It’s hard to think of Doug Wallin
and not smile. One of my first times around him, I helped him and his brother
Jack hang tobacco in the barn next to their cabin on Crain Branch.
Doug was high in the barn, moving between the top two tier poles. I was new to the work and he didn't want me handling the heavy sticks of burley while up too high in the barn. After we
got into a rhythm with the passing of the tobacco, Doug began singing. His voice echoed from the tin roof and filled the barn
with his unique soft voice, eloquent phrasing and unaffected style. It gave me goosebumps and made me smile back then
and does the same thing now as I write about it.
Doug always made me
smile. He was a bit of a jokester and player of pranks as his father, Lee
Wallin, was noted to be. He had a song to fit most any
occasion and reputedly knew over 300 ballads and songs. Doug could be cantankerous and suspicious and he didn't suffer fools or what he perceived as disrespect. When his mind was made
up about something or someone, he wouldn't change it. He would quickly drop an offender from his
life. He was an incredibly gifted singer, many say the best Madison County has ever
produced.
I was fortunate in that Doug’s
mother Berzilla, Dellie Norton's 83 year old sister, really liked me. Her daughter
Berthie once said her mother used to daydream about me, which I find amazing and
flattering given our 55 year age difference. As is the case in any community that celebrates family as Madison County does, my relationship with
Berzilla carried over to Doug and over the years we grew fond and comfortable with each other.
Years later, after Berzilla died, and Jack was needing increased attention at the VA Hospital in Asheville, the brothers moved to a small apartment near the Marshall bypass. As much as I
loved spending time at the cabin, listening to music and stories, eating,
working, sitting on their porch, my favorite memory is from the time when they were living in town.
