Discover St. Clair February & March 2014

Bob Barnett Boat Builder • Painter John Lonergan • Peanut Bill Historic Bank Building Saved • Jefferson State • The Case for CASA

February & March 2014

Politicians of Note When the day is done, beat goes on for these officials

Secret Camp Sibert

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Features and Articles Discover

The Essence of St. Clair COVER STORY

Politicians When day is done for these officials, the beat goes on

Top Secret Camp Sibert Page 20

of

NOTE Page 30 The Peanut Man

Bill Seals’ way in the world Page 8

Rolling Stores

When the businesses came to you Page 14

Business Briefing

TFR&B gets new home Jefferson State

Painter John Lonergan Page 38

Argo’s first pharmacy

Page 46 Page 52

Page 58 Eye doctor restores historic Ashville bank building Page 60

Meat ’N Three

Culinary heartbeat of county Page 62

Wood Carver

Bob Barnett boat builder Page 68

No fear of new challenges Page 74

The Case for CASA

Page 78

Wetland Project

Page 82

February & March 2014

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Writers AND Photographers Carol Pappas

Graham Hadley

Carol Pappas is editor and publisher of Discover The Essence of St. Clair Magazine. A newspaper veteran, she retired as editor and publisher of The Daily Home, St. Clair Times and Lakeside Magazine to start her own multimedia company. She has been published in various newspapers and magazines, won dozens of writing awards in features, news and commentary and was named Distinguished Alabama Community Journalist at Auburn University for 2011.

Graham Hadley is the managing editor and designer for Discover The Essence of St. Clair Magazine and also manages the magazine website. Along with Carol Pappas, he left The Daily Home as managing editor to become vice president of the Creative Division of Partners by Design multimedia company. An Auburn journalism graduate, Hadley also served as the news editor for The Rome News Tribune in Rome,Ga.

Jerry C. Smith

Elaine Hobson Miller is a freelance writer with a B.A. in Journalism from Samford University. She was the first female to cover Birmingham City Hall for the Birmingham Post-Herald, where she worked as reporter, food editor and features writer. A former editor of Birmingham Home & Garden magazine and staff writer for Birmingham magazine, she has written for a variety of local, regional and national publications.

Jerry C. Smith’s interest in photography and writing go back to his teen years. He has produced numerous articles, stories and photographs for local websites and regional newspapers and magazines, including the St. Clair County News, Sand Mountain Living, and Old Tennessee Valley. His photos have appeared in books, on national public television, in local art displays and have captured prizes in various contests. A retired business machine technician and Birmingham native, Jerry now lives near Pell City. He recently published two books: Uniquely St. Clair and Growing Up In The Magic City.

Leigh Pritchett

For more than 25 years, Leigh Pritchett has been involved in the publishing industry.

She was employed for more than a decade

by The Gadsden Times. During that time, she held various positions, including reporter, copy editor, Lifestyle writer and Lifestyle editor. Since the 1990s, she has been a freelance writer. Her work has been published in online and print venues, such as the statewide newspaper, The Alabama Baptist.

She holds the Bachelor of Arts degree in English from the University of Montevallo.

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Elaine Miller

Loyd McIntosh Loyd McIntosh is a freelance writer and former news reporter and sports writer for several newspapers throughout the Southeast, including The Daily Home. In over 10 years as a freelance writer, he has published work in a variety of magazines. He is a native of Trussville and now lives in Pell City with his wife, Elizabeth, and daughters Emily Grace and Lily.

Jane Newton Henry Jane Newton Henry is a freelance writer with an M.A. degree from The University of Alabama. She has retired from Alabama Power Co., where she worked as a writer and editor in the Public Relations Department.

She was an adjunct instructor at The University of Alabama and Samford University. Her work has appeared in publications and online. She co-authored Leeds, a pictorial history of the small Alabama city.

Mike Callahan

Wallace Bromberg Jr.

Mike Callahan is a freelance photographer who resides on Logan Martin Lake in Pell City. He specializes in commercial, nature and family photography. Mike’s work has been published in Outdoor Alabama Magazine, Alabama Trucking Association and Alabama Concrete Industries magazines. Publishing his work to the internet frequently, he has won many honors for pictures of the day.

Wally was born in Birmingham. He graduated from Mountain Brook High School in 1973, and went on to Auburn University where he graduated in 1976 with his BA in History and minors in German and Education. Wally’s skills in photography blossomed during college. Upon graduation, he entered his father’s business, National Woodworks, Inc.

DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • February & March 2014

From the Editor

Finding ways to say, ‘Yes!’

Back in my newspaper days, I used to have a saying to our staff about our readers and advertisers: “Find a way to say, ‘yes.’ ” After all, without them, I didn’t see much potential in our survival.

Now in the magazine business, my philosophy hasn’t changed one bit. When our readers or advertisers talk, we listen. Because of them, our magazine grows. Because of them, it is chocked full of the stories and photographs that define our journey to discover the essence of St. Clair County and sometimes, a bit beyond. Because of them, our magazine has become their magazine.

And that’s exactly what we want.

Our readers have come to think of us as friends, their neighbors to whom they want to tell their stories. And we welcome them.

In the harried pace of everyday life around here, it might be easy to let the phone go to voicemail. But that’s not the way we do it. Every caller on the other end is important to us.

We are uplifted when people like Mary Kelly over in Odenville feel comfortable enough to call and let us know that Nancy Batson Crews, the “First Lady of Flight” we did a story on the issue before, was named on page 252 of Fannie Flagg’s new book.

When Ann Wilson in Stone Mountain, Georgia, shares her reminiscences about Springville and the Herring Hotel she remembered as a little girl, we listen. It’s how we learn.

We love it when Carl Coupland down in Moody calls with his latest idea for a ‘good story.’ He pitches it and thankfully, we catch it. It’s always a good one.

Then, there are the people we don’t know by name who simply call to say they like the magazine and add, ‘You ought to do a story on. …”

And if we haven’t done that story already, we hope that by now, you can guess our standard reply. It may take a while since there are so many stories, but we get there eventually.

The reason is simple. We find a way to say, ‘yes,’ because we know without you, there won’t be “us” for very long.

Carol Pappas Editor and Publisher

Discover The Essence of St. Clair

February & March 2014 • Vol. 16 • www.discoverstclair.com

Carol Pappas • Editor and Publisher Graham Hadley • Managing Editor and Designer Brandon Wynn • Director of Online Services Mike Callahan • Photography Wallace Bromberg Jr. • Photography Arthur Phillips • Advertising

A product of Partners by Design www.partnersmultimedia.com 6204 Skippers Cove Pell City, AL 35128 205-335-0281

Printed at Russell Printing, Alexander City, AL

DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • February & March 2014

7

The Peanut Man

Bill Seals’ way in the world

8

Story Leigh Pritchett Photos by Mike Callahan

For almost half a century, Bill Seals has sold bag upon bag of parched or boiled peanuts.

This is why he is affectionately known about town as “Peanut Bill.”

Sometimes, he could be seen walking – basket of peanuts in hand — to the businesses in town.

Sometimes, he was a pedaling peddler, riding his threewheeled cycle along the city streets. Sometimes, he set up his stand at a grocery store.

To many, he has become a symbol of this city and of what is right and good.

“He’s just part of Pell City,” observed Tina Ailor, manager of Food Outlet, where he sometimes sells his signature goods.

Seals started selling peanuts when he was 17. And with a laugh, he said he did not plan for it to be long term.

Now, Seals — who will be 66 in March — never intends to retire from it.

“I like it too much,” he said.

Selling peanuts, he explained, has allowed him to meet many people and establish strong friendships.

“I’ve got real good friends in Pell City,” Seals said. “I love selling peanuts, and I love my friends.”

Just moments after birth, Seals suffered two strokes that left him with physical challenges. Yet, he decided as a young boy that he would not allow this to hold him back. Instead, Seals resolved, “I’m going to go forward, if it kills me.”

He spent his formative years in Chicago, Ill., and in Leeds, where his dad was a saw-miller. He credits his father, the late Clyde Seals, for instilling a strong work ethic.

“He put the want-to (in me),” Seals said.

“I’ve always wanted to work,” Seals continued. “The Bible says, ‘Work.’ It never hurt me!”

As a boy, Seals looked to adulthood with the aspiration of owning a car and a home and having food to eat. He was determined to meet those goals.

“When I was a boy, the man of the house was the provider,” responsible for his home and family, Seals said.

As a teenager, Seals cleaned chicken houses in Leeds.

At one point, he was to be laid off for two months.

For that reason, he came to Pell City to stay with his grandmother, Ruby Wright, who is now deceased.

Wright encouraged him to sell peanuts and even helped him to get started with the endeavor.

Geneva Bannister of Pell City, Wright’s daughter and Seals’ aunt, recalled that her mother parched peanuts in her oven and put them in “penny candy bags” purchased from A&P food store, where Food Outlet is now.

Wright placed the bags in a market basket, which Seals took to town. He sold the peanuts and has been “Peanut Bill” ever since, said Bannister.

“I would walk to town, walk all over town and walk back home,” Seals said, noting that his grandmother lived on Florida Road.

It would take about half a day to do this.

In those days, Seals’ peanuts sold for a dime a bag or three bags for a quarter.

What Seals discovered in those two months was

Bill at Food Outlet that he was earning more selling peanuts than he did cleaning chicken houses.

So he continued.

About four years later, he got a three-wheeled cycle.

His daily travels took him as far as Sutherlin Chevrolet (where Jack’s restaurant is now) on one end of town to a hamburger place beside Henderson’s Builders Supply at another end.

Prior to Seals, there had actually been another peanut peddler in town. Upon that man’s retirement, Seals purchased a peanut parcher from him.

Later, local businessmen bought Seals another parcher.

That one served Seals until it was no longer usable.

Thus, Seals returned to the first parcher.

“It runs on propane and me,” he said with a laugh.

Indeed, a significant amount of Seals’ energy and perseverance is required to complete the parching process.

Once the peanuts are loaded into a drum that fits inside the parcher, Seals must spend an hour continually turning the handle that rotates the drum in order to keep the peanuts from burning.

In addition to parching peanuts, Seals prepares the

DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • February & March 2014

9

The Peanut Man

Pedaling peanut peddler

boiled peanuts he sells. “I do the whole deal.”

The current price for a bag of peanuts is $1.50, while boiled peanuts are $2.50.

As Peanut Bill, he would work from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., every day except Sunday. Those hours did not include the time required to parch, boil and bag the peanuts. Even in the sweltering heat of July and August, he was diligently at work.

Seals believes selling peanuts kept him active through the years.

“If I hadn’t been peddling peanuts and going and doing, I’d be dead,” he said. “If you don’t get busy doing something, you won’t make it.”

Though preparing and selling peanuts did require a lot of time, there was still room in his schedule for walking two miles every other day, lifting weights, fishing, watching wrestling or just going for a leisurely ride in the car.

For about seven years, Seals was a familiar face at Food World, where he sold his peanuts out front.

Shortly before the Food World location closed permanently, Seals approached Ailor about setting up a stand at Food Outlet.

“We just hit it off right then,” Ailor said gleefully.

Wherever Seals is, it is not uncommon to find him talking to or joking with those he encounters. Even people who have chosen to be unkind to him found that Seals responded in goodness.

