Marshall Good Life Magazine - Spring 2019

MARSHALL COUNTY

A 13-year old kid can get into a lot of things – Cole is into cooking

Bob Willis is a DIY guy, which is why his garden is a (big) work in progress SPRING 2019 | COMPLIMENTARY

Most days Elizabeth Burgess feels she’s still 60 – she’s 97

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Welcome

Even if you’re no bank robber, ‘Good Getaways’ are good to make

Y

ou will probably notice a few changes in this issue of Good Life Magazine.

“Well, I don’t want you to mess it up!”

That’s what Diane, my wife, said when I told her Sheila McAnear, my business partner, and I planned to make some changes to GLM. Another man might have been affronted. Not me. I know how much Diane enjoys magazines, which makes her a good sounding board, I think, on what our readers like.

From her feedback and that of countless readers, Sheila and I don’t think anything about GLM is broken. And we’ve all heard, “If it ain’t broke ...”

But sometimes a freshening up is in order. And it seemed like a good time do it.

Initially Extension Agent Eddie Wheeler and for the last several years Hunter McBrayer – along with Tim Crow in our Cullman magazine – from the get-go wrote the “Good ‘n’ Green” yard-andgarden feature in Marshall GLM. I can’t thank them enough.

But after Hunter and Tim moved on to good and greener pastures, it was an opportunity to replace that feature with an idea I’d toyed with for a while: “Good Getaways” ... something we all need.

It will suggest day trips and over-nighters you might enjoy. Some will be woods and water oriented. Others will be city and town trips.

I have to confess that I look forward to the grueling research this will require, but, hey, anything for our readers.

The other new feature is “Postcards,” which will be, well, old post cards. Back when Steve Maze published “Yesterday’s Memories,” he did something similar and told me how much folks enjoy it. I think you will, too.

You’ll find the postcard feature in the back of every issue.

While we were at it, Sheila and I tweaked a few things in our format. I’ll let you find those. But, if it makes you feel better, Diane likes what we did.

Mo Mc PUBLISHING LLC Proudly printed in Marshall County by BPI Media of Boaz 6

FEBRUARY | MARCH | APRIL 2019

Contributors

Every 5.9 hours ...

Elsa Rutherford, a longtime professional writer, replaces Annette Haislip as our book reviewer.

She lives in a book-crammed, vine-covered Albertville cottage with a cascading creek in her backyard. Elsa shares her home with her attorney husband, Nick, and two incredibly pampered cats.

That’s how often we sell a house and make someone’s dream come true

Out ‘n’ About photographer Dianne Holderfield lives in Morgan County, within strolling distance of the Marshall line. In the first issue of Arab, Alabama, put out in 2011 by Sheila McAnear and David Moore, she had a gorgeous photo of Ferguson Farm. A print of it hangs at Neena’s Courthouse Grill.

Regular contributor Steve Maze of New Canaan writes a personal “good ol’ day” in this issue.

Well, actually, it’s a good ol’ night, the night he met George Lindsey, famous as the TV character Goober Pyle. Steve had some pretty specific instruction for the special event featuring Goober.

Sell a home ... Find a home With the the fastest growing agency around!

NASA contractor David Myers was furloughed in December-January. Nothing funny about it, but even before his wife, Rose, could hit him up with a honey-do list, he found plenty of projects around the house he enjoyed doing – including work on a sixth novel and the restaurant story in this issue.

GLM’s Advertising/art director Sheila McAnear has been in advertising for as long as she can remember.

Ditto with raising teenagers. But now, no more teenagers. Her youngest son, Terry, turned 20 in January. Doesn’t mean he’s out of the house yet. He’s there while doing M&Ms – he’s a mechanic/minister.

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436 Gunter Avenue, Guntersville, AL 35976

Also with Alabama offices in Huntsville, Madison, Birmingham and Fayetteville, Tennessee Everyone has a regret or two. One of editor/ publisher David Moore’s is not spending more time with his son – now 32 – as he grew up.

There was a lot of newspaper work. That’s part of the reason Dad invited Hunter to do a little hiking recently ... even if it was for a story for this issue.

David F. Moore Publisher/editor | 256-293-0888 david.goodlifemagazine@gmail.com

Vol. 6 No.2 Copyright 2019 Published quarterly

Sheila T. McAnear Advertising/art director | 256-640-3973 sheila.goodlifemagazine@gmail.com

MoMc Publishing LLC P.O. Box 28, Arab, Al 35016 www.good-life-magazine.net

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Inside 10 | Good Fun

Spring is always a good time to plan a trip. We offer a few ideas.

Be prepared for storms

16 | Good People

As a newcomer, Kim Klueger knew no one, so she became a volunteer.

20 | Good Reads

For your nightstand ... ‘John Woman’ and ‘When the English Fall.’

23 | Good Cooking

One day you might claim you read about this chef when he was a kid.

32 | Good Getaways

Take off a day and visit Natural Bridge and (part of) Bankhead.

36 | The Helmses

Experience and detailed planning went into the creation of their house.

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Steve Maze gets it from the horse’s mouth: “... Goober says ‘hey!’”

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Kid had it right when commenting on the Willises’ house, gardens.

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68 | Out ‘n’ About

A visual celebration of spring by photographer Dianne Holderfield.

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On the cover | Spring was in full swing when David Moore shot the photo of this fern in Boaz.

This page | Ever think about learning to sail? Sign up for Sailing 101 in April. See page 11. Photo by David Moore.

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Last year on the straightaways the big, turbine-driven H1 hit nearly 200 mph with the return of hydroplane racing on Lake Guntersville.

This year is designed to have less down time between H1 and Grand Prix heats with the addition of two classes of Powerboat National racers, including the Daniel Racing team out of North Augusta, S.C., shown below in a photo by Jeffrey Lewis.

HydroFest tickets go on sale March 1

• March 15 – Islands of New England This is the deadline to register for the eight-day tour of the “Islands of New England,” and what better time than Oct. 11-18? Visit Providence, Newport, Boston, Cranberry Bog, Plymouth, Cape Cod, Martha’s Vineyard and your

I

t’s back. And promising to make an even bigger splash.

The 2019 Guntersville Lake HydroFest returns to Browns Creek June 28-30. H1 Unlimited class hydroplanes from across the U.S. will blow around the track at speeds at or above 200 mph.

Tickets go on sale March 1 along with tent spaces for rent.

A $20 adult weekend pass ($10 for ages 6-12, 5 and under free) gets you into three days of racing plus concerts Friday and Saturday night that will be inside the race venue along the beach area on Sunset Drive.

Grand Prix boats – engines throbbing like dragsters – will again race this year.

Plus, a third class of boats – the Powerboat Nationals – will also race.

“We’re trying to make it as attractive as possible for people and their families,” says Katy Norton, head of the Marshall County Convention and Visitors Bureau, which is coming off last year’s successful return of hydroplane boat racing to Lake Guntersville.

Grammy-Award winning artist Zach Williams will take the stage Friday evening. The contemporary Christian artist 10

FEBRUARY | MARCH | APRIL 2019

choice of Hyannis or Nantucket. Sponsored by Marshall GoldCare 55+, the all-inclusive trip includes airfare. Rates start at $2969 and you don’t have to be a member of GoldCare to participate. Some seats are left for this trip.

For more info: 256-571-8025 or 256-753-8025.

Take a trip, take in a show, take in the fun of Celebrity Feud

scored number one hits with his first two singles, “Chain Breaker” and “Old Church Choir.” He is currently opening across the country for Casting Crowns.

Saturday night’s concert will be a ‘70s reunion when Orleans and Firefall perform.

The former is a pop rock group best known for its top 20 hits “Dance with Me” and “Still the One” from its 1976 album “Waking and Dreaming” and ’79 album “Love Takes Time.” Firefall, a rock band formed in Colorado in 1974, had hits with

its singles “You Are the Woman,” “Just Remember I Love You,” “Strange Way” and “Cinderella.”

The concerts start at 5:30 p.m., shortly after racing ends Friday and Saturday.

Gates open at 8 a.m. daily and will remain open Friday and Saturday until the concerts wrap up at 9 p.m.

For more information – or tickets starting March 1 – visit: www.guntersville lakehydrofest.com; or www.facebook.com/ guntersvillelakehydrofest.

• Now- Feb. 28 – “I Dream To Be…” That’s this year’s theme for the work created by the children of the Crain Court Youth Center in conjunction with members of the Mountain Valley Arts Council. This year’s exhibit focuses on what each child imagines their future self as.

The MVAC Gallery is open 1-5 p.m. Tuesday-Friday and 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Saturdays at 300 Gunter Ave., Guntersville. For more information: 256-571-7199.

• Feb. 21-24 – “Go Ask Alice” The second of the two-week run for this Whole Backstage production is directed by Jane Kohl and written

by Frank Shiras. Based on a real diary, it tells the story of Alice – played by Harley Tandy – a desperate teen who

fights addiction after being tricked into taking drugs. “A raindrop just splashed on my forehead,” Alice wrote in her diary, “and it was like a tear from heaven. Am I really alone? Is it possible that even God is crying for me?”

Staged at the WBS theatre in Guntersville, performance times are 7 p.m. except for 2 p.m. Sunday.

Tickets are $18 for adults, $16 for seniors, $10 for students. They are available at the WBS office 9 a.m.-3 p.m. weekdays; by phone at 256-5827469; on the WBS Facebook page; or at: www.wholebackstage.com.

• March 2 – Celebrity Feud This year offers a fun variation on the previous “City Feud.” Teams of folks from selected careers will compete against each other in the style

Good Fun of Family Feud: Mayors vs. Car Dealers vs. Elected Officials vs. Ministers vs. Medical Personnel vs. Chamber Presidents. Heavy hors d’oeuvres and cash bar. Fun and feud start at 6 p.m. at Guntersville Town Hall.

This is a major fundraiser for Marshall County Home Place, a countywide non-profit that provides transitional housing – a helping hand, not a handout – for homeless families.

Tickets are $50 per person and available at the Home Place Thrift Store, 1540 Blount Ave., Guntersville.

For more information: Home Place, 256-960-5058.

• April 13-28 – Learn to sail Sailing 101 will be taught through Browns Creek Sailing Association.

Certified instructor Susan Wilson of FEBRUARY | MARCH | APRIL 2019

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Guntersville and other volunteers will teach in the classroom and onboard 22-foot keel boats. Classes are April 13-14 and 27-28; 10 a.m.-3 p.m.

Saturdays, 1-3 p.m. Sundays. On Saturday afternoons students crew on race boats for experience.

Classes are held at BCSA Marina, 128 Browns Creek Rd, Guntersville, located off Ala. 69 just west of Boat Mart. Cost is $180 and includes 2019 membership in the BCSA. For more information visit: brownscreeksailingassociation.org and pull down on the “classes” tab.

• March 17-April 14 – Youth Art Student art from throughout Marshall County will be on exhibit with an awards reception 1-3 p.m., April 1. The show, held at the Guntersville Museum, is sponsored

by ARTS (Artists Responding to Students).

The museum is open 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Tuesday-Friday and 1-4 p.m.

Sundays. Admittance is free. For more information, call: Guntersville Museum, 256-571-7597.

• March 22-30 – “Love Letters” Andrew Makepeace Ladd III and Melissa Gardner, both born to wealth, are childhood friends whose lifelong correspondence begins with birthday party thank-you notes, continues through boarding school and college.

Andy excels at Yale and law school, while Melissa flunks out. While Andy is off at war she marries but retains her attachment to Andy. He marries and is eventually elected to the U.S. Senate, while Melissa’s life goes to tatters.

Andy’s last letter, written to Melissa’s mother, makes it eloquently clear how much they really meant to each other. Though physically apart, they were spiritually as close as only true lovers can be.

