OLD LEEDS ROAD RENOVATION • PAINTING WITH MARY MELLEN & KATHERINE TRAMMELL • A JOURNEY WITH EPILEPTIC SEIZURES
EDIBLE ART IN THE KITCHEN WITH COOKIE CREATOR LISA LITTLE
HEART TO HEART A MINISTRY FOR MEMORY LOSS IN PANDEMIC TIMES
WHAT REMAINS
SIX DECADES OF TREADWELL BARBERSHOP MARCH/APRIL 2021 MountainBrookMagazine.com Volume Five | Issue Two $4.95
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MountainBrookMagazine.com 1
WA LT O N
A LEGACY O F LE I SU R E South Walton’s 26 miles of sugar-white sand beaches in Northwest Florida offer an all-natural escape, yet perfectly blend modern amenities, worldclass cuisine and small town charm into an unforgettable experience. The days move a bit slower here, and it’s this simplicity – a day spent creating memories at the beach – that draws generations of families back to South Walton.
ROOMS WITH A VIEW From resorts to boutique hotels, South Walton is home to unique architecture, breathtaking views and accommodations to suit any style.
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ROOM TO GROW Our 16 beach neighborhoods create an explorable community where kids can be kids and parents can relax (well, occasionally). Find your perfect beach at VisitSouthWalton.com.
MIRAMAR BEACH • SEASCAPE • SANDESTIN • DUNE ALLEN • GULF PLACE • SANTA ROSA BEACH • BLUE MOUNTAIN BEACH GRAYTON BEACH • WATERCOLOR • SEASIDE • SEAGROVE • WATERSOUND • SEACREST • ALYS BEACH • ROSEMARY BEACH • INLET BEACH MountainBrookMagazine.com 3
31
FEATURES
54
WHAT REMAINS For six decades Treadwell Barbershop has been the physical definition of continuity in Mountain Brook Village.
62
HEART TO HEART Here’s how Founder’s Place is continuing their ministry of connection for those with memory loss in a global pandemic.
69
BUILDERS & BUYERS With spring comes the time for cleaning and home projects. Here’s your guide to renovations, landscaping and other resources.
4 March/April 2021
PHOTO CONTRIBUTED
Special Advertising Section
13
PHOTO BY MARY FEHR
arts & culture
13 An Artist Birthright: Mary Mellen & Katherine Trammell 22 Read This Book: Books on Life’s Most Enduring Question
schools & sports
23 Play On: Carlisle Wilson’s Journey with Epileptic Seizures 30 Five Questions For: MBE Teacher of the Year Suzanne Andrews
food
& drink
31 Edible Art: In the Kitchen with Cookie Creator Lisa Little
in every issue 6 Contributors 7 From the Editor 8 The Question 9 The Guide 74 Chamber Connections 76 Out & About 78 Marketplace 80 My Mountain Brook
40 Five Questions For: The Happy Olive Owner Vickie Bailey
home
& style
41 Mauve No More: Inside an Old Leeds Road Renovation 51 In the Garden: How to Create a Front Door Container Garden 52 In Style: Step Into Spring
MountainBrookMagazine.com 5
MOUNTAIN BROOK
contributors
MAGAZINE
EDITORIAL
Alec Etheredge Madoline Markham Keith McCoy Scott Mims Emily Sparacino
CONTRIBUTORS
Abby Adams Mary Douglass Evans Ashley Farlow Mary Fehr Margaret Lee Rick Lewis Patrick McGough Elizabeth Sturgeon Tracey Rector Ellie Thomas Lauren Ustad Rebecca Wise
Ashley Farlow, Writer
Ashley, a Missouri School of Journalism graduate, is a freelancer who has worked for numerous local and national publications. She has an adoration for the Birmingham area, and she and her husband are raising their three children in Shelby County.
Rick Lewis,Writer
A native of Mountain Brook, Rick studied English literature at the University of Alabama and was a 2019 Fulbright grantee in Malaysia. When not talking tea-sweetness particulars, he’s likely podcasting or reading secondhand short story anthologies.
DESIGN
Jamie Dawkins Connor Martin-Lively Kimberly Myers Briana Sansom
MARKETING
Darniqua Bowen Kristy Brown Evann Campbell Jessica Caudill Kari George Caroline Hairston Rachel Henderson Kinley Johnson Rhett McCreight Viridiana Romero Brittany Schofield Lisa Shapiro Raven Simmons Savana Tarwater Kerrie Thompson
ADMINISTRATION Hailey Dolbare Mary Jo Eskridge Daniel Holmes Stacey Meadows Tim Prince
6 March/April 2021
Patrick McGough, Photographer
Born and raised in Mountain Brook, Patrick has had a passion for photography from when he bought his first cardboard box camera in a flea market at the age of 12. That passion has taken him all over the South and abroad on many assignments and projects. Every shoot creates an opportunity to meet new people and to explore ideas and locations. Whether shooting businesses, families, or individuals, he strives to capture the most fun, genuine and unique images for his clients.
Tracey Rector, Writer
Tracey is a freelance writer who has called Mountain Brook home since 2001. She and her husband are the parents of three responsible adult children. She loves singing silly songs to her two grandchildren, cooking for family and friends, and following college sports. She wishes she loved early mornings and exercise, but she’d much rather sleep in after staying up late to finish a good book.
Mountain Brook Magazine is published bimonthly by Shelby County Newspapers Inc., P.O. Box 947, Columbiana, AL 35051. Mountain Brook Magazine is a registered trademark. All contents herein are the sole property of Shelby County Newspapers Inc. [the Publisher]. No part of this periodical may be reproduced without written permission from the Publisher. Please address all correspondence (including but not limited to letters, story ideas and requests to reprint materials) to: Editor, Mountain Brook Magazine, P.O. Box 947, Columbiana, AL 35051. Mountain Brook Magazine is mailed to select households throughout Mountain Brook, and a limited number of free copies are available at local businesses. Please visit MountainBookMagazine.com for a list of those locations. Subscriptions are available at a rate of $16.30 for one year by visiting MountainBrookMagazine.com or calling (205) 669-3131, ext. 532. Advertising inquiries may be made by emailing advertise@mountainbrookmagazine.com, or by calling (205) 669-3131, ext. 536.
from the editor
A
ON THE COVER
What Remains
Steve Bishop has owned Treadwell Barbershop in Mountain Brook Village since he purchased it from J.T. Treadwell in 1996. Photo by Patrick McGough Design by Brittani Myers
Around the time this issue arrives in your hands, we’ll be hitting the one-year mark since our world was forever changed by a virus. None of us had any clue then just how long this strange season would last, and even as more and more of us get vaccinated today, we now know there won’t be one magical day where suddenly everything snaps back to a pre-pandemic normal. What we do know is decades from now we’ll be telling stories from the pandemic of 2020 (and beyond) to kids and grandkids, so I am starting to think of just what time capsule our photos and magazines from this time will be. At first glance, this issue might not scream “pandemic magazine,” so I thought I’d share how it is, in many ways, very much one. Our Out & About event photos take up very few pages, and any events we preview in The Guide come with fine print to check for updates online before attending. Most of the writing in the pages that follow started not with our usual in-person interviews but with emails, old-school phone calls and Zoom calls. Our photography all took place with social distance, masked photographers and often outdoor settings. You’ll especially notice this in our photos of Treadwell Barber Shop—telling of times where anyone who enters a business is wearing a mask to protect themselves and others—and of Founders Place, a ministry out of St. Luke’s Episcopal Church that has reinvented how it cares for people with dementia and their caregivers during these socially distant times. Elsewhere in this issue, we chronicle the stories that have gone on in pandemic times—of a mother-daughter set of artists who have continued to paint and a cookie baker who has continued to bake, of a high school soccer player whose epileptic seizures have gone away following brain surgery, and of an Old Leeds Road renovation that has its owners ready to entertain again. In some ways this all feels like the pandemic that never ends, but a couple of days before I sat down to write this letter, we had one of those glorious Alabama winter days where the sun hangs out all day and the temperature climbs to 70 degrees. I moved my “office” to my front porch, felt like I could run 10 miles as I laced up my running shoes to head to the Jemison Trail and, as the ice on the cake of a day, picnicked with sushi, laughter and social distance in a friend’s backyard as the temperatures hovered above 50 degrees for a few hours after sunset. There’s a lot we still don’t know about the future, but that day left me confident in saying this: Spring is coming. More vaccines are coming. And good things are in store.
madoline.markham@mountainbrookmagazine.com MountainBrookMagazine.com 7
“ ” THE QUESTION
What’s your favorite “hidden gem” in Mountain Brook? The arcade room at Davenport’s Pizza Palace! And the half-baked pizza option to have at home for those pizza emergencies.
Brie baguette at Continental Bakery.
Rock formations behind Rockhill Road and between Stoningham Drive off of Brookwood Road. Amazing. Simply amazing back there. Truly a “hidden gem.”
The Crestline Shell! A full service station, and they will even come to your house to fix your flat.
The Cannonball Factory (now the Irondale Furnace Trail). A nice stretch of the legs in nature and a nostalgic trip back for those of us who grew up around there.