“Billy is friends with everybody in Pell City,” Bannister said. “He always smiles. He never meets a stranger, and he loves everybody. I mean that from the bottom of my heart: He loves everybody.”

Others feel the same about him, it seems.

“There’s not words to tell you how much I love Billy,” Bannister

10

Bill’s parcher

DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • February & March 2014

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The Peanut Man said. “I would do anything in this world in my power for him.”

Ailor called Seals “the apple of everybody’s eye. He makes our day brighter.” When he is not at the store, people ask about him, Ailor continued. “Everybody misses him.”

To see just how much Seals is missed when he is not at Food Outlet, one needs to look no further than the store’s entrance: An empty chair sits at “his place,” expectantly awaiting his return.

By being the individual that he is, Seals’ character and personality seem to be an inspiration to others.

One bit of evidence is the fact that the Greater Pell City Chamber of Commerce named him “Citizen of the Year” in 1985. More proof would be excerpts from a note that holds a place of prominence on Seals’ refrigerator:

Pounds of peanuts

Dec. 20, 2013 Dear Bill, For many, many years I have admired you and all that you have done to brighten the lives of others. I am proud and thankful to have you as a friend. … Thanks for being you.

Merry Christmas from your greatest admirer!

Bill The note’s author — former Pell City Mayor Bill Hereford — simply put into writing what others are thinking.

“He’s a wonderful guy,” Ailor said about Seals. “He’s got a good soul. He helps everybody he can. He’s just a sweetheart.”

Hereford said every conversation with Seals is uplifting.

“If he’s down, he won’t let you know it,” observed Hereford.

“You just don’t find people like Bill. (He’s) just a special guy.”

Seals’ cousin, Alice Kennedy of Pell City, agrees completely.

“He’s my hero,” said Kennedy. “And I think he is a hero to a lot of people in Pell City. I think he should be an inspiration to a lot of people. I just think the whole world needs to know him.”

Discover photographer Mike Callahan has witnessed the magnitude of admiration for Seals. Late in 2013, Callahan posted on his Facebook page Mike Callahan Photography an image he had taken of Seals.

That photo has become, beyond comparison, the most popular of all the images Callahan has posted. The previous record for an image on Callahan’s page was around 500 viewings.

But the one of Seals was viewed 7,028 times in a month and received 42 comments.

“I promised myself, I would never get emotional about any assignment,” said the visibly moved Callahan. But I’ve “got to tell you, this one touched me deeply. This is one special human being, to say the least.”

While the story of Bill Seals is one of determination and compassion, it is also a love story.

It began one day while he was swimming at the lake. There, he met Karen Garrett of Birmingham, a woman with physical challenges of her own. The two married and bought a house.

“He thought she was grand,” Bannister said.

For more than 20 years, they were kindred spirits. When she could not care for herself completely anymore, he did.

During the day, Seals sold peanuts, then went home to do for his wife what she could not do for herself, Kennedy said.

“He was very committed to her,” remarked Kennedy.

For two years, Seals was his wife’s steadfast caregiver. “He

12

Pell City’s Citizen of the Year took good care of her,” said Bannister.

All those years ago, Seals had made a commitment to his wife. It was a vow he took very seriously, one that he was determined to uphold, no matter what.

“When you say, ‘I do till death do us part,’ you’ve got to stay with it,” Seals said.

Ultimately, though, the time came when he no longer could give the level of care she needed, even with the assistance of home health. She had to go into a long-term care facility.

During his visits, she would ask him to take her home. “It was hard because I knew I couldn’t do it,” Seals said, sadness crossing his face.

Six years ago, when the couple had been married 27 years, she passed away. Yet, the memory of their union is ever present around him — in the home decor that conveys the soft touches of a woman and the photographs that chronicle their life together.

And two wedding bands — hers and his — grace the chain that encircles his neck. l

DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • February & March 2014

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13

ROLLING STORES When the businesses came to you Story by Jerry Smith Submitted photos On a balmy summer day sometime in the 1940s, young Carl Coupland, barefoot and clad in bib overalls and homemade shirt, stood among a small group of his friends and their mothers. They were in an open area near present-day Bethel Baptist Church, known in those days as Taylorsburg, Alabama. Carl had hiked down from his home on Stuart Road to meet Mr. Dollar’s Rolling Store.

He had a live chicken under each arm, and perhaps two cents in his pocket if he had worked hard and been good that week.

Other folks held baskets loaded with fresh farm goods or empty ones for carrying their purchases home. Anticipation mounted as a huge, noisy peddler’s truck struggled toward them on Ashville-Montevallo Road. In later years, this unpaved dirt road would become U.S. Highway 411, and Taylorsburg is now part of Moody.

Indeed, the truck could have also been called Dollar’s Rolling Civic Center, as most of these neighbors had arrived early to socialize, and to catch up on whatever had happened to whom since last week. Its driver, Mr. Alfred Carr, knew everyone along his route that included Margaret, Acmar, Moody, Kelly Creek Road, Wolf Creek Road, Chandler Mountain, and all points between.

Carr actually owned the vehicle, but worked closely with the Dollars in the mercantile business.

There was no traffic during the middle of

14

the day. Little ambient noise intruded upon this quiet rural neighborhood, so these folks could hear the store coming long before it was seen. Made from a recycled school bus, its gears and suspension grated and groaned as the lumbering machine bore its tremendous burden of staples and trade goods. Other local rolling store versions included old flatbed trucks fitted with huge, homemade wooden bodies. No horn or ringing bell was usually needed, as locals knew their schedules by heart.

In those days, few rural folks had cars, and the rest could ill afford gasoline, so “rolling stores” were their lifeline for immediate supplies between infrequent

DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • February & March 2014

These mobile stores would bring everything from Coca Cola and tobacco to more unusual trade goods.

trips to distant brick-and-mortar facilities. These mobile commissaries carried a little of everything a farm family might need, including live animals and a large tank of kerosene (aka coal oil or lamp oil) for refilling lanterns, heaters and stoves.

There were several units that serviced St. Clair County, all connected with mercantile markets in Springville, Steele and Ashville. The Dollar general store was centered at the three big rock store buildings, still existing near Cool Springs at the junction of present U.S. 411 and County Road 31. Will Dollar owned this complex, which included a cotton gin and several hundred acres of grazing and farmland.

Will’s nephew, J.D. Dollar, later built a store near the Friendship community and also sponsored a rolling store.

His son, Phillip Dollar, now runs a meat-processing plant just across U.S. 411 from that store. They make the locally-famous Dollar’s Sausage and process deer meat during hunting season.

Phillip’s daughter, Jamie, won first prize at Odenville Elementary School for her entry in a Heritage Month contest, held annually by most St. Clair schools for fourth-graders. She created a fine poster about her family’s rolling store operation as well as a wooden model of the vehicle, complete with standup cutouts of family members. In her written report, she shared several testimonials gathered from various St. Clair folks who had known firsthand of the rolling stores.

Jamie’s grandmother describes their rolling inventory: “They sold groceries; some meats, cold drinks, flour, meal and sugar.

They also sold cow and horse feed, chicken feed and hog feed. They sold patent medicines, milk and bread. They also sold tobacco products — snuff, cigarettes, cigars and chewing tobacco. They carried some dry goods such as socks, hats, caps and gloves, school paper, tablets, and pencils.”

Mr. Ray T. Rogers, still hale and healthy at 93 years of age, was once employed by the Dollars at a service shop next to the rock stores. He relates that he was forever replacing springs and other suspension parts on the vehicles, as they were often unmercifully overloaded and driven hard over dirt roads and mountainous terrain. Rogers’ own shop in Attalla had burned to the ground, so the Dollars set up a new shop near his home at Cool Springs.

Several rolling stores operated during the Depression years, when farm folks usually had enough to eat but practically no money. Instead of paying with cash, they bartered. Another of Jamie’s respondents, Juanita Davis of Mineral Springs Road, describes how this worked: “My parents would trade on credit and pay once a month. Mr. Dollar would take stuff (in) trade. Sometimes we would have live chickens to trade, eggs, blackberries and huckleberries we’d picked. … We would go up on the hillside to look for pine knots and cut them up for kindling wood.”

Both Rogers and Coupland said all the rolling stores they ever saw had large coops mounted to the side or rear of the vehicle to hold bartered chickens and other small livestock.

Those not sold to other route customers were taken to pens at the general stores for sale to walk-in customers. They also related that farmers often sold dressed rabbits and smoke-cured hams as well as pelts from raccoons, minks and other animals they had trapped. If it was raised, caught or needed on a farm, the rolling stores would trade for it.

Items could be purchased for cash, and change was returned, but on bartered goods a “due slip” was given instead of change or payment, redeemable for goods at the main stores or on future rolling store runs. This system was similar to the “scrip” money used by commissaries in nearby mining towns.

Coupland recalls that cold drinks were a nickel each, with

A more modern example of one of the rolling stores from the 1960s and 1970s looks like its predecessors.

Jamie and Phillip Dollar in front of old J D Dollar store in Friendship, Ray Rogers’ repair shop in background.

New life for the old Dollar Store

ROLLING STORES

Ray Rogers, age 93, at Pop’s Country Store 16

DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • February & March 2014

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Phillip and Robin Dollar one cent deposit on the bottle but, “… if you could drink it real quick before they moved on, you could return the bottle right then and not owe them anything.”

He also remembers that ready-made cigarettes cost a staggering 20 cents a pack in those days, so practically everybody bought Bugler, Country Gentleman or Bull Durham tobacco instead for as little as 6 cents a bag, which included papers for rolling your own and, once empty, provided a fine little cloth bag with drawstring, great for storing stuff. Kids loved these bags for holding marbles and other small childhood treasures.

Children also loved the rolling stores, because all carried a full line of sweets and small toys that were actually affordable. Jesse Garrison, who was 9 years old and lived in Margaret at the time, tells in Jamie’s essay, “I would climb up on the old truck-looking bus and get my favorite candy. There was two kinds I really liked … coconut balls that came in different colors and rectangle pieces that were brown, yellow, white or pink. Once, I even had enough money to get one of each! I can still taste them.”

Your writer also recalls that particular marketing gimmick. In the early 50s, even though there was a store in every neighborhood in Birmingham’s East Lake suburb, we used to holler for our mothers every time we heard the clanging gong on Mr. Amberson’s rolling store.

We knew we could easily get some candy or a toy if we worked our mothers right. Mr. Amberson understood this fact of life and used it. We loved exploring his vehicle for goods not usually seen by city kids and chatting with his children who had come along for the ride during summer vacation.

The Vann brothers of Shanghai Road responded to Jamie: “The peddlers and their rolling stores were a great service to the rural people. In that day it was the most convenient way to shop. The peddlers always knew all the news. … For the farmer, it was worth something to get a weekly update on all that was happening in your part of the country.

“Once an elderly neighbor of ours was in the field and missed the peddler.

When he saw him go by, he rushed home and jumped on his grandson’s bicycle, and chased him about a half mile to a neighbor’s house, to get a week’s supply of chewing tobacco.”

Respondent Nora Hutton adds, “You could hear the old truck coming for miles down the road … with all his wares banging on the side of the truck and chickens and a pig or calf sometimes behind. … Most of the time you had no money, so you

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DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • February & March 2014

17

ROLLING STORES

A rolling store from Ranger, Georgia used chickens, eggs and butter to trade for necessities such as flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, parts for plows, buckets, etc, that you needed on the farm.

