​As some of us age into our 40s and 50s, often times we find ourselves friends with older residents in the community, especially those folks that are friends with our parents. Age becomes less of a number as you find yourself on volunteer boards and committees with people older -- and sometimes younger than you.
Such is the case with John David Sipple. “JD” as almost everyone called him, was one of those larger-than-life personalities in Beattyville that you just assumed would live forever. For years, pretty much since its inception, JD was a driving force on the board of the Three Forks Historical Center Museum in Beattyville, instrumental in building what stands today. For a good part of that time, he was the Vice-President of the Museum Board of Directors. My father, Bob Smith, was President and Curator of the Museum.
The two men together formed a working relationship that was in fact one of the area’s biggest assets in terms of historical knowledge. If there was a hole in Beattyville/Lee County’s history that one didn’t know--you can bet the other one did. If neither could remember, you could likewise bet the farm that they would make it up as they went along. They laughed and sometimes bickered and scratched as they worked to make the museum one of the area’s premiere attractions.
As I was brought on to the board several years ago, I got to know JD a little better. We would often sit and talk about oil field history, and I was fascinated learning what I could from him about oil field equipment,bulldozers, etc. The museum is famous for its fish fry fundraisers. If there is such thing as fish fryer experts, JD and Fred Gabbard would have to qualify. He was also one of the area’s premiere grill masters, and could fix some mean baked beans.
When my father passed away a couple years back, it left a void in me that couldn’t be fixed. The man I turned to for advice, history--whatever, was gone. It was then I found myself many times asking that same fatherly advice from JD. I guess I hadn’t realized that he and I had also became friends. I would ask him about “pond maintenance”, fish populations and things I normally asked my father. When it was time to find Dad’s replacement on the Museum committee, it was JD that said it had to be me. His reasoning was the older folks had served their time and some of the “younger” members needed to take the reigns. His faith in me as President of the board was priceless.
If I learned one thing about John David Sipple over the years, he was a “Do-er”. He didn’t ask or debate. If work needed done, he showed up with a tractor or a pickup and trialer and did it. His work career was long and diverse. He worked as a contractor, logger, worked in the oil fields, and was an oil and gas well inspector. He worked at Lee Adjustment Center for many years. Most people probably remember him as maintenance supervisor for the Lee County School District. He retired from that in 2016.
More than just a man with a good work ethic, JD gave to his community. The Kentucky Colonel was on the ground floor of getting the Historical Museum built and dedicated a huge chunk of time to that endeavor. With his big white beard, he was a good sport and volunteered as a stand-in for good old Santa Claus on many occasions, and certainly was a shining light during the holy Christmas season.
Sadly, JD passed away, Saturday, March 30th, in his home that he always kept in tip-top shape. John David Sipple was 72-years-old. We join the community in wishing his family all of our condeleonces.
Article by: Josh Smith, Editor of the Three Forks Tradition Newspaper and Three Forks Historical Museum President

**FARMERS MARKET ANNOUNCEMENT**
The Farmers Market crew would like to thank everyone that has been to see us over the last few weeks at the Three Forks Historical Museum. We've been so happy to see all of our customers & friends.
We are pleased to announce that we are going to continue to be open at the Museum EVERY FRIDAY 9am-4pm until our building is ready on Main Street. We especially want to thank the Museum Board for allowing us to use their wonderful facility.

Follow us on facebook/locallymademarketbeattyville!
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So be sure and come see us EVERY FRIDAY and check out what our vendors have to offer!
#famersmarket #threeforkshistoricalmuseum #shoplocal #KentuckyProud

The Three Forks Museum received a $20,000 grant in the fall of 2021. These funds were sourced from U.S. Congress's American Rescue Act funds to the National Endowment for the Arts and at the state level, Kentucky Humanities. We are deeply grateful for the opportunity to apply and receive these grant funds. 

The funds were to help the museum recover from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Closing down the museum and being forced to cancel all our events and fundraisers 2020-2021 and even some actives in in 2022, slowly drained our stored funds as overhead expenses still come due. Insurance, utilities, security system, and more. The ARP funds have been tremendous help to keeping the museum operational and the bills payed. We were able to have a few of our normal events in 2022 and thanks to ARP funds assisting with the overhead expenses, the museum had some funds to host a few events.  

