Discover The Essence of St. Clair August and September 2024

Discover The Essence of St. Clair

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July 2024

Photo by: Mandy Baughn

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Writers AND Photographers

Carol Pappas

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 and was named Distinguished Alabama Community Journalist at Auburn University. She serves as president/CEO of Partners by Design, which publishes Discover and LakeLife 24/7 Magazine®.

Roxann Edsall

Roxann Edsall is a freelance writer and former managing editor of Convene Magazine, a convention industry publication. She has a degree in (broadcast) journalism from the University of Southern Mississippi, worked as a television news reporter in Biloxi and as a reporter and assignments editor in Birmingham.

Wallace Bromberg Jr.

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.

Graham Hadley

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 chief operating officer and vice president of the Creative Division of Partners by Design multimedia

Paul South

Mackenzie Free is an experienced and nationally published photographer with a bachelor of fine arts degree. She is a Birmingham native now cultivating life on a farm in Steele with her husband & 4 daughters.

Linda Long

Linda Long has worked in communications for more than 25 years in print, broadcast, nonprofit promotion and event planning and implementation. Her writing has appeared in publications across the state. 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.

Paul South, a native of Fairfield, is an Auburn graduate with a degree in journalism and a double minor in history. He also has a Juris Doctorate degree from the Birmingham School of Law. Although sports writing was always his first love, he had a versatile career as reporter, columnist and first full-time sports information director at Samford University.

Joe Whitten

Joe Whitten was born in Bryant on Sand Mountain. When he arrived in Odenville in 1961 to teach at St. Clair County High School, he found a place to call home. Joe was active in the Alabama Writers’ Conclave and the Alabama State Poetry Society. The society named him Poet of the Year in 2000. Joe has also published several local history books.

Scottie Vickery

Scottie Vickery is a writer with a degree in journalism from the University of Alabama and was a reporter for The Birmingham News Her first assignment was covering St. Clair and Blount counties. She has more than 30 years of writing and editing experience and her work has appeared in a variety of publications. She also has worked in the nonprofit industry.

Mandy Baughn

Mandy grew up in and around St. Clair County with family in Moody and Odenville. She has about 10 years of experience photographing children and families, but set her camera aside to give flower farming a try in 2023. She and her husband along with their two children live in Pell City where they spend their days homeschooling, tending to the farm and flower business.

Mackenzie Free

From the Editor

August is always a special month for us here at Discover, The Essence of St. Clair Magazine. It’s our birthday month! We’re blowing out the candles on year number 13, which was as lucky for us as the dozen that came before it. Our wish is simple: Keep on keeping on!

With each year comes new opportunities – new people to meet, more stories to share. That’s the joy in all of this. We’re the storytellers, and we get to share them all with you.

Happy Birthday to us!

Each issue brings us a blend of old and new, a mosaic of stories of people, places and events that define a community and all that makes it special.

Take a train ride with a retired architect who builds model trains and scenery so real and so fascinating you’ll want to sound the “All Aboard” call yourself.

Step back in time with Gatha Harvey, Springville’s own Rosie the Riveter. She joined an iconic class of women in World War II who went to work in factories and shipyards, producing products to help the war effort. Her story is reminiscent of the roll-up-your-sleeves work ethic of the greatest generation.

In Odenville at the WellHouse, we’ll learn the behindthe-scenes story of a new program designed to transition women from a life of being trafficked to a future of independence, hope and success.

Our annual medical section this month focuses on the burgeoning medical hub of Pell City and St. Clair County, bringing big time healthcare close to home.

And business is booming again in our business section, underscoring how the county’s growth shows no signs of slowing. New service and retail ventures, expanding industries and future commercial developments are all a part of the business plan in St. Clair County these days and

for the foreseeable future.

Of course, there’s more in this issue of Discover as we blow out the final candle on year 13. Let’s open a new chapter for the upcoming year. Turn the page and discover it all with us!

Carol Pappas Editor and Publisher

Carol Pappas • Editor and Publisher

Graham Hadley • Managing Editor and Designer

Dale Halpin • Advertising

Toni Franklin • Graphic Arts Director

FRIENDS BOUND FOR NEW HORIZONS

Unique fundraiser nets $24,000 for nonprofits

Amazing Andiamo Adventurers (meaning, Let’s Go) with iconic cypress trees surrounding the grounds at Villa Casagrande in Tuscany. Tour manager, Simone, displays gifts they gave him from back home — a Logan Martin LakeLife shirt and LakeLife 24/7, which he displays.

Story by Carol Pappas

Submitted Photos

It was 2011 when retired Pell City educator Deanna Lawley offered an idea to help boost the Pell City Schools Educational Foundation’s funding following an economic downturn for investments.

A group trip to Italy with friend Diane Schilleci sparked the idea. The representative of the travel company, Collette Tours, asked her if she ever thought about getting groups to travel. “You’d be perfect,” they said, and she could put the commission into whatever project she wanted.

She loved to travel and as a natural born teacher, she remembered how important grants were to her classroom. This would give her an opportunity to organize trips for groups so they could learn more about the world, and it could raise money for the Foundation.

Friends Bound for New Horizons is the moniker she gave it, and off they went to Ireland that first year, raising $7,000.

Since that time, the Foundation’s coffers have grown by

Brunelleschi’s Duomo dominates the skyline of Firenze, birthplace of the Renaissance

Diane and Craig Caufield admire incredible view from hilltop village of LaMorra over Langhe wine country.

more than $100,000 courtesy of the travels of Friends Bound for New Horizons.

Lawley and her groups didn’t stop there – on their traveling or their giving. A few years ago, the Pell City Library became a recipient of funds each year. “I couldn’t do this job without Danny,” Lawley said, referring to Library Director Danny Stewart, who helps coordinate the trips.

Two years ago, the Museum of Pell City, co-founded by Lawley, was added to the list of beneficiaries of the gifts. “The museum is special to my heart,” she said. Since serving as co-project manager for Pell City’s hosting of the Smithsonian’s Museum on Main Street in 2014, “I started thinking about people and our history that was being forgotten about.” In 2023, the city’s own museum opened in a 4,000 square foot suite in the Municipal Complex.

In May, the group traveled to Italy – 41 ‘Friends’ – and while they benefitted from a ‘bucket list’ trip filled with memories, their travels generated $10,000 for the Education Foundation and $7,000 each for the museum and library.

Their Italian adventure took them to Tuscany, where they spent the final four days at an historic estate outside Florence called Hotel Villa Casagrande. They visited Turin, known for fashion and design, and saw the Shroud of Turin in the chapel at Savoy Palace.

They stayed at Sestre Levante, right on the Italian Riviera, and they visited Cinque Terre –five villages on the coast that hang over the sea.

Among the many sights they still savor were Lucca, the Medieval-walled Tuscan hill town, home of Puccini, the great Italian opera composer and the Chianti Road to the winery and olive oil cannery. “Both were incredible,” said Lawley.

Greve was a small Chianti village with only two squares, where they shopped and had farmto-table lunch.

As for the group’s favorite moments, “I loved seeing all the laundry hanging from balconies,” said Patti Harper. “I’ve always seen it in pictures, and they really do it! Also, how the boats had rented spaces on the walkway in Cinque Terre” because there isn’t enough space on the water. The captains have to carry boats down to the sea.

Johnny and Cheryl Gregg’s favorite experience was “the day trip to Cinque Terre. The train ride, the architecture and the beautiful blue water of the Mediterranean.”

For Mara Walls, it was “the town of La Morra, but especially the camaraderie of everyone in our group.” Husband Blythe singled out “City of Greve and the countryside.”

“The village at Manola was especially beautiful, nestled in the hills, and the Mediterranean,” added Jeff Hestley. His wife, Vicki, had a vivid recollection. “The day we spent at the olive vineyard and the afternoon in

There were three Danas on the trip – Dana Corte of Fairhope, Dana Merrymon and Dana Ellison of Pell City

Armory wing in 16th century Royal Savoy Palace in Turin

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Greve were a perfect day for me.”

Their stories are typical of the conversations among these travelers upon returning home. They are dream trips carefully put together for maximum enjoyment and memories to last a lifetime.

About a month after returning home, they recounted their experiences at a special Italian dinner held at The Grill at the Farm in Cropwell. It was an opportunity for them to reunite, reminisce and be honored for their gifts to the Foundation, library and museum.

In accepting for the Foundation, Vice President Jackie Robinson said how vital the funds have been to their efforts to enhance classroom experiences through grants to teachers. The Foundation’s account now stands at over $1 million, with grants for everything from microscopes to books funded through the interest earned.

Stewart recounted traveling with the group in years past, helping Lawley coordinate trips and the personal enrichment it gave to him. Through the fundraising, the library is now able to do so much more to serve its patrons, especially children. A Christmas event featuring Santa and the Grinch draws over 300 children and landscaping lights outside the library were but two of the projects made possible in part with the funding.

Museum President Carol Pappas called the gift an honor to accept. The museum is launching its “Digging Deeper Initiative,” a series of new exhibits and oral history films that will dig deeper into Pell City’s history and present those stories in new, compelling and interactive ways.

