When Rose Ann Wade’s father died four years ago, the funeral home asked her mother to bring 25 pictures spanning his life to be used for a slide show. Despite being grief-stricken and exhausted from caring for her ill husband for more than a year, Wade’s mother stayed up long into the night searching for and selecting just the right photographs to chronicle her husband’s life.

At several points in its long history, Jonesville, the oldest town in our Yadkin Valley, has nearly lost its identity. Before the Civil War, Jonesville was one of the busiest towns west of Ralei…