Dean and Paulette Fowler of ReWEP Associates
"Remember the Alamo!" "Remember the Maine!" "Remember the wall-eyed pike!"
Huh? What wall-eyed pike? And why do we need to remember him?
Because he played a signifcant part in forging one of the most unique and successful partnerships in the Southern Web world and also because he can answer one of its most frequently asked questions: "What the heck does ReWEP Associates stand for anyway?"
When Mississippi-born Paulette Hartley moved to southern Arkansas in 1990 to help establish homes for developmentally disabled adults, she found herself working with Dean Fowler, a young man from Louisiana who'd earned a BA in social work from Southern Arkansas University and had been hired by the same agency to work on the project. They quickly discovered that no one else in the agency had had any experience with this sort of program, and thus began an uphill battle to open and staff the homes and get them running.
As Paulette now recalls it, "...there were weeks when every day seemed like a head-banger." They drew inspiration from a story they'd both heard on the radio during their separate commutes to work about a scientific experiment in which a wall-eyed pike was subjected to intense pain every time he tried to feed. Eventually the fish gave up all attempts to acquire food and chose to starve to death, with abundant food sources swimming all about him, rather than endure any more pain. Determined not to let a similar fear of pain and failure discourage them, Dean and Paulette adopted the wall-eyed pike as their mascot, often saying to each other when times got rough, "Remember the wall-eyed pike!" Eventually, they reduced the saying to the letters "ReWEP" and posted them on the wall, where they served as a constant reminder "to keep on head-butting until we overcame whatever the obstacle of the moment was, and that in spite of the pain, we would be successful with the important matters." Years later, when it came time to name their fledgling business, the choice was obvious.
The solid friendship forged during that early struggle eventually ripened into love, and when Dean decided to accept a job in another town, he and Paulette realized that marriage was the inevitable next step. The Fowlers moved to Little Rock in 1994 and began their lives together. After 24 years in the field, Paulette says she's done just about "everything possible" and is currently serving as the director of a center for children and adults with developmental disabilities. A licensed social worker, qualified mental retardation professional, and licensed nursing home administrator, Dean has worked mainly with adults who suffer from developmental disabilities. He recently retired as the adminstrator of a small residential facility and is now devoting all his energies to ReWEP Associates, the independent business that the Fowlers had always dreamed of having.
With their roots sunk deep in the rich soil of the South, Dean and Paulette always knew that whatever else their business did, it would involve their heritage in a significant way. As a child growing up in Columbus, Mississippi, Paulette was surrounded by Southern history and tradition. The women of Columbus had attracted national attention in the years immediately following the War by decorating the graves of Confederate and Yankee soldiers alike, prompting the first calls for a nationwide Memorial Day. Columbus was also the postwar home of Confederate General Stephen D. Lee, whose residence was once the site of Stephen D. Lee High School and now houses a museum. In addition, Paulette's swimming coach, a major history buff, made certain that his young charges visited any attraction of historical importance whenever they ventured out of Columbus for swim meets. As Paulette explains it, her Southern heritage was such an integral part of her life that she grew up being proud of it without really recognizing what she had.
A native of Homer, Louisiana, Dean recalls his hometown as a place where "the old ways are still in evidence." When he was in the third grade, he read a book about General Robert E. Lee and was hopelessly hooked. He haunted the Claiborne Parish library and by his own estimate eventually read every volume it had to offer about the War Between the States. An interest in genealogy acquired at the age of 12 increased his passion for his heritage, and when he discovered that an ancestor of his had fought for the South, "I knew which side I was on!" Now a member of David O. Dodd SCV Camp #619 in Benton, Arkansas, Dean also credits his two grandfathers as providing him with fine examples of what the "definitive Southern gentleman" should be.
In view of their backgrounds, it isn't surprising that when ReWEP first opened for business in 1995, its sole purpose was to market the Fowlers' book of Southern/Confederate war songs, "Sounds of the Gray." Since that simple beginning, ReWEP Associates has expanded to offer a wide range of Confederate merchandise, including mouse pads, bumper stickers and car tags, cards, documents, and other novelties. What ReWEP is undoubtedly best known for, however, is its outstanding journal, The Colour Guard, which is "dedicated to the preservation of a true Confederate and Southern history and the promotion of Southern culture." The Colour Guard, which first went online in May of 1996, "advocates a proactive strategy for preserving our Southern heritage, including displaying Southern cultural symbols, reading Southern literature, and listening to and playing Southern music." The journal also features letters to the editors, a calendar of events, guest columns, and heritage alerts.
Another area for which ReWEP is justly famed is its MIDI files, which can be heard playing on Southern Web sites across the 'Net. The musical genes of his maternal grandfather, Pat Richardson, and three years of formal piano lessons as a child started Dean down the road to to his current position as the undisputed King of Confederate MIDI Music. Dean insists that he learned more about the piano after he quit taking lessons and was finally free to play his way, ultimately becoming skilled enough to serve as the accompanist for Rocky Springs Baptist Church in Lisbon, Louisiana, throughout high school and college. He began playing the trumpet in the school band in fifth grade and pursued his studies through college ("I needed the scholarship"). He is self taught on the guitar, bass guitar, and percussion. He discovered the medium of the MIDI file quite by accident, when he and Paulette learned that music could be played on the World Wide Web. Seizing the opportunity to combine his main interests -- music and the South -- he quickly mastered the techniques involved in creating MIDI files and has become one of the most widely heard musicians in the CyberSouth.
The Fowlers ventured onto the Internet when they realized how many people could be reached quickly and inexpensively. "We wanted to do our part to get the word out about the South," explains Dean, "and to defend her honor, as well as to promote the League of the South....We joined the [Dixieland] Ring upon realizing that there needed to be some sort of clearinghouse of Southern web sites. It is such a good way to bring Southern sites of all types togther into a solid defense of our native land."
Thinking, no doubt, of his own eight-year-old son James and Paulette's grandchildren (she claims to be the world's youngest grandmother), Dean continues, "I believe it is imperative that we preserve our traditional Southern values for our children. Although we are typically branded as illiterate buffoons and barbarians, we in actuality are the last bastion of 'civil' civilization. The traditional conservative values associated with the South have long disappeared elsewhere -- if they ever existed -- and are under constant attack on our doorsteps."
Paulette adds, "People don't generally enter our home and leave without knowing that we love the South, her fallen defenders and what they were willing to sacrifice, and the truths she held to be self-evident. Our walls are adorned with pictures of our heroes, several of which are of Gen. Robert E. Lee. A genuflection at his portrait is always appropriate and in good taste."
As is a tip of the plumed hat to Paulette and Dean Fowler for all they have done and continue to do for the South.
above written and edited by Kathie Fraser
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