America’s cooperative spirit
A story worth celebrating
WHAT WOULD MY ANCESTORS think of America today?
I am thinking about that question as our country marks 250 years. My family roots trace back to Scotland and, like many families who settled in Appalachia and Eastern Kentucky, they came here looking for freedom, opportunity, land and a place to raise a family.
By the 1780s, my ancestors were farming in Appalachia. Later generations worked as farmers and coal miners. It was hard, back-breaking work in a place that was still a wilderness in many ways. I have never had to face what they faced, but I am grateful they believed in something bigger than themselves.
When I was laid up by a broken leg a few years ago, I used that time to research my family history. I knew my grandfather served in World War II, but I also learned more about ancestors who fought in the Revolutionary War. When you see those connections, you think about sacrifice. You think about people who could not have imagined the country we know today, but who helped make it possible.
I have been blessed to travel across the United States and to other countries. Everywhere I go in America, I enjoy talking with people and hearing their stories. We are a young country compared with many places, but what we have blended together here is unique and special.
Electric cooperatives are part of that American story. For more than one-third of our nation’s history, co-ops have been working to improve the quality of life in the communities we serve. Your local co-op was built by people who decided they could accomplish more together than they could alone.
That history is personal to me. I will never forget a woman in Fleming County named Miss Philly. She remembered when electricity first came to the farm. She told me how exciting it was when the men came and put in a lightbulb. She never called me Chris. She always called me “the REA man.”
I love that. It links us back to the beginning of this movement.
This month’s Kentucky Living includes beautiful photos from across the commonwealth and reflections from readers on what makes them proud to be an American. I hope you will see in these pages what I see every day: good people, strong communities and a country still capable of doing amazing things when we work together.
That makes me proud to be an American and proud to be part of electric cooperatives.
