Donna Farmer

From the road, the simple, white, frame building that houses Teresa’s Antiques and Gallery in Berea has a worn and weathered look. Step inside to a cluttered world of collectible dolls, antique furniture, mirrors, stacks of magazines and books, racks of clothes, posters and artwork. It’s the world of Philip and Fanny Harrison. He’s 95, she’s 93, and together they are still going strong.
In fact, at the Gala on Derby Eve fundraiser in May for Hospice Care Plus, Philip and Fanny made the dancing scene at Eastern Kentucky University’s Keen Johnson Ballroom. Fanny has always loved to dance. When they married, Fanny told her husband, &#8220;You can be a wallflower if you want to, but I’m going to dance!” Philip confessed to being a timid wallflower but was game to learn.
Fanny laughs as she quips, “I led him around, taught him the two-step and then the square.”
And dance they did, throughout their married life and into their 90s. From street dancing in Berea to Saturday night square dancing at the fairgrounds in Broadhead and round dancing to the sound of Lawrence Welk at a club near Richmond, Philip and Fanny kept their feet moving.
Philip describes his earlier working life as farmer without a farm. In 1945, he purchased the first private Southern States farm and feed supply dealership in Kentucky and located it in the building that has the antiques store. For the next 28 years, he sold just about any agricultural product or service out of that store. At one time, he furnished the turkeys and chickens for Boone Tavern. While Philip was managing the Southern States dealership, Fanny was in the building next door running a grocery store, which included curing 200 hams per season.
They did all of this while raising three daughters. Today, both in their 90s, Philip and Fanny continue to work because . . . they can . . . and dance when they can.

Hard work and do-si-do