Discover the Essence of St. Clair June and July 2020

The Long Journey • LakeLife 24/7 Online Expansion T-Shirt Guy • County Coping With Crisis

June & July 2020

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Features and Articles Discover

The Essence of St. Clair

ROOdy

Kangaroo finds home at Springville farm Page 36 County Comes Together Page 8

Creative Outlet

#StClairTogether Business Unusual during pandemic Page 9 We have been here before: A look back at 1918 Page 16 County adapts to new normal Page 30

Traveling the Backroads

Page 22

A long journey from escaping Holocaust to business in Ashville Page 50

The T-Shirt Guy Page 62

St. Clair Business LakeLife 24/7 expanding online presence Page 70

June & July 2020

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. She serves as president/CEO of Partners by Design, the multimedia group that publishes Discover.

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.

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.

Graham Hadley

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

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.

She is a member of Alabama Media Professionals and NFPW (the National Federation of Press Women). Follow her weekly blog about life with a dozen four-legged critters, life in the country and life in general at www.countrylife-elaine.blogspot.com.

Leigh Pritchett

Leigh Pritchett is a wife and mother. She earned the Bachelor of Arts in English from the University of Montevallo. In the late 1990s, she left a career with a New York Times Regional Newspaper to be a stay-athome mom and freelance writer. She was blessed with the opportunity to spend 22 years homeschooling her three children.

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

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

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

From the Editor: #StClairTogether

Reflecting on the pandemic

When we put our April edition of the magazine to bed in late March, it was hard to imagine what the next two months would bring. We anticipated problems with delivery as more and more businesses that distribute our magazines fell victim to the pandemic.

We consolidated and centralized our distribution points to ensure that the magazine didn’t miss its appearance in every town and city and all points in between.

We promoted our digital edition – the full magazine online – in case our readers missed a print copy.

For the June issue, our writers conducted interviews remotely, and we did our best to capture the world around us in photographs – some we took; others, our subjects graciously shared.

But our own ‘workarounds’ dim in comparison to most of what we saw – teachers quickly pivoting to online classrooms so that their students didn’t miss out on their lessons.

More than a few company meetings went from conference tables to video conference within days. We saw scores of stay-at-home workers adjusting to telecommuting, parents becoming home-school teachers, sit-down restaurants transforming into curbside delivery almost overnight and retail shops delivering their goods online or to an awaiting customer’s vehicle because shoppers could not come in.

Health care workers finally got their due with organizations delivering food to hospitals and nursing homes for doctors, nurses and staff as a show of appreciation for their sacrifices.

Signs of encouragement by the dozen sprang up all over the county outside doctors’ offices, the veterans home, hospital and pharmacies, letting all who passed by know that “Heroes work here.”

Masks – whether plain or customized – became the accessory of the day. Still are.

People saw challenges instead of roadblocks, and they

hurdled them. They found ways to laud seniors – in high school and college – despite the absence of the traditional graduation ceremony they would be missing this year.

It has been quite an experience, and while some normalcy is slowly returning, it is not over yet and does not look to be for quite some time.

We mourn the loss of so many lives across our country, and we extend our sympathies to countless families here at home – whether COVID-related or not – who buried loved ones without the comfort of friends and family because it was not safe to gather.

As the stark realization sets in that things will never be quite the same once this is thankfully over, we look at the resilience and resourcefulness of people coming together in these times to make the best of a bad situation, and it inspires us.

In this issue, we are sharing some of those stories. In times of need, random acts of kindness are not quite so random. And these stories bear that out.

We see the Springville couple who began raising a baby kangaroo and ‘shared’ him with students at Moody High School struggling to see a silver lining in missing their final days of the school year and with nursing home patients in lockdown just to see the smiles he would generate.

As we drive down U.S. 231 South in Pell City, we see the hundreds of smiling faces of Pell City High School’s seniors – their yearbook portraits made into posters and erected along the roadside courtesy of businesses, individuals and the city. They cared enough to come together and raise money to honor those students who never dreamed they would be closing the chapter on their high school years like this.

And we see churches live streaming and videoing their services and Bible studies so that their congregations can worship together even if they are apart.

Stories like those abound all around us – people coping with a crisis the likes of which they have never seen.

Yes, it is quite an experience we are still in the midst of, but together, we will make it through.

Carol Pappas Editor and Publisher

Discover The Essence of St. Clair

June & July 2020 • Vol. 54 • www.discoverstclair.com

Carol Pappas • Editor and Publisher Graham Hadley • Managing Editor and Designer Dale Halpin • Advertising Toni Franklin • Graphic Designer

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

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DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • June & July 2020

Business Unusual: Coping with crisis Story by Elaine Hobson Miller Photos by Elaine Hobson Miller and Carol Pappas When Springville’s Dr. Ivey Davis-Rutledge had to close her dental practice from March 17 to May 4, it was far from business as usual. The financial uncertainty, coupled with becoming a school teacher to her two children, has been a mental challenge that she survived through prayer, Psalm 91 and the time spent with her family.

“We’re staying afloat by the grace of God,” she said.

During her shut-down, she saw one emergency case and referred two others to specialists. She began a limited opening for a few days the first week of May, but can’t see a full patient load because of the new protocols about limiting the number of people who can be in her office at one time.

“We had a good first week, with limited staff coming back in and a good response from our patients,” she said.

“I think they feel protected and that we’re taking care of them and their safety. We’re following recommendations to limit the number of people in the office.”

The virus threat has caused her to try a new approach to the traditional waiting room. “We’re having patients wait outside in their cars, and we’re texting them when to come in,” she says. “We will try to do check-ins via texting and our website, so they will spend less time in the office.”

She’s concerned about how the practice will be able to recover, what it will look like, going forward. “It’s hard to prepare,” she said. A lot of her time off was spent trying to locate PPE (personal protective equipment), which has seen a tremendous jump in price. “It is amazing the cost of getting PPEs — masks, gloves, N95 respirators — and there is a very short supply out there,” she said.

She spent her “time off” watching webinars, checking on staff, trying to stay up to date with Americans With Disabilities Act, Occupational Safety and Health Administration and the Centers for Disease Control, gathering information. The financial outlook continues to evolve and change, even as restrictions are being lifted.

“I tried to apply for a small business loan, and that hasn’t come through,” she said in mid-May. “The line was so long I couldn’t get an application from my bank, and that was online. At the end of the first round, they said I probably won’t get an application during the second round, and I didn’t.” She is grateful her husband was still working.

Dental hygienists Kara McAlpine (seated) and Joy Ray, standing right, along with Dr. Ivey Davis-Rutledge must wear personal protective gear to protect patients and themselves.

Dr. Ivey Davis-Rutledge (left) and dental hygienist Joy Ray with patient Tyler Cardwell of Oneonta.

DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • June & July 2020

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#StClair StClairTogether Together Brian and Joey Cash are faring well at Teague Mercantile.

