Post by fogcitygal on Oct 9, 2008 2:52:27 GMT -5
This very sad story is an amazing depiction of the very private Alison Krauss. I'll let the poster and the story tell the rest:
----------------------------------------------------------------
Stories from the wonderful world of music
6. oktober 2008
A hundred miles or more (Alison Krauss)
In my search for stories to tell I came across a very strong story involving Alison Krauss. Today, 37 years old, this woman has come far in the world of bluegrass and country since she entered it at a very young age with her fiddle.
I still have to explore more of her music but I've heard some tunes that I've loved and others that were a bit too bluegrass for me.
Anyway, here is a strong and true story involving her.
............................................................................
"WARNER ROBINS - The bus parked at the end of the driveway at 1:15 a.m.
It was past 11-year-old Natalie Mitcham's bedtime, but she had stayed awake with her father, Buck. It's not every night Alison Krauss knocks on your door after midnight.
Krauss, the fiddle-playing, Grammy-winning musician, asked if she could look in on Natalie's younger brothers - 5-year-old Andrew and 3-year-old Lane - as they slept. She signed her autograph on a toy poodle for Natalie to give to her younger sister, Mallory.
Krauss sat on the sofa and talked with Natalie, a rising sixth-grader at Warner Robins Middle School. Ron Block, the banjo player with Krauss' band, Union Station, also came inside to visit with the Mitchams. Then Natalie and her dad walked with Krauss to the end of the driveway and said goodbye.
Everyone, it seemed was rubbing their eyes. It wasn't from staying up late.
That was one week ago today, and this is one of the saddest columns I've ever had to write.
It is the story of a family that went on a summer trip. It is the tragedy of a mother who was killed in a traffic accident and of her youngest daughter who is still fighting for her life in a Macon hospital. It is the story of a musician who cared enough to pull her bus off the highway in the middle of the night to comfort a family she had never met.
"It's nice to know there are still good, down-to-earth people like her in the world today," Buck Mitcham said.
It happened on the same Friday night the Mitchams were supposed to have seen Krauss in concert in Valdosta. Krauss and Union Station had performed at the City Auditorium in Macon on Thursday , July 24, then appeared at Wild Adventures theme park in Valdosta that Friday.
Natalie and her mother, Tonya, sister Mallory and brother Andrew left on Thursday to spend two days at the park and attend the concert. They got an early start that morning and encountered heavy rain on Interstate 75 around the Adel exit in Cook County. Natalie, who was in the front seat of the minivan next to her mother, called her dad on a cell phone and told him about the bad weather conditions.
Buck, a forester with Tolleson Lumber in Perry, said he had hung up the phone for less than a minute when his oldest daughter called back. "We've had a wreck," she told him frantically. "I can't wake up Mama or Mallory."
According to the Georgia State Patrol office in Tifton, a northbound truck hydroplaned, crossed the median and struck the Mitchams' van. (The driver of the truck later was charged with driving too fast for conditions.)
Natalie was unhurt. Andrew sustained several cuts around his left eye. But Mallory, who was sitting in the back seat behind her mother, suffered head injuries, a broken leg and a collapsed lung. She is in a drug-induced coma at The Medical Center of Central Georgia in Macon. Tonya Mitcham, 41, sustained severe head injuries, broken legs and a collapsed lung. For five days, she was in a coma at the South Georgia Medical Center in Valdosta.
She died Wednesday.
Tonya was a nursing supervisor at Macon's Northside Hospital, and she had previously been at Middle Georgia Hospital downtown until it closed. Buck and Tonya married in 1985, three years after they met on a blind date while attending Abraham Baldwin Agricultural School in Tifton. The family lived in Macon for 11 years before moving to Warner Robins almost three years ago.
Sandra Sweat knew the Mitchams when they lived in Macon, and she stayed close to them after they moved to Houston County. "The last time I saw Tonya was several weeks ago," Sweat said. "Natalie had gone to see a movie with my daughter. When I brought Natalie home, Tonya was mowing her next-door neighbor's yard, just because. That's the kind of person Tonya was. There wasn't a thing that she wouldn't do for anyone."
When Krauss learned about the Mitcham family's accident, she made arrangements to visit them late Friday night after her concert.
During her encore, she sang "Down in the River to Pray" from the movie soundtrack to "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" Then she asked Block, the banjo player, to lead the audience in a prayer for the Mitchams. She also asked for prayer at a concert Monday night in Huntsville, Ala.
Buck Mitcham said what Krauss did for his family was "compassionate." She wasn't seeking publicity. In fact, she asked the public relations department at Wild Adventures not to issue a press release about her visit with the Mitchams. Officials with the park were so impressed, they wrote a letter to her publicist and management company. (Krauss is scheduled to appear on "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" tonight.)
Her road manager called the Mitchams on Thursday to express sympathy. Buck Mitcham said he was told it's possible Krauss will attend Tonya's funeral Sunday at 2 p.m. at Southside Baptist Church in Warner Robins.
The Mitcham family already is on prayer lists at churches from Ohio to Florida. There are some encouraging signs from Mallory, a rising third-grader at Quail Run Elementary.
But Buck said she has a long road ahead . "We still need people to pray for her," he said."
This story is back from 2003. I have yet to find out how it went with the children but will do my best to bring an update on this at a later point.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
You gotta love that gal (and Ron too).