The three-hour production staged at the WBS theatre in Guntersville with performances at 7 p.m. except for 2 p.m. Sunday. Tickets are $18 for adults, $16 for seniors, $10 for students. They are available at the WBS office 9 a.m.-3 p.m. weekdays; by phone at 256-582-7469; on the WBS Facebook page; or at: www. wholebackstage.com.

• April 1-31 – Vintage postcards Sponsored by Marshall County Convention and Visitors Bureau, and in conjunction with the state’s bicentennial, Troy State University has created a traveling exhibition showing blow-ups of a few of the 25,000 postcards collected

by Dr. Wade Hall. He built his massive collection at a time when good, historical postcards were scarce. Ranging from the early 1900s to the 1960s, this exhibit showcases Alabama postcards.

The museum will also have some local vintage postcards on display.

The exhibit is at Guntersville Museum.

Open 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Tuesday-Friday and 1-4 p.m. weekends. Admittance is free.

For more info: 256-571-7597.

• April 18-May 23 – Spring Concert series The free performances at the Mountain Valley Arts Council’s spring concert series are 6:30-8:30 p.m. on Thursdays at Errol Allan Park in downtown Guntersville. Concert-goers are welcome to bring an ice chest.

Food and adult drinks are available at surrounding restaurants.

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• April 19-28 – “You Can’t Take it with You” Sweet-natured Alice Sycamore falls for banker’s son Tony Kirby. But when she invites her snooty prospective inlaws to dinner to give their blessing to the marriage, Alice’s peculiar extended family – including philosophical grandfather Martin Vanderhof, hapless fledgling ballerina sister Essie and fireworks enthusiast father, Paul – might be too eccentric for the staid Kirbys.

Staged at the WBS theatre in Guntersville, performance times are 7 p.m. except for 2 p.m. Sunday. Tickets are $18 for adults, $16 for seniors, $10

for students. They are available at the WBS office 9 a.m.-3 p.m. weekdays; by phone at 256-582-7469; on the WBS Facebook page; or at: www. wholebackstage.com.

• April 27-28 Art on the Lake The 58th annual edition of Marshall County’s – and one of the state’s – longest running art shows will feature more than 130 fine artists and craftsmen from throughout the Southeast and beyond. As always, there will be food vendors, outdoor games and rides and a bake sale – fun for the entire family.

Rain or shine, the show will be 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday and 10 a.m.-5 p.m.

Sunday at the Guntersville Recreational Center at 1500 Sunset Drive. Admission is $2 for 13 years and older. Sorry, no animals allowed.

Exhibitor applications – deadline April 1 – are available online: www. artonthelake-guntersville.com; or by contacting show chair Julie Patton: julespp@aol.com. Vendor applications are online, too; deadline March 1.

The show is sponsored by the Twenty-First Century Club of Guntersville

to promote the arts and benefit its scholarship.

• April 27 – Back When Days The long-running annual event at the Arab Historic Village returns to offer folks a walk through days gone by. The village pays tribute to the pioneering people who settled North Alabama and built it into what it is today. The village was started in 1991 and now has nine buildings, some of which were moved and renovated at the park. Others were built from reclaimed lumber or new by members of the Arab Historical Society.

The event is 9-4 p.m. and free to the public.

• April 30 – A Taste of Sand Mountain Restaurants from across Marshall County will once again be out to impress you with their best dishes. The top three get a trophy and the honor of holding the title as the best 2019 Taste of Sand Mountain for 2019. Sponsored by the Boaz Area Chamber of Commerce, the event also offers music, drink samples and a silent auction. First responders and their families will be recognized.

When it comes to your to-do list, put your future first.

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PL ZI

The series opens on a differently fun foot with concerts by the four choirs from Guntersville and Cherokee Elementary; plus select students from the Guntersville Middle School Show Choir will perform.

The other concerts are: April 25 – Barefoot Blues; May 2 – Jed Eye; May 8 – Section 8; May 16 – Tequila Falls; and wrapping up for spring on May 23 with Joe Cagle. For more info on the concert series, call: MVAC, 256-571-7199.

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The venue has yet to be determined, but the time is 6-8 p.m. Tickets are $20 and proceeds will benefit a local charity.

For more info or tickets contact the chamber: 256-593-8154; boazchamberassist@gmail.com.

Enjoy something good to eat and good for you at Happy Fest, prepared by Homecoming Café.

This is you without electricity ...

That’s why we strive to be here for you.

• May 4 – HappyFest The first-time event is set for 9 a.m.6 p.m. at Civitan Park, and admission is free. Enjoy a day of family fun, healthy food, country and bluegrass music and jams, a huge dog and cat adoption event, a kids zone and lots of unique retail and informational vendors including fitness classes.

Jessica Hanners and Homecoming Café – featured in the winter issue of Good Life Magazine – will be selling food and giving cooking demos.

Bands include 3Way Handshake, Ken Patterson and the FBC Pickers and Jaxxon Wynn.

LiveLonger HappyFest is a Guntersville non-profit and proceeds will benefit American Legion Post 114, Second Chance Shelter and God’s Feral Felines.

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Good People

5questions Story and photo

by David Moore

K

im Klueger calls her wardrobe eclectic. She wears what she likes.

Her hat wardrobe – figuratively speaking – is pretty much the same.

She wears – and has worn – a wardrobe full of them.

A few of her hats are the job sort.

They create paychecks, which come in handy. Though people on the outside don’t always see them, most of Kim’s hats say “Volunteer” on them.

Those paycheck hats since 1974 have been the real estate type, she is a Broker associate with Coldwell Banker-Graben now, and also has her own company – Klueger Appraisal –­­ since 1977.

“Most of my appraisals are government and estate work in Madison and Limestone counties,” she says.

At the same time, she also wore a paycheck hat for 10 years as a Marshall County 911 emergency dispatcher. Kim also dispatched for a while for the Guntersville Police Department.

Her volunteer hats come in more eclectic fashions. And they’re not the doormat sort. She chose each one.

When she was 3 years old, Kim’s family moved to Huntsville. Her father, an Austrian, was a draftsman for Chrysler and a subcontractor for NASA. “When I was little,” she says, “we hung out with the Von Braun team.”

Kim moved to Guntersville in 1980. The wet-dry referendum was in motion, and she donned a volunteer hat.

“I jumped right in,” she says.

A

bout that time, Kim joined the Guntersville Jaycees thinking it would 16

FEBRUARY | MARCH | APRIL 2019

Kim Klueger

Appreciate Christmas parades, concerts, rescue squads? It’s called volunteerism offer volunteer opportunities and be a great way to get involved in her new community. She thought right.

Back then, the Jaycees were in charge of the annual Guntersville Christmas Parade. Kim got a volunteer hat for that.

Before she aged out of the Jaycees, she became the local group’s first female president and brought hydroplane racing back to Lake Guntersville in 1994.

Out of the Jaycees, Kim joined the all-volunteer Guntersville Rescue Squad as its first female member.

When the Jaycees dissolved in 1995, the Lake Guntersville Chamber of Commerce became the inexperienced sponsor of the Christmas parade, an undertaking that required corralling myriad elements from marching bands and floats to tricky traffic control. Both desperate and resourceful, chamber president Morri Yancy asked Kim, who already had an experienced parade hat, to be in charge.

Staying behind the scenes, Kim quietly grabbed the reins. Resourceful herself, she recruited the rescue squad to assist the police and fire departments with traffic. She and the rescue squad in turn recruited Mr. Claus and initiated the Santa float to bring up the rear of the parade.

“The Guntersville Christmas Parade would not happen if not for this woman,” Morri declares. “People don’t realize how hard that work is.”

“Kim is a hard worker. She has built a good relation with Santa and got him to be here – that close to Christmas! I thought he and the elves would be busy at the North Pole,” Morri grins.

W

ith everything else involved in the Christmas parade, the 2018 edition added a major twist. It poured

rain on the parade’s traditional secondSaturday date in December. Kim pulled hard on the reins and rescheduled the parade for the fourth Saturday.

“And people still loved it,” Morri says.

In case you wondered why the rescheduled parade was held at 4 p.m. instead of 5, the chief volunteer made that necessary call.

“I had a party at 6,” Kim laughs.

She also served an interim term on the chamber board and now volunteers as a chamber ambassador.

In 2013, the Mountain Valley Arts Council had a group cancel that was slated to play for its outdoor concert series. Melissa Starnes BrazeltonReeves, a member of the MVAC board, knew Kim had connections with bands and called her for help.

Kim stepped in, a new concert was quickly scheduled, and Melissa nominated her for a board position.

She accepted and was – surprise, surprise – put in charge of the concerts.

She continues in that capacity today.

Under her direction, the bands have become more local and the spring and fall concerts have moved from lakeside to the Errol Allan Park downtown.

“We have so much local talent around here, it doesn’t make sense to use musicians from out of state that cost a lot of money,” she explains.

“Plus it helps bring life to downtown.

It helps the merchants. And the acoustics downtown are awesome.”

Just another behind the scenes hat that says “Volunteer.”

1.

What draws you to volunteerism and community involvement, and what do you get out of it?

When I moved here I didn’t know anyone. Volunteering was a way for

SNAPSHOT: Kim Klueger

EARLY LIFE: Born 1955, Detroit’s Highland Park suburb, oldest of four children of Sigmund and the late Moonyean Klueger. Family moved to Huntsville, 1958.

FAMILY: Married high school sweetheart, 1999; widowed since 2010. Son, Jason Klueger-Brown; daughter-in-law, Sherry Brown, both of Guntersville; granddaughters, Kennedy, 13, Ellie, 9, and Natalie Brown, 7.

EDUCATION/TRAINING: Lee High School, 1974; Studied at Northeast Alabama Community College; Alabama Fire College, hazmat, emergency medical dispatching, EMT training. Earned real estate license, 1974; appraisal license, 1979.

CAREER: Brooker associate, Coldwell Banker-Graben Real Estate; owner since 1977 of Klueger Real Property Appraisal; 2000-2010 dispatcher for Marshall County 911.

OTHER INVOLVEMENT: Guntersville Jaycees, 1980-1994; worked with and headed annual Christmas parade and boat races.

Volunteered with Lake Guntersville Chamber of Commerce in charge of the Christmas parade since 1995. Weather spotter and first responder, 1989. Joined Guntersville Rescue Squad, 1995. Mountain Valley Arts Council, headed concert series since 2013. Member of LifePoint Church, Albertville.

FEBRUARY | MARCH | APRIL 2019

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me to meet people and get involved in the community.

And it makes me feel good to be helpful. It feels good to make something successful, like the Christmas parade or the concert series … things for the community to enjoy free of charge. A lot of people can’t afford things.

The Jaycees got me started in community. One of our projects was letting people bring in dogs and cats and dipping them for fleas.

I was the one who got to hold the cats. And you know how much cats like to be dipped in water. That was fun. I also got the biting dogs.

But I’m not going to do anything I don’t want to do. You can’t talk me into doing something I don’t want to do.

In the Jaycees we also helped Lindsey Lyons, who owned Arby’s. He started a “meals on wheels” program that would take people food. We also started the Adopt an Angel program that morphed into the Christmas Coalition Actually, when I first joined I was in the Jaycee-ettes. I was later the first female president of the Guntersville Jaycees and the first female inducted into the Jaycees Senate.

We did the summer fest and the boat races. This town and Marshall County could use a Jaycees program again.

I’m glad Katy Norton and the Marshall County Convention and Visitors Bureau have brought the boat races back. I was on Larue Kohl’s race committee and was over the VIP section and the drivers party.

Oh, gosh, the boat races brought families here. For the economy, it was like Talladega on the water. I think it helps put Guntersville and Marshall County on the map as something other than just a fishing capital.

Back in 1994, we got with TVA for permits and built a judging stand on the levee. My budget was $25,000 or $30,000. Last year it was over a half million in the budget. Katy has done a wonderful job pulling this together.

