Don’t even try to get a serious answer out of Barbara Baker Elliott and Margaret Baker.
Just be prepared to laugh as the Fabulous Baker Sisters entertain at the annual Operating Fund Drive Kick-Off Party Nov. 29 for the Greenbrier County Public Library. The wine and appetizers reception is free to the public and is scheduled from 6 to 8 p.m.
Elliott describes herself as the Forrest Gump of PR in this region, having worked for what seems like every nonprofit organization in the area. (She also has served as a library board member and worked on the capital campaign that resulted in the building of the current facility.) She also refers to herself as a UK – undertaker’s kid, crediting her father for her sense of humor.
Elliott is known locally for her humorous columns featured in the Greenbrier Valley Quarterly. Her columns recently have been published by Havenbrook Media as a collection titled The Accidental Mountaineer, whimsically illustrated by Sally Cooper.
Elliott will read selections from her book, interspersed with comedy bits from her sister Margaret, and music. Elliott’s book is filled with such one-liners as, “The most exercise I get is every year rolling out Christmas cookies.” Another: “Our house sits so close to the road that you can practically pet the hunting dogs riding by in pickup trucks without leaving the front porch.”
Several of Elliott’s columns mention her sister Margaret Baker, who once returned to college from a home visit in her father’s hearse. And then there was the time when she mentioned she needed wigs for her one-woman show and her father the undertaker had a supply on hand. “Don’t ask, don’t tell, she decided, and a star was born,” Elliott writes in her book.
Baker refers to herself as Halfbaked in a blog she writes for hashtagwv.com. She has a master’s degree in theater. Her theater work includes time with a Tennessee alternative theater company that produced original plays “while traveling in a van held together by duct tape.” She moved to Pocahontas County in 1991. Her biography says she “spent 18 years performing here and there and helping children write rubber chicken-inspired plays.” Now she’s teaching art at Marlinton Middle School.
Lively music will be provided by Phil Rolleston and Patrick Gabbert, two founding members of Rush Run Philharmonic, an eclectic group of musicians playing acoustic Americana music. The love of this music they share with their audiences is contagious.
This year’s fundraising goal for the Greenbrier County Public Library is $60,000. Fifty percent of the money the library receives from the state must be matched by public/private funds.
Donations designated for the Operating Fund may be sent to Greenbrier County Public Library, 152 Robert W. McCormick Drive, Lewisburg, WV 24901. More information about the fund drive or library services is available by calling 304-647-7568.