Like most people, she doesn’t know how long the new protocols will last, but she doesn’t believe practicing dentistry will ever be exactly like it was before. “We have to find a balance between overhead, the number of patients and social distancing,” she said.

“It’s a challenge, but I’ve been thankful that the Lord has provided and has kept His promises. My patients, my staff, my family, everybody plays their part, and I’m very thankful. The patients are just as excited to see me as I them.”

Some get boost in business

Business at Teague Mercantile in Ashville has been better than average during the COVID-19 quarantine, according to co-owner Brian Cash.

“Business has been probably 40 percent better than average due to people being off work and catching up on home projects,” Brian said. “Once people start running out of money from not working, we figure the honey-do jobs will take a back burner and will level off.”

Brothers Brian and Joey Cash, former cattle farmers, purchased Teague from Terry Minton in the spring. Minton continues work for them while they learn the hardware business.

Side business rescues restaurant

One of the industries hardest hit by the crisis has been restaurant and hospitality. But entrepreneurial owners are finding a way around it the best they can.

Two Sisters Homestyle Restaurant in Ashville was closed to inhouse dining during the entire stay-at-home order. Despite daily take-out orders, business, as a whole, was horrible during that

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DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • June & July 2020

Lisa Vourvas cooks, serves and works the register at her Two Sisters Homestyle Restaurant in Ashville.

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Employee Katie Absher (left) lets Grinch, a veiled chameleon, perch on her shoulder, while Grace Crews holds a tortoise named Herma and another employee, Kaitlyn Martin, lets Medusa, a ball python, wrap around her neck at Alabama Mailbox Company. time, according to owner Lisa Vourvas.

“It was really bad until two weeks ago (last week of April), when the take-out orders picked up,” she said. “We reopened May 11, and did okay that day. We had to remove five tables, but people were happy to be able to come in and sit down to eat. We have a few tables scattered outside, and we’re hoping to put a patio out back for outdoor dining.”

For some odd reason, though, Friday, May 1, was her best day in nine months.

“I have no clue why,” she said. She usually closes at 8 p.m. but didn’t get out until 10 p.m. that day. “We have a lot of good customers who did take outs that day,” she said.

Two Sisters is in no danger of closing, because her canine breeding business kept her afloat during the quarantine. “I breed English and French bulldogs,” she said. “Business was crazy. People wanted to be able to train them while they were home, I guess. That’s what saved me.”

Brittany Pond at her fitting

Mailboxes, reptiles remain in demand

Alabama Mailbox Company was deemed an essential business by the State of Alabama, so Grace and Marty Crews didn’t have to close during the governor’s stay-at-home order. In business for 20 years and located in the old flower shop building on the Square in Ashville for a year and a half, the company installs street signs and mailboxes for new residential developments throughout the state.

That side of the business didn’t let up any during the quarantine, and neither did her sideline: reptiles.

“We sell reptiles such as snakes, lizards and tortoises, along with their food supplies,” Crews said. “We’ve been incredibly busy with the pets during the quarantine. You’d be amazed at how many people have or want reptiles.”

Mother’s Day weekend, she sold three snakes, a tortoise and a hedgehog. “The reptile business has been amazing, weird really, during this time,” Crews said.

“People have been craving pets, instead of letting the kids watch television.

They’ve bought crickets, super worms, rats and other reptile food, too.”

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DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • June & July 2020

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Brittany and Luke

Saying ‘I do’ during pandemic not so easy

The pandemic presented a special set of problems for brideto-be Brittany Pond, 20, of Pell City and groom-to-be Luke Self, 19, of Leeds.

The wedding will be June 20, “if all goes well,” Brittany said.

Of course, it hasn’t been quite like she dreamed it would be.

Trying to plan a wedding during this pandemic has been “an emotional roller coaster – not knowing whether we can even have a ceremony, not knowing who all we can invite.”

The couple have no wedding venue yet because closings have limited possibilities. “Some family members have offered to let us use their yard,” she said. Two possibilities are a lake area on one person’s property and another person’s farm that has a creek and a reception area. “We’re just going to have to get married in somebody’s yard.”

The best laid plans tend to go awry during a pandemic. “We had all these amazing plans,” she said, including a huge church wedding, guests from out of state, high school friends.

The couple plan an outdoor wedding because a 10-person, indoor limit would only cover the wedding party. They will encourage guests to practice social distancing at the outdoor wedding. “We’re hoping an outside wedding will be safe and within the guidelines for us,” Brittany said.

The pandemic even affected the guidelines dress fitting sessions. Brittany and her mother, Lisa Pond, were the only two allowed to be at the first of the wedding dress fitting sessions.

“That was devastating to me,” she said. She had wanted her grandmothers, some aunts and some of her friends to be there for the fitting.

Even though it was disappointing because the others could not attend, Brittany said it was still a special time to share with her mother.

Though it has been a challenge, she sees the silver lining.

“It has been sad and difficult, but it has been oddly enjoyable because it has showed me what is important about a wedding. ... This pandemic has helped me to focus on the fact that I’m getting to marry my best friend and these other aspects (such as the right foods to have at the reception) don’t matter that much.” l

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We have been here before: Pandemic a century earlier shows similarities

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DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • June & July 2020

Story by Joe Whitten Submitted photos Scientists have never determined just where the 1918-19 influenza originated, but it is commonly referred to as Spanish Flu. The spring of 1918 showed an increase of influenza cases in the U.S., but it seemed mild and eased off during the summer. But in the fall, a new wave swept the country, and in October, influenza arrived in Alabama at Camp Sheridan near Montgomery with 500 afflicted. Three died on Oct. 8, and the next day, 12, according to Alabama: The History of a Deep South State. The section also gave a Montgomery newspaper’s recommendation preventative measures “… that stressed keeping everything open—doors, windows, and bowels.”

Throughout the state, schools, movie theatres and soda fountains closed.

A review of St. Clair County community and church histories discovers little about the flu, but that scant information and the few newspaper articles give enough to see comparisons between the flu pandemic and today’s coronavirus.

Garfield Steed’s Odenville hardware store sold caskets. Clyde Steed, Garfield’s brother, in a 1990 interview told of working in the hardware during the flu scare of 1918-19.

“Garfield kept me busy putting handles on caskets and delivering them out to homes. We sold a lot of caskets. Wasn’t no funeral homes.”

In the October 1995 issue of Cherish: The Quarterly Journal of the St. Clair Historical Society, Sandee Tucker wrote of Kate Mae Tucker Hoyle and the flu’s impact on the Mt. Pisgah community. “It was during the influenza

Soldiers gargle with salt water to prevent influenza.

Photo from the National Archives

Alabama Fuel & Iron in Margaret affected by first pandemic.

DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • June & July 2020

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of 1918,” she recalled, “that Kate and (her sister) Stella … sang and played the organ at sometimes six funerals a day.

“So many people were sick and dying, and others were afraid of taking the disease, that many burial ceremonies were performed with the minister; the organist, Kate; the singer, Stella; and maybe one or two family members.

