Naomi Fleetwood Pyle’s husband, David, says that her tombstone should read, “Does this girl know how to have fun or what?”
Her daughter, Kelly Hatton, says her childhood friends would say, “I wish I had a mom like that.”
Those are the kinds of observations one would expect about someone who travels the world teaching clogging; directs plays, tribute shows and variety shows; has hosted an interview-format television show; owns a flower shop; and still finds plenty of time to dote on her grandkids.
Naomi Fleetwood Pyle has mastered the art of staying busy with undertakings she loves. This spring has seen her conduct clogging workshops in Texas, California and New York state; direct a country music tribute show; and direct the stage comedy “Farce of Nature.” The rest of the year’s calendar is filling up as well, including clogging bookings in Daytona Beach and Las Vegas.
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Fun has always seemed to accompany her. The Columbus native says that at high school dances fellow attendees would say, “OK, Naomi, get us started.” During her years at Columbus High School, she participated in The Sensational Sixties, the school’s annual variety show.
“I’m basically an attention junkie,” she confesses.
She did ply a fairly button-down trade for a considerable stretch. She was an accountant for Arvin Industries, a now-defunct Columbus-based manufacturer of automotive exhaust systems and appliances, for about 20 years.
“There’s a side of my brain that wants to see things balance,” she explains.
Even during that period, though, she found outlets for her ebullience.
She hosted a weekly show called “Columbus Today” on a local cable channel for nine years. She interviewed musical acts, government officials and people from social agencies, among others.
Hosting that program is how she came to be a flower shop proprietor. The previous owner of Flowers from the Woods, located on the city’s east side, was one of the show’s advertisers and asked Pyle to buy her business. Pyle knew exactly nothing about being a florist, so she went to work for the previous owner for six months before making the purchase.
Daughter Kelly manages the shop, so Pyle can maintain her hectic theater and clogging schedule. Kelly has arranged her own schedule to be able to accompany her mother on some trips.
Along the way, Pyle met and married David, who has a forestry background and also owns a business, Timber Sales and Management. While he is 20-plus years younger, she says the age difference doesn’t really factor into their relationship.
Pyle continued to find outlets for her passion for dancing. She taught line dancing at a venue called County Line Rodeo for several years.
Once she was introduced to clogging, a dance form that includes such elements as Appalachian flat-footing, Irish dance and Canadian step-dancing, she “went crazy for it.”
She was a pioneer in the trend of U.S. clogging instructors conducting workshops in Europe. She’s taught in Germany, Austria, France, the Netherlands and Denmark.
The acting activities began with a trip to see a play at The Pines in Seymour with her husband and parents-in-law.
“My father-in-law said, ‘You could do that,’” she recalls. “I filled out a form for the theater group in Seymour, and they sent me an audition notice. Then I had the bug.”
She then met Pete Law, who was affiliated with Willow Leaves of Hope, a combination gift shop, restaurant and performance venue on the town square in Hope. In 2008, he invited Pyle to collaborate on a play, which led to their forming the Actors Studio of Hope. She estimates that she’s directed about 30 shows over the years.
It’s unsurprising that she would be friends with Robert Hay-Smith, proprietor of Harlequin Theater, where he directs plays and books music and comedy acts. He is obviously impressed with her stage chops. He let her direct a comedy, the “Dixie Swim Club,” the only time he has ever farmed out direction for a Harlequin production.
Daughter Kelly says that Pyle “lights up a room” upon entering it. She also speaks emphatically of her mother’s loyalty.
“When you’re her friend, you’re her friend for life. She goes all the way. It’s that way with any relationship she has.”
That surely explains her multitude of friends in so many fields of endeavor in so many states and countries. She leaves a bit of the signature Naomi Pyle dazzle wherever she goes.
