Profile 2019 by Shelby County Newsmedia, Inc.

le 2019

Yvonne Murray, 58 INC.

100 PEOPLE TO KNOW IN SHELBY COUNTY

A special publication of Shelby County Newspapers, Inc.

It’s a great place to live. Whatever your species may be.

The renowned biologist E.O. Wilson has called it “an aquatic treasure house.” The World Wildlife Fund and Nature Conservancy included it as one of just eight “Hotspots of Diversity” in the entire world. It’s the Cahaba—the longest free-flowing river in Alabama, with more fish species per kilometer than any other river in North America, including 18 species that exist nowhere else.

But, to us, it’s an unparalleled place to reconnect with nature by canoeing, kayaking, hiking, birding, botanizing, or merely floating in its waters. In the clean water we return to the river, and through our efforts with Adopt-A-Stream, SouthWest Water Company is doing our part to ensure the Cahaba is there for future generations to enjoy—whatever their species may be. Join with us by visiting bit.ly/AdoptCahaba.

To learn more, visit CleanerCahaba.info

READY TO SERVE

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At the University of Montevallo, you will enjoy small classes, personalized attention, engaging student activities and abundant opportunities for real world experience. You will emerge a well-rounded, highly educated individual who isn’t just ready for the world — you’re ready to change it.

montevallo.edu 205-665-6030 admissions@montevallo.edu #IBelongAtMontevallo

Here, students don’t merely fit in, they find a place to call home. You will discover a new family where you belong. So schedule a tour — come see for yourself why You belong at the University of Montevallo.

Positive economic growth and community well-being always requires long-term strategy, combined with bold approaches. The 21st Century is rich with opportunity for our 808+ square mile Shelby County. The leadership of The Shelby County Chamber has chosen to capitalize on our opportunities by developing a five-year path that builds on the foundation of growing our existing companies and expanding our business economy by: • Increase quality job growth throughout Shelby County by helping our existing businesses compete in an ever-changing marketplace, and to grow and thrive here. • Establish a business-driven workforce readiness approach via a partnership between business, community, our schools and our training providers ensuring Shelby County companies can recruit and retain the employees and managers they need. • Operate as a full public-private growth partner with 58 INC, the new countywide economic development organization established to recruit a smart mix of retail, commercial and targeted industrial firms. • Serve as the leading voice for our Shelby County business community at all levels of government in order to sustain and enhance a pro-business climate.

Thanks to the corporate and community leaders listed above who thus far have stepped forward to support this five-year path. To schedule a meeting to learn how your organization can join these leaders, please contact Kirk Mancer, President & CEO of The Shelby County Chamber at 663-4542, ext 101 or email at kirk@shelbychamber.org.

As I walked around my college campus alone on a quiet Friday night a few years back, each building I passed brought to mind a set of memories, but it didn’t feel like the home it once had been. Then last fall I returned to the campus for my 10-year homecoming/ reunion with some of my closest friends who are now scattered all over the country, and that familiar feeling of home returned. After all, it’s the people who make a place what it is. That’s what we are celebrating in the pages that follow. Consider them a homecoming of sorts of 100 people making their mark on Shelby County, and the world, one cookie or sports game or book chapter or church service at a time. The first time I flipped through this list our staff put together of notable folks from the county, the familiar faces stood out the most. 58 INC. Managing Director Yvonne Murray graduated a year ahead of me back when Oak Mountain High School was just a toddler in age, and I remember watching Bo Bice compete on “American Idol” just a year or so later.

I’ve long been a fan of the extra grainy grits that Frank McEwen mills and remember seeing photos on the counter of Keith Richards’ two sets of twins at Taziki’s back when there was just one location at The Colonnade. Whether you call Montevallo or Wilsonville or Vincent or one of the many places in between home, you’ll quickly find your own set of familiar faces as you flip through this issue. And you’ll also “meet” all sorts of others from not too far away and get to learn their stories—of how they recovered from injuries or cancer, of how their grandmother or a scouting troop shaped their life trajectory, of off-roading in Jeeps or managing a middle school carnival. Consider those your teasers to dig into the sets of words to follow, both short and long. The list of 100 is in no particular order, but we thought numbering them 1 to 100 made for a fun read because who doesn’t love a good list? Thanks for reading! I hope it renews your sense of place among the people we call home.

Profile 2019

SHELBY COUNTY EDITORIAL Graham Brooks Stephen Dawkins Alec Etheredge Briana Harris Madoline Markham Keith McCoy Emily Sparacino Neal Wagner

DESIGN Connor Bucy Jamie Dawkins Kate Green

MARKETING Kristy Brown Kari George Rachel Henderson Daniel Holmes Rhett McCreight

MADOLINE MARKHAM, EDITOR madoline.markham@shelbycountyreporter.com

Kim McCulla Kerrie Thompson

ON THE COVER

ADMINISTRATION Hailey Dolbare Mary Jo Eskridge 58 INC. Managing Director Murray Murray stands at the forefront of economic development efforts in Shelby County, where she grew up.

Katie McDowell Stacey Meadows Tim Prince

COVER DESIGN: KATE GREEN PHOTOGRAPHY: KEITH MCCOY

SHELBY COUNTY NEWSPAPERS, INC. FIND US ONLINE + ON SOCIAL MEDIA SHELBYCOUNTYREPORTER.COM 8

PROFILE 2019

P.O. BOX 947 COLUMBIANA, AL 35051 205.669.3131

CONTENTS

14 34 42

YVONNE MURRAY

2019 PERSON OF THE YEAR A woman with big dreams is now changing the economic landscape of the county she has long called home—and still finds time for offroading along the way.

KENNETH DUKES

A grandmother’s steadying, inspiring influence in the midst of a difficult childhood started a determined boy on a path of leadership.

NOAH TANNER

He’s setting the bar for impacting the community— and he’s only a high school sophomore.

THE LIST

50 58 76 TAMMY ANDERSON

NEIL BAILEY

DR. LEWIS BROOKS

This survivor discovered hope and renewed her faith on her cancer journey. And it didn’t end there.

He’s helped construct buildings. He serves on boards. But at the heart of it all, this community volunteer is helping kids like him believe in themselves.

One of the earliest influences on the new Shelby County Schools superintendent was also one of his most recent.

No. 1-18

No. 20-42

No. 47-70

108

No. 75-100 SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTIONS

84 92 100

CLAY HAMMAC

How the murder of a child led one man and his family to embark on a journey to make a difference.

SARAH ASHLEE BARKER

LEW BURDETTE

Despite two knee surgeries, this Spain Park basketball star is ready to pave her own path in the SEC.

The road leading to King’s Home was paved with a gruesome share of suffering for this leader.

SHELBY COUNTY SCHOOLS

CITY OF PELHAM

PROFILE 2019

2 JOHN GREEN

1 DIEDRE DOWNS GUNN

BESTSELLING AUTHOR

MISS AMERICA 2005 + UAB OB/GYN If your new reproductive endocrinologist at UAB looks familiar, it might be from watching Miss Alabama crowned Miss America back in 2005. Since that night of fame, Gunn went on to travel the country speaking to her passion, and platform, for childhood cancer, the CureSearch National Childhood Cancer Foundation in particular, with her crown in tow, as well as to create the Curing Childhood Cancer license plate to benefit research at Children’s of Alabama. So it shouldn’t come as a surprise that this Pelham High School graduate earned a medical degree from UAB. Today she specializes in reproductive endocrinology and infertility, seeing patients in her clinic as well as performing in vitro fertilization and other surgical procedures.

3 KEITH RICHARDS TAZIKI’S FOUNDER Little did Richards and his wife, Amy, know when they travelled to Greece in 1997 that the vacation would inspire them to start a Mediterranean café that 20 years later would have more than 80 locations. Today he works to employ students with special needs through Taziki’s HOPE project and leads the company’s culinary research and development. He and Amy also are the parents of two sets of twins and still make their home in Shelby County.

4 SUSAN JOHNSTON FAMILY CONNECTION EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Being named to Positive Maturity’s “Top 50 Over 50” list in 2018 for making a difference in her community was fitting given Johnston’s work as the executive director of Family Connection Inc., a nonprofit organization that provides counseling and shelter services to young people and families in crisis. 10

PROFILE 2019

5 BUD CASON BUD’S BEST COOKIES FOUNDER & CHAIRMAN Cason knows cookies. He’s been in the business more than 50 years and in 1991 launched a line of bite-size sweets that bear his own caricature on its branding. Today Cason has been inducted into the Baking Hall of Fame by the American Society of Baking, and Bud’s Best’s 130,000-square-foot facility in Riverchase can produce about 1 million cookies per hour and employs 175 people. It’s also open for tours and welcomes about 25,000 people through a year.

Green’s young adult novels have been published in more than 55 languages, more than 24 million copies of them are in print, and he has more than 5.1 million Twitter followers. His characters Hazel and Gus made it onto the big screen in a 2014 adaption of “The Fault in Our Stars,” and Alaska and Miles are up next in “Looking for Alaska”—set at Culver Creek, a school remarkably similar to Indian Springs, where Green graduated.

TAULIA TAGOVAILOA STAR THOMPSON QUARTERBACK Much like his brother Tua has taken the college football world by storm as quarterback at Alabama, Tagovailoa has been among the best high school players in the country in leading the Thompson Warriors. Originally from Hawaii, he enrolled at THS when his family moved to be closer to Tua, and has passed for almost 7,000 yards and 65 touchdowns in two seasons at Thompson—and committed to follow in his brother’s footsteps at UA after high school. PROFILE 2019

GRETCHEN DIFANTE PELHAM CITY MANAGER DiFante nabbed the title of Pelham’s first city manager in July 2017, and since then she’s been instrumental in helping the city jump start its comprehensive planning process and improving efficiency within city operations. DiFante says there’s a lot of work to be done in Pelham but looks forward to the challenge.

PROFILE 2019

8 SONIA BERTOLONE BERTOLONE’S ITALIAN OWNER Bertolone helped her parents run the original Joe’s Italian restaurant in California, and then the one they opened in Alabaster in 2008. The family sold the Alabaster location in 2015, two years after Sonia’s father died. Then in 2018, she opened Bertolone’s Italian in Calera, the latest testament to her love of sharing the sauces, pasta and pastries that define her family’s heritage.

9 GREG SANKEY SOUTHEASTERN CONFERENCE COMMISSIONER The Southeastern Conference is perhaps the premier organization in intercollegiate athletics—with the national championship trophies to prove it—and Sankey is the man at the front of it all. He was named commissioner of the SEC in June 2015 after serving on the conference staff for 13 years in various leadership positions. He came to the SEC from his position as commissioner of the Southland Conference. A graduate of Syracuse University and the State University of New York College at Cortland, Sankey has promoted efforts including implementing a collaborative instant replay process in football and men’s basketball, introducing the “SEC Graduate Patch” worn by graduates during games and crafting a new autonomy governance structure of the NCAA. He is also active within the NCAA committee structure, including serving on the Gender-Equity Task Force and the Division I Committee on Infractions.

10 SANCHEZ TANNIEHILL AUTHOR + GOSPEL SINGER At just 6 weeks old, Tanniehill suffered a stroke, and there was little hope that he would walk or talk as he got older. Following the stroke, he developed spinal meningitis, causing him to spend three months in the hospital. He defied the odds though and is now a well-known local gospel singer at festivals throughout the region. In July 2018, he released a self-published book, “God Did It,” which tells his story of overcoming struggles.

11 DR. JOHN STEWART PRESIDENT OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MONTEVALLO

12 STEPHANIE DOUGLAS AMERICAN HEART ASSOCIATION CERTIFIED CPR INSTRUCTOR Douglas’ life was saved by a bystander performing CPR until first responders arrived with an automated external defibrillator (AED). Today this sudden cardiac arrest survivor is a certified American Heart Association CPR instructor. She’s made it a goal to advocate for more AEDs in public spaces and to teach more people about how they can be instrumental in saving lives.

Stewart set his sights on raising the national profile of UM when he was named president in 2010, and he’s done just that. UM now attracts students statewide and nationwide. Under his leadership, the number of first-year students living on campus has increased, and the school’s financial health has improved. Standard and Poor’s Ratings Service has upgraded the university’s bond rating multiple times during his presidency and ultimately gave it an A+ rating in 2016. PROFILE 2019

14 RICK BURGESS

13 RACHEL HYCHE

RADIO PERSONALITY

NATIONAL BRAILLE COMPETITION PARTICIPANT Rachel Hyche, 14, is almost completely blind, but she certainly isn’t letting that get in her way. Last summer, she competed in the regional Braille Challenge in Atlanta and advanced to the national Braille Challenge in California, winning the Speed and Accuracy Award in her age group. “It was a good learning experience,” she says. “It was good to meet new friends, too, that were blind. That was cool.” Lately, the Oak Mountain High School freshman has been immersed in music projects. She sings and plays the piano, and several of her recordings are available on iTunes, YouTube and Spotify. “It’s been a really fun thing for me,” she says.

15 JOHN O. FREEMAN SR. MT LAUREL’S HONORARY MAYOR You can’t talk about the history of Mt Laurel without mentioning Freeman’s name. Known as the unofficial mayor of Mt Laurel, Freeman oversaw the town’s transformation from a 12-home neighborhood in 2001 to a thriving community with two schools, a vibrant town center and dozens of homes nestled among the trees off Dunnavant Valley Road. Freeman and his wife, Marie, are both considered pillars of the Mt Laurel community.

16 REBECCA LUKER BROADWAY ACTRESS A Broadway star and three-time Tony Award nominee, Luker made her Broadway debut in 1988 when she played Christine in “The Phantom of the Opera.” Since then, this Helena native and University of Montevallo honorary graduate snagged roles in popular productions such as “The Secret Garden,” “The Sound of Music,” “The Music Man” and more. She also performs in concerts with symphony orchestras around the world and is a cabaret performer. 14

PROFILE 2019

17 JOHN SOLOMON SANDRIDGE ARTIST & ENTREPRENEUR

Painter, sculptor, writer, trailblazer, entrepreneur. All of these describe Sandridge, but the nationally acclaimed artist can’t be constricted by mere titles. He is the first African American to secure a contract with the Coca-Cola Company and has produced many images on different objects. His artwork has been featured at the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute. Based in Chelsea, he is the founder of the Number 2 Pencil Foundation and the author of “!One-GreatThing! “

One half of the popular radio show “Rick and Bubba,” Burgess is known for his on-air humor—but also uses his platform to address important topics. The show began in January 1994 and is now heard by more than 1 million people each week. He and his partner, Bill (Bubba) Bussey, don’t shy away from their Christian faith and conservative beliefs. The pair have authored several books, and Burgess makes frequent speaking engagements.

