Discover St. Clair August & September 2019

Industries Expanding • Watson-Byers Historic Home Duff Morrison - Fortunate Son • Cabin Transformation • Business Review

August & September 2019

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Features and Articles Discover

The Essence of St. Clair

Namaste Goat yoga comes to St. Clair

Page 18 Watson-Byers Home Page 8

Goat Yoga Our personal experience

Page 32

Fortunate Son Duff Morrison’s life Page 34

Medical Section Unprecedented growth

Transforming Cabin Home Page 38

Easterseals Clinic Northside mental health Expanding services

Page 46 Page 52 Page 62

Page 64 Partnering on primary care Page 68

Business

Charity Steel

St. Clair Medical Community Page 46

Allied Mineral Metro Bank Board TFRB Law new partner

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August & September 2019

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Writers AND Photographers

Carol Pappas is editor and publisher of Discover St. Clair Magazine. A retired newspaper executive, she served as editor and publisher of several newspapers and magazines during her career. She won dozens of writing awards in features, news and commentary and was named Distinguished Alabama Community Journalist at Auburn University. She serves as president/CEO of Partners by Design, the multimedia group that publishes Discover.

Graham Hadley 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.

Linda Long Linda Long has worked in communications for more than 25 years in print, broadcast, nonprofit promotion and special event planning and implementation. Her writing has appeared in Business Alabama Magazine, Technology Alabama, Mobile Bay Monthly, Birmingham News, Huntsville Times, Partners Magazine, Birmingham Magazine, Alabama Alive, Cahaba Talk, Hoover Outlook and Shelby Living. She served as news and special projects producer for NBC13 News, where her work won national, regional and state honors, including two Emmy Award nominations.

Joe Whitten Joe Whitten was born in Bryant on Sand Mountain. When he arrived in Odenville in 1961 to teach at St. Clair County High School, he found a place to call home. He and his wife, Gail, taught across the hall from each other. He continues to live in Odenville in a 1904 house they called home for 36 years. Joe was active in the Alabama Writers’ Conclave and the Alabama State Poetry Society. The society named him Poet of the Year in 2000. Joe has also published a number of St. Clair County local history books.

Mike Callahan 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 and week.

Elaine Hobson Miller

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.

Paul South Paul South, a native of Fairfield, is an Au¬burn graduate with a degree in journalism and a double minor in history. He also has a Juris Doctorate degree from the Birmingham School of Law. Although sports writing was always his first love, he had a versa¬tile career as reporter, columnist and first full-time sports information director at Samford University.

Jackie Romine Walburn Jackie Romine Walburn, a Birmingham native and freelance writer, is an Auburn journalism graduate who has worked as a reporter, editor and corporate communications manager. She’s had recent writing published in the Birmingham Arts Journal and Alalitcom. Jackie is currently seeking an agent and publisher for her first novel, Mojo Jones and the Black Cat Bone.

Leigh Pritchett

Leigh Pritchett has been in the publishing field 30 years. Early in her career, she worked for a New York Times Regional Newspaper. Since the 1990s, she has been a freelance writer. Her work has appeared in local, state and national publications in print and digital form. Mrs. Pritchett received the Bachelor of Arts in English from the University of Montevallo.

Wallace Bromberg Jr. Wally graduated from 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.After a 30-year career, he decided to dust off his camera skills and pursue photography full time.

Scottie Vickery Scottie Vickery is a writer with a degree in journalism from the University of Alabama and was a reporter for The Birmingham News.

Her first assignment was covering St. Clair and Blount counties. She has more than 30 years of writing and editing experience and her work has appeared in a variety of publications. She also has worked in the nonprofit industry.

From the Editor

Celebrating eight years of Discover As we celebrate another anniversary of Discover this month – the eighth one – it’s hard not to be nostalgic. We had high hopes back in August of 2011 that we at least would make it through that first year.

And now, we sit atop our eighth milestone, growing year over year since those early days because of you: our readers and advertisers. We owe you all a debt of gratitude for making Discover another of St. Clair’s success stories, and we humbly offer our thanks.

In the inaugural issue that started it all, I wrote about my own beginnings in St. Clair, fresh out of college as a cub reporter for a weekly newspaper. I recounted, “As I would soon discover myself, St. Clair County was a melting pot of old and newcomers, pick-up trucks and Mercedes, busy highways and country backroads, mountains and valleys. It still is. And in the pages of this magazine, we hope to capture that diversity, that unmistakable essence of St. Clair that makes it both a destination point and a place we call home.”

In the eight years since, we hope we delivered on those hopes, and we look forward to the years ahead of discovering more of the same together.

This issue continues the tradition of discovery, like goat yoga practiced on a Springville farm. It’s a craze that’s catching on and drawing people from near and far. No ‘kidding!’

We’ll visit with one of “Bear’s Boys,” now living in Chula Vista, reminiscing about his time on the gridiron playing for the legendary coach and his own success story off the playing field.

In Odenville, you’ll step inside the makeover of a house in the woods transformed into a dream cabin getaway. And there might even be an unlikely guest or two in the backyard you’ll learn about.

This month, we focus on our burgeoning medical community

in a special section dedicated to the growth of ‘big city’ medicine practiced right here in St. Clair County. No longer do we fight traffic or travel long distances for health care. We find it delivered daily close to home.

In business, we share even more growth with an update on new and impressive facilities for Allied Mineral Products and the addition of Charity Steel to the industry roster.

And this month marks our second annual Discover the Best of St. Clair County Awards and inside this edition, you’ll find a ballot to help us discover the best of our county. Vote for your favorites, tell your friends and family to cast a ballot, too. It’s an opportunity to recognize your ‘discoveries’ and share them with us. Winners will be announced in the October issue.

There is plenty more in this edition of Discover, and we invite you to do what we’ve been doing for the past eight years.

Turning the page and discovering it all with us!

Carol Pappas Editor and Publisher

Discover The Essence of St. Clair

August & September 2019 • Vol. 49 • www.discoverstclair.com

Carol Pappas • Editor and Publisher Graham Hadley • Managing Editor and Designer Mike Callahan • Photography Wallace Bromberg Jr. • Photography Susan Wall • Photography Dale Halpin • Advertising Toni Franklin • Graphic Designer

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Watson-Byers Home

Built of tradition, family roots and love

8

DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • August & September 2019

Story by Joe Whitten Photos by Wallace Bromberg Jr. Submitted Photos The white column c. 1910-1911 Watson-Byers House rests on a grassy knoll in Odenville, gleaming in summer sun as lovely as a jeweled tiara resting on a green velvet cushion.

A St. Clair County vintage home, indeed, but for those nurtured by previous Watson parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles, it is a house of unconditional love. Talk with any child, grandchild or cousin, and you hear only happy memories.

The original owner, William Clayton “Will” Watson, was born March 4, 1861, in White Plains, Benton, later Calhoun County, to William Alvin P. and Eliza Ann Hart Watson. Eliza’s father, Andrew Hart, ran Hart’s Ferry on the Coosa River, ferrying between St. Clair and Calhoun counties. The Harts owned and farmed the land where Andrew Jackson constructed Ft. Strother in 1813.

William Alvin P. Watson died at Vicksburg in the Civil War. Widowed Eliza Ann Hart Watson married John Lonnergan in 1869. John and Eliza Lonnergan eventually owned the two-story double dog-trot log home built by John Looney in Beaver Valley. In a recent interview, Will’s grandson, Frank Watson, recounted that family oral history said that “Grandpa Will, when he was 18, rode the horse over to the Looney’s and bought the house for his mother, and then the Lonnergans moved in.” Frank added, “Now, I haven’t checked this out; that’s family lore.”

Will attended Southern Normal School and Business College in Bowling Green, Ky., graduating in 1887. Then, two years after graduating, he married Mentie Cox of Ashville on October 9, 1889. Will and Mentie lived in the Ragland area of St. Clair County, where Will at various times worked as postmaster at Lock Three and as a teacher. Grandson Frank treasures the school bell his grandfather used in his school.

Will and Mentie had a large family of 12 children and desired them to have the best education possible. Therefore, when Odenville was chosen as the location of St. Clair County High School, Will began planning to move his family from Ragland to Odenville.

“It was about 1909 or 1910 that Will bought the land here in Odenville … and they built the house and moved here in 1911,” Frank recalled.

Saraharte Watson Byers’ notes indicate it was completed sometime in 1910.

“He cut all the timber over there where he lived and shipped it here by rail, and this house was built out of rough timber,” great-grandson Jimmy Byers added. One of Will and Mentie’s daughters died in 1908, and their last child was born in Odenville. Eleven of their 12 children attended St. Clair County High School. Daughter Roberta graduated in the second graduating class in 1913.

Downstairs front hallway

Stairs at the back of the front hall

DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • August & September 2019

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Fireplace surround original to the house

Table original to the house

Upstairs hall looking into Sade’s library 10

In a conversation with this writer many years ago, Saraharte Watson Byers recounted how that after the house was completed, Will shipped their furniture by rail from Ragland to Odenville. Then the family came by train to their new home and new town. Arriving at the Odenville depot, the Watsons got off the train and walked to their new home. Father led the way, mother behind him, and the children behind her from oldest to youngest and like a moving staircase marched up the road.

For many years, the Watson-Byers House has had the square columns on the front, but those were not on the house originally. Frank reminisced: “It originally had double porches, not columns. I remember when it got changed. Uncle Hop, Will’s son who lived in the house, got tired of that upper porch.

It was before they had treated lumber, and he got tired of replacing it; so, they took the upper porch off and put the little portico up there and put up the columns. Originally, a long, wide pathway wound uphill to the porch and visitors always entered at the front door. But the house hasn’t been changed much inside. Maybe the only change in the old house is the kitchen windows. They are double now, and they were single back then.”

Inside the home, a central hall extends front to back with high-ceiling rooms on either side. Most visitors today enter at the kitchen, furnished with table and chairs of the period of the home. The cook-stove looks like a wood-burning stove from 1911 but really is an electric stove that Saraharte Watson Byers had shipped from Canada after she and Alvin became owners.

She also installed hardwood floors in all the rooms except the dining room, which retains its original pine flooring, the standard flooring of that day.

The rooms are large as was the turn-of-the-century custom, with tongue-and-groove pine walls rising ten feet. Those tall ceilings made the rooms cooler in the summer, but they could also make for cold rooms in the winter. The house was originally gaslit from a Delco gas system from which gas was piped into the light fixtures. One gas-lamp globe survives in Frank’s possession.

A stairway leads to the second floor where several newlyweds started their married lives —Saraharte and Alvin Byers, Jimmy and Karen Byers, Al and Donna Byers, as well as cousins lived up there.

Frank remembered that the garage and the men’s toilet were across today’s U.S. 174, which did not cut through the property until years after the house was built. The ladies’ toilet, however, was located on the hill behind the house.

Deeply rooted family tree Frank was only five years old when his grandmother, Mentie, died in 1938 and barely remembers her. However, he recalls well his grandfather, Will. “Granddaddy loved to tell ghost stories to us grandkids, and he would frighten us all to death.

He could tell good ones, and he had a knack of telling the punch lines. … He’d tell Civil War ghost stories about when they lived at Lock Three.

“After he came to Odenville, he was a merchant. But he went out of business during the Depression — let too much out on credit. In his later years, he would go down to the local store every day, and he would always carry his long umbrella. The guys teased him about that, and he’d say, ‘Pshaw! Pshaw! It

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Karen and Jimmy Byers, current owners of Watson-Byers House might rain.’ But he was using it for a walking cane!”

Will died in 1950, and his funeral service was held at the house he’d built, just as Mentie’s had been in 1938. Both are buried at Liberty Cemetery, Odenville.

Will’s son, Hobson “Hop” Watson and wife Sally Robison Watson lived in the house with Will, caring for him until his passing. When he died, Hop and Sally became owners of the home and lived there with their daughter, Saraharte, called “Sade” by many friends. She grew up loving the old home, her family, Odenville and the people of the town.

Saraharte graduated from St. Clair County High School in 1945. She attended the University of Alabama but earned her undergraduate and graduate degrees from Jacksonville State University. Later she earned her Ed.S. from the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

Saraharte Watson married Alvin Byers in 1947. Alvin had dropped out of school in 1944, his senior year, to fight in World War II. When the war ended, he returned to St. Clair County High School and graduated in 1946. Alvin attended JSU and earned a degree in education.

The Byers had three children. Jimmy married Karen Turner, and they have three children Matthew, Adam and Joshua. Al married Donna Colley and they have three children, Rodney, Jeremy and Zeke. Lynn married Jed Brantley and they have two children, Jacob and Rachel. Alvin loved sports and all three children got involved in sports. Lynn could play as well as her brothers. Her comment was, “He taught me to play anything that had a ball in it!”

