Living 50 Plus April/May 2024

APRIL/MAY 2024

APRIL/MAY 2024

Still in the game

Bobby Aday shares

Still in the game

Bobby Aday shares

his love of boxing.

his love of boxing.

A Master at gardening

A Master at gardening

John Norton’s a pepper and tomato expert.

John Norton’s a pepper and tomato expert.

She escaped US bombs, now she’s an American

She escaped US bombs, now she’s an American

Doris Alewine found love in her US home.

Doris Alewine found love in her US home.

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3 QUESTIONS to ask before beginning a new fitness regimen

By Metrocreative

Routine exercise is beneficial for people of all ages, and seniors are no exception. Aging adults who want to be more physically active but think they are among the 72% percent of individuals who aren’t meeting CDC exercise guidelines can speak with their physicians and ask these three questions to ensure the transition to a less sedentary lifestyle goes smoothly.

➊ SHOULD I GET A HEART CHECKUP?

In an interview with Penn Medicine, Neel Chokshi, MD, MBA, medical director of Penn Sports Cardiology and Fitness Program, noted the risk of heart attack or cardiac complications slightly increases when individuals begin to participate in a moderate or intense activity. So, a physician might want to conduct a heart checkup to determine if a patient has an underlying heart condition.

➋ WHICH TYPES OF ACTIVITIES SHOULD I LOOK TO?

A physician also can recommend certain activities depending on a person’s age and medical background. Though exercise is beneficial for everyone, certain activities may not be. For example, AdventHealth notes that highimpact activities like jogging and jump rope may not be suited for individuals with arthritis.

➌ SHOULD I TAKE EXTRA CAUTION WHILE ON MEDICATION?

The CDC notes that roughly 84% of adults between the ages of 60 and 79 use one or more prescription medications. Each medication produces different effects, and a 2016 study published in the Methodist DeBakey Cardiovascular Journal noted that certain medications evoke an acute drop in blood pressure, which can disturb balance and increase fall risk, while others facilitate greater improvements in health outcomes. That means the dynamic between medications and exercise is unique to each medication, which underscores the importance of speaking with a physician whenever a fitness regimen is started or tweaked and/or a new medication is prescribed.

Bobby “PopPop” Aday works at the speed bag inside PopPops Boxing Gym in Tuscumbia. [DAN BUSEY/TIMESDAILY]

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STILL IN THE GAME BUT NOT COMPETING

Bobby Aday shares his love of boxing

By Chelsea Retherford For Living 50 Plus

When Bobby Aday is asked why he opened Pop Pop’s Boxing Gym in Tuscumbia after retiring from owning a construction company for 25 years, his answer is straight if not a little ambitious.

“My goal is to change the world through the sport of boxing,” Aday said. Aday — who earned his nickname, Coach Pop Pop, from his grandkids — opened the niche gym about two years ago before he officially ended his professional career.

“I was actually doing them both for a little bit, but I finally made the decision to take the leap and go,” said Aday, who turned 53 last year. “This is what I’m going to do until it’s over.

Bobby “PopPop” Aday works at the speed bag inside PopPops Boxing Gym in Tuscumbia. [DAN BUSEY/ TIMESDAILY]

Bobby “PopPop” Aday, right, talks with a student before a match. [COURTESY]

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“Construction was my Plan A. I had no Plan B. My Plan B turned out to be something that I love and that I have loved my whole life. You can be a boxing coach. You can still be in the game and not be competing.”

Aday said his passion for the sport began when he was about six years old, and he saw “Sugar Ray” Ray Charles Leonard on television after he had won a gold medal at the 1975 Pan American Games. What Aday said impressed him the most was that the rising boxing contender competed in the light welterweight division.

“This guy was no bigger than my father,” Aday said. “So, that made me look to the sport like, ‘Hey, this is not just about being big. It’s about being good in the sport.’”

At the time his interest was sparked, he was devastated to learn there were no true boxing gyms in his area. He said he had to let his passion die for a little while, but he kept the spark alive by training in “boxing fitness,” which he said taught him some

of the basics but wasn’t focused on much more than conditioning. Aday said he did get to compete some when he was younger, but he never achieved as much in the sport as he’d hoped for himself. Now, he wants to help other hopefuls, young and old, who have dreams of becoming a boxing champion.

“My oldest student is 64 years old,” Aday said. “The thing is, you’re never too young to learn, and you’re never too old to get fit.”

Aday attributes his good health to his own love of boxing, which has kept him active most of his life.

“I am in perfect health for a 40 year old. I am 53 years old. That

Bobby “PopPop” Aday, left, works through focus mitt training with a student inside PopPops Boxing Gym in Tuscumbia. [DAN BUSEY/ TIMESDAILY]

Bobby “PopPop” Aday, left, demonstrates correct footwork. [DAN BUSEY/ TIMESDAILY]

makes a big difference,” he said. “When you go in and you do the regular checks that a 50-year-old man does, and the guy looks at you and goes, ‘Man, you’re perfect, you’re perfect, you’re perfect.’

“That’s the only thing you can attribute it to. I eat well. I exercise regularly. I run three fitness boxing classes a week. I do personals during the day. I do group classes at night. I never stop.

