<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><rss xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" xmlns:content="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/" xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom" version="2.0"><channel><title><![CDATA[Brenda Bear Art]]></title><description><![CDATA[Kentucky Artist]]></description><link>https://www.brendabearart.com/blog</link><generator>RSS for Node</generator><lastBuildDate>Mon, 11 May 2026 21:04:45 GMT</lastBuildDate><atom:link href="https://www.brendabearart.com/blog-feed.xml" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml"/><item><title><![CDATA[The Kinney Brothers                               from Salt Lick Creek]]></title><description><![CDATA[Written by Brenda S. Bear (brendasbear@gmail.com). Please do not copy or share my writing without my permission. Thank you for reading my stories. On May 3rd of this year, two of the Lewis County artists featured on the City of Vanceburg’s new mural were Charley and Noah Kinney. These unforgettable brothers, who spent their entire lives in Toller Holler are remembered fondly by many, especially the older generation who either knew them personally or grew up hearing tales of their colorful...]]></description><link>https://www.brendabearart.com/post/the-kinney-brothers-from-salt-lick-creek</link><guid isPermaLink="false">69e69e148e63193b95d3e1f0</guid><pubDate>Mon, 20 Apr 2026 21:45:51 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/daae71_e26372eeb4c04f938609195e3c5f4721~mv2.jpg/v1/fit/w_1000,h_1000,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Brenda Bear</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[Guarding the Stories of Lewis County Janey Clark’s Quiet Legacy]]></title><description><![CDATA[Written by Brenda S. Bear (brendasbear@gmail.com). Please do not copy or share my writing without my permission. Thank you for reading my stories. A few months ago, I read an article by Bill Tom Stone titled “Where Are All the Volunteers?”  It made me think of someone many of us should already know. Let me introduce you to Mrs. Janey Clark. Every Friday and Saturday, you can find her at 39 Market Street in downtown   Vanceburg, the same place she has faithfully volunteered since 2008. For 18...]]></description><link>https://www.brendabearart.com/post/guarding-the-stories-of-lewis-county-janey-clark-s-quiet-legacy</link><guid isPermaLink="false">69e69d63930722cfe917b30a</guid><pubDate>Mon, 20 Apr 2026 21:42:38 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/daae71_5556f4be7505488d9c78d723b6fe103a~mv2.png/v1/fit/w_1000,h_1000,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Brenda Bear</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[William Kelley Hampton                                Lewis County's Last Civil War Soldier]]></title><description><![CDATA[Written by Brenda S. Bear (brendasbear@gmail.com). Please do not copy or share my writing without my permission. Thank you for reading my stories. A few weeks ago, I had the pleasure of meeting Denise Kirk (“Kirkie”) Ash, who came to share stories of her ancestor, William Kelly Hampton, a man whose legacy has resonated deeply within her family for generations. Hampton was married to Margaret McCann, the first cousin of Kirkie’s great-grandmother, Hattie McCann Kirkendall. Hattie’s husband,...]]></description><link>https://www.brendabearart.com/post/william-kelley-hampton-lewis-county-s-last-civil-war-soldier</link><guid isPermaLink="false">69e69c77930722cfe917b116</guid><pubDate>Mon, 20 Apr 2026 21:39:39 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/daae71_637a5b4b2f4f4777a888a052a23f9851~mv2.png/v1/fit/w_1000,h_1000,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Brenda Bear</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[The Carver's of Rock Creek]]></title><description><![CDATA[Written by Brenda S. Bear (brendasbear@gmail.com). Please do not copy or share my writing without my permission. Thank you for reading my stories. “I wouldn’t trade a single yesterday for a million tomorrows.”  —Donnie Carver Rock Creek is a small holler in Quincy, Kentucky, stretching about eight miles from one end to the other. It’s where the roots of sister and brother Judy and Donnie Carver first took hold. You can’t tell their story without hearing their music, because music is  the...]]></description><link>https://www.brendabearart.com/post/the-carver-s-of-rock-creek</link><guid isPermaLink="false">69e69b17a96d49e56ec63fa8</guid><pubDate>Mon, 20 Apr 2026 21:35:11 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/daae71_ddae42c024d7407aacc3e5384d7b818b~mv2.png/v1/fit/w_1000,h_1000,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Brenda Bear</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[Senior Master Sergeant                  James Rival Reis]]></title><description><![CDATA[Written by Brenda S. Bear ( brendasbear@gmail.com ). Please do not copy or share my writing without my permission. Thank you for reading my stories. Wanda is one of 5 children of Senior Master Sergeant James Rival Reis, a Lewis County Veteran with a Military Hero Banner hanging in downtown Vanceburg. Reis graduated from Lewis County High School in 1942 and was drafted a couple months later. The Senior Master Sergeant served in 3 wars that spanned over 30 years (1943-1973): World War II, the...]]></description><link>https://www.brendabearart.com/post/senior-master-sergeant-james-rival-reis</link><guid isPermaLink="false">69e69983930722cfe917aacc</guid><pubDate>Mon, 20 Apr 2026 21:26:16 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/daae71_ef607702556c4d508b17e08081166ce1~mv2.png/v1/fit/w_1000,h_1000,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Brenda Bear</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[Bentley Brother's Grocery            ]]></title><description><![CDATA[Written by Brenda S. Bear ( brendasbear@gmail.com ). Please do not copy or share my writing without my permission. Thank you for reading my stories. One  of my most cherished childhood memories growing up in Lewis County is of a small, country store called Bentley Brothers Grocery. It was late fall, tobacco stripping season, and my parents would go to Bentley’s and pick up a big roll of Kahn’s bologna, the kind wrapped in the bright red plastic sleeve, along with a couple loaves of white...]]