“We always looked forward to hearing the sound of the rolling store even if we didn’t need anything. We would ramble through just to see what he had and to find out how our friends down the road were. Other than the mailman, he would be the only one we’d see for weeks sometimes.”

Indeed, the Dollars around Odenville and Springville and the Bowlins in Ashville and Steele were pillars of their communities. Each had a superb mercantile store, and sponsored at least one rolling store. Juanita Davis added, “Mr. Dollar was always a fine, compassionate person. He got as much joy from helping people as we did from trading with him. At the end of the month when our parents paid their bill, he would set us up with a dope (Coca-Cola) and a piece of banana candy for the children.

“Some of the people who didn’t have a car depended on Mr. Dollar for all their groceries. If someone wanted something he didn’t have, he would write it down and bring it the next week. Mr. Dollar touched many lives with his rolling store.”

After the mines shut down at Margaret and Acmar, rolling stores became very important to those who chose to stay behind, as their company stores had also been closed.

Today, practically nothing remains of those quaint old vehicles. They were a service born of necessity, a modern extension of old-fashioned peddlers who once drove horsedrawn wagons over every part of our country.

By 1970, there were no rolling stores left anywhere in St. Clair, but they still rumble and rattle in the memories of its oldest residents and in the stories they share with their grandchildren. l

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DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • February & March 2014

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Etowah County spent much of World War II shooting at St. Clair County.

That is the lighthearted explanation that historian John McFarland of Rainbow City gives for the “friendly fire” relationship the two counties shared.

Nonetheless, his summary is factual: The woodlands of St. Clair and Etowah counties cloaked a military installation’s clandestine mission.

Called Camp Sibert, the reservation stretched 36,300 acres. Attalla and Gadsden served as the boundary on the Etowah County end of the camp. In St. Clair, Sibert extended into Steele and nearly to Ashville. The installation’s other two boundaries basically were U.S. 411 on one side and U.S. 11 on the other, said Wayne Findley, instructor at Gadsden State Community College and a historian who has spent 25 years researching the camp.

“It was huge, massive,” Findley said of Sibert.

And yes, Etowah did take aim at St. Clair, possibly millions of times.

That is because equipment was set up in the vicinity of Dunaway Mountain in Etowah County, very near to the border of St. Clair.

During training sessions, mortar and bigger artillery were fired across Canoe Creek into St. Clair, explained Findley.

“The Chemical Warfare Service loved this place” because troops could use live rounds

Trucks lay down a smoke screen during an exercise at Camp Sibert.

Courtesy John McFarland

Camp Sibert St. Clair’s secret military past Story by Leigh Pritchett Submitted photos courtesy of the Scarboro Collection, John McFarland and government archives

21

Actor Mickey Rooney at Camp Sibert Courtesy John McFarland

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DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • February & March 2014

Camp Sibert

and chemicals, Findley remarked.

The mission of the camp was so stealth that soldiers were bound by an oath of secrecy, Findley said. They were not released from it until the 1990s, and those who lived around the camp apparently knew little of its mission.

“The people didn’t know a whole lot of what was going on in Camp Sibert,” only that some chemical weapons were involved, said 88-year-old Fred Rogers of Chandler Mountain in Steele. He was a teenager when the camp was established.

Yet, some facets of the camp were highly publicized and helped to promote the war effort. One piece of memorabilia in McFarland’s extensive Sibert collection is an October 1943 Senior Scholastic reader, whose cover photograph is of a smoke generator creating a smoke screen at the camp.

Findley also noted that Sibert fielded a baseball team – the Gas House Gang – that won a state championship. Plus, the camp’s band was sent on tours as an encouragement to citizens to be proud of their military.

The work to establish Camp Sibert commenced three months after the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941.

According to a chronology Findley has composed, the U.S. Army on March 13, 1942, inspected the site under consideration for Camp Sibert.

“Six days later, the area in northeastern Alabama was chosen over similar areas in West Virginia and Texas,” states an article written by Findley and fellow researcher Joseph T. Robertson (now deceased) for the January 1995 edition of The Alabama Review: A Quarterly Journal of Alabama History.

Fred Rogers noted that the expanse encompassed by the camp was known as the “flatwoods area” because it consisted of farmland and forestation, with few roads. “It was perfect for what they wanted to do with it,” Findley said.

According to The Review article, the site had to possess certain features needed for chemical warfare training: a secluded place where toxic gas could be used, basically level terrain for tanks and armored vehicles, and wetlands and

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Camp Sibert Boxer Joe Louis training at Camp Sibert Courtesy John McFarland

forestation for bivouacs.

In June 1942 the government began issuing “Declarations of Taking” to obtain the necessary properties, the chronology states.

St. Clair County probate records available at Ashville Museum and Archives list owner after owner whose land the government was acquiring and the compensation each person was receiving. Some of the entities affected by the acquisition were Deerman’s Chapel Church and Deerman’s School, among others.

In all, 557 tracts of land in Etowah and St. Clair were involved in the acquisition, states The Review. “With the assistance of the Farm Security Administration, all 339 families who resided in the area were relocated with no major problems. Construction of the camp began immediately.”

Also in June 1942, a “tent city” formed to quarter those who would work on the camp before permanent accommodations were available, Findley’s chronology shows. The next month, the first trainees arrived.

On Christmas Day 1942, the camp was dedicated, “although it was only 80 percent complete. By the summer of 1943, the camp was self-sufficient” and could accommodate as many as 30,000 soldiers. With 41 miles of roads, the camp boasted 1,500 buildings, among them a hospital, theater and prison stockade, according to The Review.

Findley and McFarland said the camp also had an airport,

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Camp Sibert Aerial shot of Camp Sibert in 1944 Courtesy of the Scarboro Collection

store, chapel, lighted tennis courts, boxing ring and its own newspaper.

The scope of Camp Sibert was a premier undertaking.

“Never before in the history of the Chemical Warfare Service had such an extensive facility been provided for instruction in the tactics and techniques of chemical warfare,” The Review states.

The “Post War Utilization Studies,” a War Department document dated September 1945, placed the total cost of construction and land acquisition at about $17.66 million.

The installation was named for Etowah native Maj. Gen. William Luther Sibert. During World War I, Sibert was handpicked by Gen. John Pershing to command the first U.S. soldiers into France in 1917, The Review reveals. “Because of his experiences, Sibert would be appointed the first Chief of the Chemical Warfare Services.”

At the time of World War II, some thoroughfares in Etowah and St. Clair were known by different names, Findley said. For example, the present-day U.S. 411 was “U.S. 11” then. What is now U.S. 11 was “Alternate 11.”

While the camp was in operation, names of some other roads were different too, stated McFarland. Pleasant Valley Road was “Range Road” and the site of Gate No. 2, while Canoe Creek Road bore the moniker “Impact Road.”

Findley added that the stretch from Attalla to Camp Sibert on what would later become Alabama 77 was called “Gate No. 1.”

The camp’s restriction on civilian traffic created a bit of a

26

logistics problem for people in Steele who needed to go to other parts of St. Clair County.

“We couldn’t go through Camp Sibert to get to Ashville, the county seat,” Fred Rogers remembers. Residents in that part of St. Clair had to travel along “Alternate 11” to Whitney and on to what is now U.S. 231 in order to get to Ashville.

Though younger than his brother Fred, 85-year-old Hoover Rogers of Chandler Mountain also recalls a few things about the camp. One recollection is of seeing uniformed soldiers, with weapons in hands, coming over that mountain on training marches.

“I was intrigued by them and wondered where some of them were from,” said Hoover Rogers, who was a teen at that particular time in history.

He also remembers that word would get around when a celebrity, such as funnyman Red Skelton, was stationed at the camp.

Skelton was not the only famous person to be assigned to the camp. Heavyweight boxing champion Joe Louis, featherweight champion Bobby Ruffin and actor Mickey Rooney also trained there, Findley said.

In fact, Rooney met one of his many wives while stationed there, Findley said.

McFarland, who gives presentations at the University of Alabama-Gadsden Center, described the camp as “a catch-all.”

In addition to chemical warfare instruction for entire units and for individuals who were to become replacements, the camp

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Wayne Findley looks over the Camp Sibert government booklet.

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DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • February & March 2014

Camp Sibert also provided basic training to recruits and housed prisoners of war.

Originally, its POW camp was a satellite of the one at Fort McClellan in neighboring Calhoun County. However, it soon became a separate entity, even incarcerating some of Adolph Hitler’s elite SS, or “storm troopers” as they were called, The Review reveals.

By mid-March of 1944, more than 12,000 soldiers and 88 combat units had received training at the camp, reported Findley.

In all, 169 US chemical warfare units were instructed there, a number that represented 47 percent of all such American units involved in World War II, The Review states. Of the 169 units, “44 were Black units.”

McFarland said Black soldiers generally were in smoke generator units or clerical positions, while Caucasian soldiers tended to be members of chemical mortar battalions.

In the spring and summer of 1945, the dynamics of World War II changed significantly, ultimately sealing the destiny of Camp Sibert.

With Germany surrendering first and Japan following a few months later, the need for the camp’s services greatly diminished.

In September of that year, the War Department issued its “Post War Utilization Studies,” on whether to make Sibert a permanent camp capable of accommodating 19,950 enlisted men, plus officers. Such an endeavor was estimated at $45 million.

For this and other reasons, the project was deemed unfeasible.

As a result, the camp was decommissioned; the fixtures and contents were rendered to surplus; properties were sold to the original owners or to interested parties; and land, buildings and infrastructures were given to municipalities.

The Rogers brothers experienced some of the results.

After the war, Fred Rogers worked at AAA Pottery in Attalla, a business that was housed in old Army buildings. He later taught and was principal in a school situated on former camp property.

Hoover Rogers was a teacher and later principal of Chandler Mountain School, which benefited from surplus goods from the camp.

Their older brother, Henry (now deceased), purchased some Steele property that had been part of the camp and built his house there. Henry also worked as a civilian on “fire watch” (patrol duty) at the decommissioned camp until it was completely closed. When all surplus items were relocated and warehoused in Etowah County’s Glencoe, his job moved there, too, according to his brothers.

As a teen, Findley attended junior high in what had been the officers’ club.

In the lunchroom, the autographs of Red Skelton and Mickey Rooney were still prominent. Findley also climbed chimneys that had been part of the camp hospital and collected brass he found near the rifle range.

McFarland, who lives in Etowah County close to the St. Clair border, resides on property that was within the cantonment of Camp Sibert. A few years ago, he received notification that his property qualified for a government cleanup effort.

Some 40 years after World War II, Congress determined that former defense sites should be cleaned up, according to Lisa Parker, deputy public affairs officer for the Mobile District of the Army Corps of Engineers.

It was the intent of Congress “to restore properties formerly owned by, leased to, or otherwise possessed by the U.S. and under the jurisdiction of the Secretary of Defense,” Parker stated.

Of the St. Clair sites that were investigated for possible cleanup, only one was found to need attention, noted the Corps of Engineers. Work at that site — which includes an area in Steele, close to Interstate 59 — is in progress.

