to soar around his neighborhood like a child who firsts feels a breeze kiss their face and blows miles of joy into their hair, as they discover the speed of delight. So instead of blaming his parents, the town’s leaders and eventually the country, he focused on the lessons of his own depravity. He grew up, filled his garage with old bikes he collected and fixed, and shared them with his neighborhood. A steady stream of children lined up to sign out a bike for the day, learning to say “please” and “thank you” from the man who gave all of his free time and fun money to others. They also received lessons on bike repair, the older kids fixing the bikes of little ones. (Check out this link) […]