I hate that we lost Larue. He loved being involved in the races again. I really admired Larue. He went out of 18

FEBRUARY | MARCH | APRIL 2019

his way to help people and promote people. He and I are kind of alike, I guess – not from this community but always wanting to support and help people.

2.

You’ve been in the Guntersville Rescue Squad since 1995. How has the world of first responders changed since then? And what are the biggest issues facing GRS and perhaps other rescue squads in Marshall County?

We all need volunteer members, people willing to go out of their way to help. You might get toned out at 3 o’clock in the morning to go look for someone. Not many people want to do that at 3 a.m. to help a stranded boater.

During the tornadoes of 2011, one of our members was out working with us, even though he had lost his house. That’s dedication. We need people dedicated who will come in and volunteer and not want to pat themselves on the back.

It’s volunteerism. You just do it.

And we especially need younger people in their 30s and 40s. You don’t necessarily have to go out on calls if it makes you uncomfortable. Sometimes we do have to drag for bodies in the lake. There’s still plenty you can do.

Funding is also an issue for rescue squads. You can volunteer and help with that.

The city supports us and we get a split of the money off the cigarette tax as part of the county’s firefighter rescue squad group. But we mainly run off of donations from people. It’s hard to fundraise, however, because it’s hard to get volunteers.

We have some really good people in our squad, but we could use some more of the same. We have about 12 active members, but the roster will hold up to 50. Martin Killian just became president. He will do well after Frank Myers, who has probably been president since the 1970s.

3.

You were born in Michigan and moved here from Huntsville.

Based on your experience, what encouragement and advice would you offer newcomers to Marshall County?

It’s a really close-knit community.

It’s a great place to raise your kids.

The cost of living is decent. There are all kinds of community activities to do and to get involved with. And the landscape is beautiful.

Volunteering is the best way to meet people. And volunteering can strengthen the community.

Some people say they don’t have time. But I was raising my son and running a business. Now I’m running a business and spending time with my grandkids. You make time for what you want to do.

If I see a need I try to fill it. I try to help out. I don’t like the limelight, but I like getting things done whether I get recognized or not.

There is always a need somewhere, and so much you can volunteer for. I volunteered for CAJA (Court Appointed Juvenile Advocates) for several years and really enjoyed it.

There’s RSVP (Retired Senior and Volunteer Program), they always need people to read with the kids in schools.

There are shelters for the dogs, and the list goes on …

I believe in karma. You get back what you put in. As long as your heart is in the right place, most of the time you get back more than you put in.

If you get your kids involved, it helps them. My son Jason grew up helping the Jaycees deliver presents on Christmas Eve. You are never too young to start volunteering, and never too old. And you’re never too new or old to the community to volunteer. There are probably people who grew up here who never volunteer.

Just try something one time and see how you like it.

4.

Any advice for women who might be holding back on pursuing a position traditionally dominated by men? And any advice for men who have women entering their former domain?

Everything is more diversified now. You don’t have a lot of what I went through. When I became an appraiser there were very few women in it.

The first job I worked was with a company that came into Madison County to do a mass appraisal. There were 72 field appraisers, and 71 were men. They tried to hire me to run the office, and I said, “Are you going to pay me the same as the guys in the field?” They said no, so I said to put me in the field.

It’s evolved. It really has. It’s not as bad as it was. Every decade it improves. People are seeing it now.

Look how many females were inducted into public office in January.

As far as advice to women, I’d say to be true to yourself. Do the best you can do. And realize at times you will get overlooked just for being a female.

But don’t ever lower your standards.

Think outside the box. If everyone stayed inside that box we would not have the progress and inventions we have today.

I don’t conform and go with the crowd. I’m not against the law, but women especially have to think outside the box. And not give up. Never say never.

Typically, if a man is secure in

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himself, you don’t have to worry about him. It’s typically the insecure males who have a problem with women coming in. That’s my opinion.

I have worked side by side with men my entire life and come across many male chauvinists who think their way is better and won’t consider a woman’s opinion … or (laugh) maybe they just won’t consider mine because I am so strong-willed. It helps that I’m self-employed. I get along pretty good with my boss.

their Jewish background, my dad and two uncles registered under my grandmother’s maiden name. But they all still had to flee Austria and were not allowed to take jewelry, only clothes and linens.

My grandmother had this good luck charm, a stick pin, and hid it in the hem of her coat. She and my dad and uncles fled in 1937, and they became boat people.

They sailed to the United States first, but they were not allowed in.

Then they tried Cuba. Then they went to France. They were out on a boat for over a month, and France finally let them in.

My cousins were Jewish and celebrated Hanukkah at their home and Christmas at my grandmother’s.

I was the first born over here, and my grandmother spoiled me. She had converted her charm to a pendent and gave it to me when I turned 17. Now it’s my good luck charm.

Actually, I think you bring about your own luck – but I always keep it close to me.

Good Life Magazine

5.

What’s something most people don’t know about Kim Klueger?

I’m not going to talk about my insecurities, but I asked one of my friends about this question, and she said my family history is most interesting to her.

I have a necklace …

Let me back up. My grandmother was Catholic and my grandfather Jewish. She was born in Hungary, and my grandfather was born in Austria.

During World War II, because of

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Good Reads

‘John Woman’ tells the story of a man reinventing himself

Facing a catastrophic world, can the Amish long survive?

ohn Woman” is not his birth name. (He takes it from an early sexual experience.)

John Woman was born Cornelius Jones, in Harlem, son of a black man named Herman Jones and an ItalianAmerican mother, Lucia Napoli. Cornelius (or “You have the strength to CC, as he is also known when young) inherits discredit us.” his intellect from his “And you’d kill me for brilliant, unschooled that?” asks CC. father whose great passion is the study of an unorthodox view of history and he instills it deeply in his son. The two of them live mostly alone, because Lucia, who professes to love them both, has a habit of running off with different men.

While Herman works as a projectionist in a silent movie theatre, CC spends his free time there reading to his father. Herman has a bad heart and when his health causes him to fall bedridden, CC takes over the job. He ends up killing the owner who threatens to fire Herman, which would leave father and son with no means of income. CC hides the body in a hidden room.

Eventually, CC goes on to become a college professor of history where, under the moniker “John Woman,” he teaches his controversial brand of history. He finally ends up at a black college where his views are more tolerated.

Walter Mosley’s novel “John Woman” is a challenging read, but it’s not for everyone.

– Elsa Rutherford

avid Williams’ “When the English Fall” is told in plain and simple language as befits a novel written from the point-of-view of Jay, an ordinary Amish man. Jay lives with his family in Pennsylvania. He is husband to Hannah, father of Jacob and daughter, young Sadie, who is afflicted Still, the skies danced, so with seizures.

Despite this debut bright, so silent. And a novel’s plain language, few seconds later, another it’s a compelling tale, told flash, to the north. And in journal-style chapters a minute later, another where civilization faces an unknown catastrophic to the Southwest. Sadie event. It has caused the turned to us, and her eyes power grid to crash. No were huge and wet with electricity, gasoline or tears. “The English fall,” media. Grocery shelves go bare and fresh or frozen she said. meats spoil.

In the beginning, this presents no problem for the self-reliant Amish since they use no electricity or gas, raise and stock their own larders.

But everything changes when “English” outsiders become desperate and invade the Amish and take whatever they want.

Though the Amish are generous people, they must deny the outsiders. Objections are met with violence.

“When the English Fall” offers the reader a unique view of our lives, forcing us to focus on all of the things we take for granted. No matter our faith or belief, this is a tale which propels us back to a time when only the strongest survive.

– Elsa Rutherford

“J

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He’s cooking up a reputation in the kitchen Cole enjoys himself in the Gilliland kitchen where, among other dishes, he likes to cook his mixed berry cobbler.

Besides his grandparents in Scottsboro, he’s also the grandson of Dianne Gilliland of Union Grove and Phillip Gilliland of Grant.

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Good Cooking

Story and photos

by David Moore

H

ere’s what the guy says …

“I think I like cooking more than I like eating my own food. I like the process better than the end results.”

“I like cooking and making people happy. And seeing a recipe gradually progress into what I want it to look and taste like. I also like compliments.”

Here’s the kicker …

This grownup-sounding guy – Cole Gilliland of Albertville – is a seventh grader at Marshall Christian. He’s 13.

A lot can happen in life. It’s not like a recipe, and even with recipes things can turn out differently than planned. But Cole wants to be a chef someday.

“It’s a steady business,” he quips in his funny, dry way. “Everyone has to eat.”

Actually, he wants to be a chef – and something more.

“I want to be a businessman, and being a chef is one good way to do it,” Cole explains. Think Food Network. The guy already has some moves in the kitchen. So who knows?

Cole is inspired by and learns some of his kitchen smarts from his mom, Jennifer.

“I eat a lot of stuff she makes, specifically the cookie dough. I would always sense she was making cookies,” he says.

But Cole says he learned more about

cooking from his dad, Jason.

“Way more,” Cole tells him. “Way more. I learned a lot from you.”

T

here seems to be some father-son competition in the kitchen. Take, for instance, their made-from-scratch biscuits.

“I just can’t seem to get biscuits quite right,” Cole laments.

“We had a head-to-head bake off and you beat me,” his dad counters.

“Cole’s not a good apprentice,” Jason continues. “He has his mind on what he wants to do. If he wants to make a pie, he doesn’t want to know how to clean the dishes. But what he cooks comes out great.

I don’t argue with the results.”

About the cleaning up …

“When Cole started cooking we really had to work on his cleaning up,” Jason says. “A kid with flour can really make a mess.”

“I have a love-hate relationship with flour,” Cole says. “Mix it with water and leave it there for 30 minutes and it turns into concrete. You have to be very specific about cleaning it up afterward.”

He made his first stab at cooking several years ago in the Scottsboro home of his maternal grandparents, Richard and Janet Henry.

“The first thing I ever made was scrambled eggs,” he recalls. “After that, I think I made it every single meal. I used sour cream in the eggs. I just got a

spoonful and mixed it around for a light consistency.”

On his next stay with his grandparents, Cole graduated to pancakes. But that was so yesterday in his growing cooking resumé.

B

orn Sept. 27, 2005, Cole has lived his life in the house Jason and Jennifer built adjacent to the southeastern city limits.

He’s not their only talented kid.

Cole’s proud of his sister, Peyton, who’s 16. She and Jennifer spend six or seven days a month in Nashville where they’ve been meeting with Sony Music over a promotional contract, her brother beams.

“She’s trying to stay independent and not sign any contracts now. I play piano and Peyton writes her own songs … pop, R&B. She’s really, really good,” Cole says.

It was Peyton who hit upon Cole’s nickname – Capt. Oblivious. While it seems to fit on several levels, the name’s origin is a football game. Because of its size, Marshall Christian plays six-man teams, and Cole, a wide receiver, found himself playing against seniors.

At one game he got clobbered, and Jennifer and Jason came down from the bleachers to check on him. An assistant, shining a light in Cole’s eyes, reported that he did not remember who they were playing that night. His parents said he probably didn’t know who they were FEBRUARY | MARCH | APRIL 2019

23

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8 skinless chicken thighs 2 medium sized onions 5 celery sticks 1 package of mushrooms 4 cups carrots 8 cups fingerling colored potatoes 1 cup of olive oil Paprika Turbinado sugar Salt and pepper

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Cut the celery, onions, carrots and mushrooms into bite-size pieces, drizzle with olive oil and bake in casserole dish at 425° for 25 minutes. Cut potatoes, drizzle with olive oil and place on top of the other vegetables. Place chicken thighs on top; sprinkle with turbinado sugar, paprika, salt and pepper to taste.

Place in oven for 30 minutes more.

Remove, flip chicken pieces and season this side like the first side. Return to oven for 30 minutes more or until the internal temperature is 165°.

Enjoy – guilt free and delicious! playing before he was hit. The assistant asked Cole if he knew when they started the game and he shook his head no.

Cole soon shook off the daze, but the nickname stuck.