“That’s the thing. You have to be willing to put in the work in anything that you do,” he said. “ =That’s what boxing teaches us, whether we’re doing the drills, or whether we’re doing the work at our job. You have to do the best that you can do. You have to put in the work.”

Aday argues too that boxing has done more for him in his life than help to keep him fit. It’s a message he hopes to pass down to anyone who walks through the front door of his gym at 106 Water St.

“Everything we do in life, we learn in that ring. Sometimes you have to take a step back to throw the best punch,” he said. “Champions are made one step at a time. You just have to make that first step, and decide, ‘I want to get in better shape. I want to get fit.’

“Boxing is the perfect way to make that happen. Not only will you learn and get fit, but you’ll also learn how to defend yourself. You’ll learn how to respect yourself and how to respect other people. That’s the goal of this gym. It’s just to make better humans.”

AT GARDENING A MASTER

John Norton sits while holding a potted African blue basil.

In the next couple of weeks, John Norton will begin putting out tomato and pepper sprouts he’s been nurturing and monitoring in his basement since February.

Though his home garden boasts several raised beds that produce a wide variety of fruits, vegetables, herbs and berries all year long, Norton is known locally among his fellow Master Gardeners as a tomato and pepper plant expert.

“If you have a question about raising tomatoes, John is our goto guy,” said Lisa Maples, former president of the Shoals Master Gardeners Association. However, Norton admits that hasn’t always been the case.

He says much of what he knew about gardening was enhanced by classes he took in joining the association.

To become a Master Gardner, interested participants must pass an intensive horticulture training course provided by the national

By Chelsea Retherford For Living 50 Plus

Master Gardeners Association. Graduates from the program are also required to volunteer in their communities by giving lectures, creating and maintaining gardens, conducting research and other projects.

Just as Maples refers to Norton as a “go-to” for tomatoes and peppers, she said she frequently refers to fellow Master Gardener Paula Kelley whenever she has questions about native plants. “I do recognize them, but that’s something I learned since I’ve joined the Master Gardeners,” Kelley replies humbly.

Norton agrees with the stance.

“With vegetable gardening, I felt like I knew a lot, but I found out I didn’t know much at all,” he said with a laugh. “You know, with gardening, you’re learning a little bit every time you do it.

If something works, you have something to build on. If it doesn’t work, then you know

you’ve got to make a change.” He and Kelley said their club, like many Master Gardeners associations across the state and country, have dozens of members in the area that can assist interested beginners and veteran growers alike.

“If people have problems with their gardens, I’ve learned where to find answers,” Norton said, before he listed several people who have dedicated their research to specific plants, or a particular aspect of gardening that allowed them to specialize in their passion.

“Arbor Wilson is our go-to expert in flower arranging,” Norton said.

“Margie Anderton, native plants. She is the go-to person for the TVA wildflower trail. Tommy Flurry, peaches. There are many, many more. Somebody could call up a question about one plant or another, and we could find somebody within our group who could help them.”

John Norton pulls thyme from his herb garden. [DAN BUSEY/TIMESDAILY]

John Norton’s a pepper and tomato expert

Kelley said answers to questions can usually be found on the Alabama Cooperative Extension System’s website — www.aces.edu — but the site can also direct inquirers to Master Gardener experts on their topic.

Norton discovered his special interests were growing tomatoes and peppers from seeds.

Norton tells people before he joined the Master Gardeners in 2013, his tomatoes were surviving. Now that he’s learned some of the science behind his gardening practices, he says his tomatoes are thriving.

“The things that old time farmers and older people know about gardening, they’re all good, but they didn’t know the science behind the things they were doing,” he said. “A lot of the things they were doing were exactly right.”

Since joining the volunteer program, Norton said he’s learned some tested tricks that help him grow bigger, healthier tomatoes every season.

A couple of those tips include adding calcium nitrate fertilizer to the soil throughout the vegetable’s growing season, and spraying his tomatoes for blight, a plant disease typically caused by fungi.

Norton said he starts all his tomato and pepper seeds about the same time each year — in the early spring or late winter. This year, he planted rows of jalapeños, serranos, Thai chiles, and Ghost peppers in small peat pots around Feb. 19. He planted his tomato seeds the following weekend.

Rows of Serrano, jalapeño and ghost peppers growing inside John Norton’s home. [DAN BUSEY/TIMESDAILY]

John Norton’s hot sauces at his home. [DAN BUSEY/TIMESDAILY]

Jam made of muscadine by John Norton. [DAN BUSEY/TIMESDAILY]

By Feb. 28, he had lots of little pepper seedlings sprouting tall, soaking in the light from the heating stations Norton built in his basement in Killen. The peppers still had several weeks of indoor nurturing to go before they were ready to be transplanted to the outdoor beds.

“Tomatoes and peppers are warm weather plants. A couple of chilly nights and the weather will knock them down,” Norton said. “The Extension Service recommends not putting warm weather plants out in the garden until after April 15. After I start the tomato seeds, it takes seven weeks for them to get ready to put outside.”

Though he started in late February, he said gardeners can choose when to plant their seeds based on when they hope to harvest the fruit.

“The Extension Service office has a chart that illustrates when they should plant in the ground,” Norton sad. “If you want to harvest tomatoes the first week of July, then

you back up so many weeks and start your planting then. You can calculate and arrange the exact time for when you want to pick your tomatoes.”

