Nelson’s ‘Homecoming’ king

Earl Hamner is coming home to the wooded Virginia mountains he never really left.

As a young soldier in France during World War II, he was comforted by memories of hearth and family. The musings eventually took form in the novel “Spencer’s Mountain,” published in 1961.

“I remember taking notes for ‘Spencer’s Mountain’ in the hedgerows of Normandy,” Hamner said recently via telephone from his home in Studio City, Calif. “I guess I was homesick.

“The book was a pretty big success back in those days and became a film with Henry Fonda and Maureen O’Hara. As a sequel to that, I wrote a short novella called ‘The Homecoming,’ based on a Christmas Eve in 1933.

“My father was working in Waynesboro at the time. There was a snowstorm, and he didn’t get home until quite late. That’s the story, but around it I wove a lot of legends and characters.”

The novella was turned into the 1971 television movie “The Homecoming: A Christmas Story.” As many people know, this spun off the popular television series “The Waltons,” which aired from 1972 to 1981.

A fundraiser and upcoming stage production of “The Homecoming” in the Hamner Theater of the Rockfish Valley Community Center brings the television writer and producer back home in body and spirit. “An Evening with Earl Hamner” will be held on Thursday, with all proceeds from the $50-a-person event benefiting the theater.

Things get under way at 6 p.m. with a reception for Hamner, at which he will be signing copies of his books. He is the author of five novels and three nonfiction books, one of which is “Good Night, John Boy,” an account of the creation of the television series “The Waltons.”

“One of my books that will be there is titled ‘Generous Women,’ ” said Hamner. “It’s a memoir based on ladies I’ve known from Eleanor Roosevelt to Jimmy Carter’s mother, Lillian.

“There’s a funny story in the book about Mrs. Carter visiting my mother. We happened to be filming at my mother’s house in Schuyler when she dropped by to visit her. It was January and cold.

“We had cables running all through the house, so the doors were open. I was somewhere in Schuyler looking for another location when someone told me the president’s mother was at the house.”

Hamner hurried back to the house and found Mrs. Carter and his mother huddled together in the living room with blankets around their shoulders.

“I said hello to Mrs. Carter and all she said was, ‘I’ll speak to you later,’ ” Hamner said with a chuckle in his voice. “Eventually she came outside and said to me, ‘Are you the one who works in Hollywood?’

“I said, ‘Yes ma’am.’ She then said, ‘Well, I would think you would make enough money to give your mother a warm house.’ I explained that I did, but we were running cables through the rooms.

“Her reply to that was, ‘Well, warm this place up.’ I followed her to the front gate where her limo was waiting. The gate had been broken and was sort of hanging on a hinge. She turned back to me and the last thing she said was, ‘And fix this gate.’ ”

At 7:30 p.m., Hamner will read from the novella that helped him create television history. He also will be joined by the cast of “The Homecoming,” which will be presented at the theater Thursdays through Saturdays from Nov. 19 to Dec. 13.

“I’m very proud of the theater, which is a project of Rockfish Valley Community Center,” Hamner said. “Boomie Pedersen, the director of ‘The Homecoming,’ has had New York experience and is very good.

“When they offered to name the theater after me, I was carried away. It’s certainly wonderful to be honored by your home county.

“I do hope people will come out for the event to support the theater, because it’s important.”

Hamner, who turned 86 in July, has no intentions of slowing down. He continues to write for television as well as publications, having three short stories published just this month.

One of the pieces was for an anthology being published by the widow of Rod Serling, creator of the popular television series “The Twilight Zone.” Hamner wrote eight of the episodes.

“My favorite ‘Twilight Zone’ episode I wrote was called ‘The Hunt,’ ” Hamner said. “It’s about an old man who dies, and when

he gets to the door to what he thinks is heaven, they won’t allow his dog in, so he won’t go in.

“It turns out that it was really the gates to hell, and they’re trying to lure him in. They don’t make television like that anymore. It’s deplorable what has happened to television.

“I’m currently peddling a family show I wrote that’s about a family that moves back to Virginia to build on the foundations of their ancestors. I have another project that’s being looked at by investors that’s about the operation of a hotel by a family.

“It has to do a lot with how this family pulls together. So I’m trying.”

In a few days, Hamner will return to the mountains and people he has written about most of his life. He said it will be a sentimental journey, and also one tinged with sadness.

“I’ve lost so many people I love,” Hamner said. “In the beginning we were eight children in all, and now I have only two sisters and a brother still alive.

“At my age, I lose friends constantly. I recently tried to reach one of my Army buddies and his wife said, ‘Oh, I wish you would have called last week.’

“I hope so much there’s a few autumn leaves left when I get back. But even so, it’s always incredible to be able to come back to places I love, that I remember, and touch my roots again.”

The event “An Evening With Earl Hamner” is 6 p.m. Thursday at Hamner Theater in the Rockfish Valley Community Center at 190 Rockfish School Lane, on Route 151 between Nellysford and Afton.

Tickets are $50 and can be reserved by calling 361-1999.

Dessert and coffee will be served, and there will be a cash bar. Seating is limited.