Back to his cooking, last year Capt.

Oblivious got into baking.

“I started with cobbler. Then I really wanted to make bread,” Cole says.

And so he learned.

C

ole’s dad and uncle, Joey Gilliland, own DC Equipment in Geraldine; they design, build and install equipment such as chicken processing conveyors. For the Fourth of July last year, they held an employee cookout, and Joey suggested Cole cook something.

He baked a mixed berry cobbler, borrowing the crust recipe from the Internet but doing his own thing with the fruit.

“I didn’t just use sugar but brown sugar and honey,” he says. “It gives it a consistency so it’s not runny.”

There was no monetary reward for catering, but the rave reviews were sweet.

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His uncle and dad also own Rattlesnake Ridge, a private, 500-acre hunting lodge off Ala. 79, where they entertain friends and customers. The lodge sleeps 12-16.

Cole’s growing reputation landed him a cooking gig there during bow hunting season.

He had big plans for a feast of grilled chicken, steak, potatoes, cinnamon roll cookies ….

“I thought 30 steaks were a little too much for one 13-year old to cook,” laughs Jason, who had to rein in his young chef a little.

“I learned a lesson about cooking with other people’s appliances,” Cole says. “It was a gas oven. I was not pleased with the results.”

his way around in the kitchen! I was so intrigued … I found out he not only loved to cook, he made his own recipes. This night he made a cobbler like none I had eaten – awesome!”

So, what’s next for Cole? He’s thinking on it.

“What can I make next? And what’s hard to make?”

Beef Wellington is on his list. Not that it won’t happen, but he assesses the notion this way: “It’s expensive to make. It’s like buying a really expensive car for an irresponsible teenager.”

Actually, Cole could probably handle it.

You’re welcome to try some of his recipes and see what you think …

Good Life Magazine

aybe Cole felt a little off his expanding game, but apparently the guests were wowed.

“He was very meticulous in his planning and in his recipes,” says Connie Strange of Albertville, who was there with her husband, Mark. “He definitely knew

Editor’s note: Since this interview, Cole made Beef Wellington. No expensive meat was ruined in the process by an irresponsible teenager. “It was perfect, of course, and he did it completely unassisted,” Jennifer beams. Making the recipe his own, he braided the pastry.

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2 cups warm water 1 bag of active dry yeast (about 2½ tsp.) ½ Tbsp. of sugar for yeast ¼ cup butter, melted 1 Tbsp. of salt ¼ cup sugar ½ cup evaporated milk 5-7 cups bread flour 1 Tbsp. of shortening 1 Tbsp. butter (to top the bread) Place yeast and sugar into a small bowl; using a whisk, mix in water; set aside for 30 min. or until bubbly.

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Photo by Jennifer Gilliland cinnamon roll shape, put in greased bread pans and let it rest two hours.

Place dough and pans in oven for 10 minutes at 375°. Remove bread, glaze

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Whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a medium bowl; set aside.

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BUTTERMILK BISCUITS What southern cook doesn’t have a good biscuit recipe? My dad – who prides himself on his amazing biscuits – and I recently had a biscuit bake off.

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sides of the bowl.

Put dough on a floured cutting board. Pat dough into a 1-inch thick rough rectangle and use a 3-in. round cutter to cut the dough into biscuits (cut straight down, do not twist the biscuit cutter). Refold, pat down and cut out biscuits until you’re out of workable dough; throw away the scraps.

Arrange in a 10-in. cast iron skillet so that biscuits touch each other, but not the sides of the pan. Put the skillet in the oven and increase temp to 500. Bake until the biscuits are golden-brown, 15-18 min. Pull out pan; immediately place the biscuits on a clean dish towel.

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EASY SUMMER “COLE” SLAW This is the best coleslaw and has to be the easiest, too!

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Mix all of the ingredients into a plastic Ziploc bag.

Squish it all together through the bag; let rest for 30 min. in the refrigerator and serve.

2 lbs. of ground beef 1 package of broccoli cheese rice 1 can of cream of mushroom soup 1 can of peas and carrots

1 can of sweet corn 1 package of Kraft cheese slices 1 package of potato crown rounds Preheat the oven to 425 and place all the crown potato rounds on an ungreased cookie sheet and place in the oven for about 20 min. Brown beef and drain.

In a separate small pan cook the rice according to the package directions. Place the cooked beef in

TEA CAKES No telling how old 2 eggs this recipe is as it has 1 Tbsp. milk been passed down from 2 cups self-rising flour my Great Granddaddy Byron, who was a Mix all ingredients fantastic cook. together and bake at 325 until golden brown 1/3 cup shortening – about 10 minutes, 1 cup sugar but times will vary with 1 tsp. vanilla ovens.

28

FEBRUARY | MARCH | APRIL 2019

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POOR MAN’S CASSEROLE I didn’t come up with this name.

It is what my parents used to make in college and is still a household favorite today. Kids will love this one too because it has beef, cheese and tots – I mean heaven in a casserole dish.

G

MARSHALL COUNTY

a 9x11 casserole dish and mix with 1 can of mushroom soup. Spread out the cooked rice over the beef and then drain the can of peas and carrots and spread out over the rice. Drain the can of corn and then sprinkle it on top of the peas.

Unwrap the cheese slices and place over the corn and peas, then put all the tater tots on top of that. Reduce the heat to 350 and place in oven for about 20 min.

CORNY CORN MUFFINS Whatever we serve these Preheat oven to 425. with, there are never any left Grease a 12-cup muffin tin.

In a large bowl, stir together 1 cup of self-rising cornmeal cornmeal, flour, salt. In ¾ cup self-rising flour another bowl, beat together ½ cup of melted butter butter, eggs and sour cream 2 eggs until well blended. Combine 1, 8 oz. container of mixtures; add corn and stir sour cream until just mixed. Pour the 1, 8 oz. can of cream batter into the prepared style corn muffin tins about two-thirds ½ tsp. salt full. Bake until golden brown, about 18 minutes.

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I know you’re not supposed to smack your granny, but if there were a recipe that could make you do that, this is it.

I like this combination of fruit, but you can use whatever fruit you prefer so long as it’s a total of 4 cups. You do need a cast iron skillet … for the cobbler, never for using on granny or anyone else :) Fruit filling 2 cups fresh peaches 1 cup fresh strawberries ½ cup fresh raspberries ½ cup fresh blueberries

VERY BERRY COBBLER ¾ cup granulated sugar 1/3 cup brown sugar ¼ tsp. salt Batter 6 Tbsp. butter 1 cup self-rising flour 1 cup granulated sugar ¼ tsp. salt ¾ cup milk Ground cinnamon topping In a large bowl, mix fruit with brown and granulated sugars and salt; let rest

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for 20 min. Transfer fruit mix to sauce pan and cook on medium for 10 min. or until sugar dissolves leaving a sauce with fruit. Remove from heat to rest.

For the batter, slice butter into ¼-inch pats and melt in a 10-11-in. cast iron skillet as oven preheats to 350; remove skillet from oven as soon as butter melts. In a large bowl, mix sugar, salt, flour and milk until combined. Pour into skillet with butter; add fruit mixture on top but don’t mix.

Bake at 350 for about 40 minutes.

Sprinkle on ground cinnamon and enjoy!

HOMEMADE SLOPPY JOES (With veggies ‘snuck’ in) OK, when you ask a kid for recipes you’re probably going to get a couple of kid eats, like Sloppy Joes. But, hey, at least it’s not hot dog. And you can slide a couple of veggies into the Sloppy Joes, and no one will be the wiser for it … because it still tastes great. ½ cup finely chopped onions ½ cup finely chopped bell peppers ½ cup mushrooms, sliced ½ cup carrot sticks, sliced 30

FEBRUARY | MARCH | APRIL 2019

2 lbs. ground beef or deer meat 1 cup beef broth ¼ cup ketchup ¼ cup brown sugar 1 Tbsp. mustard 4 Tbsp. Worcestershire sauce 1 tsp. or 1 clove of garlic salt and pepper to taste 2 Tbsp. vinegar 1 tsp. paprika 12 oz. tomato sauce 1 can mild Rotel

Combine all veggies and sauté on medium heat until soft and the onions are transparent, about 10 minutes.

Brown meat with the veggies and then drain the fat. Add beef broth, ketchup, brown sugar, mustard, Worcestershire sauce, garlic, salt and pepper, vinegar, paprika, tomato sauce and Rotel. Simmer for 1½ hours and serve on your favorite buns.

Healthy, even though it doesn’t taste like it.

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31

Good Getaways

Spend a day exploring the longest natural bridge east of the Rockies, and (at least a little of) Bankhead National Forest 32

Story and photos

by David Moore

I

t’s only an hour’s drive west of Cullman to the entrance to Natural Bridge of Alabama, which is located on U.S. 278.

It’s one of those places that give you pause to wonder at the forces of nature over time. It can make you feel small and thrill you simultaneously. Underneath – or inside, as the case might be – you find yourself craning up at the bridge 60 feet overhead.

The main section is 148 feet long with a second smaller span that’s reminiscent of a freeway on/off ramp.

You have to figure the Native Americans held this place in special regard. And realize, too, that it was already ancient when the earliest tribes arrived here. The bridge was formed 200 million years ago when a prehistoric sea in the region washed away the surrounding sandstone, leaving the arches supported by veins of iron ore.

FEBRUARY | MARCH | APRIL 2019

If you go ...

Take Ala. 69 or U.S. 278 to Cullman and continue west on 278. It’s 44 miles farther to Double Springs, another 7.5 to the entrance of the private park.

Open daily. Find drinks and snacks in the gift shop where you pay your admission fee.

The walk from there to the bridge is an easy few hundred feet. There are interesting trails if want to walk some more.

It’s not handicapped accessible but is kid friendly.

Admission: $3.50 ($2.50 kids) Natural Bridge of Alabama U.S. 278 W Natural Bridge, AL 35577 205-486-5330

FEBRUARY | MARCH | APRIL 2019

33

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Botox For Your Clothes Located in Winston County, Natural Bridge is a privately owned park that offers other trails and a scenic creek.

Nearby Bankhead National Forest has more than 90 miles of hiking trails crisscrossing its 181,230 acres that include some actual wilderness areas.

One short Bankhead hike takes you 1.7 miles back to the scenic Caney Creek Falls.

The hike has an elevation change of 232 feet. While not challenging, it’s enough to get a little woodsy exercise.

Just so you know, the first section of the trail is through an area that was clearcut last summer because of, a sign says, pine beetle destruction. It’s sadly apocalyptic looking, but it makes it that much nicer when you actually get into the deep woods and drop down to Caney Creek.

You do want to watch your step on the trail down into the little gorge.

The pretty, 20-foot falls is fun to explore, and a little getaway to the woods is always in order to help you sort your mind.

Good Life Magazine 34

FEBRUARY | MARCH | APRIL 2019

If you go ...

From Natural Bridge Park, return on U.S. 278 to the main intersection in Double Springs and turn left (northeast) onto Ala. 33.

Go 4.1 miles and turn left on Winston County Road 2.

Go 3.7 miles and look for a dirt road with a pullout and a bar gate on the right. This is the trailhead to Caney Creek Falls.

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Dry Cleaning • Laundry • Alterations FEBRUARY | MARCH | APRIL 2019

35

Getting it right Jimmy and Tara Helms put a lot of thought into every detail of the house they built 16 years ago in the Mill Creek development in Arab. They chose the look of Italianate architecture. With picturesque aesthetics and Italian Renaissance motifs, the style was developed in Britain in the early 1800s and was hugely popular in the U.S. from the late 1840s to 1890. Today, it’s hugely popular with the Helms family.

Karson, Jimmy, Kameron and Tara pose in the living room, which Kameron proclaims her favorite room in the house because it’s where they get to spend time together as a family ... when they aren’t in the pool.