He said most varieties of tomatoes take 55 to 75 days to mature after the healthy plant has sprouted. He chooses to start from seed seven weeks before that growing period to give him better control of his harvest.

“I love to start the seeds because there are new varieties of pepper seeds every year. There are thousands. I can’t get to them all,” he said. “I plant what I call my money plants — they’re the ones I use for canning.”

Norton and his wife, Iris, enjoy fresh tomato juice all summer. He cans enough so they keep a stock of juice all year. His love for gardening means he gets most of his produce and herbs from his own backyard.

“So, you know, I have tried-and-

true tomato plants — the ones I grow specifically for canning. Then I’ll try to grow some different ones each year just for bragging purposes,” he said.

When Norton first began growing peppers from seed, he also started dabbling in hot sauce making.

Though he admits he doesn’t particularly enjoy the spicier peppers and sauces, he prefers growing some of the hottest peppers he can find.

“It’s fun. I try to keep one bottle of each sauce I make,” he said. “I have quite the collection now.”

After developing a new recipe for the peppers he grew in that particular season, Norton bottles the sauce, gives it a name and slaps a fun label on the bottle. Then he gives most of his product away.

“There are some hot-sauce-crazy people,” he said and laughed.

“There are quite a few Florence Police officers who love hot sauce. I give them everything I can.”

When asked about his recipes and process, he answers: “It’s a state secret,” acknowledging the role his hometown plays in his gardening life.

Norton wasn’t always an Alabama grower, however.

He was born in Michigan, where his mother, Betty, earned a degree in landscape design from Michigan State University.

“She influenced the way I looked at plants and gardening,” Norton said. “We had a small garden in which we raised vegetables, and she taught me how to do that. We had a lot of fruit trees that they had planted. We harvested apples, plums and pears and peaches.”

Even when the family moved to New Jersey when Norton was young, he said his family always kept fruits and vegetables growing in their yard.

“I grew up in the north part of New Jersey with the rocks. That was primarily my job, picking up rocks and getting them out of the garden area. It wasn’t much fun, but I tried to make it fun,” he said. “Mostly, we grew green beans, zucchini, and squash. Things like that.”

When Norton moved to Florence in 1990 for work, he admits he didn’t have much time for gardening. He certainly didn’t have the free time for all the volunteer work required of him as a Master Gardener.

As a contract manager for Raytheon, formerly known as Rust Engineering, based in Birmingham, Norton was among the engineers on a NASA project that oversaw construction of a rocket plant in Iuka, Mississippi. Later, Norton began working with aluminum supplier Constellium in Muscle Shoals.

When he retired from that position in 2012, he said he had more free time to pick the hobby back up, but he found a new set of challenges when he first began to plant vegetables in North Alabama soil.

“It was quite interesting to try to deal with the red clay of the South,” he said. “Believe it or not, it is not easy to garden in North Alabama. It’s very difficult, actually. There are too many things that can influence your crop. The climate gets too hot. The air is too moist, and the soil is the worst I’ve ever seen. When

we moved to Killen, I found out I couldn’t put a shovel in the ground without hitting rocks.”

Though gardening in North Alabama is tough, it’s not impossible.

Through his work with the Master Gardeners, Norton said he’s learned to do most of his planting in raised beds outside his home. At one time, he even helped manage several raised beds along with other Master Gardeners, Lauderdale County Extension agents, and area residents for a community garden outside the Lauderdale County Extension Office in Florence.

“Anyone with Master Gardeners would be happy to help people learn how to build raised beds. We’ve done it for several schools in the area, individuals and other groups,” Nor ton said.

While he admits Master Gardening isn’t necessarily for everyone, he recommends the club to any interested gardener who has the time to dedicate to the program, even if they are just beginning to test their green thumb.

“I’ve met a lot of interesting people and befriended many,” he added. “A lot of times, we’ll do some gardening projects together, and that’s fun. It’s great to have like-minded people helping with projects.”

“This helps your community,” Kelley said. “It helps you get out and get exercise. It helps you socialize with other people. It’s just a win-win.”

When Norton isn’t “winning” with his fellow Master Gardeners, he said he’s reaping the rewards from his labors at home when he shares his fruits with family and friends.

“When I feed the kids and grandkids, that’s when it’s the most rewarding,” he said. “You don’t have to make them — they’ll try everything. We’ve got blackberries, raspberries and blue berries too. There’s something for everybody here.”

John Norton pulls thyme from his herb garden. [DAN BUSEY/TIMESDAILY]

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PURPLE IRISES at Ivy Green

Paula Kelley, Jenia Bradford maintain ground at historic home

By Chelsea Retherford For Living 50 Plus

Master Gardeners Paula Kelley and Jenia Bradford have been members of the program long enough to find areas they specialize in, but both gardeners credit Betty and Dennis Balch for building the Shoals Association into the organization it is today.

Bradford said the Shoals Master Gardeners owe some of their biggest ongoing projects, like the association’s efforts in maintaining the grounds at Ivy Green in Tuscumbia, to Betty Balch.

“She can tell you where all these plants came from and why they planted them, because she did all the research on the history of this place to determine what to plant here,” Bradford said.

