Discover St. Clair December 2017 and January 2018

100 Years of Panther Football • Blessing Boxes • Pie Ladies Historic Markers • Our Beautiful Views • Centuries of Worship

December 2017 & January 2018

SPECIAL CHRISTMAS GIFT GUIDE

BACKWOODS WHITETAILS

Odenville deer farm brings smiles to its visitors

Features and Articles Discover

The Essence of St. Clair

BACKWOODS WHITETAILS

Deer farm not your usual St. Clair County agri-business Page 30

Return of the recumbent Page 8

Traveling the Backroads Centuries of worship Page 16

Little House Saved Views of St. Clair

Page 26 Page 38

100 Years of Football Pell City Panthers

Restoring historic markers Page 10

Coach Pete Rich A player remembers

Page 82

Page 46 Page 50

Blessings in a Box The Pie Ladies

Page 52 Page 56

Christmas Gift Guide Business Briefs

Town and Country reborn

Page 40

Northside Medical Southeast Gastro New Nursing Wing Shelton Pharmacy Connie Myers Cogswell Trading

Page 62

Page 92 Page 96 Page 98 Page 99 Page 100 Page 102

December 2017 & January 2018

www.discoverstclair.com

Carol Pappas

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. After retiring, she launched her own multimedia company, Partners by Design Inc. In addition to marketing, design and web services for companies and nonprofits, Partners publishes Discover, various community magazines for chambers of commerce and Mosaic Magazine, a biannual publication of Alabama Humanities Foundation.

Jerry C. Smith Jerry C. Smith’s interest in photography and writing go back to his teen years. He has produced numerous articles, stories and photographs for local websites and regional newspapers and magazines, including the St. Clair County News, Sand Mountain Living, and Old Tennessee Valley. His photos have appeared in books, on national public television, in local art displays and have captured prizes in various contests.

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.

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.

Paul South Paul South, a native of Fairfield, Ala., is an Auburn 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, South had a remarkably versatile career as a reporter, columnist and editor.

Before transitioning to newspapers, South was the first full-time sports information director at Samford University in Birmingham.

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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.

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.

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.

Susan Wall Susan Wall moved to Logan Martin Lake from Birmingham, where she worked as a critical care nurse. Alongside the nursing career, she owned Dreamscapes Photography, a portrait and wedding studio. Winner of the 2010 August Moore award at the Bluff Park Art Show, with numerous publications in magazines and the Kodak Instructional Magazine, her passion now is digital painting and portraits.

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.

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

From the Editor

Sometimes we forget to look A handful of dedicated individuals deliver 10,000 Discover Magazines around St. Clair County every other month. It is amazing how they get so many magazines into the hands of our faithful readers in such a short period of time.

But when I read a Facebook post by one of our distributors, Lisa Sondergard, I was reminded that no matter how busy we are, no matter how fast we need to do something, we should never forget to look. Never forget to look around you at the beauty that surrounds us.

Lisa is from Maryland. I can imagine the scenery there is something to behold, too, but she sees beauty all around her in her adopted state and county.

She posted photos she took from her vehicle on her route that takes her from Ragland to Steele to Ashville to Springville and Argo. And what beauty she found – just outside her window.

She posted more than a dozen photos – the quaint, historic main street of Springville, serene pastures, the landscape punctuated only by rolled bales of hay, a roadside waterfall, cattle and horses grazing under an October blue sky and familiar landmarks like Ashville’s Mater Shack and Argo’s Williams Orchard.

When we created Discover in 2011, the driving force behind it was to discover those people, places and points of interest that others may have overlooked or didn’t even know about in the first place. The key, just as Lisa instinctively knew, was that you must never forget to look. Oftentimes, the beauty of our surroundings is indeed just outside our window.

In this edition of Discover, we’ll showcase what lies just beyond our window in St. Clair County. We’ll explore the roots of St. Clair’s oldest churches, cornerstones of faith. We’ll look back at 100 years of Pell City Panther football and the

central figures in that century on and off the local gridiron.

We will give you an inside look at the newly opened Town & Country Ford, Northside Medical Home, and the new Nursing and Allied Health wing at Jefferson State Community College. They are major economic development drivers that are accelerating the county’s growth.

And we’ll meet the ladies in the kitchen at a landmark eatery famous for meat ’n three dishes and homemade pies. These women and their cooking prowess are key ingredients in this local success story.

And since Christmas is almost here, we’ll help you find that perfect gift in our special Gift Guide section.

It’s all here and more in this issue of Discover. Come discover it all with us!

Carol Pappas Editor and Publisher

Discover The Essence of St. Clair

December 2017 & January 2018 • Vol. 39 • www.discoverstclair.com

Carol Pappas • Editor and Publisher Graham Hadley • Managing Editor and Designer Brandon Wynn • Vice President of Online Services Mike Callahan • Photography Wallace Bromberg Jr. • Photography Susan Wall • Photography Dale Halpin • Advertising Toni Franklin • Executive Assistant

A product of Partners by Design www.partnersmultimedia.com 1911 Cogswell Avenue Pell City, AL 35125 205-338-3466

Printed at Russell Printing, Alexander City, AL 7

THE RETURN OF THE

Recumbent Trike

Joe and Jerry relax after a ride.

A TURN-YOUR-HEAD SIGHT 8

DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • December 2017 & January 2018

Story and photos by Jerry C. Smith It’s a sight guaranteed to cause double takes – vintage men riding giant tricycles, backwards. But for Joe Dorough and Jerry Burns of Pell City, it’s more than recreation, it’s survival.

These weird contraptions may have actually saved their lives.

Officially known as recumbent trikes, they come in two basic versions and a host of sub-types. Some are in standard tricycle configuration, with two wheels in back and one out front, but Joe and Jerry’s machines are known as ‘tadpoles,’ with two wheels up front and a long rear-wheel ‘tail.’

Riders sit in an ergonomically-correct recliner seat, with legs outstretched in front to work a pair of standard bike pedals.

Steering, braking and gear shifting are controlled via an opposed pair of handlebars, much like a zero-turn yard tractor.

Drive effort is delivered to the single rear wheel through a long bicycle chain running through carbon fiber tubes.

There’s nothing ordinary about them. They’re cleverlydesigned, precision machines, capable of delivering amazing road performance. Indeed, with proper lighting and accessories, they are actually highway legal, but both men agree that offroad riding is much preferred, even though there’s still danger where riding trails cross roads.

Joe says they are the ultimate riding machine. “You can’t turn one over unless you really work at it, although Jerry actually flipped his once. After you get the hang of it and learn the gears, you develop a kind of pedaling pattern that gets you over the ground quickly and almost tirelessly.” To illustrate his point, he took a warm-up ride while waiting for Jerry to arrive and was out of sight in less than 30 seconds.

Joe says, “We usually toot our air horns and say something like, ‘Old men riding tricycles behind you’ as we approach walkers from behind. Brightly colored flags on slender poles make them more visible when crossing roads shared by cars.

Jerry adds, “When you get tired you just pull over and rest in a comfortable recliner seat.”

Jerry, a native of Greene County, moved to St. Clair in 1976 following a work career that included the Navy, Gulf States Paper, Alabama Power and the mobile home business. After moving to Pell City, he worked for Liberty National Insurance Company and Kilgroe/Leeds Funeral Home before retiring.

Around 2007, he endured back, heart valve and shoulder surgeries, all within a year and a half, leaving him in a semiconvalescent condition. His son Steve, a bike enthusiast, bought Jerry’s trike from a shop in Canton, Ga., hoping it would help rehabilitate him. Jerry quickly warmed up to his new machine and began riding it four to five days a week. The results were remarkable. Joe says, “Jerry recovered from back surgery faster than you can imagine.”

Joe, a Pell City native who worked at Cisco Auto Parts for 30 years, is semi-retired while serving as a director and loan committee consultant for Metro Bank. He had become a virtual cripple due to multiple diseases that kept him in ICU for 12 days. Joe says, “At one point they had given me up for dead.”

During a long, painful recovery, he literally had to learn to walk again. Impressed by Jerry’s example, he ordered a trike online to help strengthen and re-train his legs through repetitive movement.

“When I ride my trike, I can feel its action reverberate through my legs, and the pain just goes away,” he says.

Both men are married fathers whose spouses and children marvel at the almost miraculous results they’ve seen.

Currently, theirs are the only two in the area, but they hope

Performing a safety check on Joe’s trike

others will soon join them. The average price range is $900 to $1,600, depending on options, well within reach of most riders, and much cheaper than clinical rehab. Joe’s machine is a Rover, made by TerraTrike, and has an eight-speed shifter in the rear wheel hub. Jerry rides an E-Z Tad SX, made by Wrench Force, which sports a 27- speed derailleur shifter.

Jerry at age 73 and Joe at 76 are quite hale and hardy today, riding their trikes together at every opportunity, usually at Pell City’s Lakeside Park. They’ve ridden amazing distances together, including several 26-mile jaunts from Anniston to Piedmont on the Chief Ladiga Trail, and plan to go from Piedmont to Cedartown, Ga., this fall.

Quoting silvercomet.com, “The 34-mile long Chief Ladiga Trail is Alabama’s premier rail-trail. It is located in Cleburne and Calhoun counties, in east-central Alabama ... and connects to Georgia’s Silver Comet Trail to the east.

“The Chief Ladiga and Silver Comet travel over 95 miles when combined and form the longest paved trail in America.

Both trails are non-motorized and are great for walking, bicycling, rollerblading, hiking and dog walking.”

Knowing their determination, it wouldn’t be hard to imagine Joe and Jerry riding its entire length – both ways. l

DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • December 2017 & January 2018

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Judge Alan Furr and Gaston Williamson unveil restored marker.

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RESTORING HISTORY Cropwell marker, others tell county’s storied past Story and Photos by Jerry C. Smith As Alabama celebrates its Bicentennial over the next three years, it seemed an ideal time to refurbish and rededicate a decadesold monument in Cropwell that had fallen victim to age.

It is a fitting example of devotion to history known as Cropwell Memorial Park, and it was funded by a grant from the state’s Historic Marker Refurbishment Program. The marker was unveiled in a special ceremony in July, celebrating the history that has taken place there. Others throughout St. Clair County, a county older than the state, are undergoing the same improvements, taking note of and preserving the county’s history.

In Cropwell, following a series of prayers, music and inspirational addresses by local civic leaders, the restored historical marker was unveiled, followed by a 21-musket salute and Pledge of Allegiance to the American flag. The marker has an Alabama state flag at the top with the words: “Cropwell Historical Park and St. Clair County Alabama” and notes that the post office there was established in 1834 as Diana. The name changed to Cropwell in 1837.

Speaker Gaston Williamson explained to attendees that the Cropwell Park Committee, composed of local citizens, built the park in 1975 with private funds on land donated by the St. Clair County Commission. He pointed out that all five structures making up the monument area are of local sandstone, specially chosen for shape and matching colors.

The henge-like array consists of four waist-high boulders set into a brick courtyard surrounding a tall, irregular obelisk. Each stone bears bronze plates describing various events and information about what happened here and elsewhere in Cropwell.

In June 1861, some 200 men enlisted in Company F of the Tenth Alabama Infantry Regiment. Local legend says they mustered under an apple tree near the park site, then marched 75 miles to Montevallo to catch a train and join Gen. Robert E. Lee’s forces in Virginia. This regiment fought in 29 bloody

Cropwell’s Memorial Park

Rifle salute by men of SCV Camp 308

DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • December 2017 & January 2018

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RESTORING HISTORY

Pell City Manager Brian Muenger addresses rededication audience.

Re-enactors in authentic CW era garb

Pell City Mill Village marker

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battles, including Harpers Ferry and Gettysburg.

A long bronze plaque on the obelisk lists names of those who enlisted, including substitutes hired by wealthy draftees to fight in their stead, a common practice in those days.

Besides the tribute to Southern soldiers, other bronze markers commemorate various facets of Cropwell history. One tells how the town began as Diana in 1834 and was renamed Cropwell in 1837, the Masonic Lodge’s charter in 1857, and the coming of the Birmingham and Atlantic Railroad to Cropwell in 1887.

Another speaks of the charter of the local United Daughters of the Confederacy in 1914, and the impoundment of the Coosa in 1946 to form Lake Logan Martin (although this date is a typographical error; should be 1964). A third plaque mentions a cotton gin startup in 1883 and Cropwell Baptist Church in 1889; and the fourth tells of Andrew Jackson’s crossing of the Coosa near Cropwell during the Creek Indian Wars of 1813-14.

Among the re-dedication celebrants were a contingent of re-enactors from Ashville-based St. Clair Camp No. 308 of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, resplendent in authentic uniforms as well as homespun garments usually worn by soldiers from less-affluent families.

Pell City Manager Brian Muenger, when approached by a local resident several months previous about the park’s condition, sent an application to the state’s Historic Marker Refurbishment Program, which was created by the Alabama Department of Tourism in connection with Alabama’s Bicentennial.

There are many such markers in Pell City and St Clair County. For those who wish to visit these sites, GPS coordinates are provided in an accompanying box.

HISTORIC DOWNTOWN PELL CITY, on the southwest corner of the courthouse lawn, spells out in great detail the city’s founding and development.

Another, at Second Avenue and 21st Street North, adds more early history under the title PELL CITY’S HISTORIC RESIDENTIAL DISTRICT. A COUNTY OLDER THAN THE STATE, on the corner of 19th Street and Cogswell Avenue, provides some interesting facts concerning St Clair’s earliest days and is matched by a sign of the same title on the courthouse lawn in Ashville that adds history of that city’s founding.

PELL CITY, ALABAMA, in front of City Hall, tells of the founding of the city by Sumter Cogswell and of the industries that followed. THE MILL VILLAGE, posted on Comer Avenue at 26th Street, gives a thumbnail history of Pell City’s chief industry, Avondale Mills, and the community it created for its workers.

All are within comfortable walking distance, and together they nicely sum up Pell City’s early history.

Other markers around St Clair County are CAMP WINNATASKA on Winnataska Drive in the Prescott Mountain area, delineating that facility’s development.

JOHN LOONEY HOUSE, on County Road 24 between Ashville and Greensport, tells of a pioneer family’s

DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • December 2017 & January 2018

Pell City Location Opening January 2018 35500 Hwy. 21 N., Talladega 256-362-7540 • 866-878-5245

www.mcsweeneyauto.com

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2605 DR. JOHN HAYNES DRIVE PELL CITY, AL

RESTORING HISTORY Marker outside Pell City City Hall

Want to visit St. Clair’s memorial markers?

Following are the GPS coordinates in degrees with decimal minute format.