The funds also created a few local jobs. The Three Forks Museum operates by a volunteer board but with the ARP funding we were able to hire local contract labor to work on projects that the museum desperately needed accomplished. We went through a historic flood in March 2021 and damages to display cases, documents, and artifacts were caused by 20 inches of flood water in the building. It has taken over a year for the museum to be cleaned and organized in a way to be presentable to the public. The most effort on restoring the building’s contents has been the volunteer work days we have had. Community volunteers glean so much knowledge by hands on actives plus learning from the museum board members who are also present. Another significant stride was the use of ARP funds to hire a museum worker who held regular hours and a few as needed project workers. Having the museum open and a hired worker to continue organizing displays brought life and interest back to the museum which had been closed to the public for over a year. Volunteers and hired helpers accumulated 500 work hours in 2022. 

So what's this mean? This means that the ARP grant funds paid the bills and contract labor for 2022 so the museum could survive and grow. Majority of the funds, 48% went to ease the burden of utility cost. 22% of the funds supported labor and contract workers. 16% of the funds was spend on supplies for museum activities. Finally 14% of the funds went toward facility insurance payment cost. The museum is the home of many priceless artifacts and the building itself has an excellent insurance policy and top of the line security system with motion detectors and video capabilities. 

One major addition to the museum, which was much needed, was the creation of an outdoor classroom. Through donations, grants, and museum savings, we built a larger outdoor shelter. Completed November 1st, 2022, the idea for the shelter came from the ARP grant. The whole purpose of the funds was to help organizations recover from the effects of COVID. If we had an outdoor shelter large enough during 2020, the year of shutdowns, we wouldn't have to cancel all our events and programs because of COVID. We just would have needed to have a learning space outside in the open air. With ARP grant funds paying for museum overhead and labor, the museum used savings and other grant funds to build the outdoor classroom shelter. 

With recovery from the historic flood March 2021 and COVID along with other sickness in our community such as flu, that closed down schools and canceled events, and with the loss of two pillar museum board members, treasurer Mrs. Edna Grace Crabtree, and president Robert ‘Bob’ Smith, our existing board has struggled to keep the museum operational. However, we are in better shape than the museum has ever been in. In November 2022, the museum board elected 4 new officers and we are hopeful for the future of the museum under their leadership, interest, and the amount of energy they have to offer the organization after such a difficult year.  

We are looking forward to serving the community through advocacy, preservation, and offering unique museum and humanities based programing experiences into the future.

Thank you Jackson Energy Round Up Board for awarding the museum with $1,200 in grant funding. These funds went toward cost for the new outdoor classroom shelter.  

Operation RoundUP is funded solely by Jackson Energy members who voluntarily choose to round their electric bill to the next highest dollar amount. The extra money, which averages around 50 cents a month, is applied to the Operation RoundUP fund. For example, if your total bill is $74.62, your bill would be rounded up to $75 with the extra 38 cents going to Operation RoundUP. Each month, the amount donated may range from one penny to 99 cents, with a maximum of $11.88, per year and is tax deductible. You can also make one-time donations by visiting your local office, or calling 800-262-7480 and letting a Member Services Representative know that you want to make the one-time donation to the Operation RoundUP fund. 

How it the money administered?  Operation RoundUP is governed by a seven-member Board of Trustees who represent the seven primary counties served by Jackson Energy. The trustees operate independently from Jackson Energy Cooperative Board of Directors. The trustees receive and evaluate grant applications on a quarterly basis. 

If you would like to be a contributor to the RoundUp Program or learn more go to this website link... Operation RoundUp.

Thank you Ronnie Paul and Joyce Begley, of Beattyville, KY for arranging the beautiful fall decorations at the museum! The annual Woolly Worm Festival starts this weekend and now the museum looks beautiful welcoming visitors to the festival and also welcoming returning family and friends as they return home for the weekend events. 
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#fallyall #TFHC #beattyvilleky #wwf #woollywormfestival

The museum was decorated for the 4th of July weekend with bright hanging baskets, yard flags from each branch of the military and yard American flags. The baskets come from Country Garden Greenhouse located in the Primrose area of Lee County. There were many visitors on the highway because of the many yard sales in Lee County along HWY 52.