“Stay tuned,” she said. “Because of Friends Bound for New Horizons, Museum of Pell City is bound for new horizons, too.”

Next up on the itinerary for the Friends group are a Rhine River Cruise and Painted Canyons of Utah, both in September.

In August 2025, the group plans to head to Scotland with tickets to the famous Royal Edinburgh Military Tatoo, a spectacular show “celebrating British Military, Scottish Heritage and international culture with world-class lighting projects and cutting-edge sound technology.” They are even offering an additional option trip – a 4-day, 3-night London pre-tour with fast train to Edinburgh. l

Editor’s note: For more information on joining Friends Bound for New Horizons on their next adventure, contact Lawley at dnlawley@gmail.com.

Pebbly beach at Monterossa, one of five villages on Ligurian Sea in Cingque Terre

Ponte Vecchio, medieval stone bridge over Arno in Florence. It began with shops on side for butchers. Today, it is home to high dollar jewelry shops.

Typical pizza feast with fresh basil

Landmark restaurant opens second location in Springville

Story by Linda Long

Photos by Mackenzie Free

The Ark restaurant in Riverside complete with its storied – and perhaps even checkered past –begins a new chapter this summer. After nearly a century, folks can now enjoy those fabled catfish and hushpuppies – arguably the best ever served, anywhere – at a second location, on Main Street in Springville.

“That’s right,” smiled Kyle Ostermeyer. He, along with his wife, Amanda, are co-owners of the iconic restaurant. “After 94 years, we decided to expand it and have a second location. Springville has welcomed us with open arms.”

As Amanda recalls, her husband learned about the restaurant and its fabled history when he worked as a food service distributor and sold to two of the original Ark’s three previous owners.

“When Shirley (Shirley Abts) decided to retire in 2022, we purchased The Ark from her, becoming the

The Ark in Springville

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fourth owner in 94 years,” said Amanda. “We kept the recipes and most of the staff, making just a few cosmetic upgrades to the original location. We always thought we might open another location in the distant future, but when the opportunity to purchase a historic restaurant building in downtown Springville presented itself, we couldn’t pass it up.”

The Ark, Springville, is located in what used to be The Springville Café. Touting the slogan, “Where Springville Meets to Eat,” the eatery proved to be a favorite with the townsfolk for 24 years, until COVID claimed it as yet another victim.

Nobody is happier to see the old restaurant up and running than Springville Mayor Dave Thomas. And he’s especially happy it’s opening as The Ark.

“Anybody who knows catfish knows about the Ark,” he said. “Their reputation precedes them.”

And what a reputation that is. As Kyle proudly points out, awards and accolades just keep on coming for the iconic restaurant. The Ark’s catfish platter is listed on the Alabama Bureau of Tourism and Travel’s “100 Dishes to Eat Before You Die” list. The Ark was also a finalist in a competition sponsored by the Alabama Catfish Producers Association called Bama’s Best Catfish Restaurant and was featured in USA Today’s list of the “Top Ten Catfish Restaurants In The Nation.”

“Opening up here in Springville is significant for everyone involved,” said Thomas. “Significant for the Ark because, I believe, they picked the right market and the right location to be wildly successful. I am thrilled to have such a notable establishment with a following that brings people from far and wide. And a restaurant that has such a rich history.”

That history is the stuff of which legends are made. It reads like pages straight out of a Southern novel with a plot both outrageous and irreverent.

As the story goes, seems the Ark’s first owner, “Red” Thompson didn’t let prohibition or lawmen from two countries deter him from selling alcohol to his patrons. With a rather ingenious, albeit illegal scheme Red bought a dredge barge, moored it just off the Coosa riverbank and operated a floating bar or if you prefer speakeasy.

Looking back, Red had a sweet deal going – all the booze thirsty patrons could drink and all the catfish he could catch and cook, right from end of the barge. The wily business owner continued to hoodwink authorities for several years, until the barge was destroyed by fire.

The Ostermeyers aren’t expecting any

Preparing some of the Ark’s famous dishes

The original Ark floating on the Coosa

of that kind of drama in its Springville location, but they are expecting to continue serving up those long famous crispy catfish and hushpuppies.

There is nothing different here in Springville,” said Kyle. “We are duplicating it exactly. People who come here will get the same look, taste and feel that they do at Riverside.”

That’s good news for the Micah Shelton family who represent three generations of Ark aficionados.

“I can’t get enough of the catfish, and my three-year daughter can’t get enough of the catfish nuggets,” he said. “It’s a place we can consistently get good food and good service. We are a family of four but the generation before me, my parents and my children’s grandparents used to eat at the Riverside location for years.”

Shelton says he is now following that family tradition and carrying his own family to the familiar restaurant. He says his wife Hannah’s favorite Ark offering is the deviled crab “and at the rate we’re going,” he laughed, “it wouldn’t surprise me if our three-month-old cuts his teeth on the hushpuppies.”

We’re really glad to have something that’s familiar to us and more accessible to my family. We’re much closer now that they have a Springville location.”

Mayor Thomas dittos the sentiment. “Folks don’t have to go all the way to Riverside now,” he said. “They can come here and enjoy the same food, the same people. The Ark is part of the Springville fabric and family now.” l

The Ark is famous for more than just its catfish

The Right Track

Architect designs, creates, builds model trains

Malcolm Sokol, his trains and a miniBirmingham

Story by Scottie Vickery

Photos by Mandy Baughn

It’s been said that much about your childhood – your neighborhood, the house you grew up in, or the size of your backyard – often seems smaller when viewed through adult eyes.

For Malcolm Sokol, everything about Birmingham seems downright tiny. That’s because the retired architect and model railroad enthusiast has spent years recreating his version of the city’s Industrial District, all in miniature.

He’s built his own small-scale 1952 versions of Ensley, Pratt City, North Birmingham, Elyton, Red Mountain and other areas, along with the railroads that connect them. There are restaurants, stores, warehouses, iron ore mines, steel mills, a rail yard, Sloss Furnaces and a railroad trestle. And he’s built it all within a room that measures 13 x 19 feet.

“A genuine model railroader tries to make everything as realistic as possible,” said Sokol, who now lives in Cropwell on Logan Martin Lake. There’s no doubt that Sokol, who estimates he’s spent more than 12,000 hours over the past eight years or so on his hobby, is the real deal. He’s got an assortment of regional and national awards for his designs to prove it.

“You can make a career out of a hobby, but when you love it so much it’s not like going to work,” he said. “You don’t put any value on your time with a hobby unless you plan to sell something, and I would never sell this.”

In addition to the time and money he’s spent creating his HO scale model railroad layout, Sokol has an emotional and sentimental investment, as well. It brings back memories of his childhood.

“I grew up in Fountain Heights, and when I was a kid, we used to walk down to the railroad tracks, which were about two blocks away,” he said. “We loved to watch the switching (of rails and cars) at all of the industries.”

Getting on track

Sokol, a member of the Wrecking Crew Model Railroad Club in Birmingham, got his first model railroad set when he was 8 or 9. “My father gave me and my younger brother, Howard, a Lionel O Guage railroad set,” he said. “We played with that thing until we wore it out.”

Some neighborhood friends had sets, as well, and they would put them together and play for hours. “That was my introduction to model railroading,” he said. His interest was renewed not long after

Trains are the centerpiece of Malcolm’s model city

A simple remote allows Sokol to run trains in different directions and at different speeds while adding sound effects like bells and horns

he and his wife, Marilyn, had their first child. They went to a model railroad show, where Sokol bought a set. “I said I was buying it for my son, but he was only a year and a half old at the time,” he said with a laugh.

Today, Sokol loves sharing his hobby with their three children and their spouses, along with their seven grandchildren and four greatgrandchildren. The Sokols’ home may be the only house on the lake where guests want to spend as much time inside as they do by the water.

“They love to run trains,” he said of his family and friends. “Everyone who comes here says, ‘Let me see what you’ve done on the trains’ They love to see the progress.”

There’s always something new to see in his train room, which used to be part of his garage. When Sokol got serious about his hobby, he finished the area, adding a ceiling and walls. He put the Masonite backdrop on three walls of the room, and he and his grandson, Garrett, used stencils to paint clouds and mountains. He later installed additional mountains he’d painted on panels of Masonite in the foreground, creating a multi-dimensional background.

The first two years were dedicated to building the frame and foundation for the layout and for laying the track. Using historical rail maps for Birmingham as a guide, Sokol added some of the industrial buildings that were built alongside the city’s tracks. His layout includes Loveman’s Warehouse, Pittsburgh Plate Glass Co. and the A&P Warehouse and Distribution Center.

First National Bank and Pete’s Famous Hot Dogs are represented in the layout, while some of the stores, such as Marilyn’s Knit Shop, were named for family members. Businesses in the Ensley section of the layout include Ideal Furniture, The Bank of Ensley and Gilmer Drugs. Sokol recently added Phase 2 of his railroad, which extends into an adjacent room measuring 13 x 6 feet.