Window displays at ETC and quarts of ice cream at Mountain Brook Creamery.
-Becky Rachel Holt
-Dinwiddie Horwitz
-Donna Farmer
A yellowhammer or margarita to go from Crafts. A hidden surprise lies inside that cup for sure! -Julia Williams King
8 March/April 2021
-Laura Oliver Spigener
-Leah Thomas Rice
-Lisa Fain Josey
The dog walking trail around Mountain Brook Presbyterian Church. -Tom Fox
THE GUIDE
GREENWISE MARKET VILLAGE 2 VILLAGE RUN MARCH 13 Virtual You can run through your favorite villages and neighborhoods with this year’s virtual edition of this annual run. Not feeling the 10K? You can also choose the 7.5K option (4.6 miles). You can run your miles any time as long as you submit them by March 13. This year the event is sponsored by GreenWise Market, and it benefits the Mountain Brook Chamber of Commerce. Register at runsignup.com. MountainBrookMagazine.com 9
THE GUIDE AROUND TOWN
APRIL 27
Chamber of Commerce 2021 Annual Luncheon 11:30 A.M.-1 P.M. The Birmingham Zoo It’s time to recognize visionaries in our city, and this event is moving outdoors. Former Mayor Terry Oden will receive the Jemison Visionary Award, and the O’Neal Library’s William Tynes Award and the city Employee of the Year will be announced. Register at mtnbrookchamber.org.
MARCH 11-14 James and the Giant Peach Jr. Virginia Samford Theatre MARCH 12 16th Annual Schoolhouse Rock A Meal Pick-Up Event Benefitting Cornerstone Schools of Alabama. MARCH 27 Rumpshaker 5K In Person or Virtual Options Homewood Central Park APRIL 3 Ellis Porch Statue to Statue 15K Starts at Vulcan Park & Museum
APRIL 1
The Spring Edit
APRIL 10 Gumbo Gala Presented by Episcopal Place Sloss Furnaces
5-7:30 P.M. Lane Parke Come out to the shops of Lane Parke in Mountain Brook Village for live music, pop-ups including Doodles and more. Rele Street will be closed to maximize the family fun of the event, and organizer encourage you to dine at one of the restaurants while you are there.
VOTE TODAY! MOUNTAIN BROOK’S
BEST M
10 March/April 2021
OU
NT
2021
AIN
B R O OK M A G A Z
. INE
CO
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RUNS FEB. 25 MARCH 19 Winners will be announced in the May/June 2021 issue of MOUNTAIN BROOK MAGAZINE. MOUNTAINBROOKMAGAZINE.COM/ MOUNTAIN-BROOKS-BEST-2021/
THE GUIDE APRIL 15-25 Neil Simon’s Plaza Suite Virginia Samford Theatre APRIL 17 11th Annual Mutt Strut: DogFriendly 5k and 1 Mile Fun Run Benefitting Hand in Paw Virtual APRIL 23-25 Magic City Art Connection Linn Park APRIL 24 Ronald McDonald House Charities of Alabama Red Shoe Run: Rockin’ 5K 2021 Downtown Homewood Check for event updates closer to dates based on COVID-19.
MUSIC
BRIDGERTON THE MUSICAL Bridgerton the Musical anyone? Mountain Brook’s. Abigail Barlow (pictured on the left) started writing songs based on the new Netflix period romance with Emily Bear and posting Tik Tok videos of songs that have gone viral and now gotten media attention by BBC America in January. You can watch the videos on @abigailbarloww’s posts on Instsgram, and we will stay tuned to see what comes of their dreams for a full musical one day!
BUSINESSES
MASK UP Anyone else tired of looking for a mask that won’t fog up your glasses? Julie and Scott Joe Bernstein, who live in Mountain Brook, have designed Sleevz masks with the no-fog mission and eliminating pressure on your ears in mind, and they have fun designs too. Learn more at sleevz.com.
MountainBrookMagazine.com 11
12 March/April 2021
&CULTURE
ARTS
AN ARTIST BIRTHRIGHT Mary Mellen and Katherine Trammell both draw from the artistic influence of women in their family. BY ELIZABETH STURGEON PHOTOS BY MARY FEHR MountainBrookMagazine.com 13
M
Mary Mellen remembers how one unabashed expert told her that no one buys art with the color green, and certainly not when the color’s obvious in the piece. “Well, all of mine have green,” she thought, as the color always rolls through her lush pastorals and sets each piece in the middle of the countryside. Green, often taking a soft, bluish hue, is one of many things Mary and her daughter Katherine Trammell share—a love for painting landscapes, wall space and mother-daughter shows at the Grand Bohemian Art Gallery and generations of female artists in their family line. Despite these connections that bring their work
14 March/April 2021
together, Mary and Katherine work as independent artists with distinct styles, and they each started painting at different points in their lives—though the artistic streak was always in their blood from mothers, aunts, grandmothers and greatgrandmothers who practiced their drawing and painting talents. For Katherine, she remembers seeing their work, in particular that of her grandmother Anne Latimer who painted on china dishes, and recognizing her own interest in drawing and design. She ended up going to Auburn University’s program in interior design, where she completed an intense summer option in the School of
Both Katherine Trammell, pictured, and her mother, Mary Mellen, enjoy painting landscapes
MountainBrookMagazine.com 15
16 March/April 2021
“
As I’ve been home with my children, knowing they’re grown up, I wanted to develop something for myself. I don’t want to waste any talent that I’ve been given. - Katherine Trammell
”
Architecture with many all-nighters that ultimately led her to take a different direction. But the drawing course she took planted a seed as she enjoyed the artistic elements to the classes. Flash forward some years later to when Katherine was raising her two children, and she began taking art classes at Briarwood Presbyterian Church and Alabama Art Supply that got her into painting and helped her build her technique and interest in landscape paintings.
MountainBrookMagazine.com 17
Daughter and mother Katherine Trammell and Mary Mellen hold pieces that show the similarities and distinctions of their styles in landscape paintings.
HOMETOWN SHOWCASE As longtime Mountain Brook residents—Mary spending 50 years here and Katherine most of her life—it’s only fitting that both of their first shows were in Mountain Brook. Mary first showed her work in Crestline at one of the Mountain Brook Art Association shows. Years later, Katherine first put her work in the same show. And now, along with different regular art shows they participate in, their work decorates the walls of the Grand Bohemian Hotel Art Gallery. 18 March/April 2021
Mary’s journey with art began, too, with classes at Briarwood. About 20 years ago, her friends started going to lunch after their art classes each week, and Mary didn’t want to miss out. She began to pick up the practice almost immediately and soon began to paint on her own. At this point in each of their stories, Katherine and Mary saw their own styles develop. Katherine’s art became abstract, and Alabama artist and teacher John Lonergan helped her build this abstraction with bright oil paints. Mary, on the other hand, narrowed her focus on traditional landscapes and stuck with acrylics. Katherine and Mary also moved from working from photos to painting from their imaginations. Both simply start with a blank canvas and let the scene take form on its own. “I start from an idea in my head, and I let the painting
change as I paint,” Katherine says. “The idea is just a starting point, and it evolves. I let go of my preconceived ideas of how the painting should go.” Mary agrees that “I never quite know what I’m going to paint until I really get into it” when she starts with her preliminary sketch. After outlining the scene, she then begins filling in below the horizon line and then into the skies. Often, the pastoral scenes animate an open, grassy landscape, reminiscent of Mary’s drives to Washington, Georgia, the small town where her family is from. In repeated layers of bright colors— typically less subdued and soft as Mary’s—Katherine sees her landscapes take form of peaceful verses from Psalms. “I see the beauty of the Earth that God created, and I want to convey a peace that speaks to the people who connect with the painting,” she says.
MountainBrookMagazine.com 19
Artist Mary Mellen focuses her work on traditional landscape paintings.
20 March/April 2021
Katherine also paints abstract crosses alongside her landscapes, where she plays with light and darkness through the layers of paint. The loose, expressive strokes bring her joy in the art she’s making and help her pin down the peace she incorporates into each piece. As she’s grown in her talent and begun to share more of her art on Instagram @katherinetrammellart, Katherine has felt more and more ownership over her work. “It’s been a slow journey for me while raising my children, and now my youngest is about to go to college,” she says. “Over time I’ve started painting a lot more and doing some commissions.” She and her mom have both succeeded in elevating a new hobby to a passion, with their technical skills and talents. Mary says that, 20 years ago, she never would have imagined she and Katherine (as well as her other daughter Rushton Waltchack, a Vestavia Hills artist who works with inks) painting at this level—even though the women in their family have showcased a kind of artistic birthright. There is a difference that Katherine sees. She remembers her grandmother’s (Mary’s mother’s) talent in particular. She would sketch people around her with an amazing likeness, but Mary and Katherine never saw her take her talents to their full potential. That’s been a reminder for both of them to develop their styles and make art to put out in the world. “As I’ve been home with my children, knowing they’re grown up, I wanted to develop something for myself,” Katherine says. “I don’t want to waste any talent that I’ve been given.”
