In keeping with my plan to recognize other JSF writers, I dedicate this article to my good friends, Lew and Barbara Nicholls. Lew, a retired Judge, is a renaissance man with a broad range of interests and accomplishments. Barbara is a retired educator and a former member of the JSF board of directors. They are both devoted to improving the quality of life for the citizens of northeastern Kentucky.
Lew, from Greenup County, and Barbara, a native of Ashland, met at Morehead State University in the 1970s and married in 1974. For a wedding gift, Lew’s friends, Jesse Stuart and his wife Naomi Deane, gave the young couple autographed copies of Beyond Dark Hills and Land Beyond the River.
That December, recently commissioned 2nd Lieutenant Nicholls and his bride departed for a two year and seven month tour of duty at an isolated missile site in northern Germany. That’s when Barbara read the Stuart books and “fell in love with Jesse’s writings.”
Lew and Barbara returned to Greenup in 1980. By then, Lew was an attorney and Barbara taught English composition and developmental reading at Ashland Community College. Beginning in 1985, her students read Stuart’s works and then she arranged, through her friend Naomi Deane, a W-Hollow tour for her students. She wrote in November 2025:
Each spring after that first tour in 1985, I arranged a W-Hollow tour for my students. They read short stories from Clearing in the Sky, 32 Votes Before Breakfast, and the Best Loved Short Stories of Jesse Stuart. They also read The Thread That Runs So True and various poems from Jesse’s books. Ending the unit with a tour of W-Hollow was truly special. In 1992 when Naomi suffered a stroke, we were no longer able to go inside Jesse and Naomi’s home, but James continued to meet my students at the “head of the hollow” and share stories and insights about his brother’s life and writings as he showed my students around W-Hollow and Plum Grove. When James died suddenly in 1998, Glennis Stuart Liles, Jesse and James’ baby sister, continued the tradition of leading the W-Hollow tours for my students. Like James, she was gracious and knowledgeable, and she gave my students a special, personal insight into Jesse’s life and writings. Sadly, Glennis died suddenly in 2002, just three weeks after leading the last tour. I will always treasure the fond memories I have of those tours with Naomi, James, and Glennis, and I know my students will too.
With Glennis’ passing, I no longer have a personal connection to the Stuart family, but I continue to use Jesse’s books in my reading classes. Instead of taking them to W-Hollow, I now can take them to the Jesse Stuart Foundation in Ashland, Kentucky. They can visit the Jesse Stuart room and tour the facility to see how Jesse’s books continue to find their way into the hands of students like themselves. I have found that students can become avid readers when they can connect in some way to the topic. Jesse Stuart’s books have provided that connection for my students. Jesse wrote about them: their land, their families, and their history.
When I read Beyond Dark Hills and Land Beyond the River back in 1975, in northern Germany, I could not have imagined the long-term effects those books would have on me and my future students. Through Jesse Stuart’s books, I have been able to share my love of reading with hundreds of students and open their eyes to the many ideas and dreams that reading good books provides. Thanks, Jesse. My association with Jesse Stuart, his family, and the Jesse Stuart Foundation has indeed been a blessing in my life.
For more information, contact the Jesse Stuart Foundation at 4440 13th Street in Ashland at 606-326-1667 or email jsf@jsfbooks.com.
By James M. Gifford
JSF CEO & Senior Editor
In keeping with my plan to recognize other JSF writers, I dedicate this article to my good friends, Lew and Barbara Nicholls. Lew, a retired Judge, is a renaissance man with a broad range of interests and accomplishments. Barbara is a retired educator and a former member of the JSF board of directors. They are both devoted to improving the quality of life for the citizens of northeastern Kentucky.
Lew, from Greenup County, and Barbara, a native of Ashland, met at Morehead State University in the 1970s and married in 1974. For a wedding gift, Lew’s friends, Jesse Stuart and his wife Naomi Deane, gave the young couple autographed copies of Beyond Dark Hills and Land Beyond the River.
That December, recently commissioned 2nd Lieutenant Nicholls and his bride departed for a two year and seven month tour of duty at an isolated missile site in northern Germany. That’s when Barbara read the Stuart books and “fell in love with Jesse’s writings.”
Lew and Barbara returned to Greenup in 1980. By then, Lew was an attorney and Barbara taught English composition and developmental reading at Ashland Community College. Beginning in 1985, her students read Stuart’s works and then she arranged, through her friend Naomi Deane, a W-Hollow tour for her students. She wrote in November 2025:
Each spring after that first tour in 1985, I arranged a W-Hollow tour for my students. They read short stories from Clearing in the Sky, 32 Votes Before Breakfast, and the Best Loved Short Stories of Jesse Stuart. They also read The Thread That Runs So True and various poems from Jesse’s books. Ending the unit with a tour of W-Hollow was truly special. In 1992 when Naomi suffered a stroke, we were no longer able to go inside Jesse and Naomi’s home, but James continued to meet my students at the “head of the hollow” and share stories and insights about his brother’s life and writings as he showed my students around W-Hollow and Plum Grove. When James died suddenly in 1998, Glennis Stuart Liles, Jesse and James’ baby sister, continued the tradition of leading the W-Hollow tours for my students. Like James, she was gracious and knowledgeable, and she gave my students a special, personal insight into Jesse’s life and writings. Sadly, Glennis died suddenly in 2002, just three weeks after leading the last tour. I will always treasure the fond memories I have of those tours with Naomi, James, and Glennis, and I know my students will too.
With Glennis’ passing, I no longer have a personal connection to the Stuart family, but I continue to use Jesse’s books in my reading classes. Instead of taking them to W-Hollow, I now can take them to the Jesse Stuart Foundation in Ashland, Kentucky. They can visit the Jesse Stuart room and tour the facility to see how Jesse’s books continue to find their way into the hands of students like themselves. I have found that students can become avid readers when they can connect in some way to the topic. Jesse Stuart’s books have provided that connection for my students. Jesse wrote about them: their land, their families, and their history.
When I read Beyond Dark Hills and Land Beyond the River back in 1975, in northern Germany, I could not have imagined the long-term effects those books would have on me and my future students. Through Jesse Stuart’s books, I have been able to share my love of reading with hundreds of students and open their eyes to the many ideas and dreams that reading good books provides. Thanks, Jesse. My association with Jesse Stuart, his family, and the Jesse Stuart Foundation has indeed been a blessing in my life.
For more information, contact the Jesse Stuart Foundation at 4440 13th Street in Ashland at 606-326-1667 or email jsf@jsfbooks.com.
By James M. Gifford
JSF CEO & Senior Editor