• CROPWELL MEMORIAL PARK GPS 33.326N 86 16.081W • HISTORIC DOWNTOWN PELL CITY 33.5860N 86.2869W • PELL CITY’S HISTORIC RESIDENTIAL DISTRICT 33.5887N 86.2844W • A COUNTY OLDER THAN THE STATE 33.5863N 86.2860W • PELL CITY, ALABAMA 33.5873N 86.2862W • THE MILL VILLAGE 33.5915N 86.2806W • CAMP WINNATASKA 33.5418N 86.4421W • JOHN LOONEY HOUSE 33.8206N 86.1937W • FORT STROTHER 33.8901N 86.1172W • HARKEY’S CHAPEL UNITED METHODIST CHURCH 33.6643N 86.2562W • SITE OF THE COOK SPRINGS HOTEL 33.5923N 86.3979W

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DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • December 2017 & January 2018

Downtown Pell City marker in front of Courthouse pilgrimage and their impressive double-dogtrot log house, which is open for annual fall festivals.

FORT STROTHER on US 411 near Neely Henry Dam, commemorates a site used by Andrew Jackson during the Creek Indian Wars of 1813-14.

A history of the founding of HARKEY’S CHAPEL UNITED METHODIST CHURCH is posted on AL 144 near No Business Creek Road, and SITE OF THE COOK SPRINGS HOTEL, near the rail tunnel on Cook Springs Road, describes a late 19th century luxury spa that once drew visitors from all over the South.

In his address to the crowd in Cropwell, Muenger noted, “Monuments like this serve to remind us of where the community came from ... and to look back and appreciate all the great things that happened in the history of St. Clair County and here in Pell City.”

Speaker David Jackson is the son of W.D. Jackson, who had worked on the original Park Committee along with George Williams, James Ingram, Charles Abbott and Mary Mays. Jackson said, “We all hope that future generations will recognize this park as far more than rocks, plaques and brick walkways. It represents the history of the Cropwell community and the memory of those from here who volunteered for military service.”

As a child, Jackson helped his father work on the park. “It was a hot, muggy day, and threatening rain, just like today,” he said. “I wanted to give it up and go home, but Dad said that it was the best kind of day for this work because the rain and warmth would help the newly-sown grass to grow.”

Ostensibly as a patriotic gesture, the rain held off until a few minutes after the ceremony was concluded. l

DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • December 2017 & January 2018

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Traveling the

BACKROADS

Centuries of Worship Bethel and Ebenezer churches central to community

Bethel Baptist Church 1892 building

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DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • December 2017 & January 2018

Story by Joe Whitten Photos by Graham Hadley Submitted Photos Two hundred years ago, families migrating westward often traveled through Alabama. Some intended to journey farther west, but finding the Alabama Territory a spacious land, decided to settle in what is now St. Clair County. They cleared land, erected cabins and put down roots.

In today’s Bethel community between Odenville and Moody, families settling this area include Chenault, Taylor, Hawkins, Coupland, Hazelwood, Hollingsworth, Courson, Wyatt, Hagwood, Fowler, Shanks, Sahm, Hardwick, McLaughlin, Kerr, Abercrombie and Ash, and with them, a community arose.

When the post office was established in 1854, it was named Round Pond, not Bethel. The name changed to Taylorsburg in 1890, with Thomas G. Taylor as postmaster. After the post office closed in 1905, the area came to be called Bethel.

Most settlers had religious convictions and observed home Bible reading and prayers. However, Christians have an innate desire to meet and worship together, and the most conveniently reached Baptist church was Mt. Hebron, about 15 miles down Cahaba Valley.

By 1830, with more families settling there, the desire grew for a Baptist church, and on Dec. 30, 1832, Baptist ministers Joseph Hill, William McCain and Gideon Blythe* met in council to organize a church of 29 members, nine of whom were slaves.

The families had presented to the ministers these reasons for a new church: • Enough people now lived in the area to form a church.

• Mt. Hebron was too far to travel by ox cart for worship services.

• The believers desired more than family worship for their community.

The council affirmed that, after prayer and consulting with neighboring Baptists, they saw the need for establishing a missionary Baptist church in the area and resolved to do so.

They chose the name Bethel, “God’s House.”

The Principles of Faith and the Church Covenant were adopted, and these charter members gave their names to the clerk: Henry Cox, Andrew McCain, John Chenault, Reuben C. Baldwin, Robert McCain, William Chenault, Amos S. Hutchinson, Robert Cox, Thomas S. Cox, John O’Barr, Thomas Worthy, Nancy Looney, Frances Chenault, Temperance Cox, Lucinda Cox, Sarah Worthy, Polly Worthy, Sister Jones, Nancy Chenault, Sarah Robertson, Susan Townsend, Phebe Mize and Ruthie Hawkins joined “by experience (conversion) and baptism.” These slaves were charter members: Jesse, property A. Rowland; Sarah Smith, property P. Neel; Polly, property Widow Kirk; Cloe, property J. Hutchins; Tanny, property W. M. Oliver; Rose, property Wm Watson; and Peere Brother, property M. Beason.

Other than for the Chenault family, almost no information exists on these charter members. While

DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • December 2017 & January 2018

Ebenezer United Methodist Church exterior and interior, present day

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Traveling the

BACKROADS

Bethel Baptist Church destroyed by tornado

John and Frances Chenault are buried in Bethel Cemetery, others may be buried there in unmarked graves.

The location and date of the first Bethel building is unknown, but a notation in a 1920s’ minute reads, “Our present building 1892.” That building faced the current sanctuary, for until the 1940s, the road between the church and US 411 was the main road. When the highway was constructed in the 1940s, the back of the church faced the new road; therefore, on Wednesday, Feb. 22, 1950, upon a motion by Mrs. Cora Lee, the church voted to move the stage to the opposite end of the church and install double doors there so Bethel Baptist would again face the highway.

A period of growth By the late 1960s, the church needed more space, and the congregation entered a building phase resulting in a sanctuary dedicated on Sept. 30, 1973.

The 1892 sanctuary still exists. James Brunson, Curtis Lee and V.L. Bailey bought it, moved it down US 411, bricked it, and dedicated it The Church of the Valley to be used for singings, weddings and community religious activities.

Church membership increased, and in the late 1990s, Bethel began construction on a larger sanctuary. However, a tornado on April 8, 1998, destroyed the 1973 sanctuary and the new project.

The Family Life Center was spared and was used for worship services, but Sunday school classes met in homes and businesses while rebuilding was accomplished. From the tornado’s rubble arose the present day sanctuary whose congregation is led by Lead Pastor Josh Burnham and Associate Pastor Brad Tollison.

All are welcome Pastor Burnham said that one of the deciding factors for his accepting the position at Bethel was the fact the search committee was multi-racial. He noted that from the first service in 1832 the congregation was multi-racial. He voiced his desire that Bethel “continue that racially inclusive legacy; that’s what we are

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DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • December 2017 & January 2018

Student model of the original Ebenezer building inside the church

17HMA1854

10/10/2017 - 4:20pm

The window sticker can’t quite cover everything we’ve put into it.

Honda Manufacturing of Alabama has built a lot of happiness into the all-new 2018 Odyssey minivan. In fact, we could go on and on about the new Magic Slide Seat,™ CabinWatch and CabinTalk technologies, the built-in vacuum cleaner and a host of safety and comfort features — all designed to keep the whole family happy.

But what’s not listed on the window sticker is the pride of our team of 4,500 associates. Because our dedication to delivering only the best for our customers is a standard feature in every vehicle and engine we build in Lincoln, Alabama.

Traveling the

BACKROADS Bethel Memorial Day with 1892 building in background

intentional about.” He wants Bethel to “be a church where any person, any race, any socioeconomic status can find forgiveness in Jesus Christ.”

In thinking ahead 15 years to Bethel’s bicentennial, Burnham observed that the absolute truth of the Bible must be preached, saying, “We live in cultures that are shifting, in churches that let culture define truth, so we are purposed to stand upon the truth of Jesus Christ.” He sees a community that is “hungry for absolute truth that’s found only in the hope of the Gospel.”

His desire is to preach the whole counsel of God in purity and without “smoke, mirrors and flash. ... We want to say, ‘This is Jesus, and he has died with this great love for you. You don’t have to accept it, but it is there for you. And it is freely offered.’”

Pastor Tollison has the same vision for the Student Ministry.

His aims to reach the students where they are. “I want our students to know that when they walk into our church, whether it’s Sunday morning or Wednesday night, that it’s OK for them not to be OK.” He wants church to be a place where students can come with their garbage of life, but he also wants them to know they can let go of the garbage. “We introduce the Gospel to these kids and let them know that they don’t have to stay where they are – that they can have a better, abundant life.”

Tollison involves missions in everything he does with students. “Even our beach retreats are going to be missions, and in our trips to Six Flags, there’s some kind of involvement in the Gospel. I’ve been accused of not wanting to have fun, but I think we can have fun with the Gospel.”

Both pastors have hearts for missions and seek to inculcate

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that into Church life. They recently visited Boston on a Vision Trip, exploring ways to partner with churches there. Burnham sees Harvard and MIT producing political and business leaders — leaders who bring about cultural change that is sometimes negative. This realization gives these pastors a vision for sharing the Gospel in a city that is cold to the Gospel, which alone changes a person’s worldview.

But mission work is practiced close to home, too. The student ministry participates in Operation Change, a week-long construction project of connecting with a family that needs help. They have built ramps for a number of homes. The cities of Moody and Odenville and the DHR help direct them to needs. The approach is relational and seeks to meet individual needs.

In global missions, Bethel has for 15 years ministered in the Dominican Republic, building homes for pastors and meeting other construction needs. This past year they built a church for a group that was meeting on a concrete slab. The crew finished the church on Wednesday, and Thursday morning they awoke, and the church was full. The people couldn’t wait for Sunday to worship in their building.

Having prayed for unreached groups of people, Bethel partnered with Zambia, working with Lifesong International, which focuses on orphans. The project in Zambia has an orphanage, a boarding school, a trade school and a commercial strawberry farm. Combined, this teaches skills and provides work for graduates. Bethel’s teams go with the attitude of “What can we do to help you?”

Children’s Director Mary Beth Brown has reintroduced the

DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • December 2017 & January 2018

Ebenezer sits on top of a hill for all to see.

DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • December 2017 & January 2018

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Traveling the

BACKROADS Bethel Ladies quilting

children to discipleship in missions. On a Wednesday night, 60 to 70 kids attend. It is a growing ministry, and God’s word through song and instruction is taught from the nursery on up.

A fourth-generation member of Bethel, Greg Cobb, grew up in the church and has served God faithfully in the music ministry since a teenager. His parents, Frankie and Linda Cobb, had prayed a long time for a child. When Greg was born, Linda was determined to have Greg, her answer to prayer, dedicated to God at church. Baptist didn’t dedicate babies in those days, but Linda persevered, and Greg was the first baby dedicated at Bethel. He says of the church, “Bethel has always been a bright light in our valley, because its people are on mission to win others for Christ. I have seen Bethel give glory to God during mountain-top experiences; yet show great dependence upon Him during times of storms. Bethel is a blessing to me.” And many others would “Amen!” his testimony.

Ebenezer United Methodist Another more-than-a-century-old blessing sits a little north of Bethel –­ the Little White Church on the Hill, Ebenezer United Methodist Church. Their membership, though small, is vibrant.

The Victorian belfry-crowned sanctuary invites passersby to remember churches of yesterday and seems to call out, “Come in; hear the Gospel; be blessed.”

It is uncertain when a group of Methodist began meeting for worship in the community, however, they did meet, and by 1890 wanted a church building. On Oct. 21, 1890, the American Methodist Episcopal Church deeded one and a half acres to the Building Committee made up of James G. Wyatt, J.S. Dickey, James W. Abercrombie, Van McLaughlin and A.H.

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Coupland. Although the church has sometimes been called “The Little White Church on the Hill,” the committee chose the name Ebenezer, meaning “Stone of Help,” as recorded in First Samuel 7:12. They constructed a sanctuary and in 1891 began worshiping in it.

A coal-burning heater warmed that original building. For many years in the mid-20th Century, Jack Moore would rise early on winter Sundays and build the fire so the church would be warm for worship time. Space heaters replaced the stove in the late 1960s. Jack also rang the bell by pulling the rope dangling from the belfry, and the lovely tones seemed to sing, “Come and worship.” At the 125th celebration, the church dedicated a replica bell installed in a new bell-tower in front of the church.

Carolyn Moore Standifer tells how Ebenezer’s early pastors did not have a set salary, so ladies of the church collected money to pay them. Carolyn’s Aunt Ella Abercrombie sold eggs in order to make a contribution to the pastor’s pay. Church ladies quilted to supply funds for projects, just as women all over the South quilted to help their churches. It is probable that some long-ago churches were held together by needle and thread.

By the early 1950s, church members addressed the need for a new building with more room. Continuing their heritage of togetherness, they built the new one. First, they dug a basement to the side of the original church, over which the new sanctuary would rise. Keeping tradition alive, they wanted the new in the same style as the old, so they used light fixtures, pews and some lumber from the 1891 church. It became a lengthy project, and somehow the bell never got hung in the new belfry.

DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • December 2017 & January 2018

Ebenezer UMC Primary Sunday School Class 1948

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In her interview, Carolyn painted a church-family portrait of a unified membership working together. Some of the ladies do the art displays near the road in front of the church. Others plan the meals when occasions arise, such as a meal for fellowship or for after a funeral. At any event, Kathryn Ash’s blackberry pie hit the spot.

A beacon on the hill Members have contributed time and talent to the upkeep of the church. Hyman and Kathryn Ash cleaned the church and helped get indoor restrooms. When they retired, Flossie Mizzell cleaned until she couldn’t, and then James and Carolyn Standifer did that job. When the church wanted an organ, the youths, under the leadership of Nancy Myers, sold doughnuts and earned money for the instrument.

Carolyn Moore Standifer and Nancy Myers have played piano and organ together for 56 years. Repairs, cleaning and upkeep are still looked after by members. This past year, Connie and Janice Myers had the downstairs painted.

In 1975-76, members working together completed the parsonage on Simpson Road.

Carolyn recalls, “We all worked on that, and we spent very little. Larry Myers, Mable Coupland Moore and Gussie Coupland Myers painted the inside.

An Easter event many years ago is well-remembered today. The youths wanted to have an enactment of Christ at Calvary in front of the church near the highway. The whole church got involved, the women made costumes, and the men helped with construction needs. Some in the valley may have wondered why a rural church would put time and effort into a drama that would not be observed by multitudes.

Friday before Easter arrived. The different scenes of the Crucifixion began. First a few cars, then more, until the traffic required police assistance. A wreck had closed a section of I-20 and traffic was diverted to US 411. Multitudes saw the Easter story.

Many stopped at the church. Channel 6 learned of their success and came on Saturday to film a segment. Communion was served in the sanctuary that night. Anyone of any denomination desiring to partake could do so. The Channel 6 reporter did just that.

God rewarded the work of a small congregation eager to share the Gospel of Easter to their world.

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DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • December 2017 & January 2018

23

Traveling the

BACKROADS Growing up in Ebenezer UMC, Jamie Standifer Mizzell, a fourth-generation member, remembers “Sunday mornings sitting with my Grandmother Moore, while my Mom played the piano, and Daddy led the singing; Sunday school where we young ones were taught from the Bible about Jesus and His love for us.

