Getting to know your neighbor
Editor’s Note: Getting to Know Your Neighbor is a regular feature spotlighting residents in Franklin County and how they look at certain things.
Name: Reneé Fretwell Vandiver
Hometown: Russellville
Place of employment: Franklin County Board of Education
Q: What is the best thing about your job?
A: I’m a bus driver so I really do enjoy being around all the kids, and the health insurance is a great benefit.
Q: If you weren’t in your current profession, what would be your ideal job and why?
A: My ideal job would be a full-time granny to my granddaughter, Aleya.
Q: If you could change places with anyone for a day, who would it be and why?
A: I would change places with a professional singer. I think it would be such a joy to see and hear the reaction from the audience.
Q: If you could sit down to dinner with anyone, dead or alive, who would it be and why?
A: I would sit down with my granny, Ola Ligon. I would love to just hear her voice and be able to tell her what all the kids have done since her death.
Q: What’s the best present you’ve ever received?
A: A pearl necklace from my husband, Marty. I was shocked that he picked it out by himself!
Q: What is your favorite childhood memory?
A: My favorite childhood memory is growing up on Cedar Creek and water skiing. We would ski on Sunday after church, but we would ski from the bank and when we got ready to stop skiing we would ski back to the bank and never get our hair wet so when it was time to go back to church our hair was still dry.
Q: What do you think of as your greatest accomplishment in life?
A: My greatest accomplishment is my kids, Nick and Jamie. They have been such wonderful children and I am proud to be their mom.
Q: If you only had one meal left, what would it be?
A: My cousin, Sherry James’, homemade chicken salad.
Q: If you won a million dollars, what would be your first purchase?
A: I would use my money to pave Stockton Road. I’m tired of the bumpy road and dodging all the holes.
Q: If you could travel anywhere in the world, where would you go and why?
A: I would like to go to Hawaii. My grandparents did, my parents did, my daughter did, so it just seems right that I go too.
Q: If you were the President of the United States, what would be the first law that you would enact?
A: Do away with ObamaCare.
Q: If you were in local government, what things would you change in the area?
A: I would work on having tougher laws concerning insurance and citizenship. I would also work on the appearance of downtown Russellville by having a cohesive color scheme for the downtown buildings and offering incentives like beautification awards to the ones that kept their places neat. It’s the same principle as having company come over to your own house – you always clean up before they get there because you want your place to look nice for someone visiting. There is still time to clean up Russellville for the Watermelon Festival in August. Mowing the four lanes and cleaning up the roads that lead to downtown would be a big help before we have so many people coming from out of town to our city.
Q: What’s your favorite thing about Franklin County?
A: My favorite thing about Franklin County is knowing nearly everyone and sharing a lot of the same values. There are a lot of people in Franklin County that feel the same way I do and I am just thankful to live here.
Q: What is something interesting about you that most people don’t know?
A: I can change my own oil on my car.