Both Saraharte and Alvin had careers as teachers in Odenville. Alvin taught various subjects and coached various sports and is well-remembered for his baseball teams and both boys’ and girls’ basketball teams. Both teams went to state playoffs at various times. Saraharte taught elementary grades and retired as head of the elementary school.

Hop and Sally Watson lived in the house until their deaths.

Saraharte and Alvin became owners at Sally’s passing. Then Alvin died in 2001 and Saraharte in 2003. After her death, great-grandson Jimmy Byers and wife Karen became owners/ caretakers of the lovely old home.

12

Will and Mentie Watson

One of the more recent barns on the property The first thing Jimmy and Karen had to face was the bat infestation in part of the house. And not just any bat, but the protected brown bat, requiring that they be relocated. Only a wildlife relocator could do this. Jimmy located one of American Indian lineage who successfully got them out of the house and relocated. “We probably had a thousand bats,” Jimmy said. “The porch ceiling was sagging from guano. We had to redo the ceiling on the porch and redo two walls in the living room.”

When talking with Jimmy and Karen, their son Matt, and Jimmy’s first cousin, Judy Gibson Banks, one hears memories of loving parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles spilling out as

DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • August & September 2019

Alvin’s 1985 Girls’ Basketball Team

refreshing as a fire hydrant at full flow on an Alabama summer day — memories of a house full of loving kindness.

Jimmy lived his first three years in this house, for Saraharte and Alvin lived upstairs in the house until they could build a home in Moody. Karen commented, “They brought Jimmy home from Leeds Hospital to the Watson House. Saraharte talked about having the heater upstairs and how they had to keep it warm for Jimmy.”

Jimmy’s face broke into a wide smile when this interviewer asked about his memories of his Granddaddy Hop and Grandmother Sally. He chuckled as he began. “Granddaddy was my buddy. I loved him with all I could love anybody.

When I was a little fellow, I guess it was in ’54, Granddaddy bought a Shetland pony. We took the back seat out of the car, and we brought the pony home in the car. We named him Buckshot and he actually lived to be 34 years old.

“Later we had horses, but we had Buckshot before we had anything else. And because me and my brother Al were just kids and weren’t good with the reins yet, so Granddaddy would lead us all over the pasture — us on Buckshot.”

When Jimmy paused to reflect, Karen added, “Jimmy talked about Granddaddy riding him and Al around the pasture; well, he did the same thing with our boys. He would sit them on the pony and ride them around the pasture and they loved it. Our boys loved their Grandmother and Granddaddy Watson.”

“This happened later,” Jimmy continued, “but Granddaddy was — how can I put this — was feeling pretty good one day, and he brought Buckshot up the steps and into the living room and Buckshot messed in the floor. Needless to say, Grandmother put him and Buckshot back out of the house!”

Judy Gibson Banks and her sister Wanda grew up in the Byers’ home under the guardianship of their Uncle Alvin and Saraharte. Hop and Sally happily added them as grandchildren.

Judy lovingly remembered “Grandmother and Granddaddy” and the good times she had at their house on the hill. “The horses were up there at the Watson House. Wanda and I started working with the horses, and we rode horses all over that hill.

But Granddaddy would worry about us, so when we were riding — no matter where we were on that place — we could look up and Granddaddy would be somewhere on that hill watching to make sure we were OK.” Hop and Sally loved their grandchildren and the grandchildren’s love for them comes shimmering through in interviews. Karen commented, “Hop and Sally, were two of the most giving people you would ever meet. She welcomed everybody into this house. The football team — Jimmy and Al

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Watson House original look would bring folks home, and some of ‘em stayed. She was so good about that. Always had food for them, cooked for them.”

On the way to school each morning, Sade would drive her family to school, stopping at Sally’s to check on her. Every afternoon they would stop by again. A fond memory that lingers is how almost every afternoon Grandmother Sally would have divinity, or pound cake, or some snack for the grandkids after a long school day.

When Jimmy started college in Jacksonville, he recalls that when he and David Veasey commuted together, “I’d pick up David in Moody and then we’d come by here every Sunday evening when we headed to Jacksonville. And she’d fix us snacks for the week and feed us before we started up there.”

Legendary fried chicken and more Sally’s cooking was legendary in the family. Jimmy remembered, “Every weekend we ate up here at Grandma’s house. And on Sunday — she had the best fried chicken you ever would eat. In all my life, I’ve never tasted any as good as hers.” He said that eating at Grandma’s on Christmas was like eating at a cafeteria she had so many dishes. “She was a diabetic,” Jimmy noted, “but she cooked it all!”

Jimmy’s sister, Lynn, joined the dinner-memory choir, saying, “Sunday dinner at Grandmother’s was amazing. She made the best fried chicken around.”

Lynn also spoke of her love for Granddaddy Hop. “I loved just spending quality time with my Granddaddy. He was one amazing man. I loved listening to all the stories Granddaddy would tell us.”

Another occasion for family meals occurred Easter Sunday.

The family would attend church and then to Grandmother and Granddaddy’s house for a big meal — and of course it included Sally’s fried chicken! After lunch, the kids hunted Easter eggs hidden over the hilltop.

14

The family enjoyed telling about Hop’s pipe and Sally’s cigarettes. “Granddaddy smoked Prince Albert tobacco in his pipe,” Jimmy related, “and Grandmother smoked cigarettes.

Well, she got tired of buying rolled cigarettes, so she used a brown paper bag. She would cut the paper bag up and roll her cigarettes using Granddaddy’s Prince Albert tobacco and smoke those brown sack cigarettes.” Sally bought cigarettes only when they visited relatives.

Sally did all the driving, for Hop never drove a car. The grandchildren told how when school was out in the spring, Sally would load the family in her car to visit relatives in various towns in north-central Alabama. “Granddaddy always went with us, but he had little patience with visits and was ready to leave soon after arriving,” Jimmy remembered.

Although Hop never drove an automobile, in his later years, he bought a riding lawnmower and had a good time riding it all over the home-place hill. Today, where he had such a good time, his descendants had enjoyed festive occasions. In the past several years, the hilltop has been used for wedding events.

Quiet home weddings have occurred in the home, including Donna Colley and Al Byers and Judy Gibson and Curtis Banks.

However, Jimmy and Karen, wanting family members to continue enjoying the old home place, have hosted the garden weddings and receptions for family members. The first one of these was for Lynn and Jed’s daughter, Rachael. The ceremony took place on the wide front porch with guests sitting in chairs set up on the lawn. A white tent in the back, where Hop drove his lawnmower, served for the reception and dancing with a live band.

One can hope that Hop and Sally and Sade and Alvin (should he be interested), somehow get a glimpse of those festive events at their well-loved old home.

Great grandchildren also have delightful memories of Hop and Sally Watson. Matt Byers in a college essay wrote this:

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“The greatest man I ever knew was Hop Watson, my greatgrandfather. … No child could have known a more caring, loving and understanding human being. … I remember the look in his eye when his ‘little man’ would do something he’d taught him and do it right! From riding mop ponies to real ponies, I learned it all from him. He taught me so many things about life, the land, and most importantly, about love. … When my brother, Adam, came along, I had to share my granddaddy.

That was tough for me, but I managed. … With the help of our granddaddy, we thought we could do anything. He loved us dearly and we loved him. After Granddaddy passed on, I made a promise to myself to let everyone I cared about know it. …

I still think about him today. His influence over my life is still prominent and I owe him a lot. I just wish that I’d told him how much I loved him. So, to ‘the greatest man I ever knew,’ I love you.”

In a recent conversation, Matt joined the “Hallelujah Chorus” of Sunday dinner at “Nana’s and Granddaddy’s house. My great-grandmother fried chicken like nobody else. Her recipe, which to my knowledge has not been matched in St. Clair County, drew people from miles around. Everyone wanted some of that delicious, crispy-hot poultry. Granddaddy Watson had fresh corn and other vegetables to go with it. And if it was July, you could thump the watermelons and enjoy something delightful. Those were the days!”

A Christmas tradition Shawn Banks, Judy and Curtis’ son, remembered Christmas time. “Some of my happiest memories are of Christmas at Granddaddy and Nana Watson’s home. Each year, a week or two before Christmas, Granddaddy would gather the grandchildren and set out to find the ideal tree. After traipsing down the hill, across the highway, through the woods along the creek, we would find our tree.

“When the tree was in place, everyone would gather in the living room to decorate our prize. We hung the stockings and … when the decorating was finished, Nana would say, ‘Isn’t that pretty?’ My favorite time was topping the tree with the star. Not an elaborate star; just a simple one that Granddaddy had made of cardboard and covered with tinfoil. Each year, a different grandchild got to put the star on the tree. It was an exciting time when my turn came around.”

To Shawn, the memory of that homemade Christmas star is “…a spark of inspiration. A little spark that could relight the ashes of burnout, until we spring forth like the Phoenix, finding a new zest and appreciation for family and happy memories.”

Today, the cherished star radiates memories throughout the year from its protected place in a curio cabinet.

Sally and Hop were icons in Odenville, as were Sade and Alvin. Their many years of teaching in the elementary and high school bring fond memories to Odenvillians, many now in the senior citizen years.

Ode to Sade Sade’s students undoubtedly remember her love for Alabama and Odenville history. She diligently collected local history and shared it with her students. When an Odenville history project was under way, she tracked down vintage photographs and located individuals who could contribute to the needed

16

Saraharte and Alvin Byers

information. She was a cheerleader for Odenville.

Family members agree that Sade was the “Rock of Gibraltar” of the family and her heart was full of love for family and friend. Karen recalled Sade’s love for people and how she wanted everybody welcomed who came to the house, making sure that each had been introduced around to the others.

Having grown up in a loving home, Sade knew how to love generously. That is a beautiful legacy expressed by her poet grandson, Matt Byers.

“Sade” The picture of what love should be Was seen upon her face.

The matron of our family Displayed her love with grace: Examples of how we should live In order to bear fruit — Examples of the way To give to others as our root — For Sade was more than we could see, A wife, a mom, a saint.

A Mimi’s grandiosity Whose ways were calm and quaint.

She cared for all as if her own And never so for gain.

Her seeds of love were aptly sown, Forever to remain.

Some sunny day, should you drive by this lovely home, think on this: Happy memories are built on love, and love endures long after a dear one has left us behind. Such is the history of the Watson and Byers families. l

DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • August & September 2019

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Namaste Goat Yoga more than just a craze for Springville couple and their farm Story by Carol Pappas Photos by Kelsey Bain Make the turn off Springville’s Shanghai Road into CareDan Farm and it’s as if you have entered a magical world where animals rule, and the rest of us are lucky enough to be part if it – if only for a day.

The gang’s all there: Nigerian Dwarf goats Charlotte, Rose, Rosebud, twins Spur and Kid Rock and two new babies, Peanut and Cashew. There’s Rooster and Daisy, the horses, of course, and a lovable pig named Pancake. Talk about free range, the chickens meander around these parts to their hearts’ content while ducks splash playfully in a nearby puddle.

It’s just another day at the farm for them, but for those arriving by the carload, it’s an experience they won’t soon forget.

And that’s precisely the point, say Danny and Caren Davidson, who open up their Springville farm to young and old, friends, family and strangers from near and far, curious about a thing called goat yoga.

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Baby goats get in on the act.

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DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • August & September 2019

Namaste Danny, the head goat wrangler

“It’s fun when people come out and do things they don’t typically do,” says Caren, who calls their fledgling business, My Farm Day, the perfect moniker, adds Danny. “Whether it’s fishing, riding horses, playing with the goats, we wanted people to have a ‘my farm day’ for them.”

Their first venture in providing that personalized farm experience is a craze sweeping the country, goat yoga. And on a summer Saturday morning, the rain didn’t seem to dampen the spirit of the day. Quite the opposite. Guests headed to the barn for shelter, where yoga mats and a menagerie of fourlegged hosts awaited.

Certified yoga instructor Nancy Hunter of Springville explains her foray into today’s goat variety of this ancient practice. Caren had seen a post on Facebook about Nancy’s Yoga classes in Springville and at her studio in Oneonta.

Caren called and asked if she would be interested in teaching Yoga with goats, and Nancy said ‘Yes, I’m game. I’ll try it.’

“Caren is so amazing,” Nancy says. “These are her children,” she adds, motioning to the goats – old and new – the horses nearby, the baby chicks just introduced into the class (much to the delight of its students) and a host of other animals making up the zoo-like atmosphere.

I n th e b eginning …

It wasn’t always like this – a farm couple just working and sharing the land. They were from the big city.

