Watch Winnie the Hippo born at the Memphis Zoo grow up!
Read More
Reflections of Memphis; Coronavirus COVID-19 Pandemic April 2020
Reflections of Memphis; Coronavirus COVID-19 Pandemic April 2020
Read MoreMemphis Ukulele Flash Mob Play St. Jude Marathon
Photo Gallery Below -
VIDEO ABOVE-
Story and photos from the St. Jude Marathon in The Daily Memphian-
https://dailymemphian.com/section/metro/article/9334/st-jude-marathon
MY GIFTS HIGHLIGHTED IN MEMPHIS MAGAZINE
Special thanks to Memphis Magazine for including my art in their 2019 gift guide!
My 8 x 8 “Scenes of Memphis” canvases are featured in their Holiday Gift Guide this season. These can now be purchased at A. Schwab’s on Beale Street in downtown Memphis or from my website (www.karenpulferfocht.com).
These are perfect for grouping.
Schwab’s is a really fun place to visit, shop, and have an ice cream drink at their soda fountain. A. Schwab is the oldest surviving business on Beale Street. The store also has a few of my cards and a large selection of my Blues Coasters, always popular Memphis gifts.
Cybill Shepherd Honored in Memphis
Thursday, Sept. 5, 2019- Memphis-born Glamour cover girl Cybill Shepherd was honored in her hometown of Memphis, Tennessee. Still a beauty at age 69, Shepherd, has never forgotten her roots. She said she's always wanted to join Elvis Presley, Danny Thomas and the other influential Memphis figures who are immortalized on the sidewalk outside The Peabody hotel on the Duck Walk Hall of Fame. The event was timed to coincide with The Peabody's celebration of its 150th anniversary. The hotel was recently named Best Historic Hotel.
Shepherd, who was wearing rose colored glasses, now lives in Beverly Hills. She said she’d like to be named the “Queen of Memphis.” She spoke about singing in the choir as a child and reflected her days at East High School, remembering the day MLK was shot at the Lorraine Motel in downtown Memphis. She said her opera lessons here taught her to project her voice. She mused over a several memories from her childhood here and her movie career. She also shared that she’d recently became a grandmother.
She became teary eyed as she accepted her honor and kissed Peabody owner Jack Belz, 91, while thanking him. She mingled in the lobby, graciously posing for pictures, dancing to the music while visiting with friends and fans after the ceremony.
Jack Belz, CEO of Belz Enterprises, talked about the plush life for the ducks in their penthouse at the top of the hotel. Belz has been instrumental the resurgence of downtown Memphis. He is best known for bringing back The Peabody, which served as the impetus for the Downtown renaissance which followed. His wife of 71 years missed the celebration and was home after taking a fall.
Guests were served tasty hors d'oeuvres, champaign and pieces of a 500 lb. cake, designed to looked like the Peabody Hotel. The Memphis Symphony played dance music on the balcony overlooking the lobby. The ducked marched onward to their penthouse suite, as always, as the crowd looked on.
ELVIS WEEK, Graceland, Memphis, Tennessee 2019
Thousands of fans gather for the Candlelight Vigil in remembrance of the death of ELVIS PRESLEY at Graceland in Memphis, Tennessee. Presley passed away on August 16, 1977, at the age of 42. In the years since his death, fans from around the world gather each year at Graceland in Memphis, Tennessee in the days surrounding the anniversary of his death for the annual event known as Elvis Week. (Photos by Karen Pulfer Focht ©)
FOR SOME OF THE PREVIOUS COVERAGE OF THE KING BY MEMPHIS PHOTOJOURNALIST KAREN PULFER FOCHT SEE LINKS BELOW-
http://www.karenpulferfocht.com/blog/elvisweek2018
http://www.karenpulferfocht.com/blog/tag/Pricilla+Presley
http://www.karenpulferfocht.com/blog/2015/1/10/elvis-turns-80
https://www.todayonline.com/entertainment/music/presleys-1st-record-my-happiness-auctions-s401000
https://en.tempo.co/photo/54473/elvis-fans-mark-40th-anniversary-of-his-death#foto-6
Last Public Mass Held at Monastery of St. Clare
The Poor Clare Nuns held the last public mass on Sunday, Aug, 11 2019, at the Monastery of St Clare in Memphis. The nuns will be leaving the building that has housed their order since 1932 in the Frayser neighborhood. The monastery will be closed at the end of the year.
Memphis, Tenn. - Concealed behind tall brick walls and strong iron gates in a struggling Memphis neighborhood, nuns have been quietly praying for the city and its people since 1932.
Few people have been behind the walls of this monastery. The silent and prayerful lives of the women, who have chosen to live here in community, remain a mystery and a curiosity to most outsiders.
But they do have friends. The many friends of the Monastery of St. Clare, are a loyal group of followers who have supported them in every way you can imagine, only asking for prayer in return.
In a neighborhood that is plagued by crime and residents fighting to climb out of poverty, these women have chosen a life that St. Clare called the “privilege of highest poverty.” The nuns rely on their friends for generosity, food, donations and even occasional help around the monastery.
They have been called to a life of prayer and silence. To live in community and in radical poverty.
The day they celebrated the Feast of St. Clare, on August, 11th, 2019, the sisters were applauded for all the fruits of their prayer during their last public mass for the Catholics of Memphis. The chapel was full; it was standing room only.
“In these past 87 years, the community began to dwindle” explains Father Albert Haase during that mass. He shared their process of discernment with the worshipers in attendance. Gradually their community has gotten smaller and smaller; they prayed and asked “what does God want from us now?” Each of them came to realize, their mission here has been completed. “Their mission here is complete” he says “but their vocation goes on.”
Choked up, finding it difficult to get out the words that she had planned to share, Sister Marguerite said, “We are leaving, but we will continue to pray for you and you will always be in our hearts.”
She looked into the faces of the husbands, wives, children and elderly that she had spent a lifetime praying for, but she was unable to say more.
After the service, a small child, Emma Bills, 7, held onto her. She had been baptized at the monastery. Her grandparents lived near the monastery, her mother grew up near the monastery and they all had built a relationship with the sisters.
In May of 2018 the Vatican issued guidelines that all contemplative communities should have at least seven members. This, the last contemplative monastery in Tennessee, has dwindled to four.
So, they sought out ways to continue their vocations. They reached out to other Poor Clare communities around the country. Sister Anthony will be going to the Poor Clare’s in Cincinnati with Sister Alma. Sister Marguerite and Sister Claudia will be going to live with the Poor Clare’s at the Travelers Rest, South Carolina.
Written by Karen Pulfer Focht ©
Freelance Photojournalist in Memphis