Details matter

Sokol said the skills he honed during his architectural career, which spanned more than 30 years before he retired as CEO of Evan Terry Associates in 1998, has come in handy. “It definitely helps,” he said. “I have the design ability and the construction knowledge.”

Being his own client has allowed him the freedom to build everything just the way he wants. Although much of the

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Sokol uses branches from his yard and painted ground foam to make trees and other foliage

layout was based on historical renderings, he took some artistic liberties, as well. “When you own a model railroad, you’re the owner and designer and you can make all the decisions,” he said. “When you’re playing all the roles, it’s easier.”

Sokol’s attention to detail is amazing. Although many model railroaders buy pre-made tracks, he bought the rails and used a band saw to cut 35,000 tiny wooden ties, which he attached with miniature metal spikes. “It’s all hand-laid, just like the real railroad does,” he said.

Most of his buildings are scratch built, meaning he designed, cut, assembled and painted them by hand, rather than using a kit. A watercolor artist, Sokol’s painting skills add an additional level of realism to his cities and buildings that takes time to create. He spent six months, for example, building and painting the railroad trestle, which is modeled after the L&N Cane Creek Trestle #10 in Brookwood.

Sokol’s favorite building, which happens to be the first one he made, is one he named the Starry Eye Mattress Company. In addition to the architectural details, there’s a dumpster, trashcans, barrels, bales of cotton and small wooden pallets where workers can be seen stacking mattresses.

The design won two regional awards, including Best in Show, and was displayed one year at the National Model Railroad Association’s convention. “One of the kit manufacturers from Maine found me and said, ‘I want to build a kit out of this model,’” he said.

Sokol gave him permission and the kit maker changed the name of the business to Sokol’s Mattress & Furniture Company as a nod to the creator. The original limited run of 500 kits, priced at $160 a kit, sold out in the first year. Some are currently being re-sold on eBay for more than $200.

While many of the railroad accessories can be purchased, Sokol spends hours creating his own. Model railroad switches, which allow trains to be guided from one track to another, can be purchased for about $30. “I built my own switches for $2

Special attention is paid to the lighting setup down to the street lamps

worth of materials,” he said. “I probably saved about $3,000 right there.”

Although saving costs in what can be an expensive hobby is a motivator, part of the fun for Sokol is figuring out how to make his own buildings and structures. The blast furnace on his Sloss Furnaces layout, for example, was made from a wiffle ball bat. “I needed something that was rounded and tapered, so I just cut off each end of the bat,” he said.

He made his lampposts, which are only a few inches tall, out of three different thicknesses of tubing. All of the lighting on the layout, whether on lampposts or in buildings, is fiber optics, he said.

Much of the materials he uses comes from his own backyard.

He gets scoops of dirt, bakes it to kill any bugs, sifts it, and attaches it to the ground of the layout with white glue. He makes tree trunks from azalea limbs, drilling holes in the trunks to add smaller branches. Sokol uses hairspray to make clumps of painted ground foam that he uses for the foliage on trees and bushes. “I’ve given workshops on making trees,” he said.

Sights and sound

The electronics that are part of the railroad layout are as impressive as the designs. One of the most popular features is a lightning and rainstorm over one of Sokol’s buildings on his miniature Red Mountain. The soundtrack features thunder and wind, slamming screen doors, barking dogs and other lifelike noises.

The evolution of the technology used to operate the trains makes everything more realistic, Sokol said. “It used to be that every train on the track would go at the same speed and in

the same direction,” he said. Now, there’s a computer chip in each locomotive, and model railroad engineers can run trains backward, forward and at different speeds, all on the same track. They can also control sound effects, such as bells, horns and brakes.

Although Sokol completed most of the work on his layout himself, he had several model railroader friends who shared their expertise. Steve Singer helped lay the ties and build the benchwork, which is the foundation for the trains and scenery. Winston Greaves helped with the electronics, and Dave Whikehart helped build the structures. Sokol said he figures everything is about 80 percent complete, but don’t hold him to it.

“A lot of people will ask model railroaders when they are going to be finished, and the answer is they will never be finished,” he said. “There is always more detail to add, and some will build a scene, decide they don’t like it and start over

with a new one.”

Although the trains have brought Sokol much joy, they are not his only hobby. He and his wife love to travel – they’ve been to Australia and New Zealand this year and often spend a month or more in a city so they can live like the locals. Although he loves the adventure, he’s always glad to get back to his model railroad.

For the past 15 years or so, he and the other members of the Wrecking Crew club have built locomotive exhibits for the McWane Science Center, which are displayed during the holidays. Aside from the fun of helping to create the layouts, he enjoys watching the children and families enjoy them.

“It’s very rewarding,” he said. “This is a great hobby.” l

Sokol is also an accomplished watercolor artist

Sokol received an autographed kit of his original design of a mattress company

2025 Models now on the lot

Rosie the Riveter Springville’s Own Gatha Harvey

Story by Joe Whitten

Submitted Photos

On Dec. 8, 1941, at 12:30 Eastern Standard Time, a solemn silence settled over the nation as stunned citizens heard President Franklin Rosevelt over the radio intone these stark words: “Yesterday, December 7, 1941 – a day which will live in infamy – the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by the naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan.”

Six and a half minutes later, President Rosevelt ended his address: “I ask that the Congress declare that since the unprovoked and dastardly attack by Japan on Sunday, December 7th,1941, a state of war has existed between the United States and the Japanese Empire.”

Gatha Harvey of Springville, Alabama, remembers how she learned of the Pearl Harbor attack. “We had been up to my sister’s and were on our way home,” she recounted. “Daddy always liked to have music, so he had the radio on, and they interrupted the program and told about Pearl Harbor being bombed.”

Americans were galvanized toward winning this war. Scores of youths dropped out of high school to join the military. Women became part of the war effort by working jobs previously occupied by men now fighting in various parts of the world.

Gatha would soon become part of the women’s work force.

Gatha Harvey poses for a portrait

From

Hartwell to Marietta, Georgia

Graduating high school in 1944 at age 17, she wanted a job, but Hartwell offered very few choices – working in a sewing factory or clerking in a department store. Not an exciting outlook for her.

Then her aunt and uncle came from Marietta for a visit one weekend. Gatha recalls the day. “Daddy’s sister, Ruth, and her husband were working in the Bell Bomber Plant in Marietta, Georgia. They made B-29 planes. She said, ‘Why don’t you come to Atlanta with us?’ ” And I said, ‘I don’t know if Daddy would let me go that far away.’ ” However, Ruth did the asking, and Gatha’s daddy did indeed let her go with them.

At Bell Bomber Plant, Ruth took Gatha to the employment office, and they hired her. “I started working on airplane wings, bucking rivets,” Gatha smiled. An online article, Buck Riveting Basics, explains the process. “A bucked rivet is a round fastener that attaches two or more pieces of metal together. The rivet is driven by a rivet gun (a specialized pneumatic hammer) with an attached rivet set (strike surface) shaped to match the rounded shape of the manufactured head of the rivet. During the process, the tail of the rivet is backed up by a bucking bar that acts as an anvil while the rivet gun and set are repeatedly striking the head. As the rivets are driven, the tail (blunt end) of the rivet is transformed into a flat mushroom called a ‘shop head.’ ” So, in June 1944, Gatha officially became a Rosie the Riveter – a group still famous.

“The first day I was working,” Gatha reminisced, “I’ll bet I had gone that far (measures about two or three feet with her hands), and the inspector came to check my work. He was a young man, and he marked every one of my rivets, and I had to take ‘em all out. And I thought, ‘Boy, you sure are mean.’ Every one of my rivets had to come out

Ready for a 90th birthday celebratory flight

Gatha and daughter Alice Harvey Stone

because they were too close to the edge. So, I got ‘em all put in, and got ‘em right, and kept going. If we hadn’t got ‘em out, that plane could have come apart when it got in the air.”

The inspector, Alfred Harvey, was not mean after all, because four months later, on Oct. 21, 1944, he and Gatha White were married – a marriage that lasted 47 and a half years until Alfred’s death in 1992.

In January 1945, expecting their first baby, James Richard, Alfred and Gatha quit their jobs at Bell Bomber and moved to Birmingham. Alfred worked for a while in an airplane plant, then drove a truck. His sister who worked in the Tax Assessor’s office and suggested that if he wanted to drive a truck, he should take the Civil Service Test and work for the city of Birmingham. He took the test, passed it, was hired and worked 29 years for the city.

“We had a good life,” Gatha reflected. “On Oct. 28, 1945, my son Jimmy Harvey was born., and seven years later my daughter, Alice Faye Harvey Stone was born. We weren’t rich, but we had a good life.”

Growing up

In the summer of 1926, a heatwave skewered Georgia, and on the day Gatha White was born, July 21, the sun blazed over the horizon and sizzled the thermometer up to 108 degrees at Reed Creek community, her birthplace. It’s still the record heat today.

The fifth of nine children born to Judge Reese White and his wife, Arlie Maude Brown White, Gatha talked of her early years. “My daddy was a farmer. He raised corn, cotton and vegetable gardens.” All farm family children worked a farm thinning corn, chopping cotton, weeding the vegetable garden, gathering the vegetables – whatever the season required.