FRANK MCEWEN MCEWEN & SONS OWNER What started as an effort to embrace a healthier diet of whole grains for Wilsonville’s McEwen and his wife, Helen, led to grinding corn on a stone burr grist mill and the base of some dishes of 2018 James Beard Foundation Award-winner Highlands Bar & Grill’s restaurants—plus Little Savannah, Hot and Hot Fish Club and countless home kitchens who set their bar high with McEwen cornmeal, grits, polenta, rolled oats and golden flax seed. PROFILE 2019

YVONNE

MURRAY PERSON OF THE YEAR

A WOMAN WITH BIG DREAMS IS NOW CHANGING THE ECONOMIC LANDSCAPE OF THE COUNTY SHE HAS LONG CALLED HOMEâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;AND STILL FINDS TIME FOR OFF-ROADING ALONG THE WAY. BY EMILY SPARACINO | PHOTOS BY KEITH MCCOY + CONTRIBUTED

PROFILE 2019

Clad in a sleek blazer, a pearl necklace and snakeskin kitten heels, Yvonne Murray sits in the lobby of McLeod Software Corporation’s building in Meadow Brook Corporate Park early one morning in October. When she’s not posing for photos she’s talking about where her busy work schedule has taken her lately. “We’ve had four trips in the last month,” she says. The “we” includes Murray’s colleague, Melody Whitten. The women make up the two-person leadership team behind Shelby County’s economic development organization, 58 INC. “I do enjoy traveling,” Murray, 33, continues. Car rides with Whitten—like the one they just took to Atlanta for work—often turn into two-hour sessions of talking and laughing. It’s not all business all the time for the duo, but Murray, 58 INC.’s managing director, and Whitten, the director of development, certainly get things done. “We’re different, but we complement each other.” As the photo shoot wraps up at McLeod—the first big project Murray was involved with when she came on board at 58 INC.—Murray suggests a quick visit to the former Valley Elementary School in Pelham, a site the city plans to redevelop into something more useful for the community, she says. She has about an hour before she needs to be at the Pelham Civic Complex for a Shelby County Chamber luncheon—an opportunity to network with people and to support the chamber, which shares office space with 58 INC. It’s another busy day for Murray, albeit another day she’s clearly embracing just as much as her other days not-so-much at the office. (She travels a lot, remember?) But how did Murray find herself at the helm of Shelby County’s economic development? Like the local projects that consume her working hours now, it was all about preparation and timing.

that time struggling on the streets of Manila, and I began to ask a lot of questions,” she says. “I eventually found that the impact of politics on an economy was a passionate subject for me, and that was pervasive to all scales from the economy of an entire country down to the economy of a small business or a family.” After turning the tassel on her mortarboard at Oak Mountain High School’s graduation ceremony in 2003, Murray started her college career at UAB, earning a Bachelor of Arts in political science and her master’s degree in public administration. “I think back then my perception was that I would end up going to law school and then head to Washington, D.C., to serve in some capacity,” she says. She interned for the Regional Planning Commission of Greater Birmingham as an undergraduate at a time when the agency was experiencing a “pivotal and positive cultural shift,” as she calls it. “During my internship I actually supported a transportation planner and a Geographic Information Systems manager. I found that I liked the tie of technical, numbersbased work into public service.” Her internship got her foot in the door at RPCGB, but her work got her a full-time position. She started as a community planner, a new concept to her, but one she embraced. “Within six months, I was working economic development projects and loved it,” she says. “I had been previously exposed to it in a couple of ways: I spent some time at the Bessemer incubator, and I conducted some economic development research as a graduate assistant at UAB.” Ten years later, Murray came face-to-face with an opportunity in Shelby County that was too exciting to pass up.

SETTING THE STAGE

Murray was content enough at RPCGB to picture herself reaching retirement age there. But something—maybe the same unknown compulsion that glued her young eyes to the television set every morning for the news—urged her to strongly consider this potential career move to a new economic development entity in Shelby County called 58 INC. “There was just something in my gut that told me to chase this position,” she says. “I’m from Shelby County, and I live in Helena. There was a lot of draw to the fact that I would be able to work where I lived, and it didn’t hurt that the Helena-to-downtown-Birmingham commute is a challenge.”

When Murray was a child, she started watching the news almost every morning. She’s not sure why. How many children sit down and watch the news unless they’re required to as part of a school assignment? For reasons she didn’t give much thought to as a 12-year-old, she valued listening to the daily reports about what was happening around the world. When she was in the seventh grade, she traveled to the Philippines, her mother’s homeland. The eye-opening experience stuck with her. “I observed children who were my peers in age at

PROFILE 2019

COMING HOME

Murray participates in a team-building activity during Leadership Shelby Countyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s opening retreat in 2018. OPPOSITE: The former Valley Elementary School building in Pelham is one of many redevelopment projects Murray is involved with in Shelby County.

PROFILE 2019

“ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT IS ABOUT PEOPLE. WE WANT THE COMMUNITIES TO KNOW WHO WE ARE AND TRUST THAT WE ARE TRYING TO SUPPORT THEM.” -YVONNE MURRAY 20

PROFILE 2019

The interviews were lengthy and in-depth, but Murray felt like she connected with her interviewers. “They were challenging, but in a fun way. It was refreshing to see panels of board members and community leaders so passionate about a position.” And then, she was offered the job. “It felt right,” she says. “Don’t get me wrong – I was completely shocked.” She officially started as managing director of 58 INC. in November 2017. For the few months Murray spent her time getting to know the lay of the land and making sure people knew who she was and 58 INC.’s purpose in fostering industrial, commercial and retail recruitment and retention efforts and workforce readiness initiatives. “We were really fortunate to come in at a time where local leadership is cohesive and local companies are growing,” she says. “We have helped quite a few companies grow this first year.” Perhaps her most important task when she started with 58 INC. was to help close the deal with McLeod Software Corporation on relocating its headquarters to a larger facility to consolidate its 300-plus employees into one location. Mission accomplished: McLeod has made its new home in Meadow Brook Corporate Park off U.S. 280. “Their new space in Meadow Brook is going to be a catalyst for reinvigoration of that corridor,” she says. “There’s a vision for that park to become a technology park that is supported by a lot of groups, and I personally love it. I grew up right there and have walked that trail in Meadow Brook many times. To see and help that park revitalized and turned into something cutting edge would be a big deal for me.” The next item on the 58 INC. agenda was to tackle the existing the business community by establishing a schedule of Business Retention and Expansion visits. “We go in and meet with on

average three businesses each week to discuss what they’ve got going on and what they need,” Murray says. “We use that information collected to drive what programming and responsive activity we implement.” 58 INC. has successfully partnered with the city of Columbiana on a hiring fair and helped establish an apprenticeship program with employers ready to hire and train needed workforce members. “This model is really exciting because it allows a recent high school graduate, unemployed person or existing employee looking to grow to work and go to school at no cost,” she says. “The company gets to train an employee while they’re learning and scale the wage as their skills increase. In addition to all of this, we’ve been working closely with our municipalities on a variety of projects around recruitment. We’ve made some promising progress on developments and sites around the county that we hope to share as we are able.” Although it was scary for her to leave her first work family at RPCGB, Murray’s ties to Shelby County helped ease her transition. “I see friends from high school or their parents constantly, and having that connection to people helps,” she says. “Economic development is about people. We want the communities to know who we are and trust that we are trying to support them.” For her, it’s also about setting an example as a successful woman leader to other women and young girls. “I have an aptitude for math and science, and I love data and numbers. In the past, that wasn’t ‘cool,’” she says. “I love that it is now becoming more widely accepted. I embrace that nerdy piece of myself and love it. We get funneled an image of what our lives are supposed to look like and how we are supposed to behave, but

PROFILE 2019

Murray, right, talks to Taylor Lupo at 4 Wheel Parts in Pelham about his latest Jeep. BELOW: Murray and her husband, Stephen, have made new friends like Lupo through off-roading outings in their Jeeps.

PROFILE 2019

this isn’t the day and age of cookie cutter where we all follow a structured recipe. This is the day and age of 3-D print. We have to be flexible and adaptive to change, and there’s no time to worry about ‘the way it’s always been done.’” Murray’s title of managing director of an economic development entity for a county of about 213,000 residents is impressive enough, but she’s also a Certified Economic Development Finance Professional, the result of her completion of courses on economic development funding, deal structuring, credit analysis and project financial analysis. “To this day, I keep those textbooks handy because I find value in them,” she says. Whitten says Murray’s thoughtfulness, loyalty, trustworthiness and outgoing personality shine in everything she does. “She also loves her family and friends and truly values genuine relationships,” she adds. “As a colleague, I have found her to be intelligent and insightful, a combination that allows her to communicate effectively and positively impact our processes and program of work.” SWITCHING GEARS AND TALKING SHOP What you might not guess is that this economic development guru by weekday turns into an automotive junkie with her husband by weekend, testing the limits of their latest Jeep on different off-road courses in the region. Cars are what brought her and Stephen together in the first place. “I grew up watching my dad work on cars, and when I was in high school I found myself surrounded by friends who had an interest in cars,” she says. “The Fast and the Furious movies had just come out, so it was big back then. When I was in undergrad, I had a part-time job as a receptionist/salesperson in an automotive performance shop here in Shelby County. My husband worked at another automotive performance shop at the time, and from there the hobbies have just evolved over time.” She credits Stephen—a “mechanically-minded person that can work on anything,” she says—with introducing her to motorcycles. “He got me interested in riding, and I love it. I took the MSF motorcycle safety course at the University of Montevallo to learn how to ride. I highly recommend it. We’ve also had four-wheelers, but there’s a much smaller learning curve there.” Now, they’re on a Jeep kick. Stephen had one before they met, and in 2013, they each bought one and heavily modified them to drive off-road. Fittingly, they are members of a Jeep group called Bham-JK that had more than 1,500 members at its peak and hosted monthly rides and meet-and-greet events. They’ve sold their Wranglers and taken a hiatus from the rides now, but lately, Murray and Stephen have focused on restoring and upgrading her 1983 Jeep “Woody” Wagoneer. “I have loved those vehicles for quite some time, and in the spring I had the opportunity to purchase one for a great price,” she says. “It was a single-owner vehicle, and I even have the original window sticker and sales books. The body and interior are in great shape. It’s in 100 pieces right now because it’s getting a Chevy LS swap. That motor will modernize the vehicle and make it a little more powerful.” Fast cars and rock-crawling Jeeps have also given Murray and Stephen friends, including Taylor Lupo, manager at 4 Wheel Parts in Pelham, and his wife. Lupo isn’t surprised when Murray stops by the shop before The Shelby County Chamber luncheon on the photo shoot day. “You wouldn’t believe the personal connection she makes with people once they realize that she loves Jeeps and off-roading,” Whitten says. “I’m always amazed at how she can talk fluently about lift kits, engines, tires … stuff I know nothing about … but it certainly amps up her ‘cool factor’ and eases the conversation with some folks. It’s one of the unique, fascinating features about her that catches you off guard if you don’t know her. But don’t be fooled; she loves manicures too!” READY TO RECRUIT If Murray has learned one thing about economic development since joining 58 INC., it’s that the field impacts most other fields. “You have to be at least a little bit versed in a lot of things,” she says. “I didn’t anticipate that I would dig

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PROFILE 2019

so deeply into the operations, culture and science of so many types of companies, but I really love that piece of it.” And to say she’s well-versed in her field is a gross understatement. Murray has completed her Certificate in Public Leadership and the Coach Development Program from the Brookings Executive Education program in Washington, D.C., and she is a Certified Economic Development Finance Professional. Her familiarity with Shelby County from growing up here is one more checked box on the list of reasons she has excelled as an economic development leader here. “It surprises me about how many people are excited about the work we’re doing,” she says. “What’s neat about Shelby County is everybody’s close and familial.” Her short list of goals for the county in the next decade reads something like this: growth in population and workforce; college graduates returning (and with friends) to live here; new businesses starting and further diversifying the local economy; and new jobs in the region that are closer for Shelby County residents, cutting down on commute times and traffic issues. “The workforce now is our biggest challenge,” she says. “We don’t have enough people to fill new positions. We need to keep hometown people and graduates here.” For it all, Murray pays careful attention to preserving the beauty and character of the county. Although Whitten says Murray has too many strengths to list, the running joke between the two is that Murray is the data queen. “She is excellent at research and quantitative analysis, but also has tremendous experience with start-ups, financial analysis and grants,” she says. “These skill sets are extremely beneficial as we respond to RFPs, assist entrepreneurs and seek out funding sources.” Murray can spout facts and figures about the area all day long, but she can also tell clients and visitors that Pelham Diner has pancakes the size of hubcaps and the waterfall in Old Town Helena is one of the most scenic spots in the entire county. It’s easier to recruit someone to a place you love, right? “Having grown up in this area, I love being close to my family and raising our daughter here,” she says. “And I love that my friends have come back and are raising their kids here.”

RECRUITMENT RESULTS HERE IS A LIST OF COMPANIES THAT HAVE MOVED TO SHELBY COUNTY IN THE LAST 25 YEARS:

-1997: SYSCO OF CENTRAL ALABAMA, CALERA -1999: SAGINAW PIPE, SAGINAW -2000: AGC AUTOMOTIVE AMERICAS, ALABASTER -2001: ARMSTRONG RELOCATION, ALABASTER -2002: BTC WHOLESALE DISTRIBUTORS, ALABASTER -2005: THOMPSON TRACTOR, ALABASTER -2006: HARDWOODS OF ALABAMA, ALABASTER -2007: EDWARDS CHEVROLET 280, BIRMINGHAM -2009: FRESENIUS MEDICAL CARE, ALABASTER

-2009: ALABAMA CROWN DISTRIBUTING COMPANY, ALABASTER -2011: HILLTOP MONTESSORI SCHOOL, BIRMINGHAM -2011: BIOHORIZONS, HOOVER -2012: HIBBETT SPORTS, ALABASTER -2015: SUMMER CLASSICS, PELHAM -2015: DIEHL AEROSPACE, STERRETT -2017: HEALTHSOUTH REHABILITATION HOSPITAL, PELHAM

*INFORMATION PROVIDED BY 58 INC.

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PROFILE 2019

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@shelbylivingmagazine

From the moment our students begin their educational I journey with the Shelby County School District, a world of excellence awaits. It has taken the collective effort of everyone in our school district to reach this level of excellence. Every day, our district strives to live up to its motto “Prepared for the Journey” by focusing on the critical thinking skills and soft skills that help students achieve academic success while preparing them for the journey that awaits.

We welcome members of the community to visit our schools and see the amazing things going on inside our classrooms! Students are learning automation and robotics, printing computer models with 3-D technology, and computer coding at all grade levels. Whether it is music and art, business and finance, engineering or health sciences, we’re teaching students to dream bigger and be unafraid to go where their imagination leads them. Our partnerships with local businesses and industries are giving students the hands-on skills that will translate into exciting careers in the future.

Shelby County Schools is committed to preparing students for a lifelong journey. While academic excellence is a priority of our system, we realize today’s students need more than academics to be successful in life. Students need character and confidence to embrace change and to be grounded in solid principles of leadership. They need essential skills such as responsibility, problem-solving, teamwork, adaptability, communication, and critical thinking. These traits empower students to use their knowledge effectively and will create employees who will transform the workforce of the future. Our focus on leadership development is exemplified across all grade levels with peer mentoring programs, school/community service projects, and the Leader-in-Me program. Students also participate in clubs, organizations, and JROTC. Our annual High School Leadership Conference, which draws over 400 students, is not only an avenue for students to learn leadership, but to put it into practice. Organized by student leaders, the event encourages participants to take the knowledge learned and give back to their local schools and communities through a county-wide service project.

The Shelby County School District is preparing our students to not only graduate, but to be successful at the next level regardless of whether they plan to attend college, join the military, or transition into a career. The Shelby County District currently has a graduation rate of 95%, well above the state average of 89%. Shelby Countyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s graduating Class of 2018 from the seven high schools earned a collective amount of $31.6 million in college scholarships.

Shelby Countyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Career and Technical Education programs are preparing college and career-bound students for future careers through authentic learning experiences centered around 16 career clusters. These programs, which are provided in all middle/high schools and at the Career Educational Technical Center, are technical, rigorous, relevant, and are aligned with Business/Industry Standards to help prepare students for the workforce of tomorrow.

20 KATYE JACKSON GONZALEZ CANCER SURVIVOR Two bouts with childhood cancer cost Jackson Gonzalez an arm and facial paralysis but gave her a story she could share to encourage others. The former Greystone Elementary School student, who now teaches third grade in Homewood, returned to the school during Young Authors Week 2018 to share her autobiography, which was published with the help of a GES teacher. Proceeds from the book benefit Camp SmileA-Mile, which Jackson Gonzalez attended for many years.

21 CAROL BRUSER LEADERSHIP SHELBY COUNTY DIRECTOR You would be hard-pressed to find someone who’s lived in Shelby County for more than a month and doesn’t at least know Bruser’s name. As the community relations manager at the University of Montevallo and the Leadership Shelby County program director, Bruser is a familiar face to countless people she has worked with, mentored or simply impacted through her leadership roles. She’s known for her compassion and her love for her family and friends—plus her refreshing sense of humor. She even agreed to be the “guest of honor” and endure an evening of good-natured jokes from friends at The Arc of Shelby County’s first Roast and Toast event that raised $15,000 for the advocacy agency.

22 ALEJANDRO CHAVEZ

23 DANIEL A. MOORE SPORTS ARTIST

ZAPOPAN MEXICAN RESTAURANT OWNER After doing business in Calera for 17 years, Chavez, third from left, decided to take leap of faith and broke ground on a new restaurant in September 2018. The 7,500-square-foot space behind Zaxby’s will seat 295, and Chavez is looking forward to serving the community for many more years to come.

