Discover St. Clair June and July 2017 by Discover The Essence of St. Clair

Drum and Bugle Corps • Springville History Museum Bicentennial Kickoff • Keeper of History • Sidewalk Film Festival

June & July 2017

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Features and Articles Discover

The Essence of St. Clair

Harry Charles McCoy

Touching lives across St. Clair County since he was 12 Page 24 Southern Knights Drum and Bugle Corps Page 8 Birmingham Sidewalk Film Festival Page 46 Generations of Successful Business Page 72

Traveling the Backroads First Baptist of Springville Page 16

Ashville History Keeper Robert Debter takes on job Page 34

History Museum Labor of love for Springville Page 36

Alabama Bicentennial Exhibit to launch in Moody Page 50

â€˜Opryâ€™ Lives On Musicians gather in Gallant Page 54

Business Review

Garrison invests in workforce development Business News in Brief

Page 62 Page 64

June & July 2017

www.discoverstclair.com

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Carol Pappas

Writers AND Photographers

Carol Pappas is editor and publisher of Discover St. Clair Magazine. A retired newspaper executive, she served as editor and publisher of several newspapers and magazines during her career. She won dozens of writing awards in features, news and commentary and was named Distinguished Alabama Community Journalist at Auburn University. After retiring, she launched her own multimedia company, Partners by Design Inc. In addition to marketing, design and web services for companies and nonprofits, Partners publishes Discover, various community magazines for chambers of commerce and Mosaic Magazine, a biannual publication of Alabama Humanities Foundation.

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

Elaine Hobson Miller

Jerry C. Smith’s interest in photography and writing go back to his teen years. He has produced numerous articles, stories and photographs for local websites and regional newspapers and magazines, including the St. Clair County News, Sand Mountain Living, and Old Tennessee Valley. His photos have appeared in books, on national public television, in local art displays and have captured prizes in various contests.

Elaine Hobson Miller is a freelance writer with a B.A. in Journalism from Samford University. She was the first female to cover Birmingham City Hall for the Birmingham Post-Herald, where she worked as reporter, food editor and features writer. A former editor of Birmingham Home & Garden magazine and staff writer for Birmingham magazine, she has written for a variety of local, regional and national publications. She is a member of Alabama Media Professionals and NFPW (the National Federation of Press Women). Follow her weekly blog about life with a dozen four-legged critters, life in the country and life in general at www.countrylife-elaine.blogspot.com.

Mike Callahan

Wallace Bromberg Jr.

Mike Callahan is a freelance photographer who resides on Logan Martin Lake in Pell City. He specializes in commercial, nature and family photography. Mike’s work has been published in Outdoor Alabama Magazine, Alabama Trucking Association and Alabama Concrete Industries magazines. Publishing his work to the internet frequently, he has won many honors for pictures of the day and week.

Wally graduated from Auburn University where he graduated in 1976 with his BA in History and minors in German and Education. Wally’s skills in photography blossomed during college.After a 30-year career, he decided to dust off his camera skills and pursue photography full time.

Jerry C. Smith

Leigh Pritchett

Graham Hadley

Susan Wall

Leigh Pritchett has been in the publishing field 30 years. Early in her career, she worked for a New York Times Regional Newspaper. Since the 1990s, she has been a freelance writer. Her work has appeared in local, state and national publications in print and digital form. Mrs. Pritchett received the Bachelor of Arts in English from the University of Montevallo.

Susan Wall moved to Logan Martin Lake from Birmingham, where she worked as a critical care nurse. Alongside the nursing career, she owned Dreamscapes Photography, a portrait and wedding studio. Winner of the 2010 August Moore award at the Bluff Park Art Show, with numerous publications in magazines and the Kodak Instructional Magazine, her passion now is digital painting and portraits.

Linda Long

Jackie Romine Walburn

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

Jackie Romine Walburn, a Birmingham native and freelance writer, is an Auburn University journalism graduate who has worked as a reporter, editor and corporate communications manager. She’s had recent writing published in the Birmingham Arts Journal and Alalitcom. Jackie is currently seeking an agent and publisher for her first novel, Mojo Jones and the Black Cat Bone, a story set in the Alabama Black Belt and based on a kernel of a news story she covered as a reporter in Selma, Ala. She writes the blog jackierwalburnwrites.blogspot.com.

From the Editor

Pardon Our Progress

St. Clair County needs to hang a huge sign at the border that says: “Pardon Our Progress.” If you haven’t seen construction dust flying lately, you haven’t been looking. Northside Medical Associates in doubling its size with a two-story addition that will house big city specialties right here at home – full time. We watched in awe as the steel went up on it and took pride in knowing that part of the work was shouldered by a state-sanctioned iron workers school for Pell City and St. Clair County students. It is the brainchild of Garrison Steel President John Garrison, who has been an activist in workforce development so that much needed building skills live on in generations to come. Northside and St. Vincent’s Health System have joined forces to open primary care clinics in Ashville, Springville and Trussville. Town & Country Ford is building its new showroom and dealership, an impressive construction site fronting US 231 in Pell City. And across the way, facing I-20, land has been cleared, and construction is beginning on McSweeney Automotive, another new car dealership coming to the city. Construction has begun on a new movie theater, bowling alley and entertainment complex in Pell City. Work continues on a massive Legacy Springs development in Odenville. And in Moody, a new industry has broken ground on a $10 million investment for Gardner Denver Nash to serve customers in the Southeast and Gulf Coast areas of the United States with a completely integrated, lean factory. While it’s not in St. Clair County, it is the county’s largest employer not located here. That would be Honda Manufacturing of Alabama, and the effect of its just announced $85 million expansion will be felt all across St. Clair County. We even have a little economic development news of our

own. Partners by Design Inc., the parent company of our magazine, has opened a new office in historic downtown Pell City, thanks to our growth and our passion for downtown revitalization. Those are just some of the projects fueling progress in St. Clair County, and you’ll learn more about them in this issue. But, of course, that’s not all. There are plenty of stories about the people, places and things that make St. Clair County such a special place. Turn the page and discover it all along with us! Carol Pappas Editor and Publisher

Discover The Essence of St. Clair

June & July 2017 • Vol. 36 • www.discoverstclair.com

Carol Pappas • Editor and Publisher Graham Hadley • Managing Editor and Designer Brandon Wynn • Director of Online Services Mike Callahan • Photography Wallace Bromberg Jr. • Photography Susan Wall • Photography Dale Halpin • Advertising Toni Franklin • Executive Assistant

A product of Partners by Design www.partnersmultimedia.com 6204 Skippers Cove Pell City, AL 35128 205-335-0281

Printed at Russell Printing, Alexander City, AL 7

Southern Knights Drum and Bugle Corps A St. Clair County original creation Story by Leigh Pritchett Photos by Wallace Bromberg Jr. Submitted photos When one particular group decides to “strike up the band,” musicians come from all over Alabama and even other states to be part of it. It has members from Pell City, Springville, Odenville, Mountain Brook and Pelham, from Gadsden State Community College, Jacksonville State University and Troy University, from Florida and Tennessee. “They’re from all over. That’s for sure,” said Wes Myers of Pell City, who works with the group. Even its staff members hail from Tennessee, South Carolina and several locales in Alabama. Others are working behind the scenes as far away as Minnesota. And all this effort comes together right in Pell City under the name of Southern Knights Drum and Bugle Corps. The corps includes musicians from middle school to golden age. It is in its third season (second season for competitive performances) and is about 55 members strong. A drum and bugle corps, in some aspects, is similar to a marching band. Its participants play an instrument while executing a series of formations during their performances. The corps is comprised of brass, battery percussion, front ensemble (keyboards, etc.), color guard (flags, rifles), drum major and field conductor. Unlike a marching band, however, there are no woodwinds. The performance, which lasts 10 to 11.5 minutes, includes an energetic and arduous succession of drill movements accented greatly with body language. Precision is key. “It’s all about the general effect of the show,” said Myers, a drum corps veteran who is now corps director and visual caption head of Southern Knights. “... This is a different kind of activity. ... It’s very demanding on your body,” said Myers. “... It takes a lot of discipline to hang with it.” The musical tempo is 160-180 beats a minute, Myers continued. “... It’s crazy the amount of adrenaline and amount of oxygen (it takes) to get through an 11 ½-minute show.”

DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • June & July 2017

Southern Knights practice at Pell City High School.

DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair â€¢ June & July 2017

Southern Knights

John Hoekstra, left, and Wes Myers 10

Keeping out of the sun and cool is essential.

John Hoekstra of Pelham is executive director and founder of Southern Knights, as well as a drum corps participant for 50 years. After he and wife Tammy moved to Alabama five years ago, they joined a group in Atlanta in order to continue their drum corps participation. Hoekstra found that there was significant interest in beginning a drum corps in the Birmingham area. Using his own money, he acquired some instruments and other essentials for starting the local group. Numerous other people lent their support and expertise in drum corps performance. The first year, which was 2015, the corps consisted of 17 individuals – mostly adults. Its first performance was at a non-competitive event that July at Huntingdon College in Montgomery. In 2016, the number of members grew to 45. The group was approved for Drum Corps International (DCI) competitions and performed in its first competitive field shows. Approval for Drum Corps Associates (DCA) competitions followed in 2017. “By year five, my goal is to be 120-strong and to be the premier performing arts organization in Alabama,” said Hoekstra, who designs field formation visuals not only for Southern Knights, but also for some Alabama high school bands. “We say we’re from Birmingham, but we represent the whole Birmingham area,” Hoekstra continued. The Southern Knights train 11 months to perform in seven competitions, mostly in Alabama and Georgia. This year, their performances begin July 1. The pinnacle of competitions is the championship in Rochester, N.Y., on Labor Day. Because of the corps’ opportunity to compete outside the state, the Southern Knights actually “represent Alabama on a nationwide scale,” Hoekstra said. It is his intention in the not-too-distant future for the Southern Knights from Pell City to go to England to meet their European namesake. Teens, young adults and middle-aged adults comprise the membership of Southern Knights. Some are students; others are professionals holding full-time jobs. “They all work hard,” Myers said. “They all push themselves to the limit. They want to be here.” They pay tuition ranging from $650 (for a returning member) to $750 (for a new member) to be part of the corps. They begin in November to train and rehearse for the series of summertime competitions. Sometimes, the group practices as many as four weekends a month. The season ends in September and work begins again in November for the next year’s show. Sid Brown, director of bands for Pell City Schools, is supportive of the Southern Knights,

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Southern Knights Southern Knights practice drill movements, this time without instruments.

giving the group access at Pell City High School to instruments, indoor rehearsal space and an outdoor practice field. “I am a product of drum and bugle corps myself,” he said. “I did several years while I was in college. ... I lived it. ... I know what it can do for kids.” Brown said drum corps participation pushes talent and precision to another level. And the discipline and dedication that members must exhibit in drum corps transfer to other areas of life, such as job performance, Myers said. Students from numerous schools and people from different walks of life work side by side almost all year, growing into a unified group, said Jack Rudisell of Irondale, brass caption head. This bond is one aspect that Faith Ledbetter of Odenville said is quite special. “I enjoy competition and the whole family aspect,” she said. “They become your second family.” In fact, she spent her 18th birthday in April rehearsing flag work for the musical selections of the corps. Robert Adams, a Pell City High School math teacher, is also a former drum corps participant. Now, he is percussion caption leader for the

From left, Wes Myers, Jack Rudisell and John Hoekstra watch drill movements on the practice field below.

DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • June & July 2017

Southern Knights

Practicing with the instruments prepares the members for the big performance. Southern Knights. Because of his own experiences in a drum corps, he is excited that this opportunity has come to the area. Others share the enthusiasm. “I’ve always wanted to do (this) since eighth grade and saw my first live DCI show,” said 18-year-old Evan Woodall of Springville. Sixteen-year-old Parker McWhorter of Springville “was hooked” in much the same way. After seeing a drum corps performance in ninth grade, “I knew that’s what I wanted to do someday.” Both Parker and Evan became Southern Knights in 2016. The two of them had such zeal for drum corps that 14-year-old Connor Graben, also of Springville, was eager to join, too. This is his first season of knighthood. l For information on Southern Knights, visit www.southernknightscorps.org. Southern Knights is a 501(c)3 organization.

DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • June & July 2017

Traveling the

BACKROADS

First Baptist Church of Springville Celebrating 200 years and beyond

DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair â€¢ June & July 2017

Story by Joe Whitten Photos by Michael Callahan Submitted photos Sunday morning, March 19, 2017, dawned cloudless and late-winter crisp, and sunshine soon gilded the rooftops of Springville. As 10:30 approached, the parking lot of First Baptist Church Springville was filling up. Inside, friends greeted friends and members welcomed visitors arriving to worship and to celebrate the church’s 200th anniversary. The establishment of this Southern Baptist church can be stated briefly: Organized as Mt. Zion, March 22, 1817, by Elder Sion Blythe assisted by Elder Joseph Hill, the church is older than Springville, St. Clair County, or the state of Alabama. Charter members were Joseph Hill, John Mangum, Sion Blythe, Elizabeth Hill, Rebecca Mangum, Sara Blythe, Sara McCollum, Dianna Johnston and Margaret Riggs. Sion Blythe remained as pastor until he moved to Texas in 1834. There, he died of fever, Aug. 23, 1835. Those are the basics, but how the church came into existence is a record of God’s guidance in the life of a man who came to be called “the reluctant preacher.” Born in East Tennessee in 1781, Sion Blythe was ordained to preach at age 23. Thereafter, he was a fervent preacher who helped organize and pastor churches in Buncombe County, North Carolina. Then in 1816, Sion and wife, Sara, departed Buncombe County, came to the Mississippi Territory and settled on Canoe Creek near today’s Springville, Ala. In moving here, he had resolved no longer to preach and instructed Sara to tell no one that he had ever preached. It seems Blythe had minor differences with North Carolina Baptist and had become discouraged as a pastor. Sion may have resolved not to preach, but God resolved differently. Hosea Holcomb, in his 1840 The Rise and Progress of Baptist in Alabama, records that in late-winter 1817, Sion encountered a woman, recently settled in the area, who expressed her sorrow that “there was no house of God, no preaching, nor preacher” there and that she longed for Christian fellowship. She stopped in mid-sentence, looked Blythe “steadfastly in the face” and said, “My dear sir, are you not a professor of religion?” He responded that he was “a sort of one.” The woman continued, “Are you not a minister of the Gospel?” Blythe would not lie and responded that he had “been called a preacher” where he came from but had intended “to keep it a profound secret.” Holcomb says, “The old lady leaped, and shouted, and praised God that she had found a preacher in the wilderness.” At her urging, Blythe agreed to organize a

This earlier Springville Baptist Church building is no longer standing.

Dr. Lonette Berg, executive director of Alabama Baptist Commission, makes presentation to pastor, Dr. Chip Thornton.

DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • June & July 2017

The church as it stands today, 200 years later

Traveling the

BACKROADS congregation, and on March 22, 1817, in a settlement called Big Springs, Mt. Zion Baptist Church was established. Blythe later helped organize churches at Hopewell in St. Clair County, Enon and First Baptist Trussville in Jefferson County, and Mt. Moriah in Blount County. He served as pastor not only at Mt. Zion, but also at Trussville and Mt. Hebron below Leeds. Virginia Taylor in her history, Springville Baptist Church, writes that the members constructed a frame meeting house above the “Big Spring” but gives no construction date. In 1870, the growing congregation built a new facility on property now occupied by Springville Middle School. That Victorian structure served until 1967 when the church built a brick facility at the top of the hill above the 1870 building. By 1980, they needed a larger sanctuary. That was completed and connected by hallway to the 1967 structure, which was converted into classrooms and a fellowship hall. In the early 1990s, the congregation erected a Family Life Center on site. As years passed, “Big Springs” adjusted to statehood and the establishment of a town called Springville. Population growth, years of plenty or of scarcity, years of war or of peace produced changes that affected churches. But through every change, God’s providence abided on what is now First Baptist Church Springville. Present pastors agree that God alone deserves praise and glory for allowing this church to join the list of Alabama’s Southern Baptist churches that have continued 200 years. The March 19 celebration recognized the past with old photographs, newspaper clippings and historic memorabilia, such as a 1913 typewriter, a quilt made by the WMU ladies, an antique pulpit Bible, biographies of missionaries, a weaving from Ecuador and memories shared during lunch catered by Jim ‘N Nick’s. Eighty-nine-year-old Inzer Terry spoke of his childhood home having a “Preacher’s Room,” where the minister had privacy during his stay. He remembered Alabama Baptist editor Dr. Leslie Gwaltney, a “soft-spoken, congenial man,” staying with them many times during the years he was pastor. Inzer recalled missionary Dr. William Henry Carson, former pastor, visiting when on furlough from Africa. Carson had lost an arm because of a virulent infection, but joked about his loss, saying that with “one of his arms gone, he wouldn’t do as much waving” as he preached. Inzer is himself soft-spoken and congenial as he recalls the past. “Remember the past, but focus on the future” was the theme of the guest preacher, Todd Friel, host of Wretched Radio/TV in Atlanta. In his sermon, “How a Baptist Church in Springville, Alabama, Can Make It to Its 200th Anniversary,” he zeroed in on the church’s stated purpose of “Know Christ, Grow in Christ, and Go share Christ.” Pastor Chip Thornton voices his heart’s desire that the membership, by knowing, growing and going, will make God’s glory their passion in worship, community, and work place; and that by participating in mission trips, God will be glorified internationally as well. He believes that evangelism is the beginning point, but that discipleship, or growing, must be lifelong. He feels strongly that by learning together, members are encouraged and strengthened in understanding God’s purpose for them to go share the Gospel of Christ. In the past, summer revivals were the evangelistic event of

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Traveling the

BACKROADS the year. These week-long meetings continued well into the mid-20th century. However, as culture changed, evangelistic methods required change. Pastor Thornton believes today’s evangelism involves building relationships, such as a family reaching out to an un-churched family and including them in social events in the home and sharing the gospel by action and word. Families with school-age children have discovered that relationships can be built at the local ball park or basketball court. Discipleship at FBC Springville includes corporate worship, Sunday school classes, and small-group Bible studies. The youths have seasonal retreats with Bible study, food and fun. Children’s programs incorporate Sunday school, worship, and Wednesday night Kidz Praise and Bible study. The preschool program, God’s Kids, reaches into the community.

A great turnout for the celebratioin=

MISSION HAS STORIED HISTORY

Mr. and Mrs. J. D. Terry and children; Inzer Terry’s father is the boy in white shirt, Lawrence Lee. 20

The church’s involvement in missions goes back a century. In 1912, William Henry Carson, a student at Howard College, was pastor for one year. After attending Southern Baptist Seminary in Louisville, Ky., he and wife, Grace, served in Africa for more than 30 years. Current Lay Pastor Jack Kinnison and wife, Lynn, served in Laos and Thailand for 37 years. John and Anne Faulkner, former members now living in Atlanta, served in Africa for over 29 years. In recent years, more than 30 members have served on short-term mission trips to Africa, Ecuador, Haiti, Switzerland and Thailand, teaching English, conducting children’s Bible school, teaching Bible, harvesting crops, assisting in hurricane recovery, and teaching seminary classes for local pastors. The church conducts a yearly Vacation Bible School in an unusual venue. In 2014, VBS director Angie DuPre was inspired to take the Bible School to the community. The church agreed with her vision and rented pavilions in Springville Park for the event. It was such a success that Bible School in the park has continued and has proved an effective outreach to children and adults. Once a month, members with a heart for cancer sufferers minister in Birmingham at Joe Griffin Hope Lodge, a facility for patients in treatment and their caregivers. Members prepare and serve a meal and interact with conversation, hymn singalong, one-on-one encouragement, scripture and prayer. First Baptist Church Springville has a vibrant membership, eager to know, grow and go, as expressed by its members. After high school graduation in 2014, Chad Turner went to Ecuador. “Pastor Andy Waits was a big reason I went on the mission trip. He dove into God’s word and went deeper than any youth pastor before him. He really invested his time and made sure I had firm roots in my faith.” Pianist Donna Robinson grew up in the church and comments, “FBC Springville has always been home. The idea that a village raises a child applies to me, because older believers, many who are now gone, helped raise me in scripture and in truth. They introduced me to Christ at an early age. Our goal at FBC remains the same: Teach the Scripture to the youngest and the oldest.” A business transfer brought the Tim Hoffman family here from Michigan. They discovered the church through God’s Kid, the church’s pre-school program. Lynette Hoffman

DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • June & July 2017

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Traveling the

BACKROADS Creek baptism in Laster Creek

commented: “First Baptist was an answer to our prayers for a gospel-centered church and a blessing to us as a place to raise our family and grow in our faith.” Praise Team leader David Skinner, reflects: “FBC Springville was an artesian well to my dry and thirsty soul. The faithful preaching of God’s Word pushed me to be a better husband, father and man and to keep Christ central in all I do. The steadfast focus of making disciples has set me on a course to be found mature in Christ and to set my focus outward to the community and the world at large to make much of Jesus.” Glen Rudd shared his heart: “Being surrounded by such wonderful Christ-like people has allowed me to move on from my past and focus on my future. Hearing about and being involved with both the blessings and warning of the gospel has given me new purpose in life. The teachings of Christ through FBCS and the never-ending pursuit to be like Him has softened my demeanor while enabling me to love everyone more than I ever thought possible.” Teenager Claire Marchant said, “In the six years I’ve attended church here, I’ve grown increasingly fond of the people and the teaching styles. The Youth Group is like family. Everyone’s cheerful and ever-welcoming attitude has excited me and others about attending church every Sunday and Wednesday.” Zach Love, also a member of the Youth Group, commented: “First Baptist Springville has been wonderful for me and my family. “Individual members greet you personally, which makes you feel involved. The pastors are down-to-earth, relatable and friendly. They make sure we understand and comprehend

the Bible according to context. The Youth Group was extraordinarily welcoming. We have taken trips, done local missions and spent time together, all of which makes us a unified group.” Member Mike Hudgins is fired up about missions. “I went to Ecuador in November 2015, willing to do whatever God wanted. “At the church in Gonzol, I was asked to teach a Bible study on Luke 16:19-31. I am terrified of public speaking, but the Holy Spirit calmed me down and gave me words for teaching the passage. It was the most exciting week of my life. Seeing the Gospel shared with adults was an amazing thing, for I saw that there is power in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It was a blessing to see a person hear the Gospel and come to understand the gift of salvation.” Published materials record that Sion Blythe was a fervent preacher-evangelist “devoted to the work of saving souls.” How does Associate Pastor Andy Waits think Elder Blythe would respond to today’s First Baptist Church Springville? “Blythe would be thrilled. With so many losing the true definition of church over this 200-year span, this group of believers continues to get it. The gospel is pouring out from Springville, from each neighborhood, to the nations of the world. Disciples are being made of both young and old. “Lives are being changed weekly by the pure proclamation of scripture flowing from our pulpit. Area churches are taking notice and are being impacted by what is happening. God is stirring a movement at FBC Springville. Blythe would be filled with joy about where we are now and ecstatic about where we are going in the future.” l

DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • June & July 2017

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DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair â€¢ June & July 2017

From the heart

Harry Charles McCoy Story by Jackie Romine Walburn Photos by Graham Hadley Contributed Photos

Harry Charles has worked at Kilgroe Funeral Home since he was 12 years old and is now responsible for overseeing more than 80 percent of the graves dug in St. Clair County today.