“Then when we could sit away from our parents, we knew to behave, for 99.9 percent of the adults were aunts, uncles or cousins, and each had the OK to make sure we behaved.

I remember Wednesday quilting and lunch with the ladies; the summer VBS week; the winter preparation for our yearly Christmas program (I met my husband when we played Mary and Joseph a few years); the christening of my children, Stacy and Wesley, and my granddaughter, Brooklyn—fifth- and sixth-generation Ebernezerians. This ‘Little White Church on the Hill’ has been and always will be my ‘Beacon on the Hill.’

I thank God for my church.”

The replica church bell sits in this special tower outside Ebenezer

Keeping the vision alive When asked “What is your vision for the church?,” Rev. Eddie Vann, pastor of the church since 2010, replied: “Speaking of vision brings to mind Proverbs 29:18, ‘Where there is no vision, the people perish.’ Without a vision for the future, we get lost in our present struggle. I see Ebenezer UMC looking up to God and looking out to our neighbors in the 21st century. I see us knocking on doors in many ways to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ.”

Two churches ­­– a common bond In Bethel’s minutes of a 1912 business meeting, it is recorded that Rev John W. Lawley ventured to ask if members wanted a Union-Meeting with the Methodist church. The clerk, John Courson, wrote, “The vote was taken. The majority went for the meeting. This being the first incident of this kind to be recorded on the minutes of Bethel church.” Then he left a long blank space. Later, in a different ink, he added: “(But the Union meeting didn’t take and Bethel done her business the same old way J.F.C.)” The results were not out of the ordinary for those days. The shocking thing was that a Baptist minister would suggest a joint meeting with another denomination. Pastor Lawley was progressive to suggest Baptist and Methodist unite for revival.

This would present no problem today. Two churches, one large in congregation and contemporary in worship; the other, small in congregation and more traditional in worship. Two denominations, differing in some theological points, but both honoring and worshiping the same God. John Wesley, founder of Methodism, wrote, “I look upon the whole world as my parish.” Both Bethel Baptist and Ebenezer UMC look at the world that way, too.

To God be the glory. l * Editor’s Note: There seems to be no record of a Gideon Blythe, Baptist minister or otherwise, in St. Clair County at any time. Sion Blythe was pastor of Mt. Zion in 1832, and it is thought he is the one who helped organize Bethel. The original minutes are lost, and the names and events are taken from a 1933 Centennial Celebration play that is recorded in the minute book for that year.

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DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • December 2017 & January 2018

Ebenezer UMC Intermediate Sunday School class 1948

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Before restoration

Welcome to Little House HISTORY SAVED & REPURPOSED

The Little House Welcome Center 26

DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • December 2017 & January 2018

Story and photos by Jerry C. Smith The Springville Preservation Society refers to it simply as The Little House, but its transformation from forlorn vintage home to a quaint welcome center and community venue is no small story.

Built in St. Clair Springs sometime around 1880 (or 1835, depending on whom you ask), this homey two-room cottage was destined for demolition. In 2002, Roderick Brown made the society an offer: Move it, and it’s yours, but do it now. His only request was for a marker that acknowledges his gift. He’s since passed away, but a large oval plaque has been placed on the front porch in his honor.

The house was first relocated to the old Springville Lake property, where it underwent major restoration to prepare it for community use. Its windows were replaced with handcrafted copies of the originals. A fine front porch and tin roof were also added.

Springville’s John Trotter, who did most of the carpentry work, remembered those days well, “When we started this project, I was 6 feet, 4 inches tall and weighed over 200 pounds.” Now slimmer and a bit shorter, he quipped, “If we had to do this again, I would probably wind up 4 feet tall.”

A needlework plaque on the kitchen wall says it all: Hard work is the yeast that raises the dough. John, his wife Sara, and Gayle Hammonds were prime movers for the entire project and continue their leadership roles today, but other folks and factions have generously lent their support.

For instance, the magnificent wood flooring in the parlor was donated from a pile of demolition salvage. It was stored in a building belonging to Pearson Sawmill, owned by the family of Carol Pearson Waid, who, with her husband Frank, have worked tirelessly in other local restoration projects.

Originally painted a hideous green color, the 1-by-4-inch tongue-and-groove flooring had to be sanded and sealed, but is now a lustrous vintage pine color, complete with random worm tracks and deeply colored knots.

The Hammonds, the Trotters and other community members have donated furniture, kitchen equipment, labor and other goods and services to Little House, which now sits on land owned by the City of Springville.

Sara says, “A local councilman said (Gayle and Sara) were two of the most determined ladies he’d ever met.”

They’ve worked tirelessly for years, seeking donations through local fashion shows and other fundraising activities.

Gayle adds, “For Sara, John and me, it’s been absolutely a labor of love.”

They point out that it’s by no means finished. It’s a perfect opportunity for local civic groups, garden clubs, Boy Scouts, landscapers, grass cutters, anyone with time and willingness to contribute something positive to the Springville community infrastructure.

John, who lives in a vintage home on Gin Street that he also restored, said, “When we got the house, it had no floors or ceilings, no bath and no wiring. We had to install all of it.” He pointed out a ceiling lamp and table lamp, both of which were converted from kerosene to electricity by the same electricians who wired the house using materials typical of rural electrification.

Other than a few comfort additions, such as air conditioning, there is little in the main parlor to betray

Period furnishings in parlor

DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • December 2017 & January 2018

27

On the move from Springville Lake

John and Sara Trotter and Gayle Hammonds discuss future events.

28

DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • December 2017 & January 2018

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Little House as being less than a century old. But the similarity ends there as you step into a modern kitchen, complete with microwave and refrigerator, then into a new bathroom, which is a story unto itself. The Society had intended using Little House as a welcome center on the old Spring Lake site, but found that it was not legal to install a septic system so close to the city’s water supply, thus the move to another location.

In 2012, the new front porch was removed, and the house was moved to its present location at 66 Walker Drive, just west of downtown Springville. Restoration work continued until recently, adding the restroom, floors, ceilings, a handicap ramp and reinstallation of the front porch.

Gayle says it will serve several community functions. For one, it will be opened as a welcome center anytime there are large events, such as block parties, 5k races and Homestead Hollow events.

In addition, its main purpose is to serve as a rentable venue for small community group functions, including club meetings, showers, parties and other gatherings. Although actual occupancy is limited by fire law to 16, Gayle says there is ample level lawn space for tents, booths, outdoor festivities and overflow crowds.

Their brochure suggests wedding ceremonies on the front porch with bridal preparation inside, birthday parties, intimate dinners, anniversaries, child tea parties and any other functions not involving huge crowds.

Catering is available from The Choppin’ Block’s amazingly varied menu, or you can bring your own and use the in-house refrigerator and microwave. A limited number of chairs and tables are provided. For information or reservations, contact Sara Trotter at 205 467-3000.

Both Sara and Gayle emphasized that a quick private tour can easily be arranged at very short notice by phone, either to Sara or to Gayle, at 205-937-3071. Gayle adds, “We all live less than 10 minutes away and would be glad to meet you there.”

To reach Little House, go west from the four-way stop in Springville for about a quarter mile, then left on Walker Drive.

The house will be on your immediate right. GPS coordinates are 33.76511N 86.4802W. l

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Editor’s Note: We are sad to report that Mr. Trotter passed away in late August, a few weeks after our story interview.

DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • December 2017 & January 2018

29

BACKWOODS

Whitetails Deer farm in Odenville building a brand, bringing visitors’ smiles

Story by Carol Pappas Photos by Susan Wall Photos courtesy of Backwoods Whitetails Drive through the gates of Backwoods Whitetails in Odenville, and you can’t help but sense you are about to witness something very special.

Wind through the property of rolling pastures, a canopy of towering trees lining both sides of the rocky road and pull to a stop at a nondescript barn. Fencing surrounds this farm, and it looks like most others around these parts, but instead of rows of crops growing all around, a hundred pairs of eyes are focused on you.

Fawns, bucks and yearlings wander through fenced pastures, their almond eyes trained on the strangers who have just arrived. Treats thrown in their direction bring them closer, and closer still.

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BACKWOODS

Whitetails Grazing in the grass

At Backwoods, it’s all in a day’s work – raising prime stock deer from bottle-fed newborns to majestic bucks with racks wider than the length of your outstretched arms.

Owners Dane and Katelyn Dorsett and family are not your typical farmers, they breed deer, which now number 140 head, including fawns. And they sell to other breeders and owners of huge hunting enclosures around Alabama, fetching $4,000 and up each.

It’s not as easy as it sounds, said Dorsett. “It’s a big gamble. I tell people, don’t invest more than you’re willing to lose. One straw of semen to artificially inseminate in hopes of breeding prime stock can cost $15,000. And only 75 percent – “sometimes less than that” – take.

You might call this a family farm business. And you would be right. Dorsett’s wife, Katelyn, assistant

32

principal at Odenville Intermediate School, bottle raises many of the fawns each year for the business they started in 2011.

Her father and three others help Dane with the daily chores of running an expansive deer farm like this that contains 10 pens stretching over multiple pastures.

Macy, the Dorsetts’ dog, hops aboard the all-terrain vehicle, keeping an eye on things and getting out at every stop. “She goes in every pen with me,” Dorsett said. She’s even been known to ‘kiss’ a deer or two.

The Dorsetts’ two boys — Hayes, 3, and Bryce, 1 — play nearby. It’s just another day to them as they round out the picture of this family affair.

“I am looking forward to next year, when I don’t have actual babies and deer babies we’re raising at the same time,” Katelyn said. “I am glad the kids get

DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • December 2017 & January 2018

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BACKWOODS

Whitetails

Aerial view of 40-acre farm

A white deer among the group

34

to grow up around this. They like being outside.”

When her “deer babies” are born, she starts bottle raising them in individual stalls located in the barn. Meanwhile, a ton – yes, that’s 2,000 pounds – of custom deer feed a week keeps the rest of the deer satisfied.

This all takes place on 40 acres in rural Odenville. Dane said the farm’s name came from its location – “the middle of nowhere.”

But around Alabama, it’s quickly making a name for itself, producing superior class genetics in its stock.

According to its website, the Dorsetts have been on a “strategic breeding plan using Northern and Texas sires to create a range of genetic crossings.”

And farm visits are welcome daily.

August is the busiest time of year when breeders are coming in and out, they are moving bucks and getting ready for breeding, said Dane.

DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • December 2017 & January 2018

BACKWOODS

Whitetails This time of year is a little slower, and the deer actually seem to enjoy the company of admirers passing by on a Saturday morning. Realtor Lyman Lovejoy was among that group. He had brought his stepson and grandkids to experience it.

“This is unbelievable that we have something like this right here in our own backyard,” said Lovejoy.

“These majestic animals are a sight to behold, and it’s heartening to know that a young couple can not only make a living but put St. Clair County on the map with this farm. What they’re doing is really impressive – the whole operation.

“And my grandkids see these beautiful deer, and their smiles tell me they think it’s Christmastime and Santa’s on his way!” l

A family affair on both sides

Katelyn and Dane Dorsett with sons Bryce and Hayes

Macy is ready to go.

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DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • December 2017 & January 2018

We're growing, grow with us!

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D elivering The essence of St. Clair

We are reminded of the beauty of St. Clair with just a glance outside our window. But in this hectic world of ours, sometimes we forget to look. One of our distributors, Lisa Sondergard, wouldn’t let us forget.

This is what she found along her route to deliver Discover … just outside her window. Thanks, Lisa, for recording our reminder!

A roadside waterfall, AL 174

Historic downtown Springville

A serene pasture

The Mater Shack in Ashville

Blair Farm barn

Lake Neely Henry 38

DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • December 2017 & January 2018

100 years

Pell City High School

PANTHERS

Celebrating colorful century of high school football: 1918-2018 40

DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • December 2017 & January 2018

Story by Paul South Photos by Mike Callahan Submitted Photos In the 1970s, like generations of little boys before and after him, David Gulledge lived for fall Friday nights and Pell City High School Panther football.

Growing up in Avondale’s Mill Village, the gleam of the stadium lights was for Gulledge and his pals, the stuff of hopes and heroes. And joy could come from something as simple as a shred of fabric from Panther running back Wayne McCoy or quarterback Jay Grogan, or future Florida State All-American Ken Roe. “When I was a kid growing up, that was back when they had tear-away jerseys,” Gulledge said. “I remember looking up and admiring all those folks. I was one of those little kids standing by the fence waiting to get a piece of one of those tear-away jerseys.

“If we were fortunate, we’d get the whole jersey, tie it into a ball and go play football up on the hill,” Gulledge added with a laugh. “Friday nights, as in most towns, mean the town shuts down and comes together.”

Gulledge would grow up to be one of those Pell City Friday night warriors, a three-year starter at quarterback who would later play at Jacksonville State and in the NFL. His is just one of the many stories that course through the 100 years of Pell City High School football.

FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS The impact of Panther football reaches from some notso-auspicious beginnings – like a 95-7 loss to Anniston Presbyterian in 1921 – to undefeated seasons and to pro football’s biggest stage. Pell City lore includes Bobby Skelton, who quarterbacked Coach Paul “Bear” Bryant’s first bowl team at Alabama. Skelton would later become an SEC and NFL official, part of the crew for one the most exciting Super Bowls, San Francisco’s win over Cincinnati. Grogan would also play for the Tide, part of a host of Panthers who would go on to play college football.

Pell City teams would endure the trials of losing seasons and the triumphs of winning ones. But every game night, the town would come together to cheer the sons of millworkers and merchants, lawyers and doctors.

“Friday night, it’s like the town closes down and everyone is there to support the program and it just kind of brought the community together,” Gulledge said.

Retired attorney Bill Scott knows Pell City football as well as just about anyone. For 25 years, Scott, a former Panther player, helped haul the sideline chains at Pete Rich-Alumni Stadium. Chat with him long enough and he’ll talk about Coach Will Glover, Pell City’s winningest all-time coach, (81-39-6), a mythical state title in 1951 and a tradition of great teams, players and coaches.

The 1951 team, led by All-State end Bobby Golden went 10-0 and allowed only 63 points for the season. The Birmingham News tabbed the Panthers the Class A state champions in the days before the statewide playoff system.

The Panthers made their first playoff appearance in 1974 and captured their first playoff win and region championship the same year. In 1986, Gulledge helped lead the team to its first 11-win season. And in 1993, Pell City earned its first 12-win campaign. Across its history, Pell City has won eight area or region titles, according to ahsfhs.org

David Gulledge GLORY DAYS Glover led the Panthers in what many consider the golden age of Pell City football. Scott, along with former Panther star Charlie Gray, even helped Glover by scouting the next week’s opponents. Gray “thought the world” of Glover, a beloved Panther head coach, who helped build the stadium with his own hands.

Glover was a fiery competitor, a fever that sometimes spilled into the crowd.

“We are a country town, but especially back then,” Scott remembered. “People in the neighborhood liked to take a nip or two. And some of them would come to the ball games. Four or five would hang on the fence around the field. Will would get excited, and there’d be some skirmishes on the field. And some of those people on the fence would get a little too inebriated and crawl the fence.

