A community leader of Tryon since settling here in 1946, Jane Dusenbury Culberson has died in her home on Howard Gap Road. Her son George Dusenbury said the cause was old age. She was 89.Born in 1917 in Larkins, Fla., Jane Dusenbury was the daughter of Ethel and Philip G. Dusenbury, a pioneer of South Florida and founder of the South Atlantic Mortgage Company. The house her father built for the family in 1921 on Biscayne Bay became a project of Miami Historical Restoration in 2002. Her connection with North Carolina began when the family spent summers in Waynes-ville.She attended Miss Harris's School, Miami High School and Duke University where she was associate editor of "The Archive," Duke's literary magazine.Seeking her first reporting job after college at the height of the Depression, Jane met a wall of rejection, but had the gumption to return to Waynes-ville, where she and her parents had regularly spent time during her childhood, sending back reports on Miami "society" summering there. In this enterprising manner, she wangled a job as features writer/photographer for the Miami Daily News.In 1940, she married George Dusenbury, son of Grace and Ross Dusenbury of Detroit, Mich., later of Tryon, in a ceremony at the Little Church Around the Corner in New York City.After World War II, the couple moved to Tryon where Grace and Ross Dusenbury had bought 13 acres spanning between Howard Gap Road and what is now Page Road. Five of those acres provided a homesite.While Jane and George had planned to be organic farmers, they discovered before long that it was not going to be possible with George traveling all over the country as a magazine designer. (One of Tryon's attractive attributes for him was its proximity to the railroad station in Spartanburg.)Their attempts at farming met with varying degrees of success. Until the advent of the Japanese beetle, the vineyard that covered their acreage did a great job of producing the famous Tryon grapes. For a couple of years, Jane was a top notch pruner. An array of vegetables was grown in the organic garden. Following instructions in "The Joy of Cooking," wine was made in butter churns.Polk County's Agricultural Agent, then known as the "farm agent," Paul Culberson advised the couple on every one of their projects (except wine making), even teaching them how to milk a goat, and eventually a cow.Jane served as president of the Western North Carolina Goat Association working with East Flat Rock goat farmer, Mrs. Carl Sandburg, wife of the poet, to hold goat shows on Harmon Field. Unfortunately, the children would not drink goat milk so a cow eventually worked out better.George bult a barn for the cow and chickens. Superfluous eggs were preserved in water glass. A goose was a failure, considered "too dumb to turn over her own eggs in the nest."These agricultural efforts were a big part of Jane's life while the couple's four children were growing up. Her first speech in Tryon was, "How to compost with earthworms."In 1946, the couple wrote "How to Retire to Florida," published by Harpers, spelling out the advantages that life in Florida offered, particularly for people about to retire. The book was expected to be of primary interest outside of Florida, but the intriguing and valuable facts dug up by the Dusenburys offered food for thought for people already there. A second edition came out five years later, more than paying for one child's college education.George died in 1979.On July 4, 1981, Jane married Paul Culberson, whose wife Gladys had died several years earlier. The two couples had been close friends for 25 years. The house Jane and Paul built on Howard Gap Road, with the help of Fred Placek, was recognized in 1982 as "a fine example of energy efficient solar design" by the Governor's Showcase of Solar Homes.An active member of the community during her six decades in Tryon, Jane Dusenbury Culberson was a trustee of St. Luke's Hospital for nine years, served on a variety of boards, including that of the Lanier Library, and was president of such organizations as the Tryon Women's Golf Association and Holy Cross Women. In the 1960s, she assisted the move toward integration of Tryon's schools as a volunteer teacher of third graders at Embry School.For many years she was editor of Dr. Paul Bucy's "Surgical Neurology." Articles from doctors on many of the latest advances in the field were first known in this worldwide journal, edited right here in Tryon.She wrote the pageant for Polk County's 100th birthday and also created the mini-dramas for the Betty Sturgis Fashion Shows in the 1970s.Over the years, Jane Dusenbury Culberson made hundreds, if not thousands, of contributions to the Tryon Daily Bulletin (for three successive editors). She also posted stories to the Asheville Citizen, beginning in 1950 as a stringer. Her older children still remember being awakened at 4 a.m. to go with their mother (father was in NYC, unable to babysit) to report on a train that had derailed on its way to Saluda.She is survived by husband Paul; children George and John, both of Atlanta; Philip of Tryon and Adele of Stony Brook, N.Y.; grandchildren George and Eric, both of Atlanta; Kara of New York City and Robert of San Francisco, Calif.; and five great grandchildren.A memorial service will be held on Saturday, May 5, 2007 at Holy Cross Episcopal Church, 150 Melrose Avenue, Tryon.The family has requested that in lieu of flowers any memorials be made to the Foothills Humane Society, P. O. Box 126, Tryon, NC 28782 or Church of the Holy Cross, P. O. Box 279, Tryon, NC 28782.
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