A great non-plan

They took a ‘Pass’ on detailed plans ... and it worked out great

Alan and Cindy Pass stand on the seawall with one of their Labradors, Bob, their son-in-law, Judd, and newest grandson, Jonathan Judson, born in April. Grandchildren MaryJo, 6, David, 4, and Alan, 2, crew the kayak with its captain, Mary Alice. The Passes’ daughter is also a major in the Army and a physician at Fort Benning, Ga. Mary Alice graduated from West Point in 2008, where Judd also graduated; he is now a stay-at-home dad and pursuing a master’s degree in divinity. Not pictured is Alan and Cindy’s son, Wayne, who attended the University of North Alabama, later earned an associate degree and is a veteran of four tours of duty in Afghanistan and Kosovo. An Army warrant officer and military intelligence specialist, Wayne is stationed at Joint Base Lewis-McCord near Tacoma, Wash.

“It all goes to show that if the best laid plans of mice and men can oft go awry, then surly the vaguest of plans of women and men can sometimes work out fine.”

Story and photos also was an instructor with both combat “Our goal,” Alan says, “has always by David Moore and administrative units. been to work hard, be good at the job and

AOn the other hand, Cindy was an invest in the future.” lan and Cindy Pass didn’t draw up floor plans for their retirement home assistant director of an Army band and was later commander of the USAREUR The first glimmer that the Passes’ on Smith Lake. They future might entail Cullman bought an existing lake and Smith Lake happened house with the idea of quickly with a plan it being their eventual extending no further than a retirement home, but as fun weekend. things worked out, they In the summer of 1996, moved here a decade Alan, Cindy and their kids, before they fully retired. Mary Alice and Wayne,

Their retirement home drove up from Jacksonville plans changed because to visit his sister, who they both unexpectedly owned a cabin at Misty found second-career jobs Harbor. with Cullman City Schools Alan and the kids at the same time. Who were exploring Smith’s would have imagined that, labyrinth of sloughs in their after their Army careers boat when they saw an marched them around the interesting lake house with U.S. and Germany for 20 a for sale sign in the yard. years? “I was impressed with

It all goes to show the appearance of the house. that if the best laid plans I brought Cindy back – of mice and men can oft go awry, then surly the Retired from the Army and second careers with Cullman City ‘just to look at it.’ She still denies it,” Alan laughs, “but vaguest of plans of women Schools, Alan and Cindy Pass –and Bob – sit on part of the deck before I knew it, she had set and men can sometimes he built six or seven years ago. “You can look at it and sit on it,” he up an appointment with a work out fine. laughs, “but if you go near it with level or a square we’re going to real estate agent.”

Even after all of these have problems.” Although he insists he has no knack for carpentry “Love at first sight” is years, the seemingly work, he’s now working on a second deck on the other side of not only a romantic term; random toppling of dominoes that landed the house. Before Alan retired from his school job and Wayne it’s a real estate term as well. them here is a source of graduated from Cullman High, they built a seawall along “It’s not big and fancy,” amusement and wonder for the waterfront of their property. In family lore it’s Cindy says of the house. Alan and Cindy, though referred to as “The Great Wall of Pass.” “It’s kind of rustic. It’s for them “seemingly tranquil and exceptional, random” would be a figure secluded and just beautiful of speech. (U.S. Army in Europe) Soldiers Chorus. … the perfect place to relax or sit on a

“It was a God thing,” Cindy says. She also served as a protocol and TAC swing with a cup of coffee.”

While both served in the Army, their (tactical) officer. The quiet slough, she recognized, military careers took divergent paths. Though their jobs differed, the Passes would be a perfect place for the kids

Alan’s first assignments were as a held similar concepts of what it takes to swim. And every room of the house platoon leader and later as a troop and to be good officers. Adhering to those offered a view of the lake. company commander of M60A1 battle concepts, they felt, were not only good All in all, it brought to mind her tanks. Among other assignments, he was for the Army, but for their personal lives. memorable summers at Lake James,

Originally built in the 1970s, the house has 2,700 square feet on three floors with four bedrooms, two baths and a laundry room. In their 24 years of living there, the Passes have done a number of remodeling and updating projects, including the kitchen and new window across the front overlooking their slough. The den and master bedroom and master bath downstairs got heated tile flooring.

Indiana’s fourth largest lake covering 1,200 acres in the northeast corner of the state.

“That was my goal,” she says, “to always come back to something like that.”

So they bought the house, planning to rent it during the year to pay off the mortgage and move there after they retired.