24 PAT HAMRICK THOMPSON BASEBALL COACH Hamrick, far right, has won more than 500 games as coach of the Thompson High School baseball team, but his impact is better measured by the people he has influenced rather than wins and losses. A native of Bibb County, he played baseball at Bibb County High School, Shelton State Community College and the University of West Alabama before beginning his coaching career, which includes more than 20 years at THS.

Moore has likely been in more homes in the state of Alabama than the best politicians or preachers. Best known for his iconic paintings commemorating historic moments in University of Alabama football history, he has also been commissioned to create paintings for organizations including the Southeastern Conference, Major League Baseball, the National Football League and more—including the United States Postal Service, for which he created paintings for the commemorative stamp series “Legendary Football Coaches.” PROFILE 2019

DONA BULLOCK WORLD CHAMPION HAIRSTYLIST Family and work are of paramount importance to Bullock, and in her case, they go together. This Mt Laurel resident works with her daughters at her hair salon, Joelle Salon. In 1982, she won a world championship for the USA hairstyling team in Paris. Here’s another fun fact about her too: While attending the University of Alabama, she worked as a hostess for the athletic department when Paul “Bear” Bryant was UA’s head football coach.

PROFILE 2019

26 JANICE CHESSER WIDOWS’ MIGHT MINISTRY FOUNDER Seventeen years ago, Janice Chesser and five other women approached Liberty Baptist Church Pastor Dr. Tim Cox to discuss forming a new ministry for local widows. The Widows’ Might ministry started as a small support group at the Chelsea church for women whose spouses had died, but it turned into a close-knit group whose outreach efforts have touched thousands of people locally, around the country and overseas.

27 MIKE THOMPSON THOMPSON TRACTOR SUCCESSOR Thompson was 2 years old when his father, Hall W. Thompson, moved his family from Nashville to Birmingham to assume ownership of the tractor company he purchased in 1957. Thompson, who has served as president of Thompson Tractor Co. since 1986, says his earliest memories are of playing on and around tractors. His father’s most vivid memory, however, is of the company’s frightening first month of business, when they sold just one tractor and lost $40,000. Over the ensuing six decades, Thompson Tractor Company has grown through the lines of products it carried and more locations. The Thompson family is also synonymous with Shoal Creek golf club, which was founded by Hall Thompson in 1977. In addition to that legacy, Mike Thompson founded Fairway Investments, which invests in and develops real estate in the Southeast.

28 ALEX DUDCHOCK SHELBY COUNTY MANAGER

29 JASMINE AGNEW CALERA EATS AND FOOD TRUCK FRENZY CREATOR

Known for his fast talking and enthusiastic nature, Dudchock has been employed by the county for more than 28 years, the last 25 as county manager. To say that he juggles a lot in a day would be an understatement. From court house expansions to recreational trails and Oak Mountain State Park, if there’s something going on in Shelby County, there’s a good chance that Dudchock is involved or at the very least knows about it.

30+31 ANDREW AND JON ERWIN FILMMAKERS OF ERWIN BROTHERS ENTERTAINMENT Calera natives and brothers Jon and Andrew Erwin are the filmmaking team behind “Moms’ Night Out,” “October Baby,” “Woodlawn” and “I Can Only Imagine.” Their company focuses on faith-based and inspirational feature films. Much of their work has taken place in Shelby County and surrounding areas.

The Calera Eats Facebook group has become a hub for residents looking for new restaurants and recipes to try and for restaurants looking to spread the word about what foods they offer. In less than a year since Agnew started it, the group amassed more than 6,700 members and shows no signs of slowing. During summer 2018, she also started the Food Truck Frenzy event to offer an opportunity for food trucks in Shelby County to meet at a designated location. PROFILE 2019

33 ROBERT M. LIGHTFOOT JR.

32 SUE ELLEN GERRELLS

RETIRED NASA ADMINISTRATOR

SOUTH CITY THEATRE ARTISTIC DIRECTOR Not only is Gerrells the artistic director of Pelham’s community theater company, South City Theatre, but she’s also the festival director for the Alabama Conference of Theatre. She is recognized in Ireland, Singapore, Japan and the U.S. as an award-winning actor and director. Her work was recently recognized when she was included in Positive Maturity’s “Top 50 Over 50” list for 2018.

34 TOM WALKER AMERICAN VILLAGE FOUNDER & CEO The idea to create a place where young people could learn about American history by seeing it come to life occurred to Tom Walker in the 1990s, and it came to fruition in 1999 when the American Village Citizenship Trust opened. Walker has been honored as Shelby County Citizen of the Year, Montevallo Civic Leader of the Year and as the recipient of the Alabama Governor’s Tourism Award.

35 GLENN PHILLIPS LAKE HOMES REALTY CEO Phillips’ expertise expands beyond his real estate company— one of the fastest growing in the country—to business management in general. He is the author of the book “Nerd to English: Your Everyday Guide to Translating Your Business, Your Messages, and Your Life,” and he has had national speaking engagements and been quoted in media outlets such as The Wall Street Journal and U.S. News & World Report. 32

PROFILE 2019

36 ANDREW ZOW CALERA FOOTBALL COACH Playing quarterback for the University of Alabama football team is one of the most recognizable positions in the state, but former Crimson Tide signal caller Zow makes even more of a difference now as he coaches and mentors young men at Calera High School. He has coached the Eagles for three seasons, including leading the program into the transition from Class 5A to Class 6A in 2018. Prior to his time at Calera, he coached down the road at Montevallo High School, where he led the Bulldogs to 13 wins in four seasons. Before that, Zow played quarterback at UA for four seasons, passing for almost 6,000 yards and leading the Tide to a Southeastern Conference Championship in 1999. His priority now is reaching out to the community and supporting players. “You can say, ‘I love you, but love is an action word,’” he says. “We’ve worked hard so that they understand that we love them.”

Lightfoot’s meteoric career has taken him from Montevallo to the top of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. He joined NASA in 1989 as a test engineer and program manager at Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville. From there he became director of Marshall in 2009, and then served as NASA’s associate administrator (the administration’s highest-ranking civil servant) and acting administrator until he retired in April 2018.

SHEA GOLDSTEIN FOOD BLOGGER Her Asparagus-Tomato Parmesan Soup was featured on The Today Show. Her French Dip Mac ‘N Cheese Smothered French Fries made it onto ABC News. And she was sure to tout that “there’s nothing I won’t put a jalapeno on” when she competed in the World Food Championship in 2018. Goldstein is also a mom of two teenagers and calls Helena home. Find her blog that started it all back in 2010 at dixiechikcooks.com. PROFILE 2019

39 CHANDLER HOFFMAN

38 JERRY GREEN FORGEMASTER OF SHELBY IRON FORGE

SOCCER STAR

On the first Saturday of every month, Green can be found at Shelby Iron Works blacksmithing just for the fun of it. A blacksmith since 1979, Green now leads forging at Shelby Iron Forge, a group that meets once a month to keep the art of blacksmithing alive. In addition to teaching new blacksmiths tricks of the trade, he loves the look on children’s faces when they see what blacksmithing looks like for the first time.

40 KRISTI INGRAM COMMUNITY VOLUNTEER & BREAST CANCER WARRIOR Chelsea flew its flag at half-staff in late November 2017. Its people wouldn’t forget Ingram, who’d just passed away from breast cancer. She’d long had a passion for serving her community and its children, as a Mother’s Day Out teacher, a Sunday school teacher, and in countless other volunteer roles with youth sports and more. After her cancer came back, youth and school sports teams held “pink out” games in her honor and raised funds for breast cancer research.

41 JAMIA ALEXANDERWILLIAMS ANGEL WARRIORS FOUNDATION FOUNDER To say Williams is energetic about the things she believes in is an understatement. She founded the Angel Warriors Foundation to provide resources to families of individuals with special needs, organized Alabaster’s First Friday events, is working to develop a sensory trail in the city for children with special needs and in April 2018 was appointed to the Alabaster Board of Education. There’s no doubt children in Alabaster and beyond will benefit from her work for years to come. 34

PROFILE 2019

42 CAMPBELL ROBERTSON NEW YORK TIMES REPORTER Back in 2008 Robertson was dropped off at a small Army outpost in Northern Iraq on assignment for the New York Times. Deep in the bunker, he found soldiers watching University of Alabama football season opener game at 3 a.m. Iraqi time. “It was one of the more surreal moments for me,” he recalls. “In some ways it couldn’t be more foreign (there), but it tells you something more about how in the military you hang on to what you know.” It was his time in Iraq that made this Montevallo native want to come back and cover a culture he knew already knew, the South—a place he now found a “more distinctive culture than I realized growing up.” And that’s just what he did, running the Times’ New Orleans bureau for around eight years until he recently moved to Pittsburgh to work as a general national correspondent.

Hoffman made his name as a star for the Oak Mountain High School soccer program, and the former two-time Gatorade Player of the Year in the state will return to the area soccer scene as a member of the inaugural Birmingham Legion FC soccer team in spring 2019. Hoffman became the first player to officially sign a contract with the Legion, continuing a professional career that has included twice being named to the USL All-League First Team.

Engaging the Full Spectrum of Substance Abuse in Shelby County

PROFILE 2019

KENNETH

DUKES A GRANDMOTHER’S STEADYING, INSPIRING INFLUENCE IN THE MIDST OF A DIFFICULT CHILDHOOD STARTED A DETERMINED BOY ON A PATH OF LEADERSHIP.

BY STEPHEN DAWKINS | PHOTOS BY KEITH MCCOY

Even on Sunday mornings, there was no sleeping in for Ruby Dukes. She rose with the sun, maybe even before, and began preparing a meal of steak and biscuits with gravy for her family. The first visitor to the kitchen was little Kenneth, her grandson who lived next door off Brickyard Road in Montevallo, always eager to learn lessons from his grandmother about cooking and life. Kenneth Dukes’ father and mother were both high school dropouts who struggled with alcohol and drugs. But instead of falling into the despair that claims so many in similar situations, he clung to the rock of hope that was his grandmother. “She basically was the closest thing to Christ I’ve seen in my life,” Dukes says about a woman who never knew her father and whose mother died while she was young, but who spent a lifetime trying to help others. “She motivated me to never let circumstances dictate my future.” With Ruby’s teaching and encouragement, Dukes

navigated a challenging childhood and grew to be a community leader—pastor, mentor and founder of the Shelby County Chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. One of Ruby’s lessons was hard work. She worked as a custodian at the University of Montevallo for about 45 years, and also cleaned homes and babysat for fellow UM employees. The work did not stop at home, where she cooked and gardened. “She was just a worker,” Dukes says. “She never stopped, she never slowed down. She was a little petite lady, probably 4-foot-10, but she was one of the strongest people I’ve ever met.” But she always made time for family. Ruby baked pies with the blueberries picked by Kenneth and his brother, and they walked about a mile to a creek that wound through the University of Montevallo golf course. “She would fish until every bait was gone or it thundered, whichever came first,” PROFILE 2019

Kenneth Dukes is a familiar face in the Shelby County Schools system, as he has spent 31 years in education, including driving a bus.

Dukes recalls. “There was a simple part of life that now nobody understands. She would never warm food in the microwave. She would put it in the oven. She would say, ‘I can wait.’ She would say, ‘That’s the problem with the world is they want everything too fast.’” Ruby’s strength was also emotional. Dukes remembers when his uncle, Ruby Dukes’ son, passed away. “She had a crying spell, but she would look up and say, ‘Lord, it’s in your hands,’” Dukes says. “I asked her how she did that. She said, ‘When you grow up with the life I had, you either had an inner strength or you would probably be dead.’ I wanted that 38

PROFILE 2019

trait more than any other.” Ruby Dukes died in December 2017 at the age of 98, but even before that, relatives started to lean on Dukes the way they had his grandmother. He realizes now it was the beginning of his experience with leadership. IF YOU DON’T FAIL Dukes recalls a day when his mother was attempting to console his brother who had failed sixth grade—and was worried that Dukes would laugh at him. They did not know

Dukes is pastor of Holly Grove Baptist Church in Jemison.

Dukes could overhear their conversation. “Don’t worry, baby, he’s going to fail at something one day,” their mother said. “I told myself, ‘Never,’” Dukes says today. “It motivated me, and it scared me at the same time. It motivated me to the point of never wanting to fail but scared me to the point (where) if I thought there was a chance I would fail, I would never even try.” At Montevallo High School, coaches including Bobby Pierson, Richard Gilliam and Tony Berry had a significant influence on Dukes’ life. “Coach Gilliam would never raise his voice or curse, but he could get more out of someone than

anyone I’ve seen,” Dukes recalls. Pierson, meanwhile, arrived at Montevallo High School from Conecuh County the same year Dukes entered as a freshman. Pierson teased Dukes about “throwing his time away” in the marching band and convinced him to serve as a manager for the football team. In a similar role for the Bulldogs’ basketball team, Dukes helped produce a pregame program modeled after the Chicago Bulls warmup routine. After the player introductions and before tipoff, Dukes bellowed into the microphone using a nickname acronym for “Coach Pierson”: “CP, turn them PROFILE 2019

Dukes drives a school bus each day to and from the Career Technical Educational Center in Columbiana (this photo) and served as dean of the Birmingham Bible College satellite campus at the University of Montevallo (below).

“I ALWAYS KNEW THERE WERE HUNDREDS OF ME WALKING AROUND THESE SCHOOL HALLS AND THEY NEEDED SOMEONE. THAT TO ME IS WHAT IT’S ALL ABOUT. YOU NEVER KNOW THE IMPACT YOU ARE MAKING ON A PERSON.” -KENNETH DUKES 40

PROFILE 2019

Dawgs loose.” Pierson won more than 350 games over 26 years as coach at MHS and became a local celebrity. Folks would see him around town and yell out Dukes’ famous line. “Tell you the truth, (Dukes is) one of my best friends,” Pierson says. “If I’m broke down anywhere, I call him and he’s there.” Pierson played football at Alabama State University and maintained connections there, and with Dukes about to graduate from high school, the coach helped secure Dukes a scholarship to ASU as an athletic trainer. Dukes told his mother the exciting news. “I hope you make it,” Dukes remembers her saying. “That response froze me up. I was scared I was going to fail. I made that into me saying I would never let another child that’s around me be afraid to fail. If you don’t fail, you will never be successful.” Even after his time at Montevallo was over, Dukes maintained a connection to the Shelby County Schools system and its students as a bus driver. He continues to drive a bus daily to and from the Career Technical Educational Center and in the fall began his 31st year in education, including time spent coaching. “I always knew there were hundreds of me walking around these school halls and they needed someone,” Dukes says, noting his investment is affirmed when someone approaches him and says he made a difference in their life. “That to me is what it’s all about. You never know the impact you are making on a person.” Dukes also recognizes not all students should attend college, as some are more suited for technical skills. Still, he realizes the importance of higher education for many. Through the Make It Happen program, he has helped numerous students apply for college and research the best fit for them. “I’ve been to every college, every university in the state of Alabama on tours with kids,” Dukes says. DIFFERENCE MAKER At a young age, Dukes “fell in love with listening to powerful speakers.” In fact, he was given the nickname “Doc” for his attraction to the words of Dr. Martin Luther

Dukes married his wife, Mari, in 1998 and they have four children.

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PROFILE 2019

“I THINK GOD INTRODUCES US TO OUR PASSION BEFORE WE EVEN REALIZE IT. I ALWAYS WANTED TO BE A DIFFERENCE MAKER.” -KENNETH DUKES

PROFILE 2019

Dukes was given the nickname “Doc” at a young age for his attraction to the words of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and his desire to work to improve people’s lives.