“Entire families were stricken with the flu. Kate recalled that Dr. Claude Martin was the doctor who treated the sick and dying people during the tragic time.”

Vivian Qualls spoke of the flu pandemic in her History of Steele, Alabama. She wrote of local service men dying in camp and their bodies being shipped home by train for burial.

“People went about their tasks with a grim look on their faces,” she wrote.

She recalled that in 1918, Steele School ran for a week, then closed until Nov. 11. “On that day,” she wrote, “whistles were heard from Attalla and Ashville. Then news came over the telegraph wires, ‘The war is over!’”

Newspaper articles, though few, give good information. On Oct. 9, The Montgomery Advertiser said that Pell City had 200 influenza cases, and then on Oct. 13, 1918, The Birmingham News reported “The Health Department was advised that 500 new cases have developed at Pell City, St. Clair County. That

DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • June & July 2020

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As October moved to November, Montgomery and Birmingham newspapers reported the rapid increase of influenza cases in all counties.

The Southern Aegis, Ashville newspaper, announced on Oct. 24, “Miss Edna Gilchrist is spending a few days at home. Her school at St. Clair Springs having closed for awhile on account of the ‘flu.’”

Dr. J.L. Jordan, Ashville’s city health officer, in the Dec. 19, 1918, The Southern Aegis, ordered the Ashville school closed “on account of influenza until Jan. 1, 1919.”

The coal mining communities of St. Clair County suffered.

The Montgomery Advertiser, Oct. 20, 1918, reported: “A call for help came in from the Alabama Fuel and Iron at Margaret Mine located in Sanie. The State Board of Health said that the assistance would be furnished.”

The Montgomery Times of Oct. 12, 1918, reported Alabama Superintendent of Education Spright Dowell’s suggestions for schools. “Communities in the state,” he said, “should not close the schools for an indefinite period, but for a week. At the end of the week, another closing order may be issued should it be

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Red Cross workers make ‘antiinfluenza’ masks for soldiersU.S. National Archives.

Photo from the National Archives

seen influenza still is prevalent.” He further advised it wise to continue paying teachers who “would be demoralized” if they did not receive pay and would seek other schools.

Only five 1918-19 influenza deaths are mentioned in the St. Clair County book, Wedding Bells & Funeral Knells: Marriage, Birth, and Death Notices from St. Clair County, Alabama, Newspapers. This is not unusual, for in those days, a family member would write a death notice and mail it to the newspaper.

In 1918-19, deaths came so close upon one another that families and communities were stunned into silence.

A quick scan of the Bethel Baptist Church Cemetery survey done by Gail Whitten shows an almost 50 percent increase of tombstone recorded deaths in 1918-19 as there were in 1917 and 1920, the years before and after the pandemic.

By the summer of 1919, the pandemic ended, but 10 years later, 1928-29, flu again raged in St. Clair County. The Talladega newspaper, Our Mountain Home, reported on Jan 30, 1929,

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“Pell City, Ala., Jan. 28 – The influenza epidemic in this section has removed during the last few days five pioneers of St. Clair County: D. H. Carpenter, Mrs. W.H. Roberson, Mrs. Kenyon Roberson, Mrs. Mary Bishop and Mrs. Jane Jordan. All the deceased were over 90 years of age.”

Similarities between then and now stand out. There was no way to prevent the disease or specific medicines to treat it, schools and businesses closed, and funerals were abbreviated until the disease ran its course. Neighbor helped neighbor, church members kept check on one another, and the younger checked on the older – so then, so now.

Referencing our need to support one another in times of crisis, an online MetroUK March 3, 2020, article, quotes 107-year-old Sarasota, Fla., survivor of the Spanish flu, Joe Newman, who observed what a crisis requires: “You have to be my crutch. I have to be yours. It’s been that way through every crisis we’ve had, and then we find that’s what got us through.” l

DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • June & July 2020

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Anita working on floral composition.

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DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • June & July 2020

Artist finds her outlet When crisis stifles creativity, Anita Bice gets creative Story by Leigh Pritchett Submitted photos When a pandemic evaporated Anita Bice’s art business and affected her creativity, she got ... creative.

Normally in the spring of the year, the artist from Moody would be preparing for and attending arts festivals and outdoor shows in several states.

Educated at Samford University in Birmingham and American Academy of Art in Chicago, Anita operates an art production studio in her home.

She has been an artist 35 years.

But stay-at-home orders in Alabama and elsewhere canceled one event after another.

“All my shows are being canceled. What do I do?,” she asked herself.

Because customers could not visit her studio store or attend the festivals, she would take her art to them. At times when she would have been at events, she would hold virtual art shows by digital means.

“Virtual reality is for real ... yes. The surreal has become all too real!,” states her email introduction to her art show in lieu of the 2020 Panoply Arts Festival in Huntsville.

“A virtual art show is not as good as walking from booth to booth in the beautiful town of Fairhope, AL (along with 250,000 friends!) but it’s the best we can do in these crazy times,” she says in an email after cancellation of Fairhope Arts and Crafts Festival.

Not only did the shutdown affect her fine arts business, but it also curtailed demand for architectural renderings, which is Anita’s fulltime job. “Right now, my architectural art is at a standstill,” she said.

This is not the first time she has experienced

Coastal scene

a standstill. When the housing construction rate plummeted during an economic downturn 15 years ago, Anita focused on fine arts. And that birthed the cottage industry that has since kept Anita, her daughter Dana, and Anita’s sister, Sharon Henderson of Pell City, quite busy.

Little more than a week before the coronavirus shutdown, Anita’s mother, Sara Smith, went into assisted living. The stay-home order, the fact that the family could not visit Mrs. Smith for a while and the sudden curtailment of both art businesses seemed to stymie Anita’s creativity.

DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • June & July 2020

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A keyboardist at Bethel Baptist Church in Odenville, she did what she has done in anxious times in the past: she played piano. From that came the idea for a video featuring an angel painting she had done; Anita would provide the musical accompaniment.

On Facebook, the video received views from Canada, Italy, Australia, India and all across the United States. The response amazed Anita.

Seeing how art with music touches people, she decided to do more videos.

With newfound creative energy, Anita analyzed the possibilities in art and charted her course.

“God is in control,” regardless of how uncertain times may seem, she said.

She saw this time as an opportunity to learn, to brainstorm, to plan, to branch into other areas.

“The downtime has allowed me to learn some things,” such as new features on the keyboards she plays. “... It has given me more time to think

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DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • June & July 2020

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#StClair StClairTogether Together about future artwork,” one of which is a series based on music. “That is in my mind and about to be on canvas,” she said.

Being confined also gave her a craving to paint coastal scenes.

Those art pieces join her other popular series of florals, cotton and Pots n Pans. Her repertoire also includes wood panel art pieces, tea towels, note cards, mini fine arts on magnet, Christmas on burlap, digital art and photo restoration.

As she paints, she posts on Facebook, which allows viewers to see her latest work.

