If you barely exist – work, then grocery shop at a major chain store, then camp out on the couch to watch Netflix or network TV – your view and definition of your community probably consists of the roads, the traffic, the large chain stores, your kid’s sports schedule.
If you really live within your community – if you participate, if you interact – then your view and definition of the community is its people.
And for those of us who view community as its people, our community has definitely changed this week, and it will no longer be the same. We lost Kenny Smith, and the next day, Johnny Robertson. Those voids come just a few months on the heels of having lost entertainer Elisabeth Minter and friend-to-all Patrick Wright and industrialist and philanthropist George W. Lester and businessman Fred Wooden and Christmas lights delighter Wes Tatum and Ridgeway advocate Ed Page and wood artist Terry Mitchell.
And the list goes on.
Our community is the five city council members, and the departing city manager, and the crazy shenanigans thereof.
Our community is Toolie (Leroy Hairston) and Mrs. (Ruby) Fontaine, who are vigilant observers at city council meetings. Toolie often takes the podium and is beloved for his lively commentary and suggestions. Our community is the late Alexis Lee, who until she passed away in 2020, was a model citizen attending government meetings and sharing her perspective, and Karen Supon Doyle, who is taking on that role of informed and informing citizen.
Our community is our fine entertainers, singers and actors – those in TheatreWorks Community Players and the Patriot Players and our churches. We have just lost Elisabet Minter from among them. Then there are the independent entertainers, such as Natalie Hodge with Rudy’s Girl Media.
Our community is the people we see walking the streets or around town on a regular basis. There’s the tall man in the grey jacket who used to be around all the time, but I haven’t seen in a couple of years, now that I think about it – have you? There’s the short man in the grey jacket who will cuss you out in a heartbeat if he is anywhere within your range, so it’s best to cross the street if you see him coming. There’s a sturdy looking elderly lady named Mary, who is always wrapped up well in sweaters and stockings. She used to walk around with her best friend, another woman, but the other woman has not been with her in a couple of years. There’s Michelle, a middle-aged lady who is really sweet, and who got married last year so now has someone to walk with her. There was that lady who walked around pulling a suitcase behind her.
Patrick Wright and Kenny Smith were regulars at the Martinsville Library. You’d see Kenny outside sometimes walking from here to there, but Patrick drove around in his small red pickup truck with stickers on the back.
Patrick would talk with you about Beard Man, a character he created and wrote about, and getting his GED. Kenny would talk to you about anything and everything of Martinsville’s history, especially families and how they were connected and the roles they played.
We lost Patrick in March. That kind, gentle soul was just 2 weeks shy of his 58th birthday. Kenny passed away on Aug. 4. He was 76.
The day after Kenny died, Johnny Robertson passed away. The bold and fearless preacher was 65.
He had a YouTube channel called “Johnny Robertson (What Does the Bible Say)” and video program, “What Does The Bible Say?” as well as a program on Star News. His channel has 6,600 subscribers, and some videos have loads of views such as “Gospel Preacher Johnny Robertson 27 YEARS OF TAKING UNFILTERED CALLS ON LIVE TV” with 43,000 views.
Johnny Robertson’s two sons, Caleb and Micah, did it along with him. They were a commanding trio – movie-star good looks, immaculately dressed, and with talent for delivery.
Feelings about the Robertsons are mixed in this community because, as you know if you are even just barely aware of them, they took on other local churches, religious practices and pastors relentlessly.
Caleb took on me once, though very mildly and just in passing. He had a screenshot of one of my newspaper articles (I was once a reporter) and had circled the word “pussyfooting” and made a lot of complaints about that. (The word just means to act in a cautious or noncommittal way, or to move stealthily or warily, in the spirit of the way a cat moves.) I took a screenshot of that and have it among my mementos.
Around 2020 Micah broke free. He challenged his father in person and via social media posts. He has been living in Montana for the past few years, and the Robertson Community Challenge was down to just Caleb and Johnny Robertson.
Being short a man did not seem to cramp their style at all. The father-son duo tag-teamed it on showing up places ready to video and record and play back on their show full of commentary and complaint.
A heavy burden it is, when one is convinced his church and views are the only correct church and views in the entire world, and he must challenge and convert everyone else.
Suddenly Caleb is no longer around. He has moved out of state. For the past few weeks, it was down to just Johnny, and suddenly, not even Johnny anymore.
That’s a big bit of drama, then, that suddenly is dropped from our community (for now? For good?).
The more things change, the more they stay the same, they say; and also, the only constant is change.
Nascent personalities are developing now. We may or may not realize who the next Johnny Robertson, and the next Kenny, are, but eventually, we will recognize them.
And they, like the Robertsons and Kenny, will be woven into the fabric of our community.