Among the items already discovered are “4.2 mortars, .30-caliber rifle, machine gun, .22-caliber rifle, sub-machine gun, .45-caliber pistol, grenade, artillery, bazookas and anti-aircrafts,” said Parker. l Editor’s Note: Additional assistance with this article was provided by Charlene Simpson of Ashville Museum and Archives, RoseMary Hyatt of Northeast Alabama Genealogical Society, Pat Coffee of the Town of Steele, Jody Gilliland of Chandler Mountain Baptist Church and Jack Hayes of American Legion Post 109, Pell City.

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Pell City Mayor Joe Funderburg, at home with guitar or in mayor’s office

Politicians of

NOTE Story by Jane Newton Henry Photos by Wallace Bromberg Jr.

When day is done for these officials, the beat goes on

Judge Alan Furr

By day, he’s mayor of Pell City. But nights and weekends you’ll find him crooning to the crowds in his very own band.

Same holds true for Alan Furr, a judge by day and quite the singer and guitarist for the Wingnuts away from court. And the superintendent of schools, put a mandolin in his hand and he’s just as at home as he is at the head of the class.

Pell City Mayor Joe Funderburg, Pell City School Superintendent Michael Barber and St. Clair County District Judge Alan Furr became interested in music when they were young. Although they now have “day jobs,” music remains their hobby, their pastime and their passion. Funderburg plays rock and roll while Barber plays bluegrass, and Furr plays both.

Rock-and-roll mayor “I look at it like this,” said Funderburg. “Some people play golf; some people hunt and fish. Everybody has hobbies of some sort, and I am fortunate that I am able to play music.”

The mayor has played six- and 12-string guitars and sung in bands for more than 40 years. “I’ve always enjoyed music,” he said. “I liked to sing when I was small, and I wanted to play an instrument.

“I begged for a guitar and got a $20 Sears and Roebuck Silvertone,” he said. “It had a very thick neck and I’ve got kind of small hands, so that thing was a job to learn to play.”

In the 1960s, he formed the band Leaves of Autumn with high-school friends. After high school, Funderburg continued to play music and found that music paid his college expenses.

When his father passed away, he dropped out of school and became a professional musician.

“That was about all I knew how to do, so I went to work playing, and I was fortunate to work with some top-notch musicians,” he said. “I don’t claim to be an accomplished musician. I learned music by picking it up and playing it with other people.”

Funderburg says his favorite part of his musical career was

Superintendent Michael Barber

Politicians of

NOTE

Dr. Barber and fellow musicians

Furr on guitar

during the 1970s. “At that time, St. Clair County — as well as Calhoun, Etowah and Shelby counties — didn’t have many places where people could hear rock-and-roll music, and the Boondocks Lounge was the place to go,” he said. “That was probably the most exciting time for me because we were playing at a happening place, and the band was recording in Birmingham, too.”

A member of the band Straight Shift, he now performs about once a month. The band has recently played at the Pell City Block Party, entertained at a sock hop at Celebrations in Pell City and performed at a private Christmas party in Birmingham.

Barber’s bluegrass “When I came up, we didn’t have a lot of things that are offered today,” said Michael Barber. “I remember when we got our first color television. We had rabbit ears, so the reception wasn’t that good. Music was a pastime for us.”

On Sundays at 5 p.m., you will find him playing bluegrass at Pell City’s Mt. Zion Primitive Baptist Church, where he is the pastor. Barber and other musicians play before the evening worship service.

“The women in the church provide refreshments and work on prayer shawls to take to the nursing home,” he said. “The music is a good transition to the service.”

The number of musicians playing on a given Sunday varies from a few to a dozen. Barber plays mandolin, guitar, bass and some banjo, and he sings. “There are three other mandolin players at the church, so we rotate around,” he said.

Members of the group play on a local radio station every

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DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • February & March 2014

Politicians of

NOTE

“I treat all citizens with dignity, respect and kindness.” third Sunday and at Golden Living, an assisted-living facility, every third Sunday from 2 to 4 p.m. Barber says they have been playing at Golden Living for 15 or 20 years. They also play at the Veteran’s Home and in the schools, when invited, and do caroling for shut-ins at Christmas. “It’s a ministry,” he said.

Barber was first exposed to music in church, where he was a member of the youth choir. “I was raised in the church and sang hymns as a child,” he said. He also listened to country and gospel music, including Hank Williams and the Happy Goodman Family.

“I took piano lessons for several years; it was a struggle for me,” he said. After learning the guitar and mandolin, he found he enjoyed playing bluegrass and learned that music could help pay a good part of college expenses.

Barber is self-taught on mandolin and guitar. “You get better by learning from others,” he said. When he teaches other to play, he asks them to teach someone else and share their knowledge.

“It thrills me when I teach a child who wants to learn and that child turns into a better musician than I am and then I see that child share it with another generation,” he said. “It feels like you’ve done something.”

A good judge of music Ten-year-old Alan Furr became interested in music after hearing his grandfather Owen Furr play old-time country music and bluegrass with neighbors on his front porch in Crenshaw County.

“When I was 12, my parents made me a deal: If I could figure out how to buy an electric guitar, then they would buy me an amplifier,” he said. He got a job paying 50 cents an hour at the Handy Andy grocery store in Montgomery. His mother went to Art’s Music in Montgomery and financed a purple Fender Mustang guitar that he paid for with the money he made at the grocery store. Within a year or two, Furr was playing rhythm guitar with the Vibrations.

In addition to guitar, Furr plays mandolin, keyboards, ukulele, dulcimer and drums, and sings. A vocal performance major in college, he added church music to his repertoire. He continues to perform church music and serves as minister of music at the First Baptist Church of Ashville.

After graduating from law school, he spent about a year playing in the band the Reflectors with some friends from Birmingham. He currently plays in two bands – Whitney Junction and the Wingnuts.

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Politicians of

NOTE

Former Pell City Councilman and St. Clair County Commission Chairman Donnie Todd also has hit a political note or two.

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The bluegrass band Whitney Junction was formed at First Baptist Church of Ashville. The group plays for free.

The Wingnuts, originally composed of aviators, plays 1960s rock and roll. The group came together after the 2011 tornado, as Furr explained, “when Donnie Todd, a member of the Pell City City Council, and I worked up seven or eight songs to play at a benefit for the Civil Air Patrol.” The Wingnuts now play once or twice a month for corporate and charitable events, such the Fur Ball, a fundraiser for the Animal Shelter of Pell City.

Furr said he sold his purple Fender Mustang guitar to a “kid” for $75, the same amount he had paid for it almost 10 years earlier. “Then the kid called me when he was getting a new guitar,” Furr said, and offered to sell the Mustang back to Furr for $75. But Furr explained that the kid could get more for it if he traded it in, and the kid took his advice.

Years later, Furr saw the purple Mustang for sale in a music store in Enterprise. He says he told his mother about it, and, unknown to him, she called every music store in southeast Alabama until she found it. He was surprised when she returned the guitar to him the following Christmas. l

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The Painter Story by Carol Pappas Photos by Wallace Bromberg Jr.

Lonergan’s story, life’s work an inspiration He has been described as “the boy who lived to draw.” Sitting in an easy chair at his home in Chula Vista, surrounded by a couple of Shelties, a black Lab and a lifetime of his works, John Lonergan pauses a moment and reflects. “If I had known in high school the level where I am now, I would have been impressed.”

But the inherent perfectionist in him quickly adds, “You never get to the level you want to be.”

With an impressive career as an art teacher to his credit — both in public school and in the private sector — gallery showings, commissioned work and his art hanging in private and corporate collections virtually around the world, one might be tempted to call it the pinnacle.

But add a book about his life and work, more shows and commissions up ahead, and it is easy to see that Lonergan isn’t done yet.

The latest triumph for the St. Clair County-born Lonergan, who was inspired by a teacher when he was growing up in the village shadow of Avondale Mills, is a book, John Longergan, The Painter.

Published by Birmingham-based Red Camel Press, the book is a rare opportunity to see the world through an artist’s eyes.

It is dedicated to his parents, John L. Sr. and Jennie S. Lonergan, “who gave me confidence and support to follow my dream to become a painter;” his wife, Sandra, a gifted and noted photographer, who is “my best critic and treasured lifelong sweetheart;” and Doe, his black lab, “my life’s best friend.”

39

The Painter

40

Through paintings and commentary, it deftly weaves the story of a young country boy from a small Southern town, who builds a life as a master painter and inspiring teacher. The gift his parents and teachers recognized early in his life is a gift he continues to give others through his painting and teaching.

His students call him the master. And it was one of those students who was so inspired by his teaching and his work that she suggested the book. She happened to be a book publisher, and three years later the collaborative effort evolved into: John Lonergan, The Painter.

When Liza Elliott first broached the idea of a book, Lonergan recalled it as an “interesting” proposition.

“But I didn’t think much about it. When I found out she was serious, we went to work on it.”

They selected paintings and visited about 50 homes to photograph from private collections over the next three years. Still life, figures, landscapes and portraits are the sections of the book.

They, alone, could tell the story of a gifted painter who talks to us through his canvas. But there is something extra about this book, something personal that immediately draws you into it.

It is the self portrait, circa 1958, pastel on newsprint.

The chiseled detail of the face, the light, the eyes gazing straight at you immediately capture you. And it is the photographs he includes under “Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man” that endear you to this life story through words, pictures and of course, the center of it all — the art.

There is a picture of his perfectly, hand drawn “Redbird” sitting on the branch of a tree. His canvas then was composition paper, now yellowed with age.

Under the redbird drawing is the simplicity retold: “One of my favorite subjects in the second-grade.”

Underneath is a photograph of him in the secondgrade. In parentheses, he adds the moniker, “the Redbird artist.”

The next few pages are peppered with photographs and drawings from his childhood and teen-age years, parenthetical humor enhancing each nostalgic look.

The photograph of a toddler all dressed up in cowboy suit riding on a pony explains, “A photographer traveling with a pony shot this. (I wanted to be in a Roy Rogers and Dale Evans movie. It didn’t happen) There are photographs of his parents, a drawing of a horse with calf “Matted and displayed by my 4th grade teacher, Mrs. Betty Cosper.” It was fitting that he included that particular photo. Teachers would have a great influence on his life, and he never fails to give them credit. He speaks of Mrs. Cosper in reverent terms. “She was a big influence. She really took an interest in my artwork.”

He includes a photo of his high school art teacher, Mrs. Dorothy Mays, noting that she “inspired me.” He talks of Iola Roberts, the principal at the old Avondale Mills School, who was a strict disciplinarian but gave her students an appreciation for the arts. “She had a real passion for Avondale Mills kids.”

In light of a perceived divide between “town” kids and mill village youngsters, she would tell them, “

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DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • February & March 2014

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The Painter

The painter adds his touch in home studio.

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Lonergan tells his story.

‘Remember, you are as good as anybody.’ You know, I didn’t know I wasn’t,” he said. “She would definitely get my vote for best educator in Pell City ever. O.D. Duran was good, too.”

Perhaps that is why their names now don two of Pell City’s elementary schools.

After a brief career in commercial art, Lonergan, himself, would become art teacher at the same high school where Mrs. Mays mentored him. After he was hired, he expressed doubt to her that he could handle it. “I don’t know what I’m going to do,” he said he told her. “ ‘All you have to do is stay one day ahead of them,’ ” she replied. And that he did for the next 25 years.

Past the pages of Lonergan’s childhood comes present day, where he passes along his gift and his inspiration to others — The Atelier, the French term for workshop of a master painter and his students. It is this studio in Birmingham, where they have trained for more than two decades.

