•March 4, 2020•
By Ellen Ferrera
for The News Progress

Growing up in Sullivan Earl Jeffers had a rare opportunity to apprentice to his father who had an automotive repair business.
In addition to learning about automotive repairs, maintaining tools, welding, and brake repairing he watched his father teach himself woodworking.
Wayne Jeffers, Earl’s father, made violins for all of his children and they are cherished family possessions today.
Earl earned his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from Eastern Illinois University and a Ph.D. in Educational Leadership from Southern Illinois University. He taught in elementary schools, worked for some years in industry and then returned to be Superintendent at an Area Vocational School near Mt. Vernon.
He lost his wife to pancreatic cancer when she was 51.
Some twenty years ago he and his second wife, a professional portrait artist, retired near Ashville, North Carolina. There he joined a local wood-turner club and eventually became a founder and President of the Western North Carolina Wood-turners club.     Login or Subscribe to read the rest of this story.