Verona Black History Month Program

These are photos from the Black History Month Program at Verona Elementary School on Feb. 21. The event, featuring songs by the Verona Voices choir and a wax museum of historical figures portrayed by Verona third-graders, was an enjoyable experience.

Nola Berryman’s Paper Hat

This is the video clip I shot of Nola Berryman of Plantersville back in March 2007. It shows Miss Nola making a paper hat out of the Baptist Record.

I hope you don’t mind having to tilt your head to the left while viewing this clip. If you’re wondering why it’s sideways, here’s why: When I filmed Miss Nola, the camera was in a vertical (upright) position. But when you upload a video to YouTube, the clips show up as a horizontal. I’m still working on the clip so that it would show up as a vertical on YouTube. I found the clip on a jump drive that also included the photos I took of Miss Nola the day of the interview.

An amazing thing about Miss Nola’s clip … she got it right on the first take. No stopping and restarting. She explained it all on one shot. She paused about 45 seconds into the filming, as if she was stopping. But while I was holding the camera with my right hand, I was giving the hand motion with my left to keep going. She picked up on the hand signal and kept going.

As I mentioned in my column today, Nola Berryman passed away Feb. 14 at age 99. She was a very creative woman who donated a lot of the quilts and crafts she made. I’ve met a lot of interesting people while doing the “new” Lee County Neighbors section this past year. Nola Berryman ranks up there as one of my favorites.