In her narrative of that particular section, Elliott writes, “For those who collect John Lonergan’s paintings, he is an inspiration. For those who study with John Lonergan, he is the master.”

For the section on Teaching, she describes it thusly: “That is the Lonergan method. Teach and inspire. They are better painters for it.”

In Still Life, she says, “Like a magician, with a paint brush as a wand, his paint strokes cast the spell, conjuring up gorgeous

DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • February & March 2014

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The Painter The book also covers Lonergan’s early years.

pictures that never cease to amaze.”

For Figures, “What matters to Lonergan is the light, the shapes, the colors of the people and the location around him. The challenge is to convey the emotion of the moment through a fully realized painting, giving voice to the people through the medium of oil paint.”

Portraits, as the other works, tell a story. “The faces project personality,” Elliott writes. “The settings provide context. Taken together, he reveals an episode in that person’s life, at that moment in time.”

His rural roots obviously influence Landscapes.

“John Lonergan shares his private world with us and we, too, can bask in the brilliant moments of nature’s

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beauty.”

And his love of animals is evident in the inclusion of the pictures of Molly and Doe, his Sheltie and Lab, on the final page with a note, “We show our love of God by our love for all people, friends, family, and of course, our pets. That’s all that counts.”

Although spoken years before Lonergan was born, a quote from Edgar Degas, the French artist believed to be among the founders of Impressionism, seems to capture the very essence of Lonergan. “Art is not what you see, but what you make others see.”

And through his life and his works, the eyes of the beholder see plenty. l

DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • February & March 2014

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Business News

46 • DISCOVER The EssenceDISCOVER of St. Clair The Essence of St. Clair • August & September 2013

By Carol Pappas Photos by Wallace Bromberg Jr.

New home for TFR&B Law firm moves to larger quarters

A need for larger space to better serve its client base and a desire to stimulate downtown revitalization drove one of Pell City’s oldest law firms to redesign, renovate and reopen in new headquarters.

Partners see the new office of Trussell, Funderburg, Rea and Bell at 1905 First Avenue South as an opportunity to offer better services to their clients. In its old space on First Avenue North, it had limited conference area and room to expand. “The biggest help was just space,” said partner Erskine Funderburg. “We had a limited ability to meet with clients. Now we can do more real estate closings at the same time. We are in a better location with better access, and we have a better work environment for lawyers and staff.”

Coosa Valley Title Inc., which is owned by the law firm, shares the same building and with warehouse included, the new office is five times as large as the old one, featuring 10,000 square feet altogether and 6,000 square feet of office space.

With four conference rooms now versus one in the old building, it enables the firm to better schedule meeting times with clients and keep pace with a growing real estate market.

“It gives us the ability to move clients in and out of closings as quickly as possible,” partner John Rea said. “That’s something they like and appreciate.”

And its corner location gives it more visibility and better parking and accessibility for its clients.

The firm of Trussell and Funderburg opened in 1992, but the founding partners have been practicing in Pell City longer than that. Bill Trussell came to Pell City to practice law in 1974. Funderburg returned to his hometown in 1988 to practice.

And two more native sons returned home to join the firm — John Rea in 2010 and Lance Bell in 2012.

“It means a lot to come back to your home community and be able to help people, to provide a service that makes the community a better place. That’s all our philosophy,” Funderburg said.

Rea agreed. He left one of the largest firms in Birmingham — Bradley, Arant, Boult and Cummings — to return to his home of Pell City and become part of the firm.

“There is a difference in practicing law in a large city and a large law firm,” he said. “You have interesting legal issues to tackle at a large firm, but you don’t have the personal relationship like in a small town.

“It’s special,” he added, “because you can make a difference in the lives of your clients and hopefully, improve your hometown. As a small-town lawyer, most of the time, you’re working with people who need help resolving problems, and it’s nice to help folks solve them.”

For the partners and staff, it is seen as a better quality of life, Funderburg said. “We all understand the quality of life issues for our families.”

DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • August & September 2013 The Essence of St. Clair • 47 DISCOVER

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DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • February & March 2014

DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • February & March 2014

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DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • February & March 2014

DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • February & March 2014

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Business News Jefferson State Less than a decade ago, it was simply a vision, a hope that more than just towering pines and hardwood trees would grow on a vast tract of land just north of Interstate 20 in Pell City.

In 2006, the first doors opened on 50 acres of that vision, bringing with it opportunities for higher education and training in St. Clair County.

Today, Jefferson State Community College stands as a catalyst for growth, as a full-fledged campus, following through on the promise it held just a few years ago. Enrollment has swelled to 615 for credit students, and it serves hundreds of noncredit students as well.

Its first nursing class graduated in August 2013, which was welcome news to nearby St. Vincent’s St. Clair, a state-of-the art hospital that fulfilled part two of the vision two years ago. And, of course, it meant much to Col. Robert L. Howard Veterans Home, a national model for veterans’ facilities that completed the third leg of this journey of growth and opportunity a year ago.

Any of the three standing alone would have been impressive. All three standing together is nothing short of a major economic development coup.

In the beginning Opening with 271 for credit students in 2006, the enrollment has grown 127 percent, qualifying it as a campus rather than a community college site – a milestone announced in an update to the St. Clair County community in December by Jefferson State’s director of development, Guin Robinson. It was a special message for him since he was part of that original vision as mayor of Pell City when Jefferson State officials decided to expand to St. Clair County.

The vision was that the college, the hospital and the veterans home not only would co-exist on the same acreage. They could become partners and thrive in years to come — one benefiting from the other — and an entire region reaping the benefits as a result.

State veterans officials credit the new hospital’s location across the way and the potential of a nursing school at Jefferson State just down the road as deal makers for their decision to locate Alabama’s newest veterans home in Pell City on that particular tract of land.

More than single focus But Jefferson State’s presence has meant more than the potential of its nursing school. With the college has come opportunities in dual enrollment

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DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • February & March 2014

J efferson S tate

College’s vision becomes St. Clair’s bright future Story by Carol Pappas Photos by Mike Callahan

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Business News Jefferson State Business and governmental leaders gather to hear state of the college discussion.

Kay Potter tells of new, innovative programs.

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for high school students, enabling them to earn college credit while still in high school. Its workforce development focus is garnering deserved attention.

Kay Potter, director of Community and Corporate Education, pointed out that much work is being done in equipping people with the skills they need to land an entry level job with good pay.

Education and business or government are actually having a dialogue about what skills are needed and what should be taught. Potter’s area of the college is involved in “customized training,” where students actually go into a company or governmental entity and train. Calling it “skills driven,” the program produces students who are “job ready” in areas like certified nursing assistant, dental assistant and medical billing and coding.

A $27,000 grant for a pilot industrial maintenance program will make it possible for students to have an earning potential of $40,000 to $50,000 after completing an aggressive, 17-week training. It is a cooperative effort of the college and companies WKW, Garrison Steel and CMC. Eight spots were open in the program – four scholarship and four paid – and six are already filled.

Another collaborative effort is clearing the way for mothers to train for pharmacy technician jobs that are

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Business News Jefferson State Campus Division Chairman and biology instructor Nick Kin tells of faculty expansion as Guin Robinson, director of Institutional Development, stands by.

much in demand. With a $25,000 grant from the Women’s Fund of Birmingham, this innovative program will be held on the campus of St. Clair County Head Start, enabling mothers to train while their children are in school.

The partnership also includes Pell City First United Methodist Church, which will provide nutritious meals each day, and St. Clair County Transportation, which will give rides to those who may not be able to make it to school otherwise.

“We want to deliver services directly to you,” Judy Merritt, president of the college, told the group of community leaders.

Capitalizing on partnerships It’s all about developing relationships and cooperative efforts between the school teaching the skills needed and the entities that need those skills taught. Kim Williams, curriculum coordinator for the Pell City School System, said her system is hoping to tap into $2 million in state bond issue grant funding for innovative programs in K-12.

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Two local grant hopefuls are a collaborative effort of the system, Jefferson State and St. Clair Economic Development Council, which grew out of conversations between the business community and the school system under the leadership of Superintendent Dr. Michael Barber. At the center of discussions were two critical questions: “What are your needs?” and “What can we do?”

The answers came through possible development of industrial maintenance and health science programs. Health Science would feed into the Registered Nurse program, and industrial maintenance would provide specific skills needed to be prepared for the workforce.

“All the pieces are coming together to make this work,” said Robinson. “Stay tuned.”

And officials are rightly confident about the future, they say.

If recent history tells the story of future success, they need point no further than the ‘skyline’ now emerging just north of Interstate 20. l

DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • February & March 2014

Business News Argo

Argo gets its first pharmacy Argo’s staff consists of (left to right) Sheila Lunsford, gift shop manager; Toni Link, cashier; Kim Rush, pharmacist; Heather Sims, pharmacy tech; Robin Green, gift shop/cashier; and Johnny Cleveland, pharmacist and owner.

For the first time since its incorporation in 1987, the town of Argo has a pharmacy. Argo Pharmacy & Gifts opened July 8, 2013, in the Argo Village shopping strip on U.S. 11 near the I-59 exit, and business is good.

“We’re not where we want to be yet, but business is steadily increasing every day,” says Johnny Cleveland, owner and pharmacist.

Cleveland, who turned 40 on opening day, has owned a drug store in Locust Fork for almost 15 years. He had three good pharmacists working for him, but the store wouldn’t support that many pharmacists. He needed a second location. Being a resident of Oneonta, he wanted something in Blount or St. Clair so it would be drivable on a daily basis. “I’m back and forth between the stores, but I’m usually here Mondays and Tuesdays,” Cleveland says. “Kim Rush is the pharmacist here when I’m at Locust Fork.”

Cleveland looked in several rural areas not quite big enough for the big-box chain drug stores, and came across Argo in his research. “I drove down here, saw all the traffic on U.S. 11 and how it was backed up from the red light where you turn to go to the interstate, and I knew we could make a go of it here.”

He persuaded Sheila Lunceford, owner of the former Peacocks in the Parlour gift shop in the same shopping center, to open a gift shop inside the pharmacy. It proved to be a smart move. “It sustained the pharmacy side while we were getting up and running,” Cleveland says.

As with most independent pharmacies, service is what sets

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Argo Pharmacy apart from the chains. “We love people, and service is our niche,” Cleveland claims. “You’ve got to have that to make this business work. We knew if we treated people well, we’d have the business.”

Sales are trending up every week, according to Cleveland.

“Every day people walk in and tell us how excited they are that Argo has a pharmacy and how they have moved all of their prescriptions from another drug store because they want to support local businesses,” he says.

“I am very pleased to announce that Argo has its first pharmacy,” says Mayor Paul Jennings.

“The Argo Pharmacy is one of the first signs of our commercial growth, which was sparked by our increased population and the Governmental Utilities Service Corporation of Moody installing sewer on most of our main roads. In my opinion, the City of Argo will see more commercial growth in the next two years than its seen since its incorporation in 1987.”

Argo Pharmacy is open Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. until 6:30 p.m., and on Saturdays from 8:30 a.m. until 1:30 p.m.