“I just happened to be the City Recorder (now city judge). A couple of (the fans) got excited and got arrested. They’d come before me and I’d tell ‘em. ‘You tell all your buddies – you know who they are – the next one of them that crawls the fence and gets on that football field, tell ‘em to bring their clothes for six months, because that’s how long I can put ‘em in jail. The next one of you guys that crawls the fence at a football game, you’re going to spend six months in the city jail.’ I didn’t have another one crawl the fence.”

Panther fans had reason to be excited in the Glover era.

The 1954 team went without a loss, the only blemish on a spectacular year was a 13-13 tie at Cleburne County. And in 1955, led by senior all-state quarterback Bobby Skelton, the Panthers went 8-1-1.

The World War II generation also played a role in Panther football glory. Some veterans who hadn’t completed high school were able to return to the high school to play football and graduate. The 1946 team under Coach Bill Friedman went 8-1 and defeated rivals Oxford, Leeds and Lincoln along the way.

“I was a scrub on that team,” Scott said. “It was a great team.”

The 1948 team was also memorable, helping establish Pell City’s tradition for great defense. The Panthers shut out

DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • December 2017 & January 2018

41

PANTHERS

Bill Scott missed his sister’s wedding for chance to play for Panthers.

A 1940s letterman’s sweater and today’s jerseys comprise a proud history.

Cordova 12-0 in the first game of the season and did not allow a first down until the second half of the second game, Scott recalled.

Defense has been a common thread throughout Panther history, said Scott Adamson, former sports editor at The Daily Home in Talladega. Adamson covered the Panthers for nearly two decades beginning in the late 1980s.

“The one thing I do remember, they always had a good defense, even when they didn’t necessarily have a good season.

During the time I was there, they had quite a few losing seasons, but it was very rare when they weren’t competitive,” Adamson said. “And even in their down years, it seems like it was usually the defense that carried the day for them.”

Along with championship seasons and all-star players, Bill Scott tells tales of colorful moments in Panther football, of missed weddings and Scandinavian kickers.

Scott knows the wedding story firsthand. It was his sister Martha’s. And he was the guest who missed the Friday afternoon ceremony. Even brides have to understand the importance of football.

“One of the first games I got to play in, we played Lincoln.

My sister Martha got married that afternoon in Tuscaloosa, and I didn’t go to the wedding because I went to the football

42

game and got to play a little bit. She was pretty understanding, I think. She never mentioned that I didn’t go.”

And then, there is the story of Vidar Lunde, the exchange student-turned-kicker. Scott doesn’t remember the opponent, but he remembers Lunde’s kick after a Panther touchdown.

“The ball hit the cross bar. It bounced straight up. The officials under the cross bar apparently ducked their heads. The ball went straight up about 10 yards in the air. It came down on the other side of the crossbar. It was good. But both officials under the crossbar signaled no good. Pell City didn’t get credit for the point.”

FROM SIDELINES TO GRIDIRON And Gulledge, who grew from the little mill-village kid clamoring for a scrap from a tear-away jersey into a prep AllAmerica quarterback, college star and NFL draft pick, has a colorful story of his own. Fittingly, it’s about a jersey.

“We’re playing at Gardendale, both ranked, in the playoffs, and we go out and warm up in our white away jerseys,” Gulledge recalled. “We come in after we warm up and they’ve got probably the ugliest gold jerseys you’ve ever seen in your life to go with the gold pants we had. The atmosphere in the locker room, just because of the change of the jerseys... it

DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • December 2017 & January 2018

Coach Will Glover, far right, with trophy created a lot of excitement and a lot of buzz, and we went on to win the game. But those kinds of memories and the plays that individuals made during high school, those are the things we cherish.”

One-hundred years of precious memories do linger. But more than championships captured and games won, there are generations of lives touched and a community unified.

Regardless of the state of the world, color of skin, or station in life, Pell City could always come together to cheer for the Black and Gold. Those were the only colors that mattered.

“I think the main thing is that you’re a part of Pell City football ,whether you are a player or coach, or go to school there or just root for them,” Adamson said. “It is such an integral part of the community. That’s true of a lot of high schools, especially in smaller towns. But it seems for a lot of years, Pell City football was the focus of the community. Even out of football season, people were still talking about it. It was such a legacy situation. You would go to a game, and there were players and fathers and grandfathers who played for them.

“That’s true of a lot of places, but for me as a sportswriter and as someone who lived there, there was no escaping Pell City football. It permeated everything. You learned about the Black and Gold. You learned about the Panthers. It was the pride of the city. Even when the teams didn’t play that well, they still showed up. They still cheered them on. And those kids were looked at like, ‘You’re carrying on a tradition. You may not have the wins that other teams have had, but this is something you’re going to carry with you for the rest of your life.’”

Gulledge, who many regard as the greatest player in Pell City history, gets emotional when remembering his Pell City days. He remembers earning a Pell City letterman’s jacket as a privilege. Lessons learned on the playing field at Rich Alumni stadium serve him to this day as a regional executive for CocaCola. He is quick to point out that football, like life, is a team sport. “(Football) is bigger than one person,” he said. “I’ve been blessed to be surrounded by really talented players, really good

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DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • December 2017 & January 2018

43

PANTHERS 1946-47 PCHS football team

teams, really good coaches, through high school, through college and to the NFL at Washington. Now in my professional life, the Lord has really blessed me and shown me favor by putting great people around me.”

When he talks about Panther football’s impact, Gulledge’s voice cracks with emotion.

“As a mill-village kid growing up, there was a time when we were having family challenges and struggles. I was headed down a road of no good.

Football was my avenue to get away from those things. Fortunately for me, Coach (Pete) Rich and Coach (Lyle) Darnell and the coaches who invested in me personally and into those other kids in that community and the community as well, for me is what high school football is all about.

“What high school football did for me is give me an opportunity to keep my nose clean and stay out of trouble. It was an avenue that gave me a platform to compete in life. “ Ask Bill Scott about the meaning of Panther football, and he thinks of the nights standing near the concession stand as he readied for another game on the chain gang. The autumn Friday night air was perfumed with the aroma of buttered popcorn, roasted peanuts and steamed hot dogs.

“I’ve told many a person, there’s no place I would rather be in the world at 7 o’clock than right here at the Pell City High School football field on Friday night.”

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DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • December 2017 & January 2018

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PANTHERS

They called him “Coach” Pete Rich’s legacy reaches far beyond the football field that bears his name

Story by Paul South “A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches, and loving favor rather than silver and gold.”

– Proverbs 22:1 Ask Pete Rich about his career, and he gives a short answer.

“I didn’t do much,” the 82-year-old said. “I coached a little bit.”

And by the world’s standard – the one that measures success strictly by silver and gold, wins and losses – that might be true. Rich is not the winningest coach in Pell City High School football history’s 100 years, though he’s been part of many area and regional championships as a head coach and as an assistant.

Yet his name adorns the stadium. Take a glance at the Old Book and its words on a good name or talk to friends, former players, sportswriters who covered him and opposing coaches who labored against him, and you’ll understand why the honor is appropriate.

And think on these things: Former Pell City players and students alike still visit him, some to work out in his home weight room, others to take weekday walks with him around his Pell City neighborhood, all to talk, to gain counsel and advice.

Whether they played football or not, Rich’s door – and his heart – are always open, even more than 25 years after his retirement in 1991.

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“I got to know every kid in the school. That’s the important thing,” Rich said. “I got to know every kid. I’ve got boys who come to see me who I’m crazy about that never played a lick of football. I’m not one of those coaches who won’t have anything to do with a kid because they don’t play football. That’s just not right. I cared about all of them.”

There’s no doubting it. Pete Rich loves Pell City, its high school and its people. He comes by it honestly. He was born here, raised in the mill village by his parents – Walter and Pauline Rich who both worked in the cotton mill. He wore Panther black and gold as a player, an assistant coach and a head coach. He went on to play college football for Coach Pie Vann at Southern Mississippi. And while some of his teammates would become college head coaches – Doug Barfield at Auburn, P.W. Underwood at Southern Miss and Buddy Nix at Chattanooga – Rich wanted nothing more than to coach high school football at home in Pell City. He spent 22 years of his 35-year coaching career with the Black and Gold.

“One time I had a friend who was coaching at a little school down in Florida, and he got offered the chance to coach at Troy and asked me if I was interested,” Rich said. “But I never cared anything about that. You have to travel so much and be on the road, and I just wanted to be at home.”

After stops at Jones Valley in Birmingham and Sylacauga, Rich made it home. He would serve as an assistant or head coach for the Panthers for 22 autumns. He’s reticent to talk

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PANTHERS about his success, but quick to give credit to assistant coaches and players.

“When I was head coach we went 9-1 and got beat in the second round (of the playoffs). From 1974-1990, we went to the playoffs seven times. We won the area five times and runner-up two. But back then, if you didn’t win the area, you didn’t go to the playoffs,” Rich said.

He had many talented players, but doesn’t like to name names. In keeping with the etiquette of Southern small-town manners, he doesn’t want to leave anyone out.

“By naming names, you upset a lot of folks,” Rich said. “You don’t want to upset folks. But we had a lot of good ballplayers at Pell City.”

And those Pell City players, like their coach and like the mill town they came from, had a reputation for toughness. Coach Jim Fuller learned that firsthand. While an assistant at Fairfield and later head coach, he faced Pete Rich defenses. He also recruited Pell City for Jacksonville State (as an assistant and head coach) and as an assistant at Alabama. Fuller is the retired athletic director at Jacksonville State.

“Knowing Coach Pete like I did, it was always one thing you could depend on. His guys were tough, mentally and physically. That wasn’t just at Pell City, that was at Jones Valley, where I first knew Coach Rich and played against his teams. They were always physically ready to play,” Fuller said.

Rich’s teams mimicked his personality, tough, hard- nosed players who packed a lunchbox to play every Friday and had fun all the while, a blue-collar team for a blue-collar town. The Rich teams also worked hard and put the team first. There was no substitute for hard work.

But Rich’s impact was felt beyond the white lines.

“They had quality teams because of Coach Rich,” Fuller said. “Players who played for and against him, and those of us who coached the game respected him to the utmost. He’s just a good, good, good man.”

Bill Scott learned that well as Rich’s back-door neighbor for 25 years. As a member of Pell City’s sideline chain gang, he observed Rich closely on and off the field, as a man of deep faith. The saltiest language that ever made it past Rich’s lips – “Crap, son!”

“He’s a good Christian man,” Scott said. “Pete is one of those people whose character is such that if you had a son and his character was like Pete’s, you would know that you had reared a good person. He’s the kind of person that you’d want your son to be. That’s about as nice an honor as you can get.”

Former longtime Daily Home Sports Editor Scott Adamson agreed.

“If I had a kid, I would want him to be coached and taught

by Pete Rich, period. That’s about as high a compliment as I can give,” Adamson said. “I have so much respect for him not only as a coach but as a person. I would know immediately if he was given charge of taking care of my child, I didn’t have to worry about my child. And I would know that, after he was either taught or coached by Pete Rich, the kid was going to be a whole lot better. There’s no question in my mind.

“Honestly – and I’m not saying this for the sake of the story – I cannot think of a coach, or maybe even a person, that I have a greater respect for than Pete Rich.”

Across a 30-year career, Adamson has covered coaches at the highest levels of high school and college football. This may illustrate his respect for Rich most concisely.

48

Entrance to stadium that bears coach’s name

“The term ‘living legend’ is incredibly overused, and I hate to use it. But there have been two coaches that I have been in contact with in my life that were great men that I was intimidated by, and those were Pete Rich and (former Alabama Coach) Gene Stallings. And I say that in the sense that if you cover a lot of high school and college football as I did over 30 years, you get to the point where you get comfortable calling the coach by their first name. There is no way on earth I would have called Pete Rich ‘Pete.’ He was ‘Coach’. ” Adamson added, “I don’t mean that in a bad way at all. He is one of the finest men I have ever met in my life. He is an outstanding human being. But he is one of those guys who I looked at and I respected before I knew anything about him.

And then the more I got to know him, the more I did respect him. He’s just the best of the best. The kids loved him, and they certainly respected him. There was a lot of love there.”

OF LIFE AND LEGACIES The kids did love him, and that love has deepened as they’ve grown into adulthood. Ask former Panther David Gulledge.

“Coach Rich loved high school football. He loved his players.

He loved his community, and he was a role model that anybody could have stood behind or went to battle with or for,” Gulledge said. “That’s the legacy he’s going to leave.”

Rich downplays talk of a legacy. For him it’s about teaching life’s lessons.

“Well, I’m gonna tell you, I think it’s like this. I’ve been mighty blessed to come back here and work with these young people. That’s what I like, if you’re not out there working with young people, you don’t need to be there. I tried to be fair with everybody. I treated everybody the same. It didn’t matter who they were or what they had. I was fair with everybody. And I cared about them. That’s what I’d like to be known for. Not the coaching aspect, just that I helped them in life some little way.”’

He had a simple motto: “If you don’t have the best of everything, make the best of everything you’ve got.”

And as the Proverbs says, a good name, not riches, matter most.

“It doesn’t matter what you do,” Rich said. “You can work on the back of a garbage truck. But if you’re a good fella with good character, you’re just as important as anyone else. That’s the way I look at life.”

And that may be the reason the stadium bears Pete Rich’s name, a good name, worth more than silver or gold.

DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • December 2017 & January 2018

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PANTHERS

One player remembers

By Gary Savage

I started playing football for Coach Rich when I was in the 10th-grade in 1972, some 45 years ago. To say he made an impression on my life would be an understatement. Coach Rich made you believe that if you worked hard and gave all you had, you could achieve any goal.

His influence and values of hard work and doing things the right way have served me throughout my life and my professional career. Players could tell that Coach Rich truly cared about them, not just as a player, but as a person.

Because of the respect we had for Coach Rich, we never wanted to disappoint him. This was true when we played football for him, as well as at any point later in life. Even today when I see him around town, he always wants to know how I’m doing, and you can tell that he takes great pride in the successful lives of his players.

I am now 60 years old. And when I see him, it is still “Yes, sir” and “No, sir.” I try to never let him pay for a meal when I am around.

If I bought his lunch every day, I could never pay him back for the values he helped instill in me.

I recently retired, and at this point in life, it is normal to be somewhat reflective. I started considering who were the four or five people who had the most influence on my life and career. Without hesitation, Coach Rich came to mind as someone who would be part of that group.

Coach Rich is a strong Christian, and he is uniquely able to be a man’s man while still having a loving and caring heart.

Looking back, what Coach Rich wanted from us and for us was always our best. He expected a lot from us, and over time, we came to expect the same from ourselves. I know I’ve been truly blessed to have him as a coach and mentor in my life, and I would not be the person I am without him. Even today, I would not want to disappoint him.

