Up and Coming Weekly is a weekly publication in Fayetteville, NC and Fort Bragg, NC area offering local news, views, arts, entertainment and community event and business information.
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THIS WEEK WITH MARGARET A Circle of Sisters by MARGARET DICKSON For me, it all began in the grocery store produce section and a chance encounter and painful moments. Her glass is always half-full, never half-empty. Our community with Bo Thorp nearly a year ago. knows her as one of our most successful entrepreneurs, a real-estate wizard. Rollin Shaw's constant curiosity about the world around us and her interest in and Like many in our community, I do not remember not knowing Bo. From the knowledge of art, literature and culture makes her a delightful companion of choice formative days of what has grown into our magnificent Cape Fear Regional Theater for people of all ages and all walks of life. She where we loved watching the late, great Pat Reese is well-traveled and oh-so-charming with her bring Ebenezer Scrooge to life, Bo has been both ever-ready glowing smile. Our community the theater's public face and its steady guiding knows her as a gifted career teacher, a county light. My three Precious Jewels took their turns commissioner and city council member. with the The Best Christmas Pageant Ever, and Patricia Timmons-Goodson has the keen we have enjoyed countless Broadway-quality mind and steady presence you want when the performances at CRFT. going gets tough. She is calm and deliberate in Bo and I really bonded, though, in Atlanta her speaking, and lots of fun when she lets her in 2001 when Fayetteville competed for and hair down. Our community and state know her won the title of "All America City." We were as a judge since the tender age of 29, a person hotel roommates, an experience that kept us up entrusted to make decisions affecting the lives until the wee hours of the morning, laughing of her fellow citizens, often profoundly, first on and sharing our stories. It was a slumber party the Cumberland County District Court bench without much slumber from which we emerged and finally as a Justice on the North Carolina fast friends. Supreme Court. So when Bo asked me over the fruits and Terri Union is our Energizer Bunny, a veggies whether I would help her with a project, sophisticated and cultured woman who has I, of course, said yes. tackled life's challenges with courage and grace That project, nebulous and tenuous to me at Margaret Dickson, Suzanne Pennink, Terry Union, Rollin Shaw and Patricia and emerged triumphantly. Her unexpected and the time, has become The Dames You Thought Timmons-Goodson. unsought stint as the CEO of a multi-million You Knew, to be staged at CFRT August 31, dollar business gave Fayetteville its only such September 1, 7, and 8. Bo's concept, though I corporate headquarters. Our community knows did not understand it at the beginning, was to her as a tireless advocate, generous with her time, talent and treasure to many local gather a group of local women mature and seasoned enough to have reflected on their own lives and have them do so before an audience. None of us have acting experience, organizations, including service as a PWC commissioner. And, then there is Bo, who conceived, birthed and nursed the Dames You Thought but we all have plenty of life experience. You Knew. All I can say is that anyone who thought Bo Thorp had actually retired Getting to this point has been a journey for Bo, four remarkable women from needs a brain transplant! our community and me. Since January, we have told each other our stories — our The Dames is not a play. We are not actors pretending to be someone else. We are accomplishments, our disappointments, our joys and our deepest sadness. Each life has had all of these, both publicly and privately, and as we opened up to each other, we women you know who have reflected on and written about our own lives. We will be sharing them with our community, because Bo asked us to. Thank goodness Bo became sisters in the truest sense of the word. has provided us with excellent professional help, including the Singing My life is vastly richer for going through this with sisters of intelligence, depth and Dames who can belt it out like nobody's business and a real New York deep compassion, and I want to tell you a little about them. Each was a friend before City piano player who backs up the likes of Bette Midler. we embarked on our journey, but the word "friend" does not quite cover it now. What we are is a project, as Bo said to "Sister" does. MARGARET DICKSON, Conme over the produce, that has become a Suzanne Pennink's laser-like intelligence shines from the moment you meet her, tributing Writer, COMMENTS? performance. as does her wit and sense of humor, which carried us through even our most difficult Editor@upandcomingweekly.com. 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