The pharmacy honors most insurance policies, acts as a USPS Village Post Office for shipping packages, and handles Western Union money wires. Free wi-fi is available in The Morning Dose, a small coffee shop in the store. Although it’s a Health Mart franchise, the store is independently owned and operated. l

DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • February & March 2014

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DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • February & March 2014

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History told in brickwork, windows

Original brick and plaster

Building a landmark in Ashville

Vault door and stove focal points of office

Historic Vision Eye doctor preserves old Ashville bank building

Story by Carol Pappas Photos by Wallace Bromberg Jr. When Dr. Shonda Wood was looking for a place to open her eye care office, she found the perfect location inside a piece of Ashville’s history.

Wood Family Eye Care is the newest occupant of the old Ashville Savings Bank, built in 1906.

“We refinished the inside and made it ours,” Wood said. “Terry Marcrum, the previous owner, gave us a really good start, and Brian Sparks Construction helped with the finishing touches.” It is a complementary blend of old and new, featuring state-of-theart eye care with the unmistakable signs of history all around. A photo on the wall is from 1908. The walls themselves, are original brick and plaster. “We tried not to touch what was still in good condition,” Wood said.

The original brickwork is there. So is the door and window.

There is a new version of tin tiles on the ceiling to bring back the feel of what it was once like.

Even the front of the bank vault door is still intact — a focal point on the facing wall as you walk in. An old Ashville Savings Bank sign was found during renovations of the building, and that has its place, as does a 1910 stove. “Kids like to hide crayons in there,” Wood said.

Since the renovation, remembrances of the old building have been abundant, she said. One person identified loan papers of his grandfather found in the vault. Others have recounted when the bank president shot a robber in the doorway. “There have been a lot of stories,” she said.

Her wish was to be “true to history,” and she wanted to be a part of bringing it back to life and preserving it. She has restored the old and added new. A modern addition is in the rear of the office, enabling her to deliver comprehensive eye care — from babies to seniors.

“We treat the overall patient,” she said, noting that she monitors for diabetes, cataracts and other eye issues. “We don’t want this to be just an eye exam. We want them to be a friend, not just a patient.”

It’s why she opened her practice in Ashville in the first place.

Originally from Fayette, she was looking for another small town in which to live and to practice. “We wanted a small town feel and a close knit community for our children.”

She found all of what she was looking for in St. Clair County.

She, her husband, Jonathan, and five children live in nearby Springville, and her office is centrally located in downtown Ashville.

It all has been an ideal match, she said. She was looking for a building “with character,” and the old Ashville Savings Bank was in need of a revival.

“I think more people should do that,” Wood said. “Our grandkids aren’t going to see many buildings like this if we keep tearing them down or letting them fall.” l

Dr. Shonda Wood

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Meat ’n Three

Getting the food ready at Springville Café

Culinary heartbeat going strong in St. Clair 62

DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • February & March 2014

Story by Loyd McIntosh Photos by Wallace Bromberg Jr. Meat and Threes are a dime a dozen if you travel down I-20 to Birmingham. Here in the less populated confines of St. Clair County, meat and threes may not be quite as plentiful, but those who enjoy traditional Southern fare like hamburger steak, fried okra, collard greens, and hot apple cobbler have plenty for which to be thankful. From Cropwell to Springville, downtown Pell City to Ashville, there are some wonderful restaurants serving up some meat and threes, and then some, on a daily basis, often with lines forming out the door and down the street to get a seat.

These places are more than just restaurants, and their importance can’t solely be judged in how many meals they serve, how often the cash register rings, or how much they contribute to the local tax base. Good meat and threes have some common threads running through them all. They make darn near everything from scratch, they buy from local farmers and other local businesses whenever possible, and they support their communities.

Locally famous hamburger at Two Sisters in Ashville

Two Sisters Café: Ashville Among the meat and threes in St. Clair County, Ashville’s Two Sister’s Café is the new kid on the block. Opened a little over three years ago by Lisa Vourvas after retiring from a career in property development, Two Sister’s Café has quickly developed a reputation for its Southern fare among locals and hungry travelers just passing through.

Located in a small building once occupied by a hot dog joint, Vourvas decided it was the perfect place to give her own restaurant a try. “One day I was going to the Piggly Wiggly, and they had just put a For Rent sign in it. I stopped by and talked to the owners, and I just decided to rent it and open it up,” says Vourvas. Adding a new dining room and handicap-accessible bathrooms to the tiny structure, Vourvas set about providing Ashville with the “poor people” food she learned to cook while helping her mother care for her brothers and sisters. “She taught me how to cook chicken and dressing and things like that,” Vourvas says. “We had to eat what we had or what we raised. I think most everybody in the South was raised on that kind of food.”

Vourvas buys many of her vegetables from Eli’s Mater Shack, a produce stand a stone’s throw from her restaurant, and is especially fond of the tomatoes and cabbage. Her menu stays relatively the same throughout the week, but Vourvas says she will change a few items here and there, depending on what’s available. Sundays are a special day at Two Sister’s. The after-church crowd comes in for lunch, usually featuring Southern staples such as steamed cabbage, turnip greens, green beans, pinto beans, fried okra and perhaps her signature dish, macaroni and cheese. “It’s just homemade mac and cheese made my way,” she says.

During the work week, she says, many locals swing by on their lunch break for her chicken salad on a croissant or, increasingly, for Vourvas’ fresh-made hamburgers. In fact, Vourvas says one diner from out of town stopped by for a burger, and after gobbling it down in his car, he promptly marched back inside and demanded to Vourvas’ son, who was helping out that day, to speak to the owner. “I came out and he said, ‘I just want to tell you something. I’m a hamburger junkie, and your hamburger is the best hamburger I’ve ever eaten. I want to do something for you,’ ” says

DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • February & March 2014

A full plate at Huggy’s Diner

Meat ’n three and more at Pell City Steakhouse 63

Meat ’n Three Huggy’s wait staff with Huggy and Susan, on right

Vourvas. “He said, ‘I make banners and if it’s all right, I’d like to make a banner for you.’ Three days later he came back with this banner that said ‘World’s Greatest Hamburger.’”

Springville Cafe staff 64

Springville Café: Downtown Springville Springville native Tina Baran and her husband John bought the Springville Café in 1995 and during those 19 years, they have returned the restaurant to a status perhaps not seen since it was established by the Milner family back in 1945.

A graduate of the Cooking and Hospitality Institute of Chicago and the former food and beverage director of the Knickerbocker Hotel, also in the Windy City, Baran has just about seen it all in the restaurant business. From frozen sweet potato pies and chicken and dressing prepared in a factory, Baran has never been tempted to invest in shortcuts. She knows you can’t fool true fans of Southern cooking.

“When we cook chicken and dressing, we start it from scratch. We start with split breast, bone-in chicken and we boil it. We pull the chicken off the bone, and we use the broth, and we home make our cornbread,” Baran explains. “People who really know good, quality home cooking know

DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • February & March 2014

Ready to serve at Two Sisters

the difference. We really, really, really put love into what we make.”

Baran’s made-from-scratch philosophy has made plenty of fans in Springville. She and her staff peel close to 50 pounds of potatoes each day and offer fresh, locally grown produce, including Chandler Mountain tomatoes. The lunch bar is available Monday-Friday with a menu that changes daily, but the weekends are great times to swing by for a bite as well. The regular menu includes made-to-order hamburgers, salads, and traditional deli sandwiches like Reubens, tuna melts and this little doozie – a fried green tomato, pimento cheese and bacon sandwich.

While breakfast is a popular time to visit the Springville Café, lunch is really when the restaurant packs in the crowd, continuing a tradition that has made the Springville Café one of longest, continually running businesses in town. “That’s why it has the slogan ‘Where Springville meets to eat,’ because on any given day you can see the big boy table, where all the locals are,” she says. “Thank God for those locals, because they’ve kept us in business all these years.”

Huggy’s Diner: Cropwell In the Cropwell area, Susan and Donald “Huggy” Hughes cater to quite a diverse crowd. Part locals, part fishermen – and women – part weekenders, and, twice a year, part Talladegabound NASCAR fanatics, Huggy’s Diner is one of the more eclectic meat and threes around. After spending a year honing their chops at D’s Grill near Lucky’s on U.S. 231, the couple opened Huggy’s Diner near Lakeside Landing in 2011. Since then, Huggy’s Diner has become known for being one of the friendliest places in town.

“We have our regulars who we see pulling into the parking lot, and they have their regular seat. We know what they want to order and have their drink on the table before they ever sit down,” Huggy says. While he always enjoys new faces dropping by for a bit to eat, he says it’s the local residents who have made Huggy’s such a warm, inviting place. “Everyone knows each other, and everybody’s talking across tables to each other. It’s like Cheers,” the popular television series ‘Where everybody knows your name.’

Everything is made from scratch at Huggy’s as well. But the couple isn’t afraid to take some chances in their bright,

DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • February & March 2014

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Meat ’n Three

Pell City Steakhouse staff and management

Two Sisters dining room 66

cozy, nautical-themed restaurant. “I just love to cook and play around with my culinary skills,” Susan Hughes says. “I soak everything in. Every show on Food Network, and I experiment with different recipes.” Some of the more interesting items local foodies will find on the menu at Huggy’s include a pork tenderloin with homemade cranberry sauce, a grilled Greek chicken salad, and a hamburger steak with gravy and onions that has become the restaurant’s traditional Monday special.

The Hughes purchase a large part of their meat and produce from local businesses, and they also do something that so few eateries do these days – hand cut their own French fries. “It may be more time consuming to hand cut our own fries, but it’s definitely worth the effort,” says Huggy.

These hand-cut beauties are featured in one of Huggy’s favorite dishes, the Fat Guy Fry. “We put a Cajun ranch seasoning on them and add three cheeses, and occasionally we’ll put bacon on top of them,” he says.

“They really are delicious.”

In 2014, Hughes says she going to “branch out” — like she hasn’t already — and offer shrimp and grits. Hughes will

DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • February & March 2014

give anything a try, as long as it’s fresh, and embraces a sense of experimentation and creativity that you don’t see every day.

“I’ll try anything as long as it’s homemade,” she says. “A lot of people come in here and say, ‘Gosh, it tastes like I just left Grandma’s house on Sunday.’” Among her customer’s favorite dishes are the chicken Ritz casserole, Huggy’s marinated grilled steaks and hamburgers, Butterfinger pie, and Hughes’ favorite vegetable dish, steamed broccoli and cheese over rice.

The couple doesn’t take their customers or the city for granted either. They’ve become heavily involved in the community, supporting the Pell City High School athletic program, including providing the pre-game meals for the football team, the on-field officials known as “the chain gang”, and other teams. They’re involved with community events such as the Pell City Block Party and other Chamber of Commerce events, and they participate in WFHK’s free lunch contest.

Hughes says they feel strongly about being involved and supporting the community that has welcomed them so enthusiastically. “We try to be a part of the community,” she says, “not just a restaurant.”

Pell City Steakhouse: Downtown Pell City Since 1948 the bright, neon sign in the shape of a T-bone steak has welcomed hungry diners to the unquestioned heartbeat of Pell City. Open seven days a week for lunch and dinner, the Pell City Steak House is where locals gather for a great bite to eat and to catch up with each other, even if they did just see each other the day before.

“Sometimes I go there five days a week,” says Rory Cochran, a Pell City native and loyal Steak House customer. Cochran says his favorite menu item is the fried chicken, but it’s really the social scene that brings him back day after day. “That’s where I see all my friends that I’ve known since I was a kid.

