Ex-librarian finds new livelihood in coffee

July 25, 2005

By JACKIE R. BROACH
Index-Journal staff writer

After 29 years as a school librarian, Mary Bolen said it’s nice to be able to socialize with adults for a change.
“I think I’d almost forgotten how,” she said from a corner table in her cozy Main Street coffee shop, Jimary Java. “People think that you’d forge a bond with all the teachers, but you just don’t see a lot of them that much. Most of your contact is with the children.”
So, for Bolen, an adult clientele is one of the many perks of owning her own coffee shop. Make no mistake, though, she misses the children she spent most of her career working with. That’s why there are children’s books mixed in with the volumes and novels lining the shelves in Jimary Java.
“It’s just a big change from what I’m used to. It’s something very different and I enjoy that,” Bolen said of her new career as an entrepreneur.
Bolen speaks softly, with a soothing lilt that was likely cultivated through nearly three decades spent in libraries and adds to the peaceful ambiance of the shop. The atmosphere is another thing she said she loves about Jimary Java.
The space is clean and neat, with brightly colored walls, artwork and chairs. It has a homey feel that invites visitors to stay a while and read or bring their laptops and use the wireless Internet service Bolen provides free of charge for her customers.
“As a coffee drinker, I enjoy that sort of atmosphere,” said Chris Clem, one of Bolen’s regular customers. “I think it’s exactly what Greenwood’s been needing.”
Clem said he’s greeted with a smile every time he goes into Jimary Java and has never felt anything but welcome there.
“I was in there probably twice and then I didn’t even have to order anymore. She already knew what I wanted,” he said. “You don’t get that a lot.”
Bolen enjoys the fact that her customers feel comfortable in her shop and loves it when they come in and stay a while. Even if they aren’t in the mood to chat, she said she just enjoys having them there.
When she was working in the library at Cherokee Trail Elementary School in Donalds, Bolen said she never dreamed of opening a coffee shop. She didn’t even know anything about coffee, other than the fact that she liked to drink it.
Instead, she’d been dreaming about her retirement in June 2004 and a chance to have some time for herself. “It’s a strange thing,” Bolen said. “You look forward to retirement for so many years, thinking about all the things you’re going to do. Then, when you do retire, you realize you’re living on half the income you did before and you can afford to water you plants, but that gets boring after a while.”
It wasn’t long before Bolen decided it was time to embark on a second career. She needed something productive to do, she said. It was her daughter, Rayanne Cogburn, who convinced her to open a coffee shop.
Cogburn had lived in both Charleston and Columbia and said she missed the variety of coffee shops those cities had to offer when she moved back home. She said she wanted to see more of that kind of variety in Uptown Greenwood, so she encouraged her mother to help that happen.
“We went into other towns so she could get a glimpse of what the coffee shops there were like and you could tell she was just getting more and more excited,” Cogburn said. “It was great to see her get into it like that and she’s really worked wonders with the place.”
Bolen said her husband of eight years, Jim, has been very supportive of her endeavor. The shop’s name is actually a combination of the couple’s first names.
Jim works for Flexible Technologies, and every morning before going to work, he helps Bolen open the shop. He also helped with the decorating, and he built the bar and the counter in the kitchen area, she said.
It took about a month to get the place ready to open, but Bolen still had a problem. She didn’t know how to make gourmet coffee.
She learned to operate the espresso machine only about a week before Jimary Java opened its doors June 12. At about the same time, her coffee supplier came in from Anderson to give her a crash course in mixing and preparing the drinks.
Bolen has come a long way since then, she said, and her specialty is the Black Tiger, a milkshake with espresso and chocolate. Her first week in business, she had several customers waiting for the drinks and was preparing them in the blender. The process wasn’t going as fast as she’d have liked, so she took the top off to help it along, but inadvertently dropped a scoop of ice cream inside. When it hit the blades, ice cream splattered everywhere.
“It was all over everything, in my hair and on my clothes,” Bolen said. “I was so embarrassed, I didn’t know what to do. It had happened right in front of all those customers, but they were so nice about it. They didn’t even laugh. I’d actually wished they would just to break the silence.”
That was only one of many learning experiences, she’s had over the past month as she tries to grow her business. One of the next steps she said she hopes to make is to add a weekend entertainment night. She might have a singer and a guitarist come in one night a week to perform, but that isn’t likely to happen until the fall.
“I’m really hoping everything will work out, because I want to stay here,” Bolen said. “Even though I grew up in Greenwood, I worked in Abbeville County most of my career, so I feel like I’ve come home. I’ve been meeting new people and talking to old friends I haven’t seen in a while and it’s just wonderful.”

Opinion

Observations ... and other reflections

July 25, 2005

About 50 members of the S. C. Air National Guard reportedly will become substitute teachers in Richland School District 1 to help offset a shortage in that category.
It may not be applicable to the schools they’ll teach in, but considering some of today’s concerns, it might be helpful if the new subs have combat experience ….. at least combat training.
Actually, it’s just one more indication of how the ranks of qualified teachers in South Carolina need rebuilding. It also shows the Pentagon the diversity of National Guard troops in meeting the needs of the nation and state when next it considers what bases to close.

* * * *

It took a while, but the British authorities finally established that four terrorists/suicide bombers that killed almost three score and injured many more were British citizens of Pakistani descent.
So, growing up in a free society such as England, how did these young and indiscriminate killers develop such hatred that would allow them to murder fellow citizens?
Someone had to teach them and poison their minds within their own country.
That should leave no doubts that no one is immune to terror. We strike them now or they will strike us later. It’s as simple as that.