Family gathers for Christmas 2023

Alfred and Gatha

“There were nine of us,” Gatha reminisced, “and as we got big enough to work, we all worked in the field.”

When the cotton matured, they helped with the harvest. “We would get out of school in September for six weeks to pick cotton,” Gatha recalled. This discontinuing of school for several weeks, called “getting out for cotton picking,” was a common practice in Southern states.

“We had a good time,” Gatha smiled, recalling home and her brothers and sisters. “On Sunday, my daddy would hitch up the mules to the wagon, and we’d go to church. And if there were any neighbors that didn’t have a way, he’d take them with us in the wagon.” The family mostly attended the Baptist church, but many churches had preaching only once a month, so the family attended whichever denomination was having church on Sunday.

Remembering those long ago preachers, Gatha reflected, “Sometimes they would pay the minister with chickens. Vegetables. They seldom got much money.”

She reminisced about school. “We went to a country school and rode the bus at Reed Creek. Then when we moved to Hartwell, Georgia, we’d walk to school. We all graduated high school.”

Gatha’s favorite subject in school was cooking class. “I used to watch my mamma cook, but she wouldn’t let me cook, so I would watch her. She could make some of the best biscuits.”

This recollection led to more food memories. “We’d go to the garden and pick beans, she’d can ’em. Pick peas, she’d can ‘em. Tomatoes, she’d can. Apples, she would dry. She had a frame that she’d put the sheets on, and we’d peel the apples and peaches, and she’d put ‘em out there to dry, and we’d have dried apple pies. You had to cover them up to keep the flies off.

“And we had homemade ice cream. And we made lemonade – got lemons and made it in a tub. We had a good life,” she smiled.

The family raised their own beef and pork. When hog killing time came, nothing was wasted. “Mamma and Daddy would cut pork chops, and they cured the hams with salt. We used everything but the chitlins,” Gatha recollected. “Mamma fried the sausage and put it in quart jars and canned it. She made souse meat.”

Souse meat, sometimes called hog’s head cheese, was the forerunner of sandwich lunchmeat. Gatha tells how her mother made it. “She’d boil the head and the pigs’ feet and get all the meat off that. And she put other stuff in it and she’d scrunge (squeeze) it up and put it in a big pan and put a lid on it and pressed it down to get all the grease out of it. It’s really good.”

Old recipes add various spices – pepper (black and red), sage, garlic, cloves and pickling spices. Old directions also recommended putting the souse meat in the smokehouse for a while before serving it.

Printed flour sacks and feed sacks were a godsend during lean economic days. Gatha recalled “Mamma would show daddy the sack design that she wanted him to get at the store, and when she got enough of the same design, she made our dresses. I never had a bought dress.”

From Birmingham to Springville

Gatha’s memories returned to her married life and living in Birmingham. “We lived in Woodlawn. We rented a house that had an apartment, and Alfred’s mother and daddy moved into the apartment. I cooked on Sunday to have ready when they come home from church, and my father-in-law liked pot liquor (turnip greens broth) with cornbread.”

After Alfred’s father died, the Harveys bought a house in

Center Point and Alfred’s mother, who used a wheelchair, reluctantly moved with them. “She knew she was gonna have just one room and use of the house. Well, when all the neighbors made her welcomed, she was satisfied. She lived with us until ’74.”

After that, she moved in with her daughter for a while, and then into a nursing home. “She was a good lady. And she always said, ‘I hope you will have a daughter-in-law that’s as good to you, as you are to me.’ And if she was living, she’d know now that I did.”

Gatha’s eyes twinkled as she said, “My mother-in-law had a cough, and one of her sons, Ralph, was a policeman on the Birmingham police force. So, he brought her a pint. She mixed it with lemon and honey – made her a toddy. Well, that went on for about a month, and she said, ‘Ralph, bring me another pint of whiskey. I’m out.’ He said, ‘Mamma, you didn’t drink all that!?” Her reply was, ‘A little bit at a time,’ then added with justification, ‘Well, I had a cough.’ “So, he brought her another pint.”

Alfred had always wanted to travel, so prior to retiring, he had purchased a motorhome for traveling days to come. When he retired, they sold their home and headed out in the motorhome.

Their son, Jimmy, and his wife, Betty, had Springville property where Jimmy built a carport high enough for them to pull the motorhome under and a porch for them to step out onto when it was parked. He also put in a water hookup and installed a septic tank. They would come back from a trip and be at home in Springville in the motorhome until the next excursion.

Alfred and Gatha’s days of travel were cut short by Alfred’s emphysema. They returned from a Florida trip, and the drive home was difficult for Alfred. He had a doctor’s appointment but was so weak that Gatha drove him. His doctor put him in the hospital where he stayed 10 days, during which time he was put on oxygen. Gatha brought him home, where he died April 8, 1992.

Gatha kept active, and her four grandchildren, eight greatgrandchildren, and her one great-great-grandchild, have all

Gatha and her Sunday school classmates

been blessed by her love and concern for them, for she speaks of them with smiles on her face. Each one has received a quilt – all hand-stitched and hand-quilted – with love in every stitch. Granddaughter Sonya’s quilt has scraps of dresses Gatha made for her when she was small. Grandson Richard commented on her grandmothering: “She took care of my sister and me when we were growing up, and we developed a special relationship with her. She was stern, but she was gentle. We loved her to pieces.”

The family also enjoys her cooking. At Christmas time, she always makes the dressing. She makes banana nut bread for granddaughter Sonya, her daughter-in-law Betty and herself. Grandson Richard Harvey – Springville’s Fire Chief – gets his favorite poundcake. Betty relates how “Gatha makes a buttermilk poundcake – it was my mother’s recipe – and she’s got the Springville Fire Department spoiled with it.”

Asked about the poundcake, Richard responded, “Oh, her poundcake. Yeah, she makes probably the best poundcake that’s ever been. But it’s not just me; it’s the entire Fire Station. The guys love it when she makes us poundcake.” Richard allows that the cake is especially delicious with strawberries and whipped cream.

Springville First Baptist Church

When the Harveys began parking their motorhome in Springville, Mrs. Barfield, their neighbor across the road, invited Gatha to go with her to church at Springville First Baptist Church where she was a member. Gatha accepted and went with her when she and Alfred would be in town between travels.

After Alfred passed, she became an active member of the church and was involved in its ministries – especially Sunday school and Saints Alive, the senior citizens group at the church. For Saints Alive, Gatha helped two directors, Geniva DuPre Smith and Linda Lee, by calling members to remind them of meetings or trips planned for the group.

At a recent Saints Alive lunch meeting, attendees sat by birth month at round tables, and Gatha lunched with five men who ranged in age from mid-60s to an 89-year-old. At the end of the meal, she got the group’s attention and said, “I’d like to say how much I have enjoyed dining with these younger men.” This is typical Gatha humor, as her neighbor, Dennis Jones, recently affirmed by telling, “Every time the TV says, ‘Check on the elderly,’ Gatha calls and checks on me – even though I’m 25 years younger.”

Today Gatha is the First Baptist church-member who has accumulated the most years of living. Until two years ago, she drove herself to church. Now Betty brings her.

At 97 / 98, Gatha rarely ever misses a Sunday school class or worship service. Her Sunday school teacher, Beverly Bullock, remarked, “Gatha Harvey is an example of a quiet soul who speaks loudly about her Lord and makes an effort to be in God’s house every Sunday.”

Tom Brokaw called the WWII era the “greatest generation,” and Eleanor Roosevelt said of the women of her day: “A woman is like a teabag, you don’t know how strong it is until it’s in hot water.”

Having lived almost 100 years, whatever “hot water times” Gatha has experienced has made her stronger. Whether the hot water of having to remove her first row of rivets or the twists and turns of living almost a hundred years, Gatha exemplified the strength Eleanor Roosevelt acknowledged.

Gatha’s grandson Richard Harvey agreed. “My grandfather treated her like an angel – he did everything for her, but at

Richard and Gatha ready to ride

Gatha gives greatgrandaughter Christina her quilt

the same time she did everything for him. She was the classic housewife of that generation. Then when he passed, she was pretty much on her own and had to take care of herself. She had never driven when he passed, so at 65 she got her driver’s license.” He paused, then added, “She was never afraid.”

Whether Gatha Harvey is patriotic Rosie the Riveter, faithful wife, well-loved mother-in-law, or loving grandmother, she is an inspiration to all who know her, for she is an example of a life well-lived.

Richard recently told of his grandmother’s 90th birthday. “I said, ‘Grandma, what’s something you’ve never done?’ And she said, “I’ve never ridden a motorcycle, and I’ve never flown in a plane.’ So, for her 90th birthday, I put her on the back of my motorcycle and drove up to Ashville to a friend who had a plane. We put her in the plane, and he flew her all over St. Clair County.”

In anticipation of upcoming birthdays, Richard says he keeps asking her, “When are we gonna jump out of that plane?” Her answer so far has been, “I don’t think I’m gonna do that.”

