Let Me Tell You This About That

Legacies--big and small

• Hess and Delbert • Season 1 • Episode 53

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Legacies—big and small


Legacy is how we leave a footprint to the people that come after us.  Thanks for joining us on our Sunday morning chat!  Hess and Delbert had reunited with their Barkley Village this past week.  They enjoyed their time together—especially the conversations around the table. They also experienced important legacies of Kentucky—horses, the land and bourbon!  They toured Keeneland Racecourse, they visited Hess at her farm, they went to the races, and they toured Makers Mark distillery in Loretto Ky.  Legacy can come in many forms-from just the gathering of family or friends around a table, land that gets passed down, or to a new taste of a bourbon.  Legacy can begin at anytime, legacy can change and adapt to the time and the circumstances.  What are personal legacies that touch your life?  Please respond in your comments. 

I am still collecting for José's cancer treatments. This week José received radiation in his lower spine every day. We are awaiting the next CT Scans. Thank you for your continued support!
https://gofund.me/e6f61999

In addition to being a podcast host, Hess is also an LCSW--if you'd like to learn more about her work as a therapist, check it out at www.jessicabollinger.com

One of her mission's is for all of our lights to shine--when we see each other and allow ourself to be seen--and we can say to the person in front of us, There You Are! the world will be an amazing place!

Delbert is a top realtor in Louisville, KY, and you can find her at Kentucky Select Properties She will help you find your home, and also help you get the most equity when you sell your house.

Her philanthropic work to continue her sister Carole and niece Meghan is Carole's Kitchen. Blessings in a Backpack helps feed the many hungry students in our schools. The instagram account is: https://www.instagram.com/caroleskitchen.nonprofit?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet&igsh=ZDNlZDc0MzIxNw==





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Hess:

Hello, my name is Hess and you have tuned in to, let me tell you this about that, and let me tell you this about that is I'm sitting in my white chair looking out my bedroom window and Delbert. It is October 19th and the sun's coming up later. The days are getting a little bit shorter. Our Sunday morning chat now, since we haven't done the time change, it's still a little bit dark outside and plus it's gray, cloudy rain, and we need the rain again. It's been about 10 days since we got rain, so we're always 10 days away from a drought. Somebody told me that once, but I've got rain in my window. Is it raining up there? What do you see out the green couch there? Delbert.

Delbert:

Yeah. Hey, it's me, Delbert as always on the green couch looking out my big picture window. And it is a little, it's not raining right now. It's a little gray and overcast, but like Hess says, we need the rain. It's supposed to rain today, but it's gonna stop this afternoon, so can still get out and have a beautiful day. It was gorgeous yesterday. Just a beautiful day and. We always brag about the beauty of Kentucky here on our podcast, how much we love where we live, but extra special. Today we're gonna talk about legacy. had the opportunity to be tourist in our own state, as we got together with our Barkley Village for a little reunion weekend.

Hess:

Reunion week, right?

Delbert:

A week. Yeah, weekday. It felt like a weekend, but it was a weekday.

Hess:

It was a beautiful, so folks, we've talked to you about the getting back together with a group January a year ago down there at Lake Barkley for a cold winter weekend in January. That we did some Brene Brown work and it, and being able to talk about our stories and the arenas that we're in and the what, how we wanna show up to our arenas. It really connected all of us and we'd all been in high school together. Some of us had been even in grade school together. And it reconnected us in all kinds of new ways. And we've, we put in the wonderful effort to, to reunite and reconnect. We were at Teri's, Bethany Beach this past June. And Karen Karen Rood, who had organized the French trip I was on. She we, landed at her house Wednesday night for a beautiful, wonderful dinner and did some Kentucky things. You go ahead and talk about that Delbert.