* * * * *

This year’s Major League Baseball All-Star game, for the second year in a row, hit a new low in television ratings. Fewer people tuned in to see the best of the “boys of summer” do their thing.
Baseball does better than all-star games of other professional sports on TV, but it still loses ground.
Maybe it’s because teams don’t stay teams very long. There is no loyalty among the players, to any particular team or that team’s fans, so how can the fans be expected to be loyal to players? Some fans become fans of teams because of particular players. When those players jump to other teams, loyalty goes out the window. After a while, that’s a sure-fire formula for losing interest.

* * * * *

Once upon a time people tried to change minds and attitudes by using logic or other powers of verbal and/or emotional persuasion. Nowadays, it seems, all such efforts are filled with attempts to heap guilt feelings about one thing or another on others. It works sometimes, too. Otherwise, how could the politically correct exist?

Editorial expression in this feature represents our own views.
Opinions are limited to this page.

Obituaries

Beatrice ‘Bea’ Brubaker

ABBEVILLE — Beatrice “Bea” Blanchett Brubaker, 90, of 48 Cypress Chapel Road, wife of Capt. Joseph Brubaker, died Sunday, July 24, 2005 at her home.
Born in Abbeville County, she was a retired textile employee with Abbeville Mills and a member of Grace United Methodist Church.
Survivors include her husband of the home; two sons, Joey Brubaker of Abbeville and Richard Brubaker of Ray City, Ga.; four grandchildren; and six great-grandchildren.
Services are at 3 Tuesday at Grace United Methodist Church, conducted by the Rev. Darrin Hook. Burial is in Forest Lawn Memory Gardens.
The body is at The Chandler-Jackson Funeral Home.
Visitation is from 2-3 Tuesday at the church.
The family is at the home.
Memorials may be made to Grace United Methodist Church, 105 E. Greenwood St., Abbeville, S.C., 29620.
The Chandler-Jackson Funeral Home is in charge.

Ed Conway Jr.

NINETY SIX — Services for Ed Conway Jr. of 619 Wilson Bridge Road, are at 11 Tuesday at Friendship Baptist Church, conducted by the Rev. Joseph Caldwell, assisted by the Revs. Anthony Sims and Frank Williams. Burial is in the church cemetery. The body will be placed in the church at 10.
Pallbearers are nephews.
Flower bearers are nieces.
Visitation is tonight at the home.
The family is at the home.
Percival-Tompkins Funeral Home, Greenwood, is in charge.

Whitney Tilley

Whitney Lynn Tilley, 21, resident of 186 Deer Run died Saturday, July 23, 2005 at Baker Creek State Park. She was a daughter of Gary and Katy McConnell Tilley.
Whitney was working towards a pharmaceutical Technology degree at Piedmont Technical College. She was born with her twin Courtney in Kingsport, TN. As she always loved being with her family and friends, she was a cheerleader, ran cross-country and played softball at Abbeville High School. She continued as a captain of the cross-country team at Spartanburg Methodist College. Whitney also helped protect the lives of those around her through life guarding and teaching swimming lessons.
Whitney always had a smile for those around her and brought one to those who didn’t. By naturally having so much love to give, she always surrounded herself with family and friends, whether face-to-face, over the phone or by written word. Whitney would always be anxious to comfort others in such a time as this and her spirit will always remain a part of those who knew her.
Survivors are: parents Gary and Katy Tilley of the home, a twin sister Courtney Tilley of the home, paternal grandfather Bill Tilley of Kingsport, TN, maternal grandfather Woodrow McConnell of Kingsport, TN, aunt and uncle Mark and Trista Tilley of Simpsonville, SC, aunt Pam Tilley of Kingsport, TN, aunt and uncle Larry and Elizabeth Wright of Knoxville, TN, aunt and uncle Bill and Judy McConnell of Kingsport, TN, uncle Richard Onks of Kingsport, TN, and a number of cousins.
Funeral services will be conducted Tuesday, July 26, 2005 at 11:00 AM from the Due West ARP Church in Due West, SC with the Revs. Randy Taylor and Jerry Pickens officiating. The burial will follow in Long Cane Cemetery in Abbeville, SC.
The body is at The Chandler-Jackson Funeral Home. The family will receive friends Monday evening from 5:00 until 7:00 PM at Main St. United Methodist Church, Abbeville, SC.
The family is at the home 186 Deer Run, Abbeville, SC.
Memorials may be made to Main St. United Methodist Church 300 N. Main St. Abbeville, SC 29620 or to the American Cancer Society C/O Mrs. Conway Shirley PO Box 566 Due West, SC 29639.
The Chandler-Jackson Funeral Home Abbeville, SC is in charge of arrangements.
PAID OBITUARY

CORRECTIONS

n In the obituary for Serena Spencer Peterson, published Sunday, July 24, information provided was incorrect.
Services were at 3:30 Sunday at Floyd’s Mortuary, Greenlawn Chapel in Spartanburg, conducted by Richard Martin. Burial was in Greenlawn Memorial Gardens.
Memorials may be sent to Hospice Care of the Piedmont, 408 W. Alexander Ave., Greenwood, S.C., 29648 or to The American Cancer Society, P.O. Box 1741, Greenwood, S.C., 29648.
n In the obituary for Earlene Estelle Turman Richey, published Sunday, July 24, information provided was incorrect.
Survivors included a brother, “Sam” Rayford Slay of Abbeville.