Friends and co-workers describe Harry Charles McCoy as a hardworking, dedicated, humble, compassionate “gentle giant” with unfailing integrity, a man who started work at age 12 and whose determination and caring spirit helped him become an enterprising business man and highly-respected father, grandfather and community member. The 68-year-old is probably best known in his hometown of Pell City for his infectious smile, a lifetime of helping others and being the longest-serving employee of Kilgroe Funeral, with more than 55 years on the job and counting. Harry Charles was 9 when his father, Blois McCoy, died at the age of 37, leaving his mother, Josephine McCoy, with eight children to raise. Vowing to aid his mother, Harry Charles stepped up to help for the first of countless times, going to work doing odd jobs around town and at the Lee Motel, where his mother was employed.A 12-year-old Harry Charles was cutting grass at the motel when a friend of the Kilgroe family asked him if he’d like another job. “I said, ‘Yes ma’am.’ That was 1962, and I’ve been here ever since,” says Harry Charles. Jane Rich Kilgroe vividly remembers meeting young Harry Charles when she came to visit her then-boyfriend Sonny Kilgroe at the family business, Kilgroe Funeral Home, run by her future father-in-law, Joe Kilgroe. “I couldn’t get over him being just 12 and working seven

Harry Charles McCoy

Harry Charles and Jane Kilgroe have breakfast every morning at her home.

days a week,” Mrs. Kilgroe says of Harry Charles. She says he grew to be like a brother to her late husband Sonny, a caring companion to Sonny’s mother, Mrs. Josephine Kilgroe, and a bonified member of the Kilgroe family. “I don’t know how I would have made it through after Sonny died, without Harry Charles,” says Jane Kilgroe. Even after Sonny’s failing health prompted the Kilgroe family to sell the funeral home business in 1991 – with a clause in the contract that Harry Charles McCoy would have a job as long as he wanted one – Harry Charles remains an important part of the Kilgroe family. Through junior high and high school, Harry worked every day, even while playing football at St. Clair County High School. “And he gave all his pay to his mother for the family,” Jane recalls. Harry Charles cut the grass at the Second Avenue funeral home and washed cars. Soon he learned how to put up the tents at gravesides and take them down. Some days he came late to the funeral home, walking the 2 miles from home or riding his bicycle, once he got one, at almost dark after football practice. “Folks asked me about it, if it bothered me working at a funeral home or being here at night,” Harry Charles recalls. “It never has bothered me. I’d lost family myself, and that’s one reason why I think it’s important to do all you can, to do the best for the families, to let them know you care. It’s the final thing you can do for a family.” About the time that 12-year-old Harry Charles

Old friends Jane Kilgroe, Harry Charles McCoy and Barnett Lawley visit in Mrs. Kilgroe’s sunroom in Pell City. 26

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Harry Charles McCoy started working at the funeral home, so did Barnett Lawley, who had also lost his father at a too-young age. “We were in the same shape, trying to work to help earn money,” say Lawley, who was a few years older. A quick, lifelong friendship resulted. “We were close good friends. We went hunting together, went to each other’s football games. Everything was segregated then, but we didn’t know or care.” Lawley remembers when he, Harry Charles and Sonny Kilgroe would take the flower van – on a free day when there was not a funeral – and camp out together at Huckleberry Pond. Now, 50-plus years later, Lawley, a businessman who served eight years as Alabama’s Commissioner of Conservation and Natural Resources in Gov. Bob Riley’s administration, says his respect for his childhood friend has just grown. “I can’t put into words how much I admire him.” Lawley calls Harry Charles an example “of what we all should be. He’s always hustling, working hard for his family and friends. He thinks about others first and is absolutely a leader in this community. “Harry Charles is the kind of friend you know will always be there for you.” Stories about Harry Charles’ determination, hard work and caring spirit come quick to those know him. There is the time when Harry turned 16 and Joe Kilgroe said, “Harry, you need to get your driver’s license,” and Harry Charles took off and ran to the courthouse and ended up taking his driver’s test in the state trooper car of the late Trooper George Gant, who insisted on paying the license fee. Once he was 16 and had the license, Harry learned to do more and more jobs for the funeral home. “Mr. Joe told me that if I’d graduate high school, I’d always have a job, and I have,” Harry says with a grin. “They’ve been like family to me many years.” He grew up side by side with Sonny Kilgroe, who was a few years older and taught Harry how to do most every job at the funeral home. “We were always working together. He helped me, and I learned a lot. Mr. Sonny was like my brother,” Harry says. Sonny died in 2015. “I’ll never stop missing him.” It was 1986 when Harry Charles began opening and closing graves for the funeral home, first by hand, which was standard then. Former co-worker Terry Wilson, who now works at Ridout’s Valley Chapel at Homewood, recalls Harry Charles working a full day at Kilgroe, then going to hand dig a grave for a funeral the next day. “I’d go check on him, and it’d be dark, and he’d have the truck lights shining on him, still digging by hand, late into the evening.” With time, Harry devised a way to use a trailer pulled behind his truck to smooth out the dirt before the service “because it bothered him for the families to see a pile of dirt,” Wilson says. Next, Harry Charles began using a ditch witch, then power equipment and today has a fleet of equipment – including three dump trucks and a tractor – and his own business opening and closing graves in St. Clair and other counties. He’s built his own business, all the while serving others and having a love for what he does, for his community and for the families he serves, Wilson says. “He has the best attitude and work ethic. In my lifetime, I’ve never known anyone I respect more than Harry Charles McCoy.” Another story revolves around one of those trucks, a low-mileage truck Harry found at a local dealership traded in by actor Jim Nabors, who needed a bigger truck for work on his sister’s nearby farm. “Harry always called that truck Gomer Pyle,” says Jane. “He still has Gomer Pyle.” At the center of many Harry Charles stories are his concern and service to families being served by Kilgroe Funeral Home. “When my stepfather died,” recalls Teresa Carden, “Harry Charles pulled my car around back and washed it while I was inside at the service, so my car would be polished in the procession. How awesome

Joe Kilgroe

Artist Wayne Spradley visiting with Josephine Kilgroe, flanked by one of Spradley’s paintings

Sonny Kilgroe

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Harry Charles loves to spend time with his horses on his property, dubbed “McCoy Ranch.” He built it around his family home in Pell City.

DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • June & July 2017

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and thoughtful was that?” Carden adds, “He is sincere and hardworking to the core.” Jane Kilgroe recalls that when she and Sonny were about to get married, Sonny was so nervous that Harry Charles packed Sonny’s suitcase for the honeymoon. “That’s how close they were,” Jane says. Soon Harry Charles came to Mr. Joe and said he’d found himself a girlfriend, Jane says. Harry and Linda Sanders were married at the courthouse and soon began their family. Today, he and Linda, who is retired from working with the Kilgroe family at home and at Josephine’s antique shop, have 48 years of marriage and seven grown children. They are Harry Lamar McCoy, who served 32 years in the military, is still in the reserves and works at ACIPCO in Birmingham; Sabrina McCoy Wilson, a school teacher in Michigan; Charles McCoy, who works at Norfolk-Southern Railroad, and Malinda Fomby, who works at DHR in Pell City. Also raised in the McCoy household and counted among their children are nephew Nicholas Dante McCoy, who works at Norfolk-Southern, and grandsons Javoan McCoy and Montez McCoy, who both work at ACIPCO, and granddaughter Shayla. He and Linda now also dote on a great-grandson and a great-granddaughter. The family attends Rocky Zion Missionary Baptist Church.

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ALL IN THE FAMILY Friends brag, too, about Harry and Linda’s family. “They taught their children a strong work ethic, good manners and to be respectful,” says Buddy Spradley, Jane’s nephew who taught McCoy children during his 20 years teaching elementary art at Iola Roberts Elementary School in Pell City. He adds, “And, Harry, he’s as strong as an ox, but his heart is even bigger.” Working for Sonny’s Czechoslovakian mother, Josephine Bukacek Kilgroe, at her antique shop by the funeral home and the family home, Harry Charles needed that strength. “We’d get truckloads of antiques at once,” he says. Lots of heavy lifting, setting them up, cleaning and polishing the furniture, “only with Johnson’s Paste Wax,” Jane adds. Miss Josephine was a joy, Harry says. “I knew how she was and we got along very well.” Another Harry story friends tell was about the night Pell City’s power was out all over town and Harry Charles didn’t get an answer when he called to check on Josephine. He rushed to her house, and having a key she gave him, went in and found Mrs. Kilgroe on the floor with a broken shoulder, unable to move. “It scared him to death,” Jane recalls. “Josephine kept insisting she had to be moved. He called the ambulance and picked her up and laid her on the couch, this couch right here,” she says. After the fall and surgery, Josephine, who was 86, had to go to a nursing home for

DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • June & July 2017

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Harry Charles McCoy Harry Charles and his wife, Linda, in front of their home surrounded by her gardens.

rehabilitation, with 24-hour RN care. Linda McCoy was there with her often, too. “She wasn’t happy at first until she figured out she saw more people in a day there than a week at home. Harry went to see her every morning – he had helped her with breakfast every day at home – and fixed her coffee like she liked it and began the habit of taking Josephine’s clothes to the dry cleaners because she liked nice clothes, and he continued to do that until her death in 2006 at age 94. Then the family and Harry and Linda did the work to close down Josephine’s antique shop. Another Harry story Jane likes to tell is about how Harry built his family’s seven-bedroom home in Pell City from a one-room house owned by his grandmother and deeded to him along with 8 acres of land. Harry added on with every child, and today the home is filled with antiques from purchases or gifts from the antique shop and from broken or

Like his career, Harry Charles’ business has been a big success. 32

reject pieces that Harry repaired or refurbished or one of his friends did. There are cows and horses on the 8 acres now, too. Today, Harry Charles begins his days checking on Jane Kilgroe. They are best friends, too, she says. They have breakfast and talk about their days, about old times, about Sonny, and Josephine and Joe, about Linda and their children, grandchildren and greats. Jane Kilgroe, Barnett Lawley and many others in Pell City have longs lists of things Harry Charles did for them and the ways they admire him. For Harry Charles’ part, he says he enjoys “helping people and doing what I can for others.” He says he believes “it’s an honor and great privilege to do for other people. My mother was that way, too,” he says. “She used to say if you can’t help, don’t hinder. I try to do my best for people. Helping is from the heart.” l

The McCoy home has been in the family for generations and added onto over the years. DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • June & July 2017

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Story and photos by Jerry C. Smith Few counties in Alabama are so blessed as St. Clair when it comes to history and historical knowledge. Dozens of local citizens are deeply involved in research, writings and preserving our precious heritage. They all have one common need: information. St. Clair is fortunate to have a veritable wellspring of intricate and irreplaceable data – Ashville Archives. But even the most elaborate warehouse is useless without a proper key. Since its creation several decades ago, Ashville Archives has always had a curator who knows where everything is and how to retrieve it in just a few minutes. These people are truly the guardians of our most valuable resource. With rows of vertical files, hundreds of family histories, thousands of legal