MountainBrookMagazine.com 21
ARTS & CULTURE
READ THIS BOOK
Books on Life’s Most Enduring Question Recommendations from
Richard Simmons III Author & Founding Director of The Center for Executive Leadership
I spent over 25 years researching my most recent book, Reflections on the Existence of God. Personally, I think there is no more significant question in all of life. Philosopher Sam Harris framed the issue in these words: “…in the fullness of time, one side is going to really win this argument, and the other side is really going to lose.” These five books all tackle life’s most enduring question.
The Question of God
By Armand Nicholi The author teaches psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. In this book he compares the worldview of Sigmund Freud and C. S. Lewis. According to Nicholi, both Freud and Lewis believed the existence of God is life’s most important question.
The Reason for God
By Timothy Keller In considering the difference between atheism and theism, Keller asks: “Which account has the most explanatory power to make sense of what we see in the world?” Ultimately, the worldview that is true will be consistent with the real world, and the one that is untrue will present a view of life that is not in harmony with reality.
Total Truth
By Nancy Pearcey Here Pearcey analyzes the atheistic and theistic worldview and masterfully demonstrates how atheism is one massive contradiction. She teaches her readers also how to liberate a belief in God from cultural captivity that will help us live our lives with greater coherence.
There Is a God
By Antony Flew For most of his life, Flew was a celebrated and outspoken atheist. This book is about how one of the world’s most notorious atheists changed his mind.
22 March/April 2021
SCHOOL
&SPORTS
PLAY ON
Throughout her journey with epileptic seizures, soccer has been a constant for Carlisle Wilson. BY MADOLINE MARKHAM PHOTOS BY KEITH MCCOY MountainBrookMagazine.com 23
Carlisle Wilson kicks the soccer ball at practice at The Altamont School. She’s now a senior and has been seizure-free since a brain surgery in 2020.
24 March/April 2021
I
In the beginning, Carlisle Wilson didn’t remember when it happened. She would “space out” into a dream-like state for 30 seconds to a minute and say and do things that made sense to her in the moment but puzzled everyone else around her. In physics class once she looked her teacher in the eye and said, “This is dumb,” and walked straight out of the classroom. “Of course I wouldn’t have done that (normally),” Carlisle says. “Everyone else in the class was like, ‘What is going on?’” Another time she and her mom were getting out of the car, and she looked at her mom and said, “Hawks are not supposed to be in the car.” Yet another time during a soccer game she told another player, “Carlisle is not playing soccer right now.” “You could understand exactly what she was saying, but it was incoherent,” her mom Brantley Fry says. “It was really random things.” The first of these incidents had come on at soccer
practice when Carlisle was 13. “My coach called my parents really worried and said, ‘Something is wrong,’” Carlisle recalls. “They said, ‘Oh, she’s just dehydrated or didn’t have enough to eat today. She’s fine.’” When they started to return every few months, Carlisle and her parents met with doctors. These initial visits didn’t point to seizures, so they didn’t think it was epilepsy. But then over Thanksgiving that year at a soccer tournament in Disney World, her parents saw her have a seizure for the first time and knew something was wrong. By age 14, she had received a diagnosis of epilepsy after all. Hers took the form of focal onset impaired awareness seizures. “Before Carlisle was diagnosed, we all had a very vivid mental image of what a seizure looked like,” Brantley says. “We thought about it as being convulsive, shaking. What we have learned during this odyssey is there are so many different types of MountainBrookMagazine.com 25
seizures.” Before her diagnosis, Carlisle said she didn’t think epilepsy was common, but she quickly learned she had been wrong. “One in 26 people in the U.S. have epilepsy, which is a huge number,” she says. “A lot of people just think epilepsy is if you have convulsive features, but it is defined by having seizures that aren’t related to an accident and by repeated seizures.” For years as Carlisle’s seizures continued in series of three or four in a day once every three months, her constant was soccer. She had first started kicking a soccer ball before she can even remember. Starting at age 2 she played Sunday Soccer at Brookwood Forest Elementary, and she’d later play for the Levite Jewish Community Center and then competitively for BUSA (Birmingham United Soccer Association). By eighth grade she was on the varsity team at The Altamont School, where she plays center mid and center forward for the team as a senior today. At times when she would have a seizure on the soccer field, Carlisle would turn and walk away from what she was doing, but to everybody on the field it looked like she
26 March/April 2021
had just decided to stop playing. She and her family remained grateful that her seizures were not convulsive because she was not in direct danger of falling down or hitting her head. Throughout her journey with seizures, Carlisle says her team and coach were very supportive. “A couple of times I would grab onto someone on the other team, and they would be like, ‘What are you doing? Get off of me!’ But everyone on my team would say, ‘She can’t control it! I’m sorry!’ Trying to quickly explain to opponents what happened was a little weird, but the rest of it was pretty easy because of my team being so supportive and understanding of what was happening.” But then in July 2019 Carlisle’s seizures picked up in frequency dramatically for an unknown reason and were occurring every day. By the time she had brain surgery at Children’s of Alabama in November 2019, she was having 30 a day. As a part of the procedure, a surgical team put electrodes on her brain on the first day, and then they monitored the electrical activity so they could pinpoint where in her brain her seizures were
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coming from. Three days later they went back into the brain surgically to take out whatever they identified from the electrodes. The surgery worked, “kind of,” as Carlisle tells it. Afterward she was still having about 15 seizures a day. Brantley says Carlisle’s medical team at Children’s was “phenomenal” and helped guide them to Columbia University’s children’s hospital in New York for Carlisle’s second surgery in October 2020. She also says they credit Children’s and UAB for connecting them with a medical team to address Carlisle’s complicated case. The surgery in New York used a different procedure to drill holes to put electrodes deeper down in her brain where they thought the seizures had their root. And this time the outcome was drastically better. Carlisle had been seizure-free for three months as of the writing of this article. Now that she’s on the other side of surgery, Carlisle says she understands all the more just how supportive her friends—from Altamont and her years at Mountain Brook Elementary and soccer teams and Camp Green Cove—had been all along. “My friends tell me that it’s weird walking around places now because before they made sure I was crossing the streets safely, and I didn’t realize they were doing it at the time,” she says. “They
28 March/April 2021
still find themselves doing it because it’s instinct now.” When she did have a seizure, her friends knew what to do and they would do it, and then they would all go right back to what they were doing before. “They took care of her but they didn’t treat her any differently,” Brantley says. “They leaned into it in a way that was really cool to watch as a parent. I think we fear the social implications of epilepsy, and Carlisle has been really lucky in that regard.” Life post-surgery has also given Carlisle a new perspective on the sport she’d always known. For the first surgery she had to take two months off of soccer, and for the second she had to take off the entire fall season. “Being out made me miss it so much,” she says. “I think I took it for granted before and now I don’t.” But still, she was back on the field within about five weeks after major brain surgery. “She wasn’t heading the ball or with contact, but she could kick around and do conditioning,” Brantley says. “It was remarkable.” As Carlisle heads into her senior soccer season, Altamont has moved up to 4A-3A from 2A-3A classification in athletics, setting the scene for an “interesting season,” Carlisle says. “But I’m excited!” “(Soccer is) such a good mental and physical release for her,” Brantley says. “It’s her way of letting loose while being productive and part of a team.”
MountainBrookMagazine.com 29
5
SCHOOLS & SPORTS
FIVE QUESTIONS FOR
Suzanne Andrews
Mountain Brook Schools Elementary Teacher of the Year PHOTO CONTRIBUTED
This year marks Suzanne Andrews’ 30th year teaching, and all but two of them have been at Mountain Brook Elementary. Ask her about her work in the classroom, and her passion for her fifth-grade students is fervent and the reason for her new title as Mountain Brook Schools’ Elementary Teacher of the Year more than evident. We chatted with her about some highlights from her teaching career and this school year. How did you decide to become a teacher, and what makes you want to keep teaching fifth grade? I went to college thinking I wouldn’t be a teacher because mom was an educator and I spent my whole life playing school. I dabbled in different things, but I always gravitated back to education. You can’t escape what you are meant to be. Fifth grade is unique because the students are old enough to have strong opinions and to build deep relationships with their peers and their teachers. At Mountain Brook they come from families who encourage them to love learning, so we are really blessed because the parents play such a vital role in the success we have in the classroom. What is something that is unique to your classroom? I teach fifth-grade science, and we study the environment, nature and biology. All the things they find fascinating about the world they bring in and we put them on the wall. In my room my bulletin boards are full of skulls and dehydrated frogs and 30 March/April 2021
beehives and starfish. One of my students even brought in the contents of a dove stomach. My husband had a plate taken out of his collar bone, so I asked the doctor for the plate and screws and put it in a bag on the board. The sky is the limit. What stands out most from this unique pandemic year in the classroom? Mountain Brook is doing everything they can to make sure we are in the classroom. What I thought would be terrible has turned out to be okay. We have all our desks spread apart versus working with groups, which is where education was heading. Now with Google students can type a writing piece and still share it with other people and work on a team. It just looks a little different, but the learning is deep and valuable. The main thing is students have to have a good relationship with the teacher and other students to want to learn from each other.
junior high the year after they leave me, we hear about them running cross country or being in the band. I’ll still have students reach out to me who are a biology major in college or in junior high to tell me about learning about cells again. Having a small tight-knit community you really see the impact kids have on teachers and teachers on kids.
