Silent no more

From left, Harold Southerland, J.B. Clary and Eleanor Guilford celebrate after being honored as Silent Heroes of the Wiregrass for the months of March, April and February, respectively.

BREAKING THE SILENCE

3 locals honored for community contributions in summer ceremony

A 12-year-old who raises money for cystic fibrosis, an 88-yearold who constructs wheelchair ramps for the needy and a barber who serves the homebound share one thing in common: They were all honored as Silent Heroes of the Wiregrass in late July.

Eleanor Guilford, Harold Southerland and J.B. Clary respectively represent the February, March and April winners of the honor, which is the result of a partnership between Wiregrass Electric Cooperative and WTVY News 4. The designation nets each of them a $1,000 gift from WEC’s Operation Round Up Charitable Foundation.

“Even though the pandemic halted our ability to present the Silent Heroes of the Wiregrass awards for a few months, we know people like our honorees continued to work selflessly in their communities,” says Brad Kimbro, WEC’s chief operating officer. “We are quite pleased to resume these presentations so we can honor selfless acts that benefit our community.”

“It is always an honor for us at WTVY to recognize people like Eleanor Guilford, Harold Southerland and J.B. Clary, who show selfless spirits in serving their respective communities,” adds WTVY anchor Reginald Jones. “You just sense that they don’t do things for recognition but because they genuinely care about the people they help. They indeed are ‘Silent Heroes.’”

Eleanor Guilford, middle, with WTVY anchor Reginald Jones, left, and Wiregrass Electric Cooperative Chief Operating Officer Brad Kimbro

Eleanor Guilford

Guilford enjoys many of the activities girls her age do, especially dance. She’s proficient in styles like lyrical, jazz and tap and performs on the dance line for Geneva County High School’s band.

For her, those hobbies serve as an opportunity to further a family tradition.

“It’s in my family. My aunt was a cheerleader, and two of my cousins are dancers,” she says.

Another legacy she carries on is that of her grandmother, the late Patricia Guilford. When Eleanor was diagnosed with the genetic lung disorder cystic fibrosis, the elder Guilford embarked on several fundraisers for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation until her death about a year ago.

The younger Guilford now spearheads some of the fundraisers these days, designing T-shirts for sale and organizing sandwich sales. The family also participates in a variety of run/walk events that benefit CFF, and Guilford makes yearly presentations to a civic club in Hartford to raise even more funds.

“From the time Eleanor was born, we started fundraising, and Eleanor’s always been the face of our fundraising,” mother Coleen says. “As soon as she was old enough, she’s been helpful.”

Coleen Guilford says they have lost track of how much the family has contributed to CFF via fundraisers but notes the Guilfords raised $20,000 in one year. Eleanor Guilford reaps the benefit these days as a new medicine developed through CFF research has dramatically improved her lung function this year.

Guilford is the youngest Silent Heroes of the Wiregrass winner in the program’s three-year history.

Harold Southerland

Even though Southerland retired in 2003 after selling his automotive repair business, the Ashford-area resident has contributed to Houston County — and the country — through several faith-based programs and initiatives.

For several years, he served with Southern Baptist Disaster Relief teams, attending to the needs of those impacted by Hurricane Katrina and other perilous events. He has also contributed labor to several construction projects during WIRED, a local missions-focused youth camp.

Into his 80s, Southerland has constructed wheelchair ramps for those who needed them and couldn’t afford them. He plans to apply his Silent Heroes proceeds to the next wheelchair ramp project he encounters.

Harold Southerland, middle, with WTVY anchor Reginald Jones, left, and Wiregrass Electric Cooperative Chief Operating Officer Brad Kimbro

“In the past, I have used my money most of the time. I’ve had churches to furnish the money sometimes,” he says. “God has blessed me with many years of service. God has given me the strength and the longevity. He’s made the way for me to be where I’m at today.”

J.B. Clary

Those who practice psychiatry have long noted the value a good haircut has on self-esteem, and Clary has uplifted the spirits of Florala-area residents for decades.

Even though Clary is semi-retired, he practices his profession in customers’ homes or in nursing homes for no fee since not everyone can make it to a salon or beauty shop. He feels indebted to those who provided him business for more than 60 years.

“Florala is an old town with a lot of old folk. They get down where they can’t get out,” says Clary, who has lived in Florala since the early 1950s. “They helped me make a living at one time, and that’s just a small thing I feel I can do for them.”

Additionally Clary has been known to transport people to their doctors appointments and mow lawns as needed.

Clary appreciates WEC and WTVY for establishing the Silent Heroes of the Wiregrass award.

“I don’t know of anybody else that does it,” he says. “I think it’s a good thing that they do.” n

J.B. Clary, middle, with WTVY anchor Reginald Jones, left, and Wiregrass Electric Cooperative Chief Operating Officer Brad Kimbro

Time chooses

My childhood views on civil rights were framed by growing up in north Mississippi in the 1960s. My earliest memories of civil rights involve the Ole Miss race riots in 1962, Medgar Evers’ murder in 1962 and the murders of three civil rights activists during the Freedom Summer of 1964. As I matured, my views matured, as I read more about both sides of the issues. However, I am ashamed that I knew so little about John Lewis until he died in July.