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documents, a vast collection of photos and artifacts and enough old newspapers to keep someone reading for weeks, the curator’s job is clearly daunting … unless it has a person in charge who lives and breathes local history. The Archives was begun by the legendary Mattie Lou Teague Crow, who was also its first curator, followed by Lib Lonergan, then Charlene Simpson, who served for more than 30 years until her recent retirement in 2015. Clearly, these fine ladies would be a tough act for anyone to follow. The newest archivist, Robert Debter, is a relative youngster at age 25, but has already proven his worth to countless folks, including your writer, who need to tap into the county’s historical wealth. In short, he knows what’s there and, most importantly, where to find it. Like his predecessors, Debter is an incredible resource, a virtual hard-drive of information retrieval. Born and raised on his family’s Hereford cattle farm in Snead, an agricultural community on nearby Sand Mountain, he graduated from Oneonta High School in 2012, then attended Snead State College, where he majored in psychology. He grew up on land that’s been in his family for more than five generations, thus enjoying a rich regional heritage of his own. Debter has always been intrigued by history of all kinds, an interest initially sparked by his grandmother, Bobbie Debter. He loved listening to older family members’ stories of their early lives and is currently working on a genealogy study of six branches of his own family: Teague, Thompson, Debter, Frachiseur, Curl and Kornegay. As fate would have it, he’s distantly related to Mattie Lou Teague Crow, their common ancestor being Joshua Teague, a patriot during the American Revolution. Debter’s career took a major step when his high school English and Latin teacher, Stanley Moss, persuaded him to participate in the Blount County Historical Society in Oneonta, of which Stanley was then president. He also worked the usual teen jobs, such as retail, food service and farming, but knew they were all temporary. He served as vice president at the Blount County Museum, the youngest ever for that society, and performed many tasks that included archiving documents and artifacts, cataloging museum assets, and speaking to various groups. The museum’s curator, Amy Rhudy, tipped him off about the upcoming opening at Ashville Archives. Debter worked with Charlene Simpson for about a month to learn the basic logistics, then became Archives Director upon her departure. He says people still ask about her and adds, “Filling her job has not been easy, but it’s certainly been exciting.” So what’s a day’s work like? The Archives is open 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekdays, and closed from noon until 1 p.m. for lunch. Debter usually arrives early to prepare for another day of helping folks find their past. Most days are quite busy. The clientele includes genealogy researchers, school children of all ages, writers, cemetery prowlers, paralegals, Civil War buffs, retirees, and a host of others who are simply curious. He gets inquiries from all over the country because Ashville is one of the oldest towns in our part of the world. It was established shortly before Alabama became a state, on the grounds of Cataula, a former Creek Indian village, and incorporated in 1822. Robert goes through local newspapers every Thursday, clipping and filing articles on practically every person, business and event of the previous week. Writer/historian Joe Whitten of Odenville says Debter is well placed in this position. He has called on him for help many times, always successfully. “He’s congenial, quite knowledgeable, and seems to enjoy his work,” Whitten says. “He brings a lot of additional knowledge to us about (neighboring) Blount County.” Robert is equally delighted to work with Whitten. “He always makes us laugh, even on the toughest days. You can count on it.” He also coordinates with several other noted historians, such as the Couplands and the Riddles, and Fortson Museum in Odenville. To extend the facility’s reach, he’s established a Facebook webpage, called Ashville Museum and Archives, which he hopes will continue to flourish and generate new interest in local history. You can access this page at www.facebook. com/ashvillemuseumandarchives. Debter is totally enthusiastic about his job. His philosophy? “You never work a day in your life if you enjoy what you do.” He surely does enjoy being Archives director and pledges that he is here to stay. “Charlene did this job for 30 years. I’m aiming for 40.” l

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Springville History Museum Quest to preserve past a labor of love Story by Jackie Romine Walburn Photos by Michael Callahan Designed and curated by history-loving volunteers, the Springville Museum takes visitors on a tour of people, events and artifacts of the St. Clair County town named for its natural springs, known for its historic downtown and a famous son who had a TV pig named Arnold. Located at the 1903 downtown building that once housed Masonic Lodge No. 280, the Springville Museum opened in the fall of 2015. Volunteers with the Springville Preservation Society staff the museum when it’s open to the public the first and third Saturdays each month and on special occasions, says Museum Director and volunteer Kathy Burttram. “We are very proud of the museum and want everyone to come see what we’ve accomplished,” says Burttram, who adds that Springville volunteers and expert advice from the Alabama Department of Archives and History helped get the museum ready for visitors. Two Masonic Bibles, an antique Masonic emblem and signs from the turnof-the-century building are displayed behind the museum counter and gift section. This section also features artwork by artist Clay Allison, including intricate watercolor and line drawing prints of the town’s many historic building and homes, plus note cards and Christmas ornaments that are sold to benefit the museum and the Springville Preservation Society. Allison, a volunteer himself, also designed the exhibit signs and museum of city history signs out front on Main Street. The society owns and operates the museum plus a recently refurbished 1800s cabin they call the White House, which will be the city’s welcome center next to city hall, and the 1921 Rock School. Initially called Big Springs about the time the first church was built in 1817, the town’s name changed to Pinkhill in 1833, when the first post office was established, and officially became Springville in 1834 and incorporated as a town a generation later in 1880, according to the Encyclopedia of Alabama.

The museum houses everything from war memorabilia from native sons who have served to family photos from hometown notables.

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Springville History Museum

Materials from every era are housed in the Springville History Museum. Museum sections include a children’s area, a vintage kitchen, a music room, plus exhibits on famous Springville folks of note, military veterans, businesses and schools, including the first grade to college academy, established in 1861 and later called Springville College, that attracted college students from throughout the southeast until it was destroyed by fire in 1912. The CHILDREN’S exhibit is an interactive space with rotary phones and their corded touchtone cousins, plus manual typewriters, vintage board games and children’s books. The Preservation Society wanted an area where children could experience things from the past and stay busy while adults tour, Burttram says. The museum plans to continue the “Children’s Day at the Museum” program started last summer by society president Frank Waid, with interactive activities and stories on a summer date to be announced. The KITCHEN exhibit – designed by Sally Golsby, Sandra Tucker and Carol Tucker – is centered by an antique Norge refrigerator, on loan by Frank and Janis Price. Antique dishes, a wooden ironing board and iron complete the display that looks like your grandma’s or even great-grandma’s kitchen. A LIVING room exhibit, also called the music or church area, was developed by volunteers

DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • June & July 2017

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Springville History Museum Gail Hammonds, Sara Trotter, Kathy Burttram and Donna Davis. They created a nostalgic music parlor highlighting an antique piano and organ, surrounded by antique velvet furniture and hymnals, song books and sheet music dating back a century or more. The upright piano was originally in the Forman Street home of James L. Forman and his son, the late St. Clair probate judge Ward Forman, and is on loan from Forman descendant Lew Windham. Next to the piano is an ornate organ, circa late 1800s. The organ was originally in the parlor of the McGee family from Lamar County and is on loan from a descendant, Evelyn Criswell of Springville. A CAMERA exhibit, developed by volunteers Clay Allison, Donna Davis and Ed Bruchac, includes a display case of vintage still and video cameras on loan or donated by local folks. These include 35 mm and the wider 110 mm cameras and the film and film canisters that were commonplace before the advent of digital photographs. A 1921 one-tube radio rests on top of the camera display. Appropriately, on the wall near the camera display case are framed play bills from the Springville Theatre, a movie theater that changed movies every two days back in its heyday in the 1950s. Donated by local resident Janet McBroom and preservation society volunteer Carol Pearson Waid, the posters show the movies that were at the downtown theater with original play bill artwork. Some posters include notations handwritten by a young Mrs. Waid, who noted who she went to the movies with. Teasing her about her teen-age record keeping on the movie posters, Burttram says, “Somebody told Carol, ‘I didn’t know you dated so many different people.’” Carol Pearson Waid and her husband, society president and Vietnam veteran Frank Waid, helped put together the MILITARY exhibit which includes armed services uniforms dating back to World War I plus some Civil War documents. “We have been so fortunate that as word got out about the different exhibits being put together, people would just bring items to loan or donate,” said Burttram. This was true of many exhibits, particularly the military ones, which includes a wide variety of armed services uniforms, plus battlefield letters to and from home and other sentimental items from military families. Frank Waid, who was a helicopter pilot in Vietnam and served in combat again in the Desert Storm conflict, loaned Vietnam era items. These include a tail rotor blade, signed by servicemen, from a UH1N twin engine Huey helicopter used by special operations forces in Vietnam. Waid also loaned for exhibit his Vietnam Flying Squadron party jumpsuit worn at celebration parties after successful completion of exceptionally long or difficult missions. The unofficial jumpsuit, with its star-spangled peace sign patch, was from the 20th Special Operations Squadron at Cam Rahn Bay in South Vietnam. At museum center is a full-sized metal traffic light from downtown Springville, complete with bullet

DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • June & July 2017

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Springville History Museum

DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair â€¢ June & July 2017

holes. The ragged bullet holes in the light’s thick metal frame came courtesy of a nearby resident who got frustrated with the red-yellow-green lights shining in his windows and tried to shoot them out more than once. A BUSINESS exhibit includes an antique cash register and scales and one of the “premium” bowls customers could earn by trading at Bud’s Dollar Grocery store. The bowl was shared with the museum by the Joe and Helen Sarusce family. The Pearson sawmill, founded by Carol Waid’s grandfather, is featured as being the largest employer in Springville during its peak period prior to its closing in the 1960s. Pearson Hardware, the Simmons sawmill and an old barbershop pole, on loan from the Ricky Hill family, are highlights of the business exhibit designed by Kathy Burttram and Donna Davis. An exhibit on the Springville Skating rink, includes a giant rotating disco light and sign from the skating rink ceiling. Skates are on loan from Carol Waid and Carol Tucker. A MEDICAL section features Ash Drug Store, pharmacist Dr. Harold Bettis, and local physicians, Dr. Robinette Smith and Dr. James McLaughlin, and includes a syringe kit from about 1900 and other antique medical items. The Springville Museum name drops with a FAMOUS PEOPLE exhibit. Noted Springville natives include Hank Patterson (1888-1975), an actor who portrayed Fred Ziffel on TV’s Green Acres, a character known for his pet Arnold the Pig, and had a recurring role on Gunsmoke. There’s Margaret Byers, an actress, musician and “little person,” who starred on Broadway, including playing a munchkin in a Broadway production of The Wizard of Oz. Miss Byers later taught first grade back home in St. Clair County. And, there’s Springville-born cartoonist Milton Caniff who created the Steve Canyon comic strip. Springville natives who made their mark in the sports world include Arthur Lee “Artie” Wilson. Wilson was a shortstop and left-handed hitter whose .402 mark with the Birmingham Black Barons in 1948 is thought to represent the last time anyone at the top level of professional baseball broke the .400 barrier. Springville sports notables include Brandon Moore, who played baseball at Auburn University and played and coached on a number of professional baseball teams, including the Kansas City Royals and Chicago White Sox organizations. He also had a coaching stint with the Birmingham Barons. The exhibit also includes native son Randy Howell who brought fame to St. Clair County when he became the 2014 BASSmaster fishing champion. In politics and public service, Springville’s Marilyn Quarles was the first modern day female member of the Alabama House of Representative when she was elected as a Democrat in the 1970s. She was also a teacher, and her family owned the town’s Dairy Dip and Springville theater. Noted among local politicians is James Clarence Inzer, an attorney who served in the state senate and board of education in the 1920s and 30s and as Alabama lieutenant governor from 1947-1951. Also featured is current state senator for District 11, Dr. Jim McClendon, a Vietnam veteran, retired optometrist and member of an original Springville family. The museum also recognizes Springville families with FOCUS FAMILY Tree display that rotates every three months. Recent focus families are The Charles Lovett and Mildred Terry Herring family and the James Shelby and Emma Tucker Jones family. Another display tells the story of a train derailment in 1969 that shook the town and destroyed the depot. On January 16,

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Springville History Museum 1969, a train carrying propane tanks derailed at the Springville Depot and hit additional propane gas tanks that then exploded. Firefighters from from as far away as Birmingham and the National Guard responded to help fight the blaze. Although damage to the town was considerable, and 400 people were evacuated from their homes, no one was killed. SPRINGVILLE SCHOOLS display, designed by volunteer Donna Davis, features a 1929 yearbook for the Springville High School Tigers and pictures of classes from the 1950s and earlier. UPSTAIRS at the museum, volunteers work organizing reference and research materials to be used for genealogy searches. New Springville resident Paulette Kelly is helping to organize materials, including ledgers and vintage books for the upstairs section. Springville native Sandy DeBerry is another volunteer helping to ready the archives and reference areas. “It’s fun learning the history of Springville as we go along,” Paulette says “I love history and love the small town I grew up in,” says Sandy DeBerry. “Preserving history is important work.” A plat map cabinet upstairs, donated by the Tucker family, will be used to store maps, large ledgers and bound copies of the St. Clair Clarion, a weekly newspaper that operated through the late 1980s.