How about it, Gatha. Is that water really too hot? l

JAMMIN’ FOR A GREAT CAUSE

Great turnout at Homestead Hollow for the festival

Story by Carol Pappas

Photos by Mackenzie Free

It certainly wasn’t a first for Homestead Hollow. They’re used to hosting an outdoor festival drawing crowds from all around the region. But for newly opened Big Canoe Creek Nature Preserve, its successful first venture looks like a gateway to an annual fundraiser.

Creek Jam was an all-day, outdoor musical festival, featuring bands, entertainment and activities for the entire family and drawing 1,500 to 2,000 attendees. And Homestead Hollow provided the ideal setting on its main stage featuring: Winston Ramble, Jason Bailey Trio, The Stepdads, Love Rat, Len Park, Cottonmouth Creek, LeeJ The DJ and more.

An educational tent was run by two of the Big Canoe Creek Preserve Partners, Jimmy Stiles and Jill Chambers. Jimmy brought creek critters, such as a baby alligator, snakes, turtles and other species. Jill brought microscopes for kids to view all sorts of things found in Nature. The Nature Conservancy, Forever Wild and the Coosa Riverkeeper also manned educational tents.

Camping was available, providing more time to listen to the bands and to explore the preserve.

“It was a good turnout,” said Preserve Manager Doug Morrison. “We’ve had good feedback. People

Event was held to help fund the Big Canoe Creek Preserve

Children learn about nature at the familyfriendly Creek Jam

Musicians, including Springville’s mayor take center stage as spectators look on

came from Gadsden, Hoover, Locust Fork – from all over. We were real pleased.”

The feedback, he added, centered on how impressed they were with the venue and “how well put together the event was.”

It had a little something for everybody with artisans and makers as vendors, food galore and music of all genres – and plenty of it.

Festival goers spread blankets, set up camp and lawn chairs or strolled through the open fields to just enjoy the day and the outdoors.

After all, that’s what it was all about – the treasures found in simply getting outside –just like at the preserve.

https://www.newlifemethodist.net/

A great day was had by people of all ages at the festival

Morrison thanked sponsors for their support:

• St. Clair County Commission

• City of Springville

• Buffalo Rock/Pepsi, our Presenting Sponsor

• Big Canoe Creek Preserve Partners

• APEX Roofing

• Blue Cross Blue Shield of Alabama, The Caring Foundation

• St. Clair EDC

• AmFirst

• Peritus Wealth Management

• PPM Consultants

• Hill, Gossett, Kemp, P.C.

• Thompsons Tractor Rental

• Schoel Engineering

• Springville Dental

In-Kind Sponsors:

• Cahaba Brewing Company

• Ghost Train Brewery

• Back Forty Beer Company

• Steel Hall Brewing

• Sweet Home Spirits

• Creative Entertainment

• Bob Tedrow of Homewood Music

• Rusty’s BBQ

• The Farm House

In addition, Morrison had high praise for: Terri and Dean Goforth, who provided the venue space; Mayor Dave Thomas and Springville City Council; Commission Chairman Stan Batemon and the County Commission; all volunteers; Salient Projects, who organized the soundstage, bands and helped tremendously with planning; city employees from Parks and Rec; the planning committee – Terri & Dean Goforth, Mayor Thomas, Lucy Cleaver, Lee Jeffrey, Mandi Rae Trot, Candice Hill, Blair Goodgame and Morrison; Springville Parks and Rec Board; bands and individual musicians who played on the side stage and vendors. l

Harvest of Hope

The WellHouse expands facilities to help rebuild lives torn apart by human trafficking.

Story by Roxann Edsall

Photos by Mandy Baughn

There’s a harvest housed in a brand-new barn in Odenville. It’s hardly the typical crop; this one is life changing. From seeds of love and stability are grown a harvest of hope. Simply called “the barn,” the 3,600-square-foot facility is part of The WellHouse, a safe-house campus in St. Clair County for female survivors of human trafficking.

The barn is the new home for ShopWell, the work therapy program run by residents of The WellHouse. The ShopWell program, which provides job training in a safe environment as the survivors work to create and sell handcrafted items, had outgrown their small working space in the administration building. As part of the year-long program offered at The WellHouse, residents are employed to make jewelry, clay dishes, candles, wood products, leatherwork and quilts.

The new space offers room to create items and provides a small shop where volunteers and invited supporters can purchase items. ShopWell items can also be purchased through their online store. Within a year, they hope to have an offcampus brick and mortar store.

As ShopWell associates, these survivors, many of whom have never held a job for which they received compensation, learn about work culture by submitting employment applications, following work schedules and functioning as part of a work team.

The opportunity to create is also a part of the recovery process. “I love working with my hands to create something that is beautiful,” says Ava, a graduate of The WellHouse program, now serving as coordinator of the ShopWell program. “Working on beautiful things here is where my creativity came back to life.”

Ava smiles as she talks about the program that has changed her life. Despite having endured the horrors of human trafficking for more than 30 years, she is healing and has a new vision for her life. She has chosen the name Ava over her given name as a symbol of the beginning of her life in freedom.

For Ava, the nightmare began as one of her earliest memories at the age of three. Over the next 30 years, the trafficking continued. She was able to escape twice but was re-exploited both times by people in agencies she thought would protect her. “I went to them for help, but they were not who they said they were,” she recalls. Eventually, she escaped again and fled to another country and looked for ways to help others still stuck in human trafficking situations. As part of her effort to help others, she returned to the U.S. to participate in an anti-trafficking conference.

It was in her efforts to help others that she realized how much healing she still had to do.

The WellHouse Chapel

After a month in a safe house in Ohio, she entered the program at The WellHouse. “I knew I needed to find healing myself in order to be able to help other survivors,” recounts Ava.

Her story of healing is still being written. She has since graduated from the year-long program and has moved into the Next Steps to Independence apartments on the 63-acre WellHouse campus. She has a car and is working on a degree in Psychology, something she hopes to use to help others. “At this point, I feel like I can start planning a future,” says Ava, beaming. “I have a broad vision but taking baby steps right now.”

For now, Ava is happy in her role as ShopWell coordinator. “Working with the ladies in ShopWell is healing for them and just as much for me,” she adds. “The biggest thing I’ve learned is how to walk in gratitude and not be offended at what life has been like. For me, that’s the key to learning to trust and to hope for the future.”

Learning to trust again is a mountain that survivors don’t conquer easily. Trauma-therapy is a big part of that recovery, and new individual therapy offices are now open on the second floor of the Barn, along with group therapy space and exercise options for residents. There are four therapists and four case managers on staff at The WellHouse to help them through the journey to healing and restoration.

“Through each one of these committed staffers, our residents have opportunities for healing,” says Carolyn Potter, CEO of The WellHouse. “These ladies who come to us seem to have an extra measure

Handcrafted items for sale

The peaceful natural spaces of the property are the perfect place to heal and relax

of resilience in them.

“We know from doing trainings that there is still a mindset that people who are prostituting want to do it for the money or for drugs,” continues Potter. “What we say is that if you look deeper, you will likely find there was childhood sexual abuse. That was the beginning of her trauma, her vulnerability to the tragedies of her life. The deeper we get into her therapy, we find there was someone who controlled her.”

Ava has worked hard to regain control of her own life. That resilience is what helped her work through the desperate isolation and hopelessness that characterized her life as a victim of human trafficking, a terrible journey that began as a small girl trafficked by a family member.

A 2020 report from Polaris Project, a nonprofit that works to combat sex and labor trafficking in North America, shows that victims usually know and trust their traffickers. Forty two percent of human trafficking victims are brought into trafficking by a member of their own family.

The WellHouse facility has been open for seven years and is currently working with 34 survivors. The 501c3 organization partners with many other agencies to provide information and advocacy for survivors.

They are a provider partner for the Alabama Anti Human Trafficking Alliance, a statewide initiative funded by a grant from the U.S. Department of Justice. In that role, they serve as a frontline resource for

survivors identified by the Alliance, offering crisis services, stabilization, restoration and support toward independent living.

Some of The Wellhouse partner agencies are Safe House Project, Rescue America, Homeland Security, UAB, Trafficking Hope, End It Alabama and Children’s Hospital.

These national and state agencies recognize that while the numbers of cases of human trafficking are lower in Alabama than in many states, Alabama is not immune to this epidemic. According to the FBI crimes database, National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS), there were 36 human trafficking offenses reported in Alabama in 2022, the latest year reported in the system. That’s up from 21 cases in 2021. In over half of those cases, the victims were under the age of 18.

The WellHouse saw the growing need and, three years ago, opened a building with a program to serve minor girls, ages 11 to 18. The facility is currently serving six youths with a waiting list of others needing placement.

This past May, 47 people were arrested in connection with human trafficking cases in Tuscaloosa and Shelby counties. Though there have been no reported cases in St. Clair County, those who work in rescue organizations acknowledge that some cases go unreported or are classified as prostitution or drug-related crimes.