But her grandparents had a farm in Tennessee when she was growing up. “I fell in love with the farm and the animals.”

Charlotte, one of the goats, is named for her grandmother.

Danny and Caren grew up in Vestavia Hills and graduated from Vestavia High, dated at Ole Miss and married.

He served in the Army in San Antonio for a few years, and they moved back to Alabama when he finished service.

They bought property across from Matthews Manor and lived there for nine years in Argo. “I love to be outdoors,” Caren says. “He loves to build stuff. We moved in with some dogs and within a year, we added horses and a couple of more dogs.

Our dream was more land and more animals.”

They found what they were looking for – the house with 69

DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • August & September 2019

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Namaste

Fancy meeting you here!

acres bordering Little Canoe Creek – in Springville.

“When we pulled in the driveway, four chicks came running out to meet us,” Caren recalls. “I thought, ‘I’m sold. This is awesome.’”

“We bought a tractor and few other things, and that’s how we got here.”

By day, Danny is about to begin a new job teaching Algebra at Moody High School. Caren is director of human resources at a Birmingham law firm.

“Because we grew up in the city, we didn’t know much about farm life. Fortunately, we’ve had some great neighbors and friends who have taught us a lot about barn and fence building, drainage, pond maintenance, etc.,” Caren explains.

“What we didn’t learn from them, we learned from books or YouTube. Our master shower is frequently turned into an infirmary for injured chickens and ducks. We continue to learn most everything the hard way, but because it’s just the two of us, we have a lot of fun living the ‘farm life,’ which is a big departure from our ‘regular life.’”

The Davidsons don’t have children, but they have a very close family with lots of cousins, nieces, nephews who enjoy ‘Farm Days’ at Uncle Danny and Aunt Caren’s farm, hence the name, CareDan Farm. “Farm Days,” she says, “consist of riding horses, playing in the creek, fishing, gathering eggs from the coop, riding 4-wheelers, Gator rides,

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DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • August & September 2019

Baby chick introduced into the mix

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Namaste A new experience

Roaming the range

canoeing, hitting floating golf balls into the pond and whatever other activities Danny dreams up. Evenings on the farm generally involve more fishing, campfires, watching football and listening to music on the back porch.”

On the farm, Danny’s job at first was that of goat wrangler.

He is self-proclaimed “head goat wrangler,” and has a name tag to prove it.

He’s the one always bringing home the goats. She’s more practical. The night before this class, he brought home two more without telling her. But she couldn’t resist, it was easy to see, as she held them like babies, bottle fed them and sported a never-ending smile as they frolicked among the yoga guests in the barn.

A good day for ducks

A tiny handful

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Th e dri ving force The genesis of this day, where smiles, laughter and squeals of excitement are quickly becoming tradition, came from an unlikely source – a tragedy involving Caren’s father, Dr. Cary Petry. He had suffered from depression and anxiety for years and sadly took his own life in 2017.

“The couple of years leading up to that event were quite stressful, as I tried to provide my dad with encouragement, support and different treatment options. After his death, I found myself just going through the motions most weeks. I’d spend all my energy during the week trying to do my job, and I’d use the weekends on our farm for quiet time in hopes of recharging for the next week. Being outdoors, surrounded by all of God’s amazing creations, was the medicine I needed, but it was still just a repetitious cycle week after week.”

On a Sunday morning a year ago, her mother called as Danny and Caren were walking out the door to church. “She told me to turn on the news because there was a story coming on about a lady in Oregon who held goat yoga classes on her farm. I watched the story and couldn’t stop thinking about the satisfaction she had gained by sharing her farm and love for goats with others. I wondered if I could regain some happiness, and perhaps help others, by sharing my farm and animals with others.”

DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • August & September 2019

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Hitching a ride

Goats galore

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DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • August & September 2019

Namaste

Exercise is fun!

When she took the next step and called Nancy, “Surprisingly, Nancy had actually participated in a goat yoga class and was eager to try teaching one. So, for my 46th birthday, I invited a few close friends and family to attend a goat yoga birthday party at the farm. I figured they wouldn’t turn me down since it was my birthday. I had never done yoga before, but I was excited to combine so many things I love into one activity – friends, family, animals, outdoors and some much-needed exercise.

“The goats kept escaping the temporary fence we had hastily put up and didn’t seem too interested in the yoga, but it was fun nonetheless.”

They experimented with two more classes that fall before deciding to get serious about it. “Well, as serious as you can get about goat yoga,” Caren adds. “I felt like goat yoga was the perfect way for me to share our farm with other people who may be in need of some laughter and a break from their stressful lives.”

Wh ere th ere’s a wi ll …

“In January 2019, our two goat mommas, Charlotte and Rose, had three kids: Spur, Kid Rock and Rosebud. And in March, My Farm Day hosted its first official goat yoga class with our five goats. Since then, we’ve had classes nearly every Saturday morning.”

Classes are limited to 12 people because the goat to human ratio is critical to participant’s enjoyment of the activity.

With the emotions of her father’s passing still fresh, “I got excited about it. It was something we could focus on and find a way to let other people enjoy the farm. It’s a different concept. It’s silly. It lets you forget about all your troubles for a while. Life is tough. If you can take a few minutes to do something you don’t always do, that’s fun.”

She talks of mental health issues as an epidemic facing the country and sees the farm as a means of coping. “It’s hard to get the help you need. I want to help people laugh.

That makes me happy.”

The years leading up to her father’s death “were really rough for us. Every weekend, I would be here and recharge. It made me feel better to be with the animals.”

Her father was an animal lover and when he was at the farm with his dog, Rowdy, his rare smile would appear and is a memory she savors. It is also a memory that sparked the adventure Caren and Danny are now on. And Rowdy now acts as greeter, escorting guests up and down the drive.

DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • August & September 2019

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Namaste Goats and good times go together.

Wh at’s in a name They decided to name the business “My Farm Day” with the idea that “everyone needed ‘their’ day on the farm, just like when we had family out for impromptu farm days. We figured we’d start My Farm Day with a little goat yoga, and maybe later, expand it to include other activities like fly-fishing lessons, barnyard parties, etc.,” she explains.

Goat yoga is the first real leg of that journey. And so far, the reviews have visitors coming back for more.

As the class gets under way on this particular Saturday, Caren and Danny place the newest baby goats on the backs of the participants who could hardly stifle non-stop giggles with the little ones prancing around, eventually leaping off as if the back were a high dive.

The newest goat crew will make their debut in yoga class in a few months. They are partial to crawling atop a human back or two or across their stomach as they lie motionless except for the full body stretch they are attempting.

“The older goats now are like teenagers. They have a mind of their own,” Danny said as the older goats wandered around the yoga class, going underneath, over and around outstretched bodies, occasionally pausing for a snack of hedges and vines nearby. Most did manage a snuggle or two with their human guests, enticing more than a few pets, hugs and rubs behind the ear from them.

One family arrived as part of a surprise for Jimmy Waldrop for Father’s Day. “He loves goats, but we live in the city limits (of Hueytown), and we can’t have them,” said Waldrop’s wife, Dana. He had mentioned he wanted to start yoga, and when she saw My Farm Day’s goat yoga, “it was perfect.”

Waldrop, a nurse at UAB, enjoyed his Father’s Day surprise outing. “I like getting out in a farm atmosphere, and I like goats. I don’t know why, I just do.”

Lana Clayton of Ashville is a return guest. “I fell in love with it, and I came back again and again.”

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DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • August & September 2019

Namaste Farm li ving is th e li fe for th em “Danny and I have had so much fun and met so many wonderful people during goat yoga classes. We love it because it allows us to spend time outdoors together, with our animals, while sharing our love of nature with others,” Caren concludes.

“People who don’t typically interact with farm animals, get a small dose of farm life, while getting in some terrific stretching and exercise. Nancy loves teaching the class because it introduces yoga to people who may not otherwise try a yoga class in a traditional setting.”

Participants are encouraged to laugh and take pictures throughout class. “As we say, ‘It’s a little bit of yoga and a whole lot of goat.’”

After class Caren and Danny help people pose for pictures with the goats. “Sometimes we have chickens join the class, and our pig, Pancake, has been known to shove her way in to the ‘yoga studio’ for a little attention. Every class is different, so it’s fun ‘work’ for us.”

Underneath a sign that appropriately says, Attitude is everything. Pick a good one, a table of wares displays Carendesigned goat yoga t-shirts and hats.

Even the fresh eggs they sell have their own stamp on it – Laid With Love – a creation by Danny.

“But it’s not about making money,” Caren says, “it’s about giving people an experience that’s a break from ‘normal’ life.” As one participant told her, “I found today that baby goats are the cure for nearly anything.”

So, what’s next for this farm-loving, farm-sharing couple? “It is our goal to later, when we retire, use our farm in ways to help people who are hurting,” Caren said. “Goat yoga is just our first baby step.”

Editor’s note: More photos and video may be found online at discoverstclair. com, and more information about the farm and goat yoga is at myfarmday. com.

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DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • August & September 2019

Caren with her ‘babies’

Half the fun is seeing each other have fun

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Namaste ‘Kidding’ around with goat yoga:

A personal story

Scottie (left) and daughter, Katie, strike a pose with newfound ‘friends’

Story by Scottie Vickery Photos by Kelsey Bain When Editor Carol Pappas asked me if I wanted to take a goat yoga class and write about it, my first thought was, “You have goat to be kidding me.” (See what I did there?)

I have to admit, I was intrigued. After all, there are few things cuter than baby goats. But in my excitement, I “fur-goat” a few things. (Sorry for all the bad puns, but it turns out you can’t write a story about goat yoga without them!)

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First of all, I forgot that I don’t do yoga. Secondly, I forgot that the reason I don’t do yoga is because I am not known for anything resembling flexibility, coordination or muscle strength. That shows you just how distracting the thought of baby goats can be.

I shouldn’t have worried, though. In the world of yoga classes, this was no “bleat-down.” As Caren Davidson, owner of CareDan Farm, where the class is held on select Saturday mornings, likes to say, “It’s a little bit of yoga and a whole lot of goat.”

DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • August & September 2019

After a short walk up the tree-lined drive, we were welcomed by Peanut, the smallest of the Nigerian Dwarf goats at the farm, who seemed much more intent on what he was eating than the visitors flocking around him. Being the good-natured goat that he is, however, he didn’t mind being interrupted for a quick cuddle and photo session.

While I was the only newbie on this particular Saturday, it turns out that most of the folks who come to the farm for a goat yoga class – about 70 percent – have never done yoga before. That’s perfectly fine with instructor Nancy Hunter, who said it’s a fun way for people to be introduced to the discipline. “I know you’re really here for the goats, though,” she said with a laugh.

Like any good yoga novice, I found my mat in the far back corner of the pen where the class is held. While most yoga enthusiasts have their own mats, Caren and her husband, Danny, provide them for everyone since there’s always the risk that a goat might mistake a mat for a potty, which happened to Hunter during our class. No worries, though.

Caren comes armed with a canister of disinfecting wipes for just such an emergency.

With seven goats and 11 participants that day, the goat-toperson ratio was a pretty good one. It soon became obvious that, on Saturday mornings, this is no lonely goat herd. Rose, Rosebud, Charlotte, Kid Rock, Spur, Peanut and his brother, Cashew, are pretty social goats. They don’t hesitate to sit in your lap, crawl through your legs or otherwise invade your space.

“If you hear somebody creeping up behind you, it’s OK,” Nancy said. “Just watch the horns. Now that’s not something you hear in every yoga class.”

The fact that Caren and Danny provide each participant with a bowl of goat treats and drops the occasional small branch near your mat helps ensure that no one feels left out.

After all, nothing gets your goat worse than being shunned by the likes of Kid Rock.

To make you feel even more loved, Caren or Danny put some of the smaller goats on participants’ backs during poses like Downward Dog, but only if you’re up for it. I guess it’s only fair that the goats’ balance is tested since ours was certainly put to the test.

Although the poses didn’t have me totally crying “baaaaaa,” the class was a good one (at least that’s what my fellow participants tell me). With the occasional rooster crow as background music, we contorted, stretched, squatted, wobbled (OK … I was probably the only one wobbling) on one leg or our toes, breathed deeply and gazed at the beautiful blue sky. “We do a little bit of everything,” Nancy said. For those in the know, that included boat poses, chair poses, warrior series, 5-star, pigeon pose and advanced pigeon pose.

As a result of the distraction that only seven goats can provide, the 45-minute class seemed to fly by. They say that yoga is good for the mind, body and soul, and so is a morning spent in the sunshine, breathing the clean air and playing with some pretty cute kids.