Experience and planning pay off nicely for the Helms family Story and photos

by David Moore

B

uild lots of houses. Then put serious thought into exactly what you and your family want in your own house. Every last detail. Then build it. If not perfection, you’re ensured of being darn pleased with the outcome.

That’s the synopsis of Jimmy and Tara Helms’ house they built at Mill Creek, a development he started in Arab.

Long before breaking ground on their home, Tara, an attorney in Huntsville, spotted a house crowned with an interesting cupola in the historic Twickenham area. She shot a photo and showed Jimmy, and dreams and plans grew from there.

38

FEBRUARY | MARCH | APRIL 2019

Having built plenty of houses over the years in the Helms Construction phase of his rather varied resumé – he calls himself a “serial entrepreneur” – Jimmy was able to sketch a good layout from which the late Charles Glenn of Arab would draw detailed plans.

(Charles’ daughter, Susan LeSueur, continues the work today at the Glenn Group.)

But before plans even got that far, the Helmses talked extensively about their desires.

“We had lived in enough places that we knew exactly what we wanted,” Jimmy says.

They wanted the kitchen to look out to a wide-open back. They wanted a screened porch. “Pop-out” play

rooms built onto the bedrooms of their daughters, Kameron and Karson.

They wanted fireplaces. It would be a warm house. Jimmy pushed for heated floors in the master suite and kitchen. He assured Tara she would love them.

“When I grew up, we were so poor we could not heat or cool our house,” she says. “In the winter, we dressed inside like we did for the outside.

Warmth is something I have a great appreciation for.”

D

aughter of Elaine Freeman and Wayne Freeman, Tara was born in East Alabama, Roanoke. They later moved to the Bangor community in Blount County, between Garden City and Blount Springs.

Three sets of French doors open off the living room and two more sets open off the adjoining kitchen. The house has 5,000 square feet that include four bedrooms with “play rooms” off two of them, three full and two half baths, a formal dining room and a study, below.

She went to Hanceville High. She had not yet decided to study law, but she was chomping at the bit of life, too impatient to graduate. So Tara jumped the gun, took the GED and ACT and enrolled at The University of Alabama.

After a year, she transferred to UAH and earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in political science and public affairs in 1992 and ’94. Tara graduated from Cumberland School of Law at Samford in 1998, and worked for the late Buck Watson before partnering to form Martin and Helms in 2009.

Jimmy, son of the late Harvey and Jeannie Helms, grew up in Garden City.

The family had a farm that spanned the Mulberry River, lying in Blount and Cullman counties. His grandfather grew crops, raised cattle and distilled moonshine.

By the highway, he and Tara lived only six or seven miles apart. Taking the dirt roads, they were even closer, but never met for another decade or so.

FEBRUARY | MARCH | APRIL 2019

39

The kitchen, upper left, has a breakfast area, and at the front of the house is the dining room, but the Helms eat a lot of their meals at the kitchen bar. Above the garage is a game room, accessible from the house. The French doors off the living room open to a long porch with a pergola.

Beyond a small pocket garden is the pool, where a unicorn is alleged to roam. The French doors off the kitchen open to a screened porch, part of which has a sitting area and gas fireplace and TV, and part of which features a grill and alfresco dining area.

Tara, who lived in Blount County attended school in Cullman County.

Jimmy was just the opposite, graduating from Pennington High in 1979.

He says that in addition to raising chickens, cattle and crops, his dad also had Helms Construction. That was the direction Jimmy turned, and he began learning to build houses.

His parents later moved to Arab where Harvey had bought more chicken houses and Jeannie opened the Premier Agency, which later joined Century 21.

J

40

immy moved to Arab in 1985.

FEBRUARY | MARCH | APRIL 2019

He lived there when finally he met Tara in 1988 through a cousin of hers who worked for him. They married in June 1991.

Harvey died in 2015. Jeannie died last June, and Jimmy continues the real estate office as broker/owner.

“She kept us dignified and in line,” Jimmy says of his mom, then grins. “Tara has taken on that responsibility, and it’s not working out too well …”

He jokes but he, Tara and the girls still greatly miss the big, loving role Jeannie played in their lives.

Besides working with his mom, Jimmy

built houses for more than a quarter of a century, many at high-end developments, including The Ledges. For 10 years he owned a custom woodworking shop, Helmstown Cabinet Makers.

It wasn’t actually a job, but Jimmy made a semi-career of fighting Arab City Hall. He campaigned for alcohol sales, later secured the town’s first liquor and beer licenses and opened and ran Beverage Warehouse for three years. The store initially did more volume, he says, than the Super Walmart in Huntsville.

These days, he laughs, he’s been lying low in terms of controversy, meanwhile

selling pedestrian safety warning systems to companies that use forklifts, bulldozers and such.

It was back in September 2000 that Jimmy and a business partner opened Mill Creek, a 40-lot residence in northeast Arab, accessed by Hickory Hill Drive off of Haynes Road.

In January 2004, the Helmses became the first family to move into Mill Creek.

Tara and Jimmy both enjoy cooking and the kitchen.

“It’s a big focal point around our house and the way that we live,” Jimmy says.

Five sets of French doors open off the living room and kitchen, drawing the outside in and inside people out.

I

n 2010 they added a pool, which has been a big hit. In nice weather they spend a lot of time there on the screened porch.

Kameron, a senior at Alabama School of Fine Arts, is studying creative writing.

The playroom off her bedroom is now her writing room. She loves the family room because, she says, spending time with family is the most important thing to her.

Karson, a seventh-grader at Grace Lutheran, loves art, both traditional and

computer-generated, and her playroom has evolved into her studio.

Even with her artist’s eye, she says she would not change her house even if she had a bucket of paint and the color of her choice.

“We put so much into the house, every detail, down to trim, floors and colors,” Jimmy says. “I had built so many houses over the years, we knew what we wanted.

“It really did come out close to perfect.

I can’t say there are a lot of things we would change. The kids love it,” he adds.

“We all enjoy it. As a family.”

Good Life Magazine FEBRUARY | MARCH | APRIL 2019

41

Los Arcos Good Eats Story by David Myers Photos by David Moore

A

Fill up with enchiladas at left, along with refried beans and Spanish rice, accompanied by chips and salsa and, if you want, guacamole or cheese dip. Taco salad, below, is always good. And you can never go wrong with steak and shrimp fajitas. Among the staff working for Rafael Miranda, with the beard, are his daughter and son, Keily and Rafael.

‘We were quickly getting full but couldn’t stop” ...

That happens in Boaz, Albertville, Guntersville and Arab nestled nicely into a tortilla for a warm fajita.

We were quickly getting full, but couldn’t stop.

The burro-sized Burrito Mexicana proved irresistible. Though we tackled it from each end, we could not finish it.

Albertville, Fort Payne, Anniston and Birmingham. The team of owners shares the responsibility of keeping quality and service at a premium.

“We all work together,” Rafael says.

“We hire people we can trust to run the restaurants.”

Like many restaurateurs, he started working in kitchens as a teenager washing dishes. He later worked construction during the day and waited tables at night. His hard work paid off when a former boss offered Miranda an opportunity to come into business with him in his early 20s.

bigger-than-life size hombre, gripping a cigar in one hand and a bottle of tequila in the other, sets the tone for the laidback atmosphere at Los Arcos in Boaz. His massive sombrero bears the name of the restaurant, which translates from Spanish to The Arches.

Rose and I have dined at several of the Los Arcos restaurants located across Marshall County over the years, but we decided recently to have supper at the newest one. After starting off with a smile at the décor in the entrance, we were wowed as we stepped inside the warm and afael is proud that most of his inviting dining area. employees stay with him for years, The adobe and gold painted many since the beginning. walls – with arched doorways “That’s why our food is throughout – are enhanced by rock consistently good,” he says. accents. Wall art in the form of The secret to the restaurants’ mosaics depict scenes of a mariachi success is a mixture of generous band playing; another is a romantic portions, cleanliness, a nice couple. It feels authentically south atmosphere and a friendly staff – as of the border. well as affordable prices. Those Our first task was to sample a are the ingredients for a successful delicious margarita – which can be dining experience. ordered in a small or large size – as “All that combined, I guess, is well as in different flavors, from what people like,” Rafael says. strawberry to coconut, mango and Though we were thoroughly peach. Immediately, a basket of satisfied after our meal, Rafael The big hombre at the door in Boaz invites you to a laid-back chips arrived warm and the salsa wouldn’t let us leave without atmosphere and a fine Mexican meal, amigos. fresh. The chips were crispy and sampling his desserts. We soon light, just the way I like them. realized why. The xango – A platter of Loco Nachos turned Stuffed with chicken and steak, peppers, pronounced “chango” – is a rich, creamy out to be a heavyweight loaded with a beans and rice coated in cheese, we had to cheesecake-filled pastry, deep-fried and combination of steak and chicken, green use utensils to bite into the warm filling. It rolled in cinnamon and sugar, then drizzled and red peppers, all blanketed in cheese. was simply delicious. in caramel sauce and served warm with ice The colors of the Mexican flag combine cream. into the traditional spicy but not fiery hot wner Rafael Miranda opened his I seriously don’t know that I’ve ever had food that is so loved in this country. flagship Boaz restaurant in 2004, moving it a more delicious dessert.

Flaming cheese landed on our table hot to the new shopping center three years ago.

Coming close was the divine Banana in an iron skillet, its flavor subtly different He is part owner in a total of six additional Burrito – a banana wrapped in a flour from the nachos. The meat and silky queso Los Arcos locations – Guntersville, Arab, tortilla, deep fried and topped with honey

R

O

42

FEBRUARY | MARCH | APRIL 2019

and cinnamon, served warm with ice cream.

We chose to wait for a future visit to try the flan, a traditional Mexico City-style crème caramel baked fresh daily.

I can’t wait.

F

rom the bar, Los Arcos offers a

variety of imported, domestic and draft beer, plus many specialty cocktails. Large-screen TVs hang throughout dining areas. Groups can be accompanied in a small room that seats around 20 or a larger one that can fit about 50.

The menu offers endless plates and

combinations, including seafood and vegetarian choices. Hours are 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Sunday through Thursday, 11 a.m. to 10:30 p.m. on Friday and Saturday.

Weekends fill up quickly. Reservations are accepted.

Good Life Magazine FEBRUARY | MARCH | APRIL 2019

43

Goober says ‘hey’

Story by Steve Maze Photo provided by the author

I

t was a cool winter night in January 2001 when I stuffed my briefcase to its bursting point with a notebook, camera, two 1997 issues of Yesterday’s Memories magazine, and a half-dozen collector cards from “The Andy Griffith Show.”

“Don’t forget to have him sign all of them,” my daughter Tonya reminded me.

I was going to see George “Goober” Lindsey and Ralph Emery at a benefit in Arab to benefit Children’s Hospital.

Tonya was a huge fan of Andy’s show and particularly Goober. She had many collector cards from over the years and had sorted out a stack of Goober’s.

I said Mr. Lindsey would probably be very busy, and I simply couldn’t ask him to autograph that many cards. I would be lucky to get one of them signed.

“Take them all with you anyway,” Tonya said. “Just in case.”

George Lindsey was born in Fairfield and grew up in Jasper. A star athlete, he landed a football scholarship at what’s now the University of North Alabama.

There he quarterbacked the Lions, was active in theater and graduated in 1952.

Later he coached and taught a year at Hazel Green High before moving to New York to study acting. After successfully appearing in some off-Broadway roles, he moved to Los Angeles and landed parts on TV shows such as “Gunsmoke,” “The Alfred Hitchcock Hour,” “Twilight Zone” and “The Rifleman.”

L

indsey’s most popular role, however, was as Goober Pyle on “The 44

FEBRUARY | MARCH | APRIL 2019

George Lindsey played the beloved part of Goober on TV for years. Writer Steve Maze and his daughter, Tonya, were but two of many who were fans.

