by the side of the road: phil chandler
by julie savage parker

There are pioneer souls that blaze the paths
Where highways never ran—
Let me live in my house by the side of the road
And be a friend to man.

Sam Walter Foss

My second or third visit to the BP in Mars Hill behind the wheel of my shiny new deep blue Subaru Forester (after years of driving a car held together with chewing gum and duct tape) Phil Chandler stood there with his arms folded and his eyes with their usual twinkle and said "I'm even more tickled than you are!"

Phil Chandler spends his days by the side of the road—at the BP station in Mars Hill. Pretty much everybody who stops by Chandler's BP in this tiny college town 25 minutes north of Asheville seems to be an old friend—even outsiders, like me. Both Phil and his son John, the owner of the BP, are gracious and welcoming, but it is Phil who is the past master of the Devilish Twinkle. (Though John is no slouch in the twinkle department!)

Uncertain how I was going to get the goods on Phil to write this little article, serendipity struck again. I was hanging out at the Visitor's Center visiting (of course) with my friend Martha Abraham when a woman walked in to discuss the benefits of Mars Hill Retirement Community next door. Who did she turn out to be but Phil's daughter and John's sister! Tammie gleefully agreed to give me the inside scoop.

But really, I don't know much about Phil Chandler and I don't need to know. He could be a model Boy Scout leader, a church elder, or the inventor of the finest mousetrap east of the Mississippi. Accomplishment does not lie solely in community leadership, degrees awarded, things invented or prizes won. The accomplishment I value most is when each encounter with the person brings joy, a smile, a grin. At Chandler's BP, Phil and John make sure each person stopping by is greeted with immense goodwill, valued, and sent off with a smile.

Ever since Phil first commented on the stacks of magazines that seem to have permanently taken up residence in the back of my Subaru, I've stopped by each month and handed Phil a WNC WOMAN or two. This month when I hand him the August issue (and let it fall open to page 17) I will be the one with the devilish twinkle!