All in all, I guess you could say the experience was … wait for it … “goat for the soul.” Namaste. l

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Editor’s Note: According to Merriam-Webster dictionary, namaste’s definition is ‘I bow to you’ and is used as a respectful greeting in India. Traditionally, it is used to end yoga sessions.

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Fortunate Son Duff Morrison’s life a story of blessings, hard work and “The Bear” Story by Paul South Photos by Wallace Bromberg Jr. Three words course through Duff Morrison’s 80 years: “lucky, fortunate, blessed.”

Chat with him, and clearly, he has been. A member of legendary Coach Paul “Bear” Bryant’s first Alabama team and first national championship team, Morrison excelled in engineering and business, working for some of American business’ bestknown companies.

In his 50s, despite a body battered by his years as a multi-sport prep and college athlete, the Memphis native and St. Clair County resident was an internationally competitive racquetball player. Shoot, Duff Morrison was even a championship duck caller in Tennessee.

You name it, it seems, and Duff Morrison, the adopted son of Leonard Duff Morrison, one of the South’s most successful painting contractors, and a homemaker Mom, Bernice Turner Morrison, has done it – and done it well.

And no matter what he did, even today, the voices of his father, and of his “second Daddy” Bryant, echo in Morrison’s head and heart.

“My Daddy and Coach Bryant told me the same thing. ‘I don’t care what you do. But whatever you do, do it the best you can every time.’ That was the teaching that I grew up in.”

Duff Morrison with one of his footballs from Alabama

Three words course through Duff Morrison’s 80 years: “lucky, fortunate, blessed.”

Chat with him, and clearly, he has been. A member of legendary Coach Paul “Bear” Bryant’s first Alabama team and first national championship team, Morrison excelled in engineering and business, working for some of American business’ best-known companies.

In his 50s, despite a body battered by his years as a multisport prep and college athlete, the Memphis native and St. Clair County resident was an internationally competitive racquetball player. Shoot, Duff Morrison was even a championship duck caller in Tennessee.

You name it, it seems, and Duff Morrison, the adopted son of Leonard Duff Morrison, one of the South’s most successful painting contractors, and a homemaker Mom, Bernice Turner Morrison, has done it – and done it well.

And no matter what he did, even today, the voices of his father, and of his “second Daddy” Bryant, echo in Morrison’s head and heart.

“My Daddy and Coach Bryant told me the same thing. ‘I don’t care what you do. But whatever you do, do it the best you can every time.’ That was the teaching that I grew up in.”

Morrison followed the teaching to the letter, graduating from Treadwell High in Memphis at 16. He attracted the attention of college and pro scouts. The New York Yankees, New York baseball Giants and St. Louis Cardinals tried to hook Morrison with the lure of what then were considered bigmoney contracts. But Morrison – who neighbor kids called Duff Lujack after the Notre Dame great, Johnny Lujack – went to Alabama not only to play baseball and football, but to do more.

“I wanted to be an engineer,” Morrison says plainly.

A Drive to Excel There’s a backstory here worth telling, a story Morrison didn’t hear until he was 38. His biological father was a Memphis police officer, and his birth mother was a Native American woman. The couple put the baby up for adoption.

Some folks may have been shaken by the news but not Morrison.

“There’s never been a luckier little boy than me,” he says.

Indeed, his father, who would employ more than 100 in a painting firm with clients from the Carolinas to Louisiana and his mother made sure their boy had a comfortable life. But he also learned the value of work and faith.

“On Saturdays, if I didn’t have a ball game, I was up and in the car by six in the morning going to work. I was baptized when I was 10, and my folks had me in church every Sunday.”

Things didn’t change at Alabama. Morrison was recruited to the Capstone by Coach J.B. “Ears” Whitworth, a good man, Morrison recalls, who never won at Alabama.

In 1958, a new coach with a new way of doing things, arrived in Tuscaloosa from Texas A&M. Alabama football would be forever transformed.

Marlin “Scooter” Dyess, an Alabama star who was also part of the same 1956 signing class as Morrison, recalls the impact of Bryant’s arrival. Dyess is now a Montgomery businessman.

“When he came in, it was like going from darkness into the light,” Dyess says. “When he came there, he pretty well established an attitude. As he told us one time, ‘I don’t want to ever hear about a past coaching regime. The problem with this program is sitting right here in this room. Those that stay will be part of rebuilding.’ He was absolutely right. He demanded respect and he got respect.”

Morrison recalls one of his first practices in the Bryant era.

In the days before the NCAA restricted the number of players, some 300 were on the practice field for Alabama.

“Twenty-five boys quit that day,” Morrison recalls. “I went from 179 pounds to 163 that day. Coach Bryant tried to work you to death.”

“We thought he (Bryant) was crazy, trying to run everybody off,” Dyess said. “When we played LSU mine and Duff’s junior year, we only had 33 players because we had so many to quit.

But he stuck to his plan, and it worked.”

Comparing Alabama’s fourth-quarter conditioning, Morrison described Alabama’s opponents by panting like a St. Bernard in a steam room.

“Every time that we played a ball game and got in the fourth quarter, the other team would be panting real hard. And we haven’t started to break a sweat. We were in better shape than anybody we ever played against. Coach Bryant worked your butt off.”

Like Dyess, Morrison never forgot that first meeting with Bryant, more than 60 years on.

“The very first meeting with Coach Bryant, he says, ‘Every time that ball moves on the football field, you do everything you can legally to help your team to win. Two, you go to every class and study as hard as you can because you’re not going to play football for the rest of your life. And number three, I don’t want any cheating in school, I don’t want any breaking rules or laws. If you can’t stand up to these things, get the hell out of here now.’

Keep in mind, the Crimson Tide’s previous three seasons were a collective nightmare, with a combined four wins from 1956-58, including a 40-0 loss to archrival Auburn in 1957.

But 1958 offered a glimpse of the glory to come for the Crimson Tide. Bryant’s first team beat 19th-ranked Mississippi State, defeated Georgia Tech and tied a ranked Vanderbilt team.

Alabama almost upset Heisman winner Billy Cannon and LSU at Ladd Stadium in Mobile. In that game, a bleacher collapsed, injuring several fans.

Morrison had a big defensive play against the Bayou Bengals.

Some remember it as an interception, others as a fumble plucked out of the air.

“Billy Cannon went around the right end and cut back,” Morrison remembers. “I hit that son of a gun so hard, that the

DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • August & September 2019

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Fortunate Son Duff shows off some of his collectables

ball flew up in the air, and I caught it at the 45 and ran back to the LSU 4.”

Dyess remembered the play as an interception that Morrison plucked from the air after it bounced off his helmet.

“We kidded Duff, that’d we had never seen anyone intercept a ball with his helmet. But it was a big play in the game. Duff is a great guy.”

Alabama would lose to the eventual national champs. But Dyess saw a change in the Tide that day.

“It was amazing,” Dyess recalls. “That’s what Coach Bryant turned around. We didn’t know we were no good. He made you feel like you were just as good as the team you were up against.

In your mind, you sincerely believed that.”

And in 1959, Alabama, thanks in part to a sterling defensive effort by Morrison, the Tide upset Georgia Tech, 9-7. The previous Saturday, the Ramblin’ Wreck had upset nationally ranked Notre Dame in South Bend. Alabama was on the rise.

Bryant called the ’59 squad his “turnaround team” that ended the season nationally ranked. The Tech game was pivotal.

“I had nine tackles in the first quarter,” Morrison remembers.

“Coach Bryant gave me the game ball. But somebody stole it from my dorm room after the game.”

Dyess says Morrison was an important part of the 1959 squad, playing both offense and defense.

“Duff was probably our best defensive back in the secondary.

He was a guy who was a real leader. Nobody outworked him.

Coach Bryant would take hard work over ability any day. Duff

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was an important cog in our ’58 and ’59 teams.

In an injury-plagued career, including a broken back in 1961, Morrison missed most of the national championship campaign in 1961. But Bryant never forgot the kid from Memphis.

“After we beat Georgia Tech in 1961, he gave me a game ball,” Morrison remembers. “He knew mine had been stolen. I still have the ball on my shelf.”

Bryant is never far away from Morrison. A treasured photo of the two, taken weeks before the legendary coach’s death in 1983, is prized. Morrison keeps extra copies of the photo to give to friends and fans who love to hear his stories.

But Bryant had an impact off the field as well. Morrison, juggling two sports as well as a demanding engineering course load, was having trouble in a course in the midst of baseball season. Worried, he called Bryant at home and explained his problem.

“He had a tutor in my room in 30 minutes,” Morrison recalls.

“Hey, he cared about the ballplayers. He didn’t cheat. He wanted you to learn how to win and pay the price to win and do it the right way.”

He adds: “He felt like his job was to teach you to do the right thing in all aspects of life, not just on the football field.”

Morrison still holds the boys of Bryant’s first teams in his heart. Like Morrison, many went on to success in business, others in medicine and the law. While many have passed away, they are not forgotten.

“Those guys were about as good men as I’ve ever seen. It’s

DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • August & September 2019

like you win World War II or something like that, and these were the members of your company. They went through all the battles and everything. I feel honored to have been with those boys.”

Dyess agrees. “There were some good people in that crowd, there really were.”

Of Morrison, one of his closest friends at Alabama, Dyess describes him as “one of those hard-working guys who was important to the team. He was a great teammate and friend.”

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Off the Field Morrison’s life after Alabama had its beginning in his last semester, when an advisor asked what he wanted to do after graduation.

“I want to be an engineer,” he says. “And I want to be the boss.”

The advisor directed him to Alabama’s School of Commerce.

But engineering was always part of his professional life. In his first job, as a management trainee for American Brake Shoe, Co., he ascended to become a supervising engineer in less than a year.

He designed electronics plants for Emerson and poultry plants for Pillsbury. He was the top vacuum packaging salesman in the world for W.R. Grace for two years running and worked closely with companies like the Winn Dixie grocery chain and Bryan Foods.

“It was a grand life,” he says. “Two years in a row, that’s pretty good.”

He excelled in selling insurance, working for firms like Equitable Life. He also ran restaurants, like the Birmingham area mall locations of Sbarro’s Italian eateries.

While working full time during the day, he was a racquetball teaching pro at night. He helped design duck calls. And he supported and helped rear his family.

“I’ve had some real good jobs,” he says. “I got a good education and when you know the skills of engineering and management and you’re fair with people, and you do people right, they want to do good for you.”

If there is a dark cloud that lingers over Morrison’s blessed life, it’s the death of his son, Tim. Like his Dad, Tim Morrison played for Alabama, but was killed in a tragic auto accident in 2012. He was 44.

Duff Morrison calls his son’s passing, “the only bad thing” in his life. He holds fast to the belief that he will see his boy again.

“At least he didn’t suffer,” Morrison says.

Now at 80, Duff Morrison tries to stay busy, helping neighbors, building birdhouses, telling stories of Bryant and Alabama to anyone who will listen. He wrestles with aches and pains related to athletics and doesn’t go to games like he used to; stadium seats are too painful.

But he’s always quick to remind how fortunate his life has been. Many folks his age, he’s quick to remind, are in a wheelchair or shut in. As he looks back on life, gratitude flows.

He looks forward to the day he will see his son again.

“God has played an important part in my life. I don’t take credit for any of this. I was blessed. Most people haven’t had the blessings I’ve had.”

As he would like to say, his years have been a grand time. He hopes he will be remembered for his dedication to doing a job well.

“I enjoyed it. I liked to work hard. My Daddy taught me a long time ago to do the job, do it right and work as hard as you can. If you’re going to go through life (halfway) doing stuff, why bother?” l

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DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • August & September 2019

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Remodeled bedroom full of collectables

Reclaim, repurpose, reuse: How a St. Clair faux cabin began a real home Story by Elaine Hobson Miller Photos by Wallace Bromberg Jr.

View of the house from the back yard

The screened, asymmetrical porch is one of the most prominent features of the remodeled Tucker-Connelly cabin.

Rodney Tucker and Billy Connelly wanted a relaxing retreat, a place to get away from the hustle and bustle of downtown Birmingham and their high-pressure jobs at UAB Hospital.

In all the years they have been together, they have never built something new, but always renovated. When an internet search turned up a small 1980s cabin at the end of its own cul-de-sac in Odenville a few years ago, they didn’t waste any time taking a look.

What they found was a 900-square-foot box with a wraparound porch, a stick-built house masquerading as a cabin by hiding under log siding. What they saw was potential.

“It ended up being a total redo,” says Tucker. “Our contractor, James Wyatt (Wyatt Construction), took it down to the studs.

We extended it a little bit and enclosed some areas of the porch.”