King Jr.—and his desire to work to improve peoples’ lives. “I think God introduces us to our passion before we even realize it,” Dukes says. “I always wanted to be a difference maker.” Dukes, who married his wife, Mari, in 1998 and has four children, has spent much of his life pastoring. He served as dean of the Birmingham Bible College satellite campus at the University of Montevallo, and for the past 15 years has served as pastor of Holly Grove Baptist Church in Jemison. For Dukes, there isn’t a better place in the country than Shelby County, but it will take work to keep it that way. He ran for a seat on the Shelby County Commission in 2016 but fell short of the vote total needed, and he is active in many facets of life in Montevallo, including the city’s bicentennial effort. Following the landmark Shelby County v. Holder ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2013 that struck down provisions of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, Dukes worked to found a Shelby County chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. “This affected the whole nation,” Dukes says about the ruling. “I don’t think we really realize the impact. Not everybody is bad, but there are those with bad agendas.” Dukes recalls attending oral arguments before the U.S. Supreme Court in the Holder case. “You’re seeing all these people you would have never seen before,” he says. As president of the NAACP chapter, he wants to “empower people to take care of their own choices and communities.” Voting issues make up the greater part of the organization’s efforts, including helping residents register, educating them about voter identification laws and serving as an advocate during grievances. “I’m the type of leader where I’m not sitting down waiting on a racial issue,” Dukes says. “I want people to take ownership of their homes and their communities. Some of the biggest issue is people don’t know their rights and they’re waiting on a reason to be angry instead of taking control of what they can control. I’m about right and wrong and allowing people to have a voice. That’s what is so wonderful about this country.”

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PROFILE 2019

NOAH

TANNER

HE’S SETTING THE BAR FOR IMPACTING THE COMMUNITY— AND HE’S ONLY A HIGH SCHOOL SOPHOMORE.

BY NEAL WAGNER | PHOTOS BY KEITH MCCOY + CONTRIBUTED

Noah Tanner rushes through the double glass doors leading from the main stairway in Thompson High School to the building’s rotunda. At most, he’s a minute late for his 8 a.m. interview appointment. “Sorry I’m running late. It’s been a pretty busy morning,” says Tanner. Dressed in athletic shorts and his Thompson Warriors football warmup jacket, he takes a swig of the sports drink in his hand before continuing. “I’ll find us a place to meet.” Tanner greets several people as he walks down the school’s hallways—students and teachers, it makes no difference—with a confident wave and smile. He reaches a set of conference rooms on the second floor of the main academic building and inquires about a vacancy as a THS employee points him to a room on the northeast corner of the school. As he sits down to talk about his life, Tanner shows few signs he has already gone through a rigorous football practice earlier in the morning after being up late working at the YMCA the previous night. As a sophomore, Tanner has a presence on campus typically reserved for the senior star quarterback of a football team, and is far more involved in local happenings than many adults are. “I try to think of myself as a regular high school student,” he says, knowing he is anything but. “I just try to be as involved as I can be. In a small town like Alabaster, you have a chance to touch a lot of people and really make a difference. “I think you have that kind of personality instilled in you when you grow up here,” he adds. As he explains his community involvement over the past several years, it starts to become clear there are few youthoriented offerings in Alabaster he hasn’t played a role in.

PROFILE 2019

A HEART FOR OTHERS It’s a mild fall day in October 2015 as the scene outside Thompson Middle School resembles a carnival complete with miniature golf, arts and crafts, inflatable games and more. Tanner, then in eighth grade, shows expert-level event management skills as he quickly but calmly makes the rounds to the different stations set up in the large grass field adjacent to the school. After ensuring everyone has what they need, he takes a break to speak with local media about the school’s second-annual fun day for students with special needs, which he had successfully organized and implemented for the second-straight year. Quick to point the spotlight away from himself, Tanner, only 13 at the time, demonstrated the sophisticated humility he still shows to this day. “It’s very reassuring to see how many people stepped up to make this happen,” he says. “It’s good to see everyone coming together to make Fall Day a success. We are trying to get more seventh-graders involved so they can continue the Warrior legacy.” Tanner and his team organized the middle school fun days for their peers with special needs on their own accord without prompting from any of the school’s teachers, which came as no surprise to Alabaster City Schools’ Coordinator of Secondary Education Dr. Keri Johnson. “He has a heart for other people. It doesn’t matter who they are, if they have special needs, he treats everyone the same,” Johnson says. “He genuinely understands the way things operate, and he is never too busy to help someone.” Tanner certainly could use the “too busy” excuse if he wanted

PROFILE 2019

Then-seventh-grader Noah Tanner, back row, center, is honored by the Shelby County Drug Free Coalition in 2014 for earning the organization’s Character in Action Award at Family Connection in Alabaster.

to. A little more than a month into his 10th-grade year at THS, Tanner was involved in the Alabaster Teen Council, Leo Club, Beta Club, HOSA Future Health Care Professionals, Peer Helpers and Leadership 300. He was also an offensive lineman on the Warriors’ football team and worked after school at the Greystone YMCA. In the classroom, he was in a dual-enrollment pre-calculus program and was taking Advanced Placement biology and history at the same time – all three of which could allow him to earn early college credit. “It’s a lot of time management, some days more than others,” Tanner says with a laugh. “I’ve learned sometimes you have to say no or limit yourself, especially because schoolwork always comes first, then your extracurriculars. “It’s something that comes naturally to me, and I’ve got good support at home,” he adds. “I’m so glad both of those things are true, because I couldn’t do it otherwise.” SETTING AN EXAMPLE One organization has opened more doors for Tanner than all the others combined, although his beginnings with the group didn’t start out so smoothly. In fact, Alabaster Mayor Marty Handlon, who organizes the Alabaster Teen Council and chooses its members each year, still uses Tanner as a humorous example of what not to do. “After the kids have been chosen, we have an organizational meeting with them where we say ‘OK, this is what you’ve signed up for,’ and then we ask them why they wanted to be on Teen Council,” Handlon says, recalling Tanner’s first Teen Council meeting when he was a high school freshman. “Noah was the first one to answer, and he said, ‘Because it looks good on a college résumé.’ I kind of used that as a teaching moment to say ‘OK, let’s be clear that this is about more than just padding your résumé.’” Handlon looks back on the exchange fondly today, especially since Tanner began setting the standard for other members of the Teen Council

PROFILE 2019

Tanner is constantly involved in many aspects of student life in the halls of Thompson High School.

PROFILE 2019

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ABOVE: Tanner worked with other local teens in the summer of 2018 to organize swim lessons for children who are deaf and hard of hearing. He also serves on the Alabaster Teen Council to organize events like a slip ‘n slide event at Veterans Park. RIGHT: Tanner is a lineman on the THS football team

PROFILE 2019

almost immediately after he got involved. For the past few years, the Teen Council has served as a bridge between the city’s youth and City Hall, and regularly works with city leaders to offer feedback and organize kid-friendly events. “From that initial interview on, he has been a leader. He has used all of his gifts and skills to set an example for his peers,” Handlon says, noting Tanner is now in his third term of service on the all-volunteer Teen Council. “He has really come into his own. He is selfless, and he has a true servant’s heart.” While with the Teen Council, Tanner has worked with the other members to organize events such as summer movie nights at Larry Simmons Stadium, summer slip-n-slides, back-to-school bashes and charitable work such as preparing and serving meals for those in need at Thanksgiving. The group has also organized teen-focused mental health awareness events and helped organize a citywide health fair in 2018. Tanner officially serves in a public relations role for the Teen Council, ensuring word about the group’s events reaches a large audience, but it’s not uncommon to see him setting up tables, carrying large boxes and performing a variety of other tasks during Teen Council events. When setting up for the city’s health fair, Johnson, who had injured her ankle shortly before the event, spotted Tanner and asked if he could help her carry some items up the stairs. “They carried the boxes for me, set everything up, and Noah came back and checked on me several times throughout the day,” Johnson says. “He is very much in-tune with his strengths. He has a servant’s heart, but he’s also a great leader because he’s got a personality that makes people want to help him.” LASTING IMPACT When Tanner decides he wants to take on a project, he never does so half-heartedly. If he doesn’t know how to make something happen,

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PROFILE 2019

“HE IS VERY MUCH IN-TUNE WITH HIS STRENGTHS. HE HAS A SERVANT’S HEART, BUT HE’S ALSO A GREAT LEADER BECAUSE HE’S GOT A PERSONALITY THAT MAKES PEOPLE WANT TO HELP HIM.” - DR. KERI JOHNSON

PROFILE 2019

chances are he knows someone who does. “What he needs from us (the school system) is usually minimal, but it’s not something a kid would necessarily have access to,” Johnson says. “He is super easy to support, because by the time he comes to us, he’s usually thought out the logistics of whatever he is doing.” At only 16 years old, the list of events Tanner has helped organize is impressive. In addition to a bevy of Teen Council-related events, Tanner also organized swim lessons for local deaf and hard of hearing students at the Alabaster YMCA in 2018. “To my knowledge, that’s the only event of its kind in Alabama and possibly the Southeast,” Tanner says of the swim lessons, noting the idea came to him in the middle of the night and was quickly jotted down on his phone. “The need was definitely there, and we try to meet a need whenever it’s presented.” Given Tanner’s track record of careful planning and forward thinking, it’s no surprise he already has his future career path laid out. It’s also no surprise his career choice will focus on helping others. “I’m planning to go into a pre-med and emergency med major,” he says. “I’ve always wanted to help people, and what better way to do that than to be there for people on the worst day of their lives? It’s one of those jobs that often gets overlooked.” Tanner is approaching his future career field in the same manner he approaches most things in his life: by going all-in. “He’s always loved broadcast journalism, but after he got to the high school, he realized it made more sense for him to go into the medical field,” Johnson says, noting Tanner recently toured the Shelby Baptist Medical Center emergency department with other members of the Teen Council. “He has taken it upon himself to learn everything he can about the medical field and if it’s something he would be interested in pursuing.” When asked to sum up Tanner’s best quality in one phrase, Johnson didn’t hesitate. “He is very self-aware,” she says. “That’s not a quality you see often with kids that age.”

Tanner studies in the THS library. He works every day to balance a plethora of activities with his schoolwork and a job.

PROFILE 2019

TAMMY

ANDERSON THIS SURVIVOR DISCOVERED HOPE AND RENEWED HER FAITH ON HER CANCER JOURNEY. AND IT DIDN’T END THERE.

BY BRIANA HARRIS | PHOTOS BY KEITH MCCOY

Tammy Anderson thought she’d be strong enough to handle the onslaught of emotions she might feel when she started 18 weeks of ovarian cancer treatments at UAB. But during a tour of the hospital she broke down crying. “I completely lost it,” she says. “I boo-hooed right then and there. I saw all the women in there sitting in the exact same chairs that my mom had sat in, and I thought, ‘I’m way too young for this.’ All of the women were my mom’s age or older. I had a daughter in middle school and a son starting his senior year.” But it was also her age that gave her hope too. “I’m younger, so maybe my body can fight it a little better,” she thought to herself. Prior to her ovarian cancer diagnosis in 2014, Anderson was misdiagnosed. She was told she had gastrointestinal issues, and then a colonoscopy revealed a tumor growing into her colon. Her diagnosis was colon cancer, but that

didn’t make sense to her given her history with cancer. Her mother had died of ovarian cancer, and her father had died of colon and bladder cancer. “When my dad was going through it, I did a lot of research, and that knowledge helped me a lot,” she says. “I pushed for more testing, and the colon cancer test came back negative.” Then, she told them to test her for ovarian cancer. A cancer antigen 125 (CA 125) test, which measures the amount of the protein CA 125 in the blood, reveals 35 units per milliliter in healthy adults. But her results came back at more than 1,100 units per milliliter. It was, in Anderson’s words, “astronomical.” Her Stage 3 ovarian cancer had spread to her colon, lymph nodes and ovaries. After five months of treatments, though, she’s been in remission ever since. But that doesn’t stop her from thinking about and talking about ovarian cancer. “I often tell people

PROFILE 2019

that they have to be proactive about their health,” she says. “Educate yourself. Sometimes you have to ask more questions and push for additional testing.” A ROAD TRAVELED BEFORE As it turns out, Anderson’s oncologist was the same doctor her mom had seen years earlier. When it was her own turn to go through the process, she often reflected back on her mother’s experience. Anderson had walked through it with her mom when her son was 6 years old and she was pregnant with her daughter, watching as her mom underwent treatments—many of them experimental—every six months. After fighting the disease for a total of four years and nine months, her mom died in 2007. During her mother’s battle, Anderson really didn’t want to know much about the cancer that threatened her mom’s life. Doctors asked her and her sister if they wanted to do genetic testing to find out if they carried a BRCA gene that predisposed them to cancer, but they both declined. Years later when she started to experience certain symptoms, she was unaware that cancer could be the cause. “With being pregnant and having a young child, I just didn’t want to

know,” she says. “The recommendation if we had the gene was a full hysterectomy.” Some time later, her results came back normal from a CA 125 test. Then five years after her mom’s death, she tried to have the test performed again but was told it was no longer administered unless a patient had symptoms of ovarian cancer. “If anything, my regret is that if I’d done the BRCA testing then that would’ve given them their reason to do the CA 125 test,” Anderson says. It wasn’t until her own diagnosis that she had the BRCA test and then found out she is a carrier of a genetic mutation. KEEPING THE FAITH When her own diagnosis came, it had been a while since Anderson’s last confession at her church, Our Lady of the Valley, but she felt compelled to go. “Afterward, I was at peace. I could feel that people had been praying for me and I really felt God’s arms around me, holding me and lifting me up,” she says. In the past she had taught Sunday School classes, but it wasn’t until her cancer diagnosis that she says she drew closer to God. While off work, she read the Bible and studied

The Field of Teal baseball tournament, which was started at Pelham High School in 2015 in honor of Tammy Anderson, raises money for the Laura Crandall Brown Foundation, a nonprofit focused on gynecologic cancers.

PROFILE 2019

OVARIAN CANCER WARNING SIGNS WOMEN ARE MORE LIKELY TO HAVE SYMPTOMS IF THE DISEASE HAS SPREAD, BUT EVEN EARLY-STAGE OVARIAN CANCER CAN CAUSE THEM, ACCORDING TO THE AMERICAN CANCER SOCIETY. THE MOST COMMON SYMPTOMS INCLUDE THE FIRST FIVE LISTED BELOW, WHICH ARE COMMONLY CAUSED BY NON-CANCEROUS DISEASES AND BY CANCERS OF OTHER ORGANS. WHEN THEY ARE CAUSED BY OVARIAN CANCER, THEY TEND TO BE PERSISTENT AND OCCUR MORE OFTEN OR ARE MORE SEVERE. OTHER POSSIBLE SYMPTOMS ARE ALSO LISTED. -BLOATING

-BACK PAIN

-PELVIC OR ABDOMINAL PAIN

-PAIN DURING SEX

-TROUBLE EATING

-CONSTIPATION

-FEELING FULL QUICKLY

-ABDOMINAL SWELLING WITH

-URINARY SYMPTOMS SUCH AS

WEIGHT LOSS.

URGENCY OR FREQUENCY

-CHANGES IN A WOMANâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S PERIOD,

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SUCH AS HEAVIER BLEEDING THAN

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NORMAL OR IRREGULAR BLEEDING

PROFILE 2019

Tammy is working to raise money for research efforts to find an early detection test for ovarian cancer, with her daughter Ashley, pictured here, on the forefront of her mind.