Several creations sold immediately upon completion. Anita has made available free, downloadable line art of some of her originals that people can paint or color.

Her Easter download was very well received. “I am going to continue to do that,” she said.

Discounts and free shipping have been offered through her website anitabiceart. com, and she featured a grab bag of “goodies” for

Rayder, the dog, has his own following.

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DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • June & July 2020

#StClair StClairTogether Together

Anita delivers digital painting to nieces and nephews during visit to mom in nursing home.

Mother’s Day. Daily, she connects with followers, potential customers and prospective students through her website, Facebook, Instagram and email.

(Viewers also get updates about Rayder, her dog that sits like a meerkat and has his own Facebook following.)

Art instruction videos, workshops and seminars are other projects sparked by the isolation.

The basics of art, Photoshop and tips for entering art competitions are a few of the topics she wants to cover. “If people have time now, ... what a great time to offer those,” she said of the

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videos.

Anita added, “(Offering) online classes may be one of the next steps in my growth.”

In her three decades of art, Anita has seen “feast or famine.”

Nonetheless, each phase for her has fostered new possibilities.

“There are so many directions to go!” she said.

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DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • June & July 2020

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#StClair StClairTogether Together

St. Clair adapts A new normal for everyday life When ripples of the pandemic first hit St. Clair County beginning in late February and early March, it was almost as if overnight, the region transformed itself.

People sprang into action to help others. Businesses closed; others found alternatives to “business as usual” and stayed open with online shopping and ordering with curbside delivery.

Video conferencing and online access became the vehicles for communication in education, health care, business community and simply checking on family and friends.

City and county services didn’t stop. They just took a detour with essential workers handling the load in new and different ways.

In St. Clair County courthouses, judges conducted hearings

Moody food giveaway 30

Col. Robert L. Howard Veterans Home

Veterans home visit with John “J.T.” Junkins, from left, Lori Junkins, John Junkins and Amelia Junkins

DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • June & July 2020

Judge Bill Weathington conferences with lawyers. and conferences by Zoom Video Conferencing. In the courtroom, in-person hearings took on extra precautions. The judge sat on the bench, lawyers and clients were seated at tables behind plexiglass, and the bailiff stood nearby, but all were careful to maintain 6 feet of distance as ordered by Presiding Circuit Judge Phil Seay.

Schools closed, and teachers quickly learned how to deliver their lessons online so that students and learning wouldn’t suffer.

Organizations whose mission it is to help and serve others filled all kinds of needs throughout the county – groceries, deliveries, restocking food pantries and providing meals for local frontline workers as well as school students.

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DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • June & July 2020

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#StClair StClairTogether Together Churches delivered sermons online, through live streaming and social media.

People dusted off their sewing skills and started making face masks that had been in short supply.

The governor issued a Safer at Home order, and for the most part, St. Clair Countians obliged. They kept their distance – at least 6 feet – and they minimized their exposure to others.

Grocery store shelves emptied quickly during the early days of the pandemic, and shortages occur to this day. Surreal almost sounds too cliché to describe the atmosphere from one end of the county to the other.

But there was a common thread, no matter what corner, what demographic from which you came. Everyone was in

Words of encouragement

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DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • June & July 2020

#StClair StClairTogether Together this crisis together. Still are. There may be varying degrees, but they nevertheless are in it together.

By May, it was almost as if it had become regular routine.

Social distance, physical distance, donning face masks – they all were part of the order of the day.

The governor lifted the Safer at Home order in May, and little by little, the county began opening up again.

No one really knows where it heads from here. But it can’t be said often enough, “We’re all in this together.” l

Senior portraits line the road.

Home schooling from Coosa Valley Elementary

Dr. Dupre at Northside Medical gets a visit from the Easter Bunny wearing PPE. 34

DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • June & July 2020

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ROOdy Caren and Danny Davidson on vacation with ROOdy

Story by Scottie Vickery Submitted photos Thanks to an ever-growing assortment of goats, pigs, chickens and horses, there’s always a lot going on at Caren and Danny Davidson’s Springville farm. These days, however, the place is really hopping.

That’s because the newest addition to the family, a red kangaroo named ROOdy, has stolen the hearts of all who have met him. “He makes people happy,” Caren said. “He’s got a great temperament.” Couple that with the fact that ROOdy loves to cuddle, still enjoys a good bottle and rocks the diapers he wears around the house, and there’s no doubt about it. ROOdy is definitely a cutie.

Lovable kangaroo winning hearts, settling in at Springville farm 37

ROOdy

The little ones

So why did the Davidsons, who host farm day experiences and goat yoga classes at CareDan Farm, decide to jump in with both feet and get a kangaroo? The credit – or blame, depending on when you ask – is all Danny’s. “He’s always trying to come up with something different,” Caren said.

ROOdy, who has grown by leaps and bounds in the six months he’s lived with the Davidsons, was a surprise Christmas present to Caren from Danny. A mere 11 pounds when the 7-month-old arrived at the farm, ROOdy tops the scales at about 25 pounds now. He won’t be fully grown until he’s 2 years old, though, and by then the Davidsons expect he’ll weigh about 200 pounds and stand about 4 feet tall.

“Red kangaroos are the largest kind of kangaroos – and of course, we needed the largest kangaroo,” Caren said with a laugh. In fact, red kangaroos are also the largest of all marsupials, which are mammals that continue to develop in the mother’s pouch after birth.

A soon-to-be giant marsupial was the last

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A bottle at Christmas

DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • June & July 2020

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DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • June & July 2020

ROOdy ROOdy lifting spirits at a nursing home

thing Caren expected as a gift, which she received on Christmas Eve. “It was a total surprise,” she said. Danny handed her what looked like a red duffel bag and said it was her present.

“I thought it was going to be a trip or something,” she said. “I started opening the bag, those ears popped up, and I screamed.”

Her first thought was that Danny had gotten her a rabbit.

“Keep opening,” he told her, a huge grin on his face. When she realized she was now the proud owner of a baby kangaroo, also known as a joey, “it took me a couple of days to wrap my mind around it,” Caren said.

One busy kangaroo

He may be a marsupial, but make no mistake, ROOdy is no pouch potato. In his first year of life he’s worn a lot of hats – or at least he would have if it weren’t for those ears. Since coming to CareDan Farm, he’s served as a social worker, human resources assistant, teaching assistant, wrestling team mascot and television personality.

His foray into social work came a few weeks into the COVID-19 pandemic. “I was watching the news and saw how people weren’t able to visit their loved ones at nursing homes,” Caren said. “ROOdy makes everyone so happy, I wondered if we could take him to a nursing home and wave to people from

DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • June & July 2020

Resident waving back to ROOdy 41

ROOdy Going for a walk on the beach

outside the windows to lift some spirits.”

Friends who had contacts at nursing homes quickly made it happen, and ROOdy was an instant hit, earning him a spot on a local television news program. “They loved it, and we loved it,” Caren said of the visit. “It was a happy thing to do in a time of isolation and sadness.”

