By Samantha Piggott

Karen Ewbanks of Ewbanks Clothiers, situated in the unassuming building on Route 340, had her livelihood go up in flames on August 13, 2015 when her studio and workshop caught fire. The fire and insurance investigators are still unsure exactly what set the space ablaze that afternoon, possibly faulty wiring. The tenants that live above the shop were unharmed and there was no one in the workspace at the time.

What was lost is ten years of patterns and drafts made by Ewbanks. Trained as a traditional bespoke tailor, she creates unique garments by special custom order of fine country clothing. “Even ‘custom’ clothes are tailored off of stock sizes and then altered to fit. Bespoke is drafted from start to finish to fit an individual,” said Ewbanks.

This translates to around one hundred measurements and angles taken for each individual. These numbers are then plugged into certain formulas to draft a pattern for a garment. For each garment first a paper pattern is created, then a muslin prototype is made of the garment. The client will come in for a fitting from the muslin; the pattern will be adjusted according to the fitting and then the actual garment will be created.

Ms. Ewbanks, who originally hails from New Zealand, studied clothing, textile and pattern design at Wellington Poly Technical Institution in New Zealand. She lived and worked in Europe for many years following college. In the 1990s she was drawn to Virginia, like so many of others, by horses and fox hunting. She rode and trained fox hunters in Clarke County, and hunted with Blue Ridge Hunt for several years.

In late 2004, she was diagnosed with Lyme disease. It quickly became evident that training horses was going to be too physically daunting while trying to fight the crippling effects of Lyme. That is when she returned to her training in dress design.

She began by designing gowns for friends attending hunt balls. The precision and quality of her work was widely recognized, and soon she was taking orders for the coats required for fox hunting—beautiful and regal by any standard. They are also sporting attire, however, and are put to the test of rugged conditions and harsh environments.

Ewbanks crafts coats of the finest wools, each fabric special ordered, mostly from England. She has gone as far as lining the tails of the coats that rub against the horse with lightweight pleather. This protects the wool from dirt, sweat and grime and is more comfortable for the horse.

In the August fire, beyond the totality of Ewbanks patterns being lost, 20 coats were burnt beyond saving, as were yards of fabric. The estimate is that it will be six months before she can return to her studio. The vintage Singer sewing machines used by Ewbanks and her employees were also damaged in the fire. “They will be difficult to replace” Eubanks sighs, “but we are trying the best we can to salvage them.”

The worst damage to the sewing machines came from the water used to extinguish the flames and the rust that ensued. The surest portion of Ewbanks’ future is many hours of hard work redrafting patterns and replacing coats that were burned in the fire. She is not discouraged by the work in front of her, but surely knows it will be long hours and countless fittings to replace what was lost.

As part of its Spring Classical Music Series, the Barns of Rose Hill presents classical guitarist Rafael Elizondo and concert pianist Eva Chavez in concert June 19. Distinguished for their magnetism and energy, Rafael and Eva will take you on a musical journey of brilliance and strong emotions, with a carefully selected program of pieces for solo instrument and duet.

Award-winning classical guitarist Rafael Elizondo is recognized as an important figure in Mexico’s musical scene. With an extensive repertoire as a soloist and chamber musician, he has developed an active career in performance. Rafael is also a leading and inspiring teacher who travels to major universities and guitar festivals throughout the U.S. and Mexico to lead workshops and master classes.

Award-winning pianist Eva Chavez began performing at an early age and has extensive experience performing in the U.S. and Mexico for orchestras and in music festivals. She has received numerous awards and scholarships, and since 2008 she has also been a leading piano teacher and accompanist for the most important university and art institutions of Baja California. Eva is presently teaching at the State Center for the Arts (CEART) in the cities of Mexicali and Tecate.

The first pieces of the concert program will be for solo guitar and will provide a sample of Italian composers, followed by the folklore of Latin American composers. The solo piano part of the program will feature selections of the beautiful and picturesque music of Mexican composer Manuel M. Ponce and Spanish composer Isaac Albeniz. A piano and guitar duet will finish the program by playing the Grande Sonata Brillante by Anton Diabelli and the refined and energetic Fandango by Luigi Boccherini. As a special treat, the musicians will also include the new work for piano and guitar called Angelesca by Baja Californian composer Felix Mora Garcia, who composed the piece to commemorate of the discovery of the Americas.

This concert is the final event of the 2015 Spring Classical Music Series.

On Saturday, June 20, Elizondo will lead a classical guitar workshop that focuses on developing a confident and refined technique on the guitar. The workshop will start by identifying what the students need to develop full potential in their interpretations and will subsequently impart practical methods on how to achieve this goal. Elizondo will also make recommendations to students on how to organize their practice sessions and repertoires so that they may define a vision and goals for the future.

The workshop is recommended for classical guitarists or students of intermediate or advanced levels.