Gov. Kay Ivey signed new legislation called the Sound of Freedom Act in April, which she said positioned Alabama as the state with the “toughest punishment for anyone who is found guilty of first-degree human trafficking of a minor.” Effective Oct. 1, anyone convicted of trafficking a minor in Alabama will face a mandatory minimum sentence of life in prison.

Human trafficking is the second most profitable illegal industry in the world, according to the International Labour Organization, second only to the drug trade, but is the fastest growing.

Citizens can help. A survivor’s rescue story often involves another person reporting to police something that just doesn’t seem right. “Don’t assume someone else will see what you see,” Ava says. “Be willing to take a risk to help.”

St. Clair County is home to a place that is helping these survivors reclaim their lives and their futures. Supported by contributions from individuals, civic and religious organizations, non-profits, foundations and government programs for crime victims, The WellHouse is an organization which provides a peaceful residential therapy program that is making a difference one shattered life at a time.

“The best thing about the program at The WellHouse? Being loved unconditionally,” says Ava. “You finally have someone in your life who is a constant, who stays with you the whole time and loves you. Then you can begin to see the worth they see in you.” That’s a bountiful harvest … a harvest of hope, putting together the pieces of a life torn apart by human trafficking. l

Editor’s Note: To report suspected human trafficking, contact toll-free (24/7) the National Human Trafficking Hotline at 1-888-373-7888 or text HELP to BeFree (233733). Additional resources are at: www.enditalabama.org for information on human trafficking; www.the-wellhouse.org to learn more about or to volunteer at The WellHouse; and www.shopwell-wellhouse. org to purchase from ShopWell.

Raised gardens

A passion for HEALTHCARE

Complete Health’s Joy St. John has had a lifetime desire to take care of people

Story by Paul South

Photos by Mackenzie Free

As a teen, before Joy St. John and her family moved from the Dallas County community of Tyler to Pell City, the health care bug bit her.

She was a candy striper, one of a small cadre of young women clad in red and white striped uniforms, who dispensed bedside smiles and kindness to the sick and their families.

“That’s what started everything and drew my interest to nursing,” she said. “Seeing (nurses) help people, I thought that was something that I would want to do.”

Fast forward. St. John earned a degree in nursing at UAB and a graduate degree from the Ida B. Moffett School of Nursing at Samford to become a nurse practitioner and worked as a nurse at Children’s Hospital of Alabama in Birmingham.

Now, she’s back home in Pell City, serving as a nurse practitioner at Complete Health.

A nurse practitioner is a registered nurse who is qualified through advanced training to assume some of the duties and responsibilities once reserved only for physicians.

In Alabama, nurse practitioners are required by law to work under the supervision of a physician.

According to the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics, nurse practitioners are one of the fastest growing professions in the United States. It was projected that the number of N.P.s in the country would grow some 45 percent between 2022 and 2032.

Increasing demands on doctors have triggered the growing demand for nurse practitioners, St. John said.

“(Doctors) just don’t have the time to see the amount of people that they have at their practice. (Nurse practitioners) are a great way to get patients in and seen, and we can actually be their primary care doctor if that’s what they wish.”

Complete Health Pell City is part of the

Joy St. John’s love of medicine is reflected in her care for her patients at Complete Health in Pell City

Joy working with medical assistant

Heather Barnett

Complete Health family of clinics in Alabama, Florida and Virginia. But while the Pell City facility is part of a larger corporate umbrella, it still cares for patients in a hometown way.

St. John works primarily in family medicine. “I’m a primary care physician for a good number of people. I diagnose problems, take care of chronic problems,” she said. “Sometimes people come in with undiagnosed medical problems. And then, we can start being their primary care provider and start doing preventative care.”

Complete Health Pell City also seeks to educate patients and their families about their condition.

As Pell City and St. Clair County have grown, St. John has seen her practice change. Complete Health has become a “one stop shop” for health care. “It’s definitely gotten bigger, with the addition of more doctors and the addition of more nurse practitioners,” St. John said.

“I have been here for 14 years. It’s been a great service to the community because we have CT scan, ultrasound and MRI, our own pharmacy, and we have a lot of specialty doctors that come in so (patients) don’t have to drive to Birmingham or Anniston to get specialty care.”

What sets Complete Health Pell City apart? “We can take

care of the whole person,” she said. “We even have an urgent care that’s open seven days a week. Even after hours, they would have access to their records as far as their chronic conditions. We generally get people in pretty quick within one to two days.”

The business of healthcare, specifically navigating the huge health insurance marketplace, is the profession’s biggest challenge, she said.

“You sometimes have to modify a person’s plan of care because of insurance,” St. John said. “Their insurance sometimes won’t cover a certain medication or a certain test they need. It’s sometimes very frustrating to try to diagnose problems and take care of the patient when insurance won’t cover it. So, you have to make other decisions and talk to patients about what’s best for them.”

She added, “There’s no use in me prescribing an expensive medicine when they’re not going to pick it up (because of cost), when we can talk about it and go to another option. The amount of insurance plans out there is challenging for us.”

The presence of Complete Health and other healthcare providers has impacted rural communities in a positive way, giving those once-underserved areas better access to health care.

“Companies are able to put nurse practitioners out in rural areas where they might not be able to place doctors,” St. John said. “That’s very important for them and all the surrounding towns and cities to have access to health care.”

In the South, perhaps the most trusted people in the community are pastors and doctors. St. John has lived in Pell City since the 11th grade. She believes that makes a difference in terms of the doctor-patient relationship. That difference sometimes is seen in tangible ways.

“They send me cards on my birthday, send us Christmas cards, or you know, they know the details about me and our staff’s lives. It makes a difference, and they pay attention. We care about them, too.”

There are other little things that make her clinic seem like an old-time country practice that stretches beyond paying a bill.

“They bring us fruit, cakes, things like that,” St. John said. “Just like the old days. It’s one of the joys of practicing medicine in a small town.”

And, as you might expect, she often encounters her patients at the grocery store or elsewhere out and about.

“They’ll speak to me, or give me a hug,” she said. “It means a lot.”

And sometimes, they want a diagnosis for a malady among the cucumbers and collards in the produce aisle. “Sometimes they do,” St. John said. “But that’s a whole other story.”

St. John has served as a nurse practitioner for 24 years, beginning with a decade at UAB. Before that, the mother of two grown sons and a grandmother of two boys worked for 10 years as a registered nurse and nursing assistant at Children’s.

Like the candy striper experience, something closer to home deepened her commitment to a health care career – her dad, Lee Rhoden, and his last, long battle.

“When I was 26, my father passed,” she said. “He had lung cancer. I was able to offer my services. Just having someone in the family that knows medical terminology after a diagnosis is a blessing. Caring for him was a blessing. It pushed me toward the nurse practitioner part because I just wanted to do more than punch a clock every day. I wanted to really make a difference.”

The youngest of four girls, St. John recalled one piece of advice her dad gave her, wisdom that sustains her on hardscrabble days.

“He always told us, ‘You get an education and be able to provide for your family. Don’t depend on anyone else.’ He always pushed us to set high goals. That was the beginning for me.”

For St. John across the years, a number of patient encounters affirm that she embarked on the right career journey. Those happen, she said, “all the time. I’ve diagnosed several new diseases or caught things that were missed before,” she said. “We have to take those moments and make them last until the next one. It’s the little things. People really do appreciate you.”

Joy’s medical assistants

Heather Barnett and Angela Wolf are a key part of taking care of people at Complete Healthcare

She added, “It’s tough not to bring things home with you. We’re human, too.”

Sometimes, she said, her profession gets unfairly labeled as not caring enough. But she and her colleagues at Complete Health Pell City are deeply committed to their patients, she said.

“This is a hard profession,” St. John said. “If you don’t love it, you aren’t going to make it. And you have to love people when they’re well and when they’re sick, when they’re mad, or they’re depressed. You have to show them empathy and sympathy. You won’t stay in this profession if you don’t love it.

“The Lord has a reason for placing us where we are,” she said. “We may be the one person who needs to tell them it’s going to be OK, and we’re here to talk about it.”

NEW BEGINNINGS Sawyer reopens Eden Dental after fire

Story and photos by Carol Pappas

Submitted photos

New Eden Dental replaces Eden Family Dentistry and Affordable Dentures, which were destroyed by fire

When David Sawyer was only 4, his father, Dr. Joe Sawyer, would pick him up from Avondale Mills kindergarten at noon, and he’d spend the afternoon with him in the denture lab.

“I don’t know much else but dentistry,” Dr. David Sawyer said as workmen were putting the finishing touches on his new building in Eden, replacing the facility his father and then, he, practiced in for decades.

On April 6, 2022, the Eden Family Dentistry/Affordable Dentures building fell victim to fire, and a brand new, expanded facility took its place in mid-July under the name, Eden Dental.

Within days of the fire, Sawyer was able to secure the building and practice of a retiring Pell City dentist, Dr. Sandy Lanter of Restoration Dental, and he has been operating there until the new quarters were ready. “We missed one week of work,” Sawyer recalled.