Well, that was the plan …

When Alan and Cindy bought the lake house, both had already retired from the military, earned master’s degrees from Jacksonville State University and started second careers, she teaching third grade and technology there in town, he teaching eighth grade geography and Alabama history in Trussville.

But when they entered the military, second careers in education were not even maybe-one-day plans.

Alan was born and raised in Birmingham, graduating in 1968 from the former Banks High School, less than 20

The guest bedroom on the main floor has a lake view and a door leading to the second deck on the north end of the house. An heirloom, the double wedding band quilt on the bed was a wedding gift to Cindy’s great grandmother.

miles from where he started his teaching career. He earned a business degree from The University of Alabama in 1972, thanks to an ROTC scholarship, which came with a two-year commitment to active duty.

His first assignment was with the 8th Infantry Division in Mannheim, Germany (1973-76), leading a platoon of five M60A1 battle tanks. Similar to the M60A3 at Cullman Veterans Memorial Park, these 105-mm wielding tanks were the mainstays of the Cold War era.

“I loved working with tanks and soldiers,” Alan says.

After taking an advanced operations course stateside, Alan returned to Germany as a captain assigned as a logistics officer for a 54-tank battalion with the 1st Armor Division near Nuremburg. From there he spent 18 months as company commander with USAREUR headquarters in Heidelberg, and then in 1979 joined an instructor group for what amounts to “basic training” of new officers at Fort Benjamin Harrison near Indianapolis.

Enter 2 Lt. Cindy, to her first assignment after earning a music degree on an ROTC scholarship from Indiana University. She was a student and Alan was one of her instructors. Neither, however, made a blip on their personal radars screens.

Afterwards, Cindy was assigned as a TAC officer in support of the course she’d just completed. In this position, she and Alan ended up in jobs that were parallel to each other. She’d ensure students got to training on time, where she’d turn them over to an instructor, which was often Alan.

“We had a great respect for each other professionally,” she says.

Maybe it wasn’t love at first sight as it was with their house, but shortly before Alan was transferred to Fort Riley, Kansas, in 1982, something blipped on that radar screen, and he invited her to a Fourth of July picnic.

“I couldn’t pass up the most handsome armor officer at Fort Harrison,” Cindy says.

Ah… so fireworks?

“Actually,” she says, “horseshoes.” And after the horseshoes, Alan left for Kansas.

“It was like a month after I left that I began to communicate with her,” he says.

“He called me every day!”

“That’s not true,” Alan insists.

Either way the relationship grew. And for her birthday on Oct. 10 he offered to fly her to Kansas to spend a few days.

“My family asked incredulously, ‘You have leave and you’re going to Kansas?!’”

The next month Alan flew her out for

The loft was Wayne’s former bedroom. Today, it multi-tasks as a guest living area, a place Cindy can work on musicals and costumes ... and somewhere Alan can store his old banjo. The loft has a door out to a landing and steps to the north deck.

Thanksgiving and, wearing their dress blues, he escorted her not to the officers club, but to the traditional dining hall buffet to eat Thanksgiving dinner with the soldiers.

“It was so easy to relate to each other,” Cindy says. “We had similar concepts of being a good officer … Do your job, take care of your soldiers and your mission will be successful.”

Alan proposed to Cindy in January 1983, just prior to a trip they’d planned later that month to ski at Lake Tahoe. But with family scattered and Alan en route to a new assignment in Germany, they figured what the heck and opted to elope.

After standing in line for a marriage license at the courthouse in Reno, they were married by a justice of the peace in the beautiful home of mutual friends in the midst of a snow storm.

After the trip, Alan deployed to the First Infantry in a small city near Stuttgart. Six months later, the Army transferred Mrs. Pass to Germany to join him.

In early 1985 they moved to a small German town between Alan’s new assignment as a major and operations officer with his old tank battalion in Mannheim, and Cindy’s assignment in Heidelberg as commander of the USAREUR Soldiers Chorus. The 18-voice choir performed and danced for dignitaries around Europe and performed good-will concerts in villages where the Army held exercises.

The Passes “lived” in a townhouse but seldom saw each other – when Cindy was at home Alan was in the field; when Alan was at home Cindy was touring Europe in a Mercedes bus entertaining the allies.

They only saw each other about six months of that year, but when they were together, they enjoyed traveling in Europe.

When they returned to the states in December 1985, Alan was assigned to Fort Pickett, Va. He was the director of planning, training, mobilization and security for the base that was primarily used by the National Guard and elite forces such as the Navy Seals and the FBI Hostage Rescue Team.

