www.newsadvance.com/news/local/he-gave-us-all-a-family-to-come-home-to/article_2016af30-bf36-596d-a7a7-1c4572788543.htmlHe Gave Us All A Family To Come Home To’ — friends remember Earl Hamner
Ray Castro, director of the documentary “Earl Hamner Storyteller,” said although it was hard to talk about, Earl Hamner Jr. left a lasting imprint on the world.
“He gave us all a family to come home to, which was the Waltons,” he said, referring to the 1970s family television drama inspired by Hamner’s novel “Spencer’s Mountain” and based on Hamner’s experiences growing up in Nelson County during the Great Depression.
“There were some people who only had a mother or only had a father or maybe were orphans and he gave them a family,” Castro said.
Hamner died Thursday at age 92.
For Castro, Hamner was a friend and a mentor.
“I loved him dearly and he’s in a better place today,” he said. “I’m glad we were able to pay him honor while he was still with us and for him to know how much he was loved. It was my gift to him, which was very small.”
One memory that sticks out in Castro’s mind was how whenever Hamner met anyone new, he never talked about himself but asked questions about the other person.
“He really cared who you were and wanted to know where you came from,” he said. “It was something unlike any other celebrity that would only talk about themselves.”
Castro added he will miss Hamner’s humor, laughter and voice.
The documentary was released in September 2015. Hamner loved it and couldn’t have been more honored, Castro said.
“In this point in his life, he thought he would only get a small article in the paper; he never expected a documentary about his life and work,” he said. “He was very proud of his work.”
Most fans knew Hamner because of “The Waltons,” but many of those fans learned more about him through his other work, Castro added. He hopes to plan a tribute to Hamner, either in Virginia or someplace else appropriate.
The documentary is available on DVD at earlhamnerstoryteller.com.
When asked about his friendship with Hamner, Peter Coy, co-founder of the Earl Hamner Theater in Crozet, said there was so much to say.
“He was a great friend,” he said, “We were very close. I think he saw life as a miracle, ya know? And he asked the question how do people survive and thrive in this world.”
Hamner and Coy worked together after the theater opened in 2005 on a play called “The Homecoming,” which also was the pilot of “The Waltons.”
“I think he saw in his writing what was reflected was the miracle of discovering who you are,” he said. “‘The Homecoming’ is actually an autobiography of him discovering his writing and being accepted as a writer.”
Coy said Hamner would focus in on a person and how that person affected and influenced him.
“One of his focuses was family — his family during the Depression,” he said. “Living in Nelson, he had very little money. He would say, ‘We never knew we were poor,’ because they didn’t have anything to compare it to.”
Family was important to Hamner, and “The Waltons” was about what happens when there are conflicts in a family and how they can be solved, Coy said.
“And basically he always felt like you get out of it through love,” he said. “I think his best writing was a reflection of the people in his Nelson County, and that may not be everyone’s perception of Nelson County. He had a warm feeling for Nelson.”
Kami Cotler, known for her role on “The Waltons” as Elizabeth Walton, said Hamner was a gentleman and his intelligence, gentleness, sense of humor and love of language came through in person and in his writing.
“I was very little, only 6, when we filmed The Homecoming, and since it was the first TV work I’d done, the whole thing was a big adventure for my family,” she said. “I always got the sense it was for Earl, too.”
Even though she was a little girl, Cotler said she felt respected by Hamner.
“If I had an idea about my character, he listened,” she said. “When I didn’t know how to cry on camera, he whipped up the sweetest scene between Elizabeth and Jim-Bob in a hayloft, complaining about their big brothers and sisters and pledging to never grow up.”
She said what Hamner created when he created “The Waltons” was for all intents and purposes a real family.
“Even today, fans talk about how the loving family they saw on TV helped them when their own families were struggling or fractured,” she said. “Or fans saw how the show was exactly like their own real family.”
She said the hours and hours the cast spent together over years created real family bonds.
“When the show ended Earl became ‘Uncle Earl’ to me and my TV siblings,” she said. “He and I emailed just recently, a former English teacher [herself] and a gifted wordsmith, exchanging thoughts about language and writing.”
Another friend of Hamner, Woody Greenberg, said Hamner’s journey through life took him from the Nelson County community of Schuyler to exotic new places and new experiences, but he never lost touch with his roots.
“The values of love of family, respect for differences, understanding different points of view and cultures, friendship and kindness permeate his writing and his life,” he said. “Earl’s impact on American popular culture will be the subject of many an article and dissertation, but his impact on those of us who knew and loved him is his real legacy.”
At the Walton’s Mountain Museum in Schuyler, Director Leona Roberts said the museum has fielded many calls asking about Hamner’s death.
The museum, located at 6484 Rockfish River Road, has set up a book for visitors to sign that eventually will be given to the Hamner family. The museum is open daily from 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.