In what ways does your classroom use new technology? With Project Lead the Way in fifth-grade students build a claw bot, a small robot that has claws on the end. It’s almost like glorified Legos where you put the pieces together, and in the end they work with the claw bot to do a task like stacking yellow cubes. We also have been doing a program called Level UP Village where we partner with another school somewhere else in the world, and we have been partnered with a school in Columbia and ones in several Thirty years into teaching, what is most African countries. We have learned from valuable about seeing students after them and talked about water crises and built water filters, and the kids get to post they leave your classroom? Even though those kids move on to the videos for each other.
&DRINK
FOOD
EDIBLE ART
Cookie creator Lisa Little is delivering joy with A Little Something Sweet. BY ASHLEY FARLOW PHOTOS BY MARY FEHR & CONTRIBUTED MountainBrookMagazine.com 31
A
A Little Something Sweet is in the business of tiny masterpieces. Yet, instead of using paint or plaster, these masterpieces are crafted from sugar cookies decked in intricate icing, making for works of art that appear (almost) too impressive to eat. It’s Lisa Little who puts the “Little” in the custom sweets and family treats business A Little Something Sweet. A wife, mother of three, and Auburn graduate, Lisa is the sole owner and operator of the growing cookie business she runs out of her Cherokee Bend area home. The talent for baking was passed down to her growing up in the North Alabama town of Hartselle. “My grandmother grew up on a farm with a lot of siblings, so she and my great-grandmother were always cooking and baking,” she says. Lisa’s mother, now better known as grandmother “Gia,” kept the baking tradition going, working during the week as a nurse and spending weekends filling Lisa’s home with the mouth-watering aromas of her homemade
32 March/April 2021
cookies and, Lisa’s favorite, her chocolate pies. Lisa has always enjoyed cooking, but it wasn’t until she became a mother herself that she started baking. She was always dreaming up and executing creative birthday cakes for her family, but what she developed a passion for was the decorating part of the process. Then she realized cookies were the perfect blank canvases. One glance at any of her cookie canvases and “artist” seems the most appropriate title for her— until you bite into one of her creations and find she’s as much an artist as she is an expert baker. “I have never thought of myself as an artist, so that’s the funny part of this,” she says. “I could never draw or paint growing up and always wanted to.” It just took sugar cookies and a piping bag in her hand to turn on her artistic flair. “Icing is a friendly material to work with, so there isn’t as much fear to me as painting a canvas.” Lisa’s first attempt at cookies came with the
Lisa Little bakes and decorates sugar cookies as a part of A Little Something Sweet from her Cherokee Bend home.
MountainBrookMagazine.com 33
34 March/April 2021
familiar parent sign-up for her middle daughter’s preschool Valentine’s Day class party. “I thought kids will eat just about anything sweet, so if I mess the cookies up, hopefully 4-year-olds won’t mind,” she recalls. So, she proceeded, making a dozen heartshaped sugar cookies decked in buttercream icing much to the class’s excitement. By the time the Easter class party came around, she felt confident enough to attempt what would become her best-seller sugar cookies with royal icing–these designed to look like baby chicks in honor of spring, of course. She posted one photo to social media and the orders started rolling in. However, there wasn’t a business to order from. “I had just made some cookies for a class party and all of a sudden I had people requesting Easter cookie orders,” she says. “I had to turn them down
and explain I didn’t feel right even entertaining the idea of taking orders since it was just a hobby, and it was only my first time using royal icing.” But she started practicing with the help of online tutorials and giving away the practice-round treats to friends. Then those friends began saying they didn’t feel right not paying for the enchanting bakes that their family and friends were raving over. “I took a couple boxes of my buttercream hydrangea cookies to a women’s Bible study, and after that I was getting all kinds of calls for flower cookies,” Lisa says. “And that really was the first thing that sparked my passion—I just love making flowers with buttercream!” Lisa’s cookies are her own recipe inspired by one from her family. “I took my great-grandmother’s recipe for tea cakes, which is more of a shortbread, and I adjusted it to
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A LITTLE SOMETHING SWEET OFFERINGS Custom sweets and family treats for birthdays, retirements, graduations, baptisms, anniversaries, teacher gifts, back-to-school, baby showers galore, engagements, nurse appreciation, real estate agents’ open houses, church events, and beyond. - Iced sugar cookies - Sugar cookies with floral-design buttercream - Frosted cupcakes - Paint-your-own cookie kits - Cookie decorating kits - Hot-cocoa bombs - Cookies with printed edible sugar paper Pop-Up Shop Items: - Pecan brittle - Decadent fudge - Chocolate dipped Oreos - Chocolate covered marshmallows on a stick - Fudge pie slices - Chocolate chip cookies - Cheesecake brownies - Confetti brownie blondies topped with icing - Chocolate drizzled pretzel rods - Little dippers (bite-size sugar cookies with buttercream icing dip) - Blueberry lemon cake Other Offerings: - Cookie classes - Private birthday parties/events
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a little bit more of a sugar cookie,” she says. As she tried to nail down her recipe, she had three “Little” taste-testers who were happy for the task. “My kids thought it was great…they always want to create their own masterpieces,” Lisa says. “They know whatever leftover icing and extra cookies I have are theirs to decorate.” Only a few months after the baby chick cookies in spring 2019 had gained so much attention, Lisa’s cookie business had hatched. By August 2019, she was baking orders every single day of the week. That’s when she decided to give her business a name and make things official. Lisa grew up visiting her dad’s parents, the grandparents she adoringly called Poppy and Dear, in Birmingham. They always took their granddaughter out to eat, especially after church on Sundays, and Lisa would witness the same conversation between them every time. “Poppy would ask Dear if she wanted to order dessert, and she would say, ‘I think I’ll just have some of yours,’” Lisa recalls. “He’d tell her he wanted his own and that she should order her own too. Then Dear would always say she didn’t want a whole dessert, she wanted just ‘a little something sweet.’” Decades later, Lisa’s married name became “Little,”
and she and her husband moved to Birmingham in 2011, the same year that Lisa’s cherished Poppy passed away. “It’s full circle for me—living where Dear and Poppy kept me all those years and having this business named after those memories. We had such a special bond,” she says. And Lisa’s cookies are just the perfect size and portion to fulfill Dear’s need for just a little something sweet. So, baked into her business are familial generations before her with abilities and recipes passed down from her mom’s side and the sweet memories and inspiration from her dad’s side. Over the past year, her orders have gotten larger and her decorating more intricate. She’s traded in her small white mixer that her husband gave her as newlyweds for a professional size Tiffany-blue Kitchen-Aid mixer that has been whirling nonstop. Most orders require a three-day process. The first day is for making the dough and baking the cookies; the second day is for “flooding” the bottom layer of icing and allowing it to dry for around 6-8 hours; and the third day is for decorating, drying, and packaging. Cookies with more intricate designs may take a fourth day. Lisa is the baker, icer, decorator, packager, manager and marketer of the business with no outside help or
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employees. To perfect every batch, she tries not to have more than four orders to complete each week. By day she’s called Super Mom and by night, we may rename her the Bedtime Baker. Lisa only bakes at night after she tucks her three children,
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now ages 4, 6 and 8, into bed and they’re sound asleep. “In the beginning my daughter would wake up in the middle of the night and walk in the kitchen with sleepy eyes and say, ‘I can smell you’re baking cookies! Can I have one?’” says
Lisa. Now, baking cookies is just the home’s signature scent. For custom orders, Lisa can create just about anything you can imagine. From fuzzy tennis balls to glittery, slippery looking bass fish cookies, the textures and
attention to detail of her icing work make them all seem lifelike. “I love to use invitations to get the exact colors and fonts on the cookies and can mimic the fabric of an outfit, match the color of the party décor…people really appreciate how custom the cookies are,” Lisa says. In 2020, she added several new skills to her repertoire, including using a projector for making exact matches like company logos. For one order of more than 300 cookies for an orthodontics office that had undergone a renovation, she created boxes of cookies with designs of the company logo, a tooth with braces, a hammer and a construction cone. And no matter the order, Lisa says, “I truly enjoy being a part of people’s special memories, and them knowing something was totally custom-made for them.” A Little Something Sweet orders are taken through her social media accounts (@alittlesomethingsweet3 on Facebook and @a.little.something.sweet on Instagram). And for sweet-tooth cravings, after-school snacks or last-minute gifts, A Little Something Sweet now has a pop-up shop. Customers can stay tuned to social media for updates and swing by to make purchases from Lisa’s Mountain Brook home’s front porch.