Delbert:

So in Lexington we stayed at Karen and Bill Ru's house it's a beautiful home. We all had our own bedrooms and our own bath. And this fantastic dinner with Karen and Bill and Jess came in from her farm the next day we woke up and went to Keeneland, which is a historic racetrack in Kentucky, which has a beautiful, wonderful history and legacy. And Bill Rood, Karen's husband. Is the former veterinarian for Keenland and has a huge veterinary operation, of the biggest in Lexington. so he gave us a private tour, VIP tour of. Keeneland and it was just fantastic. And we went home and changed and came back and got dressed up and went up to the dining room on the second floor and just had a fantastic day of the races and a couple trips down to the rail and to the winter circle and I got. photograph of a jockey that was giving thanks. He put his hands on his heart and then lifted his hands up to heaven and his horse seemed like he did the same thing, was really precious And, just being there on such historic grounds and the appreciation that we have for living here. My, I always say my father and my grandfather always talk so much about being so proud to be Kentuckians and how beautiful our state is. And anytime I do something like that, it just reinforces how right they were.

Hess:

And then,

Delbert:

so fortunate.

Hess:

yeah, and then that night you got to test out Karen's new pizza oven that.

Delbert:

we went home, she had just bought a pizza oven and had it installed on her patio. She's got this fabulous patio. We all made pizza and cooked it new pizza oven. And I was thinking about just going back to Keeneland for one second, just, being on that ground. That, that legacy ground and being there with people that I had known since I was just a girl. the legacy that my parents gave me of my faith and my education is how that started, how we all came together, other

Hess:

Right.

Delbert:

of the same. Faith and the, and having this wonderful education. My grandparents were dedicated to education and my parents were, and your parents were. And that hard work to make sure that we got there is part of how we're together. So I, that doesn't go unnoticed. And so just, there's so many layers to the legacy that I appreciate and love about the way we grew up and where we are.

Hess:

Yeah. And Delbert I've heard oftentimes, and I experienced it personally, that being in an all girl Catholic high school, an all girl school, that it helped promote women as leaders and to, to that, that we can make a difference in the world ourself as a woman.

Delbert:

The Ursuline sisters that educated us, they, part of their. Mission statement is to protect educate girls. And they sure did. And they, we, when we were growing up in the seventies with the women's movement, they encouraged us to reach higher and really empowered us. So I'm so thankful for that legacy as well.

Hess:

Because just in, in the people that we were with, our classmates, with the Barkley Village, each person has really made footholds in their own world and made changes and made good things happen in their wor in our worlds. We've all done that. It's cool.

Delbert:

Absolutely. And then we drove the back roads the next day. No wait, we gotta talk about Hess's farm.

Hess:

No.

Delbert:

we went to our Keeneland tour, we went to Hess's Farm where after the race horses have their career in racing. Then the lucky ones. End up at Hess's Farm

Hess:

No.

Delbert:

and you wanna talk a little bit about your legacy on the farm.

Hess:

So at our farm we do this, we do the sport, the equestrian sport of eventing, and that's three phases, dressage, cross country and stadium jumping. And the retired race horse project I explained that to you all when you were at the farm. Just had happened the weekend before and. Many horses in this retired race. Horse program's really cool'cause many of the horses from the track who have had careers as a race horse then can go on to have a new career as'cause the horses like people. We like to be, we like to have a be productive and be doing something. And so many of the horses here at our farm. Like my horse Speedy had raced for about four years and then we got him and he went into to this sport of eventing. So it's really cool to be able to. Have this aftercare program for retired race horses so that they can have a new good life afterwards. And they can, those race horses, Bert can go into anything. Some of them polo, some of'em dressage show jumping trail hunter jumpers, field hunters. So on all kinds of things. So that's really cool. And it, I just gotta say that it really touched me that you all came by the farm because. Three of you all had, not you, you've been here before. Delbert, but Teri had not, and Karen and Beth. And it just made me feel good to share, okay, this is my life. I've been here 39 years. If you come here you see me and you can feel me and what my life is.

Delbert:

It's your legacy, right?