Cindy, now pregnant, left active duty and became a Reservist and the family moved into an idyllic farmhouse on Pickett’s 52,000-acres. She gave birth that March to Mary Alice and, the following year, to Wayne.

“It was the perfect place to have and raise kids,” Cindy says. “We got our first of many Labradors – Humphrey – and enjoyed the peace and quiet and security of it all.”

In 1988, Alan was assigned to an unaccompanied year in Korea as an operations officer. Knowing his next duty station was Fort McClellan, Ala., Cindy and the kids moved to neighboring Jacksonville.

Alan joined them there in 1989 with an expectation of retiring from this assignment, and education evolved into their plan for their second careers.

While at Ft. Pickett Cindy had served on a task force as part of the Army’s efforts to focus on the quality of life for young soldiers and their families.

“I got an interest in early childhood development and that led me into teaching,” she says. “As officers we were

to be a logical transition to the civilian world.”

Besides, she laughs, recalling her TAC officer days, many of her young lieutenants were a lot like third graders.

With their kids heading into school in a few years, teaching would dovetail perfectly with their lifestyle as a second career. So Cindy started studying early childhood education systemwide, initially for administrative purposes. Along with two talented technicians, he oversaw not only all this hardware, but also brought internet into every classroom.

Before retiring in 2010, he headed the initiative to provide laptops to every

musicals, such as “Seussical JR,” “Sound

of Music,” “Oklahoma” and “Pirates of

Penzance.” She also expanded classroom

technology, introduced robotics, trained

other teachers and earned National Board

Certification.

Today – along with CHS drama coach Wayne Cook and others – Cindy volunteers her passion and talent to the revived Cullman Community Theatre.

at Jax State, began teaching in Jacksonville Education was a City Schools in 1992 fulfilling second career and earned her master’s for both of them. in 1994. “Alan, with the

Alan, still on active help of many talented duty at Fort McClellan, people, did some took night and weekend unbelievable things courses at Jax State. with technology in the After retiring in ’93 as school system,” Cindy a lieutenant colonel, says. “And everything he earned his master’s I did in the Army set in social studies and me up for success in started teaching at teaching, especially at Hewitt-Trussville the high school.” Middle School in ’93. The Army exercised

They bought their considerable control lake house in 1996, Not surprisingly, the Passes pack a lot of military and family pride. Some over their lives, the figuring their second of it on a living room table includes civilian and Army photos of Wayne Passes say. They careers were set: they’d and Mary Alice. Cindy has West Point blankets from Mary Alice and worked long days, often retire in 10 years or so her husband depicting their graduation years. The binoculars are for under heavy pressure. and move to Cullman spotting wildlife, such as big turtles and, recently, red tail hawks. But housing, insurance County. As mentioned and such were provided earlier, that was the for them. plan … “We didn’t plan

Wmiddle and high school student. where we lived,” Cindy says. “But we’d hen the Pass family came to the For her part, Cindy was at Cullman get there and say, ‘Let’s make the best of lake in May 1999, however, Alan learned High until 2004. During that time she this.’ that Cullman City Schools had an opening not only directed the chorus as she did in “When you work really hard all of for a technology coordinator. While Heidelberg, but also took on Cats 55, the your life, this is what you can get,” she teaching, he’d become interested in the local assess TV station, doing everything says of the opportunities they were able to integration of technology and education, from selling commercials and writing provide for their children growing up and so, with his interest piqued, they delayed copy to camera work and editing. their retirement life on the lake. And if renting the house that summer and he In conjunction with the chorus, Cindy they arrived here without ever laying out a pursued the job opening. took on the principal’s dream of returning master plan, they never worried about it.

“You don’t happen to have a third big musicals to the Bearcat stage with “We say everything, both good and grade position open do you?” he asked at “Annie Get Your Gun,” “Camelot” and bad, every move we made, every meeting his interview at the central office. “Bye-Bye Birdie.” She recruited the we had, the Lord made it happen,” says

No, he was told, but the high school vocational department to build sets, the Alan. “It was part of His plan.” choir director had just retired ... SGA as ushers and band members to play “It all worked out,” Cindy agrees. “It

No plan could have worked better. in the pit. played a big part in our children’s success Alan and Cindy were hired and, on top At East Elementary from 2004 until in school. And, hey, we get to live at the of everything else, Cullman offered their retiring in 2016, Cindy taught third lake!” kids excellent schools. graders where, in addition to having G ood Life Magazine