MountainBrookMagazine.com 39
FOOD & DRINK
5
FIVE QUESTIONS FOR
Vickie Bailey
The Happy Olive Owner PHOTO CONTRIBUTED
Shopping isn’t just about a purchase at Lane Parke’s olive oil store. Owner Vickie Bailey calls it “a social sensory shopping experience” where you get to talk about what you taste. And while COVID-19 safety measures have curtailed tasting temporarily, it certainly can’t stop Vickie and her staff from sharing infinite suggestions for how to use their oils, balsamic vinegars and other food items in your cooking, and they offer curbside and delivery services as well. Here’s what Vickie had to say about it all. How did you get interested in olive oils? We came up with the idea in Italy when we visited my daughter, and my husband, Richard, and I went to an olive harvest. After seeing lifestyle there and how they practice the Mediterranean diet with fruits and vegetables, we thought it would be great to promote those kinds of things. After we came back, we were at a conference in La Jolla and went to a store that had olive oil in tap, and we liked that idea. I am a retired principal and I wanted to educate people on healthy living and healthy lifestyle, so it suits my passion.
its health benefits. Olive oil offers benefits for joint pain, lower blood pressure and lower cholesterol with the good fats. It reduces the long-term effects of What oils and vinegars do you Alzheimer’s, and I have an entire list of benefits from a UC Berkeley study I can recommend customers try? The most popular oil infused is Tuscan show people. The northern hemisphere Herb. One of the people who works for us oils are coming in now because they were put it on a grilled cheese. If people have harvested in November and December, been using butter only, we suggest butter- and we will get the ones from the southern infused olive oil; it’s great with popcorn. hemisphere more toward the middle of the Garlic is a great one, and Herb de Province summer. has a hint of rosemary. Fig and Cranberry Pear balsamics are popular, and we have a What do you offer in addition to olive new Peach. Lemongrass Mint goes great in oils and vinegars? I have brought in serveware and gifts water with cucumbers, and I use and charcuterie boards and different Blackberry Ginger to cook pork chops. We Your first store was in Fairhope. How condiments. We are doing charcuterie have a great balsamic glaze I use to garnish did you get to opening one in Mountain food and enhance the flavor. Our vinegars classes and Vinaigrette 101 and Olive Oil Brook? We opened our first store in Fairhope in are great to put in cocktails, and we have Tasting 101 classes. We also have olives for martinis and Italian bruschetta–things 2013. A lot of people from Birmingham recipes for them. We call them vintails. you can’t find in big box super markets. We were coming down for vacation and kept just got in Georgia Jams Habanero Peach saying, “Why don’t you come to What makes your olive oils unique? If you purchase olive oil at the grocery Spread, which won a Made in the South Birmingham?” We looked around at different places and felt like Lane Parke store that has been in a warehouse for six award from Garden & Gun. would best suit us. Since we sold the other months to a year, it’s already depleted of 40 March/April 2021
store in August 2020, we are becoming more local to Mountain Brook and revamping our website, mountainbrookolive.com.
&STYLE
HOME
MAUVE NO MORE How the Worthen family brought new life to the “ultimate entertaining home” on Old Leeds Road. BY MADOLINE MARKHAM PHOTOS BY MARGARET LEE MountainBrookMagazine.com 41
T
The house on Old Leeds Road was everything Ila and Thacher Worthen had said they wouldn’t buy. They didn’t want a big house. They didn’t want a pool. And they didn’t want to renovate. They were busy enough with three teenagers and their careers, and they had completed three other home renovations. But in the end their love of a project and entertaining won out, and two years ago the 1956 home that Ila dubbed “the ultimate entertaining home” was theirs—with plenty of projects to be done. Ila thinks most people would have turned around when they walked into a house full of 1960s wallpaper, bright colors and a baby blue kitchen that hadn’t been redecorated in decades. But not the Worthens. After renovating three other homes together, wallpaper and paint colors seemed an easy fix, and Ila stepped up to act as the contractor on the
42 March/April 2021
project, a process she likens to child birth where you forget the tough parts and remember the end product. Ila’s first call was to interior designer Tasha Davis. They had worked together on Ila’s last kitchen renovation one year before, and Ila says working with Tasha is “like working with your best friend. Her style and my style are right in line.” Tasha advised Ila on the paint scheme for the home’s new look and designed its completely new kitchen and primary suite. The Worthens moved in two weeks after closing, finished their daughters’ upstairs bedrooms and son’s basement room first, and then slept in different rooms around the house for close to seven months before renovations were complete. They quickly set to work updating pink toilets, mauve bathtubs, and maroon and gold walls,
freshening up the home’s palette with white and neutral paint colors inside and out. Down came patterned curtains and exterior iron railings, and up went abstract art and updated but still traditional light fixtures. Ila incorporated several furnishings they bought from the home’s estate sale before they moved in into the main living spaces. But compare the photos to the real estate images from a few years ago, and the aesthetic transformation to a 2021 look is far from minimal. Structurally most of the renovation work came on the house’s left side and extensive rotted exterior siding. They converted one full bathroom into a laundry room since the main floor didn’t have one, and they transformed one of many living areas—this one glassed in—into a master bedroom with yet another former bedroom becoming their master bathroom. The guest bathroom on the main floor was not part of the renovation plans, but after discovering
water damage from an air conditioning leak, they used Tasha’s design for tile and countertops to change out the mauve bathtub and mauve toilet and create a walk-in shower. In doing so, they created a very calming bathroom for guests. What hasn’t changed much about the home is perhaps its greatest asset: its spacious courtyard patio and pool area complete with a grilling area. After all, its setup for entertaining had been what sold the Worthens on the home in the first place. They are sure to host many birthday parties, fundraisers, sports team celebrations, low country boils and more memory-making occasions there for many years to come. And to top it all off, the renovation was completed before the COVID-19 quarantine started in the spring of 2020. Ila has said over and over again that her family was so lucky to be able to truly enjoy their home in a season where they spent so much time together in it. MountainBrookMagazine.com 43
Kitchen Tasha designed this bright, white space around the Worthens’ love of cooking, with quartzite on the countertops as well as the backsplash, and they added a bar area where an additional staircase once stood. The Chippendale design of the upper cabinets in the kitchen bar were influenced by the detailing that Ila loves in the cabinetry at Mountain Brook Club, and Tasha’s design for the built-in freezer and refrigerator was inspired by the bar in the home’s basement.
Dining Room A piece of abstract alcohol ink art by Shirley Lewis, a friend of Ila’s, adds color to the white walls and curtains in this space in the front of the house. The chandelier was one Ila just couldn’t part with from her previous home, so she brought it with her to this one.
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MountainBrookMagazine.com 45
Exterior Patio One of the strongest appeals of the home to the Worthens was its space for entertaining indoors or out. As a part of their renovations, they painted the exterior brick Natural Choice by Sherwin Williams and the iron railings black. The front door and railing in foyer were also painted Black Fox by Sherwin Williams.
46 March/April 2021
Pool The Worthens like to host barbecues and low country boils in their back patio and pool area for their teenagers’ friends and their own.
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Master Bedroom One of the biggest transformations in the renovation came converting this glassed-in living space with a spiral staircase to the courtyard below—what the home’s realtor, Mary Ruth Thomas, remembers as being the “kids party room” that faced the “adult” ballroom— into a master bedroom. They added walls to create a master closet where the spiral staircase and bar once stood, refinished the wood floors and added curtains to create a relaxing retreat.
Master Bathroom What was a small bedroom is now Ila’s favorite room in the house: an elegant master bathroom that Tasha designed with a soaking tub and a 6-foot-by-6-foot shower with several showerheads. 48 March/April 2021
Living Room This large ballroom was added onto the house at one point, and its design began with the rug from the previous owners and a piano that is more than 100 years old that they had left in the house’s basement on the day of the inspection. Its paint colors were lightened up to white and grey from the original maroon walls with yellow ceiling in the room, and the Worthens used furniture from their previous home to fill in the rest of the room.
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BEHIND THE SCENES Interior Design:
Tasha B. Davis Interiors Tile & Plumbing:
Fixtures and Finishes
Appliances: Ferguson
Plumbing: Fixtures and Finishes
Stone Countertops: Will Casey,
Cottage Supply/Syngergy Stone Kitchen Cabinets: Chris Hamm Bathroom Cabinets: David Mann
Cabinet Hardware: Brandino Brass
Primary Suite Drapery
Fabrication: Deanna Hollis, Housewarmings
Abstract Art: Shirley Lewis Art Contractor: Ila Worthen
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TV Room Ila had these original colorful curtains that were in this room from its original owners cleaned, and then she designed the room around them. Guests have since asked where she got them, and they now pop against white walls whereas the walls were pink and grey before the renovation.
IN THE GARDEN
HOW TO CREATE A FRONT DOOR CONTAINER GARDEN By Angela Pewitt | Photo by Patrick McGough
Welcome spring with handcrafted hanging door basket. Here’s how. 1. Start with a unique, flatback basket that fits the door size and space. 2. Line the basket with a leak-proof bag. 3. Artfully arrange plants by size from back to front. 4. Make a statement with bright, vibrant hues and cascading greenery. 5. To keep it fresh, remove the garden from the door to water it.
Angela Pewitt is a local entrepreneur, creative designer and owner of Creative Containers, a one stop-shop from consultation to installation. To inquire about your gardening needs, contact her at angelapewitt@gmail.com.
