"Where The Wild, Wild Flowers Grow" and "I've Endured"---Ola Belle Reed Is Good For The Heart & Soul

 

For many years I lived about 8 miles from Ola Belle Reed's country store where she and her family sold groceries and had an auditorium in the back where they broadcast a radio show on WCOJ on weekends and had some famous musicians play. I believe that they also ran an outdoor music venue down by Rising, Sun, Md. I remember her as a big woman with lots of jewelry and bright red lipstick who was mostly or all business.

The last time I saw her was at a fundraiser for a daycare center. I remember her people complaining because people would call them "hillbillies" and treat them badly and her folks would answer that they came from an area of western North Carolina that was flat.