Having received his first music lessons with members of his own family, Elizondo later attended the University at the Escuela Nacional de Musica, UNAM, in Mexico City, where he studied with Juan Carlos Laguna, and later with Maestro Giulio Tampalini in Italy. He has been a soloist with the Baja California Orchestra and has participated in many festivals, including live broadcasts and recordings for radio and television. Appreciated for his absolutely clear and well-defined technique, Rafael is frequently asked to record videos and recordings for high-profile guitar stores and master luthiers.

Learn more about the concert at Barns of Rose Hill: http://barnsofrosehill.org/event/katie-mahan/

Watch a video of Rafael and Eva performing in duet: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XXk3o4VN0QI

Watch Rafael perform solo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=56&v=A4Xp4g8V3lc

By Mary Thomason-Morris

This somewhat altered old Chevy commercial ditty from the early 1960s almost works to describe how we know the Fourth of July. Of course, every child is taught that we celebrate because on the 4th of July 1776, the Declaration of Independence was signed.

It is for certain, that hot July day in Philadelphia, the men at the Continental Congress were not thinking of the words in the title. Most of them were trying to keep a word out of their minds—hanging! It was, “Win this war or hang as a traitor.” Luckily for them, and us, five years later they won, and all of them could now legally be called Founding Fathers.

The Revolutionary War was already a year old before Thomas Jefferson put pen to paper. In June 1775, Congress called for 10 rifle companies to be formed, two from the Virginia frontier. Berryville resident Daniel Morgan and Shepherdstown resident Hugh Stephenson answered the call and gathered frontiersmen with accurate-shooting long rifles and woods skills.

On July 14, 1775, Daniel and Hugh were to meet at Shepherdstown to begin the march toward General Washington’s army at Cambridge, Massachusetts. Daniel’s company got a jump on Hugh’s, and the march became a race between the two companies. Daniel arrived on August 6, 1775; Hugh on August 11, 1775. No matter who won this race, marching 24–26 miles a day and losing not one man, is a feat.

This race has become known over the years as the Beeline March. The U.S. Army says that these 10 rifle companies raised in July of 1775, including the two Virginia companies captained by Hugh Stephenson and Daniel Morgan, were the foundation of today’s United States armed forces.

With his military service during the French & Indian War, in the Virginia militia, renowned leadership during the Revolutionary War, ending the Whiskey Rebellion, and serving one term in Congress, Daniel Morgan accrued 45 years of service to our country—surely qualifying for the title of Founding Father.

Morgan died in his daughter’s home on July 6, 1802, and was buried at Old Stone Presbyterian Church in Winchester. Afterwards, except sporadically, his accomplishments were ignored. In 1868 his badly vandalized grave was moved to Mt. Hebron Cemetery. Again, except briefly, Daniel Morgan was ignored. Even in 1921, when a cannon finally arrived to mark his resting spot, it turned out to be a Civil War-era naval siege gun, not a revolutionary war-era cannon. Luckily, the despised gun served its country during World War II by being removed and melted down for ammunition.

Things stayed quiet at Morgan’s grave until August 1951, when Morgan’s third-great granddaughter sent undertakers from South Carolina on a mission to remove her ancestor’s body to the battlefield at Cowpens. This visit stirred a hornet’s nest. The conflict for ownership of old Daniel actually ended up in the pictorial pages of Life Magazine—South Carolina men with shovels on one side, Winchester notables and legal eagles on the other. Thank goodness for poor Daniel Winchester prevailed, and again things were peaceful in Mt. Hebron Cemetery.

In April 1953 a project to finally mark Daniel Morgan’s grave came to fruition. A marble marker was placed beside the grave. It is inscribed:

“The people of Winchester, Virginia, dedicate this memorial

to the patriotism and valor of General Daniel Morgan

in the cause of American Independence.”

Think about Daniel Morgan, the ‘Old Wagoner’, as you eat a hot dog or watch the beautiful fireworks this Fourth of July, and say a ‘thank you’ in his direction.

Foreign Exchange Program: Setting the Facts Straight

In the letter to the editor entitled “Restore the Foreign Exchange Program,” Mr. Bigelow did not quite have his facts straight. The Board did not reject the foreign exchange proposals for budgetary reasons. They declared the submitted proposals “unacceptable.”

Each of the Foreign Exchange proposals is available on the school board website as a matter of public record.  If you take the time to review the proposals you will find, as I did, that the CGI Greenheart proposal does not have an authorizing signature. Without an authorizing signature the proposal is incomplete and therefore, should not be considered. The other proposal, from PAX, is not what I would consider to be a professional proposal. The proposal is sloppily handwritten and poorly constructed.  It is my experience that the quality of a proposal is a predictor of the quality of the work that will be delivered.  Therefore, if I were making the decision, I would reject the proposal.

Whether the Board dismissed the proposals for the reasons I have laid out or not, is irrelevant.  The board rejected the two proposals because they found them to be unacceptable, not because they chose to discontinue the Foreign Exchange program.  Rejecting the proposals is not the same as discontinuing the program. I applaud the Board and their actions in this situation. They have sent a message to all service providers that Clarke County Schools will not settle for second best. I hope they keep up the good work.

— Pat Dickinson, Berryville