I don’t think you can call yourself a Pell Citian unless you’ve eaten at the Pell City Steak House.”

Local businessman Joe Wheeler has owned the restaurant since 1969 and has turned it into a consistent presence on which his customers, as well as his employees, have come to rely. Some of his staff have been with him for more than 40 years, including kitchen manager Shirley Posey, the woman responsible for some of the restaurant’s best loved comfort foods, including chicken and dressing, macaroni and cheese, fried okra and peach cobbler. “I’ve said to my employees I’ll be here till they retire. I’ve always been here for them, then again, they’ve always been here for me,” says Wheeler.

At night, the hamburger steak and fried shrimp are popular items, and their onion rings were even featured in Southern Living Magazine. The interior of the restaurant is spacious, with just the right amount of retro mid-century kitsch and large plate-glass windows, perfect for watching the hustle and bustle of the day pass by. Regulars are greeted by their first name the minute they walk in the door for some of the best Southern cooking around. “Our customers are more like family,” says Janice Spann, a childhood friend of Wheeler’s who retired from banking to help run the restaurant. “Couples tell us they had their first date here and now they are bringing their children and grandchildren in to eat.”

Amy Drinkwater is one those loyal customers who has been dining at the Pell City Steak House since she was a child. Now the office manager at the First Baptist Church across the street, Drinkwater makes her way to the Steak House on a regular basis. “I just love the Steak House. Everyone is just so nice and friendly,” Drinkwater says. “Pell City just wouldn’t be the same without it.” l

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Built all by hand Bob Barnett’s love of boats comes alive in wood Story by Graham Hadley Photos by Wallace Bromberg and courtesy of Bob Barnett

The Wherry Yawl sitting in Bob Barnett’s shop

Sitting in what is easily described as a “dream” workshop a few blocks from Logan Martin Lake is a work of art in wood — a Pete Culler designed Wherry Yawl boat.

It is the pride and joy of professional structural engineer Bob Barnett — and though the boat-project was started by many hands, it will be his alone that finish it.

Every piece of wood that went into making the boat, every line, from bow to stern, has been carefully handcrafted and expertly fitted together, down to the brass caps where the wood is joined.

Though work on this particular boat has been going on for around four years, wooden boat building has been something Barnett has been moving toward his entire life.

“I grew up around boats. My family had boats, and I was always around the water,” he said. A photo of Bob, his wife Carole and their children on his father’s sailboat adorns the wall of what is possibly the ultimate woodworking shop in St. Clair County.

Over the years, Bob has owned a number of boats, from their Catalina 470 sailboat they keep in Pensacola, Fla., to a variety of Ski Nautique and similar watercraft — even a crab boat, the Lilly G, they converted for recreational use on the lake which resembles the boat

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Built all by hand

Bob Barnett working on the final pieces of his latest boat project

Bob and Carole Barnett on their sailboat

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from the African Queen, complete with a covered awning that runs the length of the boat.

But there was something special about wooden boats that Bob felt drawn to.

“I saw the wooden boats, but I had no idea how to build one. Then I saw the Wooden Boat School when I was reading Wooden Boat Magazine,” and everything changed, he said.

“I love that school — it is kind of like scout camp with beer,” he said.

The school is located in Brooklin, Maine — which Bob describes as being about like Cropwell, but without the adjoining Pell City.

Between his engineering job, his position as chairman of the board for St. Vincent’s Health Systems, a teaching position at the University of Alabama and a host of other activities, Bob said he can easily be working from 60 to 80 hours a week, sometimes more. So it was a bit of a trick to work in boat-building school.

He finally got his opportunity to take the first class — fundamentals of boat building — because it coincided with a business trip.

The connection to boat building, the school and his instructors was immediate.

“I walked in and there was this guy, my first instructor.

He had white hair down to his shoulders — a classic hippie. … He lived totally off the grid — used all hand tools,” Bob said.

At the time, Bob said, he was the first registered Republican in St. Clair County — “but I learned to love

DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • February & March 2014

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Bob prefers to use hand tools.

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that guy. He was very talented. He showed me how to use hand tools, and once you learn to use hand tools, you can do so much” — and you are much less likely to accidentally cut off a finger.

Before that, Bob had mostly been using power tools for woodworking — and he still does. His shop, which he built complete with a kitchen, full bathroom and “man cave” area, was custom designed with a dust removal system to work in conjunction with his power tools.

But his love of hand tools is immediately evident, with his hand planes lined, row after row, on shelves along one wall.

Since that first class, Bob — and his wife — have returned to the school again and again, taking classes in everything from boat finishing to sailing. The latter, he admits, was less about the learning and more about getting the chance to go sailing in Maine. Most recently, he was there as an assistant instructor.

Bob says the classes are not just a learning experience, but they are a way for him and the other participants to relax, work together and just enjoy themselves. They take away far more than just the knowledge with them when they leave.

During one sailing class, “there was this older gentleman. I was really worried about him. He could barely get on the boat.

By the end of the week, he was climbing all over that thing, even steering the boat. I bet he is still grinning,” Bob said.

As part of those classes, he has built many different wooden boats over the years — always as a group project. But there was something about the Wherry Yawl that resonated with the structural engineer.

“I have built several others, but I have never worked on a boat that has as pretty lines as this one does,” Bob said.

He and his fellow classmates had been working on the Yawl — a sturdy little three-man boat that was used in the 1800s and turn of the century as a kind of water taxi to ferry people from ships at anchor to shore. It has oarlocks, but also a running board and small mast and sail.

“You would pay the man your money, and he would take you out to the boat in one of these,” Bob said. Because of its intended use, the Wherry Yawl is a very strong design, built to withstand even brushing between a ship’s hull and a dock.

He very much wanted the boat, and luck was on his side.

“At the end of class, we would all put our names into a hat.

Whoever got their name drawn had to pay for the building materials and supplies and got to keep the boat. I put my name in, and I got to bring it home,” he said.

Though the boat classes can complete a project in a short

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71

Built all by hand Bob points to hull damage on his Chris Craft project boat.

Boat building school

A finished Coquina wood boat on the water

72

period of time because there are so many people focused on the work, once home, the Yawl has taken years for Bob to finish because of his busy work schedule.

“I work full-time, plus there is St. Vincent’s, and I teach an engineering class at Alabama — I need to tell them I need to drop all that so I can go build boats,” he joked.

This will be the first boat he will have completed in his shop here — and the work is almost done. It needs a mast and running board set and some other details and then finishing and painting.

That last part is the big hump Bob said he needs to get past — finishing is his least favorite part of the boat build.

“I hate painting,” he said, and a large portion of this boat, especially the outside of the hull, will be painted.

Even so, Bob hopes to have the boat in the water by early summer — and then it is on to his next projects. He has a roll of boat plans in his shop — “I enjoy looking over boat plans more than I like reading a book. It’s the engineer in me.” He wants to build at least three of them.

But he has other projects on his plate, too. The Lilly G is a great crab boat, but that design leaves something to be desired with regards to passenger comfort. Bob plans to build some seating for the boat and relocate the console and controls to better suit its use as a recreational craft.

Then there is the beautiful 1958 Christ Craft Sportsman in another building in the shop complex. The vintage motorboat is a true project — it has minor hull damage on one side and the wood needs to be completely refinished and the interior and engine rebuilt.

“It came ‘what-you-see-is-what-you-get.’ Basically a hull and a pile of parts. I am still looking for original plans. I am not sure what goes where,” Bob said.

But like all his other projects, Bob will figure it out. And when he is done with that, he will move on to something else.

Woodworking — he has built all sorts of cabinets and other pieces — and boat building, in particular, are his cathartic escape.

“I picture there always being a boat in this shop. When I finish this one, then I will start another one,” he said. l

DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • February & March 2014

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73

Golden works on a football player with leather helmet.

Creator of many;

Master of all

Story by Carol Pappas Photography by Mike Callahan

When lightning struck a tree in Bill Golden’s yard, the natural instinct was to grab a chainsaw. But as quickly as that bolt shot through the tree, an idea struck Golden.

So with chainsaw in hand and a makeshift scaffold surrounding the tree, he masterfully turned the 12 feet of its remnants into an Indian carving that now stands watch like a sentry over the shoreline that fronts his Logan Martin Lake property.

Take a look around outside and inside his home, and one can’t help but conclude that just as he carved an impressive sculpture out of nothing more than a tree stump, Golden makes a habit out of turning challenges into opportunities.

“I do a lot of different things,” Golden said. “God has given me the abilities, and I’m not afraid to use them.”

Fear is not a word — or an emotion — Golden knows well.

Why else would he try to create a stained glass window without so much as a moment’s lesson? But step up on his front porch and come face to face with a stained glass work of art.

He had been encouraged to take a class, but he told the woman where he bought his equipment that he “read a book.”

When he returned for more equipment, she again encouraged him to take a class. “I’m doing OK,” he told her.

In the third week of his project, the notion of a class was dangled in front of him once again. “No, I’m doing fine,” he assured her.

By the end of the fourth week, the window was finished. He took a picture to show her, and she was “flabbergasted. ‘You could enter this in a contest,’” he recalled her telling him. And adding the ultimate compliment, she said, “‘I’ve got a door I’d like you to do for me.’”

“That’s where I messed up,” he chuckled at the memory. “I could have made a little money at it.”

Dollars don’t drive him, though, challenge does. “He is very talented,” his wife, Beth, said. “I have never asked him to do anything he couldn’t do, and it’s always better than I describe it — and always bigger.”

A retired supervisor from Hayes Aircraft and once a senior designer at SMI Steel and a project engineer at Connor Steel, his resume also includes an animated film — not because it was in his job description. It was simply a need at the time, and he accepted the challenge.

Hayes was vying for a NASA contract. “My boss called me from Houston and said he told NASA that I was an animation expert. I told him I knew nothing about animation, that I had seen animations about Donald Duck and Mickey Mouse. He

Top photo shows his artist’s skill; Indian chief shows his carving innovation.

DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • February & March 2014

75

Creator of many; Master of all Water wheel helps power home, a Logan Martin landmark.

Stained glass window created by reading a book.

76

told me to go downtown and buy any books you need. I bought three books.”

Three months later and with an animation film to his credit, Golden said his boss called him into his office and said they won the NASA contract. Another hurdle; another challenge met

by Golden.

Inside his Logan Martin Lake home today, you’ll find plenty of evidence of Golden’s handiwork. In the foyer is a framed, pen and ink drawing that looks as though it could be on display in an art gallery. The signature on it? Golden’s, of course.

Nearby hangs a three dimensional music sheet he created with actual piano keys from the family’s century-old piano forming the notes of doxology, “Praise God, from whom all blessings flow.”

Then there is the 300-pound roll top desk he fashioned out of red oak, various paintings and carvings of toys, figures and dolls, the table he built from an oak tree and the room-sized Christmas village display complete with a mountain landscape overlooking it. The snow-capped peaks he painted stretch across two walls of the room, the natural light coming through a window behind it following the natural path of the sun setting.

Oh, and it’s not a canvas, it’s an old sail he turned into one.

These and more are all Golden originals, but he takes particular pride in the 7-foot “Chief Coosaloosa,” dressed in leather, holding a hatchet in one hand with the other hand over his heart. The inspiration came from the trunk itself. A growth on it looked like an arm stretching across a chest, Golden said.