Kelley agreed.

“Betty was fantastic, and she was really dedicated to her research,” Kelley said. “She came in and

Paula Kelly, left, and Ginna Bradford converse as they replant irises at Ivy Green. [DAN BUSEY/ TIMESDAILY]

A small home and plants made by Paula Kelly appears at Ivy Green. [DAN BUSEY/TIMESDAILY]

knew what would be planted here when the Keller family was here. That’s why we have Kate’s garden between the house and the little house. A lot of things that still grow here are things that Betty found that would be indicative of that time.”

Kelley, who specializes in native plants, said she learned the bulk of her expertise from the Balches.

She and Sue Pilkilton, the executive director of the historic Helen Keller home, said the purple irises that bloom in beds around the home place were first brought to the property by Helen Keller’s niece, Patty Tyson Johnson.

Kelley listed several ornamentals, like oakleaf hydrangeas, coneflowers, and Lamb’s-ear, that are native to Alabama and will thrive and multiply in the region for generations.

The irises planted by Patty Tyson Johnson years ago had multiplied so much, the Shoals Master Gardeners have propagated the

flowering plants every four years or so to prevent crowding.

Flowers taken from the beds are often transplanted to other areas on the grounds. Sometimes, there are enough leftover bulbs to share with area residents through the annual Master Gardener’s plant sale, which is the volunteer club’s largest fundraiser.

“About every three or four years, you need to kind of redo the bed. You take out some and pass them along,” said Kelley, who admits she enjoys sharing plants, sprouts, and seedlings as much as she loves sharing gardening tips.

Master Gardener Lisa Maples joined Kelley and Bradford at Ivy Green this February to help

Lisa Maples pulls a system of irises at Ivy Green. [DAN BUSEY/TIMESDAILY]

thin one of the iris beds that had stopped producing the purple flowers.

“You see they’re so close,” Maples pointed to a group of plants in the bed. “They’re close together, and the center gap here means that’s where one started. The ‘mother’ has caused all these babies (sprouts), and then the mother dies.”

Though Maples is also a veteran grower, she said she never knew iris mother bulbs needed to be discarded before transplanting the new sprouts back to the flower bed until recently attending a lecture at the University School of Jackson in Tennessee.

Maples said the lecture was led by former Lauderdale County Extension Home Grounds Agent Taylor Reeder, who explained that at the center of the iris rhizomes lies the mother.

“Everybody tries to break them all apart and replant the middle,” Maples said. “The middle one is

done. That’s why I couldn’t ever get the thing to grow. You just break it off. Even if you see it’s got roots. You might think, oh it’s going to do something. No, Taylor taught us that it’s not going to do anything.”

While the Master Gardener group began propagating the bed in February, Maples said home gardeners can transplant their irises any time during the year. But she doesn’t recommend taking on

the task in the middle of a North Alabama summer.

“The dead of summer is probably not the best time. They’re going to suffer and you’re going to suffer because you’re out here digging irises,” she said.

Most of the time, a tell-tale sign that a flower bed needs propagating is when the plants begin to lose their blooms, or aren’t thriving as much as they typically do in the growing season, Maples said.

She added that most ornamentals with tubers, like irises and oakleaf hydrangeas, are propagated in similar ways.

Pointing to an oakleaf plant near the stage at Ivy Green, Maples explained that “runners” or branches off the mother plant will develop roots of their own underground.

To propagate the runner, she said gardeners make a cut with some pruners on the side of the branch still connected to the mother.

Then they dig up the roots and the sprouting branch to plant in another bed.

“We just need to make sure we don’t hurt the main root of the plant,” Maples said. “You go in and thin them out. They just grow, like gangbusters. They love the shade.”

While some plants do not like being disturbed, Maples and Kelley said native plants with rhizomes or bulbs are typically easy to propagate and transplant.

Lisa Maples separates fresh growth from old for irises. [DAN BUSEY/TIMESDAILY]

Ginna Bradford replants irises. [DAN BUSEY/TIMESDAILY]

“Azaleas are similar, but they’re not easy,” Maples said. “If you’ve got any azaleas that have branches on the ground, you can propagate them and plant. They’re one of the hardest ones to do, but it can be done. They’re finicky.”

While azaleas are native to the area, Kelley said many non-native plants can be “finicky” in a Southern environment too.

“You do need to look at that,” she said. “Are you falling in love with something that’s only going to live in Michigan? You’re probably not going to succeed with it.”

HOW TO PROPAGATE IRISES

If you’re a beginning gardener and want to learn some basic propagation, you can follow the steps laid out by the Shoals Master Gardeners as they worked in the irises this spring.

If you have questions about another plant, or want to learn more about becoming a Master Gardener, the club members recommend visiting www.aces.edu, or contacting the toll-free Master Gardener Helpline at 1-877-ALA-GROW.

According to Master Gardener Lisa Maples, it’s time to propagate your

bed of irises when the area becomes too crowded, and the flowers are no longer blooming. It’s a good gardening practice to propagate the flower bed once every three or four years.

STEP ONE: Work the soil loose and pull the irises, which often grow in systems of two or three bulbs, up from the ground.

“When you have two or three connected like this, that’s when you should consider propagating,” Maples illustrates. “You also notice, they’re sitting almost on top of the ground. We’ve not really dug anything.”

