Editor:
Among the first settlers in this area was the Ames family. They arrived in what is now the area of Sankey Park and were so delighted by the beauty and peace they found there that they called it “Paradise Camp.”
Today their name still remains as the identification of the small stream which borders the park.
Many years later I had the opportunity to participate in a writing group in the community and was rewarded with stories from fellow citizens who didn’;t know this as “Paradise Camp” but who had obviously found this to be a “home, sweet home.” Among them was a woman who had been a young girl in France during World War II. She had been captured and forced to work in a German parachute factory before escaping with another girl and finding her way back to France. Also among our group was a woman who lived in England at this same time and who had been walking to school one morning when a German plane flew overhead and shot a boy who was walking down that same road.
There was no anger or bitterness in these women, nor in other members of the group who shared stories of the challenges they had faced in years past before coming to this little community they now called home.
There was a time when Sweet Home was known for our abundance of volunteers. That time has passed.
I am concerned that we might lose the spirit of community which the Ames family had and which these friends in the writing group enjoyed among us. Across the country cities are being torn apart by protest groups. which destroy, clamor and block everyday citizens from their normal travels.
If Sweet Home is to remain a “sweet home, ” we must learn to respect one another, listen to one another and even learn from one another.
Instead of waving banners and flags and trying to see how big a “protest group” they can assemble, concerned citizens must start caring for their fellow citizens, volunteering at groups which take food to elderly shut-ins, provide food and clothing for those in need, preserve the history of this community and the people who made it a “sweet home,” etc.
Yes, the best way to keep Sweet Home a “sweet home” is to respect one another, listen to one another and care for one another, even when there are issues on which we will disagree.
Glenda Hopkins
Sweet Home