In remembrance 2006

Many notable Catawba Valley residents died this year, leaving behind very different legacies

Sunday, December 31, 2006

By Marcie Young, Hannah Mitchell and Jen Aronoff
Charlotte Observer Staff Writers

A blues star died and a Catawba County soldier never came home. A local young man, who established a charity bike ride in 2004, lost his three-year battle with cancer, and residents honored local philanthropists for their contributions to the community.

The staff of the Catawba Valley Neighbors recognizes these individuals for their service and determination, and for the role they played in molding the character of the region.

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Etta Baker

Etta Baker, a Caldwell County native who traded in a job at a shoe factory to become a blues legend, died Sept. 26. She was 93.

Baker's unusual two-fingered picking style influenced musical greats such as Bob Dylan and Taj Mahal and earned her a reputation as a master of the Piedmont blues, a blend of bluegrass and blues that dates back more than a century in the mountains of North Carolina and Tennessee.

The self-taught musician learned to strum the guitar as a 3-year-old, resting between her father's knees and watching him pluck at the strings.

Decades later, in 1958, Baker was working in a textile factory when a professional musician and friend suggested she change careers.

"This was on a Wednesday," Baker recalled in a 2005 interview. "I went in and told 'em I was quitting on Friday, and I did. I never did go back."

In the following years, Baker toured in Europe, and won a National Heritage Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts. But it was her positive attitude that grandson Steven Avery said was one of her true accomplishments.

"She did not have the blues, she played the blues," he said. "The `happy blues,' she called it."

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Brett Gosnell

Hickory native Brett Gosnell died Aug. 17 after a three-year battle with a rare and aggressive childhood cancer, rhabdomyosarcoma. He was 20.

The football player and academic star kept attending classes and graduated as Hickory High School's 2004 valedictorian. He started coursework at Lenoir-Rhyne College and UNC Chapel Hill, and in the fall of 2005 was able to attend the University of Virginia, his dream school.

Even as the cancer and chemotherapy ravaged his 6-foot-1, 175-pound frame, family and friends said that Gosnell's positive attitude, intelligence, courage and determination were inspiring.

"Even when he was so sick he couldn't walk, he would say he was going to beat it," said Gosnell's longtime childhood friend, Scott Talbert.

In 2004, he started Brett's Ride for Rhabdo, a bicycle ride to benefit research for all kinds of childhood cancers. His parents, Mark and Mary Ann Gosnell, plan to continue the charity bike ride.

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Jason Huffman

Army Spc. Jason Huffman of Catawba County was a devoted soldier who didn't mind returning to Iraq for a second tour, said his sister, Torie Murphy.

Huffman died on Dec. 6 at age 22 when his Humvee ran over a roadside bomb in the city of Kirkuk.

He was at least the fourth serviceman from the Catawba Valley to die in Iraq since the war began.

Huffman, son of an Army veteran, joined the Army in 2003. He was sent to Iraq after basic training and was on his second tour there when he was killed.

He graduated from Bunker Hill High School in 2002.

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Tom Mate

Thomas Michael Mate of Hickory, a late-blooming but prolific artist and philanthropist, died Sept. 27 at Frye Regional Medical Center after a 4 1/2-year battle with cancer and multiple sclerosis. He was 61.

For seven years, Mate and his artist wife, Jackie, have held the Mate Benefit for Habitat for Humanity, selling paintings to raise money for the construction of new homes. More than 200 pieces were sold at the most recent benefit, held in November.

"We hope to raise enough money to build a home in Tom's honor," Jackie said.

Mate, a native of Cleveland, Ohio, worked in various segments of the furniture industry for more than 30 years, moving to Hickory to take a job in furniture marketing and manufacturing.

After his retirement, he managed a Habitat Home Store for several years, volunteered at the Hickory Museum of Art and began pastel drawing in 1997.

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Kenneth Millholland

Kenneth Millholland, a Hickory resident who, with his wife, Suzanne, helped shape the city's civic life for decades, died Dec. 8 at age 89.

Millholland was the former vice president of the Hickory Daily Record newspaper, which his wife's family had owned since 1929. Kenneth and Suzanne Millholland sold the paper to Media General in 1998.

Longtime supporters of the arts and education, the Millhollands were repeatedly recognized for their philanthropy and, in 2004, received the Order of the Long Leaf Pine.

They donated to Lenoir-Rhyne College, the UNC Chapel Hill School of Journalism and Mass Communication, the Hickory Museum of Art, the Western Piedmont Symphony and the Catawba Science Center, among other organizations, and helped fund a new indoor pool at the Hickory YMCA.


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