MONETA (WSLS)-- It's been just over six months since a shooting at Smith Mountain Lake claimed the lives of two journalists, and the woman they were interviewing, Vicki Gardner, was shot in the back.
After several surgeries and months of recovery, Vicki has returned to work as the executive director of the Smith Mountain Lake Regional Chamber of Commerce. She's been back part-time for about a month now. Vicki says she's been busy as ever planning events for the lake's 50th Anniversary.
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"How could I not be so happy and enthusiastic to be back," asks Gardner. "When the incident happened, how does staff prepare for that? They just jumped in an took charge of everything."
While she was recovering, Vicki says she received thousands of cards from all across our region, the nation and around the world. Her daughters took just one of the many bins of cards, cut them up into different shapes and strips to create a beautiful mural that now hangs in her office.
"Each and every strip represents just one of the cards," she says. "As tiny or however they are, it all comes together to speak the language of recovery of community, of love and of prayers. It's all of the things that came our way to take a tragedy and turn it into something triumphant. That's my reminder every day when i come in here, it can't help but make you smile."
Just before the shooting, Vicki had been working on a painting of Smith Mountain Lake, that image is now the cover of this year's official guide to the lake.
Since her return, Vicki has been busy preparing for this year's 50th Anniversary events, including one of the first big ones-- Full Pond Day. Monday, March 7, marks 50 years since Smith Mountain Lake first reached full pond, and in honor of the anniversary a celebration is being held in nearby counties.
Bedford County, Franklin County and Pittsylvania County all boarder the lake. Over the last fifty years, the lake has brought a big economic boost to all three counties, especially over the past two decades. On Monday, historical highway markers will be unveiled in all three of the counties to honor the lake.
"For the last 25 years, we've had a very vibrant, growing, local community of people who are largely transplants of other places," says Bill Piatt, chair of the Smith Mountain Lake 50th Anniversary Steering Committee. "But they have truly come to love this corner of Virginia."
Other big events this summer include the YMCA Dam 50 Festival with a 50K race, Pirate Day and a world record challenge attempt. The SML Chamber of Commerce has more on all of the 50th Anniversary events taking place this year.