As irises do not need much soil to thrive, most of the plants are easily extracted from the bed without much effort. Occasionally, when Maples struggles to lift an iris, she picks up a small spade to further break up the topsoil.

STEP TWO: Separate bulbs that have grown together by “tickling apart” the roots systems, Maples said.

Whenever you find two or three bulbs connected, and one of the bulbs is not producing any leaves — although roots may be protruding from rhizome — this indicates an

iris mother has completed her life cycle.

STEP THREE: Discard the mothers.

“That’s the part that is not (producing) anything,” Maples said. “You just break it off. They’re very tender now. I’m not having to cut them apart with a knife.”

Maples said mothers can be snapped off the thriving sprout where the rhizomes meet at a joint.

PRO TIP: If you aren’t planning on returning young bulbs back to the bed or transplanting any to another bed right away, Maples said the iris sprouts can be stored in a cool, dry space for no longer than a week or two.

“If it’s freezing, you’d have to cover them up,” added Master Gardener Paula Kelley. “Put them in a box and under shelter. You don’t want the cold getting to them, and you don’t want them drying out in the sun.”

Maples said the roots need air to prevent rot.

If you’re planning on transporting a few sprouts to a friend, Maples and Kelley recommend adding a little soil to the storage box, or wrapping the rhizomes in newspaper.

“I might even pot them up. These are good pass-along plants,” Kelley said.

STEP FOUR: Prepare the flower bed by further breaking up the soil. If transplanting, be sure to break up the soil in the new area as well.

Maples said irises are hardy plants that can thrive in almost any spot, but you can expect fuller blooms if you select a flower bed with plenty of sunlight.

Take care to remove any weeds and grass, Master Gardener Jenia Bradford said, adding that the new bed doesn’t have to be very large.

“I’m just going to plant a few down through here. They will multiply,” she said. “When you plant one, next year, you’ll have three. They’re not invasive. They grow in a kind of clump.”

Lisa Maples points to the mother of the system of irises. [DAN BUSEY/ TIMESDAILY]

PRO TIP: Although the Master Gardeners skipped this step at Ivy Green, Bradford said she often trims yellowing or brown leaves in her iris beds as she is preparing to propagate.

“I trim all the brown places off,” she said. “They’ll put on new leaves and grow back just as they were. They’re really tough plants.”

STEP FIVE: Replant the sprouts, just covering the rhizomes and roots up to the leaves.

Maples said the rhizome does not have to be fully submerged to grow, but it’s a good idea to add a small amount of soil to stabilize the plant.

“You don’t want to drown your iris by giving it too much soil,” she said. “The first instinct is to dig and get it in deep. Then you end up rotting the plant away. You want to put them back as they were originally — no deeper than they were when they came out of the ground.”

Maples and Bradford said the irises should be replanted about three to four inches apart to give the plants room to spread.

PRO TIP: As Bradford replanted the irises, she placed three several inches apart in a triangle formation.

“This is the way Betty (Balch) taught us,” she said. “We plant mostly annuals in triangles. They look better. As they grow, they don’t crowd each other, but they fill in.”

OPTIONAL STEP SIX: Finish the bed by adding mulch like pine needles around the irises to prevent grass and weeds from invading the bed.

Doris Achenbach sits inside her home. [DAN BUSEY/TIMESDAILY]

Doris Alewine found love in her US home

By Chelsea Retherford For Living 50 Plus

Whenever Doris Achenbach Alewine shares her story, she almost always begins with her early life in Germany during World War II.

“I always say, I almost got killed by the Americans in 1945, and then in 1967, I became one of them,” she shares the anecdote with a small laugh.

Though she’s proud to be an American, and to have established her family and raised all four of her children in Colbert County, she doesn’t hold back what it was like to have her small hometown of Hartenrod bombed multiple times by U.S. air forces.

“The worst was in ’45 on a Sunday afternoon,” Alewine recounts. “I was sitting in the basement in a bomb shelter at my grandmother’s. She lived about a mile-anda-half from my house. We came out of Sunday school one afternoon — my grandmother lived next door — and the whole neighborhood fled to her basement because the planes were making their rounds.”

Doris Achenbach points to a German doll from back home. [DAN BUSEY/ TIMESDAILY]

Doris Achenbach’s Hummel figurine collection. [DAN BUSEY/TIMESDAILY PHOTOS]

A painting of the church steeple of Hartenrod.

Doris Achenbach shows a piece of the Berlin Wall.

Alewine said she was about eight years old when the bombings took place.

Now, at 87, she makes sure her grandchildren and great grandchildren never leave her home by Colbert Heights High School without hearing the words “Ich liebe dich.”

The German phrase means “I love you,” in English.

Alewine’s oldest daughter, Roxanne Walker, admits she and her siblings never learned the German language. Well, all except her younger sister, Kim Carson, who minored in German at Samford University in Birmingham and forged a career with her bilingual skills with Delta Air Lines.

“Then it was not fashionable,” Walker said. “When we were small, Mom was becoming Americanized, and so we would speak English at home. Dad didn’t want her speaking German because she was trying to become Americanized. It was not a popular thing back then.”