Hess:

And Karen said to me'cause we drove together. The next day she said as soon as they pulled into the farm, she felt this sense of peace. And that's what many have said that, that come here. And we'll have an animal communicator oftentimes. And she, and that's what she's told us, that this feels peaceful. And Bert, sometimes we sell a horse and then they get lame or get injured and then they have to come back'cause they don't wanna leave here.

Delbert:

Oh, I wouldn't wanna leave either. It's a beautiful farm. we got to see Speedy getting a massage and

Hess:

Yeah.

Delbert:

of course Tyler, I saw Tyler peeking out of the barn cam as we drove up the drive. It's true. It's just this sense of calm just comes over you as you just kinda. Come up the drive and Karen said where should I go? I said, I see Tyler at the barn. Let's go. Let's go park at the barn. And and I said, because. That's where Hess is. That's her soul dog. We see Tyler, we know Hess isn't far behind, so we did, and there you were. There you are. yeah. So that was beautiful to see your legacy. Our fathers, as we've told you all are, we're both in real estate and development and so real estate is legacy with and all my siblings and the farm and the land. Is yours from your dad?

Hess:

It's started'cause my grandpa loved farms. This is what my dad would say. I did this because daddy loved farms and, and he would, he would want us to have a farm. So that's what happened back in 1985 when dad and some partners bought this piece of property. It's like just. Because of my grandpa loving farms. I think he grew up in Henry County in or Henryville or something, southern Indiana, right up in there on some land. But yeah. So you took the tour with the expert, bill Rood of Keeland and you learned a lot about legacy and things like that and how the track came about. Right.

Delbert:

And we were saying like, there's so many different levels of how legacy starts, right? Sometimes it's out of need. Sometimes it's out of a desire to create something. Keeneland from my understanding the Keen family, their son, Jack, that the farm kind of fell on hard times and at the same time. The mayor and some other horsemen in Lexington were looking for a track because Lexington didn't have a track at the time. And the horse capital of the world should have a racetrack, right? So there was already a track on that land. And Jack built the clubhouse as a place where the horseman could meet and, then he lived above on that second floor. And that's how it started. He needed to do something with the farm to sustain it. And so of that Keeneland and the legacy was created so cool that the inside the infield, which we utilize at Churchill Downs. They don't, it, it is pristine. It is Kentucky Bluegrass and Fescue, it spells out Keeneland the middle of that. And the only thing that happens on that ground, part of it is the turf races. But it's just very pristine and historic and very preserved, and they. They keep so much tradition there

Hess:

when you,

Delbert:

just so fun to see. I hadn't been there since I was in college so that was so

Hess:

yeah.

Delbert:

to see

Hess:

So when you're looking out, when you're looking out from the grandstand, Keeneland written with boxwoods there and just trim perfectly. But when you look out there, you don't see, you don't see anything. You don't see any buildings. You feel like you could be out in the middle of nowhere and you have

Delbert:

yeah.

Hess:

you Versailles road over on the left, but you, but it's not visible because this kind of sits up on a hill a little bit on a plateau. But the track was existing there, it was a training track for that farm. And so the local horsemen would needed this place and would bring their horses there to race against each other. And there was not a, I think there was not an announcer to announce the races. When you go to Keeneland, all of a sudden you just, you'd hear the bell that the horses came outta the starting gate and then. You're just, it's silent. You're not hearing any loudspeaker saying who's in first, who's in second by nose or a head or a length or whatever. And it was not until about 1997 that they started having an announcer announced the races. So that's a tradition that, that was a legacy and something that got changed for a purpose. Yeah Delbert. Then I joined you all to go on a tour of Maker's Mark on, on Friday morning. Karen and Bill had bought, had a hats off. Festival this past summer. A private tour of Maker's Mark and lunch included. And so I'd never, all of my time here, I'd never been, I've never toured Maker's Mark a famous bourbon down in Loretto, Kentucky. So that was a blast. And then.

