Asheville Living Treasures Fall 2013 Selections

The Asheville Living Treasures Committee has announced that Shirley Cohen, Billy Gardenhight, and Adelaide Key will be honored as Asheville Living Treasures at a recognition ceremony Sunday, October 27, 2013, at 1:30 p.m. at Osher Lifelong Learning Institute’s Reuter Center at UNC Asheville. A light reception will follow the ceremony.

Asheville Living Treasures (ALT) is a volunteer non-profit organization whose mission is to honor elders of Asheville and Buncombe County who have given generously of their time and service to make our community a better place.

ALT recognizes these valued elders and their achievements, and records their stories for future generations; their oral histories are archived in Ramsey Library’s Special Collections Department at UNC Asheville. Nominations are submitted by the community-at-large.

Adelaide Daniels Key was born December 10, 1935, in Durham, NC, into the prominent Daniels family, publishers of the Raleigh News and Observer. After graduation from the George School in Bucks County, PA, Adelaide attended Women’s College in Greensboro; she is also the recipient of honorary doctorates from UNC Asheville and Western Carolina University.

Having learned early the importance of philanthropy, she created the Adelaide Worth Daniels Foundation; her generosity has established the Key Center for Community Citizenship and Service Learning at UNC Asheville; the Rathbun Center, an innovative non-profit that provides lodging and other support services in a home-like environment free-of-charge for patients and caregivers coming to Asheville for medical treatment; and the Key School at Carolina Day School, which teaches children with dyslexia and other learning disabilities.

In addition to being a successful business owner (Pantry Key in Franklin, Mountaineer Publishing Company in Waynesville, and Baggie Goose in Asheville) Adelaide has given of her time, energy, and resources to numerous organizations and received honors from many schools, universities, and other community organizations.

Proud of her four children, eight grandchildren, and seven great-grandchildren, and despite facing another battle with cancer, Adelaide and her partner, Maggie Smith, are still busy with community activities, family, and friends.

Billy Eugene Gardenhight Sr., born in Asheville September 27, 1934, was educated in Asheville’s segregated local schools, graduating from Stephens-Lee High School, and attended NC Central University on a football scholarship. Raised by his widowed mother along with four sisters, he worked as a caddy at Biltmore Forest Country Club beginning at age 11; this was the start of his life-long passion for golf.

Billy gained status and recognition as he toured the pro and amateur circuits that were available to blacks before acceptance into the whites-only PGA. He was an instrumental force in obtaining golfing rights for blacks at Asheville’s Municipal Golf Course, where he became manager of the pro shop.

He is a charter member and founder of the South Eastern Golfers Tour and of Skyview Golf Association (SGA), former President and Tournament Director for SGA, served on the Board of the North American Golf Association and the Blue Ridge Golf Association, and in 1994 was inducted into the National Black Golf Hall of Fame.

In 2000, he was featured in the documentary and book, Uneven Lies—the Heroic Story of African-Americans in Golf. He has rendered advice and technical assistance to numerous golf affiliations and organizations, while serving as a mentor and role model to countless aspiring golfers, young and old.

Employed for 22 years at the Opportunity Corporation of Asheville and Buncombe County as Weatherization Coordinator, Billy, along with his wife, Martha Koon Gardenhight, in 1986 became state-licensed foster parents assisting and guiding African American, Caucasian, and biracial youths in their loving home environment. He has been a loving father to two sons, two stepsons, and a special foster son.

As a member of Friendship Lodge 18, Billy was one of the original entrepreneurs who purchased the land and built the Friendship Community Center in Shiloh Community. Billy and Martha are also active members at Brooklyn Mission FBH Church.

Shirley Saslow Cohen was born August 14, 1924, in Brooklyn, NY, the daughter of Russian Jews who came to America to escape the violent pogroms of the early 1900s. Educated in New York public schools and Hunter College, Shirley, her husband Leslie, and their four children moved south in the early 1960s. She was a pioneer in Project Head Start, for which she served as an education coordinator for more than two decades in Atlanta, Asheville, and New Orleans.

Shirley’s passion for community theatre has put her on- and off-stage for over 60 years, especially at Asheville Community Theatre (ACT) where she has acted, spent many hours in the box office, and served as usher, house manager, and dresser.

She was a founding member of The Autumn Players, ACT’s outreach company of seasoned actors, directors and writers dedicated to taking theatre to schools, care facilities, libraries, retirement communities, private functions, and public events.

For many years she has volunteered at Mission Hospital’s neonatal intensive-care unit. Shirley is also active with Mountain Area Radio Reading Service (MARRS), a radio reading service for the blind; is a trained audio describer for Descriptive Audio for the Sight Impaired (DASI); and serves on the ritual committee and sings in the choir at Congregation Beth Ha-Tephila.