PROFILE 2019

“I’VE TRIED TO FIND THE GOOD IN IT ALONG THE WAY. I’VE MET SO MANY WONDERFUL PEOPLE AND I’VE DONE THINGS THAT I NEVER WOULD’VE GOTTEN TO DO.” - TAMMY ANDERSON

The Laura Crandall Brown Foundation’s annual Head Over Teal 5k/10k and Family Fall Festival posts tributes to cancer survivors and those who have died from the disease.Tammy’s mother is pictured on the right.

scriptures. When she wasn’t able to go to church, church members came to her home to serve her communion or to pray with her. The Serenity Prayer became her go-to words of comfort. “God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,” its most well known verse reads, “courage to change the things I can, and wisdom to know the difference.” But still, Anderson bargained with God—promising that when she made it through she would give back and help others. This was her spiritual awakening, she’ll tell you. “I couldn’t control my cancer, but I could control how I was going to affect others,” she says. “I decided that I could make a positive impact and help others.” One of her first acts of giving back was the Field of Teal baseball tournament that was started at Pelham High School in 2015 by former PHS baseball coach Jeff Mauldin, a friend of her family. Now that Mauldin has moved on to become the coach of the Hewitt-Trussville team, Anderson and her husband, Sean, head baseball coach and P.E. teacher at PHS, keep the fundraiser going, with the funds they raise going to the Laura Crandall Brown Foundation, a nonprofit focused on gynecologic cancers. Although Anderson says she doesn’t consider herself to be a good public speaker, she participates in speaking engagements. For the past couple of years, she has gone before the Pelham City Council to have the month of September named Gynecologic Cancer Awareness Month as a part of her mission to educate the public about the symptoms of ovarian cancer. She’s also helped other women diagnosed with cancer as a part of the Woman to Woman program at UAB, assisted with donation drives to help families with the financial hardships that cancer may bring,

PROFILE 2019

LEFT: The Anderson family. THIS PHOTO: Tammy Anderson with a friend she met through the Laura Crandall Brown Foundation.

around that time,” Anderson says. “When she came to the support group, I could tell that she was on edge and worried,” Bourn says. “For her to meet someone who had done well in the late stages of cancer, that HER SAVING GRACE was really helpful for her. She was facing her own mortality Anderson’s onslaught of tears didn’t end on her first day of and she worried about how she’d handle treatment.” Bourn gave Anderson tips about how to handle the side treatment. The woman who once thought that she could handle everything on her own was now crying all the time. effects of treatment, what she should be talking to her doctor More than once she was asked to consider joining a support about and how to cope with her emotions. “Just being around group, but she consistently declined. “I had been a caregiver someone who’s been through it is comforting,” Bourn says. for my mom and my dad, and I thought that I was strong and “And sometimes the advice was just to find humor in every day.” could handle it,” she says. But according to Bourn, the most important takeaway But one day she got a call saying that she’d won a drawing for tickets to see a comedy show hosted by the Laura Crandall from the CanSurvive support group is realizing you can keep Brown Foundation. It was that night that she met members living, even with the diagnosis of cancer. Although Anderson of the CanSurvive support group and started going to was learning how to cope, her emotions were still triggered meetings. Later Anderson found out that there was never a when talking about her daughter, who is now a 16-year-old drawing to see a comedy show – she was just being given a Pelham High School student. “I could talk about my husband and my son, but every time I got to my daughter I could little push in the right direction. “For me, it’s been invaluable,” she says. “It’s a place for never get it out,” she says. Anderson worries that her daughter might also be a carrier social time. No one is sitting around wallowing the entire time like what you see on TV. We would do fun activities like of the BRCA gene and is helping raise money for research painting, belly dancing and other different outings. I’ve efforts to find an early detection test for ovarian cancer. As gotten to do a lot of cool and fun things that I otherwise she knows full well, if the disease can be detected earlier, it can be treated before spreading to other organs. But despite would’ve never done.” Through the support group she found Cheryl Bourn, a 12- the hardships and uncertainties that remain, she’s optimistic. year Stage 3 ovarian cancer survivor. Anderson credits “I’ve tried to find the good in it along the way,” she says. “I’ve Bourn with teaching her how to accept help from others. met so many wonderful people, and I’ve done things that I “She really took me under her wing, and I needed that never would’ve gotten to do.”

and volunteered at events hosted by the Laura Crandall Brown Foundation.

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PROFILE 2019

NEIL

BAILEY HE’S HELPED CONSTRUCT BUILDINGS. HE SERVES ON BOARDS. BUT AT THE HEART OF IT ALL, THIS COMMUNITY VOLUNTEER IS HELPING KIDS LIKE HIM BELIEVE IN THEMSELVES.

BY ALEC ETHEREDGE | PHOTOS BY KEITH MCCOY

Standing at the door to the counselor’s office at the DAY Program, a young girl was contemplating taking her life. She’d tried to drop out of school in the eighth grade, just shy of the age her mother was when she gave birth to her at 14. Judge Patti Smith, who was the juvenile court judge at the time, wouldn’t stand for her dropping out though. Instead, she gave her a chance at life by sending her to the DAY (Developing Alabama Youth) program. While a counselor was able to talk her out of taking her life, it was clear this girl’s struggles were complex. And that’s when she met Neil Bailey. “I told my wife at the time that we needed to take her in and help her,” says Bailey, the DAY Program treasurer. “To see what she went on to accomplish in life was incredible. After regaining belief in herself, she went on to graduate from Chelsea and I gave her a part-time job, but she wanted more out of life.” This girl ended up getting a two-year nursing degree at Jefferson State and a job at Vanderbilt University—one of eight to get it out of 400 applicants. “She basically became our daughter,” Bailey says. “I was so proud of her and she went on to tell her story about the DAY Program statewide, which extended its impact to others.”

PROFILE 2019

And it didn’t end there. She went on to get her four-year degree from Alabama and now has two daughters herself. “She could have dropped out of school in the eighth grade, and there is no telling the trouble she would be in or if she would even be alive,” Bailey says. “It’s not only incredible to see the impact the entire school had on her and many others, but to see her grow into this amazing young lady.” It’s stories like this that Bailey’s life now revolves around, through the DAY Program as well as the Alabaster and Pelham YMCAs. UNEXPECTED JOURNEYS And these stories are ones that are not all that different from his own. After his parents divorced when he was 7, Bailey and his siblings were “at church every time doors were open.” “We went three times a week and would wait on the side of the road for somebody to pick us up and take us each day because of how poor we were,” he recalls. He later sought that family like environment through Boy Scouts, hoping to build an extension of that family feeling. “Other people I was friends with didn’t join and ended up

PROFILE 2019

Bailey stands with some of the kids at the DAY Program who continue to learn life lessons on a daily basis.

PROFILE 2019

Neil Bailey played a big part in helping both the Alabaster and Pelham YMCA’s joining forces with the DAY Program to allow the students access to their facilities.

dead from drugs and other things,” Bailey says. “There is no telling where I would have wound up had it not been for their impact. It was because of Boy Scouts that I got to go to overnight sessions at the YMCA in Birmingham. That was the first pool I put my feet in besides the Cahaba River.” At the time he only dreamed of playing major league baseball or coaching sports, but his time at the YMCA was laying the foundation for more dreams than he realized. “It’s interesting to see how dreams change over time and how unexpected journeys actually were a dream we didn’t know we would have,” he says today. As the years went on, Bailey grew extremely close with the cause of the YMCA and its impact on families because his sister was a secretary for the Shelby County YMCA, which allowed him to help out whenever he liked. After working magic to expand the Pelham YMCA, Bailey turned to the Alabaster YMCA with the DAY Program’s future in mind too. At the time the Alabaster YMCA’s lease was running out. Almost simultaneously, like pieces to a puzzle falling into place, they learned a Masonic Lodge had just been given 39 acres of land it didn’t really need or know what to do with. “I understood that I could encourage the YMCA to acquire the extra property,” Bailey recounts. “They wanted it to be for a good purpose.” The YMCA went on to buy all but a couple of the 39 acres, and with that they had a location to eventually expand to a bigger facility that would allow the DAY Program and YMCA to be housed in the same building. The DAY Program is now part of a joint venture with the YMCA that features 10,000 square feet of space and gives kids access to the entire second floor, as well as a ropes course, outdoor area, pool and more. “The marriage of the DAY Program and the YMCA enabled the Y to do something they would have never been able to do

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PROFILE 2019

otherwise,” Bailey says. “Without the DAY Program they would have had to have raised a couple million dollars. Because of other projects, the metro Y wasn’t going to do that any time soon, so we worked together to achieve our goals.” THERE FOR THE KIDS Through it all, the DAY Program has had the biggest impact on Bailey of anything he has done, he’ll tell you. And it will be the last board he resigns from. “I don’t think the DAY Program would have survived the past 35 years without his interest in the students’ welfare and his unwavering and dedicated support,” Judge Patti Smith says. “Now, we have these wonderful accommodations, and Neil is responsible 64

PROFILE 2019

for that.” Since Smith, the former Shelby County Juvenile Court judge, started it in 1982, the program has provided services to at-risk adolescents and their families with an emphasis on academic remediation, behavior modification, training in coping and stress management skills, creating a goaloriented foundation and employing life skills. “When I began my career as a Juvenile Court judge back in 1980, I recognized almost immediately there were some students who were falling through the cracks, and traditional educational programs just weren’t working,” Smith says. With the help of Alan Fulton, she convinced the superintendent that the DAY Program would change lives, which led to federal grants and funding from the Shelby County Board of Education. Bailey wasn’t part of the DAY Program for the first four

One of the educators at the DAY Program discusses her class with Bailey during a meeting. Bailey always tries to stay involved and said the last thing he retires from will be the DAY Program.

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years, but eventually settled in on the board and helped it find a new home in the YMCA—a place that reminds him of his own story. “I see a lot of kids that remind me of myself, so it’s dear to my heart,” Bailey says. “I saw the immediate benefit of what the program could do for kids needing second and third chances after being raised in circumstances they didn’t have control over.” For anyone living in Shelby County who as gone through probate court or has any sort of juvenile delinquency within the judicial system, the DAY Program offers the chance to get on the right path. “The magical thing to me is that a lot of kids that come don’t want to be there,” Bailey says. “A lot of times, you’ll have parents check to see if they are still alive only so they can get a check. So it’s not surprising these kids don’t trust anybody or anything. That’s what the program seeks to change. “Through counseling, they get a chance to catch up and grow and trust PROFILE 2019

Bailey talks to one of the classes at the DAY Program and says he loves being a part of something that gives kids second opportunities because they remind him of himself. BELOW: Bailey, pictured with his wife, Shawna, has been a part of the DAY Program since its fourth year.

“I SEE A LOT OF KIDS THAT REMIND ME OF MYSELF, SO IT’S DEAR TO MY HEART. I SAW THE IMMEDIATE BENEFIT OF WHAT THE PROGRAM COULD DO FOR KIDS NEEDING SECOND AND THIRD CHANCES AFTER BEING RAISED IN CIRCUMSTANCES THEY DIDN’T HAVE CONTROL OVER.” - NEIL BAILEY

people again,” Bailey explains. “It gives them the confidence to get a GED or go back to school. When you finally see the light come on and those kids realize we are only there for them, to see how enthusiastic they become and realize they do have a chance, that is what makes the DAY Program worthwhile.” Along the way, the program helps its participants gain not just academic confidence, but also social confidence. Often they don’t arrive because they are not smart or because they are in trouble, but because they have lost hope. To address these complexities, there is an instructor and counselor for every 15 students, and the program has a max of 70 students. “I have a tremendous amount of respect for teachers and others that do public service work to make a difference in kids’ lives,” Bailey said. “To truly see their work pay off is something a lot may take for granted.” While the instruction is important, it’s also about getting the kids to believe, and that’s why Bailey and the board decided to start Honors Day. Starting at the beginning of the second semester, the students are told to lay out goals to achieve during the semester. At the end of the semester, they are rewarded for their work in a special awards program. “It sets a different mentality for kids that have never been rewarded for anything before,” Bailey says. “They are awards that just give the kids hope and confidence to aspire for more and know that they can achieve whatever they want.” Talking about it takes Bailey back to the first ever Honors Day—one that will forever be embedded in his mind. “I remember Judge Smith standing at the small little podium calling out names,” he recalls. “Then she called out one kid’s name and called him up to get his trophy and certificate. He was smiling, and you could tell he was really proud. Smith was starting to go on to the next award before the student spoke. ‘Can I say something?’ he started. ‘I want to thank you, I ain’t ever been told I doing good about nothing.’ Then he stepped down.” Bailey is visibly choked up recalling the moment. “That’s what it’s about,” he says. “I’ll never forget that moment… Once those kids see the future, they see that if they have that help, they can do things the right way.”

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Pelham Alabama

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48 DEREK HENDERSON

47 NICK PIHAKIS JIM ‘N NICK’S CO-FOUNDER

ALABASTER BOARD OF EDUCATION MEMBER

The grandson of Greek immigrants, Pihakis and his father, Jim, opened Jim ‘N Nick’s in 1985. He and a partner later built the barbecue restaurant into a seven-state empire and launched Fresh Hospitality Group, which owns and manages Big Bad Breakfast and other restaurants in several states. He’s also passionate about supporting farmers to raise heritage hogs through Fatback Pig Project, and he and his wife, Suzanne, were among Mt Laurel’s first residents.

49 JEFF BURNSIDE HELENA BAND DIRECTOR Burnside has been the face of the Helena High School band since the school was founded in 2014, but his experience in the county goes back even further. He came to Helena from Pelham High School, where he started in 1999, the first year of the PHS-Oak Mountain High School split. Under Burnside’s guidance, the bands have received numerous awards and honors, including the Pelham band marching in the world’s largest St. Patrick’s Day parade in New York City in 2014.

50 ALLISON BOYD SHELBY COUNTY PROBATE JUDGE Boyd is not an unfamiliar face in Shelby County as she is replacing long-time Probate Judge Jim Fuhrmeister, who retired and endorsed his successor. She has been key in helping create a better mental health system in the county as mental health programs coordinator, and she plans to continue that work, as well as developing e-filing and technology systems, in her new role. 70

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51 BONNIE ATCHISON AVID VOLUNTEER With more than 1,700 hours of volunteer work logged since 2004 as a member of Retired and Senior Volunteer Program, Atchison was recently inducted into the Alabama Senior Citizens Hall of Fame as a member of the Class of 2018. An avid supporter of the arts, Atchison contributes to the Shelby County Arts Council and operates an outreach program covering Shelby County schools, homeschooled students, senior centers and juvenile detention centers. To say that the majority of her spare time is spent volunteering would be an understatement. She has been honored by a House Resolution presented by Rep. Mike Hill and was presented with a Key to the City by former Columbiana Mayor Allan Lowe. April 2, 2013 was even proclaimed “Bonnie Atchison Day” in Columbiana by current Mayor Stancil Handley, who called Atchison the “fairy godmother of Columbiana” when she was named grand marshal for the city’s Christmas parade in 2017.

A seat on the Alabaster City Schools Board of Education is just the tip of the pencil of Henderson’s service to education in the city. He was appointed to the board in 2013 and re-appointed for a five-year term in 2015, but before that he began a mentorship program that includes him visiting the students each week to chat about grades, set school goals and sometimes even play basketball.

52+53 BRANDON DOSS & BRANDON MATTHEWS CULTIVATE CHURCH PASTORS These two longtime friends brought their dream of planting a church to fruition in Shelby County seven years ago. After moving with their families to Alabaster in 2011, they started preparations for what would become Cultivate Church. From humble beginnings of holding services in Matthewsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s house, the church now has two permanent campuses in Alabaster and Columbiana, and Doss and Matthews serve as lead team pastors. PROFILE 2019

55 AMOS JASPER WRIGHT IV

54 NOAH GALLOWAY

AUTHOR

VETERAN & LOCAL CELEBRITY

The words “strong” and “brave” are synonymous with Noah Galloway, an Alabaster resident and former U.S. Army sergeant who was severely wounded while serving in Iraq in 2005. Several years ago, he won Men’s Health Magazine’s “Ultimate Guy” contest, beating out 1,300 other contestants to be featured on the cover. He entered the national spotlight again in 2015 when he competed on the TV show “Dancing with the Stars,” finishing third overall.

56 DANITA RYAN FOUNDER OF SOLDIERS OF THE CROSS MINISTRIES Ryan founded the Soldiers of the Cross Ministries in Alabaster in 2009. The church works to provide activities and programs for at-risk teens, offers food to families in need and has been well-received in the city for its efforts. Its building was displaced by a fire in its Alabaster location in February 2018, but the church has not missed a beat even though it had to temporarily relocate to another facility.

57 KEITH BROWN JEFFERSON STATE COMMUNITY COLLEGE PRESIDENT Brown has been at the helm Jefferson State Community College since June 2018 as president, but he’s also had served the college for nearly 20 years, most recently in the role of interim president. A Jeff State alumnus himself, he holds a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Alabama and Juris Doctorate from the University of Alabama School of Law. That’s not all though—he has received training at the United States Air Force Air War College, the senior Air Force professional military school. 72

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This Pelham native has had his poems and works of fiction published in several literary magazines throughout the nation, including Arcadia, Birmingham Arts Journal, Clarion, Fieldstone Review, Folio and Grain Magazine. His latest work of fiction, a book of short stories titled “Nobody Knows How It Got This Good,” is based in Birmingham and draws upon historical events and urban social issues to tell stories that most people who live in the area can relate to.

58 CINDY VINSON SHELBY COUNTY BOARD OF EDUCATION JOB COACH Vinson is paving the way for tomorrow’s workforce. That looks like HOPE (Herbs Offering Personal Enrichment), a project where special education students grow and harvest herbs that Taziki’s then buys for its restaurants. That also looks like a Dress to Impress fashion show to help students learn what to wear and what not to wear to an interview, now upgraded to Career Prep for ME (My Employment) Conference to teach about other job skills too.