“Extended it a little bit” meant adding 700 square feet. Wyatt removed all but one interior wall, pushed a couple of outside walls a little further out, enclosed parts of the porch to create an entry hall at the front and a gallery at the back, and added a large, asymmetrical screened porch on one side. What was once a two-bedroom house with two tiny bathrooms now has a large master bedroom and two guest rooms, two large baths, a laundry room and the aforementioned gallery and entry hall. As for the log siding, he replaced that with a fiber cement siding.

“Farmhouse chic” best describes the Tucker-Connelly house today. It’s filled with doors, furniture and decor fashioned from repurposed wood and metal. Most of the furniture was made by Stray Cats of Birmingham, while all the built-ins, such as the kitchen cabinets, were built by Joe Dickert of Big Rock Cabinets in Springville. Working with architect Bob Burns, Tucker, a palliative care physician, designed the “new” 1600-square-foot house (plus porches).

The section of the porch that formerly spanned the front

Mission-style furniture from the arts-andcrafts period lines the walls of the TuckerConnelly gallery, including two side chairs from Germany with carved backs and barley-twist arms and legs. Note the pottery collection at the far end.

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Reclaim, repurpose, reuse

A hutch made of repurposed wood out of North Carolina separates two nooks on the asymmetrical porch

These sliding doors came from an old hospital in Decatur.

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Tearing out a wall opened up the living area to the kitchen. of the house is now divided into an entryway with separate porches on either side. To the left and right of the entrance are the only two sections of the original porch that weren’t screened, glassed or incorporated into the house. On the left is the “cantina,” an outdoor overflow space for guests when the larger, asymmetrical screened porch gets crowded. The cantina is so named because its two tables have tops made from old tin Corona beer signs. A vintage, functional, circular Old Crown Beer thermometer hangs in the cantina area.

James Wyatt removed a wall to open up the living-dining area, turning it into one large room. The living room portion has a coffee table, credenza and end table made from reclaimed wood pallets. An Arthur Price oil painting of an old log cabin hangs on one of the walls.

“We replaced the dilapidated fireplace with Bessemer gray brick, and the new oak mantel is from an old mission-style house in Chattanooga,” Tucker says. “Only the leather sofa and love seat in here are new.”

Stray Cats made the 3.5 x 8-foot kitchen island, topping it with zinc-coated stainless steel. The cabinets are a dark-stained oak, while the all-electric appliances include a double walloven, a glass stove top and a French-door refrigerator with four drawers. Tucker and Connelly chose quartz countertops because they look like marble. “We would have preferred marble, but it stains easily,” Connelly says.

Tucked into one end of the kitchen, opposite the refrigerator and ovens, is Tucker’s pride and joy: a bar. Its tin ceiling came from the roof of an old Victorian house in North Carolina, while its chandelier used to hang in Rodney’s parents’ house in Gadsden.

Underneath the countertop are a wine or beverage cooler and an ice maker. The shelves over the bar house Tucker’s collection of about 1,000 pieces of barware, including wine

DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • August & September 2019

An antique slot machine rests atop a church pedestal in a nook between the bar and the living room. and cocktail glasses, cocktail and martini shakers. The etched ship decanters probably belonged to sea captains at one time.

“We have enough shakers to allow each guest to make his own drink, if we weren’t concerned with breakage,” Tucker says.

On a narrow, inset wall between the bar and the living room is a vintage slot machine perched atop a church pedestal that looks like a pastor’s lectern. “Oh, the irony,” Tucker says.

At the back of the house, behind the kitchen, is the gallery that Wyatt fashioned by enclosing that portion of the wraparound porch. Tucker and Connelly refer to it as a gallery because that’s where much of their extensive pottery collection is housed. Displayed in a Dutch mission-style cabinet, it includes creamware and pieces by Weller and by Roseville.

A king headboard of repurposed bead-board dominates the master bedroom, but also notable are the side tables and a chest of drawers made of recycled tin ceiling tiles and a mission-style chair and desk. The banjo propped in one corner belonged to Tucker’s grandfather. That bathroom has new floor tiles that look like old, gray wood. The vanity is made of repurposed wood, too. The walls of the shower are a wider version of the bedroom’s floor tiles, while river rock covers the shower floor.

“We tried to keep everything neutral — earth tones — gray, brown, white beige — so the house would blend with its surroundings out here,” Tucker says. “We have some pops of sage green here and there, and the exterior walls are sage green, too. We wanted the house to be natural and complement the landscape. A modern glass and metal structure would be out of place here.”

On the opposite side of the living room and kitchen from the master suite, Wyatt restructured the original bedroom, bumped its wall out a bit and fashioned two smaller guest rooms, a short hallway to connect them, a large bathroom and a laundry room.

One guest room is dubbed The Hillbilly/Cowboy Room.

Another sleeping and sitting room

DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • August & September 2019

41

Front of the house

Tucker designed the bar, which uses glass doors to show off his barware collection.

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This 1922 transfer table from a Boston manufacturing company was turned into a coffee table for the large porch.

DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • August & September 2019

Reclaim, repurpose, reuse There’s a large, predominantly red, pop-art, mixedmedia piece of a vintage cowgirl on one wall, an equally colorful guitar in one corner, and a lamp that has a base of a moonshine jug with the moonshiner holding on for dear life (Mountain Boy Pottery out of Ohio).

Then, there is the collection of figurines — animals, hillbillies, outhouses, jugs, etc. — from the 1940s and ’50s in a nearby cabinet. Hanging rather incongruously in one corner because nothing else would fit there is a Catholic icon. The upper portion depicts Mary and Jesus, while a drop-down, hinged door beneath them would have been used for incense and candles in a good Catholic’s home.

The pack sled from Switzerland was used as the headboard for that room’s bed at one time, but now stands against a wall, next to a pair of wooden skis from Germany. The credenza and end table in that room were manufactured in Bali from wood reclaimed from boats. “Jamey (James Wyatt) bumped out one wall in here to make a window seat,” says Connelly, who is vice president of ambulatory services at The Kirklin Clinic of UAB Hospital.

“This is where my mom often sits to quilt when she comes up.”

Down the hall, the bathroom doors once opened the entry to a surgery room at an old hospital in Decatur. “They were hospital green, but we sanded them down and applied wood sealer,” says Tucker.

“Jamey spent a lot of time getting them to hang evenly and roll smoothly.” The vanity is one of the few manufactured pieces in the house, but Stray Cats made the mirror. The floor is the same type of tile as in the master bath, but in a different color. What appears to be a collection of small cigar-box covers on a board that’s covered with a wax sealer is the main art piece in this bath.

At the end of the short hall is another guest room made by enclosing another section of the wraparound porch. “Jamie got creative and pushed out a section of the side wall to create a one-foot-byten-foot alcove that gives the room a little pizzazz,” Tucker says. To save space, Wyatt used pocket doors for the closet in this room. He enclosed another section of the wrap-around porch to create a laundry room off this bedroom.

The quilt on the bed here comes with an interesting background story. Tucker went to an estate sale and found old fabric squares that were newspaper backed, as if someone was preparing to piece a quilt. “One of the newspaper pieces dates to 1938,” Connelly says.

“My mom finished the quilt in 2018.” More of the couple’s pottery collection is housed in an antique barber’s cabinet and a mission-style display cabinet.

Billy Connelly (left) and Rodney Tucker enjoy relaxing as well as entertaining on their large, asymmetrical screened porch.

One end of the kitchen bar is made of reclaimed tin.

DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • August & September 2019

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Reclaim, repurpose, reuse When the couple throws a party, most guests end up on the large, asymmetrical porch on the left side of the house outside the kitchen-and-bar area. It’s such an inviting room that you just want to sit down and enjoy the breeze or soak up the woodsy atmosphere. Guests have a choice of seating here, including a pew from an old church in Selma that is gone now.

The repurposed theme is obvious in here, too. There’s a sofa table with a wood top made from flooring out of an old school in Georgia. The coffee table is actually a 1922 transfer table from a Boston manufacturing company.

One promontory of the porch features a white hutch made of repurposed wood out of North Carolina. Around the corner, an old Hudson hubcap that probably covered the spare tire on the back of that car hangs over feed-and-seed signs and a coat rack. It’s next to a white repurposed glass-front cabinet that was originally built into an old house. “I bought that cabinet at an antique store,” Tucker says. “I don’t like to refinish the vintage furniture we find. I sand them down and use a clear sealer.”

Over that cabinet hangs a Hinman Milkers sign, while an old metal dairy box rests on top of the cabinet. The dairy box bears the name, “Connelly’s Dairy.”

“We bought that at an antique shop in Atlanta,” Tucker says.

“In the early days of home milk delivery, the bottles would go into the metal box, and it would hang from a bicycle. I told Billy I didn’t know his family had a dairy.”

An unusual mirror hangs over the outdoor or porch sink that Connelly uses to wash the dogs and pot his house plants. It is a big dot inside a larger tin circle that was once part of a heater in a chicken house. Speaking of plants, this porch displays succulents, ferns, begonias, ponytail palm, a shrimp plant and not a few coleus.

Wyatt recalls saving only bits and pieces of the house’s original hardwood floors. “I think all we saved were pieces of the living room and master bedroom,” he says. “The kitchen was water damaged a little, had some rotten spots, so we put in a new subfloor there and new hardwood.”

Outside, the swimming pool required a total redo, too. “It had to be torn out and new gunnite poured,” Tucker says. “We also built a pool house that carries through with our unique decor as well.”

Landscaping is Connelly’s bailiwig, with the help of his mother, who visits about once a week. Cone flowers, zinnias, black-eyed Susans, petunias and salvia flank the rock-andgravel walkway leading to the front door. Nearby are Knock Out roses, French and snowball hydrangeas, camellias, hostas and ferns. Japanese maples thrive throughout the property.

“I’ve planted lots of fruit trees and muscadine arbors, lots of native azaleas,” Connelly says. “I’ve made jelly and wine from the muscadines. Gardening is my therapy.”

Exotic animals dot the landscape around the property, too.

Four monkeys reside in two separate cages. Another cage houses Patagonian cavies and two kangaroos. A pasture features a zebra, emus, alpacas, horses, ostriches, sheep and goats. “I’ve always had exotic animals of some sort,” says Connelly. “Rodney tolerates them.”

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Connelly’s the animal lover who collects exotic creatures such as these monkeys.

“I love animals, too, but the volume we have is sometimes overwhelming,” Tucker confesses.

“You should see our feed bill,” Connelly adds.

Outdoor multi-level decks on one side of the driveway provide additional relaxation space. “They made this space usable,” Connelly says. “One of them replaced an outdoor dog pen, and another one camouflages the storm shelter under it.”

Security lights line the driveway, which winds past a derelict modular home used for storage, a barn, animal cages and the pasture, where the four-footed creatures are kept. And a fire hydrant.

“We have our own fire hydrant,” Tucker says. “It’s the result of the entire 30-acre property once being zoned for and promoted as a future housing development.”

Although the house renovations were completed about two years ago, the pair really aren’t finished with their retreat project. Ultimately, they would like to build a couple of small, one-room guest cottages.

“This was a large remodeling project, and we worked shoulder-to-shoulder on the design,” James Wyatt says. “I’ve done a lot of those in Mountain Brook and Vestavia, and it was good to do such a high-end remodel right here in St. Clair County.” l

DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • August & September 2019

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VOTE AT DISCOVERSTCLAIR.COM OR MAIL THIS BALLOT! Voting is now through August 21, 2019. Nominees must operate in St. Clair County.

Mail ballot to: 1911 Cogswell Ave., Pell City, AL 35125 or vote online at discoverstclair.com.

Winners will be announced in the October issue of Discover St. Clair Magazine.

Unprecedented Growth in St. Clair

MEDICAL COMMUNITY More services on the way for region Story by Scottie Vickery Photos by Graham Hadley and Submitted Just five months after Northside Medical Associates opened its ACCEL Urgent Care Clinic, Pell City veterinarian Ken McMillan had a potentially lifesaving visit there in April.

He’d had eye surgery for a detached retina in Birmingham the week before and wasn’t feeling well. Since his primary care doctor at Northside was out of the office, McMillan saw Dr. Jeremy Allen, medical director at ACCEL. When McMillan’s lab work was abnormal, Allen ordered a CT scan at the facility’s onsite imaging center.

That’s when he discovered the blood clot in McMillan’s lungs.

“We were lucky he was as diligent as he was and had the technology available to do that,” said McMillan, who received treatment and is on the mend. “It could have ended up saving my life.”

The story is one example of how St. Clair County residents are taking advantage of the first-class medical services being offered close to home.