I hope he realizes the lives he has touched and the love that we have for him. l

Yesterday

Editor’s note: Gary Savage joined the Pell City High School football team in 1972. When he learned that Discover St. Clair was profiling Coach Pete Rich, he asked for a chance to contribute. After Pell City, he attended Livingston University (now the University of West Alabama) and UAB, earning a civil engineering degree. He recently retired after a career as a civil engineer in Birmingham. He took time to put his thoughts on paper about Coach Pete Rich. This is his story. There are many more … just like his.

50

DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • December 2017 & January 2018

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Lynn Wycoff’s 4-yearold son, Dallas, places items in the blessing box outside Sew Nice Embroidery & Gifts in Ashville.

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DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • December 2017 & January 2018

Blessings in a Box Efforts of good will, charity springing up all over St. Clair A small, sturdy box filled with food items for people in need to access day or night. It is a simple gesture, yet one that is a blessing to someone who has no money to buy groceries or necessities.

Appropriately called a “blessing box,” the container may hold products like nonperishable foods, paper goods, diapers, wipes, formula and personal hygiene items. The items are put there by individuals who want to share their blessings with those who need a blessing.

The instructions lettered on some blessing boxes are simple, too: “Give what you can. Take what you need.”

By word of mouth and social media, the blessing box concept has spread from state to state, community to community. In the past 13 months, it has reached into at least four areas of St. Clair County.

Christin Everett introduced it into Odenville a little more than a year ago.

After reading a Facebook news feed about blessing boxes in another state, Everett thought, “I really want to do this.”

She knew there were families struggling to survive financially, families who could use help at times.

So Everett shared with others her desire to place a blessing box in the community, and the encouragement led to its creation. David Jordan, a customer at Everett’s Blast from the Past Barber Shop in Odenville, volunteered to build the box.

Everett’s landlord, Lyman Lovejoy, gave his blessing to the project by granting permission for the box to be located in front of Everett’s shop. Everett and her family purchased items to stock the box the first time.

The blessing box was put into place in November 2016, and members of the community quickly opened their hearts and wallets. Shoppers who purchased buy-one-get-one deals placed the extra items in the blessing box. People donated food from their own pantry supply. Even a certificate for a free turkey was put into the box.

Everett said it seems that people give the right items at the right time in the right amount to meet the needs of those visiting the box. It did not take long for Everett to see that the box was serving its purpose.

A woman came into the barbershop one day to ask permission to take items from the box. Everett explained to the woman that getting permission is not necessary; people may take what they need when they need it. The woman started crying. She said she needed food for her children, and it would be three more days before she would have the means to buy some.

On other occasions, Everett has seen families getting assistance from the box.

“It’s clear the need is here in Odenville,” Everett said.

Story by Leigh Pritchett Photos by Mike Callahan Moody’s blessing box sits outside Fine Pools & Spas

DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • December 2017 & January 2018

53

Blessings in a Box Blessings spread Very soon after Everett placed that blessing box, Matt McGowan of Moody saw it and resolved to put one in his community, too. He snapped a photograph of it and showed fiancée Mae Rich. “I knew there was a need in our community,” Rich said. She believes every community should have a means for people to get help discreetly anytime.

Using reclaimed wood, McGowan and his dad, Wadius McGowan, built a blessing box in a couple of days. Several businesses offered space for the box. An area in front of Fine Pools in Moody was selected, and the box was placed in December 2016.

Rich checks the box during the week, as does Susan Isbell of Fine Pools. “Lots of other people (are) constantly checking,” Rich said.

The community, Matt McGowan said, “has really kept the box full most of the time.”

Added Rich, “It is pretty much self-sufficient. ... The community is awesome in Moody.”

Ministry grows again In the summer of 2017, the blessing box ministry expanded again when Ashville Lynn and Lacey Wycoff established one in their community.

The idea initially came to Lynn Wycoff, who knew of several people in need around town. Through Facebook, Wycoff sought opinions from others and found much support for a blessing box. As a result, Lacey Wycoff got busy building the box.

Jalene Peaspanen offered space for the box outside her business, Sew Nice Embroidery & Gifts. She also provides inside her business a receptacle for receiving donations at times when the blessing box is full. She, Lynn Wycoff and others check the blessing box regularly, restocking it as needed.

“It is used pretty frequently,” Peaspanen said.

Sew Nice Embroidery & Gifts is situated on the town square in Ashville, which makes it convenient for people to leave items in the blessing box as they go about their day, Lynn Wycoff noted. “The community is really what keeps it going.”

Because the town square is near to a significant number of dwellings, the box is within walking distance for many who may need to take items from it.

“People don’t like to ask for help,” Wycoff said. They can, however, visit the blessing box without anyone knowing. “No one has to be embarrassed.”

Having food items in a blessing box is, of course, always important. But Wycoff has found that toilet paper and personal hygiene items disappear quickly.

It has warmed Wycoff’s heart to see the way that children have become involved in sharing with others through the blessing box. Wycoff has seen parents teaching the importance of giving by letting their children put items into the box.

Wycoff’s four-year-old son, Dallas, frequently asks about getting supplies for the blessing box. “My son just loves to put stuff in it. It has taught him and others,” Wycoff said.

The Ashville blessing box may have had another impact as well: it possibly spurred a traveler into action.

One day recently, Wycoff was checking the box when a woman from out of town stopped to inquire as to the purpose.

By the end of Wycoff’s explanation, the traveler had decided her community should have a blessing box, too.

54

This blessing box is located at Jameson Taylor’s School of Music in Pell City.

Chain reaction The newest of the blessing boxes in the county resulted from a Bible study over a Mexican meal.

In October 2016, a group of women of faith were holding their weekly luncheon meeting at Aztecas Mexican Grill in Pell City when discussion turned to a Facebook article about blessing boxes. The members of the Tuesday Ladies’ Lunch group decided to provide one in Pell City, said Nicole Walters, a group member and local Realtor.

On Sept. 14, 2017, the box was placed at Jamison Taylor’s School of Music. The box was stocked for the first time and dedicated with prayer.

But even before then, the box had become a community endeavor: Jeff Lovell – husband of group member Dawn Lovell – and Rodney Hollis of H&H Glass had built the box; Gilreath Printing & Signs had lettered it; Pruitt & Richardson Law Firm had provided the first inventory to stock the box, and Restoration Dental had donated toothpaste and toothbrushes.

Now, members of the ladies’ group follow a rotating schedule each week for checking and restocking the box. They also maintain a Facebook page -- which had about 135 members as of November 2017 – for reporting what supplies are needed and when.

Both Walters and Dawn Lovell, co-leaders of the blessing box project, volunteer with some food ministries in the county and have witnessed the level of need that exists. The fact that the box has to be restocked daily reveals how great the need in St. Clair really is. “(The group) thought the blessing box would be a great addition to meeting needs in between those times that people can get food from other ministries,” Walters said.

Prayer is very much an integral part of the Pell City blessing box ministry.

Attached to that blessing box is another box into which people may place their requests for prayer. The requests are gathered from the box prior to the weekly luncheon and the ladies devote time during the meeting to pray about each request. Then, a group member takes the requests home to pray for them each day for a week. l

DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • December 2017 & January 2018

The Pie Ladies of Pell City Steakhouse cooks satisfy much more than a sweet tooth

Peggy Reynolds and Shirley Posey

Story by Elaine Hobson Miller Photos by Graham Hadley Around Pell City, they call them ‘the pie ladies.’

Peggy Reynolds and Shirley Posey are known for the mouth-watering, make-you-wanna-slapyour-momma pies they produce at the Pell City Steakhouse. Lemon icebox. Coconut with a merengue so tall it would make an NBA player jealous. Sweet potato and pecan during the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays.

Both women are long-time employees of the steakhouse. Shirley has been there 48 years; Peggy, 43. “We all started out as dishwashers,” Peggy says. She was just 13 when her mother, who also worked there, got Peggy a job. “I made 75 cents an hour,” she says. Shirley started at $1 per hour. “I went from dishwasher to busser, then cook, then waitress, then back to cooking,” Shirley says. “I got too old to waitress. My knees wouldn’t hold up. You gotta run more as a waitress.”

Peggy hated her job when she first started. “My friends had better jobs, and they told me so,” she says. “But people got to eat. I still have my job, and my friends have gone through six or seven.”

Shirley came into her cooking career through the back door, so to speak. “I’d say to the cooks, ’Do you know how to make so and so?’ They would say no, and I’d show them. Next thing I knew, I was cooking,” she says.

They cook lunch and work the grill almost every day. If one is off on a Sunday, the other one is there. Their shifts are five hours each, but they “work an eight-hour shift in those five hours,” both women say. They start at 8 a.m. most days, 5 a.m. on Sundays to get a jump on the afterchurch lunch bunch. “Got to have it ready by 10:30, earlier on Sundays,” Shirley says. “That’s our busiest day.”

It could be that her chicken-and-dressing has something to do with the restaurant’s Sunday crowd. “It’s my specialty,” Shirley says. She swears she uses seven dozen eggs in the four, restaurant-size pans of dressing each weekend. “I put a dozen eggs into my home-sized version, a 9-by-13-inch pan,” she says.

An early start She has been preparing meals since she was a child. “My momma set me in the kitchen when I was 12 years old and said, ‘Cook,’ ” says Shirley, who, at 70, has salt-and-pepper hair selfdescribed as natty. “She didn’t show me how. I taught myself.”

“I taught myself with Shirley’s help,” chimes

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DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • December 2017 & January 2018

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The Pie Ladies in Peggy, 56, who still has dark black hair but longs for Shirley’s salt-and-pepper. “I knew a little, but not enough to cook at a restaurant. What Shirley taught me, I didn’t forget.” Meatloaf is Peggy’s specialty. Both women store their recipes in the God-given computers between their ears.

Someone, she can’t recall who, gave Shirley the lemon icebox pie recipe they use. The difference between merengue pies and icebox pies is that the former uses whole milk and eggs, and are sweetened with sugar, while the latter uses sweetened, condensed milk. “Another difference is in the way they are cooked,” she explains. “The lemon juice cooks the eggs in the icebox pie, but with merengue pies, you cook the eggs, sugar and milk on top of the stove in a double boiler.” It should be noted, however, that Shirley and Peggy’s lemon icebox pies also have a merengue on top.

The pie ladies also make a cobbler or pudding every day, and sometimes cake, and one of those is included with “meat and three” at lunch. Their cakes include German chocolate, red velvet, orange and carrot. People often call ahead and order a whole pie or cake to take home.

They used to make all the pies at the restaurant until steakhouse owner Joe Wheeler started buying chocolate and apple commercially. “They do make an oldfashioned chocolate sometimes, the heavy kind, not the lighter kind like I buy,” he says. “They’ll make apple and sweet potato for special orders, and sometimes fried pies, too.” They also make some pecan and sweet potato pies during the holidays, but they aren’t as popular as the lemon and coconut that they serve every day, according to Shirley.

Wheeler estimates that they make 30-40 pies each week. It’s sometimes a guessing game, though, to know exactly how many pies to bake each day. “You go home Friday and think you have enough pies made for the weekend, then you come in on Saturday and the shelf is empty, especially around Thanksgiving and Christmas,” says Shirley.

The two were undaunted at having to make 18 coconut pies and 10 lemon icebox pies for a recent wedding. “I love baking,” Peggy says. “We love a challenge,” adds Shirley.

Do they cook for their families at home after work?

“My grandkids are picky eaters, so I let their momma take care of the cooking at home,” says Shirley, a widow who lives with her granddaughter’s family.

“I cook for the (Thanksgiving/Christmas) holidays, though. I cook big like I do here at the steakhouse, and all the kids and grands come to my house.”

Peggy cooks at home every day, and never tires of it except when she can’t think of what she wants to eat.

“My husband weighed 130 pounds when we married 42 years ago, now he weighs 230,” says Peggy, who has two daughters, two grandsons and one granddaughter.

Shirley sent all five of her kids and one grandchild to college with her steakhouse earnings. She has 10 grands and six great-grands. Both women live in Pell City, within walking distance of each other, but seldom ride to work together.

58

Looking through the window at the pies ready to be served Teachable moments and customer service Shirley has some advice for cooking any type of dessert that involves eggs and butter: Let those two ingredients come to room temperature before using them. “And don’t rush the process, take your time,” she says.

Wheeler says the pair are dedicated to their work.

“They’re good, and they have pride in what they do,” he says. “They don’t just throw something together.”

Customers like Diane Landgraf of Ashville declare their lemon pie to be a perfect blend of sweetness and tartness. “The coconut is velvety,” she says. “I like the toasted flakes on top of the merengue.”

Mary Parsons of Moody usually eats at the Pell City Steakhouse after church on Sundays. “I love their cobblers and the lemon icebox pies,” she says. “They have an old-fashioned taste.”

Nothing pleases Peggy and Shirley more than satisfied customers.

“When I cook something and I know someone enjoys it, it makes me happy,” Peggy says.

“When you know they appreciate what you do,” adds Shirley. l

DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • December 2017 & January 2018

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The Pie Ladies

Recipes from the experts Chicken and dressing, meatloaf and coconut pie

Shirley’s Coconut Pie 1 & 1/2 cup plus 1/4 cup sugar 4 Tbs. cornstarch 1 cup whole milk 1 small can evaporated milk 3 eggs, separated 1 stick real butter Pinch of salt 1 tsp. vanilla 6 oz. flaked coconut One pie crust Whisk 1 & 1/2 cups sugar and the cornstarch together in a stove-top pan.

Add milk, then egg yolks; beat until blended. Add butter and salt. Put in top of double boiler, with water in the bottom pan. Cook until thickened, then add vanilla and coconut. Beat well. Have pie crust already browned. Pour mixture into pie crust. Beat egg whites with 1/4 cup sugar

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and a pinch of salt. Whip and spread over pie. Cook at 350 degrees until top is brown. Remove to wire rack to cool. Can add toasted coconut to top of merengue for garnish.

Peggy’s Meatloaf 1 lb. ground beef 3 eggs 1/2 medium onion and 1/2 bell pepper, chopped 2 cups of ketchup Dash of soy sauce Dash each of garlic, pepper and parsley flakes Mix all together, put into 5” x 9” loaf pan, cook at 350 degrees about 1 hour to 1.5 hours. Remove from oven, drain fat, cover top with more ketchup, return to oven for about another half hour.

DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • December 2017 & January 2018

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Christmas Gift Guide These are the toys you are looking for

Story by Jackie Romine Walburn Submitted photos The most in-demand toys for Christmas 2017 combine adorable with digital – with finger-clinging monkeys and furry critters that hatch. Other top toys mix nostalgia with interactive upgrades, put new spins on traditional board games and building blocks and feature kid-familiar characters and themes from popular movies.

For Christmas 2017, the Hatchimals craze is back, and talking back, from Spin Master, the toymaker behind the 2016 toy phenomenon. Called Hatchimals Surprise and retailing for about $70, the toy includes two furry interactive toys that self-hatch out of a single egg.