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JAMES SPANN ABC 33/40 METEOROLOGIST Spann is among the most wellknown of all Alabamians as the suspender-wearing, sleeve-rolling harbinger of dangerous storms. But the meteorologist for ABC 33/40 knows Alabama as well as it knows him. He often references tiny communities, narrow county roads and local barbecue joints on air, enamoring him to his viewers across the state. His encyclopedic knowledge is no doubt rooted in his frequent travels to schools, churches and senior centers, where his celebrity continues to grow. 74

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60 DAVID CHEEK

61 BOBBY MADISON

CHELSEA CITIZEN OBSERVER PATROL DIRECTOR

FOUNDER OF BOBBY MADISON BASKETBALL CAMP

Cheek has been the director of the COP for less than two years, but this volunteer-run organization has been serving the Chelsea community for 20 years. The Chelsea COP acts as the eyes and ears of the community, patrolling neighborhoods and providing traffic control services during wrecks and sporting and city-sponsored events. Cheek says they are always in search of dedicated citizens to become a part of the group.

Madison got his start as a basketball standout at Shelby County High School and went on to be a successful college player at Southern Union State Community College and then at Western Michigan University. That all ultimately earned him the opportunity to play professionally overseas in the International Basketball Federation (FIBA). He spent three years in countries like Argentina, Chile, Portugal and Venezuela before coming back home to Columbiana to share his knowledge and expertise with young athletes. For nearly 10 years, Madison has hosted a basketball camp every summer for children wanting to sharpen their skills and learn the fundamental of basketball. When he’s not coaching young athletes, he is a father, husband and a supervisor at Alabama Power.

62 TIM TINGLE TREE CARVER

63 ANNE RILEY YOUNG ADULT NOVELIST

After an ice storm in 1993, Tingle carved a horse head in a dead tree in Orr Park in Montevallo and left it. Then he went back and carved another, making sure no one saw him. That’s when the buzz started. Soon he’d completed six. Today the coal miner’s tree carvings number 43, and there’s a celebration in their honor each fall, the aptly named Tinglewood Festival.

64 PATTI COPELAND VINCENT UNITED METHODIST CHURCH PASTOR When seniors in Vincent were losing their Senior Center space, Copeland and her church stepped up to the plate to provide them a new home to meet in. “We brought it to the church, and we all decided to be the hands and feet of Jesus Christ,” Copeland says. Church members went on to renovate their building’s basement to create both fellowship space and a kitchen, officially welcoming the seniors starting in August 2018.

An alternate history of America. What happens if you can stop the forces of evil. The Star King’s grand banquet at the Radiant Palace. These are the worlds Riley creates in her young adult novels—an audience she knows well from her years teaching Spanish at Briarwood Christian School (where she also graduated) and The Westminster School at Oak Mountain. Today you’ll find her directing content for a marketing firm and working on a southern cozy mystery novel. PROFILE 2019

66 PAUL JANEWAY

65 MARC CURLES

ST. PAUL AND THE BROKEN BONES LEAD SINGER

SEC FOOTBALL OFFICIAL Curles makes calls on the fields during fall Saturdays as an official for the Southeastern Conference. Perhaps most recognized for his work in one of the South’s favorite pastimes, college football, the Chelsea resident spends time in many other arenas. He is a financial advisor with Bridgeworth LLC, and is a deacon and member of the technical team at Valleydale Church. He and his family also raise cattle.

67 JOHNNY WARD LEARN TO FLY ORGANIZER To help combat a growing nationwide shortage of commercial pilots, this local pilot regularly organizes community “learn to fly” classes at the Shelby County Airport with the hope of inspiring younger generations to take interest in the profession. He teaches aviation basics during the fourweek course and offers students to chance to take a flight with him in his airplane.

68 MECHELLE WILDER ARC REALTY FOUNDING PARTNER Mechelle Wilder’s list of accomplishments is neither short nor mediocre. In addition to being a founding partner of ARC Realty, she is the 2018 president-elect for Birmingham Association of Realtors MLS Board, member of the Greater Shelby County Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors, a Leadership Shelby County Class of 2016 graduate, the 2013-2015 president of the Greystone Ladies Club and emeritus member of the Hoover City Schools Foundation Board, among many other professional, civic and church roles. 76

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69 BRIAN COPES BUILDING TRADES EDUCATION TEACHER WITH HOOVER CITY SCHOLLS Copes’ impact on the lives of others stretches far beyond the confines of his classroom. He’s led students through projects to design low-cost prosthetic legs, a hydroelectric dam and basic utility vehicles for use in developing countries. As a part of the Sister Schools project, Copes and his students visited Jutiapa, Honduras several times, volunteering in the town’s medical clinic, setting up computer infrastructure and building water purification systems. Most recently, his students designed and built a solar-powered briefcase to ship to a refugee camp in Kenya and built a welding classroom inside a shipping container to ship to Belfate, Honduras. His work earned him the title of the 2017-2018 LifeChanger of the Year by National Life Group, bringing home a total of $10,000 in prize money as well as a $7,500 donation for Thompson High School.

With fearless showmanship on stage with his eight-person soul-rock band, Janeway is making waves far beyond his Chelsea roots to open for The Rolling Stones, headline Ryman Auditorium and appear on the “Late Show with David Letterman.” The band’s new album, “Young Sick Camellia,” draws close to home though. Janeway says it’s about “growing up in a digital age, and my father and papaw growing up in their different times and exploring the dynamics of those relationships.”

RITA MENDEL SPECIAL EQUESTRIANS FOUNDER One visit to Mendelâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s house in Indian Springs will show you she loves horses. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s brimming with horsethemed artwork, stained glass and knick-knacks she has procured from different countries. Not surprisingly, she and her husband, Jack, own two horses, Golden Princess and Demitasse. Rita founded the local therapeutic riding program Special Equestrians in 1985 for people with special needs, and she now runs Carousel Tack Shoppe, an equestrian clothing and gift shop in Indian Springs.

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71 78

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DR. LEWIS

BROOKS ONE OF THE EARLIEST INFLUENCES ON THE NEW SHELBY COUNTY SCHOOLS SUPERINTENDENT WAS ALSO ONE OF HIS MOST RECENT.

BY GRAHAM BROOKS | PHOTOS BY KEITH MCCOY

Dr. Lewis Brooks is quick to credit relationships as the bedrock of his 27-year career in education. It’s these ties— principally with his own teachers that continued for years to come—that have shaped his roles as a college basketball player, coach, teacher, principal, elementary district coordinator, middle school district coordinator, assistant superintendent of administration and now superintendent. And one of the strongest was his basketball coach at Hueytown High School, Randy Fuller. “He… poured into me and saw something in me,” Brooks says. “I think through my high school career he really worked hard on my behalf for me to have opportunities.” A letter that Fuller sent out to college coaches speaks volumes of this dynamic. “I think one of the most compelling parts of the letter is that he spoke of my high morals and character,” Brooks says. “I think anytime a teacher can

identify those things in you, and being 15, 16 or 17 years old, you don’t fully understand what that means. But I think that those were the things that he felt like he saw in me as a person and communicated that in a letter. He didn’t have to do that.” As it turns out, Fuller was right in believing in not only Brooks’ physical capabilities on the basketball court, but also his leadership abilities that came into play as Brooks attended the University of Montevallo on a basketball scholarship. It was also his entry point into Shelby County and relationships he still holds today. REALIZING A CALLING While studying at the University of Montevallo, Brooks thought he wanted to go into physical therapy, but he ended up choosing teaching instead. “I think one of the things that I

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try to share with kids is that sometimes we believe that there are things that we want to do in life and those experiences manifest themselves into other things,” he says now looking back. “So, for me the perfect niche was being a teacher and coach.” Upon graduating from Montevallo, Brooks began his career in 1990 at Bessemer City Schools as a seventh-grade science teacher at the alternative school. “It was during a time when some tough things were going on,” Brooks says. “I think gangs were a lot more prevalent then, and so it really was a challenging position for a young teacher, but rewarding.” While he was working on his master’s degree back at Montevallo, Dr. Lee Doebler 80

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A Subsidiary of

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Shelby County High School Principal Barbara Snyder meets with Dr. Lewis Brooks.

was not only his professor but also on the board at Shelby County Schools at the time. One day he asked Brooks if he’d be interested in an open position in Shelby County. And that’s how at just 24 years old, Brooks became the head basketball coach and junior varsity football coach for the Vincent High School Yellow Jackets. “Part of Vincent’s alma mater is ‘speak to where southern skies shine the brightest,’ and I think that’s always meant a lot to me because that community is a very special community. And I’m blessed to have worked and taught there,” Brooks recalls. The move to Vincent would eventually blossom into 15 years with Shelby County Schools. In 1999, Brooks became the assistant principal at Thompson Middle

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Brooks celebrates winning the election to become Shelby County Schools superintendent

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School and then in 2001 the assistant principal at Pelham High School. Two years later, he took over as principal of Thompson Middle School.

SHELBY COUNTY SCHOOLS BY THE NUMBERS

TRAGEDY LEADS TO CHANGE Not long after receiving his first role as a principal, Brooks hit a low point that ultimately led to a change in his career when his dad passed away at age 61. “I would say of the things that have happened in my life, that was probably the most devastating thing that I’d ever dealt with,” he says. “I struggled, but interestingly enough one day I got a call from the superintendent at Talladega County.” The superintendent went on to tell him they’d heard great things about him as a leader and wanted him to consider district-level jobs open in Talladega County. He didn’t know much about the area but was intrigued by the opportunity and met with them—and then eventually started as their elementary and middle school coordinator. After serving 15 years in Shelby County, he felt the move to Talladega County in 2005 was necessary to give him a new focus and direction. “I took the opportunity because I think part of it was the personal trauma, if you will, dealing with the loss of my dad, and I just felt like I needed something different,” Brooks says. He’d go on to serve four years there before coming back to Shelby County as a middle school coordinator in 2009 and then as an assistant superintendent of administration and pupil services starting in 2012. It was in 2009 that Brooks was reunited with his high school basketball coach and mentor Randy Fuller, who served as superintendent of Shelby County Schools from 2006-2018— paving the way for Fuller to pass the torch at the end of his tenure. In that time Brooks learned from Fuller on a new level. When you have a teacher, a coach or an administrator in school believe in you,

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Brooks’ supporters gather for photos at an election night party last June.

Brooks says, then you will think the sky is the limit. He’s seen that in his own students now, but he first learned it back in high school. “I knew Randy Fuller believed in me,” he says. “I knew that his family loved and cared for me, and…those relationships have lasted. Now I’ve gotten an opportunity to see his kids grow up, and I get a chance to know his grandkids.” And those relationships, he says, are of utmost importance. At Fuller’s retirement party in November 2018, he reiterated that Brooks, along with several other people during his career path, helped him reach great heights. And his sentiments echo Brooks’. “What I see when I look out here is everybody that influenced me,” Fuller says. “From coaches to administration in Shelby County it has been such a wonderful journey, and the influences that we have on each other has been something special. I’ll always believe that we influence people and they influence us and that’s our ministry. I talk a lot about the ministry of presence and your presence with someone else when you go into a room and talk with someone. Just spending time with someone is a ministry and a presence of influence that carries you through life, and it’s carried me through mine.” A FUTURE AS SUPERINTENDENT Now Brooks is taking over Fuller’s role with a full desire to believe in others. He was elected superintendent in the Republican primary election on June 5, 2018. “For me personally, my goal is to always be a servant,” Brooks says. “I think one of the best things about this opportunity is that when you look at the landscape of Shelby County Schools, we have great teachers, leaders in our school, a central office team and the opportunity to find your leadership niche. Just to serve this growing community certainly was intriguing.” Now that Brooks has taken over, he intends to work on the solid foundation the school district has built in recent years thanks in large part to Fuller, other central office staff and teachers. “We don’t need to dig up the road and resurface it,” he says. “I think we’re on a good path, but I think there are things that I talked about on the campaign that I really think are important aspects of helping us move our system further. “I’m committed to continuing school improvement, trying to provide the best instructional programs that we have to offer for our kids, leadership development, but more importantly, moving forward I’m committed to this idea of… innovative opportunities (for) every community.”

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CLAY

HAMMAC

HOW THE MURDER OF A CHILD LED ONE MAN AND HIS FAMILY TO EMBARK ON A JOURNEY TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE.

BY NEAL WAGNER | PHOTOS BY KEITH MCCOY

Clay Hammac was overcome with a gut-wrenching feeling as he walked into the room in the neonatal intensive care unit at Children’s of Alabama on the night of Dec. 23, 2009. With five years of law enforcement experience under his belt, he had already seen dozens of crime scenes more gruesome than most people can imagine, but this night was different. Lying on the tiny hospital bed was 15-month-old Kara Nicole Lee, unresponsive and covered head-to-toe in bruises and wounds. Hammac, then an investigator in the Shelby County Sheriff’s Office Criminal Investigation division, had received a report of a child abuse case earlier in the night from Alabaster’s Shelby Baptist Medical Center after Kara arrived at the hospital with life-threatening injuries. Because of the severity of her condition, Kara was quickly transported from Shelby Baptist to Children’s, where doctors were working furiously to save her life when Hammac arrived to document evidence in the case. “It really affected me. Because of the nature of law enforcement work, I had been to some really bad scenes before. This one was so much worse than everything I had experienced,” Hammac says. As he prepared to document Kara’s injuries to use as evidence, Hammac was trying with everything he had to remain

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professional and do his job without losing control of his emotions. “I grabbed my camera and went to work because that’s what we have to do. But I couldn’t help but personalize it because she was about the same age as my son was at the time,” Hammac says. “It hurt my heart greatly to think about what she had endured. Here is this innocent little helpless child fighting for her life.” Four days later, Hammac received the call he was dreading from the nurse caring for the infant. Kara had died of her injuries after only about 450 days on earth. Through SCSO investigators’ quick work to identify the suspect in the case, James Wesley Howard was arrested on Dec. 24 and was originally charged with aggravated child abuse. Following Kara’s death, Howard, who was the child’s mother’s boyfriend, was charged with capital murder. Through their investigation, deputies discovered Howard was under the influence of a controlled substance while staying in a dilapidated mobile home in Shelby with Kara and her mother. During that time he attacked the child multiple times causing extensive body-covering bruising, bite marks on her shoulders and feet, broken bones in her feet, bleeding in her lower spinal cord and brain swelling.

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ABOVE: The day Clay and Laura Hammac adopted their daughter, the Shelby County Probate courtroom was transformed into a scene reminiscent of a joyous circus. BELOW: The Hammac family lives on a large farm in Columbiana, where they moved in 2018.

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“He confessed he was under the influence of drugs, and (Kara) was crying. It was interfering with his ability to enjoy the high, and he was trying to make her stop crying,” Hammac says, the pain in his voice still evident nine years after the tragedy. “They were living in a trailer with holes in the floor, and it was very cold at that time. This little girl was crying because she was cold and she needed comfort. “But instead of someone there to comfort her, someone was there to harm her,” Hammac adds quietly. FROM 2013 TO 2017, THERE A jury found Howard WAS AN ABOUT 9.6 % guilty of capital murder INCREASE IN THE NUMBER on April 16, 2012, and OF CHILDREN IN FOSTER one day later he was

He would be glorified by this tragedy.” For then Shelby County assistant district attorney Allison Boyd, there seemed to be nothing positive surrounding the case as she and her coworkers worked to prosecute Howard. “When you are in the middle of a situation like that, you can’t imagine any good coming out of it,” Boyd says. “But miraculously, it did.” A few months after the tragedy, the Hammacs began looking into local foster care organizations, and came upon the Alabama Baptist IN 2017, A LITTLE MORE Children’s Home. It was THAN 500 CHILDREN WERE the answer to their ADOPTED IN ALABAMA, prayers. “After Kara died, WHICH WAS DOWN FROM I kept saying, ‘If only she 532 FIVE YEARS PRIOR. had been with a family who loved her,’” Hammac says. “Because of that, we really felt foster care was where God was calling us FROM 2013 TO 2017, to serve.” ALABAMA SAW A MORE After a rigorous THAN 18% INCREASE IN THE several-month training NUMBER OF CHILDREN process including home SERVED IN FOSTER CARE. visits, background checks, CPR certification, 10 weeks of meetings and “a lot of paperwork,” the Hammacs welcomed their first foster child into their home in mid2013. The months of training with the Baptist Children’s Home certainly helped the Hammacs prepare for their fostering journey, but it didn’t prepare them for everything. When the first little girl arrived at their home from Jefferson County, the family loved her without restraint. “We weren’t naïve going into it. I’m a cop, and I know what kinds of

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As the days began to pass following Kara’s death, Hammac turned to the two cornerstones of his life to seek a way forward: his Christian faith and his wife, Laura. “She and I were both deeply affected by this case, and it was difficult to mask our emotions. But Laura never wavered in her support of me,” Hammac says. “Our faith is very important to us, and is the foundation of our lives. We both turned to God and prayed openly that he would heal our hearts. We prayed that somehow

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Clay Hammac, right, works with Shelby County Sheriff’s Office deputy Debbie Sumrall to review evidence at the Sheriff’s Office.

