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From Roots to Roses, The Autobiography of Tilda Kemplen. Transcribed and edited by Nancy Herzberg. Athens: University of Georgia Press, 1992. 173 pages. This autobiography is the story of a woman born in 1925, in Guy Hollow in the mountains of Tennessee. She still lives not far from that place, in Roses Creek, Campbell County, Tennessee. Like the stories of all our lives, Tilda Kemplen's has many layers of meaning. The first layer is the story of the events of Tilda Kemplen's life. She has almost always lived in the country, and has held onto the skills she learned very young: how to raise livestock, farm and garden, how to sew and quilt, how to put up food for the winter, how to live on littie cash. She learned love of family and concern for those in need. It was not possible for Tilda to go on to high school after finishing the eighth grade, but she finished her high school work at age 32. While working as a school cook and raising her family, she attended Cumberland College in Williamsburg, Kentucky, and graduated in 1962. She became a school teacher, and this led her to develop a special education program in Wynn Habersham school in Campbell County. Through that experience, she began to see many children inaccurately labeled mentally retarded, and to learn some of the reasons that one out of every two children who started school in her area did not finish high school. She believed that it was very important to establish a preschool program in order to begin to work with children well before time for them to enter public elementary school. She was a leader in the establishment of the preschool program, Mountain Communities Child Care and Development Centers. Through these centers, Tilda and others began to work with the children and their families, addressing not only educational skills, but also family and economic needs and issues. She has also been a leader in the establishment of other community services and economic development projects in her community which address basic problems such as hunger, unemployment, homelessness, and substance abuse. Now in her sixties, Kemplen continues to be active in community work. She has almost died twice, once of aplastic anemia and once of legionnaires' disease. Her husband, James, died of black-lung disease. Her home burned to the ground a few years ago, along with possessions handed down in her family. She has been able to build a new log house, which she loves and which she designed with her children in mind, for they will inherit it. As we read From Roots to Roses, we get a strong sense of how Tilda Kemplen's life unfolds, like a rose, and how she encourages that same process in others. She is well-rooted in her cultural heritage, in love of the land, in her family and community, and in spirituality. She seems now to be at the height 65 of her powers, and she chooses to use those powers to build community. She believes strongly in holistic social programs—educational, community service, and economic development—which make sense in the community, link tradition to progress, and develop self-sufficiency, self-esteem, and pride in heritage. From Roots to Roses is the story of how a woman and her community have learned to build social, economic, and educational programs which connect cultural heritage and traditional skills with current social and economic needs. They have learned how to build programs which draw upon many resources but which remain community-based. They have learned some powerful ways to begin to rebuild and heal communities which have been disenfranchised for a long time. The final layer of meaning, for me, in this story is as a counterpoint to Denise Giardina's books, Storming Heaven and The Unquiet Earth. Unlike most of the characters in Giardina's books, Tilda Kemplen has not been destroyed by the hardships imposed on her community by the coal industry. When I say this, I am in no way denying the truth in Giardina's books. They are works of fiction full of truth, but they are the story of the tragedy of...

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