The twins can be identical or fraternal, interact with each other through built-in sensors, giggle, talk, sing and dance and do not like to be apart. The twins – which are either “Giraven,” a mix of giraffe and a raven, or “Peacat,” a peacock and cat combo – also have LED eyes, play games and repeat words. Hatchimals also have CollEGGibles, a four-pack of mini Hatchimals, retailing for about $10, with no batteries or talking back.

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Star Wars remote-controled droids

Teddy Ruxpin

My Little Pony

Other interactive toys on the top of 2017 toy lists are Fingerlings, interactive baby monkeys that cling to fingers and hang by their tails. Fingerlings, from toymaker WowWee and retailing for $14.99 each, react to sound, motion and touch through sensors in their heads. Available in six colors and each with its own name, Fingerlings can coo, blow kisses and sing.

Teddy Ruxpin 2.0 The talking storytelling teddy bear of the 1980s is back with a serious makeover. Originally released to great demand in 1985, that version moved its eyes and mouth and told stories with a cassette player in his back. Today’s Teddy Ruxpin has LCD (liquid crystal display) eyes with 40 animated expressions synced to stories, several smart sensors, is Bluetooth capable, has its own app and a built-in hard drive with 10 stories and an option to download additional ones. It’s not today’s parents’ old Teddy, but toymaker Wicked Cool Toys is betting nostalgic toy buyers will want the 14-inch tall interactive teddy bear that retails for $99.

My Little Pony 2017 Another 1980s toy reboot includes a chatty, moving, flashing and interactive My Little Pony.

Following the October 2017 release of the My Little Pony movie, toymaker Hasbro’s Magical Princess Twilight Sparkle is one of several movie-related toys. Retailing for about $100 each, the Magical Princess ponies respond to sound and touch, say 90 phrases, tell stories and talk about magic spells.

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DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • December 2017 & January 2018

DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • December 2017 & January 2018

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Christmas Gift Guide: Toys Super Spirograph

Lego FlyBrix

Super Spirograph A gold-colored metal 50th anniversary Super Spirograph has twice as many gears as the 1965 original, plus unique arcs, Spiro-putty, three pens, two pads of paper and instructions.

The spiro-tastic toy retails for $35.

Board games plus Board games showing up on Christmas toy lists include the Harry Porter Hogwarts Battle game, retailing for $37, Speak Out, a $20 Hasbro game for teenagers and up that uses mouthpieces to create funny speech, and Pie Face, a tabletop game with wacky masks that involves fast action and whipping cream. Pie Face retails for $24.99.

Legos powered up For Christmas 2017, the makers of Legos offer a Wonder Woman set for $16, a Darth Vader building kit for $20, collectible “coolest�

Lego people ever for $10 to $15 each, and for the ambitious, FlyBrix do-it-yourself building kits to create a flying drone. The basic FlyBrix kit retails for $189 and works with an app, and the deluxe with a hand-held controller is $249.

Kits include 56 small previously-owned Lego pieces, collected from Lego wholesalers and can be added to with your own small Lego pieces.

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Harry Potter Hogwarts Battle

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Christmas Gift Guide: Toys

Bladebuilder Jedi Master Lightsaber Star Wars toy saga continues Leading the Star Wars-inspired toys is the BB-9E AppEnabled Droid. Based on the latest film in the Star War series, The Last Jedi, the BB-9E Droid by Sphero moves like the one in the movie, comes with a Droid trainer and retails for $149.

Any Jedi master needs a light saber. The Star Wars Bladebuilder Jedi Master Lightsaber retails for $49 and simulates classic lights and sounds and is customizable with accessories that include elbow connectors and extra light daggers.

And, in another 1980s toy flashback, the 2017 Star Wars Imperial Stormtrooper Action Figure by Interactech is interactive with 65-plus sound and light effects, includes a blaster and a jetpack and uses motion sensors to respond to specific movements. The 12-inch figure, which is compatible with the Hasbro Star Wars Studio FX app, retails for about $30.

Baby dolls Luvabella and Luvabeau are girl and boy “responsive” baby dolls available this Christmas season from toymaker Spin Master that created Hatchimals. The interactive dolls come in three skin tones and move, speak and have emotional reactions. Over time, the doll’s babble transforms to 100 words and phrases. The dolls retail for about $100.

Music makers From an updated Mr. Microphone to a music mixing game, music makers are still a traditional Christmas gift favorite. The SelfieMic Music Set, retailing at $24.99, has a microphone, selfie stick and adapter to allow young performers to record and video performances using a smartphone. The DropMix Music Game, from the makers of Rock Band, lets players create song mixes using 60 DropMix cards featuring music from top artists and popular songs. DropMix requires a free app and retails for $100.

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DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • December 2017 & January 2018

Selfie Music Set

Luvabella Doll

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Flocked Wreaths

Christmas Gift Guide

Handmade for the Holidays These gifts are guaranteed to be one-of-a-kind Story Loyd McIntosh Photos by Wallace Bromberg Jr.

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Christmas is almost here, which, of course, means frantic, panicked and frustrating trips to crowded shopping centers searching for the “perfect” gift for that special friend or family member. Despite our best efforts, it seems like a hamster wheel you can’t stop.

Why do that to yourself, spending hours behind the wheel only to spend way too much of your hard-earned dough on something mass-produced in a factory halfway around the world? Fortunately, you don’t have to stress yourself out like that. St. Clair County is blessed with an abundance of artists and craftsmen – and women – creating amazing, functional and beautiful pieces of art, all available at shops close to home.

Jewelry Made From Recycled Wine Bottles Artists: Steve and Sally Smith Making use of a practically endless supply of material, Steve Smith, along with his wife and business partner, Sally, has been creating unique and colorful pieces of jewelry out of empty wine bottles.

“Not many artists use recycled glass. It just behaves differently than typical art glass does,” says Smith. “That’s one of the things that’s frustrating but unique about it.

It doesn’t merge together. You can’t meld wine bottles together because they’re all a little bit different.”

To create each item of jewelry, Steve cuts bottles into pieces and melts them flat, forming them into shape. He then applies designs to the glass using frits and glass enamel. He then kiln-fires the jewelry, which polishes the edges and fuses the glass.

Steve also creates wall mosaics, mosaics with mirrors, and wind chimes, however, the jewelry is, by far, the most popular.

Smith’s work is available locally at Artscapes in Pell City.

Handmade cutting boards

An Iron Chef Award Winning Plate Potter: Tena Payne When chef and Birmingham native Chris Hastings defeated Bobby Flay on Food Network’s Iron Chef in 2012, his presentation was a major factor in his victory.

Artist and owner of Leeds’ Earthborn Pottery, Tena Payne, created the one-of-kind dish set for Hastings, driving them and a batch of southern vegetables to New York for the competition.

From her studio and retail shop in downtown Leeds, Payne and her team of artists create beautiful and functional pieces of art that can be found in top restaurants all over the world.

As for her technique, Payne makes it simple: “We take the earth, we rearrange it, we put it in the heat, and beautiful things happen,” she explains.

“It’s one of the neatest processes in the world and one of the most ancient,” she adds. “I like to say this was the first profession, not that other thing.”

Find her products at Earthborn Pottery, Leeds.

Jewelry by Steve and Sally Smith

A Painting of a Tornado Artist: Sundi Hawkins Like many Alabamians, the tornadoes of April 2011 left a lasting impression on many St. Clair Countians, including artist and Pell City native Sundi Hawkins. An inventive painter creating scenes in bold, vivid colors and detail, Hawkins has created dozens of paintings with funnel clouds taking center stage.

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Christmas Gift Guide: Handmade Using wood as a medium, Hawkins uses acrylic paints then covers the artwork in a two-part epoxy resin, a similar process used to cover bar tops and restaurant tables. She then paints on top of the resin bringing out the colors and adding a sense of depth to the painting. “I just do layers and layers until I get it right,” Hawkins says. “It’s expressive painting where it’s more about movement, feeling and color rather than about realism.”

Hawkins paints other subjects in the same technique – pastoral settings, abstracts, etc. – and has developed an interest in painting dandelions recently as well. However, it’s her funnel clouds that are her true statement.

Her works of art are available at Artscapes and at the Blue Light Special Art Show in Leeds, December 9-10.

A hollow-body Gretsch Chet Akins Country Gentlemen model prototype guitar

A Street Scene of the Philippines Artist: Verna Settle Pell City-based artists Verna Settle has quickly become a well-respected artist despite only taking up painting three years ago at the age of 49. A native of the Philippines, Settle’s paintings depict scenes from her home country in a distinct style that can best be described as abstract realism.

One of her most striking paintings is a scene depicting a pair of women with what look to be clay pots resting on their heads. As Settle explains, this is a common sight among women looking to sell their wares in open-area commercial districts in major cities such as Quezon City and Manila.

“When you travel to the Philippines you get to know how strong the women are. The women work hard to provide additional support for their family financially,” explains Settle.

“That’s the way they sell on the streets.”

See her paintings at Lily Designs, Pell City.

A Chet Atkins Prototype Gretsch Guitar Keeper of the art: Ron Partain Okay, we know, this wasn’t crafted in St. Clair County, but it’s cool as heck just the same. This honey blond, hollowbody Gretsch Chet Akins Country Gentlemen model prototype found its way to the display floor of Ron Partain’s World of Music through a local guitar enthusiast who is looking to sell the guitar on consignment.

The instrument features a double-cutaway body design, a Bigsby® tremolo arm, and a green pick guard inscribed with the Atkins signature. A perfect gift for a musician or collector with a penchant for the Countrypolitan sounds of yesterday.

The $3,200 price tag might be a bit hefty, but a unique ax like this doesn’t end up in our neck of the woods too often.

It’s a rare find at Ron Partain’s World of Music, Pell City A Cutting Board Made From Reclaimed Wood Artist: Dave Gunkel When is a simple cutting board for the kitchen a piece of art? When it’s created by local craftsmen, Dave Gunkel. From his shop located in the garage of his lakeside home in Pell City, Gunkel creates intricate, durable and visually striking cutting boards as well as Lazy Susans and vases. Remarkable, considering all of the works are crafted from reclaimed or discarded wood, allowing Gunkel to create final products that highlight the imperfections and unique characteristics of each piece of wood. “If you want a perfect cutting board without cracks,” says Gunkel, “I’m not the man for you.”

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Santa portrait

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Christmas Gift Guide: Handmade Before Gunkel can begin work on a cutting board, each piece of wood must be allowed to dry, a process that can take several years to complete. Once work begins, Gunkel combines several types of wood, such as oak, cherry, and osage orange, into a final product that will withstand the wear and tear of daily use for generations. “This will last 200 years,” Gunkel says. “You can leave this to your children.”

Check them out at Artscapes, Pell City

Pottery Nativity scene

A One-of-a-Kind Nativity Artist: Nada Boner Christmas wouldn’t be the same without a nativity scene as a constant reminder of the reason for the season. While mass-produced ceramic nativities are a dime a dozen, Pell City is blessed to be home to one of the premier sculptors of handmade nativity scenes in Alabama.

Working from her home studio in Pine Harbor, Nada Boner begins work creating her Christmas nativities in May. Working with Raku clay, Boner produces about 80 pieces total, split between a handful of outlets – Artscapes and Lily Design Resource in Pell City, White Flowers Gallery in Homewood, and the Fine Arts Craft Show at the Birmingham Botanical Gardens. Because she doesn’t work from a template, each nativity is unique.

“Nothing looks alike. I don’t use patterns. Some have Joseph, some have a lamb, sometimes I may make an actual manger, sometimes I don’t. It’s whatever I feel like doing,” Boner says.

“This year, I’m really liking the star off to the side. I don’t know why,” she adds. “It’s just what I wanted to do at the time.”

A Painting of Jolly Ol’ St. Nick Artist: Dirk Walker For more than 20 years, noted artist Dirk Walker has created small paintings of Santa Claus for sale in galleries throughout the Southeast during the Christmas season. This year will be an interesting one for fans of Walker’s work, as all of Santa Claus portraits will be created in his new studio in downtown Pell City.

Best described as an abstract realist painter, Walker first painted Santa in time for the Holiday Counting Treasures Show. “I just did one just to see if anyone would be interested, and it just exploded,” Walker says.

Walker’s Santa Clauses often have a light-hearted, nostalgic feel to them, inspired by the image of Santa Claus in classic Coca-Cola advertising of the mid-20th Century. Over the years, he’s painted Santa in a variety of light-hearted settings, such as snow skiing or fishing. Recently, however, he has focused on painting close ups of St. Nick’s jolly face.

“To me, it is Santa Claus, that old Coca-Cola image,” Walker says. “I just try to put a lot of character in the faces.

There’s a lot of loose brush work and things like that. It’s been a fun thing that I’ve developed a good reputation for over the years.”

Visit Walker’s studio in historic downtown Pell City in the former Artscapes location on Cogswell Avenue.

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Tena Payne dinnerware A Tote Bag Supporting A Good Cause Artist: Bethany Smith Ashville-based Bethany Smith is a young pen-and-ink artist with a bright future. At only 19-years-old, the graphic designer also has a heart for the community. Having recently launched her business, Chocolate Ink Designs, Smith has created a special tote, available around her hometown with a portion of each sale going to support a worthy cause.

“I have a couple of sisters who sing with the Alabama Civic Choral, and they do a performance of the Messiah every year,” she explains. “Right now, I’m doing a fundraiser with these tote bags.”

While Smith’s work can be best classified as graphic design with words and phrases forming the basis of each piece, each design originates from Smith’s talented hand.

She only uses a computer at the very end of the process. “I sketch them out in pencil, then go over them in pen and scan them in and clean them up and have them printed up,” Smith says.

Smith’s designs can also be found on t-shirts and note cards around town as well.

Her tote is available at Canoe Creek Coffee in Ashville.

2635 Martin Street South Pell City, Alabama 35128

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Christmas Gift Guide

Gifts for Her Story by Jackie Walburn

With new specialty retail stores, long-established boutiques and family-owned shops, St. Clair County’s Santas can shop local merchants to find impressive and in-demand fashions plus pampering and practical gifts for ladies.

For Christmas 2017, jewelry plus suede, velvet, Sherpa and leather items lead the ladies’ fashion wish lists, say local merchants.

“Leather and suede shoes and bags are all-time favorites” at Hattie Lee’s Boutique in Pell City, says owner JoAnn Bain. Since the boutique doubled in size last year, there’s more room for fashions with new sections dedicated to shoes, jeans and a clearance room.

Named for Bain’s grandmother, Hattie Lee’s carries shoes and the popular booties in Bed Stu, Antelope, Freebird and Diba True brands. “I try to carry unique, quality brands that aren’t sold in our area,” Bain says. Jewelry

by Artwear and dresses from Dear John make great gifts.

Hattie Lee’s has wish lists – to take the guess work out of shopping for special ladies on your list – and layaway available for Christmas shopping customers, too.

At Magnolia’s Gift Shop in Pell City, “Jewelry is always a hit. We’ve got the best selection of quality pieces by Sorrelli,” says Magnolia’s manager Jordan Morton, whose mother opened the first Magnolia’s in Sylacauga 25 years ago. Magnolia’s opened the Pell City location in 2014 and added a store in Chelsea in 2017.