Andy Griffith Show.” He originally read for the part of Gomer Pyle, but fellow Alabamian Jim Nabors was cast as Gomer. Goober and Gomer were cousins and dimwitted mechanics at Wally’s Service Station in Mayberry. Though Goober was never seen on the show before Lindsey came along, Gomer often told various cast members, “Goober says ‘hey.’” It was a running joke.

When Nabors got his own show, “Gomer Pyle, USMC,” the producers approached Lindsey about the role of Goober on Andy’s show. The cousins appeared in one episode together before Gomer left for the Marines.

Lindsey remained on “The Andy Griffith Show” for four more seasons and played Goober for two and a half more on “Mayberry RFD.” After those stints ended, Lindsey continued his popular

character on “Hee Haw” for 20 years and in a variety of other TV and movie roles.

On that night in 2001, Lindsey and Emery had not yet arrived when I walked into the Arab Rec Center, the venue for the benefit. But I did spot Gary Dobbs and Toni Lowery, hosts of WAAY’s “Waay Too Early” show. I had made guest appearances on their show, and we knew each other well.

They were there to interview Lindsey and Emery, and Toni asked if I cared to join them. I think my big grin answered her question.

U

pon arriving, Lindsey and Emery were well received by those already there, including a few of Lindsey’s friends from Hazel Green. He greeted them by name and seemed especially glad to see them.

After a brief reunion, Lindsey departed

for the dressing room. Toni and I followed him upstairs and waited outside while he transformed himself into Goober.

While waiting, I introduced myself to Ralph Emery as he approached the dressing room.

The popular radio and TV personality was very cordial as we chatted. He was serving as emcee that evening, and event organizer Cindy Mullican of Warehouse Discount Groceries came by to go over the show with him.

A few minutes later, Toni motioned me into the dressing room. I stepped inside and was met not by Lindsey but by Goober himself – beanie cap perched atop his head, air gauge tucked inside his front pocket, work pants hoisted high and tight across his midriff.

The first thing that struck me was his size.

He was tall with a strong, firm handshake. I saw why he’d been a good athlete.

Toni introduced me and told Goober that I was a magazine publisher. He asked the name of it, and I handed him one of the copies of Yesterday’s Memories.

As he thumbed through it, I pointed out an article Allan Newsome had written about him.

Lindsey was very familiar with Newsome, a “Floyd the Barber” imitator who had made guest appearances with him.

“I give all these things to my son, and he keeps up with them,” Lindsey said.

He asked how he could get a copy. I said I had brought that copy for him … and another I hoped he would autograph. He was nice enough to oblige, as well as pose with me for a couple of photos Toni snapped with my camera.

M

eanwhile, Cindy was drifting in and out of the dressing room reminding Goober how much time was left before the show started.

Most entertainers prepare themselves mentally before an appearance, and even though Lindsey had done it many times before, I could tell he was going over his routine in his head.

Still, he was very cordial while Toni and I waited with him, even cracking a few jokes. I suspected we were his warm-up audience.

I also suspected that I would not get to see Lindsey after the show began, and this would be the only time I could get a card signed for Tonya. So I showed her stack to Lindsey.

“My daughter asked me to get you to sign them all, but I would never ask you to do that,” I said. “But I would appreciate it if you could autograph one of them for her.”

“You sure picked a fine time to get me to sign something,” Lindsey laughed, taking the cards. “Here it is five minutes before I am to go on, and you want me to sign cards.”

I apologized for my lapse of judgment.

“Some of these are first edition cards,” he said, glancing through them. “These haven’t been out in a while and might be worth a little money.”

He signed the top card, and gratefully, I reached to retrieve the rest of them. He brushed my hand away and signed another card. Then another. And another, until every card in the stack bore Goober’s signature.

His kindness didn’t surprise me. He’d always had a soft spot for youngsters. That’s why he’s helped raise money for numerous groups, such as the Special Olympics. That’s why for 17 years he held the George Lindsey Celebrity Golf Tournament in Montgomery to benefit mentally challenged children. And that’s why he was in Arab that night.

He was even kind enough to invite me to his annual TV and film festival at the University of North Alabama where young filmmakers could show their work and learn more about the industry.

“I

hope your daughter enjoys these,” Lindsey grinned, handing the autographed cards back to me. I assured him she would and thanked him.

Then came Cindy’s final knock on the dressing room door, and Lindsey – I mean Goober – made his way out to the stage as Ralph Emery introduced him to the eager crowd.

Lindsey was a superb comedian, his routine absolutely delightful. He amused and entertained everyone with his humor and hilarious facial expressions while interacting with the audience.

I was right about not getting to see him after the show. He was mobbed by fans. But I’m sure no one was more delighted than Lindsey himself.

Tonya isn’t the only member of our family who remains a George Lindsey fan. I have long admired his talent and humanitarian efforts, and it was an honor to share an evening with a celebrity who was gracious enough to drive from Nashville to Arab to benefit sick children.

Since his passing in 2012, I have often relived my encounter with George Lindsey.

I remember him as a delightful man, a fine comedian and someone who truly enjoyed helping children.

The one thing I recall that always makes me smile is the message he asked me to pass on to my daughter. Leaving the dressing room, the mechanic from Mayberry turned and said: “Be sure and tell Tonya that Goober says ‘hey.’”

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in 1965 and soon found himself in the photography business in Memphis, shooting school pictures and weddings.

“It was profitable back then,” he says of the age before the cellphone is full name is Bobby J. Willis. turned everyone into Goes by Bob. But his “photographers.” initials could well be “DIY” In Memphis, Bob met for Do It Yourself.

Nancy, they fell in love, “I’ve always been a domarried.

Bryan, Kathryn, it-yourself guy,” he laughs.

Brandon and Audra were “That’s the reason I don’t born during their 13 years get anything finished.” there.

Bob is sitting in the At the time they comfortable den of the enjoyed traveling in the antebellum-style mansion region, especially visiting he built himself off Union restored, grandly-pillared, Grove Road … make that Greek Revival, antebellum “is building himself.” It mansions. looks as if it was lifted Hand in hand with from a plantation on the these estates and their banks of the Mississippi landscaped grounds, the 180 years ago … only it’s Willises’ love of flowers, much newer. Well, and not azaleas, rhododendrons complete yet. and camellias bloomed, as Bob started the house in did the sight of water lilies 1983, replete with a wrapspreading like green and around veranda punctuated white quilts over ornamental with 14, two-story columns ponds. The Dixon Gallery on the front and two sides. and Gardens in Memphis Though he and his family was an inspiration. have occupied it since Bob and Nancy grew December 1988, with all of so enamored with the the time-consuming details old mansions that they – such as the hand-crafted considered buying one to dentil molding he mitered restore. and installed – the project “Most of them today today is only 90-percent Nancy and Bob stand under the arbor in this photo shot about four years ago, are located in areas you complete after 35 years of before her health started deteriorating.

“She was a fighter,” he says of her threemight not want to live in,” work. year struggle, the results of cancer treatment she’ d received 25 years ago. he says.

“Bob’s big idea.” That’s With that dream what one of his kids dubbed relegated to a back-burner the place … years ago. simmer, Bob brought the family to Union a completion date.

And, truth be told, On this particular day, however, Bob Grove in 1981, moving into Granddaddy though Bob’s a young 71, the years aren’t is talking less about the house and more Will Willis’ house.

The Willises not only helping the work go any faster. about the sprawling gardens that include a owned property in “The Grove” but also “I knew one day you would get old,” 180-foot long, wisteria-draped arbor and a down in Parches Cove, and Bob got back Nancy used to lovingly tease him.

“You courtyard that he created behind the house into the family business of farming and didn’t know it, but I did.” … make that “he is creating.” raising chickens.

Started about the same time as the Meanwhile, that simmering dream ob grew up on the family farm house, the gardens – which could be started boiling. next door, graduated from Arab High described as casually formal – are Story by David Moore Photos by the author or provided by Bob Willis

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gorgeous, but Bob hasn’t quite finished that project either. Farming full time keeps him, well, busy full time.

The death of Nancy, his beloved wife, last May has not helped him close on

B

FEBRUARY | MARCH | APRIL 2019

47

“Since we couldn’t find an old house to restore, I decided to build my own old house.” Bob grins. “I was told there was no way I could do it, so …”

A

fter two years in Union Grove, Mr. DIY broke ground.

The house is based on some of the old sugarcane plantations in Louisiana, in particular Oak Alley, which has 28 columns around it.

“We didn’t want that much,” Bob says.

Instead, Bob and Nancy would have eight Doric columns across the front and three more down each side. The columns – like the house with 12-inch walls – are made of brick and plastered over. Bob built molds and poured the heavy capitals that crown the columns.

Naturally, such a house warranted at least a semi-formal garden inside its fenced, four-acre yard. So Bob dug into that project, too, in the only way he knows how to do things – large scale.

“I guess we started with several hundred azaleas,” he says. “They came from different places, different nurseries.”

Bob and Nancy bought and planted 100 camellias shipped from South Alabama and rhododendrons from a dealer in Warrior. At one point, they had as many as 500 boxwoods.

Flowers of all sorts bloomed amongst the shrubs, all of which were laid out in areas defined by grass pathways.

“I used to work the chickens and do farming,” Bob says, “then come in and spend an hour pulling weeds.” n late 1990, Bob embarked upon his arbor project.

While doing much of the work himself, he did hire two welders. They did an excellent job, he says. And they were essential – after all, once a tractor trailer truck dumps 50,000 pounds of steel posts in your yard, you can’t just sit around and watch them rust.

Bob told the welders he wanted a 180foot, steel frame 10 feet wide and 10 feet tall with trusses between the upright posts, which were to be anchored in concretefilled holes. Upon this frame he would train wisteria to grow.

In the course of the arbor’s length, the yard drops six feet in elevation. Go with the flow, Bob said.

“I don’t want it level, and I don’t want

Purple wisteria and yellow roses are part of the attraction of the 180-foot long arbor.

Azaleas, snowball viburnum, miniature boxwoods, irises and more grow along the way. And Bob’s idea of not making it a straight tunnel and to flow with the contours of the yard also adds to the interest. Glimpses of the second story of the back of the antebellum-style mansion can be seen through gaps in the wisteria.

The surrounding gardens are crossed with grass paths, one of which intersects with the arbor, at far left. “It just grew,” Bob says of the gardens. “I wanted the walkways for the azaleas, but I didn’t want it to look formal … just kind of natural as I could get it.” Big leaf hostas formerly bordered the walkways between boxwoods, but deer and chipmunks got to them.

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I

FEBRUARY | MARCH | APRIL 2019

49

it straight,” he instructed the welders. “I don’t want to stand on one end and see the other end.”

He pauses in the story to laugh: “Those guys were flipping out.”

After it was built, Bob began planting. He and Nancy bought pink wisteria from a big nursery in Georgia. They also got cuttings of the fast-growing vine from Ruth Lindsey in Parches Cove.

“She wanted it all gone from her place,” Bob says. “That stuff will just about get in bed with you. It is very prolific.”

With the arbor checked off his to-do list, three years later Bob began a tall pergola over the courtyard behind the house, built with the leftover steel the tractor trailer truck had dumped.

A

The garden turns lush in the spring, an investment Bob thinks paid dividends to Nancy and him over the years. He used the same steel on the arbor, or pergola, over the courtyard behind the house. Instead of the pink wisteria he planted over the long arbor, he planted white over the courtyard.

s amazing as the gardens are, in Bob’s mental master plan they’re still not finished. He wants to develop a pond with lily pads, like those he and Nancy admired so much during their Memphis days.

In all fairness to Bob, his comment about not getting projects finished is not true.

With help from his boys after school and in the summers, he built and completed a large, L-shaped pool in the backyard. They constructed forms, did the plumbing, poured the concrete, laid the tile. It took more than two years, but, by golly, when all the kids were still living there, the family wore out that pool.

“Nancy thought it was the best money we ever spent,” Bob says.