Caren, human resources director for a Birmingham law firm, and Danny, an algebra teacher and assistant wrestling coach at Moody High School, both worked from home during the pandemic, which gave them plenty of time to bond with ROOdy and watch him try out his other roles. He was quickly fired from his human resources position after he started tearing up papers, but he had better success in the virtual classroom.

After all, Danny’s students had loved hearing about the kangaroo’s exploits well before Alabama schools adopted distance learning for the remainder of the year. “They kept asking me to bring him to school,” he said. “They even started a petition, ‘Educate ROOdy at Moody.’ “An unofficial mascot for the wrestling team, ROOdy even traveled to Huntsville to cheer on the athletes during a February tournament.

Once coronavirus hit, though, the kids were thrilled to watch him online. Danny hosted three to four 45-minute Skype sessions each day to answer students’ math questions and to see how they were progressing with their assignments. “I got a lot of participation because they knew they’d get to see ROOdy,”

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DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • June & July 2020

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ROOdy Nap time on the sofa

he said. “They got to watch him grow up, and it was a lot of fun for them. The parents’ reactions were hysterical. ROOdy’s a great teaching assistant.”

Kangaroo care

Since ROOdy joined the family, Caren and Danny have turned into students themselves, learning everything they can about caring for him.

“I’ve always been fascinated with kangaroos,” said Danny, who got ROOdy from a petting zoo in Louisiana. “When they’re born, they’re about the size of a jelly bean. They aren’t fully formed when they get to the pouch, and they’re there for about six months,” he said.

ROOdy was seven months old when he came to the farm and was in the “in and out phase,” spending much of the time in one of his manmade pouches and the rest of the time exploring his surroundings. He came from the zoo with two cotton knapsack-like pouches, and a friend of the Davidsons later made him some larger ones.

“At first, he stayed in his pouch the majority of the day and got out for playtime for three to four hours,” Caren said. “Since then, he’s been transitioning from the pouch and mostly sleeps there at night.” These days, ROOdy hops around the house and yard pretty freely. “He loves to follow us around,” Danny said.

ROOdy took three bottles a day when he first arrived and was down to a nightly bottle and cuddle on the couch by

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DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • June & July 2020

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ROOdy spring. The Davidsons order a special milk that’s formulated for kangaroos and is made in Australia, and ROOdy also enjoys timothy grass and a dry kangaroo food that’s similar to dog food.

His sense of adventure is as big as his appetite. A week after arriving, ROOdy joined the Davidsons for a planned beach trip with Danny’s family. “We had rented a beach house, and they didn’t list kangaroos as a problem,” Caren said with a laugh. “He stayed in his pouch and our nieces and nephews loved feeding him bottles. We put a harness on him one day so we could let him hop around the sand. He liked the sand, but he did not like the harness.”

The Davidsons knew ROOdy needed to be neutered early so he wouldn’t be aggressive, and they were shocked and relieved to find the solution just a few miles away.

They learned that Dr. Paul Taylor, an associate at Branchville Animal Hospital, had a little experience with kangaroos, helping to provide dental treatment to one when he was at a clinic in another state.

Neutering a kangaroo was a skill he had yet to master, however. “I always say you should do something every day that scares you,” Taylor quipped, adding that he consulted with veterinarians in Texas and Maryland, both of whom own kangaroos, before performing the procedure, which went off without a hitch. Taylor said he will continue to see ROOdy at least once a year for a check-up and shots, and he’ll do all he can to help the Davidsons care for him.

While ROOdy seems right at home in the Davidson’s house, he’ll soon have a bigger place to call home. The couple, with the help of friends, fenced off two acres for him to share with the goats. “Kangaroos are actually very heat and cold tolerant,” Caren said. “In the winter,

Irresistible ROO 46

DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • June & July 2020

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ROOdy

Asleep in the pouch

they just need a covered shelter and straw for bedding, and in the summer, they need shade.”

Danny, especially, is looking forward to introducing ROOdy to those visiting the farm. “If people love feeding horses, goats and chickens, I know they’re going to love feeding a kangaroo,” he said.

“Our animals are our family, and we get joy out of sharing them with others,” added Caren, who admits she fell in love with the best gift she never knew she wanted.

“Who knows, once ROOdy has been in his habitat for a while, and we know that he’s happy there, I could see getting one more kangaroo.” l

ROOdy and the wrestling team

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DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • June & July 2020

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Traveling the

BACKROADS

A long journey Dry cleaner escaped Holocaust, traveled storied route to Ashville

Bernie always on the job

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DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • June & July 2020

Story by Joe Whitten Submitted photos For Bernie Echt, the journey from Gross Kuhren, Germany, to Ashville, Alabama, included stops in Africa, China, the Dominican Republic and sojourns in various cities in the United States.

Bernie’s parents, Solomon and Erna Czanitsky Echt, already had daughters Ruth and Eva when Bernie was born on Nov. 4, 1937.

Sister Sarah would arrive Nov. 4, 1938.

His parents and grandparents owned a farm in Gross Kuhren and dealt in horses and cattle.

Although Jewish, they conducted business with both locals and the German military before the war.

Relations seemed good with people in the area, for as Bernie recalled, “My parents and grandparents had lots of connections; that’s why we are still here. Otherwise we would be …,” he let those words hang, then added, “They helped us to get the hell out of there.”

Bernie wasn’t yet a year old when they fled the Nazis, so he recounts what he was told by relatives. In spite of the apparent good relationship, “At the end of 1937 or the beginning of 1938, one evening, they knocked on the door, and calling Solomon by his nickname, they said, ‘Sally, you need to go with us down to headquarters.’”

Solomon and Erna both asked for a reason, but the only answer they got was, “We can’t tell the reason; you just need to go with us. You don’t have to take nothing along.”

Erna asked where they were going, and they replied, “To town.”

“It was the Gestapo,” Bernie continued.

“They took him to the concentration camp, Sachsenhausen, and put him to work in the stone quarry. He was in there until the end of ’38, or thereabout.”

Bernie is unsure of how this happened, but his mother and grandparents paid off certain Nazi officers to get Solomon out of Sachsenhausen.

He believes they gave money and cattle, and that one of the officers was a close friend who used to visit on Sunday afternoons.

The officers warned that Solomon must disappear immediately, so within 24 hours of release, he was on a freighter to Shanghai, China. He lived in Shanghai a year before Erna and the children could journey there.

And what a journey Erna and the children had getting to Solomon in China. The grandparents hoped to emigrate to Palestine, but borders closed before they could leave. They never got out.

Along with other Jews, Erna and the children secured passage to China on an Italian freighter.

Difficulties arose at the Suez Canal when authorities refused the freighter permission to proceed.

Erna and Solomon Echt and daughters in Dominican Republc

Bernie and Pia in the 1950s

DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • June & July 2020

51

Traveling the

BACKROADS Bernie and Solomon Echt in Dominican Republic

Low on fuel and food, the ship diverted to an African island where it languished for six months. A Jewish organization managed to get money to the captain so he could continue to China.

