Asheville Living Treasures to Be Honored

Photo © Anissa Thompson, www.anissat.com

By Donna Schutt

A forward-looking community such as Asheville recognizes the importance of its elders and the part they have played in the history of the community and the role they will be asked to play as the speakers of wisdom about its future. These elders have served with selfless devotion and caring for the health and vibrancy of their community, in all areas of influence, but many times with little recognition of their impact.

In order to begin recognizing these elder leaders before they are no longer with us, a group of Asheville citizens has founded a program called “Asheville Living Treasures” in order to publicly recognize and honor them and to make an oral history of their lives and accomplishments.

The first four Living Treasures will be honored in the spring of 2011
with a public ceremony for family, friends and the community at large.
Thereafter, Living Treasures ceremonies will be held twice annually, in
the spring and fall.

The Living Treasures will be selected by a committee from nominations
from the community. In addition to the public ceremony, each Living
Treasure selected will be photographed and an oral history made of his
or her life and accomplishments. Each honoree will be presented with a
certificate at the public ceremony.

The founders of Asheville Living Treasures are Carol Kessler, Marnie
Walsh, Carmen Ramos-Kennedy, and Donna Schutt. The group is seeking
nominations for its spring ceremony. Nominations should be by letter and
should state the reasons for the nomination, including the nominee’s
background and record of service. The letters may be mailed to Carol
Kessler, Asheville Living Treasures, 152 Edwin Place, Asheville, NC
28801, or emailed to [email protected].

For more information or to become involved with the Asheville Living Treasures Program, contact us at (828) 505-7259 or (828) 298-2231.