To learn more about protecting the artifacts and treasures displayed and available for reference upstairs, museum volunteers visited the state’s department of archives and history, where Museum Services Director John Hardin was particularly helpful, Burttram says. In turn, state Archives staff visited the new Springville Museum. That relationship helped the museum volunteers know to apply for a small grant from the state archives. The grant helped purchase a dehumidifier, tinting for front windows and archive supplies to store scrapbooks, ledgers, journals and old photos. Projects taking shape upstairs also include work on a book about veterans of St. Clair, the design of a display using the electronic bell from the Methodist Church that still chimes, and creation of a music display featuring donated albums and sheet music. Two types of pews original to the Masonic Lodge are upstairs along with a quilting frame still to be developed into a display. Burttram says anyone interested in volunteering or helping with or participating in the St. Clair veteran booklet can contact her at kpburttram@hotmail.com. Other Museum volunteers who have helped with bookkeeping, cleaning, remodeling, painting and more include Millicent Yeager, Glenn Miller, Crissy Sharp, Harold Riker, Tami Spires, Sandy DeBerry and Society secretary-treasurer Sean Andrews. l

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Birmingham Sidewalk Film Festival Shares Pell City Roots Story by Linda Long Photos by Susan Wall

Chloe Cook in familiar territory, historic Alabama Theater 46

Chloe Cook has probably watched more than 1,200 films during the past eight years, though, surprisingly, as executive director of Birmingham’s Sidewalk Film Festival, she says, “that’s not really part of my job description. “I think people have the impression I spend all day holed up in an office somewhere watching movies and eating popcorn,” she laughed, “but I can only wish.” She does spend her days driving from Pell City, where she grew up and where she still lives, to the Festival office in the heart of Birmingham’s Theater District, an office within a stone’s throw of the historic Alabama Theater and the recently renovated Lyric, iconic reminders of the Magic City’s past entertainment glory days. In some ways, the Sidewalk Film Festival is reminiscent of that era. For one weekend each year in late August, thousands of film fans flock to downtown Birmingham for the national event. Parties, galas, street dances, food trucks, pop-up vendors, and live music fill the closed streets. Despite the party atmosphere, make no mistake, this event is about only one thing – movies. More than 250 titles are up for viewing. Twice named one of the 25 Coolest Film Festivals in the World, by MovieMaker Magazine, it has been called a celebration of new independent cinema. The 2017 Festival, which will be 19 years old this year, marks Cook’s ninth year as director. During that time, the event has changed and grown, thanks in large part to her astute understanding of the industry. “In 1999, when the festival first started, film and video were different than they are today,” she said. “We didn’t have on demand video services in our home. Netflix didn’t exist, social media didn’t exist in any form. There was no Facebook or Twitter. It was much more difficult at that time to get your eyes on an independent film, because the only opportunity anyone had was in a movie theater, and Birmingham hasn’t had an independent movie theater in at least 30 years. Sure, there are plenty of movie theaters here, but they’re all showing the big blockbuster titles. They aren’t showing the films that are often getting nominated for Academy Awards or the

DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • June & July 2017

At the newly restored Lyric in Birmingham’s theater district

DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • June & July 2017

Birmingham Sidewalk Film Festival

Cook and her staff and supporters have been busy these days getting ready to launch the Sidewalk Cinema and Film Center in the lower level of the newly redeveloped Pizitz Building in the heart of downtown Birmingham’s theater district. The Sidewalk Cinema and Film Center will include two state-of-the-art, 100seat theaters and will be open year round. An outgrowth of the Sidewalk Film Festival, it simply adds to the rave reviews coming its way. According to Sidewalk’s website, the film festival has just been named “one of 2017’s 50 Film Festivals Worth the Entry Fee” by MovieMaker Magazine. Once again, Sidewalk was singled out for our unique (and numerous) parties, savvy programming, and networking opportunities for attending filmmakers.”

DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • June & July 2017

Golden Globes. Those films don’t come to Birmingham because we don’t have a venue for it.” That’s a void Sidewalk sought to fill. As Cook explained, the technological explosion meant a shift in vision for the film festival. “We still believe in connecting our audiences to high quality, independent films that don’t have major studio money behind them. But access to those kinds of films has increased dramatically in the past 20 years. We now not only try to provide access to those kinds of films, but to educate audiences as well with the differences between a studio film and an independent film -- how the process of making them is different. “We try to bring in as many filmmakers to the festival each year as possible so that people can not only have the experience of watching the film but be able to participate in a question/answer session with the filmmaker.” To that end, this year’s Festival begins on Aug. 22 and continues through Aug. 27. Days leading up to the weekend finale are filled with a variety of festival experiences, including screenings, panel discussions and other events. As for Cook’s favorite film during her tenure as Sidewalk director, she says it’s a tough question and that she usually chooses two or three favorites a year. However, she does claim a favorite memory. “The memory that stands out most for me is from my very first year working for the festival,” she recalled. “It has maybe a little extra fairy dust sprinkled on it because it was my first year. We screened a film called Best Worst Movie, a documentary about the worst movie ever made. Well, seems the worst movie ever made is a film called Troll II. This movie was so bad it became a classic among real movie nerds who like to watch anything they can get their hands on and marvel at the ridiculousness of it.” The Best Worst Movie starred a local, a dentist from Alexander City, who chartered two buses filled with enthusiastic fans all upbeat for the screening. “People were so excited about it,” remembers Cook. “This whole film was light and fun and upbeat. People were in costumes. The street in front of the Alabama Theater was packed with people and cars and media. I just thought this is what we do all of this work for all year long -- to bring as much happiness and joy and diversity as we can into one place right here in the middle of downtown Birmingham. Cook says that despite having been at her job since 2009, perhaps one of the most difficult aspects still is explaining it to family and friends. “They don’t really understand what it is I do for a living. This is not your typical career. I’m not a writer or police officer, teacher or attorney. I get questions like what does executive director mean, or what do you do when the festival isn’t happening? “She says another question centers around why she works for a nonprofit since traditionally, nonprofits don’t pay the big bucks. Her answer? “I just am never bored. There’s always something new to learn and somebody new to meet. It’s always challenging. Sometimes more than I would care for it to be. This has been a great learning environment for me – the best education of my life. I’m absolutely confident that this is better than having an MBA from a fancy Ivy League school. You don’t get the credentials and the ‘wow’ factor, but you learn an awful lot.” As for the Festival’s continued success, Cook says, “We’re a small business and we’re trying to grow? Because we’re a nonprofit, we have to grow in a unique way that keeps us in line with all the requirements attached to having a 501 (c)3 along with a determination that uses our donors’ money in the wisest possible way and serves our mission.” That mission is to create an interest in and enthusiasm for independent film, and according to Cook, “we’re just in the business of helping other people make films, then have other people watch them.” l

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DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • June & July 2017

Story by Jackie Romine Walburn Photos by Michael Callahan Forward thinking and a prompt application helped St. Clair County become the first stop for the 18-month tour of Making Alabama. A Bicentennial Traveling Exhibit, an impressive blend of state history, culture and humanities. After its debut in Montgomery in March 2018 at the state’s capitol, it begins in April of 2018 in the City of Moody and Lee and Wilcox counties and continues through November of 2019 en route to all 67 Alabama counties and the official 200th anniversary month of Alabama’s statehood. That St. Clair County is a year older than the state – having been created as a county by the Alabama territorial general assembly on Nov. 20, 1818 – is a happy coincidence that local planners had in mind when they quickly applied to host the traveling exhibit “as early in 2018 as possible,” says St. Clair County Bicentennial chairman, District Judge Alan Furr. The timing means that the county will be celebrating its bicentennial as it hosts the state’s first 200th birthday party. Alabama officially became a state on Dec. 4, 1819. “Because St. Clair County was formed prior to statehood, we believe our hosting of the state exhibit as it begins its trek throughout the state is significant,” the judge says. “And, because we are celebrating our county bicentennial during 2018, being able to host the state exhibit during 2018 enhances our own local celebratory efforts.” The new Moody Civic Complex met all the venue requirements and will be the site for the exhibit. It is being presented by the Alabama Humanities Foundation with support from the Alabama Department of Archives and History,

Alabama Humanities launches Bicentennial exhibit in Moody

DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • June & July 2017

the Alabama Bicentennial Commission, corporate sponsors, individuals and organizations across the state. Making Alabama will travel to each of the state’s 67 counties, where local exhibits created by host communities will showcase each county’s role in their own story of Making Alabama. Planners in St. Clair County anticipate that the St. Clair story will include information and artifacts relating to Andrew Jackson’s residence at Ft. Strother, an 1813 fort – now a series of archeological sites west of Neely Henry Dam near the Ten Islands Historical Park in Ragland. The fort near the banks of the Coosa River was used as a military supply depot and operations center for Andrew Jackson’s Tennessee Militia during the Creek Indian Wars and as a local theater of the War of 1812. Other aspects of the St. Clair local exhibit may include construction of the first brick courthouse in Ashville, the county’s mining operations and the importance of the Coosa River to the county and its communities. “St. Clair County has a rich and diverse history,” Furr says. A subcommittee including Furr and Ashville Archives Director Robert Debter, representing the county, plus Councilwoman Linda Crowe of Moody, Sherry Bowers of Pell City, Dr. Robert Harris of Springville and Nancy Sansing of Ashville is already working on locating materials and artifacts to tell the story of St. Clair County, an early Alabama county named for General Arthur St. Clair, who was president of the Continental Congress. Created from a portion of Shelby County when it was founded in 1818, St. Clair would eventually be divided several more times to create surrounding counties, first Jefferson in 1820 and Cherokee and DeKalb counties in 1836. Then Etowah County was born of a northeast section after the Civil War. In announcing the order of the bicentennial exhibit, the Alabama Humanities Foundation noted St. Clair as the first stop, followed by Wilcox County in the Alabama Blackbelt, then Lee County in east Alabama, a triangle of counties in distinct sections of Alabama. “These three communities stepped forward early to become part of this historic event, and we thank them for their eagerness to get involved in the celebration of our becoming a state,” said AHF Executive Director Armand DeKeyser. As a partner in the Smithsonian Museum on Main Street Program, AHF recognizes the value of exhibits like this coming to communities in Alabama, DeKeyser says.

St. Clair will be one of the first to host because it was one of the first counties to be created.