Now, he opens a new chapter with his associate of 20 years, Dr. Andrea Cibulski, as they welcome three new associates, Drs. Jennifer Reaves, Hannah McCalman Henley and her twin sister, Elizabeth Collier McCalman.

Eden Dental, now operating with five dentists, is a 7,000 square foot, all digital, state-of-the-art facility with

ST. CLAIR MEDICAL COMMUNITY

Fourteen treatment rooms feature state-ofthe-art equipment

14 treatment rooms and an onsite denture lab. The practice includes children’s and adult general dentistry, implants, one-day dentures and soon, one-day crowns. They accept most insurance, including Delta Dental, which serves Honda.

Sawyer began his general dentistry practice in 1989. While he and his father took similar paths, they headed in different directions. The elder Sawyer started a general dentistry practice working with Dr. Bob McClung, but also worked with one-day dentures in the afternoon.

In 1976, he sold the general practice to McClung, which today is known as Pell City Dental, and worked full-time in dentures. (Coincidentally, Pell City’s one-day dentures were famously mentioned in Pulitzer Prize winner Rick Bragg’s book, All Over but the Shoutin’.)

The younger Sawyer worked with his father, but when he graduated from dental school, he went into general dentistry and sold the denture lab. In the new clinic, dentures are back as part of the services offered, and he has hired a specialist along with nine other new employees to complement existing staff and make up the team at Eden Dental.

It’s a homecoming back to Eden, where it began for Sawyer, a native Pell Citian. He and his wife, Karen, owner of WellWay Whole Health Shoppe, are graduates of Pell City High School as are their three children. Kathryn just graduated from medical school. Hayden is a chemical engineer, and Evan is a certified financial adviser.

Sawyer points with pride to his hometown and the growth it is experiencing, noting that his expansion in terms of staff and services is aimed at serving the needs of that growth.

Digital panoramic dental X-ray system

The growth in demand for PHYSICAL THERAPY

Tyler McGrady and the staff at Therapy South

Story by Paul South

Submitted Photos

High School catcher Tyler McGrady had his eye on the runner at first.

The runner broke for second. McGrady came up throwing, looking to nail the sliding runner. The catcher’s right elbow popped in pain. He knew something was wrong.

He was right.

Tommy John surgery and a year of intense rehab kept McGrady off the basepaths, instead putting him on a career path.

“I was in the therapist’s office more than I cared to at that time,” the Pell City native said. “But the impact of the therapy and the return to function drew me in.”

He elaborated. “I was drawn to medicine anyway, but just wasn’t sure which avenue I wanted to pursue,” McGrady said. “When you’re in high school or college and you’re an athlete, and you have an injury, your athleticism in that sport is kind of part of your identity as well. It’s tough to stomach that injury or being on the sideline or in the dugout.

“But just going through that process and rehabbing back,

When people with extraordinary talent and passion are given the technology, the facilities, and the support, they achieve great things. The discoveries and innovations happening today will help shape the future of treatments and lead to cures. And it benefits not only the patients and families who come to Children’s of Alabama, but people across the country and around the world for years to come.

ST. CLAIR MEDICAL COMMUNITY

doing a lot of therapy, returning to throwing, all the way back to playing at the college level … The satisfaction you got from completing that process and being able to fully return (to baseball), seeing that firsthand is really what drew me to PT.”

Nearly two decades later, McGrady has 12 years’ experience as a physical therapist and serves as clinic director and partner at Therapy South in Pell City.

While most of us would define “athlete” within the narrow confines of the diamond, gridiron, track, court, course or pool, McGrady sees more broadly.

“There’s a saying that we use a lot of times,” McGrady said. “Everyone’s an athlete. Their sport is different. It may not be baseball or softball. It may be gardening or yardwork, skiing or whatever it is the patient wants to get back to. If we can help facilitate getting them back to something they want to do, that’s a validating feeling on our end.”

Physical therapy is a high demand, rapidly expanding profession in the United States. According to an April report from the Federal Bureau of Labor Statistics, employment of physical therapists is expected to grow 15 percent by 2034.

Closer to home, along with its clinic in Pell City, Therapy South also has a clinic in Gadsden. A second St. Clair County clinic is expected to open by year’s end. Nationwide, Therapy South is also expanding.

Baby Boomers are fueling the growth in physical and occupational therapy services, McGrady said.

“That’s the largest generation of people in the country that’s ever been,” he said. “There have to be enough practitioners to provide service for that many people coming through the system. That’s the growth of it.”

The profession, McGrady said, justifies its growth through evidence-based research. “What that does, is it allows us to make valid arguments to insurance companies, to physicians and to clients as well on the need and benefits of our service.”

A graduate of Jacksonville State who did his graduate work in physical therapy at Alabama State University, McGrady has also authored or co-authored scholarly articles for professional journals.

“It’s always important to learn and grow and to do more,” he said. “Any limitation of mine in the clinic is going to be passed on to my patient. So, I feel like it’s my responsibility to be up on the newer things and staying well versed so that I’m providing the best quality of care possible.”

Therapy South is an independent, faith-based, therapistowned provider, with a nearly four-decade record of effectively treating patients in Pell City. The company now has 43 locations and is expected to grow to 46 by year’s end.

The Pell City clinic has six physical therapists and one occupational therapist.

“We don’t have any deals with anybody,” McGrady said. “We’re completely stand alone. All of our (location) owners –including myself -- are still physical therapists and the majority of them treat patients in clinic every day. We really like that about Therapy South.”

He added, “We believe we’ve been given success by God, and it’s important for us to be good stewards of that success and grow and give people opportunities into the future.”

For McGrady, this work is a calling. “We’re all called to something,” he said. “If you are lucky enough to find that purpose and make a career out of it, I think that’s a really

Tyler McGrady Tyler has been very hands on with the work at Therapy South

James

special thing.”

The company also mentors young and aspiring therapists.

“We spend a lot of time at Therapy South trying to identify younger people who will come in and do observation hours with us and try to develop relationships with them and find the right person that we want to grow with. You can teach a good person how to be a good therapist, but you can’t always teach a good therapist how to be a good person.”

In Alabama, the profession experienced a “huge” change this past June, McGrady said. In the past, physical and occupational therapists could not see patients without getting a physician referral. Now therapists have unrestricted patient access for up to 30 days.

“For the last 12 years, we could evaluate a patient, but without your physician providing a referral or providing oversight, we could not treat a patient. Now we have more unlimited access to patients.”

While technology has affected the entire medical profession in recent years – making it easier to schedule appointments, etc. – there’s no substitute for the hands-on treatment at the heart of physical and occupational therapy.

“There’s something valuable about being able to put hands on patients and really evaluate what’s going on, to provide that hands-on care,” McGrady said. “At Therapy South, we spend tons of money trying to make our clinicians the best we can so that they are doing the best they can to get our patients better as soon as possible.

“That’s the part that technology will never be able to replace,” McGrady added. “The old adage is that medicine is an art and a science. It’s tough to replace that balance with something like (artificial intelligence) or something that doesn’t have the human touch.”

In a competitive market, Therapy South is committed daily to doing its best for its patients. Most of its staff are homegrown, St. Clair County residents.

Thinking back, McGrady could not have foreseen his life’s work when his elbow blew out. But McGrady’s baseball setback provided lessons for his life and practice.

“Sports teaches a lot of lessons outside of how to throw and catch a ball. You learn how you’re going to respond to adversity. If you’re not the main guy, how are you going to respond to that? If you are the main guy, how are you going to respond to that? There are so many lessons to be learned on the field that correlate to later lessons in life. The lessons learned were more than worth it.”

His philosophy – and that of Therapy South – is simple.

“First and foremost, we’re called to love God and love people. If we treat everyone with respect, be a friend to them and listen to them … Just being able to spend time with patients is unique to therapy. Developing those personal relationships is unique to our profession.”

McGrady and his Therapy South colleagues are affirmed every day by their work, sometimes in sweet ways in keeping with small-town tradition.

“Every patient who comes in trusts you with their care. They come in four to six weeks later doing great. It’s really rewarding to improve someone’s life like that.”

Installing technical equipment in a rack

St. Clair Rx: Just what the doctors ordered

If you’re in need of medical services, no matter the specialty, chances are you’ll find it in St. Clair County.

That wasn’t always the case. Little more than a decade ago, an aging hospital served the community, but it was not able to keep pace with a quickly growing medical industry. A new, stateof-the-art hospital – Ascension St. Vincent’s St. Clair – soon took its place, offering everything from one-day surgeries to a comprehensive list of specialties, procedures, imaging and quality healthcare close to home.

The Col. Robert L. Howard Veterans Home, a model for the nation, and the School of Nursing and Allied Health at Jefferson State Community College, round out the medical landscape fronting Interstate 20 and serves an entire region.

Just announced is the hospital’s acquisition by UAB Health System, known throughout the country and around the world as a leader in medicine. The move is predicted to enhance the hospital’s ability to provide top-notch healthcare throughout the region.

