280 Living
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October Features
Volume 5 | Issue2011 2 | October 2011 | October | w
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HOOVER in Riverchase Plaza • 444-2282 INVERNESS Hwy 280 in Inverness Plaza • 408-0020
Limited time offer. Please visit club for details or online at planetfitness.com.
Encouraging cancer patients with faith By MADOLINE MARKHAM
Home Features | Section B Editor’s note
A4
Fall festivals
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Cemeteries on Hwy. 119
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Oak Mtn.: Generation Next
A10
People you should know
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School House
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Sports
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Restaurant Showcase
A18
Business Spotlight
A19
Somerby Tailwagger Treats
B6
Ministry Spotlight
B7
Library Happenings
B8
Rick Watson
B9
Kari Kampakis
B10
Paul Johnson
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280 Business Happenings
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Calendar of Events
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Music Listings/Classifieds
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After 25 years of doing cancer research at UAB, Karen Allen found herself as a breast cancer patient in Kirklin Clinic. The experience was certainly not what she expected when she prayed for God to grow her faith, but the eight-year survivor has used her trials to form a ministry to encourage others. “Each cancer experience is unique, but the theme is still the same because God doesn’t change,” she said. “You are not alone even though you feel so alone. God enters the path with you, and for me that gave me supernatural peace and joy in the midst of crisis.” In 2010, Allen, a Sylacauga native who has lived in Broken Bow for the past 26 years, published Confronting Cancer with Faith, a Bible study for cancer patients, survivors and co-survivors, as well as anyone who wants to learn how to better minister to someone going through cancer treatments. “It’s not just my story,” she said. “It’s my story integrated into Biblical parallels and relevant scripture” It was writing email updates during cancer treatments that first made Allen
Author and Broken Bow resident Karen Allen with her Bible study, Confronting Cancer with Faith, and CD, “The Comfort of His Holiness.” Photo by Madoline Markham. realize she could be a writer; friends who received the updates told her she should encourage others through her writing. “People I knew said the emails
inspired them,” she said. “I didn’t know it at the time, but the people I sent it to
See KAREN ALLEN | page A9
Jim Phillips: historical detective By RICK WATSON Jim Phillips digs history—literally. As one who was always fascinated with history, Phillips, who lives off Valleydale Road, took up metal detecting a few years ago and opened a whole new world of historical videography. Phillips started finding many historical objects: old coins, store tokens, buttons and eating utensils from the 1800s. Each object he found had an interesting story behind it about early Birmingham and antebellum Alabama. The deeper he dug, the more interesting the stories became. After discovering old dumps in Birmingham, he found medicine, soda and ink bottles from the 1800s that taught him about Birmingham’s early bottling history. “Bottles are beautiful. You find them in different shapes and multi-colored glass,” he said. Many say that Birmingham has one of the richest soda bottling histories in America, said Phillips. He said that from the late 1800s to 1915, there were over 50 bottlers with home offices in Birmingham. A professional videographer since 1983, it was only natural that Phillips would combine the skills he’d learned in the corporate world with his passion for history. He’s now filmed histories of Jefferson County, St. Clair County,
Historical videographer Jim Phillips checks the date on a coin found with his metal detector. Photo by Rick Watson.
Southern Aviation, Old Tannehill Furnace and Birmingham-Southern College. His brother, Dr. Doug Phillips, is also a noted Alabama naturalist who produces
s a l o n s p a
www.richardjosephsalonspa.com Inverness Village - 205.991.0065
the Alabama Public Television series Discovering Alabama. One of the most interesting projects for
See HISTORY | page A11