MountainBrookMagazine.com 51
IN STYLE
STEP INTO SPRING
BY ABBY ADAMS PHOTOS BY LAUREN USTAD
5
1
LOOK 1
4
2 1. WHITE AND WARREN RIBBED SWEATER Pastels are a huge color palette this spring. Monkee’s of Mountain Brook | $315
2. JOE’S WILLOW JEAN A good light wash jean will take you places. Monkee’s of Mountain Brook | $178
3
3. CAMILLA HEEL This taupe mule slide is a must for this season. Monkee’s of Mountain Brook | $138
4. LEOPARD CLUTCH Animal print is always a good idea. Elle | $75
5. CONFETTI EARRINGS Add a pop of fun and spring to any outfit with these. Monkee’s of Mountain Brook | $39
52 March/April 2021
LOOK 2
1
4
1. CAMEL SWEATER TEE
5
This top is simple but so classy. Elle | $102
2. PRESLEY SKIRT This flirty skirt is a fun transition piece into spring. Elle | $100
2
3. STEVE MADDEN TRACEY SNEAKERS Sneakers are a hot trend right now. Try out these high tops. Pants Store | $99.99
4. INITIAL NECKLACE The necklace that every girl needs Pants Store | $34.99
5. TAN CLUTCH
3
You can wear this clutch with everything. George’s (Inside Snoozy’s Kids) | $29.99
ACCESSORIES 1. JULIE VOS GOLD CHAIN BRACELET
1
3
George (Inside Snoozy’s Kids) | $330
2. OVAL GOLD HOOPS Elle | $45
2
3. JULIE VOS X NECKLACE George (Inside Snoozy’s Kids) | $125
MountainBrookMagazine.com 53
What Remains
For six decades Treadwell Barbershop has been the physical definition of continuity in Mountain Brook Village. By Rick Lewis | Photos by Patrick McGough
54 March/April 2021
Whether or not you have ever been inside, you’ve certainly seen it. As the last surviving retail tenant of the old Mountain Brook Shopping Center, you are familiar with its exterior walls: neat columns of yellowbrown brick under the shade of a retro-Tudor halfgabled roof. You can recall the wide, glass windows that wrap in an L-shape around its sides, its classically painted name adorning both: Treadwell Barbershop. Indeed, Treadwell’s is not only the temporal anchor to the Mountain Brook of yesteryear, but it also stands firmly planted as the physical definition of continuity. As the decades have come and gone and nearby buildings have been felled and been rebuilt, Treadwell’s has remained. Now an island surrounded by a sea of grey gravel and chain-link fence—Lane Parke’s currently unfinished Phase II development—it is truly a relic of a bygone era. As Lauren Murphy Ward explains it, “It’s been there forever. And I don’t feel like anything’s changed, which I can appreciate… It’s like a The Club or like a Gilchrist; it just sort of feels exactly as if time stood still. And it’s exactly the same as it was in my childhood.” Lauren grew up less than a mile away from Mountain Brook Village and remembers her father and brother going there and the red, white, and blue barber pole adorning its front. Though, like any truly great barbershop, Treadwell’s exists not only as a building but also as an element of its community, a “third place,” if you will. For the over 60 consecutive years it has been in existence,
Treadwell’s has been a place for the young and old to get a haircut, a pleasant conversation and a sense of the thread that weaves Treadwell’s into this town. The old wall-length mirror that used to grace the back of the shop reflected back many a familiar face and familiar style: a classic, if traditional, cut. Of course, while women can certainly get a cut at Treadwell’s if they so desire, it has traditionally had a male-dominated clientele. And like other elements of traditional “male culture” that get handed down from father to son, Treadwell’s seems to follow family lines. As Lauren continues, “I feel like it has just become a part of our family history that that’s something the boys do together.” Her husband, Scott, a Mobile native who became a Treadwell’s convert before their wedding (“they couldn’t turn a frog into a prince, but they came pretty close”), now takes their two sons with him when he goes. Treadwell Barber Shop was originally opened in 1961 by J. T. Treadwell, and it has been the only tenant of its signature triangular lot since that time. J. T. was a staple of the shop for decades and was a figure of Mountain Brook history all the same, although he retired many years ago and is now in his 96th year of living. It was in 1998 that J.T. and his son, Jimmy, sold the store to Steve Bishop who owns and operates it to this day. An ironworker out of the Local No. 92 union by trade, Steve had never planned to be a barber. But, on the hunt for an investment opportunity and at the
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prodding of his son who was dating the daughter of one of the Treadwell barbers, he took a tour of the shop that was up for sale at the time. “I actually intended to just buy it and kind of let this girl run it for me,” he says. “And then after I got over here for a little while just to see how things went. I enjoyed it and went to barber school and learned to be a barber…The Lord kind of moved me in this way.” It was the confluence of both a spiritual nudge and wanting to be out of the construction industry siphoning so much of his family time away from him that gave Steve the final convincing he needed to plunge in head first. And after a stint at the Academy of Hair Design in Centerpoint, Steve joined the ranks of barbers himself. However, it was a bit of a daunting start. J. T. was still cutting hair, as were several 30-year veterans of the shop. “And here comes a Johnnycome-lately,” Steve recalls. “I remember when it was the first day I came in, and I remember sitting down in that chair thinking, ‘If I could just get 10 haircuts a day.” But, much to his credit, he did well over 10 cuts and has averaged above that ever since he took over the helm. While Bishop has managed his barbershop as a successful business for more than 20 years and through economies thick and thin, he also sees
56 March/April 2021
Ask a child what he dreams of doing in the future. His answer brings everything into focus for us. WE DO WHAT WE DO BECAUSE CHILDREN HAVE DREAMS.
Steve Bishop has owned Treadwell Barbershop since he purchased it from J.T. Treadwell in 1996.
the shop as more than a place to get a trim. He feels the pulse Treadwell’s gets from the people that go there and support it, and to him, it can feel a lot like a family. “You’ll have people who come in here and bring their children and they know the children that
1 6 0 0 7 T H AV E N U E S O U T H BIRMINGHAM, AL 35233 (205) 638-9100 | ChildrensAL.org
MountainBrookMagazine.com 57
The team at Treadwell takes a picture outside its iconic storefront.
I strive to be the kind of person my dog thinks I am. Animal Hospital, Veterinary Care, Boarding & Grooming 2810 19th Place South, Homewood, AL 35209 StandiferAnimalClinic.com 58 March/April 2021
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are already in here,” he says. “Since 1961, there’s a lot of people that’ve come in here. A lot of them still know each other, go to church together and play ball together. It’s just like a big old family sometimes.” And much like Scott Ward’s story of his father-son Treadwell trips, Bishop has a photo of a family, four generations worth of men, sitting in chairs down the line. Treadwell’s isn’t transient, and neither are its customers, loyal not only to a store but to a piece of shared history. I went to Treadwell’s myself on a Tuesday afternoon in the fall. The front door was left open (maybe because of COVID, or maybe because the fresh air was so nice), and a breeze blew the front blinds gently back and forth. Steve Bishop, grey and white haired with his glasses down on his nose and wearing a
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blue and white striped barber’s shirt, was quietly working with a customer. A toddler in a small, blue cape sat getting his curls cut in his father’s lap. The buzzing white noise of clippers was occasionally interrupted by small talk, but otherwise the atmosphere had a zen-like quality to its steadiness. A few things in the shop had changed
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since I was a kid. Bishop has replaced the crimson chairs with bright-red leather ones with padded diamond backs, the black and white floors have been swapped for a more muted hardwood, and the mirror-wall has been replaced by individual wood-framed mirrors behind each station. But the old soda machine remained and so did the nostalgic feeling
of getting a trim before baseball practice. However, on the front door is pasted a copy of an artist’s rendering of what the new Treadwell’s might look like, and gone is the Tudor point, the building’s triangle turned more into a box. I don’t think any aesthetic changes can warp what Treadwell’s means to so many of us though. That definition lies inside.
[Newbor n + Child + Family Por traiture] info@apeppermintphoto.com + 205.807.6431 w w w . a p e p p e r m i n t p h o t o . c o m MountainBrookMagazine.com 61
Heart
to Heart
Here’s how Founders Place is continuing their ministry of connection for those with memory loss in a global pandemic.
By Tracey Rector Photos by Rebecca Wise & Contributed
On a chilly morning in February, around 20 adults, all wearing masks and keeping social distance from one another, gathered in Graham Hall at Saint Luke’s Episcopal Church. Over the course of an hour, the room buzzed with laughter and fun as friends created artwork with shaving cream, stretched and clapped to Earth, Wind & Fire’s “September,” and played Elvis Presley’s “Love Me Tender” on handchimes. It was all part of the weekly in-person meeting for the participants and volunteers of Founders Place, a ministry of Saint Luke’s Episcopal Church that provides learning and socialization opportunities for adults with memory loss, as well as support and respite care for their caregivers. And it was no small feat that this group was able to gather on this day. A year ago, their gathering would have been much larger. On Thursday, March 12 of last year, friends and volunteers started their meeting as usual. But as they enjoyed the fun and fellowship they looked forward to each week, events around the world were changing by the minute with the growing realization of the 62 March/April 2021
COVID-19 threat. By the time participants left four hours later, its organizers had typed up a letter announcing it was their last day until further notice. For Founders Place director Susanna Whitsett, Program Assistant Susie Caffey and the volunteers, the question then became, “What now?” PIVOT, RECREATE, REIMAGINE When the COVID-pandemic and subsequent lockdown brought virtually everything on the planet to an abrupt halt, it was particularly difficult for people with Alzheimer’s and other dementias and their caregivers. Programs like Founders Place provide much needed opportunities to socialize for patients, who are given space to be themselves in a fun atmosphere that stresses acceptance. They also provide respite for caregivers, who value the opportunity to have a break from the relentless demands of caring for their loved one. The loss of those opportunities meant further isolation for both.