Finally, in 1939, Erna and children joined Solomon, where he worked on a missionary farm in Shanghai.

Because of the Sino-Japanese War (1937-1945), the Japanese occupied Shanghai. For the moment, things seemed peaceful. “The Japanese soldiers would come to the house,” Bernie remembered, “and my mother would cook them something. They had a good time.”

52

Concentration camp All that ended Dec.7, 1941 – Pearl Harbor. “The Japanese came for us,” Bernie remembers, “put us up on a truck and took us to a camp. They took our passports.

Everything. We had just the clothes we wore.”

There were 2,000 in this Japanese concentration camp with 16 people to a room. They devised privacy curtains with the bed blankets during the day, then took them down for cover at night.

The rabbis in the camp made sure Jewish boys received religious instructions. Going and coming from the place of instruction had its dangers, as Bernie recalls one night: “I remember rabbi took us one evening to the main building there, and the Japanese were shooting the guns with lightballs to light up the streets inside the camp, so they could see if anybody was walking around. And the rabbi said to

Bernie and Davy Crockett’s grandson

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Traveling the

BACKROADS

S.S. Marine Lynx

us, ‘Just stand against the wall and don’t move.’ That’s what we did, and that’s how we always got through.”

The rabbis made sure that the kids who went to temple had kosher food for Passover, a sacred necessity for Orthodox Jews, such as the Echts.

World War II ended, and liberation finally followed. Bernie recalled, “McArthur came, and the streets were full of military.

The Japanese commander who mistreated so many – he didn’t do it personally, but he had command over it – the teenage boys in the camp went to the Japanese headquarters, got the commander out, brought him to the camp and got sticks and hit him.”

Bernie didn’t participate in that. “That wasn’t my idea. I couldn’t join in beating him. He was only a man. I look at things a little bit different. I shouldn’t, maybe, but I do. A human being is a human being.”

The American nurses took the internees into the country, gave them food, and American military doctors gave physical exams.

The Americans taught them songs, Bernie recalled. “The first song we learned was ‘God Bless America,’ and then we learned the military songs – the Navy song and ‘This is the Army, Mr. Brown.’” He laughed and added, “We changed that one a little bit.”

Wanting to leave China, Bernie’s family went to the consulate and asked about being able to come to the United States. A Jewish organization (American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee) took over and organized the Echts’ and others’ exodus. They left for San Francisco on the Marine Lynx, an American transport ship. “We sailed under the Golden Gate Bridge, and it was wonderful,” Bernie said. “I was 9 or 10 years old.”

54

In San Francisco, the family stayed quarantined in a hotel for six weeks. Bernie recalls that the Jewish organization fed them and took them to a clothing store and bought them garments and shoes. He got his first pair of long pants and pair of shoes.

Dominican Republic When the quarantine ended, the Jewish Distribution Committee came to tell the Echts the three countries available for relocation: Australia, Canada and the Dominican Republic.

The family chose the Dominican Republic.

As early as 1938, General Truijillo of the Dominican Republic offered to the Jewish organization refuge to as many as 100,000 Jews fleeing Germany. On the north coast, now Sosua, General Trujillo set aside a large section of wooded land, and the Dominican Republic Settlement Association (DORSA), a Jewish group, cleared land and erected barracks. “It was similar to a Kibbutz,” Bernie said. “They all ate together, and the women did everybody’s laundry. There wasn’t that much that each one had separate.”

DORSA built houses on plots of land, families with kids got the first houses built, then couples without children. To get them started, for the father of the family, DORSA gave 10 cows; for the mother, six; and for each child, one. A family paid so much a month to DORSA until they had paid for the farm, house and livestock.

The Echts lived on one of the DORSA farms until Bernie’s mother died in 1949. After her death, Solomon left the farm and moved the family to the city. When Bernie turned 13, his father and sisters arranged his bar mitzvah. “I learned all the rituals,” he said. “I already knew a big part of it. I was very orthodox when I started out. Very orthodox until my mother died, then I

DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • June & July 2020

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Traveling the

BACKROADS slowly let it go.”

Home-life deteriorated for Bernie after his mother died, and a few months after his 13th birthday, he set out on his own. He had only the clothing he wore and no money.

He went to the Jewish organization in Sosua, met with the administrator, and told him about leaving home and needing a job. The administrator told Bernie he had no job for him because he lacked education and job skills.

Unsuccessful there but undaunted, he made his way to the farmers’ cooperative and told them his predicament. “I need a job. I need something to do to make a living.”

They listened to him, then, offered him the only available job, cleaning the animal intestines in the slaughterhouse, which paid $25 a month.

Bernie took the job. He lived in a barrack room for $3 a month, which included electricity and water. He commented, “I earned $25, paid $3 for lodging, and had $22 left. I didn’t need nothing.”

Work ethic rescues him Although he started with a nasty job in the slaughterhouse, Bernie worked hard, and that served him well. The manager of the meatpacking plant soon took him out of the slaughterhouse and taught him about choppers and carvers. Mr. Meyerstein, who had worked for Armour and Swift in Chicago, taught him how to make sausage.

A careful observer and fast learner, Bernie said, “When I saw anybody doing something I wanted to learn. I caught it with my eyes and remembered it. I had no other choice. There was no Social Security, no unemployment, no insurance. Nothing. I had to learn.”

Management liked Bernie’s work ethic and raised his salary to $45 a month. He saved $10 a month until he had about $30 put aside. Then he went to a farmer to buy a calf. When the farmer found he had the money, he asked where he would keep the calf, and Bernie bargained with the farmer to pasture the calf for $1 a month.

They both agreed that when the calf became a milk producer, the milk belonged to the farmer, but calves born to those cows belonged to Bernie.

Next stop: USA In 1957, when Bernie came to the United States, he was earning $85 a month and had 12 head of cattle, which he sold to finance his trip to the States and for Washington’s required $300 security deposit in case his job fell through.

Some Marines were the first who tried to help Bernie get to the United States. They said if he were willing to join the military, they would help him join the Marines. Bernie was willing, but the Marines weren’t – he was 2 inches too short at 5 feet, 5 inches tall.

Regulation height was 5 feet, 7 inches tall.

However, when a Mr. Weinberg came over from New York City, Bernie had success. He asked Weinberg if there was a newspaper in New York where he could run an ad for work in the United States. Yes, there was, the Aufbau, published in New York City for the German Jewish Club. Weinberg placed the ad: “Young butcher looking for a job in the U.S.” Bernie waited. Then a letter from a Mr. Krucker arrived at

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Bernie (in white) in his barracks room in Dominican Republic the consulate in the Dominican Republic. Mr. Krucker owned a Swiss restaurant in Pagona, N.Y., and needed a butcher there by May 27, no later.

Bernie leapt into action. A visit to the consulate produced a list of “must do” things in order to leave. He took the list and returned in two days with everything else on the list.

