November 11, 2009
Article and photo Courtesy of Jeff Eason with The Blowing Rocket.
The Blue Ridge Parkway is filled with volunteers who work behind the scenes to make our community a better place. Most of the time it is the love of their work and co-workers that is their biggest reward. Sometimes, however, these volunteers are recognized for going above and beyond the call of duty.
Such was the case last month when Buddy and Judy Lovett were honored as the Blue Ridge Parkway’s Volunteers of the Year for the Highland District. The Lovetts are volunteers who spell the full time employees at the Moses Cone Visitors Center at Flat Top Manor in Blowing Rock.
The Blue Ridge Parkway’s Highland District runs from near Linville Falls all the way up to the North Carolina-Virginia state line.
Judy Lovett was honored at a ceremony with local National Park Service Ranger Amy Renfrantz at the Folk Arts Center in Ashville. The Lovetts received a plaque and letter from Phil Francis, superintendent of the Blue Ridge Parkway.
“We’re very proud of all of our employees and volunteers,” said Superintendent Francis. “They play such a critical role in helping the Blue Ridge Parkway remain one of the premiere vacation destinations in America year after year.
Without our volunteers and employees, we would be unable to protect the Parkway to the degree that we have. They are the people on the front line of what the entire National Park Service is trying to do: maintain, protect and present some of the greatest natural resources in the world.”
Both Buddy and Judy Lovett have been involved in the health care field for the United States Army. Buddy is a retired pediatric cardiologist who continues to work one day a week through Wake Forest’s Baptist Hospital.
Judy is a retired Army nurse. Both of the Lovett’s have worked in military hospitals including Walter Reed Medical Center in Washington, D.C.
“When I was in college I took an aptitude test that said I should either be a forest ranger or go into medicine,” said Buddy. “I’ve sort of done both.”
Lovett described first coming to the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina in 1966 on a motorcycle trip. “I was camping at Julian Price Lake on my way to New England, when I got stuck here in a snowstorm,” said Lovett. “There was over an inch of snow on the Parkway, and that was in September.”
Lovett asked a Park Ranger about where he could stay in the area and has ended up returning to the High Country on a regular basis ever since. The Lovetts now have a permanent home in the Yonahlossee area and plan to volunteer at the Cone Craft Center for many years to come.
“It’s a great place to come and see people who love the mountains as much as we do,” said Judy Lovett. “We love to answer their questions, and if we don’t know the answer, we’ll get on the phone or computer and find the answer for them.”
The Lovetts are well known for attending the Blue Ridge Parkway’s interpretive programs and show an interest and passion for the Parkway and its incredible diversity of flora, fauna and landscape features.
Said Cone Manor Visitor Center employee Peter Morris, the Lovetts never fail to engage with the visitors and make everyone’s day a little brighter, and that he looks forward to the days that Judy and Buddy volunteer because he knows he’ll “laugh for the whole two hours.”
Said Shawn Rhodes, volunteer coordinator for the Blue Ridge Parkway, “Judy and Buddy are kind, dependable and outgoing. Their time volunteered at the Cone Manor Visitor Center is beneficial to the Blue Ridge Parkway in so many ways.”
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This book tells the engrossing story of Moses and Bertha Cone, builders of the stunning Flat Top Manor in Blowing Rock, North Carolina. Wilma Dykeman, a noted author of Appalachian books, said, "The most surprising fact about The Story of Moses and Bertha Cone and their Blowing Rock Manor is that it has waited so long to be told.
A Mansion in the Mountains
Visit the Blue Ridge Book Store for more great books, pictures, collectibles and other great gift ideas.
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