Three Times Remembered

David Yon, January 27, 2012

There are three things in my life that mark his memory.  Every Thanksgiving Day a series of awards are presented to elementary and middle school participants in the Tallahassee Turkey Trot – The Kent Vann Partners in Excellence Awards.  Then in January the GWTC 30K-15K traverses the red clay hills of Old Centerville Road.  And finally, there are the photos hanging on walls around the City that tell so much about his North Florida-South Georgia roots.

My favorite photo, which demonstrates Kent’s ability to capture our culture, hangs on the wall in the breakfast nook of our home. Fog hangs like a curtain in the background, not hiding the other images so much as pushing them to the front of the picture.  Rising out of the front edge of the fog is a cane mill.  One might guess it has been a few years since it ground any sugar cane.  Now it waits for a mule or maybe a horse to take the long wooden pole and put it to work.  The right edge of the photo is framed by a giant oak tree. It was there long before any of the man-made props that share the land with it now and might just be there after they are gone.  Its branches reach across the photo to assure that the viewer knows what rules this set, obscuring a dilapidated shed which sits on the left side of the photo, housing a grist mill.  Bradley’s Country Store hides to the left of the picture out of the camera lens’ sight. The photo was a special request to mark the launching place for a superb run. It took much prodding to make this picture happen, but I am glad I was quietly persistent about it.

Kent taught me about this place to run.  You park you car under the span of the giant oak and just across the road that has just turned from Centerville Road to Moccasin Gap a short connecting road will take you to Old Centerville Road.  You finish with a treat from the store.  He loved the Andy Griffith show and its characters and when he took me for that first run down Old Centerville Road it was with all the joy and enthusiasm of Gomer Pyle discovering magic in some daily activity or Barney Fife spinning some tale.  I was being introduced to what would become one of my favorite running paths.  Always challenging, it rolls up and down, bordered by plantation lands.  The surface is mostly a red clay surface that can be hard as rock, soft as sand or a slick mud.  It was always a piece of heaven – especially when shared with such a good friend as we pushed each other to run much faster than we would have on our own.

Kent Vann made his mark in Tallahassee even if it wasn’t on a billboard or neon sign.  His cover photos on the GWTC newsletter were unrivaled. The strangers he met became friends after a very short time.  He certainly knew how to make you laugh, often telling some story about Mayberry RFD.

On June 9, 1996, I ran Old Centerville alone except for a short stretch with Chuck Booker, just after Kent lost a long battle with non-Hodgkin Lymphoma.  He had been gone from Tallahassee for a number of years by then, but made for a lonely run.  Shortly before his death I had visited him in Pennsylvania.   Maybe it was the cancer, but he never looked quite right away from his north Florida- South Georgia homeland.

Still, Kent was a person who almost always made you feel better for spending time with him.  There were many other trails we ran together, but none as special as Old Centerville Road. I could think of no better tribute than to revisit this place.  Few runners in this year’s GWTC 30K ever knew him, but they have him to thank, in part at least, for the beautiful course.  And I have no doubt, somewhere along the way, he gave them all a lift.