“We work hard to carry the best gift options for any occasion in our stores,” she said. Other popular gifts at Magnolia are Swan Creek candles and Musee bath balms.

The complimentary gift wrapping at Magnolia’s is another local shopping plus, says Morton. “We take great care to make sure your gift looks exceptionally beautiful.

Stackable bracelets at Griffins Jewelers

Mum and Me

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Some people joke that they don’t even want to open the gift and mess up the wrapping!”

Two new retailers opening in Pell City just in time for Christmas are Tractor Supply Co., the nation’s largest rural lifestyle retailer, and Martin’s Family Clothing, an Alabamabased clothing retailer. Located in the former K-Mart building at Pell City Marketplace on Martin Street, the stores were set to open in November.

“Tractor Supply is a place where you can do all your Christmas shopping,” says Milly Garrison, team leader at the Moody store. For ladies, Garrison suggests soy candles and wax melters plus Christmas ornaments with animal themes and the collection of T-shirts with clever sayings. With a full line of women’s casual clothes, including items by Carhartt and Bit and Bridle, popular gifts include women’s vests, outerwear and clothing.

A seasonal store that carries pet food and John Deere toys, Tractor Supply offers layaway year around.

Martin’s Family Clothing’s new Pell City store, opened in November at the Pell City Marketplace, has all the top

Margaret Pharmacy

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Christmas Gift Guide: For Her ladies’ gifts for Christmas, says Renee Cheatwood, Martin’s advertising manager.

Topping the Christmas gift list for ladies at Martin’s are POL brand sweaters for ladies. “Oversized cardigans and crushed velvet tops are in demand for juniors and women, plus ladies’ booties, shoes, dresses and skirts,” Cheatwood says. Martin’s also has collegiate wear, Aviate hats and Vera Bradley bags and accessories.

At Old South Firearms and Trading Post, co-owner Lee Weyhrich says unique ladies’ gifts at the Argo store include conceal carry purses designed with built-in holsters to keep a pistol safely concealed. Plus, the store has handmade crochet blankets, a gift section and collectibles.

At Cogswell Trading Company in Pell City that opened in August 2017, co-owner Drake Carroll says the shop has women’s clothing in addition to a full line of men’s apparel and accessories. Southern Shirt Company tees and sweaters for women are in demand for Christmas gifts, Carroll says. Other women’s gift ideas at Cogswell include Mason Dixon Line Apparel T-shirts, Sherpa vests and pullovers for women, plus custom laser engraved Christmas ornaments.

And, don’t forget the practical gifts for ladies, says Jenny Minton at Teague Mercantile in Ashville. “We have a variety of neat flashlights that make great stocking stuffers and gifts for teachers,” she says. The store also carries gardening accessories, tools and gifts for do-it-herself ladies.

Radical Divas

Northside Apothecary

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Christmas Gift Guide

Gifts for Him Story by Jackie Walburn

Shopping locally for the best men’s gifts just got easier in St. Clair County as new retailers have joined the county’s notable roster of unique shops and specialty stores – just in time for Christmas 2017.

In addition to new men’s clothing store in Pell City, two new Southern-based retail stores are set to open side by side at the former K-Mart location at Pell City Marketplace on Martin Street. Plus, shoppers can expect Christmas specials and hometown service from longtime local merchants.

Cogswell Trading Company, opened at 114 Cogswell Avenue in August, carries men’s pants, shirts, t-shirts, jackets, sweaters, caps, shorts and swimwear. Brands include Southern Shirt Co. based out of Tuscaloosa, American Fishing Tackle Co., Southern Lure out of Charlotte, N.C., along with Tusk and Tiger wear for Alabama and Auburn fans.

“Button up shirts and polos have been hot sellers already,” said Drake Carroll, who co-owns Cogswell Trading Company with fellow Pell City native Bryton Nixon.

Southern Shirt Company flannel button ups and Sherpa jackets are in demand for gifts along with collegiate items and Aftco’s premium fishing shirts. Brands carried

by Cogswell Trading are often not available elsewhere locally, Carroll says. Another unique gift item at the store are laser engraved Christmas ornaments.

“We have a variety of sports caps,” Carroll says. “We also carry Rowdy Gentlemen. The high school kids are all about that.” Plus, Cogswell Trading sells Ice Mule and Orca coolers.

Another feature unique at Cogswell Trading is the golf simulator located in the store which has more than

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Southland Golf Carts

Cogswell Trading Company

130,000 golf courses available to play. Storeowners plan to have guys’ nights and golf gatherings during the holidays so customers can try the golf simulator.

At Pell City’s new Tractor Supply Company store, popular men’s gifts include deer and hunting gear, tools, knives and sportswear. Tractor Supply, which is the nation’s largest rural lifestyle store chain, carries men’s clothes from Carhartt, Berne, Blue Mountain and Wrangler and Carhartt jeans. The store also carries men’s boots from Ariat, Rocky, Carhartt, C.E. Schmidt, Georgia Boots Muck Boots and Justin cowboy boots.

As a seasonal store, Tractor Supply sells wood burner heaters and supplies, shelters and canopies and a full line of hunting supplies. The store stocks dog and livestock feed, said Millie Garrison, who is team leader at the Moody store. Tractor Supply has layaway all year around and a seasonal rewards program. Local shoppers can also buy online and pick the items up at the store.

At the new Martin’s Family Clothing store in Pell City, mostwanted men’s gifts include jackets, pullovers and long sleeve tees, says Renee Cheatwood, Martin’s advertising manager.

“Martin’s Christmas top ten list for men includes men’s Carhartt jackets, pants and t-shirts, men’s Columbia pullovers, the popular long sleeve tees by Old Row, Southern Fried Cotton and Columbia and men’s shoes by Clark.” Martin’s also carries Aviate caps with abbreviated city names. The Pell City store, opened Nov. 11 with celebrity guests and a radio remote, is the sixth Alabama store for the Alabama-based clothing chain.

At Old South Firearms and Trading Post in Argo, shoppers can find unique gifts for the men on their lists, says co-owner Lee Weyhrich. The store specializes in hard to find antique and replica guns, western clothing and reenactment clothing.

Christmas staples, including BB guns, are available at the store, along with muzzle loader kits designed “so someone can build their own muzzle loader.”

Vintage hats are also popular gifts for men as are leather possible bags, which Weyhrich describes as a “man purse” outfitted for firearms. The trading post also has period swords, axes and leather goods, plus other collectibles, including comic books. An engraving service offered at Old South is deep cut custom engraving for gifts, awards and display cases.

The family-owned business opened in Argo near exit 148 off I-59 two years ago. Weyhrich partners with his parents, Ken and Glenda Weyhrich, to operate the store. Their online store, which mainly handles muzzle loaders and related goods, has been in business for 10 years.

At the trading post, “We stock things we’ve collected over the years that we thought were neat and that other people would like,” says Weyhrich. Specialty items include antique and replica “cowboy” guns and firearms from the SpanishAmerican, World War I and II periods. Plus, the store stocks hard-to-find ammo for these and other guns.

At Teague Mercantile in Ashville, shoppers can find practical and fun gifts for men, says Jenny Minton. Popular Christmas gifts for men from Teague’s include Case knives and other brands, tool sets and a variety of flashlights. “These flashlights make great stocking stuffers,” she notes. Teague Mercantile, located on 6th Avenue in downtown Ashville, also carries gardening and other outdoor tools, plus appliances and hardware.

Griffins Jewelers

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St. Clair Alabama

Business Review Louis

A new era begins at Northside

82 DISCOVER Essence St. Clair •••August & September 2013 of St. ClairThe •The Business Review 82 DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair October && November 2017 82• DISCOVER The Essence DISCOVER The Essence St. Clair •August February &July March 2016 DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair June & July 2016 DISCOVER The Essence ofof St. Clair & September 2017 2017 DISCOVER DISCOVER 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 82 DISCOVER The Essence of St. •••April & May

Story by Carol Pappas Photos by Wallace Bromberg Jr.

Town and Country

Impressive opening for an impressive project It had an exciting ring to it: “Welcome to the newest Ford store in America: Pell City Alabama!”

And in the moments that followed, there was no mistaking the excitement. NASCAR racing legend Jack Roush was there to cut the ribbon. So was Henry Ford’s great grandson, Edsel Ford. Coupled with the throng of well-wishers and public officials from around the region, opening the doors to the new Town & Country Ford signaled a new day for the automotive industry in Pell City and St. Clair County.

After all, they were partners in the project that had its share of delays but was no less welcome when it finally became reality.

General Manager Doug Bailey thanked the city and county “for all have you done for us over the years to reach this point for our customers.”

Co-owner Bill Sain offered thanks to “the whole team. You believed in your brand. It’s a great market, and we think it will really grow.”

His partner, Steve Watts, thanked all as well, noting that the community had welcomed the dealership with open arms.

Goodgame Company built the facility that stands at the entrance to Pell City on US 231, projecting a new, more progressive image for the city. Vice President Jason Goodgame talked of the reinvestment Town & Country has made in Pell City.

A tremendous amount of growth is happening all around the city, and Goodgame rightly calls Town & Country and others’ investments “a regrowth. They are putting money back into the town.”

Following a decade of new growth, “You’re seeing locals spending money on what they have.

They are reinvesting in their physical location,” Goodgame said. He called the Town & Country project “a highlight. It’s high end. They did not cut corners. It’s the nicest thing you’ve ever seen.

The finished product is really a beautiful project.”

According to architect Trevor Matchett of Hendon Huckstein architects, “The owner was dedicated to the idea of a first-class facility for Pell City from day one. Ford Land brought some specific new branding elements, which we incorporated into the owner’s vision for a destination facility for customers and employees alike.”

During the design process, Matchett said, “the

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Town and Country

owner constantly emphasized the value of both his employees and his customers. Ensuring the employees have safe and healthy working conditions throughout the facility was as important as the customer interface areas.”

The project wasn’t without its hurdles, he said. “One of our greatest challenges was accommodating and coordinating the myriad systems and vendors that go into a dealership like this. From the high-tech video components to the oil delivery systems, all have to work together seamlessly. In a sense, the dealership itself is like a well-tuned Mustang. It’s a beautiful, slick, modern, shell, plus all the necessary systems working in concert ‘under the hood’ to efficiently and effectively generate the power behind this great dealership.”

From the expansive showroom to the state-ofthe-art service center to quick lane services, it all spells customer service, according to Bailey.

“We wanted to create an environment that customers and employees want to be in,” he said.

“I think we pulled it off.”

Town & Country has tripled its capacity for parts and is increasing that inventory to have more in stock and available for more retail at the

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Town and Country

Former Pell City Mayor Bill Hereford chats with racing legend Jack Roush. parts counter to provide a quicker turnaround for the customer.

Again, with the customer in mind, it’s only 26 minutes from beginning to end for an oil change, tire rotation and inspection, said Bailey. “And it’s priced below market value.”

The 27,200 square foot facility replaces the 8,000 square foot dealership, which is now – with cosmetic changes – the headquarters for pre-owned vehicles, some servicing, new and used inspections, heavy engine work, cleanup and detailing.

When Bailey first helped plan the new building, he thought about its size and how to keep it from feeling empty. They pulled that off, too. The expanse of glass, LED features, halo digital graphic accent lighting and even music – “It’s more welcoming when you walk in.”

The waiting areas have common tables equipped with iPads for games and movies, and large screen monitors surround.

More features abound in virtually every corner.

A specially equipped camera system allows the customer to watch his vehicle being worked on.

In the service department, customers are greeted by a service coordinator with an iPad. Photos and addresses are uploaded in the system, giving the ability to track maintenance.

Town & Country has now gone from 32 employees to 54, and the dealership situated on 13 acres leading into the city, creates an impressive entrance to Pell City. “It’s exciting,” Bailey said.

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Business Review

Northside Medical Home

Grand opening marks new phase for healthcare in St. Clair Northside Medical Home officially opens with ribbon cutting ceremony.

Expanse of Northside Medical Home and Phase I and II show comprehensiveness of campus.

Dr. Steve Heinzman cuts ribbon on Eastern Surgical Associates.

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DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • December 2017 & January 2018

Birmingham Heart Clinic is open for business.

Story by Carol Pappas Photos by Susan Wall, SkyBama and Graham Hadley From start to finish, it was nothing short of impressive – not one ribbon cutting, but eight of them for Northside Medical Home and its partnering specialties.

Dr. Michael Dupre, senior partner at Northside, did the honors, snipping the ribbon and signaling a new day for health care in the region.

The official grand opening of the 50,000 square-foot, two-story facility drew a sizable crowd of supporters and well-wishers to a new concept in medicine – diverse and comprehensive specialties, primary care physicians, cutting edge diagnostic technology and health and wellness programs all working side by side in a single location.

Inside the medical home are: Northside Apothecary, Birmingham Heart Clinic, VisionFirst Eye Care, Eastern Surgical Associates, Alabama Oral and Facial Surgery, Alacare Home Health and Hospice, Southeast Gastro, Northside CARE Team, its health and wellness program, Drs. Helms, Dupre and Hunter Russell, a laboratory, imaging and infusion center.

Pell City Mayor Pruitt, just before the ribbon was cut, thanked the Northside Medical Home team for “making such a great investment” in the city.

Birmingham Heart Clinic now open & accepting new patients at

Northside Medical Home

74 Plaza Drive – Suite 2B Pell City, AL 35125 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

Doing the honors at VisionFirst Eye Care

Jacob C. Townsend, MD

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Business Review

Northside Medical Home But more than an investment, it is a model for health care. Helms talked of the vision to have a patient-centered medical home, where patients have access to “anything they would need in a primary care setting. I am proud for our patients. This is patient-focused. They helped us build this,” he told the crowd.

“Everyone worked so hard to make this happen – creating a model that puts physicians and staff in one place so that we can coordinate services better. It is a real need in health care to give a better product to the patients,” Helms said.

He called it “a first step, a big step to begin to coordinate care better.”

As doctors at Birmingham Heart Clinic cut their own ribbon, Dr. Jason Thompson described the association with Northside as a “fantastic journey.” It began years ago with a doctor working a half-day every two weeks.

Since then, BHC has seen “incredible growth” in the region en route to a full-time clinic in the new facility.

Next stop was VisionFirst, which occupied a much smaller space in the first phase of Northside Medical Associates. “We’re really excited to be here,” said Dr. Sarah Cleghern.

“We look forward to serving people in the new building with more space and more equipment.”

Dr. Steve Heinzman of Eastern Surgical

Northside Apothecary

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An upstairs view of bottom level

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Business Review

Northside Medical Home Southeast Gastro expanding to Northside Medical Home

Associates, which had a presence in the old facility, expressed his gratitude in providing a medical home that his practice could be a part of. “We’re happy to have a permanent home,” he said.

At Alabama Oral and Facial Surgery, Dr. Hank McKay noted that his practice with Dr. Chris Rothman and Dr. Will Smalley has operated in Pell City for 15 years.