Delbert:

was so incredible. And like I said, I hadn't been to Keeneland forever. I had never been to Maker's Mark, and that was so impressive, wasn't it? The sustainability that they do, that the that they use all. Local, they buy from local farmers or their grain. And they all the food that we ate in the restaurant was grown there. it was just so cool to hear about. And of course the famous limestone and the spring that runs through the limestone and filters and gets all those wonderful minerals, which makes the bourbon and also makes the horses so strong and

Hess:

Yeah,

Delbert:

to run

Hess:

There's a spring fed lake up on the hill right behind it. And that's where the water comes. All the water comes and it was. So Bill Samuels started it and his wife Marjorie, and they're they chose this spot and they bought it for$15,000 or something. Was that, or$25,000. And it was an old distillery. So they had this. They had some bones there and what I loved too is Marjorie had such a role. She chose to do the square bottle. She came up with the wax to go over the top. She did this design.

Delbert:

She was a chemist. She came up with how to make it liquified enough that it would you dip it and it would be imperfect. Each one is unique. Yeah. She came up with that in her kitchen, how to dip those bottles. But that was the old Burkes distillery. They took that over in 1953 and created legacy out of just wanting to have a hobby. Because they'd had generations before them that had done distilling. And and they decided they wanted to create something of their own. And I asked our tour guide, I said, how close to the original recipe is the maker's Mark of today? And he said, it's exact, it is exact to Bill And Margie Samuels vision. What? And and their son, created a legacy with the 46 maker's Mark.

Hess:

So well, the grand, so then Yeah, you're exactly right. The grandson of the original. Yeah. So there's, there, there was Bill, then there was Bill Junior and their son Rob. Is that correct? Has a, has.

Delbert:

I thought it was bill Samuels Jr. That did the 46 and I.

Hess:

Okay. Yeah. That's right.

Delbert:

Is the current the grandson is the current CEO and he's the one that brought in,

Hess:

Art,

Delbert:

he's really, yeah. He brought in the art and he's really big on the sustainability. Of the land

Hess:

yes.

Delbert:

and any of the water they put back, they purify it. So everything they do is to make the land better. And you're just walking through gardens with herbs and vegetables and flowers and you're walking through this where the beautiful stream in the original mill is. And, it's just so fantastic. And then they've got the little sheep grazing up on the, and they've got their purpose. It's just incredible. What a legacy, born out of, let's have a hobby. Let's create something. Let's do something here. Love it. I love it.

Hess:

Yeah.

Delbert:

So then Rob is the one that brought in, incorporated the artwork.

Hess:

And that, that artist Chihuly he's from Washington. He blows blow Washington state. He's this glassblower that creates this art from glass and there's all these exhibits outside and inside with his art. So that was mouthwatering to me. That was just so beautiful and such an enhancement of just a normal distillery tour. Seeing this beautiful art.

Delbert:

The water. There's a water sculpture representing the water. Then there was a beautiful Amber Glass sculpture representing the grain And then the other one that was hanging. And the and the cellar was the, it was called end of day, and it was just all the pieces that didn't work out, and that turned into this beautiful sculpture. I, and then there was the one that was in the ceiling, the piece of glass. It was just, it was incredible. So all this nature. And beauty and art all just woven into this just perfect experience. And then of course we had the bourbon paired with our lunch and my favorite was the 46, I have to say.

Hess:

Yeah.

Delbert:

good job. Bill Jr. He, he put a, some french oak. It's aged in the oak barrels, which also come from Kentucky. Local farmers. The barrels also come from there and but he put some charred oak, French oak and they age it in that cellar. They blast it out the side of the hill.

Hess:

Yeah,

Delbert:

in that limestone. Yeah. Created a cellar

Hess:

now, maker's Mark was sold to a large global beverage companies. What I love Delbert is, and it's so smart that they did this. They kept the legacy of the family. The family was still stayed, has stayed involved. The Samuel's family has still stayed involved, which makes it intimate, which makes it local, which helps it be. Its own flavor of its own tradition. The tradition continues even though it's owned by a global conglomerate beverage company. Really smart. Really smart to do that.

