The clean smell of cypress wood fills the air in Dorman Dowdy’swoodworking shop. Stacks of wood are on hand, ready to be made intoswings and garden furniture.

Dowdy hasn’t always been a woodworker. A native of New Albany,he volunteered for the Navy at age 17, and spent two years servingin the Pacific during World War II. He went to Mathiston to attendWood Junior College, where he began studies to be a coach andphysical education instructor. Most importantly, Wood JuniorCollege was where he met Virginia, his future wife, who is a nativeof Mathiston. Two years later they were married.

Dorman finished his education at Memphis State University and in1950 began teaching school at Belden. Later he taught at NewAlbany.

In 1961 he left teaching to work with the USDA. After histraining was completed in 1962, Dorman was assigned to LincolnCounty in the Agricultural Stabilization and Conservation Service(now Farm Service Agency) and the Dowdy family moved toBrookhaven.

“We’ve been here ever since,” Dorman said.

Dorman and Virginia raised two children in Brookhaven: adaughter, Sharon, who now lives in Dallas, and a son, Rodney, wholives in Columbus.

In 1989 Dorman retired from ASCS, and the Dowdys decided to stayin Brookhaven.

“When you’ve lived somewhere almost 30 years, it has becomehome, and the place you came from isn’t the same as you remember,”Dorman explained.

Dorman’s interest in woodworking began a few years before hisretirement.

“Fifteen years ago my son got married, and he asked me to buildthem a swing,” Dorman recalled. “I had three pieces of equipment: ajigsaw, a sander, and a small table saw. I built his swing, workingout under my carport.”

Dorman soon found that one favor leads to another.

“My daughter saw her brother’s swing, and she asked for one, andthat is how it all began,” he said.

A few hundred swings later, Dorman has now perfected his ownpattern.

“The swings I make now don’t resemble that first pattern verymuch,” he said.

Virginia takes care of paperwork for Dorman, handlingtelephoning and bookkeeping.

“She’s also my final inspector,” Dorman said, with a laugh.

“He accuses me of having too good an eye,” Virginiaacknowledged.

“She has an eye like an eagle,” Dorman said.

Virginia makes a contribution to changes in design, as well.

“I’m the ‘comfort inspector'” she said. “I make suggestionsabout how a piece ‘fits’ when you sit in it.”

Dorman hasn’t limited his woodworking to swings. He makesAdirondack chairs, rockers, and gliders, too. The first Adirondackchairs he made were for Virginia, and they are still on the Dowdys’patio.

Dorman prefers to make his furniture from cypress that he buysfrom a local timber company. He has the logs transported to afriend’s sawmill in Jayess, where they are sawed into boards. Theboards are brought back to Dorman’s shop, where he stacks them toair dry for about a year. Once they are planed and ripped to size,they are ready to be made into furniture. Occasionally he will makea cedar piece at someone’s request.

Dorman estimates he makes between 50 and 60 pieces a year. Mostof the time he has a backorder list, especially in the spring whenpeople are turning attention to their yards.

“I stay as busy as I want to be,” Dorman explained. “I work whenI want to and quit when I want to.”

Dorman supplies some garden shops with his furniture. The Dowdysalso go to five or six craft shows a year.

“It’s a lot of fun, just visiting with the people,” Dormansaid.

People have ordered the swings and had them shipped to theirhomes, from California to Pennsylvania. Some have driven from asfar away as Birmingham, Ala., and Jonesboro, Ark., to purchase aswing.

One rainy afternoon Virginia opened her door to find Mary AnnMobley and Gary Collins standing there. They bought a swing fortheir home in California.

His woodworking has been important to Dorman in another way.Twenty years ago he was diagnosed with chronic leukemia. He hascoped well with the disease.

“My shop is my physical therapy,” he said. “It keeps me going,that and the Lord.”

Dorman has plenty of other things that keep him busy. He hasbeen a member of Exchange Club for 38 years. He is currently thevice president and president-elect of the club and will be fairchairman next year. Virginia joins in his work with Exchange,helping with whatever fair booth he is working. This year theDowdys enjoyed having their six grandsons, ages 5-15, down for afew days during the fair.

Dorman also raises a vegetable garden, which is strictly hisproject. Virginia prepares the harvest once he brings it in, butDorman handles the actual gardening.

“I don’t let her in the garden,” he remarked with a grin.

“I like working in the yard,” Virginia added.

Dorman and Virginia are members of First Baptist Church, whereVirginia is a member of the Senior Choir and WMU. They also belongto the church’s senior group, L.L.L.

Dorman’s other big interest is hunting. He likes to go toColumbus to hunt deer with his son and grandsons, and they come toBrookhaven to hunt turkey with him.

“You don’t get a swing during deer or turkey season,” Virginiasaid.

Dorman agreed, laughing. He readily admits that he is one ofthose people who stays so busy in retirement, he doesn’t know howhe ever had time to work.

The woodcraft he practices now, begun as a simple favor for hischildren, has brought hours of relaxation and enjoyment to manypeople, including Dorman himself.