Then he needed a “quota number,” but the consulate said that would take two weeks, and that would be too late to make it to New York by May 27.

Bernie tells it best. “It was hard to get out of the Dominican Republic at that time. Because of Nazi persecution, I was stateless – no passport. All I had was an ID from the Dominican government, like a driver’s license, but not a driver’s license.”

Bernie had to be in New York by May 27, so he begged the consulate to call Washington and get a quota number. “I will pay for the call,” Bernie said.

The consulate said, ‘Are you serious? We don’t do that normally.’ But with a little more pleading from Bernie, he said, ‘All right. Go outside and sit and wait. I’ll let you know. I can’t promise you.’

Bernie waited an hour and a half before the consulate came out and said, ‘I can’t believe it. I got you a quota number.

Everything’s ready. Go to the airport and get yourself a ticket and you’re ready to go.’

Then, another problem loomed. Bernie had no passport, but he knew who could help. A German Jew named Kicheimer could work miracles almost. Bernie told Kicheimer why he was in a rush and gave him his paperwork.

Kicheimer returned the next day with the necessary documents, and Bernie was ready to leave. At the airport, Ruth and Eva were crying, afraid of what the police would do if they found out how he’d gotten his documentation. Bernie told them, “I did nothing; the man did everything. I’ve got a legal piece of paper.” He laughs and adds, “I was so glad when that plane went up and I looked down.” He was on his way to a new life that one day would land him in Ashville.

When Bernie arrived at the restaurant, Mr. Krucker gave him a place to stay in his hunting shack, telling him to unpack, come to the restaurant and eat, then rest for the next day when they both would go to New York City to buy fish, meat and

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Traveling the

BACKROADS vegetables for the restaurant.

Bernie spoke of Mr. Krucker’s kindness to him, saying, “He treated me like I was his son. He was very good to me. When I bought my first business, he co-signed the loan for me.”

Bernie’s respect for Mr. Krucker was evident when Krucker asked him not to wear his David Star because it made some German patrons uncomfortable. Bernie removed it, saying, “Mr. Krucker, I am Jewish in my heart, I don’t have to show it.”

Saying, ‘I do’ The restaurant’s head waitress, Pia, was a German gentile in an unhappy war-bride marriage that would end in a divorce.

She was 10 years older than Bernie, but age presented no problem to him, and a few years later she became his wife. She converted to Judaism, going through the counseling sessions with the rabbis.

This was important to Orthodox Jews for descent is traced through the mother and gives both male and female children irrevocable Jewish status. It was a happy marriage that held strong until Pia died of brain cancer in 1979. The couple had three children: Bernhard “Bernie” Jr., Daniel and Katharina.

Mr. Krucker had urged Bernie to ask Pia out. He was reluctant to do that because of lack of money. Pia knew this and said, “This time, I will buy you a root beer float and a hamburger. If you did have money, I don’t want you to spend it.

You are new here, and you need to save your money.”

They didn’t go out again until Bernie had saved up some money. Mr. Krucker knew this and came to Bernie and gave him an envelope and said, “That’s for you.” It contained his $50 weekly pay, inside. “I was rich,” Bernie said.

Never afraid of hard work, Bernie worked in the restaurant through the summer and into the fall, and when the number of diners dropped, Bernie got a job in the meatpacking plant in Mazzolas, N.Y., earning $65 a week. When he got off work there, if an auction was being held, he would sell hamburgers at the auction house. “You know, a couple of bucks here and there, and I made money,” he said. On Saturday and Sunday, he worked at the restaurant.

Bernie and Pia were engaged now, and he wanted more income. One day he asked the man who picked up and delivered the restaurant’s laundry if there were money to be made in laundry work. He told him, “If you work hard you can make money. It’s on a percentage of what you collect.”

So, Bernie went to see the owner, Frank Senatores, who told him, “I don’t pay until you bring in work. You deliver it and collect, and I pay you a commission on that. You have to use your own car. I don’t supply no vans or anything.” Bernie accepted the job.

Making of an entrepreneur He worked hard – and so did Pia. After working his dayshift at the meatpacking plant, he and Pia would run the laundry and dry cleaning routes until about 8 p.m. Pia would drive, and he ran to the houses delivering and picking up. “I’ve been doing that for 60 years,” Bernie said recently. “The same system. And it works. Believe me, it works.” They built up a good route and eventually bought the drop business.

In another village, he saw a laundry and dry cleaner that wasn’t doing well because of the lazy owner. Obtaining a bank

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Bernie woking at Krucker’s Restaurant

loan, Bernie bought that company and gave up the restaurant job to concentrate on the laundry business.

Always the quick and thorough learner, Bernie learned the dry cleaning and laundry business hands-on. He bought a 1952 Chevrolet truck van, put hanging racks inside, and had a high school art student paint the truck white with a crown for Imperial Laundry and Drycleaners, with the address and phone number.

From the beginning, Bernie has never turned down a challenge, for he’s always assumed he could do it. Early on, a man came in with a wide lapel, double-breasted suit wanting Bernie to cut the lapels down to a narrower size. Although he had never done alterations before, Bernie said, “We can do that, but it will cost you.”

Pia thought he was crazy, but Bernie said, “Don’t get excited.

We have a suit hanging here. I’ll lay it on top of the one to alter, mark all around the lapel but leave a half inch. Then we’ll cut the material off and turn the rest under and sew it.” They did, and the customer was so happy he gave them a generous tip.

After that, Pia learned to do whatever alterations that were needed.

By the time Pia died of cancer, they were living in Florida, and Bernie had expanded into selling laundry and dry cleaning equipment.

DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • June & July 2020

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Traveling the

BACKROADS

Bernie’s Imperial Cleaners in Fischach, Germany around 1968-1969 Five years after Pia’s death, Bernie exhibited his machines at a convention in Atlanta. One evening after the exhibits closed for the night, Bernie went to eat a restaurant where there was dancing. There he met Doan, who was buying merchandise for her dress shop in Springville, Alabama.

Doan and Bernie Echt in Ashville today

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The magic of dance She and Bernie danced that evening, and that dance blossomed into a courtship that resulted in a wedding the next year, 1985. The love affair has lasted 35 years. Although Doan didn’t convert to Judaism, she attends temple with Bernie.

It was Doan’s St. Clair County roots that brought them to Ashville and the establishing of Imperial Laundry and Professional Drycleaners there in 1994. Their pickup and delivery routes extend into Jackson and Cherokee counties.

Bernie’s original method of building a business by meeting and knowing his customers still holds him in good stead today.

Katharina Echt says of her father, “My brothers and I were raised with a strong foundation of what it means to work hard.

We each have a keen understanding, by our father’s example, of what is possible with sheer will and determination. Ever present is his steadfast belief in our ability to achieve anything we set our minds to. And so we have.”

Bernie never lost hope or purpose in the face of hardship, adversity or tragedy. He has focused on the good of life rather than the bad and remains a cheerful man who is a delight to know.