Delbert:

Exactly. So we had the best time there and. Drove all the back roads the land there in Loretto and Lebanon, Springfield and Bardstown, all those little towns, they're all farm communities and they're also if you read about Catholicism in America for. Maryland, they came down, and landed in, in that particular part of the country. So there's a huge legacy of Catholicism and some beautiful old churches St. Rose. You all, we all passed that on the way'cause we took the back roads through all this farm land. All these beautiful. Soybeans that are starting to get ready for harvest. They're this beautiful amber color. just a gorgeous drive. But

Hess:

Right.

Delbert:

Rose and you looked up St. Rose. It's what did you find out? It's

Hess:

That so it gets hilly down in that area, Delbert. And we, Karen and I go around this curve and there's this big huge church and this big cemetery next to it. We drove, we I turned and went up the driveway to this church. So this is St. Rose. Church, and it was started by the Dominicans, and it's the first Catholic church past the Allegheny's. I think it's over 200 years old and just absolutely huge. You've been there before to a funeral, I think, right?

Delbert:

My, my work friend Shannon and her mother's funeral mass was there and oh. It's just, it's a beautiful church inside too.

Hess:

Yeah, so this is a whole legacy of an area of Catholicism there in Kentucky. What's the name of the book you talked about? Delbert.

Delbert:

Oh, it's an American Holy Land, father Clyde Cruz. And if you can get ahold of that's a, it's a wonderful book the settlement and you know that, that part of our state, when you're in eighth grade, you go. You go to Nazareth and you go to the monastery at Gethsemane where Thomas Merton lived. And you go to the cathedral at St. Joseph's and you experience of where our faith settled here Kentucky. it's just beautiful. Just another legacy like we talked about, but, that's what kids do here in Kentucky. They go to a horse farm, they go to the Holy Land and they go to a distillery. So we've got it all.

Hess:

Yeah. So Delbert, I'd like all the pods to think about the legacies that have been passed down to you and the legacy that you continue. And I, you said something to me the other day that, that I thought was so great. Delbert, what I caught on your words was. It's put out there for, however, it needs to evolve or change for the better that you have people that are connected that can sit around a table and to change what might need to be adapted, like the announcer at Keeneland, right? Or starting this new type of 46 bourbon. What could you add for a new kind of flavor that could be that could be. Your little niche of it, of the change of the legacy.

Delbert:

of the legacy. And yeah, that's such a wonderful thing to think about. What are the legacies handed down to you? What legacies are you creating for yourself and your family and your community? There's nothing that's too small if it's positive. And what little changes and tweaks can you make? To just make that go further and a legacy to sustain it. Actually, sometimes you do have to change a little to

Hess:

Yeah.

Delbert:

it last.

Hess:

Yeah. So this idea of my grandpa Jesse Bollinger senior who, who loved farms I'm the farm now in the family that, that the little kids can come visit or go to horse camp at. And my dad always believed in giving back and when. When I went at 36 to get a master's of social work, now I give back through my profession. Delbert, you have real estate in your legacy that you continue on. You have your, while you talk, I you have the Carol's kitchen legacy and so on.

Delbert:

And I think just on a, even a simpler level I always talk about family dinner at my grandparents just sitting around the table, being together and sharing and. times have changed so much. That's one of the changes. But when I do have my whole family together Together and to have experiences together, I love to take my grandkids swimming. I love to take'em to the different lakes in Kentucky and give them an appreciation. For the beauty of our state and for the beauty of nature and how it can have such a positive impact in your life. Those are little things that I think that are really important too. So friends, go out in nature, create a legacy. Get your family your village, your friends, whoever it is together, make it a great week. Make it a great day.

Hess:

And please leave in a comment. What's your legacy?

Delbert:

We wanna know.

Hess:

However small.

Delbert:

We're curious. We wanna know.

Hess:

Hey, we hope our Sunday morning chat. Put some seeds of thought in your minds, your spirit. You're with us. We love you. Peace and love.

Delbert:

We love you friends.