Serving the community because they love it

By Clayta Richards / crichards@crossville-chronicle.com

November 05, 2009 08:18 pm

— The Exchange Club is a national organization of service. On Oct. 29, the Lake Tansi Exchange Club met to honor a couple of their own with the annual Book of Golden Deeds Award.
"There are many, many people who never get the recognition they need. And, that is what the Book of Golden Deeds is all about," said emcee Ken Deadmon.
Deadmon explained nominations are accepted by the Book of Golden Deeds committee, and they have the incredibly difficult job of determining each year's recipient(s). This year, the committee chose Mike and Joyce Ferry, members of the Exchange Club for approximately nine years each. Mike has been a member of the Lake Tansi Exchange Club since October 2003, and Joyce has been a member since November 2001. They previously belonged to the organization in Albany, GA.
Mike, who has a degree from UT-Knoxville in accounting and a career background in finance and accounting, has been a Lake Tansi Property Owners Association (LT POA) board member for three years and served on its Financial Advisory Committee for four years.
Joyce, who studied secondary education at Middle Tennessee State University, has been described as a "roll up your sleeves and get it done," person, as she has been a board member of the Stephens Center for several years, and has served on the LT POA Architectural Control Committee for seven years; she's been chairman for three of those years. It is said she has never been afraid to jump right in to look at what the committee is considering.
Accepting an invitation to help honor her brother, Mike's little sister, Becky White, came all the way from Ft. Worth, TX to enjoy putting Mike on the proverbial "spit" for some good-natured roasting. She jibed that, as kids, he would run ahead and hide out when it came to dark walks home after church, then jump out of the bushes to scare her to death, always. And there were stories of Mike and their brother conducting full scale "battles" in the living room, meaning you couldn't walk through there without being killed. But, her big brother Mike was always the one who would let her tag along, and she thanked him for that. She noted that while her big brother dropped out of college to pursue an Air Force career, he seemed to have a continual stream of good luck. Spending most of his military career in England, his assignment was playing baseball for seven years. When he came home, he ended up with another cushy job — an ROTC recruiter at the University of TN-Knoxville. The time spent in Knoxville also allowed him the opportunity to finish an accounting degree. During this time, Mike and Joyce met and married, combining their households with a total of five teenagers. Actually, according to Joyce, only three of the teenagers lived with them. The group moved to Albany, GA, when Mike secured a position as controller at McGregor Golf Company, where he worked for 23 years. Today, one of Mike's sons lives in Conyers, GA, and the other one in Maryland; Joyce's daughter lives in Knoxville, one of her sons lives in Knoxville, and the other one lives in Lake Tansi.
White explained that their family taught Mike early to be of service to others. He was always heading out to mow a lawn, fix a fence, or just do whatever someone needed done. When asked why he did all those things in the community, Mike replied to his sister, "You just do it. That's what you're here for. That's what you do."
County Mayor Brock Hill opened his remarks saying "there are people who epitomize this club. The Ferry family always looks for ways to do things. Hill emphasized how much the Model Railroad Club's display, with Ferry being a founding member, at the Outlet Mall in Crossville has meant to the community, not just for locals, but for tourists visiting Cumberland County.
Carolyn Isbell is director of the Holland J. Stephens Center for the Prevention of Child Abuse, headquartered in Livingston, and serving five counties in the Upper Cumberland including Cumberland, White, Jackson, Overton and Putnam counties. Isbell has worked with Joyce for four years as one of the center's board members. "It's not as simple as just taking the children out of abusive homes," she said. The center provides parent aides who go into homes each week to work on changing behaviors and teaching parenting skills to abusive parents. The Lake Tansi Exchange Club is the largest financial contributor to Stephens Center other than the state. In Joyce, she finds a true spirit of love for the children. Isbell expressed a big "thank you" to Joyce for her service.
David Sutton, general manager of Lake Tansi POA, has worked with both Mike and Joyce in club management. "They have the uncanny ability to get things done," he said.
Recalling a "field trip" with Joyce in her capacity on the ACC, he remembered her diving right in to get a good look at the project, this was in spite of the fact it ruined her shoes and they had to be thrown away.
"Mike prefers to work in the background," said Sutton. "His financial and accounting background has been extremely valuable to the POA. He got us out of trouble with the IRS, and he is keeping us out of trouble with the IRS.
"They have the unbridled ability to donate their time to make a difference. They're probably embarrassed about all this attention tonight, but thank you, Joyce, and thank you, Mike, for choosing to be a part of our community."
It would be impossible to have a night honoring Mike Ferry, founder of the Model Railroad Club in Crossville, and president for nine years, without a word or two from the world of model railroaders. Fellow enthusiast Mike Brunstein came to honor and "roast" the man he has known for 30 years through their mutual interest. To the delight of the audience, he delivered some interesting and "little-known" information about Ferry's background growing up in the small town of Nevada, MO.
Mike has also served on the board of the Southeast Region of the National Model Railroad Association (NMRA) for seven years. He is a judge for model railroad contests sponsored by the NMRA.
Stealing the show was granddaughter Natalie Vaughn, 5 and 3/4-years-old from Knoxville, who volunteered to speak about her grandparents, because her dad claimed to be too shy for public speaking. Without a hint of shyness, Miss Natalie climbed onto a chair and flawlessly read and delivered the speech she had written, "I am very proud of my Granny Joyce and Granpa Mike. Granny Joyce has a lot of tea parties, and Grandpa Mike answers all my questions about trains. She makes excellent pancakes, and I love pancakes. Grandpa calls me 'tornado,' and I don't know why. They're wonderful grandparents and I love them very much."
Earlier, Natalie had gone to each person attending the dinner and asked them to sign one of the programs so she could present it to Mike and Joyce at the end of her speech — it was all her idea and they loved it.
Deadmon recalled the days when he was the general manager of the LT POA, and the good listener he found in Mike. He applauded Mike's service on the financial advisory committee and Joyce's service on the architectural control committee.
J. Harvey Sweeney, last year's recipient of the Book of Golden Deeds, was just one day out of the hospital, but determined to make the presentation to the deserving couple. "I know of no other couple that has done more to help our community and our children's center," said Sweeney.
In accepting the award, Joyce said of the good-natured ribbing they had taken, "I loved the stories — there was a lot of 'truth' in what they said." And then, more seriously, "I just do this because I like doing it."
Mike added, "I'm greatly honored and I thank you for this, but I look out at the audience and see many, many people who do the same things that we do. When you're able to help someone and you hear a 'thank you,' it means more than whatever else we do. Thank you very much."
Mack Bissinger, chairman of the Golden Deeds committee, thanked his committee members, Ray Carpenter, Roger Coulter and John Lyon. He stated the recipients names would be added to a plaque to be hung at Mitch's Restaurant in Lake Tansi Village, instead of a book being presented to the public library. The committee felt recipients would receive more recognition in this new place of honor.

Copyright © 1999-2010 cnhi, inc.