Historic photo of Corps of Engineers at camp at Ten Islands

DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • June & July 2017

Judge Alan Furr, Bicentennial chairman for the county, surveys the venue for the exhibit. 51

“It’s an opportunity they and their citizens won’t soon forget.” In addition to developing the local exhibit, the St. Clair Bicentennial committee that Judge Furr chairs has a list of tasks to make sure the exhibit’s up to three-week engagement in St. Clair runs smoothly and is staffed by local volunteers to serve as exhibit docents. Plus, committee members – representing St. Clair’s towns and communities – have related tasks and projects to complete in the next year. These include documenting historic markers, local festivals and historic tours, developing a local speaker’s bureau and bicentennial T-shirts, planning a gospel sing and establishing and publicizing a calendar of events surrounding the county and state celebrations. A cross section of residents in St. Clair County make up the Bicentennial Committee in addition to the subcommittee. They are: Shirley Phillips of Argo, Charlene Simpson, Rena Brown, Loretta Moore, committee secretary Elizabeth Sorrell and Eloise Williams, all of Ashville; Gaye Austin and Patsy Spradley of Moody; Joe Whitten, Brenda Riddle, Ann Coupland and Jennifer Forman, all of Odenville; Danny Stewart, Deanna Lawley, vice chair Gaston Williamson, Latoya Orr and Andy Eden, all of Pell City; Marie Manning, Pat Ford, Gerri Bunt, Sandi Maroney and Jerry Sue Brannon, all of Ragland. Gary Hanner of Riverside; Nancy Tucker and Carol Waid of Springville and Rosemary Hyatt and Sharon Ingle of Steele. Making Alabama: A Bicentennial Traveling Exhibit will feature eight periods of history that defined Alabama as a state and the decisions and turning points that shaped what the state would become and will be, according to the websites promoting the Bicentennial celebration. They are: • Pre-history to 1700, natural environment and an introduction to the exhibit. • 1700-1815: The Creek War and Statehood • 1815-1860: Settlement and Slavery • 1860-1875: Secession, Civil War and Reconstruction • 1875-1940: Political Power and the Constitution of 1901 • 1940-1965: World War and Civil Rights • 1965-1990: Economic and Social Adjustment • 1990-2020: Our Alabama

Coal miners at Margaret mine

On May 5, the three-year Bicentennial celebration kicked off in Mobile, near the site of Alabama’s first state capital, St. Stevens, with another historic first – an introduction by Gov. Kay Ivey, Alabama’s first Republican female governor. “Why is it Alabama is sweet home?,” she asked the crowd. “Because of the innovation and fortitude of our people.” That innovation and fortitude will be honored and celebrated throughout Alabama over the next two and half years. In 2017, the theme will be “Exploring Our Places.” In 2018, Alabama will “Honor Our People,” and in 2019, the state will “Share Our Stories.” Alabama Humanities Foundation and St. Clair County will follow suit with celebrations of their own through this traveling exhibit. Through interactive displays, historic photographs, art and narratives that delve deep into Alabama’s history and the people – some known, some not-so-famous – Alabamians and St. Clair Countians alike who helped shape that history. The state exhibit is expected to tell the stories behind the stories about the people, places and cultures that made a difference in Making Alabama. “St. Clair, a county older than the state, is an integral part of that story,” Furr said, “and we are proud to be a part of launching this historic exhibit.” l Editor’s note: For more information and resources associated with the exhibit, go to www.makingalabama.org. For more on the Bicentennial celebration activities throughout the state as well as resources, go to www.alabama200.org.

Illustrations of state historic exhibit displays and kiosks

DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • June & July 2017

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‘Opry’ Lives on in Gallant

Old Valley House in Gallant

Late in the evening, about sundown, High on a hill up above the town, Uncle Pen played the fiddle, Lordy, how it would ring, You could hear it talk, you could hear it sing. 54

DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • June & July 2017

Story by Elaine Hobson Miller Photos by Susan Wall Bill Monroe’s Uncle Pen would have felt right at home at Old Valley House in Gallant. That’s where local bluegrass musicians gather for a monthly jam session every first Friday. With their guitars, mandolins, banjos and the occasional Dobro and fiddle, a stage-full of homegrown performers makes the rafters ring and the audience sing to old-timey tunes. Some of those tunes are mournful, some are spirited, but all are certified crowd pleasers. Adron and Joyce Willingham and their son, Mark, turned Adron’s 200-year-old, four-room family home in Gallant into a tiny version of the Grand Ole Opry. They knocked out a wall between two of the rooms, built a small stage, brought in durable, hard-plastic chairs and a sound system. The people started coming. The music officially begins at 6 p.m., but the musicians start straggling in about 5:30 to tune up. The room seats 40-45 people. It’s free, and anyone is welcome to come and play, sing or just listen. “Last month, there wasn’t even standing room,” Joyce Willingham says at the April event. Although the venue is never referred to as a version of the Opry, the front of the main room bears an uncanny resemblance to its Nashville godmother. Three steps lead up to the small stage. In front of those steps, there’s a table with two- and five-pound bags of Martha White Flour, one of the longest-running sponsors of Grand Ole Opry segments. There’s even a fake microphone patterned after the real one in front of the Opry stage, only the Gallant version has the letters WAM printed vertically on each side. Any traditional country music fan worth his Ernest Tubb albums knows the Opry is broadcast by radio station WSM. Joyce explains. «That’s for Willingham, Mark and Adron,” she says. «They left me out.” Her husband says this is the oldest house in the Greasy Cove valley. It’s where he spent some of his pre-teen years, until his family moved away. In 1964, he returned and bought the property. He built a house behind the old one. In 1989, he started the Friday night jam sessions. “We had one every Friday night for 10 years or more, then we stopped for a while,” Adron says. “We started back with every first Friday about 10 years ago.” Old family (Willingham) photos and pictures of previous jam sessions line the walls of the main room, along with LP album covers and stringed instruments such as mandolins, guitars and dulcimers. A strand of Christmas garland laced with red and white bulbs drapes the weight-bearing ceiling beam between the stage and seating area. Overalls hang on what used to be an entrance door,

Instruments and music stars decorate the inside of the house.

‘Opry’

Pickers line the stage at the Old Valley House. while framed, original posters of shows by Hank Williams and Flatt and Scruggs hang on the wall behind the stage. Overhead, two ceiling fans are ready to stir the upcoming summer air, while 45 RPM records dangle from the ceiling. Regulars greet each other like the old friends and relatives they are. Light chatter goes on throughout the session, but it doesn’t seem to bother the musicians or other audience members. Most nights, five to seven musicians show up and sit in chairs in a semi-circle on the stage. Tonight, there are nine. Larry Battles plays mandolin. He has come to these jam sessions since they started. James Keener and Phillip Mulkey play several stringed instruments, while Mark Willingham plays guitar and banjo. Jerry Womble plays 12-string and six-string guitar. Most of the musicians are members of gospel and/or bluegrass bands. Mark and Phillip, for example, are part of The Backwoods Boys, a group that plays at churches and festivals throughout the South. At the Old Valley House, they play classics such as, Nine Pound Hammer, Shotgun Boogie, Fireball Mail, Where the Soul Never Dies, Sweet Bye and Bye, and I Saw the Light. A few audience members sing along with them on the gospel songs. Phillip Mulkey does vocals occasionally. He sits stage left, facing one of three microphones. When he sings, others join him, some providing vocal harmony, all doing instrumental backup. Someone yells out, “Do The Preacher and the Bear.” Keenor obliges,

DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • June & July 2017

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‘Opry’ John Mulkey warms himself by the fire while chatting with the other musicians.

but can’t recall all the words. Some folks on the back row of the audience start a discussion about who recorded that one. A newcomer remembers it was Phil Somebody, but when she tries to Google it, she discovers the house is in ‘Cell Hell,’ with no service except in certain areas of its yard. (Turns out Phil Somebody was Phil Harris.) Jesse Wright sits in for a short while, playing guitar. His wife, Alice, is in the audience with their two sons, Gavin, 3, and Garret, 7 months. The boys are clapping in time to the music. “That’s Daddy,” Gavin says to the stranger seated next to him. The stranger, also a newcomer, turns to his mom and says, “You know what’s missing?” “No, what?” Alice responds. “A fiddle.” “I play fiddle,” she says. “Just not tonight.” A man in the audience shouts out, “Get That Wildwood Flower going on that banjo,” and the guys crank up an instrumental version of the old Carter Family favorite. Mark Willingham jumps in with his guitar to play the part Mother Maybelle Carter did on her trademark autoharp. “Hey, Phillip, let’s hear that new instrument you got,” someone else yells. “I’ll get it in a minute,” Phillip replies. Soon he pulls out a tiny, handmade instrument he found at a garage sale for $2. Neither he nor anyone in the audience knows what it is. It’s about the size of a mandolin, but its body is skinnier. He says it originally had 10 strings that he replaced

DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • June & July 2017

James Keener has been a regular of the First Friday Jam Sessions for many years.

Larry Battles plays mandolin.

John Mulkey picks guitar. 60

DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair â€˘ June & July 2017

Photos of Opry stars hang alongside a guitar, wash board and album covers.

‘Opry’ 2670 Old B’ham Hwy. Sylacauga, AL 35150 Mark Willingham and Phillip Mulkey have a bluegrass gospel group called The Backwoods boys. with mandolin strings. He plays it like a mandolin, too. At 7 o’clock, hats come off and the retired Rev. Darwin Cardwell blesses the food that people brought. One by one, folks stroll into the kitchen and chow down on pimiento cheese sandwiches, chicken-salad sandwiches, pigs-in-a-blanket, hot dogs, store-bought mini-cupcakes and homemade German chocolate cake. It’s like a church potluck, but with finger foods instead of casseroles. The small kitchen is cramped, with its wood-burning cook stove, cabinets, two tables laden with food and another with coffee and soft drinks. Iron skillets hang from the walls, and a shelf holds old clay crocks and a cookie jar. After supper, Adron takes to the stage and channels Roy Acuff by singing Dust on the Bible and Wreck on the Highway. Adron’s brother, Rayburn Willingham, follows with The Great Speckled Bird, another Acuff number. Then the group breaks into, “Kaw-Liga,,” one of the last songs recorded by Hank Williams before he died in the back seat of a Cadillac. Jerry Battles says his late father, Arvie, helped found these jam sessions. He points to a photo of Arvie on a table beneath one of the glass-enclosed guitars on display. “He lived for this Friday night,” Battles says. More bluegrass, country and gospel songs spill out. The audience softly joins in on Build My Mansion Next Door to Jesus and In The Sweet Bye And Bye.” The repertoire tonight includes Old Rattler, Rocky Top, and Dueling Banjos,” before Vernon Bishop does his instrumental version of I’ll Fly Away on the Dobro. Adron goes outside, then comes back in with an arm load of logs. During winter and chilly spring cold snaps, he keeps a fire going in the fireplace of the main room. Old-timers recall when homes like this were heated by fireplaces. «You’d stand facing the fire and fry your front, then turn around and fry your back,” one woman commented “Hey, Joyce, remind me to bring those folks leaving now some bush onions,” Phillip Mulkey yells from the stage as a couple gets up to go. “I got some, too,” Joyce answers. She explains to the newcomer that bush onions are like green onions, but are grown in the winter. The April session breaks up at 9:15 p.m., about 45 minutes earlier than usual. Rev. Cardwell prays a dismissal blessing, asking God to see everyone home safely. Several “amens” follow his, and folks start drifting out in twos and fours. Already, they can’t wait for the next first Friday. l

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Training on the job at Garrison Steel

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

Story and Photos by Graham Hadley Photos courtesy of Garrison Steel

Learning the job on the job Workforce development class at Garrison Steel When he was growing up, John Garrison’s greatest challenge was to work his way up from high school student to one day owning an industry-leading metal fabrication and erection company. Today, that company, Garrison Steel, employs more than 200 people in Pell City. Now he has a new challenge – finding skilled workers from a dwindling workforce to fill the jobs at his company, which has been responsible for the construction of buildings across the Southeastern United States. So Garrison has come up with a plan to help his company and the workforce grow by building a training classroom at his facility.