Will someone pass the tissues please...
----------------------------------------------------------------
Stories from the wonderful world of music
6. oktober 2008
A hundred miles or more (Alison Krauss)
In my search for stories to tell I came across a very strong story involving Alison Krauss. Today, 37 years old, this woman has come far in the world of bluegrass and country since she entered it at a very young age with her fiddle.
I still have to explore more of her music but I've heard some tunes that I've loved and others that were a bit too bluegrass for me.
Anyway, here is a strong and true story involving her.
............................................................................
"WARNER ROBINS - The bus parked at the end of the driveway at 1:15 a.m.
It was past 11-year-old Natalie Mitcham's bedtime, but she had stayed awake with her father, Buck. It's not every night Alison Krauss knocks on your door after midnight.
Krauss, the fiddle-playing, Grammy-winning musician, asked if she could look in on Natalie's younger brothers - 5-year-old Andrew and 3-year-old Lane - as they slept. She signed her autograph on a toy poodle for Natalie to give to her younger sister, Mallory.
Krauss sat on the sofa and talked with Natalie, a rising sixth-grader at Warner Robins Middle School. Ron Block, the banjo player with Krauss' band, Union Station, also came inside to visit with the Mitchams. Then Natalie and her dad walked with Krauss to the end of the driveway and said goodbye.
Everyone, it seemed was rubbing their eyes. It wasn't from staying up late.
That was one week ago today, and this is one of the saddest columns I've ever had to write.
It is the story of a family that went on a summer trip. It is the tragedy of a mother who was killed in a traffic accident and of her youngest daughter who is still fighting for her life in a Macon hospital. It is the story of a musician who cared enough to pull her bus off the highway in the middle of the night to comfort a family she had never met.
"It's nice to know there are still good, down-to-earth people like her in the world today," Buck Mitcham said.
It happened on the same Friday night the Mitchams were supposed to have seen Krauss in concert in Valdosta. Krauss and Union Station had performed at the City Auditorium in Macon on Thursday , July 24, then appeared at Wild Adventures theme park in Valdosta that Friday.
Natalie and her mother, Tonya, sister Mallory and brother Andrew left on Thursday to spend two days at the park and attend the concert. They got an early start that morning and encountered heavy rain on Interstate 75 around the Adel exit in Cook County. Natalie, who was in the front seat of the minivan next to her mother, called her dad on a cell phone and told him about the bad weather conditions.
Buck, a forester with Tolleson Lumber in Perry, said he had hung up the phone for less than a minute when his oldest daughter called back. "We've had a wreck," she told him frantically. "I can't wake up Mama or Mallory."
According to the Georgia State Patrol office in Tifton, a northbound truck hydroplaned, crossed the median and struck the Mitchams' van. (The driver of the truck later was charged with driving too fast for conditions.)
Natalie was unhurt. Andrew sustained several cuts around his left eye. But Mallory, who was sitting in the back seat behind her mother, suffered head injuries, a broken leg and a collapsed lung. She is in a drug-induced coma at The Medical Center of Central Georgia in Macon. Tonya Mitcham, 41, sustained severe head injuries, broken legs and a collapsed lung. For five days, she was in a coma at the South Georgia Medical Center in Valdosta.
She died Wednesday.
Tonya was a nursing supervisor at Macon's Northside Hospital, and she had previously been at Middle Georgia Hospital downtown until it closed. Buck and Tonya married in 1985, three years after they met on a blind date while attending Abraham Baldwin Agricultural School in Tifton. The family lived in Macon for 11 years before moving to Warner Robins almost three years ago.
Sandra Sweat knew the Mitchams when they lived in Macon, and she stayed close to them after they moved to Houston County. "The last time I saw Tonya was several weeks ago," Sweat said. "Natalie had gone to see a movie with my daughter. When I brought Natalie home, Tonya was mowing her next-door neighbor's yard, just because. That's the kind of person Tonya was. There wasn't a thing that she wouldn't do for anyone."
When Krauss learned about the Mitcham family's accident, she made arrangements to visit them late Friday night after her concert.
During her encore, she sang "Down in the River to Pray" from the movie soundtrack to "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" Then she asked Block, the banjo player, to lead the audience in a prayer for the Mitchams. She also asked for prayer at a concert Monday night in Huntsville, Ala.
Buck Mitcham said what Krauss did for his family was "compassionate." She wasn't seeking publicity. In fact, she asked the public relations department at Wild Adventures not to issue a press release about her visit with the Mitchams. Officials with the park were so impressed, they wrote a letter to her publicist and management company. (Krauss is scheduled to appear on "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" tonight.)
Her road manager called the Mitchams on Thursday to express sympathy. Buck Mitcham said he was told it's possible Krauss will attend Tonya's funeral Sunday at 2 p.m. at Southside Baptist Church in Warner Robins.
The Mitcham family already is on prayer lists at churches from Ohio to Florida. There are some encouraging signs from Mallory, a rising third-grader at Quail Run Elementary.
But Buck said she has a long road ahead . "We still need people to pray for her," he said."
This story is back from 2003. I have yet to find out how it went with the children but will do my best to bring an update on this at a later point.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
You gotta love that gal (and Ron too).
Will someone pass the tissues please...
