Fifty of us were on a bus the other evening on the way to Gibson Station, Virginia, to a picnic at a farmhouse owned by Pete and Cindi DeBusk. It was one of Knox Heritage‘s fun Summer Supper fundraisers. In fact, with temperatures approaching 100 degrees, it was the hottest one on record!
DeBusk was on the microphone acting as tour guide, pointing out interesting sights in Maynardville, Harrogate and nearby vicinities when a woman shouted out a question to him. “Pete, were you raised in the farmhouse where we are going to have dinner?”
DeBusk chuckled and shook his head. “No, honey. I was raised in a trailer. My parents were in the coal business.”
DeBusk touched briefly on the story of his life. How his father moved the family all over Appalachia building coal tipples. How Pete attended 16 schools before graduating from Thomas Walker High School in Rose Hill, Virginia, which also was the town where he was born.
He went to Lincoln Memorial University on a basketball scholarship and originally planned to be a veterinarian, before deciding that he’d rather be a doctor. While saving for medical school, he became a pharmaceutical salesman, traveling the mountain highways with which he was so familiar to call on hospitals and clinics. During these visits to doctors and hospitals, DeBusk noticed so many patients wearing dirty and damaged plaster casts. That’s where he came up with the idea of a cast boot, which he patented in 1973.
Today, his company, DeRoyal Industries, headquartered in Powell, manufactures 6,000 different medical and surgical devices and employs more than 2,000 people worldwide. Many work in the manufacturing plants here in East Tennessee and other parts of Appalachia.
DeBusk never did become a doctor. But he did found and principally fund the DeBusk College of Osteopathic Medicine at his alma mater, Lincoln Memorial University, as well as several nursing and physician assistants programs there. He is committed to improving health care in the area. And he’s committed to education in general, which he thinks is the key to improving the economic status of the Appalachian people. (DeBusk also is responsible for LMU’s John J. Duncan Jr. College of Law, located in Knoxville’s Old City Hall Building, which has made the news lately as it struggles for accreditation.)
But, back to the Summer Supper. As you will see from the photographs, it was just a relaxed, if hot, evening celebrating life in the countryside of the Cumberland Gap area, also known as the Trail of the Lonesome Pine. We ate an 85-pound country ham prepared the local way (boiled for a day, coated in mustard, and baked for another day!) and fruits and vegetables from the farm of Pete’s mother, Maude. A feature of the dessert table was a big plate of Maude DeBusk’s famous apple turnovers made with June apples from her farm.
A word about Gibson Station. It is named for Major George Gibson who fought in the French and Indian War and the Revolutionary War. He settled in the area in 1785 and the chimney of his original home still stands near the big white farmhouse that Cindi and Pete DeBusk recently purchased.
Another wonderful Summer Supper came to an end. Thanks so much to Cindi and Pete DeBusk who picked up the entire tab.
Very nice post. I can really appreciate the time and effort. The pictures look great and the food, man. If you guys could have dialed the temperature back about 30 degrees it would have been perfect. Maybe there’s a call for Autumn Dinners.
It was a “hot,” “hot”, “hot ” Knox Heritage summer supper in every way: the people, the food, the house, the bus ride, the libations, the tour guide and the music. One of the best summer suppers I have attended.
It looks lovely! I’m sorry I missed it. By the way, the photo of Kim Trent is mislabeled as Kim Henry.
Hey, Urban Guy! Thanks for the comment. I totally agree about the temp! I know they do these in the summer because there is less competition for folks’ time (and money), but it would be more comfortable in the fall. Unfortunately, there’s this little thing called football . . .Ha!
Rosa: I agree. It was one of the best!
Chyna: It would have been fun to have you there! Thanks for the catch on Kim’s name! I know too many Kims!
What a great Summer Supper — bus trip, Southern food, a little history, Depression glass . . . even the heat!!! You know I love good food AND antiques, so thanks for including pictures of both. Please, encourage Gay to write another cookbook — I need the recipes for those deviled eggs and that yummy dessert!
I think you would have enjoyed it, Rusha. I’m thinking of collecting blue Depression glass. It would go with my wedding china.. Do you know if it is hard to find?
Thanks to all who came (and sweated) and had a good time with us. I’m definitely collecting the recipes from this Supper and all others this year for the 2nd ed. of the Knox Heritage Summer Suppers Cookbook. I want the recipes for all six green bean recipes, the apple turnovers, the cucumber soup, the baked country ham, the desserts, the Lonesome Pine cocktail–all of it. Kim, Sam, and I had a blast being the “flight attendants” on the party bus. Thanks so much to Pete and Cindi (and everyone they recruited) for making the evening possible. It was magical.
Gay: Please get that chocolate dessert recipe!
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