THE PROBLEM

For decades, people working in skilled trades, everything from metal fabrication to construction, plumbing to welding, were usually trained, almost apprentice style, by the previous generation. But as the focus in secondary education turned more and more to two- and fouryear college prep, fewer and fewer people were training in these essential skill areas, Garrison said. That focus, combined with a general social impression that factory and construction jobs were dangerous and somehow less desirable than professional employment, has resulted in a serious drought of skilled workers at a time when the economy is expanding, particularly in this region, and exactly those trade skills are needed the most. Existing skilled employees are gradually aging out of the workforce and, for the past couple of decades, few people have been stepping up to fill those positions — despite drastically improved work conditions and good pay, Garrison said. “I am one of the last. My generation is the last of the people trained by skilled union laborers in our jobs,” he said. Over the last few years, backed by the National Center for Construction Education and Research formed at the University of Florida, St. Clair business leaders like the Economic Development Council and education officials from Jefferson State

The class started out at Jefferson State (top) before moving its new home at Garrison Steel.

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

Business Review

The new training center houses the tools of the trade.

Workforce Development

Community College and the Pell City School System have made great strides in workforce development, offering high school and college students training in exactly those skills that are needed most. And they did not do the work alone. Businesses across the board, from manufacturing and construction like Ford Meter Box, Goodgame Construction and WKW Automotive to medical offices and other companies have stepped into the partnership to provide the training and jobs for the students.

TAKING THE PROGRAM IN-HOUSE

From the beginning, Garrison and other industry leaders recognized they needed partnerships with local educators, both at the secondary and post-secondary levels — and they found exactly what they were looking for in Jeff State and the Pell City School System, he said. Forming that partnership has been a struggle to get similar programs off the ground all over the country, but not in St. Clair, Garrison said. While that partnership laid the foundation for initial job training — teaching students how to weld, construction techniques, OSHA safety standards and the like — the basic tools they would need to get their foot in the door after high school, Garrison wanted to take the process a step further. “So in June of 2016, I asked Jefferson State to meet with seven area high schools to discuss a pilot program to take up to 25 high school students in dual enrollment and begin teaching out of the NCCER Ironworking curriculum. They all agreed and in January began the first ironworker program four hours per day, five days a week for 16 weeks,” he stated in a press release. “Money for books and a classroom at Jefferson State Pell City for the first eight weeks was funded with

DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • June & July 2017

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Workforce Development

The first classes focused on students and new employees.

DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair â€˘ June & July 2017

Federal Perkins Grants, and the second eight weeks were at a newly built training center at Garrison Steel, where students learned theory and hands-on with welding, cranes, rigging, fabrication, oxygen and acetylene cutting, and much more.” The first class finished up at the new facility at Garrison Steel as school wound down for the 2016-2017 year, and Garrison sees it as nothing but a great success and a huge step forward for the workforce development initiative he and the other business, education and industry leaders have been working toward. “Our classroom is set up to do half theory and half practical. We integrate practical in nearly every day’s classroom experience, which breaks the monotony and adds to the connectivity in what they are reading.” He said that appeals to students who are interested in learning the theory behind the work they are doing with their hands, but also is an ideal environment for those students who may not like a traditional classroom environment. “Many kids don’t like book-work because they cannot see the connection between theory and practical. So, as a teacher this year, my goal was so that when they read, and there was a lot of reading, that we stopped often enough to see real-world applications and for them to connect.” The only thing Garrison said they were not able to do this year, and that they will have next year, is a steel tower where students can practice and learn with safety and other rigging equipment in a real-world environment. “The students will be training off the ground with safety equipment.”

WHAT’S NEXT

This is only the first step, for Garrison’s teaching center and for the students. Now that they have cemented a relationship with local schools, he wants to reach out to people already in the workforce who have the skills training but not the theory behind what they are doing. “This year our program captured those students who are available because they are in school. We have figured out how to utilize those students and train them. The next challenge for the fall classes is to figure out how to integrate what we call incumbent workers, those who are out there, already with jobs, sometimes at distant job-site locations, that have only the practical side of learning and virtually no theory to their learning.” And those students won’t necessarily have to come to Garrison Steel or Jefferson State. Garrison has plans to use the Internet and distance learning to help train workers at their job sites. The students have received their entry-level training this year, but there are many more classes and options available to them down the road. “The theory is this — these guys who are going to graduate high school want to get out and get a job in the workplace, but that is just a start. In describing it, I try to play a movie in their head: ‘You get really good at what you know how to do skillwise. Then you become capable of managing those skills of others, learning another new role in the company.’ “As the company grows, we need new managers. As time goes by, older guys like me age out, and we fill those positions from the bottom up. That is the theory, the process we tell these guys,” Garrison said. “We want them to be able to work all the way up to owning their own company one day.” And as you learn one skill, more open up to you — in the

DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • June & July 2017

Business Review

Workforce Development workplace and in college. “Just because you start out a welder does not mean you have to be a welder for the rest of your life,” he said. “I have explained to my students that you know more technical aspects of our business than many of the people who have been working in the field for six years or more. They have a practical advantage over you, but you are learning the more challenging part, which is theory, and you will get the practical experience once you are hired. “Now you have a distinct advantage over the incumbent workforce and have a pathway to higher positions later in your career.”

PAYOFF FOR STUDENTS AND BUSINESS

Learning to weld is just one aspect of the fabrication and erection process.

The move is not entirely altruistic. Garrison readily admits that having a skilled workforce at his disposal can save money and cut down drastically on job time. It also creates an overall safer work-site environment. “The cost of labor is driving up the cost of construction. The cost of labor does not necessarily mean higher wages,” he said. The longer it takes to complete a job, the more expensive the project is. “What a skilled workforce can do in three months might take an unskilled workforce four months to do. The problem is not a lack of workers; it is a lack of skilled workers.

DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • June & July 2017

Phone: (205) 884-4766 fax: (205) 884-4765 - www.garrisonsteel.com

Training Tomorrowâ€™s Workforce

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Students who have enrolled in the program and are working for Garrison are similarly reaping the rewards of their efforts. David Graves, who has previously talked about his experience at Garrison Steel soon after his graduation, has taken part in some of the classes and continues months later to move down the career path he has embraced. “When he added the welding school, I took that. I was in processing before, now I am in welding, and that is going in the direction I want to be in,” he said. “I want to learn more about fabrication, and welding is a step in that direction. ...” And it is the combination of classroom instruction and handson that is making all the difference. “It really helps going through the class, giving you an understanding, but it won’t teach you to weld by itself. You learn that on the floor, learn from trial and error, grinding out your mistakes.” Down the road, Graves hopes to move up to a supervisor or quality control position. “There are classes for that at college. That opens doors like project manager.” Matt McCrory is another employee who has benefitted from the multifaceted training program. He has been at Garrison for two years now and has worked his way to an office position, lotting, where they break down the different design drawings into their components, which makes fabrication easier and more organized. He originally took the welding course at Jefferson State and has continued his training at Garrison. “That class helped me read the drawings. That is the biggest thing: Since I mostly read drawings, how things are applied, how they are used, how they are built,” McCrory said. “If I don’t know how to read the drawings, I can’t do my job.” He plans on continuing to work at Garrison, but also sees

Workforce Development

Learning at Garrison Steel gives students access to actual equipment, like cranes.

DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • June & July 2017

more college in his future at Jefferson State, focusing on business administration. “The lessons I have learned here will help in college,” he said, adding that he definitely has a better idea of what he wants his career path to be now that he has been in the workforce. Something he said was very much lacking when he was a senior in high school. One graduate of the class, Alex Bowman of Pell City, is still in school but is already on the job. Bowman is a 17-year-old who just finished his junior year and is working at Garrison Steel. And he already can see his path ahead. “I am looking at doing this for a career, definitely something as an ironworker with Garrison Steel,” he said, pointing to the owner as an example. “Seeing Mr. Garrison’s investment in us makes me want to work harder, to one day get to the level he is at. It’s very inspiring.” Studying in the class and working at Garrison has been ideal for Bowman, who readily admits he is not a fan of traditional classroom environments. “I am not very good in a classroom. You can learn the idea of what you want from a book, but hands-on, you actually learn how to do it,” he said. And because he now has some certification under his belt, he has options. “NCCER was a huge step up for us when it came to the ironworker program. It means, when you graduate, you have jobs waiting for you. Having your core training shows a lot of employers you have the ability and intentions to step up and get ahead in the game.”

RETURN ON INVESTMENT

“I know for a fact that a one-dollar investment in training returns three in productivity. … It’s not altruism; it’s survival,” Garrison said. He is quick to point out that he is not the only one investing in the program — support he could not have made the new classroom work without. “Red-D-Arc Welders are a major contributor to our program with welding equipment donated. The additional supporters of our program are NUCOR Steel, Cobb Wire Rope and Sling, NEX AIR, and Lincoln Electric and Service Construction Supply (SCS),” he said. Between that kind of support and the growing partnership with education, business and organizations like the EDC, Garrison sees a bright future for workforce development in St. Clair County.

DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • June & July 2017

Business Review

Success of generation businesses Harbison’s Tire & Auto Service Sylvia’s Birdbath & Beyond

The Harbison Family (left to right) Brady, Frankie, Brandon, Kim and Charlotte Harbison Fox. 72

DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • June & July 2017

Story by Elaine Hobson Miller Photos by Graham Hadley On the surface, automobile tires and motor oil have absolutely nothing in common with bird baths and concrete statuary. In Argo, however, they are the products of two independent, family-owned shops that share a similar history. Harbison’s Tire & Auto Service is owned and operated by the Harbison brothers, who brought their dad’s 46-year-old shop to Argo from Roebuck in 2006. Sylvia’s Birdbath & Beyond is owned and operated by Sylvia Johnson, who sold her grandfather’s concrete statuary at the Mini Market she and husband Jerry ran near Trussville before opening at her current Argo location. Each business represents three generations of family involvement. Combined, they’ve been serving the people of east Birmingham and St. Clair County for almost 100 years. The late Jack Harbison, a former airline mechanic, founded Harbison Automotive Service in 1960 in a two-bay Texaco service station in the Birmingham community of East Lake. He pumped gas for his customers and did small automotive repair services. He also washed cars, repaired flat tires and handled local road service duties. Each of his four sons was introduced into the business during his teenage years, and three still run the place today. Their only sister, Charlotte, joined them in 1997 when she retired from a real estate career. The business moved two times while in Birmingham, its last location being a six-bay repair shop in Roebuck. The Argo facility, located at 769 Highway 11, is a full-service, eight-bay auto repair shop and retail tire center operated like Jack Harbison taught his family.

Her huge, painted rooster is Sylvia’s trademark.