All over Pell City, practices are growing, offices are expanding, and technology is being added and utilized at a rapid pace as local health care providers continue to invest in their patients’ well-being.

“We want our patients to be confident that the care they’re getting here is as good or better than anywhere else,” said Dr. Rock Helms, CEO and president of Northside. “I’m proud to say that, in this rural area, we’re providing state-of-the-art care.”

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Architectural renderings on the new PCIFM building

DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • August & September 2019

ST. CLAIR MEDICAL COMMUNITY

PCIFM’s new building site next to Publix in Pell City

Aultman Dental is going up next to Cropwell Commons.

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PCIFM expanding Providing better and more convenient care for their patients is also the driving force behind Pell City Internal and Family Medicine’s expansion, according to Dr. Rick Jotani. The practice, which has a main office in St. Vincent St. Clair’s Physicians Plaza, is building a much larger facility on property adjacent to the site of its satellite office next to Publix on U.S. 231 in Pell City. “This will allow us to consolidate our two locations under one roof, making things more convenient for our patients,” he said.

“Every service they need, whether it be labs or imaging, will be there.”

The new office, which should be completed by the end of the year, will be double the size of the two current locations combined, Jotani said. The new facility will allow the practice, which currently offers family and internal medicine, women’s health and wellness, sports medicine, pediatrics and aesthetic procedures, to expand.

ATI Physical Therapy will be part of the new building, and Jotani and his partners, Dr. Barry Collins and Dr. Ilinca Prisacaru, have plans to add more primary care physicians and subspecialists over time.

“This will give us the space and flexibility to be able to do that,” he said. “Dr. Collins and I started the practice in 2012, and we’ve been very well-received by the community. This is

DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • August & September 2019

James W. Bedsole, OD Eye Care is also under construction next to Publix.

a reflection of that. We’ve continued to grow and get better and will hopefully continue to do that for many years to come.”

Northside setting pace for growth Northside has been growing since opening its doors in 2001 with four physicians. The practice now has four locations and a staff of more than 150, including 12 doctors and 13 nurse practitioners, Helms said. Patients can receive primary, specialty

and emergency care, get lab work and advanced diagnostics, and pick up prescriptions all under one roof.

Over the past year, they’ve added 3D mammography, the urgent care component and have formed an independent lab, expanding the menu of screenings they offer, not only to their own patients but to those with other doctors, as well.

“If you see a primary care physician or a specialist somewhere else, you can come here and get labs,

DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • August & September 2019

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ST. CLAIR MEDICAL COMMUNITY More growth, more services Here’s a look at how other providers are striving to meet the growing demand for health care in St. Clair County:  St. Vincent’s St. Clair recently earned a 5-star rating for hospital quality from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. The 40-bed facility, which opened in 2011, is the only hospital in the county and one of only five in Alabama to earn the distinction.

The rating is based on 57 different benchmarks in six areas, including patient experience, effectiveness and timeliness of care, and efficient use of medical imaging.

Lisa Nichols, a registered nurse and the hospital’s administrator, said the distinction is the result of the staff’s commitment to providing quality, compassionate care.

“I’m so very proud of the work of our leadership and of our associates to ensure that quality and patient safety remains at the forefront of everything we do,” she said.

The archtiectural rendering of the Bedsole building stands in front of the construction site. and we’ll send them to your doctor,” Helms said.

Additions like the urgent care and 3D mammography have made a significant impact on patient health, he said. “With the 3D method, you get multiple images that are so much more detailed,” Helms said, adding that the technology is especially helpful for patients with dense breast tissue, a history of cancer or implants. “If you put the images side by side, you can see a tremendous difference. It’s much easier to pick up cancers.”

Urgent Care a new component of primary care In a new trend in health care, Northside opened an urgent care center on its campus. The ACCEL center is open seven days a week and allows patients to quickly see a physician for things like strep throat, bronchial infections, abdominal pain and sprains.

Patients who see a primary care physician at Northside have the added benefit of knowing the urgent care staff has access to their charts and medical histories.

“It provides a much more seamless transition,” Helms said. “We saw an opportunity to better serve our patients, and it has been well-received. We’ve had patients come and thank us for doing this.”

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 You don’t need 20/20 vision to see that the new home for James W. Bedsole Eye Care building, currently under construction on an outparcel site in front of Publix, promises to be state-of-theart. “We want to be a destination for eye care,” said Bedsole, adding that the building should be finished by year’s end. “It’s going to be unique,” he said.

The new facility will be about twice the size of Bedsole’s current office downtown and is designed to accommodate new technology and an expanded optical gallery. The building will be handicapped accessible and easier for older patients to navigate. In addition, Bedsole will be hiring more staff and will eventually add another doctor to the practice.

“Hopefully, we’ll be able to provide a better experience for our patients,” Bedsole said. “We offer a full scope of services now, but this will give us the ability to deliver those services in a more efficient manner,” he said.  UAB Callahan Eye located a satellite in Physicians Plaza in 2017 next to St. Vincent’s St. Clair, and it continues to thrive as a regional source for ophthalmology and optometry services in its Suite 240 location.

The clinic offers comprehensive adult and pediatric ophthalmology and optometry, plus an in-house optical store featuring a wide selection of designer eyeglasses and sunglasses from brands such as Ray-Ban, Coach, Maui Jim, Tom Ford, Costa del Mar, Burberry and Vera Bradley. Specialty eye services include glaucoma and cataract evaluations and screenings.

DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • August & September 2019

• INTERNAL & FAMILY MEDICINE • SPORTS MEDICINE • PEDIATRICS • WOMEN’S HEALTH • FAMILY WELLNESS CARE • ONSITE LAB & XRAY • SPORTS PHYSICALS Rick Jontani, MD

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ST. CLAIR MEDICAL COMMUNITY

Helping meet the needs of everyone in St. Clair Volunteer family physician and Pell City native Dr. James Tuck is one of three physicians and three nurse practitioners who donate their time and expertise for clinic patients.

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Story by Jackie Walburn Photos by Graham Hadley A primary care clinic with a holistic approach, the Easterseals’ Community Health Clinic in Pell City, began and continues as a collaborative community effort to serve St. Clair adults without health insurance.

A year after its July 2018 opening, the volunteer-staffed clinic serves 380 patients and has logged more than 1,600 office visits. Located at 205 Edwin Holladay Place in downtown Pell City, the clinic shares building space with a Community Action agency, a mental health clinic and Christian Love Food pantry, agencies that help each other serve clients’ “mind, body and spirit.

“Ten months after we got serious about it, we opened the doors to the clinic,” says David Higgins, executive director of Easterseals of Birmingham, which also operates a Pediatric Therapy clinic in Springville.

Because of the success of the Springville Pediatric Therapy clinic and the known need for services in St. Clair County, where some 12 percent of adults have no health insurance, the community clinic “seemed a logical next step as an Easterseals endeavor,” said Higgins.

He credits support and enthusiasm from Jefferson State Community College, Samford University and University of Alabama at Birmingham nursing programs, the town of Pell City, St. Vincent’s St. Clair Hospital – plus a long list of civic, church and community groups – for supporting the clinic.

DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • August & September 2019

415 Cook Springs Rd. Pell City, AL 35125

• Assisted Living • Specialty Care Assisted Living • Skilled Nursing • Independent Living • Short Term Rehab

Village at Cook Springs offers a unique setting for senior living – where the serenity of country living comes together with personalized services and amenities to meet your needs.

Village at Cook Springs is a multi-level care retirement community nestled on 200+ acres, offering serene country living with all the conveniences, and services of city life. Whether you are gathering around the piano, or sharing a meal with family and friends, you will always know you are part of a truly special community.

Phone: (205) 814-3254 | www.villageatcooksprings.com

ST. CLAIR MEDICAL COMMUNITY The clinic has the same medical equipment you would find in any doctor’s office.

Volunteers key Volunteers, including three physicians and three nurse practitioners, staff the clinic, which is open from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Thursday.

Two part-time administrators – Pam Thornburg, who manages the administrative front end of the clinic, and Letisha Crow, who administers the clinical end – were hired recently. “We have good volunteers, and we want to be respectful of their time,” Higgins says.

But volunteers – including Frances Burnete, Ruth Pope and the team of medical professionals who donate their time – remain key to day-to-day operations.

A belief in the need for the clinic prompted volunteer Burnete, who is retired after 50 years in the insurance business, to volunteer and keep volunteering at the clinic, where she is referred to as “Aunt Frances.” She says she feels “a kindness and understanding for the people who are our patients,” and believes in the work being done.

Volunteer and retired nurse Ruth Pope handles intake for new clinic patients. “This clinic was so needed,” she says, and now so appreciated.

Encouraged to volunteer by friend and fellow volunteer Dr. Christy Daffron, department chair for the nursing program at Pell City’s Jefferson State Community College campus, Pope’s volunteer job is to sign up new patients.

The clinic charges $20 a visit for established

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DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • August & September 2019

We live, work and play in Pell City And we are here to help keep you and your family healthy and enjoying our community, too!

Hands on Care, Close to Home.

The team at TherapySouth has served the Pell City community for more than 32 years. Steve Foster, Doug Cole and now Tyler McGrady have loved working here to provide physical therapy for friends in our community.

TherapySouth is an outpatient physical therapy practice with a fun, family-oriented environment.

Our experienced physical therapists know our patients by name and strive to help them achieve their physical goals. We know you have a choice for your healthcare, and we’d love to be your physical therapists.

PELL CITY | 205.338.6106 www.therapysouth.com

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ST. CLAIR MEDICAL COMMUNITY Community Health Clinic personnel include mostly volunteers. Here, Myra Holifield, R.N., a nurse practitioner student at Jacksonville State University completing clinical work at the clinic, meets with parttime administrator Pam Thornbird and volunteer Frances Burnete.

patients and $30 for walk-ins, who are seen on Monday mornings. Patients are adults ages 19 to 64 without health insurance or Medicaid whose income falls within federal poverty level guidelines. Because Alabama is one of 14 states that have not expanded Medicaid, the state has a population of adults, many who work, who fall into a “coverage gap” and do not have health insurance coverage.

The doctor is in Pell City native Dr. James Tuck is one of three physicians who volunteer and regularly see patients at the clinic.

“The people we see are in desperate need of this service,” says Dr. Tuck, who grew up across the street from the clinic location. “It’s easy to see the need and the appreciation.”

Tuck’s family roots are in St. Clair County, and he has been in medical practice in his hometown for 36 years, now working with a local urgent care clinic.

His first job out of medical school was in the current clinic building, he recalls, when the building housed the St. Clair County Health Department’s obstetrics clinic. “This is kind of bringing the past and present together for me.”

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Mind, body and spirit The clinic targets overall wellness with a holistic approach, Higgins says. “It’s primary medical care, but we look at root causes and what we can do to make life better for every patient,” New patient intake includes a complete health assessment covering medical, social psychological, family, work, diet and living environment. “All these things help get a good handle on what’s going on with patients,” Higgins says, and may identify other needs patients have.

The clinic offers physical therapy, health and wellness education classes, chronic disease management for things like diabetes and COPD, as well as high blood pressure, and high cholesterol.

The clinic also works with a volunteer pharmacist, Elaine Hagler, who provides a discount list for many maintenance medicines, including access to insulin and other expensive maintenance medicines.

While it helps patients find affordable maintenance medications, the clinic does not stock or prescribe controlled medications or narcotic painkillers.

Preventing disabling conditions Easterseals, which celebrates its 100th anniversary this year, has always emphasized services to people

DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • August & September 2019

D E N T A L C E N T E R 2 0 5 - 5 9 4 - 5 1 7 1 Dr. Joseph Labbe and the team at Ashville Dental Center has been serving Ashville and the surrounding areas since 2006.

We provide family & cosmetic dentistry service.

• Wisdom teeth removal • Root canals • Teeth whitening /bleaching • Implants Most insurance plans accepted including Medicaid

Contact Ashville Dental Center today at 205-594-5171 for all your dental needs.

We’re In This Together

At Northside Health & Wellness, our number one commitment is to your health. We’re partners, working together through every stage of your life, promoting wellness each step of the way.

We’re your medical home, providing specialized care close to home to ensure the best quality healthcare for all of our patients.

Call today for an appointment today!

205-814-7249

When it comes to your health and wellness, trust our team to put you on the right track for a healthy lifestyle.

74 Plaza Drive, Pell City, AL 35125

ST. CLAIR MEDICAL COMMUNITY

Volunteer and retired nurse Ruth Pope, right, and fellow volunteer Dr. Christy Daffron, nursing department chair at Pell City’s Jefferson State Community College campus.

with disabilities of all kinds. And, Higgins says holistic and preventative medical care through clinics like the one in Pell City can prevent medical conditions from becoming a debilitating disability.