></description><link>https://www.brendabearart.com/post/bentley-brother-s-grocery</link><guid isPermaLink="false">69e6936c930722cfe9179e91</guid><pubDate>Mon, 20 Apr 2026 20:59:21 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/daae71_d8998ba6cf2d4c2dafd3e81f380e9415~mv2.jpg/v1/fit/w_600,h_404,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Brenda Bear</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[Grandma Ervin]]></title><description><![CDATA[Written by Brenda S. Bear ( brendasbear@gmail.com ). Please do not copy or share my writing without my permission. Thank you for reading my stories. Dennis and I talked about writing stories that preserve the history of our people in Lewis County, stories that are slowly fading away with each passing generation. I decided to start with a story about my grandmother, Ruth Agnes (Stone) Ervin, who raised her children on Spy Run Hollow in Garrison.   Grandma Ruth grew up in a family that worked...]]></description><link>https://www.brendabearart.com/post/grandma-ervin</link><guid isPermaLink="false">69e6926c930722cfe9179c88</guid><pubDate>Mon, 20 Apr 2026 20:56:54 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/daae71_568dffc053194b76b9091df9cf3d8895~mv2.jpg/v1/fit/w_414,h_604,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Brenda Bear</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[George Plummer: A Family Tradition of Service]]></title><description><![CDATA[Written by Brenda S. Bear ( brendasbear@gmail.com ). Please do not copy or share my writing without my permission. Thank you for reading my stories. Leaders are remembered not just for what they build, but for how they lift the people around them. George Plummer is one of those rare individuals whose life has been defined by a deep commitment to his community. In 1795, George’s ancestors floated down the Ohio River by flatboat. His great grandfather, Martin Luther Plummer and his brother,...]]></description><link>https://www.brendabearart.com/post/george-plummer-a-family-tradition-of-service</link><guid isPermaLink="false">69e691e6e30ec41b7d05fc36</guid><pubDate>Mon, 20 Apr 2026 20:53:17 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/daae71_d845885e08784032aefe88281b17a083~mv2.jpg/v1/fit/w_1000,h_1000,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Brenda Bear</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[Lewis County Veteran SP4 Douglas Applegate]]></title><description><![CDATA[Written by Brenda S. Bear ( brendasbear@gmail.com ). Please do not copy or share my writing without my permission. Thank you for reading my stories. Lewis County Veteran, Douglas E. Applegate’s story doesn’t begin with medals or fanfare, it begins on a Greyhound bus leaving downtown Vanceburg in 1955. A recent college graduate with a Business Degree and no job prospects, he made the decision to enlist in the U.S. Army rather than wait to be drafted. That decision, he said, changed everything....]]></description><link>https://www.brendabearart.com/post/lewis-county-veteran-sp4-douglas-applegate</link><guid isPermaLink="false">69e553605e3a88e8e09e0232</guid><pubDate>Sun, 19 Apr 2026 22:14:56 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/daae71_db4eaaeed6a14d8cbf0fbbd5ba890226~mv2.png/v1/fit/w_1000,h_1000,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Brenda Bear</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[A Tribute to Clara]]></title><description><![CDATA[Written by Brenda S. Bear ( brendasbear@gmail.com ). Please do not copy or share my writing without my permission. Thank you for reading my stories. My  very first memory of Clara Kamer takes me back to a hot summer day when I was about 12 years old. My dad had leased the land next to her house to plant tobacco. Dad was on the tractor, and I was walking close behind, clearing away buried plants and pulling weeds he’d missed. As we got closer to her house, Clara stepped outside with two...]]></description><link>https://www.brendabearart.com/post/a-tribute-to-clara</link><guid isPermaLink="false">69e552bd5e3a88e8e09e0113</guid><pubDate>Sun, 19 Apr 2026 22:12:02 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/daae71_ba030be4a15b46d3baf887731a68d47e~mv2.png/v1/fit/w_1000,h_1000,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Brenda Bear</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[Held to a Higher Standard: A Son’s Journey to Honor His Father]]></title><description><![CDATA[Written by Brenda S. Bear ( brendasbear@gmail.com ). Please do not copy or share my writing without my permission. Thank you for reading my stories. When I asked Ben Pugh if he had any information about his father’s military service, he said he did. A few days later, he visited Vanceburg and left behind three photo albums filled with newspaper clippings, awards- an extraordinary record of his father’s time in the U.S. Navy.   Known to family and friends as Tom, Lieutenant Commander Pugh was a...]]></description><link>https://www.brendabearart.com/post/held-to-a-higher-standard-a-son-s-journey-to-honor-his-father</link><guid isPermaLink="false">69e54db05e3a88e8e09df70a</guid><pubDate>Sun, 19 Apr 2026 21:50:24 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/daae71_24c77d40aca042b5b9fc87d81fa4ee44~mv2.jpg/v1/fit/w_1000,h_1000,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Brenda Bear</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[Roger Cooper                                                      Kentucky Master Fiddler]]></title><description><![CDATA[Written by Brenda S. Bear ( brendasbear@gmail.com ). Please do not copy or share my writing without my permission. Thank you for reading my stories. I reached out to Roger over the phone, eager to discuss a project that had been brewing in my mind. Strangely enough, we had never met before, and I hadn’t even known he existed until a couple of weeks prior to our call. To my surprise, he agreed to meet with me. As soon as we sat down, I was struck by the quiet strength of Roger Cooper’s...]]></description><link>https://www.brendabearart.com/post/roger-cooper-kentucky-master-fiddler</link><guid isPermaLink="false">69d48645d142869289e9ac83</guid><pubDate>Tue, 07 Apr 2026 04:23:15 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/daae71_802a19994de542b9ae7e6e57a336f44e~mv2.jpg/v1/fit/w_1000,h_1000,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Brenda Bear</dc:creator></item></channel></rss>