24 • Thursday, March 22, 2018
SENIORS
OVER THE MOUNTAIN JOURNAL
LIVES WELL LIVED
‘Hard Work and Healthy Lifestyle’
Dr. John Jayne with his late second wife, Claudia. In his career as an orthodontist, with an office in Vestavia Hills, Jayne made a point to give back to those in need by coordinating dental care for boys and girls residing at the Boys and Girls Ranches of Alabama.
Oldest Living Auburn Football Player Nick Ardillo Turns 100
Photo courtesy Laura Estes
Following his military stint, Ardillo and Kernie moved to Birmingham. He went into education and was an assistant football The oldest living Auburn University coach at Ramsay and Phillips high schools. football player turned 100 on Feb. 19, and He was on the staff of legendary Ramsay how Nick Ardillo Sr., wound up on the coach Thompson Mutt Reynolds when the Loveliest Village on the Plains is quite a Rams won a state championship in 1953. story. Ardillo was head coach at Gadsden Ardillo grew up on High School during a farm in rural Amite, the 1954 and 1955 seaLouisiana, about 70 sons, according to the miles north of New Alabama High School Orleans, as one of 13 Football Historical children whose parSociety website. He ents immigrated to the also served as presiUnited States from dent of the Sicily. Birmingham Football Ardillo played Officials Association. high school football A longtime educain Amite and went on tor, Ardillo was a math to what was teacher and principal Southwest Mississippi of East Birmingham Junior College in Elementary School. He Summit, Mississippi. eventually became Ardillo had a brilliant assistant superintenfootball career there dent of education for in the 1930s and was Birmingham City inducted into the Schools. Southwest Mississippi Ardillo retired Hall of Fame in 1990. when he was 57 after According to being diagnosed with Ardillo’s daughter, Ardillo became a star at right guard Hodgkin lymphoma. Laura Estes, during for “Meagher’s Marauders” during the “He went through his second year at 1940 and 1941 seasons at Auburn. chemotherapy and lost Southwest all his hair, but he surMississippi, a scout vived and the cancer never came back,” from Alabama Polytechnic Institute, which Estes said. now is Auburn, spotted Ardillo while “He’s still remembered fondly by his watching a game. The scout asked Ardillo former students and football players,” she to come to Auburn for an interview with added. “His players used to take him to Tigers head coach Jack Meagher. lunch and tell him that he was going to outlive all of them. They’d say, ‘Coach, you Ardillo and wife, Kernie, want us to be pallbearers for your coffin, but you’ll end up carrying ours.’” who’s 98, still live in the After his retirement, Ardillo became a house he built in 1957 in member of the Homewood Board of Education, on which he served for 15 the Mayfair community of years. He also was active in civic affairs in Homewood. Homewood, serving on the City Council and in other positions of leadership. He is a longtime member of Trinity Ardillo went home and discussed it with United Methodist Church in Homewood his family. He decided he wanted to go to Auburn, but with little means of transporta- and served the church in a number of capacities. tion, he traveled the only way he could: He Ardillo and Kernie, who’s 98, still live hitchhiked. in the house he built in 1957 in the Mayfair After Ardillo arrived at Auburn, he was community of Homewood. They have two shown where he would live and was given children, Estes, who lives in Hoover, and a scholarship. And once he got on the footNick Jr., who lives in Columbus, ball field, he became a star at right guard Mississippi. They also have five grandchilfor “Meagher’s Marauders” during the dren and three great grandchildren. 1940 and 1941 seasons. “He attributes his long life to hard work After graduating from Auburn in 1942, and a healthy lifestyle,” Estes said. Ardillo entered the U.S. Coast Guard and Ardillo has outlived all of his siblings, served during World War II. Before leaving but he has been mostly non-communicative for the military, he married Kernie the past two years. Hawkins, who has been the love of his life for 78 years. See ARDILLO, page 27
Photo courtesy Chris Jayne
By Rubin E. Grant
No Regrets
Retired Orthodontist Reflects on his Career and the Patients He’s Helped Along the Way By Emily Williams This month, Dr. John Jayne is jetting off to the British Isles with his son, daughter and son-in-law, venturing through Dublin, Ireland, and Manchester, England, on the way to Wales. A retired orthodontist who lives in Greystone, Jayne has made the trip before to see his great-grandfather’s gravestone in Pontypool, in southern Wales. Though the sites will be familiar to him, his son, Chris, has never been before. “At 85 years old, I may not get around as easily, but it’s the one thing I’ve wanted to do again before I leave this earth,” Jayne said. The first one to note that he’s lived a very full life. Jayne has been retired for about 20 years from his profession as an orthodontist. He left a legacy in his wake not only through his regular customers, but also by using his skills to serve those in need. Jayne got the idea of pursuing dentistry from his father and attended the University of Alabama at Birmingham Dental School in 1957. “My dad wanted my older brother to be a physician. This was in the 1930s, and possibly due to some dental procedures he was having done at the time, he wanted me to be a dentist,” Jayne said. Jayne finished off his education while in the Navy, which had a dental program that paid active duty wages during a student’s final year of dental school. “I am very appreciative of my service,” he said. “It taught me a lot about dentistry and it also helped me mature,” he said.
In the Navy, he spent one year in Key West and two years on an aircraft carrier, choosing to stay for a year longer than required. Then Jayne returned to Birmingham. He eventually bought a practice in Ensley that was in desperate need of a dentist, and he spent six years there. “I noticed a change as the demographic in the area shifted. Business would increase when the steel workers signed their new contracts, and when that dropped is when business went down,” he said.
A Love of Work
Dentistry started to become less exciting to him as the years went on, but Jayne said he remained in the practice for three reasons: his wife, his three children and
Over the course of his career, Jayne estimated that he helped about 3,500 children from the Boys and Girls Ranches of Alabama and, later on, Big Oak Ranch. money. “After a while I got to thinking, there has got to be something more exciting in dentistry,” he said. So, after being out of school for nine years, he enrolled in a graduate program in 1966 to pursue orthodontics. After graduation he sought out a place to practice and landed on Vestavia Hills. “At that time, I was the orthodontist farthest from downtown Birmingham,” he said. For an additional 14 years after his active duty service in the Navy, Jayne remained in the Army Reserves. He left the service after his first wife died to focus on his children. Jayne said he has been grateful for his
PLUS: Fighting Senior Exploitation: Program Seeks to Inform and Empower Seniors PAGE 26
See JAYNE, page 27