While he tended chickens, farmed and DIY-ed, Nancy loved teaching reading and English literature. She retired in 2008 from Brindlee Mountain High School.

Besides life with her kids and teaching, she enjoyed the gardens with Bob. “She used to help me weed them,” he says. “She loved the camellias.” Along with their wide varieties of narcissus, buttercup, irises daylilies and such.

“We enjoyed it,” Bob says.

Last year, however, was almost impossibly hard. Bob’s mother, Freda, died May 2. Nancy, who had been ill for several years, died May 5.

Bob has stayed busy since then, but life has been very different and difficult. This spring he wants to get some of the physical aspects of his life back in shape. He’s got plenty of projects inside the house, and of course the gardens will need a lot of attention.

“For the last two or three years they’ve been badly neglected,” Bob says. But come March and April he’ll be watching for new blooms. Even if they don’t always last long, they always return.

Some years back, Bob got into the plants that smell good, such as wild, deciduous azaleas, viburnum, narcissus and such. “When the kids were still here, they discovered them one year and couldn’t get over them.” Nancy got into arranging flowers, and had plenty to work with.

Bob would cut a few big hands – or arms – full and she’d go at it.

B

eyond the work is a certain need for enjoying the fruits of his labor.

“I don’t have to spend a lot of time there,” he says of the garden. “I can enjoy it just walking to my woodworking shop.”

Which raises the larger question about investing so much time and money in the home he and Nancy built. But that’s not hard for Bob to answer. To him, it’s a “different strokes” sort of thing.

“We have some friends who took a trip overseas,” he explains.

“I thought, ‘You spent more money going over there than I did on some of this, but I’ll have this all my life.’ We were tied down here raising chickens, so we kind of built our own thing.”

Built the DIY way, of course.

Good Life Magazine 50

FEBRUARY | MARCH | APRIL 2019

FEBRUARY | MARCH | APRIL 2019

51

Wayne Hostetter is not sure if he’s an “artist” or not.

Here’s what he is for certain … a retired preacher who grew up loving boats and the water, and who kayaks out to the islands on Lake Guntersville in search of interestingly-shaped driftwood which he then processes and assembles into lamps, tables and such, each as unique as the effects time and water wrought upon his medium of choice.

Like art itself, the decision on Wayne as an artist might well lie in the eye of the beholder. But he enjoys the work … and getting out on the water.

Welcome to Wayne’s wood

before and after washing. Then lays them out to dry in an unfinished part of the basement adjacent to his workshop. He has a lot of wood there.

Wayne’s eye and experience come into play as he picks through gnarly wood. He has a feel for what might work as a table lamp, mirror or table.

Many creations are made by attaching two or more pieces of driftwood using screws, nails or glue. Joints require construction cement, and sometimes Wayne uses a threaded rod to strengthen pieces together in, say, a floor lamp or table.

Tables are built upside down with the help of woodworking jigs, some for the shape, others to ensure legs are balanced.

For finishing, he brushes or sprays on a clear-satin, water-based polyurethane.

“Using different shaped pieces of wood and getting them to work is tricky,” Wayne says. “You’re dealing with wood where none of the pieces are the same.

“It’s fun, but it’s a challenge. It takes a little time to make it work.”

W

Working in his shop in the basement, Wayne creates uniquely local furniture out of driftwood. He finds that one of the harder parts of the process is drilling passage ways to thread lamp wire through the twists and turns of several pieces of wood that are anything but straight.

Story and photos

by David Moore

W

ayne Hostetter began working with driftwood after retiring from a 41-year career in the ministry, his last fulltime position being minister of education at Arab First Baptist Church.

“I had always been intrigued by the different shapes of the wood and what the water does to it, wearing away the soft tissue in it,” Wayne says. “And I have always enjoyed working with wood and being around the water in boats. It was kind of like a natural fit to bring it all together.”

While he sometimes picks up interesting driftwood along the banks of Lake Guntersville, the islands in the stream of the Tennessee River are his go54

FEBRUARY | MARCH | APRIL 2019

to sources. They also offer an opportunity for some exercise.

About 10 times a year Wayne paddles his kayak out to the unnamed islands along the northeast edge of the Tennessee River’s main channel about a mile downstream from U.S. 431. From where he launches, it’s a three- to four-mile round trip.

“Wind can do a number on paddling,” he says. “I have had to stay on an island an hour before I could get back, the wind was so strong.”

But for the man who started kayaking as a kid, it’s a labor of affinity, if not love.

With weather generally blowing from the west, Wayne finds most of his driftwood on windward shores of the islands.

“I have also found quite a few hats and

boat bumpers,” he laughs A fan of his driftwood creations , his wife, Elizabeth, drew the line when he started bringing home these incidental souvenirs.

“He was going to keep everything he found on the lake. I said, ‘Oh, no.’”

“I thought it would be nice,” he grins.

O

ne might think after hauling a load of often wet driftwood to their house – the Hostetters live on the hillside behind the Guntersville Middle School soccer field, overlooking the lake – drying it is the next step. Not so.

“The first thing I do with new wood is to pressure wash it,” Wayne says. “You have to be careful with it, though. It can eat into the wood.”

Actually, he brushes off the pieces

ayne’s attraction to water and woodworking came easily.

He was raised in Jacksonville, Fla., in a house on a river that feeds the St. John’s River.

“I grew up in a canvas kayak my dad built,” Wayne says. “It was not unusual at all to see an alligator on the shore. We skied out there and kayaked out there.”

Wayne’s maternal grandfather who lived nearby was a carpenter and an influence. A harbinger of things to come, in high school Wayne made a lamp from a cypress knee.

Elizabeth entered his life when Kodak transferred her father to Jacksonville.

They met at church. He was 16, she was 14, and he asked her out to a football game.

“His dad was chairman of the deacons, and his mom was president of the Women’s Missionary Union,” she laughs.

“They thought I would be OK.” That’s probably better than the preacher’s kids, they laugh, then laugh again.

“Our daughters might resent that,” she says.

The death of his father when Wayne was 19 affected his direction in life.

Elizabeth affected his “direction,” too.

Look for Wayne’s booth at Art on the Lake, April 27-28 to be held 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday and 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Sunday at the Guntersville Rec Center on Sunset Drive. Before he stopped traveling, among other shows Wayne exhibited his work at Art in the Park and Art under the Oaks at Sullivan Island, Ga., above. His son-in-law helped at those shows, and a number of Wayne’s pieces now reside at his daughter Lydia’s house in nearby Brunswick, Ga., including the table and lamp at left. “The driftwood works well in their home,” Wayne says. “They live right on the marsh and have a pier that goes into the river.

Photos on this page provided by Elizabeth Hostetter.

After a year in Jacksonville, her family was transferred to Birmingham. After being apart a year and graduating, Wayne followed her and entered what’s now Samford University. He completed his

degree in economics at Carson-Newman College in East Tennessee, where he transferred to be closer to Elizabeth who got a scholarship to Furman University in South Carolina.

FEBRUARY | MARCH | APRIL 2019

55

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Wayne’s driftwood pieces –such as the mirror above –are a reflection of his interest in woodworking and getting out on the water. Some of the driftwood shapes and textures are so intriguing they stand as pieces of natural lake sculpture, below.

T

hey married after he graduated in 1967. She transferred to the University of Louisville for her bachelor’s and master’s degree in piano performance because he was in Southern Seminary in Louisville, where he graduated in 1971.

“I crammed a three-year course into four years,” he grins.

“Because he was nice enough to let his wife stay in school rather than have her support him,” Elizabeth says.

During seminary, Wayne preached at a small Indiana church. He also built a canvas kayak. It sank on its maiden voyage, but a coat of waterproof paint corrected the wet setback.

From there, the ministry took them to Hickman, Ky., on the banks of the Mississippi. Wayne built a kayak in the church basement.

He then preached eight years at Dwight Baptist Church in Gadsden.

The Coosa was there but he had no kayak. They did, however, have daughters Karen and Lydia.

During Wayne’s seven years of preaching in Tempe, Ariz., Elizabeth earned her doctorate in piano.

Other callings along the way led the family to First Baptist Southside (Ala.), then to Forest Park in Montgomery and then, for nearly 10 years, to Parker Memorial in Anniston as minister of education and administration.

W

hile in Gadsden, Wayne brought his deacons to Lake Guntersville State Park, and he and Elizabeth fell in love with the area.

They bought a sailboat while in Montgomery. While in Anniston they had decided they would retire in Guntersville.

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Wayne and Elizabeth enjoy the pergola he built in their backyard, using in part some of some his driftwood findings. During his years of preaching and even since, Elizabeth – with a doctorate degree in piano performance , did her own form of ministry as organist or pianist, sometimes at his churches, sometimes at others. “I’m the 431 organist – or pianist,” she laughs. It’s a reference to having played at Baptist churches on U.S. 431 in Huntsville, Guntersville, Anniston, Gadsden. She was at Guntersville FBC for nine months. She also taught at Judson College. Though retired from playing at churches, she still fills in from time to time, just as Wayne does in various pulpits. Their daughter Karen, a graphic artist, lives in Huntsville with her husband Michael Kilpatrick. Daughter Lydia is interim dean of nursing at Coastal College of Georgia and lives in Brunswick with husband Jason Watkins and the Hostetters’ granddaughter, Alivia.

The Hostetters bought a lot and moved their sailboat to Guntersville in 2005, began building in 2006 and moved into an apartment in 2007 before the house was completed.

Before moving in, Dr. Paul Murphy, a preacher friend from Gadsden who had since gone to Arab First Baptist, asked if Wayne would serve there as the full-time minister of education. He retired in 2009.

While furnishing their new house, the idea of making driftwood furniture began lapping the shores of Wayne’s mind.

“There needed to be something that was uniquely local from such a pretty area for folks to put in their homes,” he says. “We couldn’t find it, so I started making it.”

58

FEBRUARY | MARCH | APRIL 2019

In January 2011 Wayne paddled out on his first driftwood expedition. Not that he really needed an excuse to go kayaking, but the pieces of his idea fit more naturally than some of the wood he found. But he soon figured out how to make it work.

“He says he’s not artistic,” Elizabeth says, “but he has a good eye for it. He’s a perfectionist.”

W

ayne entered his first show that year, a competition held by the Mountain Valley Arts Council.

“I entered three pieces,” he says, “and actually won first and third place.”

Other shows followed. He sold his unique furniture at Art on the Lake, the Bloomin’ Festival at St. Bernard’s in

Cullman, the Mentone Fall Festival and at two art shows on St. Simon’s Island, Ga. He sometimes meets others who work with driftwood, and it’s fun to compare notes and methods.

So … is Wayne Hostetter an artist?

“I don’t know,” he grins in his easy way. “I consider what I do to be artistic.

Whether or not that makes me an artist, I don’t know.”

Pigeon-holing is just not that important anyway, not when he finds fulfillment in what he creates.

“I enjoy just making it and being happy with how it comes out,” Wayne says. “And of course I always like it when someone else likes it, too.”

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lizabeth Burgess lives in Poplar Springs, a farming community on Sand Mountain, up above Town Creek. She’s as familiar with the area and its people as she is with the palms of her hands.

She’s lived her 97 years within a mile or so from where she was born.

Don’t let her age fool you.

“Sometimes I don’t feel I’m over 60.” Her eyes grin along with the rest of her face, a storied face topped by a tiny, neatly braided button of hair.

“And I did everything I wanted to when I was 60.”

Then again, sometimes she does feel older than 60. She had to quit gardening and canning when she was 90.

“Now that’s behind me,” Elizabeth says, a simple matter of fact.

She loves people, loves for them to stop by her house, visit and chat for a spell.

This particular day, her visitor is Danny Maltbie of Albertville. He met Elizabeth through his wife, Darla, who grew up in the community.

Elizabeth greets him at the door, invites him inside. One almost wants to

duck under the low ceiling, under the bare bulbs that protrude from it. It adds to the cozy feel.