Today, Walker is thrilled her mother is passing down their family’s German heritage to her children and grandchildren.

Though she and her brothers and sister grew up hearing many of their mother’s childhood stories, they were missing pieces of Alewine’s tale until about 20 years or so ago.

After the war, Alewine had met a U.S. soldier from North Alabama who was stationed in Frankfurt, Germany, about an hour from her hometown. In the mid-50s, they became engaged. Though it took a while for Alewine to obtain her visa, eventually, she landed in Tuscumbia.

Carson said she was a teenager when she found out that the man who had enticed her mother to move to Alabama was not her father, Burrell Thomas Alewine.

“He was a soldier, but she never told us when we were growing up about ‘the other man,’” Carson said. “We grew up thinking she met Dad in Germany.”

Alewine is quick to interject that she very well could have met her husband in Germany — the late Burrell Alewine was stationed in Friedberg around the same time she took a job with an American family settled in the area.

Though she came to Tuscumbia engaged to another man, the mysterious soldier wasn’t willing to

wait for her while she worked to obtain citizenship.

“It took me eight months to get my visa, and he didn’t wait for me to get here,” Alewine said. “He got married, but his family was expecting me. I think they was a little upset with him that he did that.”

While things didn’t work out exactly as she’d planned, Alewine said fate would have a better plan. Now her children know the real story of how she and their father hit things off.

“I went to church at First Baptist Tuscumbia, and I walked from where I lived,” she retells. “Their Daddy was driving by from the church in a car, and he wanted to know if I needed a ride. He had just

come back from Germany, being in the Army. There was that. We met, we talked about Germany, and eventually, it all worked out.”

Carson said she enjoys talking with her mother about her old life, and from time to time, the two converse in German.

“The Americans used to weigh them in school, and Mom would get an extra cup of soup if she fell below a certain weight,” she said, sharing one of her mother’s stories of growing up in Germany in the aftermath of the Second Great War.

“We had no food,” Alewine chimes in. “In school, we got weighed, and if you weighed too little, you got extra food handed to you by the Americans. I’d never heard of peanut butter before. I cannot stand peanut butter to this day.”

Some of those stories hold bittersweet memories, like the tale of Alewine’s mother sewing her a dress made from an Army blanket, or how the family hid their camera secure enough so that it wasn’t found by American soldiers raiding homes for valuables in their town during the war.

Other memories were devasting and will stay with Alewine for the rest of her life.

She retold her vivid memories of seeing Russian soldiers shot in the street by American soldiers. She remembers having to throw herself down a hill as an American plane dropped bombs on a train crossing a rail bridge just yards away from where she was standing.

“I covered my head with my schoolbooks when I saw the plane was after the train,” she said. “It bombed the last two cars on the train after it got across. The bridge was not damaged. I was about eight years old, but I know it like it was yesterday.”

Carson and Walker said they understand their mother isn’t trying to paint American soldiers in a bad light, but they know she lived

Doris Achenbach points to her childhood home as it looks today. [DAN BUSEY/TIMESDAILY]

Doris Achenbach shows a picture featuring the church steeple and gravesite of her mother in Hartenrod. [DAN BUSEY/ TIMESDAILY]

through many traumas brought on by the war.

“Mom hasn’t been able to watch the Ukraine and Russian conflicts,” Carson said.

“I don’t want to watch it. I’ve seen the war firsthand, and I don’t want to see nothing again,” Alewine replied. “People don’t know anything about the war.”

Living in North Alabama, Alewine is grateful she was able to bring her children up in a home untouched by military invasion.

“The place of milk and honey,” she calls her new home country. She also admits she didn’t understand a lot of what the conflicts were about until she came to the U.S. She said she had no idea the horrors that were being inflicted upon Jewish Germans around the same time her hometown of about 1,000 people was being terrorized by Allies hoping to bring an end to massacres.

“I learned so much more about the war when I came over here than I ever knew in Germany,” she said. “We didn’t know what was going on. I didn’t know (about the concentration camps), but years later, I visited them.”

Alewine said she’s taken her children and some of her grandchildren to Germany many

times. She said she was also fortunate to have her mother come stateside every time one of her children was born, and when most of her grandchildren were born.

“My mother came 13 times to visit,” Alewine said proudly.

She adds that her sister, Elfie, who is her younger sibling by about 17 years, has made a trip to the U.S.

Doris Achenbach takes a walk near her home. [DAN BUSEY/TIMESDAILY]

Picture of Doris Achenbach, left, and her sister Elfi. [DAN BUSEY/TIMESDAILY PHOTOS]

Doris Achenbach points to a photograph showing her shock when her family gave her a surprise birthday party.

Doris Achenbach shows a photograph of herself when she was 16 years old.

almost annually in recent years.

Although Alewine hasn’t been back to her childhood home in about four years, she made the voyage an annual trip with her good friend, Doris Guthrie.

“She is three years younger than me, so I’m Doris 1, and she is Doris 2,” Alewine said, adding that her close friend who shares her first name also shares her nationality.

The two Dorises met in the Tennessee Valley, but Guthrie was born and raised in Frankfurt.

Alewine said the two visited Germany together every year around November, just in time for Advent or Christmas celebrations to begin in their home country. The two friends also cruised together many times, visiting places like the Virgin Island of Saint Thomas, Honolulu, Hawaii, and Tasmania, Australia.