But it was time to go to the next level. “We are excited to be a part of the Northside medical complex,” he said as he cut the ribbon.

Dianna McCain, CARE Team coordinator, talked of the health and wellness program she oversees.

“We are very excited to be in our new place and make health and wellness bigger and better than it’s ever been and take care of our community.”

Alacare Branch Director Holly Turner said her team “absolutely loves the new location, and we are glad to be working with all the physicians in the building. We look forward to a lot of years together.”

The same held true for Southeast Gastro. “We are looking forward to seeing the patients here,” said Dr. Allison Bridges. She couldn’t quite contain the excitement as she cut the ribbon and made it official like all the rest: “We’re open for business!”

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Southeast Gastro, founded in 1976

by L. Wayne Pressgrove, MD, is one of the newest to expand into Northside Medical Home’s specialty providers.

It has multiple locations in central Alabama, mainly in the Birmingham metropolitan area, and the decision to affiliate with Northside Medical Home was a natural choice.

“We are very excited about becoming part of the Northside Medical community and complementing the services they already offer,” said Southeast Gastro Administrator Mark C. Johnson. “We have seen patients from this area for some time and as the Pell City area continues to grow, we want to make it very convenient for the community to have access to comprehensive gastroenterology services.”

Southeast Gastro occupies a clinic space with three exam rooms in the two-story, 50,000 square foot facility. The group will be performing Colonoscopies and Endoscopies at St. Vincent’s St. Clair Hospital GI Lab. In addition, Paula Watkins, CRNP, is based at St. Clair to provide GI Hospitalist coverage Monday through Friday. A physician will be working in Pell City on Mondays and Wednesdays to scope any inpatients/ outpatients, make rounds with Watkins to see hospital patients and will have outpatient clinic those afternoons.

Any ancillary services that are available at Northside Medical, such as laboratory work, imaging and apothecary will be used by Southeast Gastro as well.

Seven of its St. Vincent’s East physicians will be rotating through the Pell City clinic.

“We are very excited to add St. Vincent’s St. Clair Hospital to our list,” said Southeast’s Office Coordinator Cathy Phares.

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Business Review Nursing, Allied Health

Taking Jeff State and community to next level

Jefferson State, local and state officials cut the ribbon on new wing.

Story by Carol Pappas Photos by Susan Wall It may be cliché to call it a perfect fit, but judging by the successes of the partnership between St. Clair County and Jefferson State Community College over the past 13 years, it’s hard to call it anything else.

The latest evidence is the new Nursing and Allied Health wing that opened at the St. Clair campus. It’s the next level for the nursing program that has seen 250 students go from classroom to workforce in just three years of existence.

The new wing opened to great fanfare, and justifiably so. It is 8,000 square feet with two classrooms, one fundamental lab and two simulation labs plus office space, according to Dr. Nicholas Kin, associate dean and Biology instructor at the St. Clair Campus.

“Our community could not ask for a better partner in higher education,” said Don Smith, executive director of the St. Clair County Economic Development

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Getting the grand tour

DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • December 2017 & January 2018

Council. “Jefferson State has partnered with our high schools, employers, and community organizations from the first day they opened, and this new wing is just further proof of their commitment.”

Jefferson State Interim President Keith Brown echoed the sentiment. “St. Clair County has embraced us like no other community,” he said. Just before cutting the ribbon, he commended state Sen. Jim McClendon, R-Springville, as one of the college’s “biggest supporters” over the years as it has grown to 6,340 students and graduated more than 200 nurses.

In pre-ribbon cutting statements, McClendon noted that his “affection” for Jefferson State began long ago when he first was elected to the Alabama Legislature as a member of the House of Representatives. He had attended a graduation and realized that it was the first time for many of the families to have a family member become a college graduate.

Jefferson State’s ability to help develop the workforce in Alabama is “most exciting,” he said. It “raises Alabama up.

There is no other way to change the state and society” than through education. And Jefferson State, he added, is the “flagship of the two-year system.”

Amanda Bonds, MSN, RN, and a member of the St. Clair faculty, said the college and its nursing program are “changing so many lives. This modern technology and stateof-the-art equipment to train our students is incredible.”

Kin noted that the new wing featues a command center with one way glass. Manequins can be manipulated to simulate a heart attack and other events to teach students how to respond in hands-on training. A camera records every response in its entirety, and students are able to review the film to see what they are doing right or wrong in those responses.

In addition to registered nursing associate degrees, students can earn certification as a nursing assistant or medical assistant. There also is training in medical billing and coding and phlebotomy.

Program Chair Dr. Cristy Daffron, DNP, RN, has been with the Pell City-based program since its inception. She talked of the opportunity this cutting-edge training offers.

It enables students to stay in Pell City and work in Pell City. “That’s my favorite thing,” she said. Students from the program go on to land jobs at nearby St. Vincent’s St. Clair, Col. Robert L. Howard State Veterans Home and Village at Cook Springs.

“They are feeding back into the community,” she noted, adding that it “helps people improve their families’ lives.

Our students make great sacrifices to better their lives.”

She talked of the “Spirit of Pell City Award” given each year for students who make great personal sacrifices to complete their education. “And they give back to the community when they graduate.”

Brown added that St. Clair County has had a relationship with Jefferson State for 13 years – first in Moody and now a full-fledged campus in Pell City. In those years, the relationship “has never faltered.”

The Nursing and Allied Health wing is just the latest achievement. It represents the “culmination of two years of planning for this wing. It marks a milestone. In terms of training nurses, it equals the Jefferson County campus, and that program is 50 years old,” Brown said.

Smith chalked the completion of the new wing up to more success stories to come. “This will allow the EDC to successfully recruit more medical-based companies into our community, and that is good for everyone.”

Nursing students check out the new wing with simulation for hands-on training.

Business Review Longtime insurance executive to retire Story by Carol Pappas When Connie Myers graduated from Auburn University in 1967, he intended to go to law school. But just as life takes its twists and turns, it didn’t quite work out that way.

“Vietnam came along right before, and I signed up for the Air Force to go to flight school,” he said. Enter another twist, and he turned to an education career.

“There was a terrible teacher shortage at the time,” Myers recalled, “and LaRue Bass, the principal at Odenville, asked if I would finish out the year there.” He told him he would, and he eventually wound up with an occupation deferment. “I have regrets about that, and I’m thankful about that,” Myers said.

So, the would-be lawyer, would be-soldier entered the world of education, where he made quite a name for himself – as a teacher, coach and even principal during the toughest of times, the integration era in Alabama.

When he finally departed education en route to an insurance career, it came as no surprise he would succeed once again. And with 42 years under his belt, he’s trying something new again – retirement. On Dec. 31, Myers will say goodbye to State Farm and after a stellar career.

“It’s been a good life. We have been so blessed,” said wife Janice, who has worked alongside him for many of those 42 years.

At times like this, constants in the community like Myers rightly have a license to reminisce. And on a fall morning, surrounded in his office by memorabilia from years past and an arm’s length away from a phone that didn’t seem to stop ringing for the man in charge, Myers did just that.

Born the son of a coal miner and farmer in the Bethel community, Myers faced a series of tragedies. His father died when he was 9 years old. He had fallen from a building where he was maintenance superintendent and was killed instantly.

His brother, Jerry, was stricken with Polio when he was 15, just six months before the Salk vaccine was invented. He had to be in an iron lung that Myers hand pumped when the electricity went out.

His sister, Joan, died from a rare nerve disease when she was in the 10th grade, becoming ill just after fulfilling her dream of becoming a cheerleader.

Myers credits his mother with setting a strong example, even in the face of such tragedy. When he asked her how she dealt with so much pain, she would simply say, ‘It always could be worse.’

Where others see trials and roadblocks, Myers seems to see surmountable challenges. He worked his way through Auburn “hopping tables.” He labored in the tomato fields for the Agriculture Department at the school. He thought he hit the jackpot when one of the professors offered him the Boy Scout hut to live in if he kept it clean and maintained it. Free room and board were precious commodities in those days.

He met Janice through his sister’s friendship with Janice’s sister, Kathy. “I thought she was the most beautiful girl I had ever seen. Still is,” he said, not able to disguise the smile. It took three years before he was “brave enough” to talk to her. They married in 1967.

“I got into education, and I enjoyed it,” he said. After a time, Charles Jarrett, the principal at Springville asked him to be an assistant principal with a “slight increase” in pay, and he took the job. That pay hike, even the slightest, “meant everything back then,” Myers said.

He was an assistant principal when Superintendent George Eden made him principal at Odenville. At 29, he was principal of the largest high school in the county.

It was a trying time to guide the school through integration, but he did get the school under control. “We didn’t see much of him at home,” Janice said. Because of the tension and the necessity of being at every school function, “if you put down all the hours, I made about $2.80 an

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hour.”

But his steady hand at the wheel and a passion for what he did helped see the school and its students through those rocky days. The people he brought together during that time are still his friends today, testament to his ability to calm the waters.

After that, new challenges would come his way. Friend Bucky Waid, a State Farm agent in Springville, suggested Shawnette Daniel, he might want to go into the Heather Myers, Violet insurance business.

Garrett and Connie He did, and he built the Pell City agency from scratch. In those early years, the office was downtown across from Western Auto. “Janice worked the office, and I worked the streets,” he mused. He would get names off of mailboxes and call on the residents and compare rates.

He said he had some important early help along the way, too, from people like Joe and Josephine Kilgroe. Kilgroe, who also served as mayor, owned the funeral home. Wife Josephine owned an antique shop, which he also insured. Like a who’s who of St. Clair County in earlier days, Myers rattles off a list of names to whom he feels indebted for helping give him his start – Bill Hereford, Claxton Alexander, Hugh Williamson, Lyman Lovejoy, Ruby Mathis, the Manning and Holladay families and Harry Charles McCoy. Slowly and surely, he built a successful business, taking another one of those twists and turns when he developed bladder cancer and did a stint as training director for State Farm for the state because of his background in education. He traveled for a few years – with stops in Albertville and Auburn – before returning home.

When A.O. “Junior” Hullett retired in 1988, he came back. Shawnette Daniel had just graduated high school, and she was his first hire. “She was the best. She was always wanting to learn,” and she became his office manager. In 2000, he suffered a heart attack, and during the recovery, Shawnette, Violet Garrett and Janice kept things going.

He bested the challenges once again, serving twice on the school board and as administrator of Ebenezer United Methodist Church while continuing to build the business.

Tragedy would strike again when “Daddy’s girl,” Constance, developed cancer. “It rocked our life. She was a huge light in our life,” he said. Principal at the school where she started first grade, Odenville Intermediate, “she wanted to be a teacher just like Daddy,” Janice said.

She passed away in 2016.

The words and the memories of that time are still hard for the Myers, but they look forward, much the same way his mother did.

“State Farm has been great for us,” Myers said. “We hope we’ve been great for them. They stood by us. They have been so supportive. We are extremely grateful for our wonderful policyholders who turned into friends and family.”

They have eight grandchildren and are looking forward to spending time with them. And traveling, they said.

Myers wants to build a barn with an office in it to house his State Farm keepsakes. He might garden a little, too. “He has the greenest thumb,” Janice said. “I can kill a plant breathing on it.”

As for the business they built together, Janice credits her husband’s compassion with the successes they enjoyed. “He truly cares. He does what he feels is right because they’re family to him.”

As he reaches for yet another phone call to field because an employee was out that day, it’s no surprise his twists and turns in life put him exactly where he needed to be when he needed to be there.

DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • December 2017 & January 2018

Thank You As we prepare to retire on December 31, 2017, we wish to say thank you to all our clients and friends for making our 42+ years in business a blessing to us.

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Connie & Janice Myers

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Cogswell Trading Company Story and photos by Graham Hadley From a background in retail right out of college to working in clothing manufacturing for the past five years, Drake Carroll has the perfect skill-set to make his new Pell City business venture a success.

Combine that with the experience Bryton Nixon brings to the table with laser engraving and related work, and the future looks bright for Cogswell Trading Company and Signature Laser Engraving, which held its grand opening in late October.

The new business, located at 114 Cogswell Ave., Pell City, offers customers a wide range of merchandise and services.

The front of the building is dedicated to retail space, with high-quality clothing and apparel for men (though they do carry some clothes for women and youths), stickers, coolers and similar merchandise. The back of the building is home to the laser-engraving business, which can do just about anything, from putting your company logo on a thermal metal cup to printing on fabric.

In between the two is a room dedicated to a state-of-the-art golfing simulator so patrons can hit the links rain or shine.

Carroll is a Pell City native and graduate of Pell City High School. “I went to the University of Alabama, then worked for a retail store that had started their own brand. I worked into managing that brand,” he said. “Before this, I actually did manufacturing of clothing and have worked in retail since I was a teen.

“So, I have done every facet of retail and clothing, except owning my own store. I kind of have that checked off now.”

The idea to open a business in Pell City came about while Carroll was marketing the new line for his old employer, but he could not find anyone interested in carrying their line of products in the area.

“While I was in town for my previous job, I started looking for a store in my hometown. Nobody here really got what we were selling. We have all of these brands that I thought people here should be selling.”

When the other outlets declined to sell their clothing lines, Carroll decided to fill the niche himself.

“I saw the need as a sales rep. We had the customers here, but no store here to sell the brands.

“Bryton owns Signature Laser,” he said, and operating the businesses together under one roof was the perfect fit for him.

“The store was originally started as a retail outlet for the laserengraved products, and clothing was kind of an afterthought.”

Expanding that side of the business just made sense.

Cogswell Trading Company specializes in what Carroll describes as nicer men’s apparel. Signature Laser Engraving focuses on high-quality home goods.

Carroll is developing his own personal line of clothes — Southern-inspired Mason Dixon Line, and the store also carries brands like Collegiate, Tuskwear and Tiger Wear. New brands are coming in all the time. Sales representatives Carroll worked with before opening the store are bringing their products to Cogswell Trading.

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Bryton Nixon and Drake Carroll

Southern Shirt Company is one of the more popular brands.

“Our biggest sellers are Rowdy Gentleman, AFTCO and Southern Shirt Company,” he said.

And then there is the golf simulator — a large room with a golf green and tee, a projected screen and sensors that track the club swing to give golfers that real-life experience. It has more than 130,000 courses, including some local ones like Birmingham’s Highland Park, on file.

Golfers pay to play – just like in real life, but Carroll sees more opportunities to use the simulator, with plans for tournaments when it gets too cold outside to hit the links.

Thanks to support from people from his hometown, business has been good from the word “go.”

“Things have been going well, and word is getting out. We had our grand opening last Saturday and had good attendance.

Business has been picking up every day,” he said.

And this is just the start.

“We want to bring in more brands; more inventory is the goal there. And we want to expand corporate sales, have screen printing and laser engraving. Companies are getting ready for Christmas, and these things make great gifts for employees and clients,” Carroll said, pointing to an engraved Orca thermal cup. “We have already done a lot of company shirts since we opened.”

Follow Cogswell Trading Company on Facebook.

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