One Dream - Two Sisters - Three
Years
by Linda Berry
The Dream: In the spring of 2005, my sister Denese Freeman and I offered to take on the responsibility of publishing a printed quarterly magazine for the Women’s Bass Fishing Association managed by Willie and Carol Cook. We spent several weeks planning the layout and design of the magazine and contacting advertisers and finding a printing company. We knew we had taken on a huge responsibility, but it was a chance for both of us to use our talents and give back to the sport of fishing. As fate would have it, our excitement turned to dismay when we were told that the WBFA was shutting down. Not only was our dream of publishing a magazine shattered, but we were no longer going to be able to fish with all the great women we had met on the tour. It turned out to be a blessing in disguise.
At the Bassmaster Classic in July of 2005, BASS announced plans for a Women’s Bassmaster Tour. I emailed Denese and asked her if she still wanted to work on a magazine for women anglers. I told her about the new tour announcement. She had immediate reservations. I however had a new idea. We both had computers. She was a graphic designer and I liked to write. Why not publish an on-line magazine? Her next question was “What would we call it?” I told her to think about it and I would do the same.
Denese had purchased a domain name several months earlier called ebassfish. It suddenly occurred to me that ebassfish.com would be the perfect name for our magazine. I called her immediately to see if she shared my excitement and would be willing to give it a try. We had a name for it all along and didn’t realize it. She said “yes” and in September of 2005 we launched ebassfish.com – an on-line magazine devoted to promoting women anglers.
Two Sisters: To help you better understand the significance of our dream, I need to go back a few years. Denese was three years old when I married and moved away from our home in Hooks, Texas in 1966. After living in several states for various reasons during my twenties, I finally settled in North Carolina – some 1200 miles away from my family. I was not around to see Denese grow up and only saw her once or twice a year at most from 1966 to 2001 when I went to visit my parents. On one of my visits to Texas in the early 90s, I hired a fishing guide and invited her to go with me. We fished on Lake Monticello in northeast Texas and had a great time.
Over the years, we seldom talked by phone and I did not have a computer. My son gave me my first computer 8 years ago. It was very frustrating trying to learn how to use it. Denese had gone to college and had worked with computers for some time. She was excited because now we could communicate by email. The computer opened up a whole new world for me. It also kept Denese and I connected and gave us a chance to get to know each other.
In February of 2001 I was diagnosed with breast cancer. I was also in the middle of planning my wedding to my present husband Dennis. I would be undergoing radiation during that time. Denese flew to North Carolina a couple of weeks before the wedding and helped me with all the details for the wedding ceremony and accompanied me to some of my radiation treatments. While she was in North Carolina, I did manage to take her out to a local lake one day to go bass fishing.
Neither of us are strangers to fishing. Our mother taught us to fish as kids. It is a common bond that we already shared and one that would eventually bring us full circle as sisters. I started tournament bass fishing in 1990, bought my first boat in 1995 and joined a bass club in 1997. When I wasn’t working, I was fishing. After my cancer diagnosis in 2001, my fishing took on a whole new purpose and is the one thing that kept me sane during my surgery and treatments.
Denese and I continued to communicate by email. In 2003, I told her about a women’s tournament that was being held on Grand Lake of the Cherokees in Oklahoma. She lived in Lawton, Oklahoma. I invited her to fish her very first bass tournament. We both fished as co-anglers. I finished in 8th place and she finished in 10th. I was very proud of her.
When the WBT was announced in 2005, we both fished the inaugural event on Lake Lewisville in Texas and have fished all the WBT tournaments together thus far. We use the events as an opportunity to visit with each other. This is even more important for us now since the passing of our mother in 2004.
Being sisters who are 15 years apart in age has also been an adjustment . I grew up as the oldest of 4 siblings and helped our mother keep house and cook and care for my younger siblings until I married and moved to California immediately after graduating from high school. This was during the late 60's and I easily fell into the "Hippie" era. I was actually living in San Francisco during the Haight-Ashbury riots in 1967. My musical taste back then was Janis Joplin, Joe Cocker and Three Dog Night. By the time I reached my 30's I had settled down and I now consider myself a country girl. I love classic country music and bluegrass, but I still listen to the rebellious music of the 60's.
Denese spent most of her childhood like an "only child" because the rest of us had married and moved on with our lives by the time she was in grade school. She is the only one of us who had sense enough to go to college. She is totally opposite from me when it comes to music and her favorite singer/songwriter is Dan Fogelberg. She is much more laid-backed than I am. One humorous fact from our past kept our mother confused for the longest time. I divorced a guy named Richard to marry a guy named Dennis and Denese divorced a guy named Dennis to marry a guy named Richard. Poor Mom!
Three Years: September, 2008 will be the three year anniversary of ebassfish.com. The “e” in ebassfish is our mother’s first initial as well as my sister Denese. They both share the first name of Erva. Our website and on-line magazine is dedicated to the memory of our mother. The only time I can remember our mother being truly happy was when she was fishing. We will always be grateful to her for taking the time to teach us to fish as children. It was her legacy that brought Denese and I back together after years of separation while our lives had drifted in different directions.
The past three years publishing the ebassfish website have been a roller coaster ride at times. Our mistakes have made us stronger and wiser as my sister and I strive to keep our dream alive. It is the friends we have made along the way that keep us going and the positive comments from our readers and fellow WBT anglers that let us know we are doing something right. Thank you for your continued support.
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