Meanwhile, Pell City is home to two growing and thriving primary care practices – Complete Health-Pell City and Pell City Internal Family Medicine. They offer much more than primary care with specialists of all descriptions providing services. Pediatric care in offered through Springville Pediatrics in Springville, Purhoit Pediatrics in Moody, and Main Street Pediatrics in Pell City, which has moved into the clinic formerly occupied by Children’s.

Complete Health also operates practices in Moody and Trussville along with its Birmingham locations, and Grandview is located in Springville.

Physical therapy services can be found in Pell City at Therapy South, ATI at PCIFM, Drayer in Leeds, Ascension St. Vincent’s St. Clair and Back in Motion in Springville.

No longer do residents have to travel to larger cities to have access to state-of-the-art diagnostics with MRIs, CT scans, colonoscopies and other advanced technology testing and imaging are available at Ascension St. Vincent’s St. Clair. Complete Health provides advanced imaging as well.

Orthopedic medicine is available through Montclair Orthopedic Surgeons and OrthoSports Associates at Complete Health and Andrews Sports Medicine at PCIFM. Orthopedists Dr.

St. Vincent’s and the Veterans Home

MRI machine at Complete Health

“When my mother had the beginnings of dementia, she was in Birmingham, and I was in Pell City. Working full time, I couldn’t be there. But Always There could, and they helped her with the things she needed to remain independent -- taking her grocery shopping, making sure she got the right medications at the right time, being a companion. Always There allowed her to stay in her own home and took the worries away from my siblings and I when we couldn’t be there for her.”

• Companionship

• Care Management

• Errands

-- Carol P.

• Bathing and Grooming

• Dressing

• Escorts for shopping

• Laundry and appointments

• Light Housekeeping

• Meal Preparation

ST. CLAIR MEDICAL COMMUNITY

Carter Slappey and Stephen Cowley also practice in Pell City.

Birmingham Heart Clinic, located at the Complete Health campus in Pell City, offers full-time cardiac care at that location as well as its headquarters in Trussville.

ENT Associates of Alabama has just opened an office in Pell City for ear, nose and throat services, and Alabama Vision Center just joined the eye care community at Physicians Plaza in Pell City. Callahan Eye is located in that same building, and longtime vision care provider, Bedsole Eye Care, has expanded in recent years, operating from a new, larger facility on U.S. 231 South in Pell City.

For Dermatology, you’ll find a number of specialists – True Dermatology at PCIFM, Brookwood Dermatoloy at Complete Health, Southern Skies Dermatology at Physicians Plaza and Coosa River Dermatology on Martin Street South in Pell City.

Need a specialist? Check with local practices and the hospital for a complete listing of what services are available right here at home.

Main Street Pediatrics opens in Pell City

St. Clair, Alabama Business Review

Groundbreaking at the Allied Mineral Products expansion

More industry growth

Allied Mineral Products breaks ground on $23.5M expansion in Pell City

Allied Mineral Products President and CEO

Paul Jamieson didn’t expect to be standing where he was on June 11, addressing a crowd of over 100 people to break ground on a $23.5 million expansion. At least not this soon.

It is the company’s second expansion in five years at the Pell City plant, adding a 200,000 square foot production facility, which will generate 13 new jobs and boost the employment roster to 100.

“Our partnership with Alabama is strengthened yet again with the expansion of this plant which we built in 2019,” said Jamieson. “Our theme for this event is ‘Growth Propels Us.’ This is true for Allied globally, but nowhere more apparent than here in Pell City,” he told the crowd.

“Locating our facility in Alabama was part of a long-term strategy to expand our manufacturing presence in the South to be closer to our customers. Because of the quality of this workforce and the local support here, our growth in Alabama has been faster than we planned,” Jamieson added. “We are excited to be expanding our facility so soon and are confident this will help us to continue that growth.”

“Since its founding over 60 years ago, Allied Mineral Products has grown into a global company, serving multiple industries and registering sales to more than 100 countries,” said Alabama Commerce Secretary Ellen McNair. “With a worldwide presence, the company could have selected another location for this investment, so this expansion in Pell City is truly a testament to the workforce there.”

Jamieson, too, talked of the quality of Allied’s employees, which ensured growth in Alabama quicker than planned. “The global standard is being set right here in Alabama,” he said.

The employee-owned stock company produces a variety of heat containment refractory products used in industrial applications. Construction on the new facility, now under way, will be competed in late 2025. In addition to the new building, the expansion will include installation of new manufacturing equipment including cranes, drying ovens and mixers.

Allied will increase the Pell City facility’s production capacity, improve efficiency, prepare it for growth and increase its ability to serve the

County Commission

Chairman Stan Batemon

Business Review Allied Mineral Products

company’s Southern region.

Joining Commerce to support the project were the Pell City Industrial Development Board and the Alabama workforce development agency AIDT, which will provide services including skills training on automation technologies for company workers.

“We are happy that Allied Mineral chose its Pell City facility for this new investment. It is always good to see our growth in our industrial base and is a reflection of the quality of the workforce in St. Clair County,” said Stan Batemon, chairman of the St. Clair County Commission. “it validates that we’re doing something right in providing a quality workforce.”

Pell City Mayor Bill Pruitt also cheered the company’s growth plans. “The City of Pell City is proud to see the continued growth and success at Allied Mineral Products,” Pruitt said. “New investment and job growth will stimulate the local economy and highlight the fact that Pell City is a great place for business.”

Besides Pell City, Allied has U.S. locations in Brownsville, Texa,s and Columbus, Ohio, where it is headquartered. The company also has facilities in Canada, South America, Europe, India, China, South Africa and Russia.

Pell City Mayor Bill Pruitt

LOGAN MARTIN SHIRT BACK DESIGN

Shown: Logan Martin & Neely Henry LakeLife vinyl stickers.

Business Cards

Planet Fitness coming to Pell City

Latest national chain to open location in St. Clair

Another national brand is heading to Pell City. Construction is already underway on Planet Fitness on Vaughan Lane, further populating the commercial stretch that runs by the expansive Walmart Supercenter shopping area known as Bankhead Crossings.

That district already includes Home Depot, Holiday Inn Express, Buffalo Wild Wings, Premier Cinema and Entertainment Center, Hampton Inn, Comfort Suites, City Market, Freddie’s Steakburgers, Zaxby’s, Krystal and Wendy’s. Under construction next to Home Depot is TownPlace Suites by Marriott.

City and company officials project an opening date in December for Planet Fitness. “It’s such a big name,” said City Manager Brian Muenger. “It will pair very well with business travelers. It’s a very welcome amenity to our community as a whole, but it will be attractive to business travelers, too.”

The two-story complex calls for massage and training areas, tanning beds and more. With more than 2,500 locations, Planet Fitness says its goal is “to provide a clean, safe, welcoming environment for anyone who walks through our door, and all the equipment, amenities and support you need once you’re here.”

Membership allows you access to other locations in addition to your home club.

“It’s exciting to see another building coming out of the ground and filling Bankhead Crossings,” said Muenger, referring to the commercial district.

And it is another sign of more growth for the future of Pell City overall.

A new subdivision is being developed nearby on Florida Road, where 200 homes are expected to be built. Sewer, curb and gutter work is “moving right along” on what is to be called Oak Village, Muenger said. Planet Fitness and other developments should be quality of life amenities attractive to residential growth.

Just across the interstate, Pell City Square is performing well. In the first eight months since opening, “it is substantially ahead of projected numbers. It is performing above expectations.”

Pell City Square is home to Hobby Lobby, TJ JMaxx, Ross Dress for Less, Ulta, PetSmart, Old Navy and Five Below. Under construction nearby are Whataburger and Outback Steakhouse.

What else can Pell City expect? Muenger hints that more growth is up ahead. “A lot of sites are getting interest.”

Final F cus

Life through the lens of Mackenzie Free

Childhood

Childhood sure has changed a lot over the last 40 years. In fact, it’s been almost completely rewritten over the years.

If a great childhood, by today’s standards, is now defined by expensive toys, designer clothes, lavish vacations or a million preplanned, carefully curated, activities ... my kids won’t have one.

But I will give them a childhood filled with simplicity, freedom and boredom.

I’ll give them the gift of simplicity ... the opportunity to slow down, unplug and enjoy life. We threw away nearly all mainstream toys years ago and realized less really is more. Kids really don’t need the constant bombardment of “things” to be content. Too much ‘stuff’ creates imagination stagnation. It stifles their creativity.

I’ll give them freedom ... to roam, to play and get dirty. I will give them the freedom to climb trees, play in the creek, catch fish and poke ant hills with a stick. Freedom to get bug bites, bloody knees, splinters, holes in their clothes and to learn lots of lessons the hard way. I’ll give them the freedom to be kids.

And I’ll give them boredom ... perhaps the best gift I can give them. Because a great imagination is born from boredom. And a great imagination gives way to ideas and innovation as they grow up. So, I encourage boredom often because their best ideas will be found there. I let them wonder, wander, try and entertain their own ideas.

The best gift we can give our children is their childhood��

- Mackenzie Free -

Wife, mother, photographer & current resident of the unassumingly magical town of Steele, Alabama