Though the COVID pandemic and some health concerns halted much

of her travel overseas, Alewine hopes to see her hometown again one day. If she gets to make the trip again, she knows she’ll be welcomed by many old friends and family that still live in the area. “Every year when I got to go home, we had a big gathering. All I had to do was tell my sister,” Alewine said with a laugh.

Carson said her mother is often admired in her hometown for making a new life in the land of opportunity.

“Mom is pretty famous in her little town,” she said. “You can imagine, even when she got older, because she is the one who went to America and had her family.”

Doris Achenbach points out her home in Hartenrod to her daughter, Roxanne. [DAN BUSEY/TIMESDAILY]

YOUR BODY KNOWS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN GOOD STRESS AND BAD STRESS: DO YOU?

By Sharon Theimer Mayo Clinic News Network (TNS)

LONDON — It may be surprising to hear, but medically speaking, not all stress is bad. Healthy stress levels help build resilience, says Safia Debar, MBBS, a stress management expert at Mayo Clinic Healthcare in London. In this expert alert, Dr. Debar explains the difference between good and bad stress and how to tell when you are in danger of overload.

Stress is a physical and psychological reaction to a demand, and that demand can be anything, Dr. Debar says. Stress that is good for us and may even give us a sense of well-being is eustress, the opposite of distress. The same event — for example, getting married — might provoke either one, Dr. Debar says. “It’s about the perception of

that stress and how your body is actually handling it,” Dr. Debar says. “Chronic stress will impact every organ system in the body: You might feel anxiety, depression and digestive issues, for example.”

Stress prompts a cascade of reactions within the mind and body as you mount a stress response, Dr. Debar says. Under normal stress, a person starts at a baseline of relaxation, encounters a stressor, the stress response begins, rises to a peak, and then comes back down to baseline.

Among the physical changes that may occur when you perceive a threat:

▸ The sympathetic nervous system and production of the primary stress hormone, cortisol, activate.

▸ Thinking becomes negative as you experience or anticipate something bad. Attention becomes hyperfocused on what is happening.

▸ The heart, lungs and muscles prepare for you to fight or run. There is increased heart rate, blood pressure and breathing rate as the body needs to deliver more oxygen to cells. Muscles tense.

▸ The digestive and reproductive systems aren’t needed, so their activities slow.

▸ The immune system turns its attention from fighting microscopic invaders such as viruses or cancer cells and goes into an inflammatory mode, increasing its production of proteins called cytokines that adjust this process.

▸ When someone realizes the threat has passed, the body begins to repair itself from this response and “tidy up.” It shifts to a repair, renew and growth state as the stress response is mopped up. Physically, breathing and heart rate slow down, blood pressure normalizes, you take more expansive breaths, muscular tension eases, the digestive and reproductive systems resume normal activity, and you may begin to connect with others to recount the threat you just experienced, Dr. Debar says.

“If you go up in stress and then come back down, you have completed our cycle. There’s no wear and tear, there’s no damage,” Dr. Debar says. “In fact, it’s probably good for you because it leads to greater resilience. If you’ve ever overcome a stressful event in life, processed it fully and completed that cycle, then the next similar experience you have, you think, ‘Oh no, but I can do it.’”

However, when someone is repeatedly under too much stress, the ability to go back to baseline slowly starts to wane, Dr. Debar says.

“You can go up in stress and stay there, having a prolonged response. This is when you’re hypervigilant: You’re wired but tired, you’re anxious,” Dr. Debar says. “Or, life has thrown at you

so many stressors, that you respond inadequately. It is the lack of recovery rather than the actual stressor itself that is critical. After a while, you may just numb out and show no response.”

Sometimes people think it would be good to show no response, Dr. Debar adds, but internally the stress response and its cascade of internal activities are still happening. They are just hidden.

There are several signs that you may be in danger of stress overload and it is time to address it, Dr. Debar says:

▸ If stress feels unremitting and constant.

▸ If stress feels uncontrollable and you’re unable to relax or feel like you’re on autopilot.

▸ If you have problems regulating emotions.

▸ If you start hiding from life and/or people.

▸ You’re experiencing physical symptoms such as headaches, chest pain, stomach upsets, problems sleeping, or getting sick more often.

▸ “Think about how your body handles stress, and how you handle it emotionally, physically and in your relationships,” Dr. Debar says. “What do you do, what do you not do.”

Chronic stress can have long-term health effects. People who feel ongoing physical symptoms or find that lifestyle changes do not seem to help should consult with their health care team, Dr. Debar says.

Great part-time jobs you might consider

By Metrocreative

Many adults nearing retirement age count down the days until they can bid adieu to the daily tasks of commuting and working so they can enjoy much more time for recreation, travel or whatever is they aspire to do.

As enticing as unending free time may seem, some find it is not ideal to be entirely free from the responsibility of working. As current seniors can attest, inflation can drive up the costs of living, meaning that seniors who were once able to afford a certain retirement lifestyle may no longer enjoy that hard-earned luxury. Others may miss the daily opportunities to socialize that working provides, or the

way problem-solving on the job stimulates the brain. But even retirees who miss working may not be ready to return to the workforce full-time. That can make part-time employment an ideal fit for mature workers.

