VillageLivingOnline.com
November 2012
Village Living Volume 3 | Issue 8 | November 2012
Remembering Park Lane 1947-2012
neighborly news & entertainment for Mountain Brook
So long, old friend By MADOLINE MARKHAM Park Lane was a familiar place to Blanche Fields, 96, when she sold her Forest Park home and moved in 20 years ago. Her daughter, Betty Byers, had lived there in the 1960s, and her granddaughter was born there. Back then, she knew Mr. Aurelius Augustus Evans, then owner as well as father and grandfather of present owners and managers F.A. “Rele” Evans and John Evans. Fields, like many residents who have lived in the complex for decades, moved out this summer as its owners, Evson Inc., began preparations to make way for the new Lane Parke development in Mountain Brook Village. “It broke my heart when I had to leave,” Fields said of moving to nearby Canterbury Gardens. “I don’t know how to tell you — it was just home.” And home those 19 buildings were for 65 years of Park Lane residents. For many, passing the office manager’s “test” for admission, meeting people in the laundry room and making lifelong friends are vivid markers in their journey at the start, or end, of adulthood. From the beginning In 1947, fresh after building an apartment complex in Mobile, A. A. Evans built the series of two-story buildings on 21.5 acres on the western edge of Mountain Brook Village.
See PARK LANE | page A8
Greene’s girls Donna Greene, pictured with Katherine Kent and Nicole Mathis, has been leading Bible studies for Mountain Brook teenagers for 35 years. Read her story to learn more about how her passion for mentoring women of the next generation has spread all over the country. Photo courtesy of Wesley Shaw.
See DONNA GREENE | page B1
Foodie’s Thanksgiving Dyron’s Executive Randall Baldwin grew up making Oyster Gratin for Thanksgiving. T. Lish Founder Tiffany Denson always gets requests for her Creamed Spinach Gratin. Ollie Irene Chef and Owner Chris Newsome and his wife, Anna have created a bread pudding that is “familiar, but elevated.”Inside find these plus more area chef’s recipes for their favorite holiday dishes.
See HOLIDAY | page A16
Pre-Sort Standard U.S. Postage PAID Birmingham, AL Permit #656
INSIDE Sponsors .................. A4 City ............................ A5 Community .............. A10 Opinion ..................... A15 Holiday ..................... A16 Park Lane Apartments, built in 1947, hold years of residents’ memories. The buildings are scheduled to be demolished later this month to prepare for the new Parke Lane development. Top photo by Jeff Thompson. Bottom photo courtesy of the Evans family.
Food .......................... A19 Business .................. A20 Calendar .................. A22 School House .......... B4 Sports ....................... B10
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