Welcome to the holiday season! Whether you are wondering where the year has gone or are counting the days until your first seasonal party, the holidays are here. This year, the editorial team decided to write about comfort and joy. Tasked with creating a holiday theme for the November/December issue of Evansville Living each year โ recall the โ12 Doors of Christmas,โ โAttitude of Gratitude,โ and โShiny and Bright,โ all past themes โ we landed on โComfort and Joyโ for this issue.
As you might expect, many of our ideas here at the magazine grow organically from personal experiences and take root around our conference table. For inspiration for โComfort and Joy,โ I had only to look out our family room bay window. The window surrounds a cushioned seat and, like most window seats in houses built in the 1920s, covers a storage area. Ours is used for our large stash of quilts of all sizes, patterns, and ages made by my grand- mothers, great-grandmothers, aunt, and cousin. When they are visiting home, just as they did growing up in the house, our sons and their girlfriends make a beeline to the quilts to cozy up while hanging out. The quilts also are a favorite of our pets; they, too, are creatures of comfort. Jed, our 11-year-old Mountain Cur dog, can expertly arrange the quilts himself. Guests, worry not; our quilts regularly get laundered.
Quilts are just a small icon of comfort. Our story beginning on page 50 looks at numerous ways to bring both comfort and joy to this holiday season, and that is our wish for you.
I have known Carol McClintock for years, but I came to know her best as part of a group of fitness walkers who met four mornings weekly on the East Side: Carol, me, Jackie, Susan, Cindy, Stacy, Dee Dee, Tay, and Sharon. We solved lots of problems pounding the pavement in those early morning hours, four seasons, for the better part of a decade. Our mantra, โif itโs heard on the street, it stays on the street,โ was mostly true.
In May, I joined writer Joan Shappard at the newly renovated Wheeler Concert Hall on the University of Evansville campus for a special morning billed as โConversations with Carol McClintock, City of Evansvilleโs First Lady, 2012-2023: Personal Reflections on Service to Our City and Strengthening Our Community.โ The lively conversation that ensued between Carol and moderator Linda White, CEO of Deaconess Hospital in Henderson, Kentucky, and former CEO of Deaconess Health System, formed the basis for Joanโs later interview with the cityโs outgoing โfirst lady.โ Mayor Lloyd Winnecke, Carolโs husband, announced in summer 2022 he would not seek a fourth term.
Listening to Carol, I was transported to the conversations we had in the wee hours on the street. Her energy for doing good and passion for the people and the city of Evansville is palpable today, just as it was 20 years ago.
Carolโs longtime friend and Executive Vice President in her F.C. Tucker Emge Team McClintock real estate business, Susan Haynie, talked to us about her, noting one of her traits I have long admired: Her ability to be extremely productive; to get a lot done in a day.
By the time this letter is read, Evansville will have elected a new mayor. Mayor Winnecke will begin a new role as the next CEO of E-REP, the regional chamber of commerce umbrella operating in Downtown Evansville. Read our story, โA First Ladyโs Reflections,โ on page 48 to learn what might be next for Carol as she reflects on the past 12 years.
May your holidays be merry and bright! As always, I look forward to hearing from you.
Kristen K. Tucker
Publisher & Editor
REACH OUT!
Letters to the editor can be sent to letters@evansvilleliving.com.