Here’s a look at some part-time positions that could be a good fit for older adults reentering the workforce.

Retail sales associate

Working in retail opens seniors up to a wide array of responsibilities and scenarios. Jobs may include greeting customers, making sales, putting out inventory, and helping customers select merchandise. Being personable and having good customer service skills are necessary traits to have when

working in retail. Many stores offer part-time employees flexible hours so schedules can be customized.

Consultant

Retirees who loved their job but wanted to spend less time doing it can return as consultants.

According to The Balance: Money, individuals often find they earn more per hour working as consultants than they did as fulltime staff members. Consulting is a way to share expertise and experience without making a fulltime commitment.

Customer service representative

A customer service representative is tasked with helping customers solve problems and ensuring customer satisfaction. He or she may work in a traditional office or store location, or answer calls and resolve issues from home.

School positions

Retirees may want to consider jobs working in schools or in related capacities. Driving a school bus is an option if people are willing to undergo the proper training and licensing to operate this type of vehicle. Seniors also may consider working as lunchroom aides or lunch service providers, crossing guards, substitute teachers, and paraprofessionals. School employees will only work a few hours during the day. They’ll also enjoy many holidays off as well as summer vacations.

Receptionist

Receptionists greet patients or customers in office settings. According to AARP, they are the welcoming faces of organizations. Answering phones and light clerical work also may be required of receptionists. Those who want to work off-peak hours can think about working nights and weekends in hospitals or skilled nursing facilities.

Moderate-intensity activities that can improve overall health

By Metrocreative

Exercise is an important component of a healthy lifestyle. The current Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services indicates adults need 150 minutes of moderateintensity physical activity each week. But what constitutes moderateintensity physical activity?

Moderate-intensity physical activity gets the heart pumping, but only around one in five adults and teens get enough exercise to maintain good health, says the American Heart Association. It may be because people are having difficulty figuring

out what constitutes moderateintensity activity. Here is a more detailed explanation of the types of activities considered moderateintensity.

▸ Walking very briskly (roughly four miles per hour)

▸ Heavy cleaning, like washing windows, vacuuming and mopping

▸ Mowing the lawn with a power mower

▸ Bicycling with light effort (10 to 12 miles per hour)

▸ Playing recreational badminton

▸ Playing doubles tennis

▸ Slow dancing

▸ Shooting a basketball

▸ Water aerobics

▸ Playing volleyball

▸ Heavy gardening

▸ Painting and decorating

Anything that doesn’t increase heart rate and breathing speed will not count as moderate-intensity activity towards the recommended amount of activity. However, any exercise is better than no exercise at all. As long as an activity breaks up long periods of sitting still, doctors says it is still beneficial.

BREAKING NEWS

We have exciting news at McBride Benefits & Insurance Group! Yesterday, February 29, 2024, we have officially acquired The Hunter Benefits Group formerly owned by Mike & Marilyn Hunter We look forward to meeting all of our new accounts and clients in the coming days and providing them the same great service and care we are known for

Empty nester? Consider repurposing your extra bedrooms

By Metrocreative

It can be bittersweet when adult children decide the time has come to move out of the family home. Parents perhaps get their first trial run of this scenario when their children go off to college or enlist in the military. Rooms are left empty, if only for a certain period of time. Eventually, those rooms will remain empty as adult children move out of the house for good.

Converting a child’s bedroom into an area for adults may take some planning. It can be exciting to regain space, but at the same time, it can be disheartening to convert a child’s bedroom once and for all. When the time comes and homeowners are emotionally ready to tackle bedroom conversions, these tips can help the process go smoothly.

▸ Repurpose the space for them. Give a childhood bedroom an adult spin without changing too much. If furniture is in good shape, replace the bedding, change the flooring, swap out artwork, and remove “youthful” items like toys, trophies and other collectibles. When the child comes home to visit, he or she will still feel comfortable in the space.

▸ Create extra storage. The bedroom can be transformed into a walk-in closet or dressing space. According to the design experts at Houzz, many clients request this type of dressing room situation. There’s a bonus if the layout allows the space to connect to the owner’s suite or bathroom. This is a major overhaul, so homeowners should enlist a professional contractor.

▸ Make a fitness center. A bedroom can be turned into a home gym to make working out more convenient. Homeowners should take inventory of equipment they may have and then figure out where existing and new equipment will go. They may need to consult a structural engineer to ensure that the flooring can bear the weight of additional equipment.

▸ Create a work space. One of the best ways to transform adult children’s bedrooms is to convert the spaces into home offices. Those who have been setting up “desks” at dining room tables or

elsewhere may be excited about the prospects of finally having a private, dedicated space to work from home.

▸ Turn it into a craft room. The bedroom can be converted into a space to explore hobbies and various other interests. A dedicated craft space, a reading nook, a place to store photography equipment, or another function can serve as a useful way to repurpose an empty bedroom.

Empty nesters have many possibilities when it comes to converting their children’s old bedrooms into adult spaces.

Congratulations to

Congratulations to T he Hamm G roup for being named to t he Forbes “ Best-in-St ate Wealt h Management Teams” 2024 list , published on Januar y 9, 2024. Rankings based on data as of March 31, 2023 .

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