Mr. Lewis experienced such a range in life. He was one of ten children born to sharecroppers in Pike County, Alabama. Despite being denied admission to Troy State, he received a college degree in Tennessee and became a minister. Mr. Lewis was in the center of the storm that was the 1960s civil rights movement. In 1961, he was one of the original 13 Freedom Riders who rode from Washington, D.C., to New Orleans. At 23, he was elected chairman of the Southern Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and was one of the “Big Six” who organized the 1963 SNCC March on Washington. He was a speaker at the event and introduced Dr. Martin Luther King when he made his “I Have a Dream Speech.” Mr. Lewis was beaten and badly injured in 1965 as he crossed the Edmund Pettus Bridge on Bloody Sunday on the Freedom Walk from Selma to Montgomery. He served in the U.S. House of Representatives for 33 years. Three former Presidents spoke at his funeral.

Despite all his experiences with violence inflicted upon him, he was a calming voice in Congress. Like his mentor Dr. King, he advocated for a peaceful and non-violent movement, although he did, at times, advocate for “good trouble, helpful trouble.” He was noted for referencing his civil rights history in Congress. He leaves behind a number of very interesting quotes and/ or life value statements. One very applicable for today is, “We may not have chosen the time, but the time has chosen us.”

The quote is very telling. It is wiser and has more meaning than the initial impression. We don’t choose our parents. We don’t choose our time or place of birth. We don’t choose our race or nationality. We don’t choose our heritage or our descent. And, we don’t choose our issues.

These are very strange times. The world and our lives are upside down. We did not choose to have the COVID-19 pandemic. We did not choose the severe economic impact resulting from the COVID pandemic. We did not choose the fall-out and the civil unrest from George Floyd’s murder in Minneapolis. We did not choose the riots in our cities nor the violent demonstrations. Mr. Lewis was right, time has chosen us in this moment.

Mr. Lewis would not have approved of the violence or the hate. He said, “Never give up. Never give in. Never become hostile… Hate is too big a burden to bear.” Wouldn’t it be refreshing if our national leaders on both sides of the aisle and those who want to be national leaders would drop the hate, drop the agendas, stop the bickering, provide mature leadership, and help the country and its people resolve these issues?

Mr. Lewis also said, “Ours is not the struggle of one day, one week, or one year. Ours is the struggle of a lifetime or maybe lifetimes, and each one of us in every generation must do our part.” Our struggles won’t be resolved quickly. If national leaders don’t address the solutions, we must be prepared to come together as smaller communities and navigate the numerous crises that have found us. It may be a long struggle, and we must be prepared to do our part.

I will close with a longer quote from an essay Mr. Lewis wrote to be read after his death. It is a road map, a way forward, a guiding light:

“Though I may not be here with you, I urge you to answer the highest calling of your heart and stand up for what you truly believe. In my life I have done all I can to demonstrate that the way of peace, the way of love and nonviolence is the more excellent way. Now it is your turn to let freedom ring. When historians pick up their pens to write the story of the 21st century, let them say that it was your generation who laid down the heavy burdens of hate at last and that peace finally triumphed over violence, aggression and war. So I say to you, walk with the wind, brothers and sisters, and let the spirit of peace and the power of everlasting love be your guide.”

John Lewis was truly a remarkable man – a man with love and forgiveness in his heart, not vengeance or hate. Time chose John Lewis. He was up to the task. Time has also chosen us. Are we up for the task? I wish us all the best and hope you have a good month.

Gary Smith is President and CEO of PowerSouth Energy Cooperative.

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Down the primrose path

They passed an ordinance in the town, They said we’d have to tear it down, That little old shack out back so dear to me. Though the Health Department said, Its day was over and dead, It will stand forever in my memory. That Little Old Shack Out Back

“Ode to Little Brown Shack Out Back” by Billy Edd Wheeler

When I was a boy my grandmother lived in an Elmore County farmhouse without indoor plumbing. But she had a state-of-the-art outhouse, with a concrete floor and a real porcelain potty built in over the hole in the ground. The trail out to it was christened “the primrose path.”

It was in that quiet spot,

Daily cares could be forgot,

For it gave the same relief for rich and poor.

But it did not last long. A few years later she got indoor plumbing. The privy became a storage shed. But the memory lingered.

Now it was not a castle fair

But I could plan my future there,

And build my castles to the yellow jacket’s drone.

I could orbit round the sun

Fight with General Washington,

Or be a king upon his golden throne.

Outhouses have played a varied and significant role in the history of the South, but never was there one as important as the privy visited by Georgia Gov. Gene Talmadge. Talmadge had built a career on rural support (“I get my votes where the streetcar don’t run”) and though his demagoguery was losing its appeal in some quarters, the smart money said he would continue to win.

Then along came a spider.

The story goes that Gene and his driver were heading down to a South Georgia political rally when nature called. So, he told the man to pull over at the first farm

Harvey H. (Hardy) Jackson is Professor Emeritus of History at Jacksonville State University. He can be reached at hhjackson43@gmail.com house so he could use the outback facility. The driver protested, said they’d be in town soon and he could find one there. But Gene was always about being one with the people and figuring you could not be closer to that constituency than when you use the same outhouse, he insisted they stop.

So they did. And Gene went down the path. And returned rubbing his rear.

“A black widow spider bit me,” he reported.

He made it to the rally but was in too much pain to give the crowd what it came to hear. It was downhill from there. Soon his campaign began to fall apart. He lost.

Historians blamed Talmadge’s defeat on a host of issues but Ol’ Gene knew the real reason. Years later he told the victor, “You never would have beat me if that spider hadn’t bit me.”

Looking back into Alabama’s political history, I have to say that a few outhouses like that one and a few well-placed spider bites might have made this a better state.

Georgia is just lucky, I guess.