“Some medical conditions, left undiagnosed or untreated, can result in complications that lead to disabilities,” says Higgins. Diabetes is a good example and is listed among conditions recognized by the ADA, the 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act. Untreated diabetes can affect all major organs and result in blindness, kidney problems and increased risk of stroke and heart attack.

“Diabetes is something that can be regulated, but keeping it regulated can be expensive,” Higgins notes.

“That’s where our patient assessments come in,” and where the clinic’s efforts to help patients with access to affordable maintenance medicine, including insulin, are making a difference in many patients’ lives.

Clinical training, too Teaching is also a part of the clinic mission, as nursing and nurse practitioner students from colleges, including Jefferson State Community College and Jacksonville State University, volunteer and complete nursing clinical training at the clinic.

Higgins says it was conversations with Dr. Daffron at Jeff State and Debbie Duke, Congregational

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Health Program director at Samford University, both nurses and nursing professors, that helped spark the clinic’s formation. Providing healthcare in St. Clair County was something they wanted to do.

Both schools and others continue support. And, Project Access at the University of Alabama at Birmingham partners with the clinic when patients need referrals and appointments with specialists.

Coming together for worthy cause As the clinic begins its second year in operation, Higgins says one of the most rewarding aspects of the new effort was “seeing how people came together to make change happen with a goal of being able to serve people who need help.”

A plaque listing the names of clinic founders and supporters is crowded with names of people and organizations that helped Easterseals Birmingham bring its first community health clinic to St. Clair County.

The list of 2018 Foundational donors “who believed in us when we were only a vision” includes: Area Health Education Center, Benjamin Moore Paints, Bill Hereford, City of Pell City, Cropwell Baptist Church, Dispensary of Hope, Empowered Church Health Outreach, H2H Golden Design, Hattie Lee’s, Home Depot, Jefferson State Community College, Jerry’s Carpet Service, Ken Knight, Morning Star Storage, Rick’s Custom Painting and Wallpaper, Room by Room, Samford University, Scotty Gray

DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • August & September 2019

The quality of care is matched only by the convenience.

1141 PAY TON WAY, LEEDS, AL 35094

At our UAB Medicine location in Leeds, we believe everyone should have convenient access to exceptional health care, including primary care services. Our experienced team of boardcertified specialists are dedicated to providing care for children and adults of all ages. And with the UAB Hospital-Leeds Outpatient Imaging and Laboratory located right next door, our facility is able to offer you and your family a wide range of health care services – all close to home.

Call 205.640.9100 or visit uabmedicine.org/Leeds to schedule an appointment with our primary care physicians.

ST. CLAIR MEDICAL COMMUNITY Flooring, St. Clair County Baptist Association, St. Vincent’s St. Clair, Susan Bush, UAB Project Access and Wally Bromberg Photography.

Perfect location prepped by volunteers The clinic’s location in downtown Pell City, in a city-owned building, came about through “graciousness” and hard work by volunteers, says Higgins, a retired Moody police officer who lives in St. Clair County.

The worse-for-wear offices needed painting and new flooring, all provided by volunteers with donated supplies. The volunteer workers converted the offices into three exam rooms, several offices and a providers’ room and meeting area that the volunteer medical professionals use when needed.

With community resources just next door, the location proved perfect for the clinic with accessibility and a history as a former county health department site.

Easterseals: Taking On Disability Together Clinic sponsor, Easterseals of the Birmingham area, is one of eight rehabilitation facilities owned and operated under the Easterseals Alabama, Inc, according to its website at eastersealsbham.org.

Easterseals has served metro Birmingham and the state since 1950 when the program Alacrafts began vocational training for disabled individuals. That program grew into the Spain Rehabilitation Facility near UAB that focused on physical medicine, rehabilitation research and education.

Higgins notes that the Pell City clinic is a first community clinic for Easterseals’ Birmingham area organization, and he hopes that it can be “a model to be replicated” elsewhere.

In addition to the new clinic, services offered and managed through Easterseals of the Birmingham area include: • Camp ASCCA, Alabama’s Special Camp for Children and Adults, a year-round camp on Lake Martin that offers rehabilitation and recreation for more than 7,000 people annually.

• Two pediatric clinics – one in Pelham and the newest in Springville – providing speech, occupational and physical therapies, including early intervention, for patients up to 21 years old.

• An adult program at the Birmingham headquarters on Beacon Parkway that provides evaluations, vocational training, job readiness and placement, computer skills training for adults, in addition to transition services for high school graduates.

• A medical assistance grant program that helps individuals and families purchase medical equipment and make needed home modifications.

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David Higgins, executive director of clinic sponsor Easterseals of the Birmingham area, says strong community support helped make Pell City’s clinic a reality.

100 years of service Nationally, Easterseals celebrates 100 years of service in 2019 and is America’s largest nonprofit health care organization, serving some 1.5 million people annually. In addition to serving children and adults living with disabilities, Easterseals also serves transitioning military disabled and other veterans since World War II. Easterseals was founded in 1919 as the National Society for Crippled Children, the first organization of its kind. Founder Ohio businessman Edgar Allen, who lost a son in a streetcar accident and helped build a hospital in the child’s honor in his hometown, founded the organization to address the lack of services for children with disabilities who were then often hidden from public view.

An annual Easterseals fundraising campaign initiated by the society in 1934 introduced specially designed “Easter Seal” stamps that donors used on envelopes and letters. By 1967, the group’s work was so associated with Easterseals that the national society officially adopted Easterseals as its name.

Today, the organization headquartered in Chicago with 69 affiliates nationwide.

DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • August & September 2019

Real People. Real Life Stories.

“When my mother had the beginnings of dementia, she was in Birmingham, and I was in Pell City. Working full time, I couldn’t be there. But Always There could, and they helped her with the things she needed to remain independent -- taking her grocery shopping, making sure she got the right medications at the right time, being a companion. Always There allowed her to stay in her own home and took the worries away from my siblings and I when we couldn’t be there for her.”

-- Carol P.

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Adding mental health services to growing list of specialties

NORTHSIDE

Northside Medical Associates has added mental health services to its growing list of specialties offered at Northside Medical Home.

Life Recovery Counseling, MA, ALC, NCC is operated

by Denise Lee, who is a certified mental health counselor.

She earned her bachelor’s degree in Psychology and her master’s in Clinical Mental Health Counseling for the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

She is available by appointment on Tuesdays and Thursdays between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m.

The practice derives its name from what Lee describes as “Sometimes, you need to recover from life … for when life happens.”

Her approach is a holistic one – mental, physical and spiritual. When those are out of balance is when counseling can help. And the opportunity to work directly with the medical community is “so huge for the mental health side of things,” she said.

She works with severe trauma, like post traumatic stress syndrome, or PTSD. Her practice involves grief counseling and sex trafficking survivors as well. She uses play and art therapy as a couple of her many tools to help the patient get that balance back in their lives.

“We’re all so busy. I have found that people just need someone to stop and listen,” she said.

And that’s the driving force behind a new dementia caregivers support group she is coordinating with Northside. The group will meet once a month at Northside to share their experiences, to talk about their challenges and to listen to one another.

Caregivers have feelings of isolation, loneliness and guilt, she said. They end up withdrawing from their social life. Recognizing they are not alone, that others are experiencing these same emotions, is a sizable step toward helping them cope.

“We are fortunate to have Denise and Life Recovery Counseling as part of our team here at Northside,” said President and CEO Dr. Rock Helms. “It fits perfectly with our continuum of care philosophy, and we encourage anyone in need of these services to take advantage of them.”

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DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • August & September 2019

Denise Lee

LOOK GREAT. SEE GREAT. with

James W. Bedsole, O.D. EYECARE

Serving Pell City and St. Clair County families since 1991.

Dr. James W. Bedsole

EYECARE

1723 Cogswell Avenue Pell City, AL 35125 www.drbedsole.com

Facelift Blepharoplasty (Eyelid Rejuvenation) Abdominoplasty Breast Augmentation Breast Lift Liposuction

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When you choose a plastic surgeon, you want an experienced surgeon you can trust.

Dr. Shelby Eich is a board certified plastic surgeon and a third generation Alabamian, who specializes in putting his patients first.

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His office is an accredited surgery center which enables most patients to never step foot in a hospital, offering them the privacy they want.

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ST. CLAIR MEDICAL COMMUNITY

Specialty medicine, expanded services are the rule here, not the exception

SERVING THE COUNTY

ACCEL ribbon cutting

Pediatrics available in Pell City, Moody and Springville

Northside Medical Home expansion Northisde Imaging features 3-D mammography in a spa-like atmosphere.

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DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • August & September 2019

There was a time in St. Clair County when traveling the interstate to much larger cities like Birmingham or Anniston was the only route to specialty care for the community.

Fast forward to present day, and the county not only is home to a state-of-the-art hospital in St. Vincent’s St. Clair, the county’s primary care facilities offer a growing number of specialties and services.

St. Vincent’s St. Clair Hospital At St. Vincent’s St. Clair, along with its general services, specialties include: • Cardiology • Emergency Medicine • Family Medicine • Gastroenterology • General Surgery • Gynecology • Internal Medicine • Neurology • Neurosurgery • Ophthalmology • Orthopedics • Pain Management • Pediatrics • Podiatry • Pulmonary Additional Services: • Imaging • Lab • Physical Therapy • Speech Therapy • Occupational Therapy • Sleep Lab • Wound Care Center w/hyperbaric treatment capabilities • Inpatient and Outpatient Surgery

Northside Medical Home At Northside Medical, the list of specialties just keeps growing.

Northside’s affiliations, which includes agreements with specialty providers housed in its newest addition, Northside Medical Home, specialists are: • Life Recovery Counseling, MA, ALC, NCC • Alacare Home Health & Hospice • Eastern Surgical Associates • Southeastern Gastro • Alabama Oral & Facial Surgery • Grandview Obstetrics & Gynecology • Core Sports Medicine • Doctors’ Kidney Care • Orthosports Associates • Grandview Medical Group – Orthopedics • Brookwood Dermatology • OBGYN South, PC • Alabama Foot Institute • ENT Associates of Alabama, PC • Birmingham Heart Clinic, PC • Alabama Orthopaedic Surgeons • VisionFirst Eye Center

Michael S. Bailey, MD C. Andrew Brian, MD Joshua N. Cockrell, MD Corey M. Coleman, MD Brian A. Flowers, MD Brian D. Snoddy, MD Jason B. Thompson, MD Jacob C. Townsend, MD

Accepting New Patients At

Northside Medical Home 74 Plaza Drive - Suite 2B Pell City, AL 35125

(205) 815-4818 Birminghamheart.com

*Not Pictured: Drs. Michael Bailey and Brian Snoddy

DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • August & September 2019

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ST. CLAIR MEDICAL COMMUNITY

St. Vincent’s surgical suite

Three dimensional mammography at Northside 66

DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • August & September 2019

In addition, Northside created its own urgent care center, ACCEL, which is open seven days a week, enhancing its primary care offerings with urgent care services, giving patients access to a full complement of services and diagnostics.

Its new imaging center has opened with the latest in 3D mammography in a spa-like setting.

Bone density, open MRI and cutting-edge CT scan diagnostics are also available.

Northside Health & Wellness has a full-time staff dedicated to helping patients maintain a healthy lifestyle with comprehensive programs targeting education, preventative care and meeting patients’ needs.

Northside Apothecary is its onsite pharmacy, offering extended hours and days to serve Northside’s primary care practice as well as ACCEL Urgent Care.

NorthStar Laboratories is Northside’s independent lab, which can service not only its own patients but answer the needs of other medical facilities.

And, of course, primary care is at the forefront. They have excellent patient experience scores with Blue Cross Blue Shield of Alabama, and insurance plan Blue Advantage ranks them as four-star doctors in quality of care measures.

Northside has facilities in Pell City, Springville, Moody and Trussville.

BEING ONE OF FIVE SIBLINGS, SHE STILL HOLDS THE RECORD FOR KID WHO CAN PUT A HOLE IN THEIR JEANS FASTEST. NOT EVEN CLOSE.

Pell City Internal & Family Medicine Pell City Internal & Family Medicine is in the midst of building a new facility and doubling the size of its operation as well as providing expanded services.

Located in Physicians Plaza with a satellite office on U.S. 231 in the Publix shopping center, PCIFM offers: • Outpatient Care for the treatment of chronic medical problems, acute illnesses and injuries • Onsite X-ray and EKG • Onsite Lab • Sports Physicals • Pediatric Care • Sports Injury Prevention and Treatment • Women’s Health and Family Wellness Care • Jotani Aesthetics

CHILDREN A M A Z E U S E V E R Y D AY

and at Children’s of Alabama, we want to see every child grow up and live to their fullest potential.

