Apple Country Woodcrafters receive a rare request and it provides

May 22, 2023

HENDERSONVILLE - The Apple Country Woodcrafters had a special request recently, and it provided.

The local nonprofit organization located off Sugarloaf Road in Hendersonville is known for its annual holiday Toy Campaign, where it makes wooden toys for children. The members of the Woodcrafters were asked to make a memorial vessel to hold the cremated remains of a local veteran.

The request was made by Diane Rindone LeDane and the vessel was for her late father, Gaspare Rindone, who served in the US Navy in World War II. According to Diane LeDane, after her father served in the war, he was well known for packing up his four kids in the family RV for visits along the East Coast. To honor his memory, last month she asked Apple Country Woodcrafters to construct a wooden RV.

Robert "Bob" Sebby of the Woodcrafters went to work on what would be called "The Winnebago to Heaven" and presented it to Diane LeDane recently. Not long after Sebby presented the Winnebago to LeDane, she made another request.

"She was so pleased she has forwarded a request to Bob for a 'trailer' in which to put her mother's cremains so as to rejoin the couple for the ride to heaven," Gary Mach of the Apple Country Woodcrafters told the Times-News on June 1.

Apple Country Woodworkers has been in business for the past 35 years and has over 225 members. According to its website, it's dedicated to education and the development of wood working skills and invites new members to join and take advantage of the 3,700 square foot equipped and stocked woodshop, and the advice and camaraderie of fellow woodworkers.

More information is available at http://www.applecountrywoodcrafters.org.

Dean Hensley is the news editor for the Hendersonville Times-News. Email him with tips, questions and comments at [email protected]. Please help support this kind of local journalism with a subscription to the Hendersonville Times-News.