Daniel Wallace works on an engine. DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • June & July 2017

Business Review

Generation Business

DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair â€¢ June & July 2017

The Harbison Staff: Front Row: Wes Howard, Brady Harbison, Charlotte Harbison Fox, Daniel Wallace; Back Row, Frankie Harbison, Chase King, Brandon Harbison, Kim Harbison, Terry Newcomb, shop manager Don Lockridge. “We care about our customers,” says Brandon Harbison, the oldest brother. “We take care of our customers’ cars as if they were our own.” The Harbisons left Roebuck because their customers were moving toward Trussville and Springville, and business was going down. After the move, many of those customers began drifting back. “Some of them had died, but their kids are coming in now,” Brandon says. He and his brothers, Frankie and Kim, are proud of the fact that Harbison’s was the fourth independent auto repair shop in the state to get a computerized tire machine, called a Hunter Revolution, that does not touch the wheel while removing or mounting a tire. “We got it two or three years ago,” Brandon says. Ricky Harbison is the only brother who didn’t stay in the automotive business. A third generation is involved and may take over when his dad and uncles retire. “My son, Brady, has worked with us for 13 years, since he finished automotive school at Walker State Technical College,” Brandon says. “His wife, Candace, will be taking over administrative duties when Charlotte leaves this Spring. She’s retiring to live near her grandchildren in North Carolina.” Harbison’s waiting area doesn’t smell of oil and grease, and the seats aren’t torn from old automobiles. “We provide an attractive and comfortable waiting area for customers with television and free WiFi,” says Charlotte. “We always have coffee and doughnuts, too.” One of the perks of working for Harbison’s is a homecooked breakfast and lunch each day. When matriarch Juanita Harbison was alive, she cooked them in the shop’s full-size kitchen and break room, wearing a red apron embroidered with her nickname, “Ettamomma.” (The name was the result of a grandson who couldn’t pronounce “Juanita.”) It wasn’t unusual for customers in the waiting room to be invited to these meals. Since Mrs. Harbison died in 2015, Frankie has taken over breakfast duties, and Charlotte prepares the lunches. It’s upin-the air as to who will take over lunch duties when Charlotte leaves. “I’ve been trading here since they came to Argo,” says customer Bob Norcross, who sweeps the shop each morning to “earn” his breakfast. “They have a real combination of old school and new school, and they live by the first rule of retail, ‘Treat everybody like you would like to be treated.’ It’s the only

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Generation Business

In addition to birdbaths, statues and other outdoor and indoor decorations, Sylvia’s has something for every college football fan.

place I’d let my wife take her car by herself.” Harbison’s is open Monday through Friday from 7 a.m. until 6 p.m., but has a key drop-box so customers can leave their cars after hours. Envelopes for the keys provide a place for customers to describe the service needed.

ANOTHER FAMILY LEGACY IN ARGO

Just as the center of Harbison’s business is family, the same holds true for another Argo mainstay – Sylvia’s Birdbath and Beyond. Sylvia Johnson’s sister, Hazel Harper, swears that if you were to cut Sylvia, the owner, she would bleed concrete. It’s because the material has been in her bloodline since her grandparents made concrete yard art in Maryville, Tennessee. She and her husband, Jerry, ran Egg-A-Day, which became the Mini Market, on U.S. 11 between Trussville and Argo for 28 years. They sold the concrete yard art her parents made in a chicken house behind the convenience store. They shut that store down in 2004, then opened Sylvia’s Birdbath & Beyond at the intersection of the Argo-Margaret Road and Farm Lake Road. The name of her business was the suggestion of a customer. “I bought my mom and dad’s molds, but I don’t cast anymore,” Sylvia says. “I buy from family

DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • June & July 2017

members in Tennessee that still cast them and during road trips around the country. Casting is a hard job because of the weight, even though the pieces are cast in sections.” Jerry found some of the old molds in their basement, however, and may start casting ducks, pigeons and other small birds himself. The giant painted, concrete rooster standing guard near one of her entrances has been Sylvia’s trademark for 40 years. Her aunt and uncle in Tennessee made him and two others. Sylvia sold one and gave the third to Hazel, who has cast a few pieces of concrete herself. “I’ve mixed it, poured it, took it out of molds,” she says. Sylvia and Hazel painted the rooster, whose likeness appears on Sylvia’s business cards. “People stop and want to buy him, but he’s not for sale,” she says. “I have had two or three people say their mom has a photo of them on that rooster from when they were kids.” The statuaries are displayed by theme, so the fairies, gargoyles and dragons are in one area, bunnies occupy another area, planters, picnic tables and fountains still another. You’ll also find a dog land, and a section devoted to elephants, tigers and other college team mascots. Her western section has steer skulls, horses and cowboys, while an occupational section features men in military uniforms, coal miners, pilots and police.

DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • June & July 2017

Business Review

Generation Business This iconic Rock City birdhouse is just one of the many other decorative items for sale.

Scattered throughout the yard and spilling onto the driveway to her house (she lives next door) are gnomes, benches, crosses, stepping stones, concrete cacti, a small T-Rex, pet stones (for graves), a pink elephant and a 5’5” tall statue of Jesus. There’s also a small replica of Michael Angelo’s “David,” with a battered cloth fig leaf Sylvia added so customers won’t blush at the statue’s nakedness. “Everybody has to peek under that fig leaf, though,” Sylvia says, laughing heartily. Of course, there are several bird baths, and two shops of gifts and decor for inside the home. Interspersed among the concrete yard art are plants in repurposed sinks and teapots, as well as traditional clay pots. The soft sounds of trickling water emanate from several fountains, and water plants thrive in the gaily-painted galvanized tubs Sylvia formerly used for live bait. “I was known as the ‘bait woman’ at the Mini Market and here, too, until 2015,” Sylvia says. “I stopped selling bait because my hours weren’t good for fishermen, who like to get up early.” Sylvia’s Birdbath & Beyond is open from 10 a.m. until 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday, but people often stop and browse when she’s closed, Sylvia says. “The only time we’re open on Sunday is during our annual Mother’s Day sale.”

DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • February & March 2017

Jerry and Sylvia Johnson

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News In Brief

SHOW US THE MONEY! Three St. Clair County zip codes made the top 25 list of wealthiest addresses in the Birmingham metropolitan region. Pell City came in at number 22. Cropwell followed close behind at 23, and Springville rounded out the list at number 25. That’s a good showing for St. Clair. The list was published in the Birmingham Business Journal and is based on a list by Esri Wealth Rank. The list includes indicators of affluence, such as average household income and average net worth. The rankings reflect “accumulated wealth and the rate of increase in wealth, as measured by current income,” according to the BBJ. Pell City has two zip codes – 35125 and 35128. The ranking came from the 35128 zip code, which showed a median household income of $46,664, a median net worth of $114,315 and a median home value of $188,442. In neighboring Cropwell, the ranking showed a median household income of $45,782, a median net worth of $140,916 and a median home value of $189,815. Springville’s zip code had a median household income of $58,539, a median net worth of $156,223 and a median home value of $169,355.

DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • June & July 2017

Sumitomo Electric in Moody, a Honda supplier

HONDA IMPACT FELT AROUND REGION, STATE When Honda Manufacturing of Alabama announced an $85 million expansion at its massive operation in neighboring Talladega County, St. Clair couldn’t help but notice. After all, what happens at Honda doesn’t stay in Talladega County, its reach goes well beyond the borders. “When I am asked who St. Clair County’s largest employer is I have to clarify,” said St. Clair County Economic Development Executive Director Don Smith. “We have some incredible employers in St. Clair County but none are as large as Honda, who is not actually in our county. The number of St. Clair County citizens that work for Honda or onsite fluctuates but averages 1,300.” The expansion is not just an impact on employment numbers, either, said Smith. “We have roughly a dozen companies like Unipres Alabama Inc, iPak, Oerlikon Balzer, Voth, Trinity Design and Sumitomo Electric Wiring Systems that supply Honda as well as dozens of companies that provided services and other support roles.” A major St. Clair County company also benefitting from Honda’s progress is Goodgame Company. The Pell City-based contractor counts Honda as its largest client, and it has helped propel Goodgame to the number ….spot for largest contractors in Alabama. “Goodgame Company is known for quality work and a commitment to their customer’s needs no matter the size of the customer,” Smith said. “Honda is an incredible company known for quality and a commitment to their customer’s needs so I believe they are a great match. We are fortunate to have

them in and near our community.” As for the state as a whole, in 2015, the University of Alabama released an impact study showing that Honda stimulated $6.8 billion in annual economic activity in the state, Smith noted, “and I feel this number has only grown. They are an incredible community partner and support so many local programs that also benefit our area.” Honda’s expansion is the first of a multi-phase project to improve vehicle manufacturing flexibility, strengthen the logistic efficiency for future models and prepare for future technologies. HMA builds four different light truck products, and the only Odyssey, Pilot and Ridgeline models built in the world are built in Lincoln. The $2.2 billion plant also produces the Acura MDX and V-6 engines and employs more than 4,500 associates. “This significant financial investment in our Lincoln facility will enhance Honda’s manufacturing efficiency and flexibility to help us meet strong customer demand for our products and prepare us for future opportunities in our industry,” said HMA President Jeff Tomko. With this project, HMA’s total capital investment since 2011 exceeds $750 million, including the addition of more than 450 associates in Lincoln.

Pell City’s Goodgame Company is busy these days. It is involved as project manager of Honda’s new expansion plus construction of the new Town & Country Ford and Northside Medical Home, 50,000 square feet of specialty medicine.

BUSY BLOCKS

Check out Pell City’s Jeannie Pruitt Drive, Plaza Drive, US 231 South near I-20 and John Haynes Boulevard, and you can’t help but notice that those blocks – within a few tenths of a mile of one another – are building blocks of late. On Plaza Drive, Northside Medical Home, a 50,000 square foot, two-story facility, is going up. It will house specialty practices, doubling the size of Northside Medical Associates’

DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • June & July 2017

Business Review present campus. Just up the road on the corner of Jeannie Pruitt Drive and US 231 South, steel has gone up on Town & Country Ford’s new showroom and dealership services. Both are being built by Goodgame Company. Across US 231 at John Haynes Boulevard fronting I-20, land is being cleared for the new McSweeney Automotive dealership.

PARTNERS BY DESIGN OPENS DOWNTOWN PELL CITY OFFICE Partners by Design, the multimedia parent company of Discover, The Essence of St. Clair Magazine, has opened a new office in historic downtown Pell City. Located at 1911 Cogswell Avenue, the company will conduct its entire operation from the new locale. In addition to Discover Magazine six time per year, Partners by Design produces Chamber of Commerce magazines in the region, including Moody and Leeds, and the twice yearly magazine of Alabama Humanities Foundation, Mosaic. It has also produced two magazines for St. Clair County Economic Development Council and a magazine for the Logan Martin Economic Alliance, Logan Martin LakeLife, a resource guide for the lake region. It also offers website design, electronic newsletter communications, marketing consulting and graphic design work for brochures, logos and promotional cards for its growing list of clients. A number of years ago, Partners designed and developed the website, loganmartinlakelife.com, and has created a series of products with its registered LakeLife branding, including diecut stickers, Tshirts, caps, visors, koozies, translucent cups and more. “We realize that Discover Magazine is at the center of our business, and we felt we needed a stronger presence in the county,” said Carol Pappas, president and CEO of the company. “But we also recognized the need to raise awareness about what we do beyond the magazine. And there’s plenty.” The new location was a perfect match for a company that has a passion for downtown revitalization. “We saw the efforts going on downtown, and we didn’t just want to sit on the sidelines and cover it for our magazine, we wanted to be a part of it.” The office, located in a building that dates back to 1902, features exposed brick walls, and designer Gerald Ensley Jr. of Southern Manor Interiors gave it a loft, mid-century modern, industrial look. “It’s just a cool, creative space that lends itself to a collaborative atmosphere,” Pappas said. “That’s exactly what we wanted. After all, that’s what we are – creative people. With a strong newspaper background from everyone of us, we utilize our skillsets to tell stories, no matter the medium. Whether

News In Brief

The new Partners by Design location on Cogswell Avenue in historic downtown Pell City.

it’s a company, a nonprofit, a school or other organization, storytelling is always at the heart of it.” Pappas, together with Vice President for Creative Graham Hadley and Director of Online Services Brandon Wynn are the originals behind the company, and they have since added Dale Halpin, multimedia sales consultant, and Toni Franklin, executive assistant, to the team. The company has continued an upward trend since Pappas founded it in 2009. “The new location in historic surroundings was the next step, and we are excited to be part of the downtown movement.” l

DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • June & July 2017

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