That’s why we recruit, train and retain the most inquiring minds, the most skilled hands and the most compassionate hearts in pediatric medicine.

1 6 0 0 7 T H AV E N U E S O U T H B I R M I N G H A M , A L 3 5 2 3 3 (205) 638-9100

ChildrensAL.org

DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • August & September 2019

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ST. CLAIR MEDICAL COMMUNITY

Partnering on primary care in outreach effort Trussville Clinic

Springville Clinic

Recognizing that building partnerships can bring better access to health care, leaders at Northside Medical Associates and St. Vincent’s Health System decided to seize the opportunity.

The end result has been primary care facilities in Springville and Trussville under both their names and utilizing both their wealth of resources.

“Our mission behind a joint venture with St. Vincent’s Health System for the Trussville and Springville locations has been an expansion of healthcare services to other areas needing a primary care presence,” explained Dr. Rock Helms, president and CEO of Northside Medical Associates.

“We knew by joining with STVHS, our aligned goals of excellence in health care and innovative approach to providing that care would allow us to expand into other markets in a timelier manner, enabling us to meet the growing need.”

The aim is to bring quality health care closer to patients, making it more accessible to greater

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numbers. In addition to its own facility in Moody, St. Vincent’s and Northside have opened primary care offices near Deerfoot Parkway on Happy Hollow Road in Trussville and on Walker Drive in Springville.

“Our partnership with STVHS has been very successful over the past two years,” Helms said.

“They have been incredibly supportive and respectful of how our private practice operates. We have gained from their expertise, willingness and effectiveness in partnering with physicians.”

Helms went on to say that he hoped the jointventure relationship would continue to expand to provide what he calls a “medical home model” for patient health care to areas throughout central Alabama that are in need of expanded primary care services.

The state and the nation are approaching a shortage in primary care doctors, and partnerships like these can fill that gap with quality health care close to home.

DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • August & September 2019

LAKESIDE HOSPICE WELCOMES

Dr. Ilinca Prisacaru as Assistant Medical Director

Caring Is At The Heart of Everything We Do 4010 Masters Rd. Pell City, AL 35128 Phone: 205-884-1111 Fax: 205-884-1114 Lakeside Hospice Is A Faith Based Non-Profit Organization

We offer Hope in an unplanned pregnancy, Help for young parents, and Healing from a past abortion.

All Services are Free and Confidential: • Ultrasound • Pregnancy Tests • Pregnancy Options Information • Pregnancy Classes

• Baby and Maternity Items • Abortion Recovery

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• 24 Hour Nursing Care • Specialized Activity Programs • Three Nutritious Meals A Day • Housekeeping & Laundry Services • Medication Administration • Beauty/Barber Shop On-Site • In-Room Kitchenette

• Private Deluxe Rooms • Emergency Response System • Wheelchair Accessible Bus Outings • Satellite TV Service Provided • Covered Screen Porch • Secured Courtyard • Complimentary Wi-Fi

Village East is a Specialty Care Assisted Living community designed for senior adults in need of Memory Care.

Village East is a satellite campus of Village at Cook Springs, and offers a unique and tranquil residential setting to maintain both the physical and social aspects of life.

Phone: (205) 814-3199 | www.villageatcooksprings.com

St. Clair Alabama

Business Review Louis

Mineral new expansion AAllied new era begins at Northside

70 DISCOVER The Essence ofof St.St. Clair August & September 2019 70 DISCOVER Essence St. Clair ••••August & September 2013 DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair October && November 2017 70 • DISCOVER The Essence DISCOVER The Essence Clair •August February &July March 2016 DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair June & July 2016 70 DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair & September 2017 2017 DISCOVER DISCOVER The Essence The Essence of St. Clair of St. ••Clair Clair December June 2016 & 2015 2017 DISCOVER The Essence ofof St. Clair December 2017 & January January 2018 of St. Clair •The Business Review DISCOVER The Essence of St. •••April & May

Stories by Linda Long and Carol Pappas Photos by Graham Hadley

Industries expanding in St. Clair Charity Steel and Allied Mineral CHARITY STEEL BUILDING IN RIVERSIDE Location! Location! Location! That real estate mantra apparently guided the decision by Charity Steel President Josh Coleman to relocate the company to the tiny town of Riverside.

Charity Steel is a steel service center that specializes in bar and tubing. “We service an array of markets from machine shops to OEM’s (original equipment manufacturers),” said Coleman. “The key word in that sentence is service.

We warehouse material and provide a variety of inventory management programs and service options from same day, next day to JIT (just in time) deliveries.”

Charity also has its own trucking company, which will be headquartered at the new site visible from U.S. 78 and Interstate 20. The $4 million project, which will cover 50,000 square feet initially, is expected to be completed by the first quarter of 2020 and will bring in 35 new jobs over the next three years.

According to Coleman, the Riverside location met his company’s needs perfectly. “We purchased 38 acres with excellent interstate access. Our ability to be an industry leader in the speed of processing orders and delivering products to our customers is critical to our success. This spot provides the opportunity for long-term growth.”

Riverside Mayor Rusty Jessup said he is “thrilled” to welcome the new company. “I’m also pleased that Riverside so closely met their needs. Ours is the only location with undeveloped property along I-20 that provides interstate access.”

Jason Roberts, director of Industry and Workforce Development for the St. Clair County Economic Development Council, commented on Charity’s phenomenal growth. “This business is five years old and growing rapidly. They went from nothing to millions in revenue just five years,” he said.

“They were in a leased facility and were landlocked, and they were looking for somewhere they could actually own their property and have room to expand,” continued Roberts. “With their auxiliary shipping business, they do a lot of their own shipping and logistics work, so the interstate proximity made it that much more attractive to them.”

The company name, “Charity,” is based in fact with the business committed to giving a minimum of 10 percent of pretax profits to charities and nonprofit organizations.

As Coleman explained, “It is based on an ascending scale.

We started at 5 percent and currently are at 10 percent, and the goal is to continuously increase the amount over time. The foundation of the company is about making a difference to our employees, customers, vendors and the communities we serve and kids from Smile-A-Mile, local charities and schools

Charity Steel site preparation on U.S. 78 in Riverside to St. Jude Children’s Hospital, and we are certainly looking forward to being a community partner here.”

Coleman continued, “We are really fortunate to have so many great communities in Alabama with talented people that want the opportunity to better provide for their families and to help the companies they work at and communities they live in to grow and prosper, and we feel that’s exactly what we are finding here and are excited to be a part of it.”

ALLIED MINERAL GROWING PELL CITY’S GLOBAL REPUTATION Pell City is building on its growing international reputation for business. Allied Mineral Products, with its $11 million Pell City expansion, has put the Alabama town on a global map again, adding to international businesses who already call the east-central Alabama city home.

“Allied is definitely a company with a global presence,” said Jason Roberts, head of Industry and Workforce Development for the St. County Economic Development Council. “They are all around the world.”

That’s exactly what Pell City City Manager Brian Muenger likes about the deal. “For an international company like Allied to come in to make its operations in Pell City a part of their

DISCOVER The Essence ofof St.St. Clair August & September 2019 71 DISCOVER The Essence St. Clair ••••August & September 2013 DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair October && November 2017 DISCOVER The Essence Clair •August February &July March 2016 71 DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair June & July 2016 DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair & September 2017 71 2017 DISCOVER DISCOVER The Essence The Essence of St. Clair of St. ••Clair Clair December June 2016 January 2015 2017 DISCOVER The Essence ofof St. Clair December 2017 & January 2018 Business Review •& DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair •71 DISCOVER The Essence of St. •••April & May

Business Review

News in Brief

Allied Mineral at the former Riverside Refractories site suite of businesses, and then to come in and to expand it the way they have will certainly take us to the next level.”

Based in Columbus, Ohio, Allied Mineral Products, Inc., which produces refractory products for furnace and industrial applications, has manufacturing plants in eight countries, including Russia, India and China. Closer to home, the company operates in four states, including Alabama.

As Roberts explained, “You might see a large kiln at a cement company. Inside that kiln are hundreds, if not thousands of these little refractory plates to keep the heat inside. That’s what Allied does in the most basic sense.”

According to Allied’s Corporate Vice President Affiliated Operations Bill Carmean, “The move to Pell City and getting established in the southeast is very important to supply our products to our customers in all regions of North America.”

The decision to locate the 170,000-square-foot expansion project in Pell City stemmed from “common sense,” according to Allied Mineral Supply President Neil Cochrum. “The company had already bought Riverside Refractories late last year, and there was property available just across the street. So, it just made sense to build in Pell City.”

Roberts agrees the Pell City choice was more of a “business driven decision” than a recruitment process. “They realized they needed a larger facility than Riverside’s current footprint. So,

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yes, we worked with them. They are planning to consolidate the Riverside Refractories acquisition along with a smaller operation in the Anniston area. That will bring about 30 new jobs here.”

According to Cochrum, being a good corporate neighbor is a top company priority. “Allied is always looking to be involved with its surrounding communities. We want to know our community and as an employer, we will be offering a place of employment to people in the community for years to come.”

The new facility, being built by Pell City’s Goodgame Co., is expected to be completed and running full capacity by December 2019.

DOCTOR, BANK EXECUTIVE NAMED TO METRO BANK BOARD OF DIRECTORS Metro Bank has announced the appointment of two new members to its board of directors, Dr. Ronald (Rock) Helms Jr. and Richard Knight.

“I’m excited to have the opportunity to welcome Dr. Ronald (Rock) Helms Jr. and Richard Knight to the board of directors of Metro Bank,” said Greg Bain, chairman of the board. “Both will be an asset to the board of directors and will bring valuable

DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • August & September 2019

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business and banking expertise to our bank.”

Helms, a Pell City native, is president and CEO of Northside Medical Associates, which he helped establish in 2001. “Dr. Helms will be a great addition to the board,” Bain said.

Knight has more than 35 years of banking experience, the past 22 having been spent at Metro Bank. He is executive vice president and senior loan officer at Metro. “He is an important asset to Metro Bank and will carry over his knowledge and experience to the board,” Bain said.

“Both of our newest board members bring talent, knowledge and spirit to the table,” said Metro President and CEO Jason Dorough. “Metro Bank is privileged to have them on board as we continue to move our bank forward and continue providing the best bank possible for our customers, shareholders and employees.”

Metro Bank celebrated its 30th anniversary this year. Founded by the late Ray Cox, it opened May 30, 1989, with a mission to serve the community. The bank began in a temporary modular unit in Pell City with 10 employees and has since grown to nine branch locations with over 175 employees and assets topping $735 million.

“We pride ourselves on our relationships, not only with our customers, but also with our community and our employees,” Dorough said. “Since the beginning, we have found it essential to select employees of the highest character and competence.”

Over the years, Metro Bank has consistently been ranked as one of the top performing banks in the state of Alabama. Today, Dorough said, the bank continues to strive for a hometown atmosphere and above all, exceed expectations for customer service.

Helms

FURGERSON NAMED PARTNER AT TFRB LAW

Kelly Furgerson has been named partner at Trussell, Funderburg, Rea and Bell, where she has practiced since 2015. The new name of the Pell City-based firm, which has expanded with an office in Talladega, is Trussell, Funderburg, Rea, Bell & Furgerson.

Furgerson’s law practice concentrates on commercial and residential real estate, civil litigation, adoption, business law, juvenile dependency and delinquency, wills, trusts and probate matters. Kelly has been a licensed attorney since 2008 and before locating in Pell City in 2015, she practiced in Pelham for eight years.

She is involved in various community organizations. She is a graduate of Leadership St. Clair County, a member of the Pell City Rotary Club, Pell City Business and Professional Women and the Logan Martin Red Elephant Club.

She also serves as vice president of the Greater Pell City Chamber of Commerce.

A graduate of Pell City High School, the University of Alabama and Birmingham School of Law, she lives in her hometown of Pell City with her husband Mark and their two children.

“Kelly is a great lawyer and an even better person. We are very excited to welcome Kelly as the firm’s newest partner and look forward to her continued commitment to provide our clients with the highest quality representation as we continue to grow to serve the legal needs of the region,” said Partner John Rea. “We know that our entire community will benefit from Kelly’s leadership and passion for helping others through her legal work, civic activities and church involvement.”

“I am so thankful and honored for the opportunity to live and work in the community where I grew up – alongside people who are just as passionate about serving others,” Furgerson said. “The roots of service run deep in our firm, and I am excited to be planted and grow here.”

Knight

Furgerson 78

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