“You’ll have to make your way around the dolls,” Elizabeth instructs.

The living room is packed with an army of dolls, all peering out with bright plastic eyes from beneath synthetic hairdos. They sit and stand everywhere, from Chatty Cathy and a Shirley Temple in its original box to the annually released Holiday Barbies, which Elizabeth has collected since 2000.

“I had a little doll when I was a little girl,” Elizabeth says. “But we didn’t have money to buy dolls. Then, when I started FEBRUARY | MARCH | APRIL 2019

61

going to the auction, I started collecting them, and I ain’t found a place to stop.”

B

esides dolls, Elizabeth loves to collect old photos. She’s filled dozens of scrapbooks over the years with pictures and newspaper clippings.

Taking a seat in her comfortable recliner in the sitting room where there’s enough room to, well, sit, she opens a scrapbook and shows Danny old pictures.

“Now, who is this?”

“That’s my parents, Rachel Dowdy Bearden and Emanuel Bearden,” Elizabeth says. “They were both born on Sand Mountain. Some of their family moved to Texas, so they thought they would move to Texas, too.”

“They stayed a year or maybe two and decided they liked Alabama better. They came back and never left again.”

Elizabeth recalls that her parents had photos of family members “from way back before my time” and shared them with her and her four sisters and six brothers.

She was enthralled in part by the magic inherent in the chemical process that brought photos to life, photos which in turn brought kith and kin to life, be they from recent or distant times.

“I just get fascinated with the old pictures, and some new ones, too,” Elizabeth says. “I want to learn more about where the people came from, who their relatives were.”

She shows Danny a photo of John Bearden, her granddaddy.

“He fought,” she says, “for the Union Army.”

She has a small coffee grinder that belonged to Granddaddy John, which she plans to pass on to her son, Danny “Mitchell” Bearden, who’s 68 and lives near Martling Methodist Church.

D

anny, being Danny (subject of the “Good People” feature in the winter issue of GLM and a volunteer with the Marshall County Archives and Albertville Museum), is just all over these black-white-sepia tidbits of local history.

He holds up pages from the photo album, inquiring who, what, when, where and perhaps “why for.” Elizabeth tells all.

Then he comes to a poor Xerox of a photo, ghostly images streaked on photocopy paper.

“My, my ... I love this picture,” he tells 62

FEBRUARY | MARCH | APRIL 2019

One account of George Burns and his family have their original house deteriorating to the point of collapse. Elizabeth says it burned down. Either way, the old chimney remained, and either way the community pitched in to build a cabin for George and his family on the property the ex-slave traded a gun to acquire. Elizabeth has only a photocopy (of maybe a photocopy) of an old photograph of George, right, with his wife and step-daughter.

This is a photocopy of a picture taken at the former general store/post office in Martling owned by Albert Ward, center. To the right is Ryan deGraffenried Sr., at the time campaigning for governor.

DeGraffenried died the night of Feb. 10, 1966, perhaps the day after this photo was taken. George Wallace was prohibited from running that year because of term limits. “But for the plane crash (deGraffenried) had a good chance of winning,” Wayne Flynt, Alabama’s preeminent historian, later told Al.com’s Pulitzer-prize winning columnist John Archibald. “Which would have made him the first New South governor.” Archibald referred to deGraffenried’s death as “the day the music died in Alabama,” a regrettable turning point in the state’s direction.

Danny Maltbie of Albertville now owns the checker board in the photo.

Elizabeth, holding it up for her. “This was taken at the Martling store where the post office was.”

It depicts two men in cane-seat chairs at a checker board, one in coveralls, one in a white dress shirt and narrow, black necktie. A second man wearing a farm hat and maybe suspenders, leans forward observing the

game. A fourth man in the background may also have on a dress shirt.

“You know who that is?” Danny says.

“That’s Ryan deGraffenried. And this may be one of the last pictures taken of him before he died.”

DeGraffenried died the night of Feb. 10, 1966, when the small plane he was in smashed into the side of Lookout

Mountain a few minutes out of Fort Payne.

At the time he was campaigning for governor in Northeast Alabama, though news reports of his death don’t have him in Marshall County that day.

Something about the photo grabs Danny more than that.

“I have that checker board,” he tells Elizabeth.

Turns out Albert Ward, center in the photo, owned the store and the checker board. Danny and Darla later bought it from one of his heirs. He was told Wallace once played on it, too. Danny, however, never has.

E

lizabeth was born Sept. 27, 1921, about a mile down Martling Drive – then called Winston Mill Road – near the bluff above Town Creek. On Sunday evenings she loved to go to High Falls when black families from Collinsville gathered there for evening services and singings.

She pulls out a photo of questionable

quality that depicts a man and two females in a yard with an unattached stone chimney and a small cabin.

“I know that picture,” Danny says.

The man, George Burns, was a former slave who traded a gun for 32 acres of land near Poplar Spring Church. He married an ex-slave, Harriet, who brought her daughter, Sarah, to live with them.

They farmed, and George also had a small mine on the side of the mountain from which he dug and sold coal. Sarah Burns and her mother baked wedding cakes, which Elizabeth says were a big hit in the community.

“The house burned down in the early ‘30s, I guess,” she says. “The community came and built that cabin for them.

Everybody treated them like family.”

In 1940, Elizabeth married Bud Burgess. Her baby sister, Olga, married Bud’s brother, Ray. Elizabeth and Bud farmed.

“Once this neighbor of mine, his mother

was sick and it was just him and his sister there,” she recalls. “It was cotton-picking time, and they had to stay with his mother.

So me and my brother and Bud went out and picked his cotton for him.”

“People done that then. If your crop needed working, whatever you needed, they’d help out.”

“It has always been,” Danny says, “a good community.”

E

lizabeth and Bud used to live across the road from Jay Center’s store.

“I couldn’t stand it,” she says. “It was so noisy there.”

In 1973 they moved to the house where she still lives.

“We had to draw water, and we had to milk cows, and we had our own butter,” Elizabeth says. “We had hogs to kill and in cool weather we would kill a beef, and we had a good store of stuff to eat.”

“I’ve picked cotton, pulled corn, picked peppers and plowed a mule. I’ve done it FEBRUARY | MARCH | APRIL 2019

63

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She called Beecher and told him about the snake but “he didn’t much believe me.” So she put its 11 rattles in a gift box and sent it to him.

“I saw him ride his pony, Chrome, in the Rose Parade a few years ago,” she concludes. “He brought me a DVD of it.”

“I

can’t say I haven’t enjoyed my life,” Elizabeth says. “I have. And I love people.”

For starts, there’s her son, Mitchell, and his wife, Martha. They’re raising a granddaughter, Autumn, whom Elizabeth also loves.

Autumn calls her Sissy, which was started years ago, before she married Bud. Her youngest brother, Villie’s son could not say “Elizabeth” and started calling her Sissy.

“Now they all call me Sissy,” she says of her extended family.

Among the many friends she loves is Briggs Patterson, retired president of Liberty Bank at Geraldine and a member of the Marshall-DeKalb Electric Cooperative.

“He was my Sunday school teacher at New Harmony, and since I can’t go there anymore, he comes and teaches me the Bible every Sunday night at my house.”

“I cook if I have something we like,” Elizabeth continues. “Sometime he’ll pick

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“So I’ve been here,” Elizabeth says.

And she’s not complaining.

“I got Bibles to read,” she says.

“Children’s Bible, King James, the Living Bible … I found out they’re all a-pointing at the same place.”

“I was saved when I was 18 years old.

Another year and it will be 80 years. The Lord has been so good to me.”

She also enjoys reading “them little Amish books,” “Chicken Soup for the Soul,” the “Journey into Grace” books and Darlene Sala’s devotionals.

Over the years Elizabeth has attended all of the community churches, High Point First Congregational Methodist, Mount High Primitive Baptist, Popular Springs and, for some 50 years, New Harmony Baptist.

She listens to Beecher Hyde on WBSA in Boaz, has for years, and laughs at one fond memory of him.

“It was getting along in the evening and me and Bud had eaten supper. I was going to carry out the scraps for the cats and I saw a limb in the road.”

But it wasn’t a limb. It was a big rattler.

Elizabeth continues, “I got the hoe and came around the back of it and hit his back as hard I could. With his back broke, he couldn’t get away, and I cut his head off.”

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all. I thought it was a good life,” she adds, the smile on her face radiating from those bright eyes. “We thought everybody was like we was.”

Entertainment, at least in some of their later years, back in the 1990s, involved Saturday night trips to Bill Holder Auction at Nixon Chapel.

“We’d go to antique auctions.”

Conspiratorially Elizabeth adds, “We’d go mostly to eat supper. Bud said he didn’t care about auctions, but he did. If I wanted to go to the auction he did, too.”

So started her doll collecting. She also points out a number of clocks hanging around the house, from cuckoos to grandfathers nearly tall enough to bump the low ceiling.

Elizabeth apparently managed to smuggle a few items home, unbeknownst to Bud. Danny recalls one time he and Darla visited Elizabeth and Bud. The Maltbies are collectors and aficionados of antique pottery, and the topic came up in conversation during their visit.

“Bud was sitting here, and Elizabeth got up and started pulling pottery out of the closets,” Danny laughs. “And Bud said, ‘I ain’t never seen all of this pottery!’”

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Elizabeth had six brothers and four sisters –apparently not everyone was home the day the photo at the left was taken. From left are Lee, baby Olga, Elizabeth, the second youngest, Villie and Scott. At right, Rachel Dowdy Bearden has an eye on her daughters Elizabeth and Olga.

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Elizabeth has a framed photo of her and her late husband, Bud. “One time we had a good cotton crop and picked a bale of cotton in about two days. That’s about 350 pounds,” she says. Born Sept. 27, 1921, Elizabeth says of her 97 years, “I can start at the end of the road, and I can’t count anybody who is near as old I am.” Above, Elizabeth holds one of her many dolls. At left, along with her friend Briggs Patterson, she celebrates her 96th birthday on Sept. 27, 2017.

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us up a pizza or we make potato soup. He came today and brought dinner and went on his way.”

The phone rings in on the conversation, not once but twice.

Elizabeth recognizes the number on caller ID: Kay Alexander, her niece, “Let me call you back, hon. … Love you.”

Another call: “Hello.” Pause. “I have company now …

OK.” Elizabeth hangs up. “That was Faye Lambert. She’s married to Gene Lambert, the pastor.”

Preacher talk brings up S.J. Minor, who pastored Elizabeth at High Point FCM years ago.

“He said funerals are not preached, they are lived.” Minor ought to know … he officiated over some 1,500 of them, by Elizabeth’s count. ther friends call Elizabeth from time to time or stop to walk around the dolls and sit a spell, perhaps ask her questions about someone’s grandmother in the community.

“When everyone around here needs to know something, they call me,” she says. “I just thank God I can remember.”

And of course she loves it when Danny and his wife visit.

“When me and Danny and Darla get together, we have something to talk about.” Elizabeth’s eyes twinkle as she sees him to the door. “We have some good talking.”

“Yes,” Danny says. “We do.”

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Out ‘n’ About This selection of photographs by Dianne Holderfield embraces the spring theme of “blooming.” And buzzing. And butterflies. And blowing ... One of her favorite images among these is the shot of dandelion seeds flying off in the breeze. It brings to her mind a Bob Dylan song from 1962, “Blowin’ in the Wind.” She lives on the eastern edge of Morgan County, within easy walking distance of northeast Marshall County.

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FEBRUARY | MARCH | APRIL 2019

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The top card was postmarked 1947 and mailed to Wellsville, N.Y. Curiously, it was mailed from Washington, D.C. Below, a card from the 1960s depicts dancers atop the “frozen waterfall’ in Cathedral Caverns. See page 12 for information on a postcard exhibit coming to Guntersville Museum.

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Better healthcare, illuminated.

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