By CHARLES MATHIS

Soon after retiring in 1995 from the business of making a living, Brenda Messer developed a fascination for preserving local history. And a strange thing happened: her fascination bloomed like a flower that displays bright colors in all seasons.
Now, 13 years later, she is North Carolina Historian of The Year.

Messer, who lives in Morganton, is a graduate of Western Piedmont Community College, where she majored in business administration and accounting and served as treasurer of the student body.

Through her working years, she was a lingerie inspector, an electrical component assembler, a healthcare technician, a server of pizza, a store operator, a U. S. Census taker, a cosmetics representative, a district executive for Avon, a gasoline dealer and food shop manager.

Messer, 60, did not take up her study of the past to make money. She writes history down for fun, puts it in books, records it on CDs and DVDs and gives lots of it away. She likes preserving all sorts of history, but especially the kind dealing with ancestors.
"I discovered that I really like putting flesh and bones on genealogical lines," she said. "I started off by compiling and editing information about my husband's forefathers."

Her list of accomplishments includes a dozen family history books, a number of them prizewinners, the first of which was published in 1997.

Her list of accomplishments includes a dozen family history books, a number of them prizewinners, the first of which was published in 1997.

She has also created a massive four-volume scrapbook detailing Burke County persons who served in the military during Operation Desert Storm/Desert Shield 1990-1991; a non-generic memorial bookmark of a historical nature for presenting to families whose loved ones have passed on; and a family history website called The Messerville Gazette.

Among Messer's other history projects is family medical research work in association with the Wake Forest University Medical Center, as well as the University of Utah Medical Center.

Her selection as Historian of The Year was a highlight of the North Carolina Society of Historians annual meeting and awards banquet held last fall in Sanford.

From the judges, Messer's historical accomplishments drew these comments:

--"A colossal amount of exhaustive research.

--"Superb documentation.

--"Tremendous dedication.

--"Well-researched text and exceptional color pictures.

--"A gem of a website.

--"(She's) playing an extremely important role in preserving and perpetuating our state's history."
Messer was also cited for making research easier for others, for her many generous donations to local libraries and private collections and for her "minuteman approach" in helping others take "another step back in time with regard to their family or local histories."

Messser became a member of the North Carolina Society of Historians in the late 1990s. In 2005, the society chose her to be the webmaster of its website www.ncsocietyofhistorians.org and in 2006, they elected her vice president of the society. She and her husband, Gene, have two daughters, Brenda, a graphics artist, and Rutha, a registered nurse; and three grandchildren, Christopher Stamper, Jacob and Joshua Bell, all of Morganton.