Stop by and say hello. You’ll enjoy meeting him. l

DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • June & July 2020

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A new era begins at Northside

Bob showing off a LakeLife shirt in his shop.

62 DISCOVER Essence St. Clair •••August & September 2013 of St. ClairThe •The Business Review DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair October && November 2017 DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair •August February &July March 2016 62 2016 DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair & September 2017 DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair June & July 2017 62 DISCOVER DISCOVER Essence The Essence of St. Clair of St. ••Clair Clair December June 2016 & 2015 2017 of St. Clair 2020 Essence ofof St. Clair December 2017 & January January 2018 DISCOVER The Essence of St. •••April May 62• DISCOVER The Essence DISCOVER The St. Clair 2019 2020

Story by Linda Long Contributed phootos

Robert Griffin

Behind the scenes with the ‘T-shirt Guy’ Meet Robert Griffin, Renaissance man and self-proclaimed “wonderful, kind and loving individual. That’s me,” he laughed.

Most know him as the T-shirt Guy, but he could easily add a few more titles to his moniker – artist, musician, songwriter, band leader, white water canoeist, environmentalist, hardware salesman, construction worker and let’s not forget screen printer, a talent he’s been at for more than 30 years.

As owner and art director of Wolf Creek Creations, Griffin prints 800 to 1,000 T-shirts a week or about 50,000 a year and creates four or five original designs a day at his operation. “The customers usually have an idea of what they want.

I create the designs from their descriptions,” he explained.

The largest single order he has ever fulfilled was for 5,000 T-shirts for Caritas, a Catholic charity; and the smallest number was 12, a minimum order. The farthest distance he’s ever shipped was to an address in Hawaii.

“We’re based in Pell City,” said Griffin.

“Actually, exactly two miles down Wolf Creek, on the right, just outside the city limits, but we ship all over.”

Griffin began perfecting his artistic talents, while still in college at Jacksonville State University. “I studied art in college and worked in T-shirt shops when I needed a job. My first printing job was on paper for a graphic artist and that eventually led to T-shirts.”

Right out of college, Griffin’s artistic career seemed to be taking a left turn when he went into business with his father, who owned a construction company, but the younger Griffin’s creative flair wouldn’t take a back seat for long.

“I had already gotten involved with white water canoeing at this time. They had events all the time, but nobody was doing shirts for them. I convinced my dad that we needed to pick up that space – that there was money to be had. So, he agreed to open a very rudimentary area in the construction office.

As things sometimes go,” added Griffin, “my dad ended up shutting the construction business and partnering with me in the T-shirt business.”

Group sales are the life blood of Wolf Creek Creations, from high school senior shirts to environmental alliance events to chili cook-offs.

But events surrounding the 2020 pandemic have affected the sale of T-shirts as they have just about

Bob and Leah

DISCOVER The Essence St. Clair •••August & September 2013 Business Review •July DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • 63 DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair October && November 2017 DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair •August February &July March 2016 2016 63 DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair & September 2017 DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair June & 2017 DISCOVER DISCOVER The Essence The Essence of St. Clair of St. ••Clair Clair December June 2016 & 2015 2017 63 of St. Clair 2020 Essence ofof St. Clair December 2017 & January January 2018 DISCOVER The Essence of St. •••April May DISCOVER The St. Clair 2019 2020 63

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DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • June & July 2020

DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • June & July 2020

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Business Directory

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DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • June & July 2020

DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • June & July 2020

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Business Review

The T-Shirt Guy

everything else.

“We literally had no business for three weeks. There’s no school, so there went the school business.

Festivals usually held in the spring were canceled, like the Alabama Bluegrass Association concert. That’s an every-year event for us, and it was canceled. We’ve had about $10,000 worth of business either postponed or just outright canceled.”

Griffin, ever the optimist, says he thinks “things are beginning to turn around. We’ve got a strong customer base and a strong repeat business.

People know about us strictly by word of mouth. Some of these people, I’ve been doing business with for over 20 years. They’re no longer customers. They’re friends I do shirts for. That’s what I love about what I do, the friends I make and people I meet along the way.”

Another of his passions is music.

“That’s what I really enjoy,” he says.

“I’ve had a band for about 20 years.

My wife is also in the band. We do a lot of classic rock and some blues.”

Explaining that his wife, Leah, who auditioned for American Idol, is the real singer in the group, he said.

“She has a beautiful voice. She lets me try it every once in a while. I am a marginally adequate singer.”

He is more than marginally adequate as a songwriter. You might say he’s prolific. “I’ve written about 50 or 60 songs. We do a lot of original material.”

The band, named One Eyed Mary, plays a lot of festivals and local clubs.

The name originates from one of Griffin’s dogs, now deceased. “She was a rescued Lhasa Apso,” he said, “and she had only one eye. So, of course, it seemed appropriate to call the band One Eyed Mary.”

Of all the hats Griffin has worn throughout his career, his very favorite has nothing to do with work.

“My favorite hat is being a dad to my three kids and husband to my wife.”

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DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • June & July 2020

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Brand accelerates online presence during crisis

lakelife247.com It’s often said that timing is everything. A Pell City-based company’s owners believe that now more than ever.

Carol Pappas, president and CEO of Partners by Design Inc., announced that the company’s LakeLife Division has moved its growing apparel and lake-related products business online to a significant e-commerce platform under its national registered trademark, LakeLife 24/7®, at lakelife247.com.

That brand includes 14 Alabama lakes plus the LakeLife 24/7 line of products. “We’ve gone from a storage room in the back of our marketing firm to a small retail shop in the front for our home lake, Logan Martin, to a significant national presence online that’s growing,” Pappas said.

The timing could not have been more perfect, she noted. The launch happened within two weeks of closings, lockdowns and quarantines due to COVID-19, so it lessened the impact of having to close its retail shop in Pell City, which had generated a significant portion of its sales.

“We had been planning the move for months, recognizing that lake life isn’t restricted to a single body of water, it has universal appeal,” Pappas said. “Our original business plan

70

moved in the direction of individual e-commerce sites for each lake in the state, but we soon realized it made more sense in a one-stop, online setting.”

Under the guidance of a friend whose professional background includes work in scalability, Lori Junkins, the site launched April 5, with sales coming in from nearly every Alabama lake plus multiple states at the onset.

“Lori’s leadership and wise counsel made all the difference,” Pappas said. “In the first month, our sales already have come in from seven states and 13 of our 14 lakes in Alabama. The appeal of our 24/7 line is growing, and we’re optimistic about our future prospects.

“Like we say in the ‘About’ section of our site, ‘Our Home’s in Alabama. Our Dreams are Global.’ Of course, we’re not there yet. But who knows?”

Founded in 2009, Partners by Design is a multimedia marketing firm specializing in communication, marketing, graphic design and web services for companies, governmental organizations and nonprofits. It also publishes a lifestyle magazine, Discover, The Essence of St. Clair, six times per year.

DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • June & July 2020

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