“I felt obligated to carve that Indian.”

Its history didn’t begin with the lightning strike, though, it

DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • February & March 2014

Bill and Beth Golden with some of his handiwork

Roll top desk he built was one of three trees he bought 40 years ago from Sears and Roebuck and planted on the property that lies across the road from present day Pine Harbor golf course.

When he bought the lakefront property, Pine Harbor was merely a cotton field, he said.

When lightning struck his prized tree, he decided to save at least a piece of it. He told the tree cutting company to leave him a 12-foot stump. Golden built a 12-by12-foot platform around it about 3 feet off the ground and over the next four weeks, Chief Coosaloosa began to emerge. “I started at the top and came down with an electric chainsaw.” Feathers, leather jacket and pants, moccasins, the hatchet, the chiseled look of his face — all are lifelike. It took Golden a week to stain it, and it now stands as a landmark for anglers and boaters alike who have discovered it.

Another landmark stands — or turns — just a few feet away. It is a waterwheel he built that serves as the end of his heating and cooling system and also produces enough water for doves he raises in a former greenhouse, a pen and a pond. And, “It’s more efficient air conditioning than the unit outside,” he said.

Where does all that ability come from? Perhaps it’s in the genes. “My dad had a reputation for fixing anything,” he said. Or perhaps it’s simply drive. “I’ve still got a lot of things to do before I check out. Everything you see (even the house itself), I did. I’ve still got more to do. I haven’t gotten to the end of that list yet. I enjoy retirement as retirement is supposed to be enjoyed.”

So what’s next? Well, there is that cedar log that could be turned into a football player with a leather helmet. … l

DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • February & March 2014

77

The Case for CASA

Foster children find their voice through community-based volunteers

Story by Elaine Hobson Miller Photos by Mike Callahan Yanked from her mother at the age of 3 and placed into Florida’s foster care system, Ashley Rhodes-Courter spent the next nine years in 14 foster homes. Some of her temporary mothers were kind, a few were quirky, and one was the Wicked Witch from the West.

Then a miracle happened.

A volunteer for an organization called Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) found out about her during a visit with another child. The volunteer was horrified that Ashley had been in the foster care system so long. She worked hard to get her case, then succeeded in getting the court to terminate parental rights.

“My CASA, Mary Miller, was the only person who believed me when I said I was being abused in a foster home with 16 kids sharing two bedrooms in a trailer,” Rhodes-Courter said. “We were beaten, starved, and locked outside for long periods. Mary got me out of that situation and worked to get their home closed. She made sure my basic needs were being met when I was being ignored by foster parents and case workers. Eventually, Mary helped find me an adoptive family that changed my life forever. After spending almost 10 years in foster care, I got the Happily Ever After that I

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DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • February & March 2014

never dreamed was possible.”

With a master’s degree in social work from UCLA, she now acts as an ambassador and advocate for abused and neglected children around the world. She has also been a volunteer guardian ad litem for CASA, and is a licensed and active foster parent, having cared for 20 children.

“Ashley Rhodes-Courter has become the spokesperson for CASA in terms of what it has done for children,” says Amber Uptain, volunteer director for Tri-County CASA, which includes St. Clair, Calhoun and Talladega counties. “Her memoir about her foster home experiences, Three Little Words, is being made into a movie starring Reese Witherspoon, to be released later this year.”

Every day in this country, 1,900 children become the victims of abuse or neglect, according to the national CASA for Children website. In 1977, a family court judge in Seattle, Washington, became dissatisfied seeing the same case plans for these children case after case. Believing individualized attention would produce better outcomes, he started the Guardian ad Litem program using volunteers from the community as advocates for foster children.

That initial program morphed into the National Court Appointed Special Advocates Association in 1982. Now, CASA is a network of 933 community-based programs that recruit, train and support citizen-volunteers to advocate for the best interests of abused and neglected children in courtrooms and communities.

In some states, such as Florida, CASA volunteers are still called guardians ad litem. But in many states, including Alabama, a guardian ad litem must be an attorney. Regardless of what they are called, these volunteers stay with the children until they are placed in loving, permanent homes. For many abused children, a CASA volunteer is the only constant adult presence in their lives.

“We have nine active volunteers in St. Clair working about a dozen cases and one volunteer about to start in Talladega County, for a total of 11 volunteers in our CASA area,” says Uptain. “We completed our second training class last fall, and another is scheduled for this month (February).”

Debbie Dukes was the first CASA volunteer for St. Clair County. A licensed, certified social worker and independent practitioner, she wants to make a difference in children’s lives.

When she called the state CASA office a few years ago for volunteer training information, she was recruited to start the program in St. Clair.

“Several board members were from St. Clair,” she says.

“I’m in Talladega, but my kids go to school in St. Clair. My thinking was that Talladega, Calhoun and St. Clair are all rural and would be fighting each other for the same funds, so why not combine them? After talking with (St. Clair District) Judge Robert Minor, I decided St. Clair would be the easiest place to start.”

Tri-County CASA got provisional membership with the national organization in 2011, then full membership in 2012.

Dukes went through the first volunteer training class for this area in October 2012, then quit her job as executive director.

Carol Potter, executive director for Alabama CASA, now serves in that same capacity for Tri-County CASA, working closely with Uptain.

“I told them from the start I was not looking for a full-time job,” Dukes says of her stint as Tri-County director. “I got it started, got funds, then resigned.”

As a non-profit organization, CASA runs on grants, donations and fundraisers. Dukes helped secure a grant from

Amber Uptain gets cases for CASA from Family Court.

The Children’s Trust Fund in 2012 and sold Boston butts as a fundraiser. Now, Tri-County CASA is partnering with the state office on a more ambitious fundraiser, The Playhouse Project.

They’re enlisting local businesses to donate materials so that volunteer contractors and other skilled individuals can build playhouses.

“We will be putting the playhouses on display at The Shops of Grand River in April, and we’ll either auction them off or sell chances to win them,” says Uptain.

Advocacy begins The advocate process begins after the Department of Human Resources (DHR) removes a child from his home, usually due to some kind of traumatic experience. DHR places the child with a relative or in foster care, then requests that the family court assign a CASA volunteer to his case. “Our volunteers have to be court-appointed,” Uptain says.

When she gets the request, she assigns the case to a volunteer, who works closely with DHR and the social workers. They meet with all parties concerning the child, including parents, foster parent, social workers, even the Guardian ad Litem. They also talk extensively with the child.

“We can set up a consistent relationship with these children when there is so much instability in their lives,” says Uptain.

“CASA looks after the feelings, needs and wants of the child.

Most of the time we’re completely in line with what DHR recommends, but there have been times when a volunteer’s recommendation clashed with DHR. It’s up to the judge to make the decision as to which one to go with.”

Dukes, who is still a CASA volunteer, describes her role as another set of eyes and ears for the child’s welfare. “Our biggest goal is to prevent kids from being in foster care very long and from being moved from placement to placement,” she says. “We want them back with their parents, in a long-term placement or put up for adoption.”

St. Clair CASA volunteers Delaine Wright of Odenville and Donna Grundhoefer of Leeds went through the same

DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • February & March 2014

79

The Case for CASA

Family Court Judge Robert Minor reviews a child’s file with CASA volunteers Delaine Wright (center) and Donna Grundhoefer.

volunteer training class as Debbie Dukes. While Grundhoefer got off to a late start because of family issues and received her first case only recently, Wright hopes to get her third case soon.

“I don’t have children and always wanted them, so I started working with children in my church,” says Grundhoefer. “But that was only on Sundays. I was praying about where God could use me when I saw a post on Facebook about the CASA program and knew that’s what I was supposed to get involved in.”

Wright considers herself the voice for the children she works with. “If they aren’t in court, I tell the judge what they want,” she says.

Dukes says the “job” doesn’t take up much time, maybe 10 hours per month. “But you can make a large amount of difference in a child’s life,” she points out.

Contact Amber Uptain at 3countycasa@ gmail.com to find out how to become a CASA volunteer, make a donation or help with the Playhouse Project. l

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A look at the numbers

• More than 7,000 kids in Alabama are in foster care.

• On average, a child is moved at least three times while in foster care, often more. (National Children’s Law Network).

• On average, they remain in the foster care system for three years. (The Pew Commission on Children in Foster Care) • Foster care kids typically attend nine schools before they reach the age of 18. (The National Children’s Law Network) • Ninety-five percent of kids with a CASA volunteer stay out of long-term (three years) foster care • Kids with CASA volunteers are more likely to be adopted.

(U.S. Department of Justice) • A child with a CASA volunteer is less likely to re-enter the child welfare system. The proportion of re-entries is consistently reduced by half.

• In 2011, CASA had 324 volunteers in Alabama, who served 650 children through 25,000 volunteer hours.

• A CASA volunteer carries a caseload of one to three children, while DHR case workers carry a caseload of 2832 children.

• The annual cost of one child in foster care for Alabama is $168,600.

• The annual cost for a child to have a CASA volunteer for one year is $1,000.

DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • February & March 2014

Wetlands project a classroom on the lake

Story by Carol Pappas Photos by Wallace Bromberg Jr. Rising from the shallows of Logan Martin Lake near the walking trail of Lakeside Park is a project meant to encourage education and an appreciation for natural resources.

Called simply, “The Wetlands Project,” it is an elevated observation deck taking shape that will enable the community to view and learn about the different species of birds, plant life and vegetation found in the wetlands.

Built by Eric Mackey of Mackey Docks, it is made of composite decking and features a 70-foot by 6-foot walkway with a 12-foot by 40-foot T on the end. Picket handrails line the perimeter, and they are angled so that identifying plaques can be installed there as well as making it conducive for resting a notebook for writing.

The platform is built three feet above when water is at summer pool, making it 468 feet above sea level and giving the ability to observe all angles of the wetlands.

Catalyst for the project is the nonprofit Logan Martin Lake Protection Association, which has budgeted $30,000 to make it a reality. Dick Franke and Isabella Trussell were the driving forces behind its being fulfilled. “It is a big project for us,” said LMLPA President Mike Riley. “It is a project for the people and the area itself to give them an opportunity to see a bio-

82

diverse, aquatic environment that is the wetlands.”

It truly is a community project, Riley noted. The Pell City Kiwanis rebuilt the nearby amphitheatre, where outdoor classrooms can be held. The Pell City Garden Club, with assistance from Auburn University in identifying indigenous plants and trees, is enhancing a trail that will have plaques as you walk through, identifying oak leaf hydrangeas, redbuds, dogwoods and other species that will be planted.

A grant from St. Clair Soil and Water Conservation made preliminary work of the site possible. Donations from other organizations and Lakefest helped raise the funds that have supported this undertaking.

For the builder, this project takes on added meaning. Beyond the technical aspects of it — 50,000 pounds of concrete, 32 poles, 15,000 screws and 500 bolts — it’s about family and community to Mackey. He and his late father have operated their family business on Logan Martin Lake for 26 years. His father put in the poles for the walkover bridge that connects the park with the sports complex 25 years ago.

“It keeps the Mackey name,” he said. “That’s why I really wanted to do this project more than anything.”

A ribbon cutting is tentatively set for May 8, when the lake is expected to be at full pool.

To donate, please send your checks to: LMLPA, P.O. Box 2002 Pell City, AL 35125 and mark as “Donation to Wetlands.”

DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • February & March 2014

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