It is tradition for the museum board to sell concessions at the Happy Top Park shelter on the 4th before the fireworks. On Saturday, July 2nd, John David Sipple, Ray Shuler, Justin Shuler, Kenneth Isaacs, Anita Brandenburg and Dedra Brandenburg loaded up the grill, coolers, pop, and supplies and transported it all from the museum to the Happy Top shelter. The board members meet on July 4th at 3pm and started getting organized for the concessions.

Thank you to these wonderful people for volunteering their time and donate supplies and work concessions for the museum: Linda & Bob Smith, John David Sipple, Ray Shuler, Kenneth Isaacs, Shirley Reese, and Joshua Hagan, Irene Thorpe, Steve & Michelle Estes, Bruce & Cheri Murrey, Jessica Treadway, Sammy Joe, and Dedra Brandenburg. The museum took in around $1,700 in concessions between 6:00-9:30pm that night.

Thanks also to Jack's IGA and the Bobcat Dairy Bar for supporting the museum on this event.
To watch the video of the fireworks display visit the Beattyville/Lee County Tourism Facebook page.

Thank you Just Jessica Photography for setting up and adorable photography station for families to have themed photos taken. Donations were made to the museum as people took advantage of the onsite photographer. Check out her page to view more photos from the 4th.

The museum went through a beautification project in 2019 partnering with Jackson Energy cooperative. Pulling out old flower beds, adding 4x4 post around the beds, decorating around the water wheel in the yard and more. With rose bushes, hostas, day lilies, lilac bush, peony's, and a wildflower area behind the building all blooming, the museum is a beautiful stop in the spring time. Wildflowers that come up behind the museum include: red and yellow trilliums, star of Bethlehem, yellow lady slippers, flox, and more.

Museum board members help trim back the rose bushes to prepare for their full bloom in the summer. "When the yellow Forsythia bush is in full bloom, its time to trim the rose bushes." Said Kenneth Isaacs.

The Three Forks Museum is still recovering from the historical flood that hit Beattyville/Lee County in March 2021. After year of recovery, cleaning, and moving items around, the museum still is not suitable for being open to the public. However the Museum Board continues to keep up with the normal calendar of events that the community loves; including the spring Fish Fry Fundraiser. Scheduled for April 1st, the fish fry will take place at the Lee County Shrine Club building located on Fairground Ridge Road in Beattyville. The Shrine Club building is a great location for community events as they have large round dinner tables and a great kitchen area.

The museum board could barely keep up with the crowd by serving fried fish, hush puppies, french fries, coal slaw, baked beans, desserts, and a drink for $10.00. Accompanying the fry was a silent auction. There was a nice variety of items donated by community members in support of the museum. The museum served around 200 meals and thanks to the wonderful turn-out, was able to raise $2,300 in funds.

The Lee County Republican Women's Club hosted their annual Veterans Day Luncheon at the museum. On Thursday, November 11th there was the first ever Veterans Day Parade with Bob Smith being chosen as the first Grand Marshall of the parade. Smith is not only a veteran but also the president of the Three Forks Museum Board and owner of the Three Forks Tradition Newspaper. He also oversees the veteran memorial wall, the 4th of July fireworks and is on the Woolly Worm Festival Committee. 

The parade traveled by police escort from the rail yards at the red light in Beattyville up to the museum. Once inside Bob led the group in the Pledge of Allegiance. He also spoke to the group and read a poem he had written. Avis Thompson prayed over the meal and then the ladies of the club served Veterans and families soup, sandwiches, desserts and drinks. 

It was a great afternoon of fellowship. Also it was the first organized event to take place inside the museum after the flood in March. The museum volunteers had worked hard to arrange items and displays in the Veterans Wing for the event. 

Bob Smith reading the poem he wrote for Veterans Day 2021.