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situations these children are coming from,” Hammac says. “And we also knew the ultimate objective for foster care is to re-unify the children with their biological family.” When this girl arrived at the Hammacs’ house, she was welcomed to a bedroom decorated specifically for her, and was treated the same as the two biological children Clay and Laura had at the time. Even knowing in advance the children may only be with them for a short while, Hammac admitted he and his wife weren’t emotionally prepared when it came time for their first foster child to be reunited with one of her distant relatives. Looking back on it, the Hammacs wouldn’t have done anything differently to help ease the pain of giving her up. “When she left, it hurt. It left such a great void in our life because we never put up any kind of barriers,” Hammac says. “My wife and I mourned because it was like losing a child. We closed off her bedroom door for a while because it hurt too much to walk in there. “People say ‘I could never be a foster parent because I would get too attached.’ I tell them ‘Then you’re perfect for the job,’” Hammac says. “These children need someone who will be all-in. They need to know they are loved unconditionally and whole-heartedly, even if it’s just for a short season of life.” Working through the emotional hurt of giving up their first foster child, the Hammacs returned to a familiar source of comfort and guidance. “We prayed for God to lead us through this process, because we knew this was the mission field God had called us to do,” he says. This time, their prayers were answered in the form of Elise Vincent, the Baptist Children’s Home director of social services for the Birmingham area. “We try to provide them as much support as possible because we know what they are experiencing (when giving up a foster child),” Vincent says. “We make sure they’re plugged into a network of other families who know what they are going through.” One particular word of advice from Vincent stuck with the Hammacs, and has put their continuing foster care journey into perspective. “She sat us down and said, ‘God loves this child more than you do,’” Hammac says, recalling a conversation with Vincent. “That spoke such profound wisdom into our lives.” Since then, the Hammac family has grown in multiple ways. They now have three biological children, have fostered nearly 25 children and have not stopped loving all of their children – foster or not – without holding back. Living in a house with a family of seven or eight can be exhausting. In addition to serving as a wife and mother, Laura is also the children’s homeschool teacher. “It’s rewarding and exhausting at the same time,” Hammac says. “My wife is the real hero in this. She is able to fill so many roles with such tenacity.” And in 2016, Clay and Laura decided to add one more role to their lives. THE ENTIRE SUPPORT NETWORK It’s June 23, 2016, and the usually regal, sterile and businesslike courtroom inside the Shelby County Courthouse is anything but. The Hammacs’ friends and family members fill the space typically reserved to conduct serious legal hearings as items such as princess crowns and clown noses adorn several of the attendees. About two years after welcoming a newborn girl into their home through the Baptist Children’s Home foster program, the Hammac family is about to make her stay at their house permanent. As the result of months of paperwork, working with the Department of Human Resources and navigating the judicial process of terminating the parental rights of the girl’s biological parents, the Hammacs are ready to celebrate the adoption of their youngest daughter. “It’s one of the most precious stories in all of this. She is the light of our family, and she completes our home. She’s a daddy’s girl for sure,” Hammac says, flashing the genuine smile of a proud father. “It’s just a beautiful success story.” For Boyd, who is now the Shelby County Probate Judge and was presiding

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The Hammacs make it a point to spend plenty of quality time with their children at their large farmhouse in Columbiana.

over the adoption hearing, the day represents a full circle from working with Hammac on the Lee death case several years earlier. “It does everyone’s hearts good when you see someone take something so negative and make it a positive, and I definitely think the Hammac family did that by becoming foster parents and adopting one child after the (Lee) case,” Boyd says, recalling the event. “This (adoption) was so special. It was such a happy day. She wasn’t just getting adopted into the Hammac family, she was getting adopted into an entire support network.” As with most adoptions, Boyd has created a party-like atmosphere in the courtroom to celebrate a growing family and a chance for a little girl to have a much better life than she may have otherwise. “We want to make sure the parents and children are at-ease,” Boyd says. “They’re always worried that something is going to go wrong at the last minute, and I tell them, ‘You would not be in this courtroom right now if all the Ts were not crossed and all the Is not dotted.’” 92

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Now as a family of six, the Hammacs have no intention of moving away from the foster world, and are usually caring for at least one foster child year-round. “I don’t want this to be about the Hammac family and what we’ve done,” Hammac says. “I want this to be about encouraging people to meet the needs of foster care. It doesn’t have to necessarily be welcoming a foster child into your home, it can be donating time, supplies or money to a foster care organization.” Despite the family’s objection to having praise directed toward their actions, they have certainly earned plenty of kind words from those who know them. “Their focus has always been on their family. They always make sure they are including all of their children in the community, they are still actively working as foster parents and they do everything they can to make sure others know about the foster program too,” Boyd says. “They are a wonderful family that is definitely worthy of the highest recognition,” Vincent adds.

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SARAH ASHLEE

BARKER

DESPITE TWO KNEE SURGERIES, THIS SPAIN PARK BASKETBALL STAR IS READY TO PAVE HER OWN PATH IN THE SEC.

BY ALEC ETHEREDGE | PHOTOS BY KEITH MCCOY

Two weeks after a second surgery on her left knee, Sarah Ashlee Barker was crying in her room at home. “Why is this happening to me when I should be on the basketball court with my varsity teammates?” she wondered. After all, it’s not often a Berry Middle School eighth grader like her earns a spot on the high school varsity team. Flash forward two-and-a-half years, and Barker, now a junior at Spain Park, persevered through ups and downs of battling back from those two surgeries and discouragement on the court, and she has committed to the University of Georgia to play women’s basketball at the collegiate level. “I would have never thought my eighth-grade year I would be going to play Division I basketball after being out an entire year,” she says. “Not many people get to continue playing the sport at that level after having the injuries I’ve had, so I just count my blessings.” Many people know Sarah Ashlee Barker’s name because of her dad Jay Barker, who won the 1992 National Championship as the quarterback at the University of Alabama. Others know her as the twin to brother Harrison Barker, who is a quarterback on the Jaguars’ football team. But over the last four years, it’s become evident she is trying to make sure people know her own name for the legacy she is creating. YOUNG PHENOM After playing three sports growing up, a sixth-grade Barker was starting to figure out that basketball was her one true love in sports. It quickly showed on the court. That’s when Spain Park head girls basketball coach Mike Chase first took notice of her talent. “He actually saw me at a boys’ basketball practice,”

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Barker says. “I was playing with my twin brother because I used to play on his boys basketball teams, and Coach Chase came up and introduced himself to me. I was like, ‘Why is the head varsity coach coming to introduce himself to me?’” That’s when Barker got her first chance as Chase was working with some Berry sixth-graders on fundamentals after school and got to know her. “When she transitioned into seventh grade, I already knew the type of talent that she was,” he recalls. Barker spent her entire seventh-grade year on the middle school team, showing the talent she was capable of producing with her focus on basketball. Chase was so impressed that at the end of her seventh-grade year, he brought her over to practice with the high school team. “That’s when we really got close,” she says. “Playing up with varsity that summer and learning from him gave me confidence.” Chase says he was really looking to bring her up to play full-time varsity as an eighth grader at Berry, but that’s when misfortune arrived. DOWN, BUT NOT OUT When her knee gave out that year, Barker was faced with a test much more difficult than any opponent she had faced on the court, and one she underestimated. She had her first knee surgery in December 2015. “We went into the surgery knowing there was a 50-50 chance it would work,” Barker recalls. “It was an easy 30-minute surgery compared to cutting out the bone in my leg, which would have been a four-hour surgery. So we took that chance.” Two months later, she learned the surgery was unsuccessful and had to go back under for a second surgery in February

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2016, this time for the major four-hour operation. “I was out of school for two weeks after that surgery and would go to my room to just break down emotionally all the time and just ask, ‘Why is this happening?” Barker recalls. “All I had to go back to was God does everything for a reason. This is him teaching me a lesson on what’s coming in the future.” Following the two surgeries, the real battle began. Barker not only had to get back on the basketball floor, but also back into basketball shape to be able to play at a competitive level again. She struggled to get the words out of how difficult the rehabilitation process was. “I didn’t really know that it was going to be that hard trying to get back into things,” she says. “I

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was out of shape, I was tired all the time, and my legs were sore because I didn’t walk for like six months,” she recalls. Spending those six months on crutches impacted not only her strength but also her mental approach. She wanted to be able to jump back in and compete at a high level quickly, but often her body wouldn’t let her. “She had some really good moments, but also some bad moments when she was a ninth grader,” Chase says. “She went through a lot of ups and downs that year. I could tell you some stories, but you probably couldn’t write them. But she always fought through all of those down times and now she is better for it.” With that struggle, Barker was able to rely on Chase to believe

Sarah Ashlee Barker dribbles past a McGill-Toolen defender in the 2018 state championship game. She led the Jaguars to their first title in school history with a 56-26 victory in the game.

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Barker stands with her twin brother Harrison, who is a quarterback on the Spain Park football team. BELOW: The Spain Park basketball team celebrates the 2018 AHSAA girls basketball Class 7A State Championship.

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in her and help her get back to the athlete she’s capable of being. “Through all of my difficult times, he was there for me,” Barker says. “He helped me get stronger and understand that everything was happening for a reason and that I was going to get past it. Him taking time out of his day to do that really had a big impact on me.” That impact helped earn Barker’s trust, which is what ultimately helped her turn the corner. “I would go in and out of having bad games and good games my freshman year, which was frustrating just because I knew what I was capable of doing, but my body wasn’t up to speed with my mind,” she says. “He always pulled me aside and told me I was going to be okay, and that I was where I should be less than a year off of two knee surgeries.” It didn’t help that she was competing against varsity level players that were at least two years her senior either, but Chase continued to work her and get her back into basketball shape. HER CHOICE With her confidence slowly coming back, Barker started clicking at the end of her freshman basketball season, just as she’d hit the one-year mark since her second major knee surgery. That team would go to the state championship before losing to crosstown-rival Hoover in overtime of the title game. “That’s when you saw how special of a player she can be,” Chase says. “She used that to transition into her sophomore year, which is when she took off.” During her sophomore season, Barker helped lead the Jaguars on a redemption path back to the state championship game. There they got revenge for the heartbreak from the year before by winning the 2017-18 state championship with a final score of 56-26 over McGill-Toolen. Barker ended the season averaging 14 points, 9.1 rebounds, 3.1 assists, 1.9 steals and 1.3 blocks per game, earning her All-County and All-State honors. And colleges soon took note. Starting in December and January, less than two years off of her two major

Barker poses with a replica of the court as she was named to the Final Four All-Tournament team in just her second year back from major knee surgery.

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“SHE WENT THROUGH A LOT OF UPS AND DOWNS THAT YEAR… BUT SHE ALWAYS FOUGHT THROUGH ALL OF THOSE DOWN TIMES AND NOW SHE IS BETTER FOR IT.” -COACH MIKE CHASE 100

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Barker takes a photo on a visit to the University of Georgia, where she has committed to play college basketball.

knee surgeries, Barker was picking up offers from SEC schools to play basketball collegiately on a full ride. Eventually, high-profile offers became more frequent, and Barker narrowed down her college choices to Alabama, Auburn and Georgia—a decision that weighed heavily on her. “These coaches pour so much time and energy into recruiting you that you feel bad having to tell them no,” Barker says. That led to emotional interactions with both head coaches from Alabama and Auburn when she had to sit down to tell them no. “I got choked up with both of them because I didn’t want to let anybody down,” she says. “But at the end of the day, you can only choose one school and it comes down to the one you just can’t say no to, and that was Georgia.” Georgia was always first on her mind since the day head coach Joni Taylor offered her. “When she offered (it to) me, she was probably the only offer I got extremely emotional in while I was sitting across from her in her office,” Barker says. “For some reason, that offer meant the most to me.” With the help of Chase, her family and friends, Barker officially made the decision to commit to the University of Georgia when she visited the school in early October right after walking through the door of the basketball facility. While Barker will spend her future at UGA, the offer with the second most sentimental value was her first, from UAB. “For me to have overcome two serious surgeries, it was overwhelmingly emotional,” Barker recalls. “The coach sat me down in his office and asked me the question, ‘Do you have an offer?’ I said, ‘No sir.’ He said, ‘I would like to be your first.’ I immediately got teary eyed, and my head was spinning, knowing that I had come so far in a year that this was a moment I would never forget.”

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7 LEW

BURDETTE

THE ROAD LEADING TO KING’S HOME WAS PAVED WITH A GRUESOME SHARE OF SUFFERING FOR THIS LEADER.

BY GRAHAM BROOKS | PHOTOS BY KEITH MCCOY + CONTRIBUTED

As Lew Burdette sits in a sun-drenched chapel preparing to reflect on his years serving as the president of King’s Home in Chelsea, his own journey from darkness is still not far from his mind. THE NIGHTMARE BEGINS

It all started on Dec. 27, 1974—a date Burdette wishes never existed. It was a cold Friday night when the 15-year-old was finishing up a shift at his father’s grocery store in Roanoke, a small town in East Alabama. It was there he’d learned a strong work ethic from his dad, sacking groceries from the time he was old enough to physically lift them off the counter. That night he was allowed to leave work a little early because he had a date with a girl from a town nearby. But when he stepped outside the door, two men confronted him near a back alley and followed him out into the street, pulled a gun and forced him into their vehicle at gunpoint. “It happened that fast,” Burdette recalls. “Off we go and the crazy thing is that I knew who they were. They were from the

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same town, and I thought that because I got a date with a cheerleader that they’re going to give me a good whipping for coming into their town and having a date with one of their friends.” Before long, the duo was demanding a $250,000 ransom by that night. Burdette knew that no small-town grocery store owner would have that much money sitting around. As the car continued to make its way further and further away from Roanoke, the two men continued to quiz Burdette about the money until the vehicle made its way to the remote part of Randolph County about a mile down a dark dirt road. They then parked and ordered him out of the car at gunpoint through thick brush and briars. The story only gets more graphic from there. The men bashed his head with the butt of the gun and then stabbed him once in the chest and three times in the back before dumping him into an old water well. “I fall to the ground and within seconds they slam their fist into my chest and immediately I feel this sharp piercing pain and blood spilling out over my stomach,” Burdette says. “At this time, I’m in complete shock because I really didn’t think they were going

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to hurt me.” Just when he thought they were done, the men dropped pieces of boulders and foundation on him to try to cover him up and then shot down the well one time, two times, three times, missing him before hitting the back of his head on the fourth try. Then, they left him to die. STRUGGLES AND MIRACLES Facing shock, excruciating pain, blood loss, weakness and more, the odds of Burdette finding his way out of a 30-foot water well in the freezing cold and darkness were not good. After more than two hours of trying to escape, he was overcome by waves of despondence, deep sadness, anger and questioning God, while also reflecting on all the good things in his 15 years of life—and the reality that his life could end here. The one thing that kept him going, though, was his faith. “I reflected on the importance of that, and I was thankful that I was going to be in heaven and coming to terms with that,” he recalls. Verses he had to memorize as a kid in Bible memory 104

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class came to mind. He recited them aloud, he sang songs, he prayed. When he got to the fourth verse of the 23rd Psalm, he paused. “Even though I travel through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil because you’re with me,” it reads. “When I got to that verse four, it was like this peace came over me. I knew God was with me and that it was going to be OK,” he retells. What happened next was nothing short of a miracle. After going in and out of consciousness while chest-deep in water, Burdette was on the verge of drowning. One time he went down gasping for air, his hand reached up and found a hole on the side of the well. “I was praying like crazy, ‘God is there any way I could pull up and maybe get my foot in that hole?’” Burdette says. “The chunks and blocks they threw gave me enough space out of the water to get my foot in that hole. I was praying, ‘Please give me the strength,’ and He does.” At the time, he couldn’t even sit up straight, but he worked his way up the sides of the well only to find an old, rusty box spring covering the opening of the well. “All I could think to do was lunge as far as I can, and I’m going to wrap my arms in that

Lew Burdette visits the studio of Prodigal Pottery, a part of Kingâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Home that teaches job skills to women who are escaping domestic abuse.