“I don’t want to sugarcoat anything,” says Susanna. “It’s been devastating for many people. We obviously couldn’t operate like we did before, so we had a choice. We could either sit back and wait, or pivot.” For Susanna, Susie and the ministry’s volunteers, many of whom are retired professionals with years of problemsolving skills under their belt, waiting was simply not an option. Knowing how vital their program was to the mental and emotional health of the participants and caregivers, the team went right to work. “We had to recreate and reimagine,” Susanna says. “It takes patience. Some of our new ideas didn’t really work well initially, so you have to be patient as you discover what does.” To maintain their sense of connection between participants and caregivers and volunteers, Founders Place reformulated all components of the program within eight weeks. With their new normal of operation, each participant receives a weekly delivery on Mondays with a Connection Kit that includes baked goods, an art project and themed printed materials that help provide what Susanna calls “a scaffolding for the week.” Another day participants gather for large group Zoom calls. On Thursdays, those who feel comfortable meeting in person can participate in a small weekly group at the church. And on Fridays, participants and their caregivers can come pick up lunch—an opportunity to get out of the house and see friendly, familiar faces. ZOOMING RIGHT ALONG
A Founders Place participant and her caregiver receive their first weekly Connection Kit delivery with a set of activities.
One of the best surprises of the pandemic for the volunteers became the willingness of the participants to use Zoom video conferencing. “At first, it took our friends a lot of getting used to,” Susanna says. Many people with dementia have spatial awareness issues, and the format was especially challenging for them. There was a learning curve for the volunteers as well. “We’re all trained on how to interact with people with dementia, but we are not trained on how to act with people with dementia on Zoom,” Susanna says with a laugh. “So we trained ourselves.” Initially, just getting the call set up and all participants involved would take almost the whole hour. Eventually, though, the caregivers could generally get their loved one set up in place and then leave—to get a shower, to run an errand or to just have a quiet cup of coffee. And the participants said they love the calls. One caregiver reports that their loved one asks almost every day, “Is today the day for Zoom calls?” On the day we interviewed musician volunteers and former dementia caregivers Don Wendorf and Lynda Everson, they showed up for our Zoom call wearing Mickey and Minnie Mouse T-shirts and mouse ears. To be fair, they did have a gig lined up later—a Disney sing-aMountainBrookMagazine.com 63
A smaller group of Founders Place participants and volunteers than usual are now gathering in-person with masks and social distance at Saint Luke’s for arts and crafts and more once a week.
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Respite for All Founders Place is part of the “Respite for All” network, which includes other local and regional programs for respite care. Susanna Whitsett stresses to those whose loved ones have memory loss that there are a number of programs like Founders Place and encourages caregivers to utilize the many resources available through Alzheimer’s of Central Alabama. Through their website you can access informational videos as well as find lists of adult day care programs and respite care programs in your area. In the Birmingham area, programs similar to Founders Place include Encore at Canterbury United Methodist, Anchor Respite at Asbury United Methodist, Friendship Place at St. Simon Peter Episcopal in Pell City, and CARES (Caring for Adults through Respite, Enrichment and Socialization) through Collat Jewish Family Services of Birmingham. Learn more at alzca.org.
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Founders Place volunteers and staff celebrate a participant’s birthday with banners, silly hats and tambourines in June of 2020.
long with Founders Place friends via Zoom. “A major part of the sing-along is the social experience and interaction,” Don says. Lynda adds that it’s a way to “overcome isolation, stay connected and show support. It’s letting people know there is still a community.” Don, a retired clinical psychologist, stresses the need for self-care for those who take care of family members with memory, and he credits the leadership at Founders Place with being “amazingly resourceful and creative and innovative.” “It was less of a transition and more of an ‘okay, this is the next step,’” he says of the transition when the pandemic began. All in all, these calls have helped to hold these friends together and have proved that, as outgoing Bishop Kee Sloane of the Episcopal Diocese of Alabama says, “You can teach an old dog new tricks if he needs to learn them!” HEART TO HEART For caregiver Susanne Wright, being able to continue the friendships formed through Founders Place during the pandemic has been a godsend. Her husband Larry’s dementia diagnosis brought major changes in their
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Founders Place participants created art with shaving cream and paint in Graham Hall at Saint Luke’s in February 2021, almost a year since the COVID-19 pandemic changed what their ministry looks like.
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lives, but it’s reassuring to her to see aspects of his personality and skills encouraged by the volunteers. “Larry needs to feel useful,” she says. “They are always looking for ways to make him feel useful.” In these socially distant times, Larry has enjoyed baking treats for the weekly Connection Kits and using his woodworking and gardening skills to help make planters. As for Susanne, she appreciates the weekly virtual support group that also gives her a place to share her experiences, encourage others and connect on a meaningful level with those who understand the frustrations and fears of being a caregiver. There have been many lessons learned as the folks at Founders Place navigate these new waters of restrictions and health concerns, but Susanna says they’ve become grateful for technology and have developed an even deeper appreciation for the good work they see happening in the lives of their friends with memory loss: “We knew the program was important, but it’s taken the pandemic to show us just how valuable it really is.” And when and if things get back to normal? “We’re going to sing again!” Susanna says with a laugh. “We won’t take a single note for granted!” Until then, Founders Place’s mission will continue to be the simple prayer given by one of the participants as they closed recently: “God, we wish we could be hand in hand, but since we can’t we’ll be heart to heart.”
SPECIAL ADVERTISING
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BUILDERS AND BUYERS
Desjoyaux Pools by DSLD Land Management 1178 Dunnavant Valley Road • Birmingham, AL 35242 205-437-1012 • dsldland.com • dsldsocialmedia@gmail.com DSLD Land Management is a family-owned and -operated full-service design/build landscape contractor that has served the Birmingham area for over 35 years. DSLD welcome projects of any scope and size and stands ready to serve our clients with one of Alabama’s most credentialed professional staffs. DSLD’s new venture with Desjoyaux Pools, the world’s largest swimming pool company, gives customers the option to choose the size, shape and design of their pool. Desjoyaux Pools are built using recycled materials and pipeless filtration systems that use less energy than traditional pools. DSLD Land Management provides turnkey installation of your swimming pool, requisite construction and all landscape elements.
C&D Home Solutions 3403 Lorna Lane • Hoover, AL 35216 205-749-6120 • cdhomesolutions.com C&D Home Solutions utilizes the best of modern technology to keep in touch with you and streamline your experience. C&D Home Solutions is your one-stop-shop solution for professional window and door, siding, and gutter installation. You can trust your home will be in good hands with our highlytrained team. We pride ourselves in top-quality products and services for our customers. We do business with some of the best manufacturers in the country. C&D Home Solutions is a fully-independent, licensed and insured business operating in the state of Alabama. Equally important is that we’ve scoured the market to find the best quality products at the lowest prices so that you can always purchase with confidence. We partner with the best window and door manufacturers on the planet, like Pella and ProVia. Contact us today for a free quote on your next project. 70 March/April 2021
BUILDERS AND BUYERS
Vulcan Pest Control 115 Commerce Drive • Pelham, AL 35124 205-598-2581 • Toll Free: 1-855-663-4208 • vulcantermite.com Protect your most valuable assets! Don’t let termites cause destruction on your property—get them gone quickly with professional termite pest control. If you’re looking for the best termite company in Central Alabama, you’ve found it. Vulcan’s Termite Division has over 120 years of combined experience providing commercial and home termite treatment. Our staff works diligently to provide inspections and necessary reports in a timely manner so the stress of buying or selling your home is minimized. Schedule your FREE termite inspection today! One of our termite exterminators can evaluate the situation and suggest the best treatment method.
Down South Joiner Flooring 202 Pitts Drive • Columbiana, AL 35051 205-223-8190 At Down South Joiner Flooring we install tile, laminate, hardwood and ceramic and offer all flooring remodeling services. Whether you require sections of your floor covering changed or you have an interest in redesigning the floorings throughout your home or company, an experienced floor installation specialist can guarantee that you obtain the outcomes that you’re seeking. Down South Joiner Flooring is your local flooring contractor serving the Columbiana area for years! We install new hardwood flooring, re-sand existing wood, install laminate flooring, install floating floor, screen and coat. We have been offering a full range of flooring services to the local community for years. We work hard to ensure that our clients are fully satisfied with the end result. In addition to being able to provide a wide selection of flooring options for every room, we also have professional staff who can assist with every phase of installation, from selecting the materials to designing the layout. Give us a call today for more information! MountainBrookMagazine.com 71
BUILDERS AND BUYERS
Ray & Poynor 2629 Cahaba Road • Birmingham, AL 35223 205-879-3036 • raypoynor.com Ray & Poynor is a trusted real estate firm serving the Birmingham metro area since 2010. With an average of 17 years in the industry, our residential real estate experts guide our clients through the buying, selling and relocation process. As a locally owned and operated company, we know the market and are invested in our clients and in our community. Our goal isn’t to achieve a certain number of homes listed or sold—it’s to serve our clients as a resource beyond a single transaction. Our success is measured by the relationships we build. If you’re looking for a new place to call home, contact our office—we would be glad to assist you.
