By Steve Flairty
NKyTribune columnist
I like to look back each year and savor some of the most special people I’ve met or read about while generating over fifty weekly Kentucky by Heart columns. Allow me to share several from 2025. You can retrieve the entire articles mentioned by referencing NKyTribune’s Kentucky by Heart archive.
In the year’s first column, I shared the story of how my brother, Mike’s, annual Christmas gift of orange juice to me became a ritual now continued by his sons after Mike’s death. My two nephews, Matthew and Evan, will never know how much the gesture means to me.
Black History Month, February, was a good time to post stories about two amazing overcomers who are true credits their race, Thomas William Burton and Albert Wess. Raised in Madison County by parents who died early in his life, young Burton (1860-1839) reportedly walked fifteen miles to Berea College with $9.75 in his pocket and worked his way through college there. Later moving to Ohio, he became a teacher, surgeon, and businessman, along with being a proactive community force. Albert Wess, a centenarian now living in Paris, was part of WW II’s vaunted Red Ball Express, and is respected highly in the local military veteran community.
Also in February, I was honored to present a two-part question and answer interview with Kentucky’s state historian, Dr. James Klotter. I hope you will go back and read his insights about Kentucky’s past and future. He is a treasure of knowledge and wisdom for the Commonwealth.
I had always wanted to learn more about Kentucky’s historical marker program, and a visit with the Kentucky Historical Society’s upbeat Dr. Jim Seaver was a treat. If you have an idea for an historical marker, email him at james.seaver@ky.gov.
Are you looking for a splendid Kentucky biography? I wrote about Jessica Whitehead’s Driftwood: The Life of Harlan Hubbard, the account of a Northern Kentucky native, who, with his wife, Anna, navigated the Ohio and Mississippi rivers on a shantyboat on trips. They lived remotely and close to the earth at Payne Hollow, in Trimble County. There, art and music were created by the couple. Driftwood is a book to keep on one’s nonfiction bookshelf.
I enjoy speaking about Kentucky before groups, and back in April, I shared a story about meeting with several fifth-grade classes at Southside Elementary School, in Versailles. Franca Tolliver and her colleagues did a good job in preparing their students for the visit. It was fun for me and hopefully for the kids, too.
And say, are you a fan of Kentucky’s state symbols? I am, and in 2025 I shared articles on the gray squirrel, the cardinal, and the tulip poplar tree. Additionally, it was a pleasure to interview Dr. Tammy Horn Potter, Kentucky’s former apiarist, who gave us all a good background lesson on our state insect, the honeybee!
Definitely one of my favorite Kentucky by Heart columns was a story on EKU’s dynamic men’s basketball coach and the community service projects his teams do annually. For A.W. Hamilton, “it’s not what you get, it’s what you give,” he likes to say. He wholeheartedly teaches that to all who play for him. Make sure you read this uplifting story, published on July 1.
I wrote about Northern Kentucky native Bob Elkins, an actor who played a disc jockey in Coal Miner’s Daughter, the film bio of Loretta Lynn. Notably, people in the area praised him for helping fledgling actors move forward in their careers. Truly a good guy.
Here are other stories I particularly enjoyed sharing:
• Presenting Clayton Winter’s handling of being a full-time teacher at Wilmore Elementary School while playing as a starter on the Asbury basketball team.
• Taking a look at Kentucky’s iconic Floral Clock next to the state capitol building in Frankfort.
• Reviewing Jan Shiffer’s book, Finding the Rest of Me, which chronicled Jan’s search to meet her birth mother.
• Discussing the great work of Newport-based Reset Ministries, which helps those working to overcome addictions.
• Profiling Constantine Rafinesque, an 1800s era professor of botany at Transylvania University, brilliant yet eccentric. He was fired from the school and wrote that he put a curse on the institution, an oft talked about story on campus today. I later shared a zoom presentation through Covington’s Behringer-Crawford Museum Northern Kentucky History Hour.
• Talking about the former mayor of Winchester, Ed Burtner, who, in his retirement, has found fulfillment hosting a popular local talk radio show called “Mornings on Main.”
There are plenty more, as you’ll see on the archive list. If you have comments about any Kentucky by Heart stories, feel free to share on the comments section on the site or email directly at sflairty2001@yahoo.com.