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Burdetteâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s involvement at president of Kingâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Home carries over into Prodigal Pottery (pictured above and opposite), fundraiser events and more.

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old box spring and hang on and that’s what happened,” Burdette says. With minimal strength, he was forced to crawl for two hours while blacking in and out of consciousness until he finally stumbled upon an old wooden shotgun house just at the moment when he says he couldn’t make it another inch. A few minutes later, he was crawling up to a pot belly stove to warm his body when the two men who attempted to kill him opened the door. As it turns out, he was in the home of one of their grandmothers. “Those are the guys that tried to kill me!” he screamed. But as soon as he said it, they turned and ran. Relief flooded Burdette. Upon arriving at the hospital, doctors told Burdette’s parents that he had about a 5-10 percent chance of making it through the night. But he had no pneumonia and no infections. And he came home in less than two weeks. “It was just a miraculous recovery,” he recalls. “My mom being the faithful woman she is, there were prayer chains put all over. I got letters from all over and even one from the governor at the time.” Both kidnappers received a 29-and-a-half-year prison sentence but were released from jail after just two and a half years. Burdette doesn’t begrudge that looking back though. “I felt like they did their time, and I never really had any animosity toward those guys,” he says. “I thought they were young and stupid and got in a situation that they didn’t really want to be in.” NOT WITHOUT PURPOSE From there Burdette’s life followed a nice, clean script. He got a finance degree from the University of Alabama and served as director of Christian education at First United Methodist Church in Florence before working for Books-A-Million for 13 years. He went on to open Kindred, a Christian retail store in Birmingham, in 1998, but was forced to close in 2001. That’s when he found his way to King’s Home. “I ended up having to liquidate, and the attorney helping me sort of unwind those stores says, ‘Hey

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Burdette watches musician Taylor Hicks perform at a benefit event for King’s Home at King’s Stables last October.

Lew, there’s going to be an opening at King’s Home, and I have no idea if you have an interest in anything like that.’ But man, God stirred my heart immediately. I just knew that was going to the next season of life for me professionally, and they hired me to come in as president.” That was 16 years ago. Day to day, Burdette leads the King’s Home staff to serve youth, women, mothers and children seeking refuge, hope and help from abuse, neglect, abandonment, homelessness and other extreme and impoverished conditions from six campuses across four counties. When he says he can understand pain and suffering someone is going through, he truly says it with meaning. “I know what it’s like to experience trauma and pain, and I know what it’s like to feel like you’re going to die at the hands of somebody else, and that’s what some of our youth and some of our moms have experienced over and over again,” Burdette says. “We’ve picked up moms escaping domestic violence from emergency rooms from all over Alabama with faces completely disfigured, and one mom had her arm blown 108

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off and should’ve died if it hadn’t of been just a miracle.” King’s Home offers a youth program as well as a program for women, mothers and children. Many have found themselves homeless from the devastating effects of abuse and domestic violence. “We operate safe, loving homes, and we hope that every day we set the table with safe, loving homes where youth and moms and kids can find hope and opportunity, and healing from that abusive past,” Burdette says. “Ninety-eight percent of our residents experience really horrible abuse, and they just need a chance to start over. They need a way to heal and find hope in life.” It’s that message of hope in darkness that Burdette both knows firsthand and preaches decades later: “Life doesn’t have to be like where they came from and what they experienced, and that’s what we share every day. That’s really my bond because I grew up in a very loving and safe home, but I did have a traumatic experience that involved a lot of pain and suffering that was horrible and life-changing in my life.”

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TERRI SULLIVAN SHELBY COUNTY ARTS COUNCIL FOUNDER Starting Shelby County Arts Council in 2015 is one of many hats Sullivan wears. She is also general manager of the Birmingham branch of BearCom and was the president and CEO of Sullivan Industries, a communications company that specialized in two-way radio distribution, before her business was acquired by BearCom in 2016. In 2014, Terri, then 52 years old, set the Ultra Marathon Cycling Association womenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s biking record for the fastest recorded west-east Alabama solo state ride. 110

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76 MARY CHAMBLISS

77 KENDALL WILLIAMS

HELENA MIRACLE LEAGUE FOUNDER

SHELBY COUNTY SCHOOLS EDUCATION FOUNDATION DIRECTOR

Founding the Helena Miracle League was just the first step in Chambliss’s efforts to provide a recreational outlet for her son and other local children and adults with special needs. Since establishing the league as a nonprofit organization in 2017, she has spearheaded fundraisers for constructing a baseball field in Helena that will be designed for and open to anyone with special needs.

Williams stays busy overseeing the Shelby County Schools Education Foundation’s programs that support the 20,600 students, 2,600 employees and 31 schools in the district. She credits generous individual and corporate donors for facilitating programs such as Imagine the Journey Student grants, Inspire the Journey Teacher grants and IMPACT the Journey grants for schools and departments. Plus, Taste of Shelby County—an annual fundraiser for the foundation that doubles as a showcase of the county’s businesses—has grown significantly the past few years. This year’s event resulted in a record profit of $23,900, an achievement Kendall and her team are extremely proud of. On weekends, Kendall, her husband, R.J., and their children can be found rock climbing or hiking at Oak Mountain State Park.

78 KEVIN DERRYBERRY WORSHIP LEADER

79 BUTCH ELLIS SHELBY COUNTY ATTORNEY

Since he turned from a life filled with alcohol and drugs, Derryberry has ministered to those in youth homes, homeless shelters, transitional facilities, prisons and rehabilitation. Now the worship leader at Westwood Baptist Church in Alabaster, he has recorded his own music and holds a sporting clay tournament and golf tournament in support of Kevin Derryberry Ministries.

80 JAYSON JONES TOP FOOTBALL PROSPECT The best high school football players in the United States often choose to make spectacles of announcements of college destinations. Calera High School junior star defensive lineman Jayson Jones was no different, as he initially donned a University of Georgia hat during a Twitter video before switching to a University of Alabama hat. Jones is considered the state’s top prospect for his class and still has one more season to play for the Eagles.

Ellis has been practicing law in Shelby County for 54 years and is probably most known for serving as Shelby County’s attorney for 51 years. He is also the city attorney for Calera, Harpersville, Helena, Montevallo, Pelham, Westover and Wilton, and practices with Ellis, Head, Owens and Justice Attorneys. When he’s not advising local municipalities, he enjoys flying airplanes and anything to do with wilderness experiences, such as horse trail riding, fishing, hunting, hiking, camping, gardening, farming and traveling. PROFILE 2019

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83 BO BICE

81+82 JERRY AND PAM BAKER

FORMER AMERICAN IDOL CONTESTANT

OLD BAKER FARM OWNERS Not everyone would allow hundreds of people to traipse across their property, but Jerry and Pam Baker welcome an annual influx of visitors from near and far to pick out pumpkins, cut down Christmas trees and eat homemade kettle corn at Old Baker Farm in Harpersville. They are the foundation of the working farm too. Jerry works the land passed down to him through multiple generations, and Pam handles the farm’s bookkeeping and marketing.

84 SCOTT MEYER PROFESSOR OF ART This University of Montevallo art professor constructed the school’s 40-foot Japanese anagama wood-firing kiln. Fired about twice a year, it can heat to more than 2,300 degrees Fahrenheit. UM President Dr. John Stewart once referred to the kiln firing as “one of the most important, finest and most fun traditions of the university.”

85 PETER PARKER AUTHOR + MENTOR He’s not Spider Man, but Parker is Destined For Roads Not Taken (DFRNT), or so he writes about in his book “A DFRNT Story.” The Alabaster native and Army veteran is seeking to uplift underprivileged youth and provide them a bridge to education through this new book and brand, and all the more so by mentoring high school students and speaking at high schools and colleges. You’ll also be able to find the DFRNT brand on clothing and more soon. 112

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86 DONNA FRANCAVILLA CBS RADIO REPORTER Francavilla has filed stories from Cuba, Germany, France, Spain and Italy, but she has long called North Shelby County home. It’s her base to cover Alabama’s biggest news stories for CBS Radio News, which you can hear on more than 600 stations nationally, as well as running Frankly Speaking Communications, a boutique multi-media services agency. “(She) does a really good job of thinking on her feet and always making sure she’s a credible reporter,” says Harvey Nagler, former vice president of CBS Radio. “Her success lies in her overall humanity, how she treats people with respect, yet at the same time she’s a leader.” Francavilla recently spent a year travelling to New York City to guest anchor for the radio station WCBS. “It was a fun adventure, but I loved Shelby County so much, I decided not to move,” she says. Outside of her work, Francavilla serves as a lector at Saint Mark the Evangelist Catholic Church.

Bice’s musical and personal success hasn’t stopped since he finished as runner-up on “American Idol” in 2005, bested only by Carrie Underwood. The rock musician has released three albums, toured in Australia, Europe and Asia, and also finds time to give back to his wife’s hometown. As the ambassador of the Helena Miracle League, Bice is serving as the ambassador for the buddying league, which has plans to build a field behind Joe Tucker Park.

87 JAY BARKER

SPORTS RADIO HOST Back in 1992, this University of Alabama quarterback led the Crimson Tide to a national championship. Two seasons later he won the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award and finished fifth in the voting for the Heisman Trophy. Today you can hear him talking football and more on air with sports reporter Lars Anderson noon2 p.m. weekdays. The new Jay Barker Show began airing on 10 stations after the Opening Drive on WJOX was cancelled. Photo by Lindsey Culver PROFILE 2019

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89 WARD WILLIAMS

88 DELLA PENDER

VINEYARD FAMILY SERVICES EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

REALTOR + GOD’S OUTREACH CENTER FOUNDER After serving many years as the sales director for Mt Laurel and now as a RealtySouth associate broker/sales associate, Pender knows the ins and outs of real estate there and in Greystone and surrounding communities. But she also moonlights further out 280 for a different cause: helping families in need. Under her leadership, God’s Outreach Center in Harpersville has sought to provide for individuals and families in need of food, clothing and counseling for 13 years.

90 CHRIS VANCLEAVE THE REDNECK ROSARIAN VanCleave knows roses—so much so that he proudly touts the title “The Redneck Rosarian” on social media, podcasts, a blog and national speaking engagements. You’ll find 90 varieties of the flower at this banker-by-day’s home in Helena, and he’s also spread his passion for florals beyond his own lot through his work with the Helena Beautification Board. He traces his roots with roses back to his great-great-grandmother during the Civil War.

91 CASSANDRA KING BEST-SELLING NOVELIST In the 1960s the “Same Sweet Girls” were freshmen together at what’s now the University of Montevallo. In 2014, one of them, Cassandra King, wrote a novel based on them— one of many New York Times bestsellers she’s now penned. She also received an honorary doctorate from her alma mater and shared “essential things (she) learned about life” since she was a “Same Sweet Girl” at graduation there. It should also be noted is the widow of author Pat Conroy. 114

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92+93 KRISTAL AND JONATHAN BRYANT OWNERS OF K&J’S ELEGANT PASTRIES AND CREAMERY K&J’s has become a hot spot for over-the-top sweet treats in the greater Birmingham area. The shop, led by Kristal, offers elaborate wedding and birthday cakes, cupcakes and more, but their milkshakes are the biggest talk of the town. Icing and straws tie together towers of colorful candies, whipped cream, cookies, brownies, cupcakes and even cotton candy on top of the homemade shakes. On a sunny Saturday morning, it’s not unusual to see a line of eager customers cascading down the sidewalk, waiting to get their hands on a treat. In summer 2018, the shop debuted its food truck that travels throughout the area offering treats on-the-go. Their milkshakes have been featured in magazines such as Shelby Living and Southern Living, and in May 2018 the business won the Greater Shelby County Chamber of Commerce’s Small Business of the Year award in the 11-20 employee category.

Championing strong families is at the core of Ward Williams’s work at Vineyard Family Services, a faith-based nonprofit organization he’s been involved with since 2007. When he’s not sorting food for children in Backpack Buddies or overseeing another VFS program, Ward is likely wearing his District 4 Shelby County Commissioner hat.

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BRIDGETTE JORDAN-SMITH VINCENT CITY COUNCILWOMAN Vincent residents might associate Bridgette Jordan-Smith most often with her role as a city council member, but her extensive background also includes serving as vice-chair of the Alabama League of Municipalities’ Human Development Committee and a member of the Legislative Committee. Add to that that she’s a member of the Shelby County Chamber, a Leadership Shelby County graduate and Board of Directors president, a City of Vincent Park and Recreation Board chairwoman, a member of National Association for the Education of Young Children, and a member and church secretary of Coosa Valley Baptist Church. 116

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96 GABE GRIFFIN

95 CARRYE HODGES

HOPE 4 GABE FOUNDATION NAMESAKE

LYME DISEASE RESEARCH ADVOCATE As a child playing in the woods behind her house in Shelby County, Carrye didn’t know a tick bite would change her life. But after fighting Lyme disease and realizing how many questions still surround the diagnosis and treatment of it, Carrye, now a nurse, is on a mission to bring attention to prevention and early treatment options. She was a founding member of Alabama Lyme Disease and has worked to establish more patient support.

97 DAVID DAHL MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL PLAYER From Oak Mountain to the Rocky Mountains, 24-year-old Dahl’s baseball career has taken him to incredible heights. The 2012 OMHS graduate was drafted by the Colorado Rockies with the 10th overall pick that year. In 2016, he was called up to join the Rockies from their AAA affiliate the Albuquerque Isotopes, and then came onto the major league scene with a bang, hitting safely in his first 17 MLB games and tying a 75year major league record.

98 LINDSEY ALLISON SHELBY COUNTY COMMISSIONER Allison became the first woman, and one of only two, to serve on the Shelby County Commission starting in 1992. But her service to the county goes deeper too. A partner in Allison and May Law Firm, she has been involved with local organizations including Leadership Shelby County, The ARC of Shelby County and the Shelby County Schools Foundation, and is a founding member of the Shelby County Indigent Defense Council.

Gabe—and his family in Highland Lakes— have been fighting Duchenne muscular dystrophy since he was diagnosed with the terminal disease at age 3. Like the other one in 3,600 boys with the diagnosis, Gabe, now age 13, sees increasing muscle deterioration symptoms as his family’s nonprofit Hope 4 Gabe is seeking a cure. The past few years he and his dad, Scott, have been raising funds and awareness through a cross-country bike ride.

99 SUSAN SCHEIN SUSAN SCHEIN AUTOMOTIVE OWNER Schein’s name is behind the largest independent, female-owned vehicle supercenter in the state, but owning a successful car dealership wasn’t the path she thought her life would take. After obtaining a master’s degree in orthopedic biomechanics, she worked as a medical researcher for seven years before deciding to join the family business. She began working at her father’s car dealership in 1984 and purchased the business from him shortly before he died in 1992. The dealership continued to thrive and is now home to the largest NAPA Auto Care Center in Alabama. The dealership was dealt a blow in 2009 when, amid financial hardships, Chrysler LLC and General Motors Corp. terminated her dealership agreements. But Schein overcame those obstacles and today her business continues to boom. PROFILE 2019

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100 FRED YANCEY

RETIRED BRIARWOOD FOOTBALL COACH Yancey had been the head coach at Briarwood longer than his students have been aliveâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;all the way back to 1990. In 2017, he claimed his 300th career win, and as of the close of the 2018 season, 278 of those were at Briarwood. His teams have taken home three state titles, plus 14 area titles. Now at age 73, he has decided to retire after the 2018 season, though he still loves coaching as much as when he started. 118

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