A Better Closet 1031 14th Street • Calera, AL 35040 205-621-1638 • abettercloset.net • sales@abettercloset.net A professional design and installation service, A Better Closet delivers custom storage solutions to help organize every room of your home. A Better Closet is a locally owned, family-operated business, and we have been building custom storage for over 30 years. Our designers and craftsmen will transform every area of your home (floor to ceiling) to the custom storage of your dreams—with beautiful, lasting results that are guaranteed over the life of your home. At A Better Closet, exceptional service is built in to the equation. When you schedule a free in-home consultation, we focus on finding the plan that is best for you because we know your home, family, preferences and needs are unique. A Better Closet wants to maximize every inch of space to increase your home’s storage potential and value. Whether you want to make the most of a walk-in closet, custom storage, kitchen pantry or home office, A Better Closet can help. 72 March/April 2021
BUILDERS AND BUYERS
Cahaba Glass Company 160 Chandalar Place Drive • Pelham, AL 35124 205-621-7355 • cahabaglassco.com Cahaba Glass is your ultimate resource for any automotive, residential and small commercial glass needs. For the home, we specialize in the installation of custom shower enclosures, mirrors, glass shelving, furniture top glass, cabinet door glass and specialty glass. Our glazier will replace unsightly window units and patio door glass to give your home that “like new” look. If your small commercial building needs updating, we offer a full range of glass and architectural products to meet your needs. Our experienced staff will assist you with your automobile insurance claims to make the necessary repairs or replacements due to breakage as well. When you choose Cahaba Glass Company, you are choosing a proven leader in the glass business. Let us help you make your project shine!
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Mountain Brook Chamber of Commerce C O N N E C T I O N S
new member spotlight
Village2Village 10K/7.5K has gone virtual this year!
Shalla Wista Studio Over the Mountain Family and Cosmetic Dentistry Buff City Soap Bedzzz Express The Glass Guru of East Birmingham Bentley Optical Alignment Services, LLC Sentry Heating, Air Conditioning, Plumbing & Electrical C Spire
Register at www.Village2Village10K.com and submit your own 10K results by March 13th to get your finisher’s medal, T-shirt, and the chance to win prizes!
Mountain Brook Chamber of Commerce 2021 Annual Luncheon
Honoring: Jemison Visionary Award Winner - Terry Oden William Tynes Award Winner - Penny Page City of Mountain Brook Employee of the Year - Detective Drew Moore Tuesday, April 27th | 11:30a.m.-1:00 p.m. To be held outdoors at The Birmingham Zoo Register at mtnbrookchamber.org
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Recent Ribbon Cuttings Did you receive village gold for the holidays? Treat Yourself at one of our Village Gold Partners! Buff City Soaps
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205 - 871 - 3779
A’mano, Alkmy, Avani Rupa Fine Jewelers, B.Prince, Bobby Carl’s Table, Bongiorno, Brick & Tin, Brogue & Cuff Clothiers, Bromberg’s Jewelers, Carrigan’s, Charbar7, Continental Bakery & Chez Lu Lu, Crestline Bagel Co., Crestline Pharmacy, Daniel George Restaurant, Davenport’s Pizza Palace, Details, Diamonds Direct, Dukes, Eleven, Eleven Clothiers, Elle, Etc., Finch Fine Wines, Gunn Dermatology, Gus’s Hot Dogs, Illuminated, La Paz, Lamb’s Ears Ltd, Leaf N Petal, Little Hardware,Milla, Mobley & Sons, Mon Ami, Monkees Of Mountain Brook, Mountain Brook Creamery, Mountain Brook Sporting Goods, Mountain High Outfitters, Mpower Pilates + Cycle, Oak Street Garden Shop, Ollie Irene, Once Upon A Time, Otey’s Tavern, Pants Store, Patina, Piggly Wiggly Crestline, Piggly Wiggly River Run, Please Reply, Resumes By Randi, Rousso Facial Plastic Surgery Clinic, Ruby Ansley Interiors, Inc., Smith’s Variety Store, Snap Girls, Snoozy’s, Sol Y Luna, Speed Spa, Suite Dreams, Surin Of Thailand, Swoop, Table Matters, Taco Mama, The Cook Store, The Happy Olive, The Impeccable Pig, The Lingerie Shoppe, The White Room, Tonya Jones SalonSpa - English Village, Town and Country, Village Dermatology, Village Firefly, Village Sportswear, Vino, Vitola Fine Cigars, Porch
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OUT & ABOUT
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MBHS BASKETBALL GAMES
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PHOTOS BY ELLIE THOMAS & MARY DOUGLASS EVANS.
The Mountain Brook High School Varsity Basketball team played Briarwood Christian High School on Jan. 12 (64-39 win) and Homewood High School on Jan. 29 (63-40 win). 1. Kyle Ritter, Sara Halasz and Lenny Passink 2. Anne McKinley Walker and Sawyer Simmons 3. Isabel Smith and Hagen Blackwell 4. Falcon Wiles and Blair Passink 5. Abby Maziarz and Mary Douglass Evans 6. Sarah and Maggie Passink 7. Diane, Delina and Shane Stearns 8. Marrison Kearse, Ellie Pitts and Kate Williamson 9. Olivia Rome and Carson Horn 10. Ella Grace Perry and Caldwell Flake 11. Bill, Greer and Caroline Black
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7
OUT & ABOUT
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SEMINAR EDITION
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TASTE. SIP. SAVOR. N E W ! Seminar Edition
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Seated Seminars, Demos, and Tastings featuring local Birmingham tastemakers 24th annual April 24 & 25 full day lineup @ the 38th Magic City Art Connection TICKETS ON SALE IN APRIL www.CorksandChefs.com
MountainBrookMagazine.com 77
MARKETPLACE
Marketplace Shelby Living Magazine • 205.669.3131
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weekdays. Must have previous experience, gun permit & pistol. Qualified candidates should call Kim 991-4654 CLOCK REPAIR SVS. * Setup * Repair * Maintenance. I can fix your Mother’s clock. Alabaster/ Pelham. Call Stephen (205)663-2822 HIRING EXPERIENCED FULL CASE ORDER SELECTORS $19.03 per hour plus production $$$ incentives. Grocery order selection using electric pallet jacks & voice activated headsets. Great benefits including Blue Cross health & dental insurance & matching 401k. Pre-employment drug test required. Apply Online: WWW.AGSOUTH. COM $2000 SIGN ON BONUS NEW PAY SCALE TO QUALIFYING DRIVERS EVERGREEN TRANSPORT,
is accepting applications for local drivers in the Calera and Leeds, AL, area. Must have Class A CDL, good driving record, 1 yr verifiable tractor trailer experience. Good pay and benefits. Apply in person at 8278 Hwy 25 South, Calera, AL, or call for info 205-668-3316. Electrician - FT Supreme Electric, local-based company in Pelham. Must be willing to learn & work hard. Go to: supremeelectrical.com Print employment application under Contact Us. Mail to: Supreme Electric 231 Commerce Pkwy Pelham, AL 35124 or call 205-453-9327. Popeyes Seeking friendly, motivated, dependable Crew Members. OPEN INTERVIEWS DAILY 2:00pm5:00pm 3300 Pelham Parkway. Immediate Openings! Start work this week!
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MountainBrookMagazine.com 79
MY MOUNTAIN BROOK RICKY BROMBERG
Bromberg & Company, Inc. President + Mountain Brook Chamber of Commerce 2021 President
All About Relationships
Locally Owned Businesses These proprietors become so much more than the providers of goods and services, they become friends. Examples include Ousler’s (pictured), Ritch’s Pharmacy, Canterbury of Crestline and Mountain Brook Flower Shop, just to name a few.
‘Tis the Season
The Bromberg Christmas Tree The tree is our way of saying thank you to the community that has allowed Bromberg’s to a part of countless happy occasions for 185 years. It genuinely pleases me that so many people love our tree and are able to count on it as a cherished Christmas tradition.
Peace of Mind
Mountain Brook City Services When we downsized a couple of years ago, we made a conscious decision to stay within the city limits of Mountain Brook because of its superior city services. There is peace of mind knowing that we enjoy top notch fire and rescue and police protection in addition to fantastic parks and walking trails.
Home Sweet Home
The Abingdon Area I grew up in Abingdon and have lived almost my entire life in that peaceful, almost country-like area of Mountain Brook. Although our downsizing caused us to move from Abingdon a couple of years ago, it will always be what I consider home.
Back to the Start
Generational Tradition I love that so many kids come back to where they grew up to start families of their own and at the same time how the community welcomes new people! Mountain Brook is a great place to live with a wonderful quality of life. In the photo you can see my grandmother Annie Maud Bromberg with me in the early 1960s.
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