A sad duct-taped Bible gets an upgrade.

October 10, 2023
By Vicki Entreken

The Orphan Heirloom Bible has been sitting in a shoe box in my studio looking sad.

I considered an archival box because that’s where my mind goes first. Everything must be saved! Archival boxes for a Bible this big go for $30-35. It’s not mine, so I’m not spending that (unless some nice reader wants to donate to the cause. 😁) Plus, archival boxes are intended to store items away, not show them off. And in the short time that I plan to hold onto this Bible, I’d like to show it off.

I need to replace the shoe box with a show box.

I’m thinking that even after I get this baby back to its family, they’ll want to show it off too, so I searched online for something keepsake-ish, and found a fabric-covered box with a small handle that can be stored nicely in an entertainment center cubby or under a coffee table.

Then I wrapped the Bible in archival tissue and surrounded it with the secondhand lace curtain that Phillip Paige used to protect it when I bought it from his Depot Village store in Waynesville. I carefully placed it in the box.

Now I can transport the Bible without worrying about damaging it, so I took it to The Buzz, a new-ish coffee shop in downtown Hendersonville, and showed it off to the girls.

If you’ve been following the story, you already know that I’ve tried calling the granddaughter of the woman who this Bible originally belonged to, but they thought I was a scammer. I tried contacting her daughter through a Facebook trick I’ve used before, but she doesn’t seem to be active on that platform. Then, and this is new, I tried to email her daughter on the 28th of September. No response.

There are any number of reasons why she hasn’t emailed me back.

• She doesn’t use that email address anymore
• I’m using the wrong email address
• The email is sitting in her spam folder (👈 probably this!)
• She’s not the least bit interested
• She’s not talking to her mother (that would be sad.) Or,
• She’s the one trying to sell the Bible in the first place. (👈 Please, not this. 🙏)
• Lastly, they could have something much more important going on right now.

Luckily, the girls gave me suggestions. I could try to call again and hope they listen to me this time (that’s if they haven’t blocked my number!) I could show up on their doorstep with the Bible. I frowned and asked them, “If some stranger knocked on your door holding a big grey box, would you answer it?”

Most of us snickered knowing we’d turn down the TV and pretend we weren’t home. I’m not driving fifty minutes for that. Besides, as I’ve mentioned before, I don’t want to freak anyone out. Still, this might be my last resort.

What if I don’t even get it back to the family?

I looked into opportunities to donate to a local historical society. The first event recorded in the genealogy pages of this Bible, the 1887 marriage of Lucrecie Sherrill and Jim Rogers, occurred in Talula, NC. Talula is in the Robbinsville area of Western North Carolina.

I found the WNC Historical Society, but they’re in the process of becoming the Asheville Museum of History. That’s great news, and I definitely plan to visit…just as soon as they reopen. The artifact donations button on their website says “coming soon.” That’s okay. I can wait. In the meantime, I still have options.

Check out the next episode: A battle in the forest and then, we make contact!

Thank you for reading. 
I appreciate you.
~ Vicki