Cullman Good Life Magazine - Spring 2017 by The Good Life Magazine

CULLMAN COUNTY

Nothing high-tech here ... Grandpa used water witching Mother Angelica died last Easter, but her work and vision live on SPRING 2017 COMPLIMENTARY

If Pa Dye were alive, heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d like that his old stone house is still a home

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Welcome

The turtle and the extrovert climb to new heights

his is hardly bragging, but Sheila McAnear and I both climbed to new heights for the issue of GLM you have in your hand. Here are the back stories ... Sheila, as most advertisers and many readers know, is the art/advertising director in our two-employee operation. (Technically, my wife, Diane, is our office manager, but Sheila and I work out of our homes, leaving Dee plenty of time for teaching piano and playing pipe organ.) By her own confession, Sheila is about as outgoing as a turtle. That’s why when – because of the busy holidays – I ran into a dead end finding a guest cook for recipes in this issue, I was shocked when Sheila poked her head out of her turtle shell comfort zone and volunteered.

Not only did she round up recipes and cook five dishes, but she typed up the recipes and shot her own food photos. The further beauty of it is that Sheila was raised in Cullman County and obviously works there, plus she lives and also works in Marshall County. We insist that stories in our Cullman and Marshall GLMs have local connections, so we can get double mileage out of her recipes. I’ve eaten Sheila’s Italian wedding cookies. They’re marvelous. Can’t wait to try her other Italian dishes. More than anything, I’m proud of her climbing to new extrovert heights. My new heights struck me recently as I drove down the long drive to the Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament to shoot photos for a memorial piece on Mother

Angelica ... and there it was, looming before me, beckoning: the 110-foot bell tower. I simply had to climb it. I asked Father Paschal, the shrine administrator, for permission, but he said it wasn’t his call. The tower entrance is in the cloistered portion of the monastery. To my surprise, Father Paschal had never climbed the tower. I’m hardly a turtle. When I met Mother Dolores, I popped the question. I was thrilled when she graciously consented. Permission granted, Father Paschal eagerly climbed the bell tower with me. Wonderful, peaceful view, we agreed. David Moore Publisher/editor

Contributors If you run your own business, you know it’s like feeding a time-hungry shark. In Deb Laslie’s case, her 90,000 volume bookstore is that shark. “It seriously cuts into my reading time,”she says.” I’m down to two or three books a week.” At least she’s set for retirement reading. Her shelves at home rival Deb’s Bookstore’s stock. When it rains, it pours ... which can be good for a free-lancer. Photographer/ writer Patrick Oden had a four-day corporate shoot in Nashville in midJanuary. Naturally, this overlapped with his story deadline for this issue of GLM. No prob. He simply packed his laptop and resorted to his well-honed art of multi-tasking. He even made deadline. Ad/art director Sheila McAnear has used an iMac and iPhone for years. Now she has an iPad. “I’m hoping it makes life easier. You have to stay connected.” She knows all too well the aggravations of technology problems, but it could be worse. She could still have her crash-happy Dell. “I hate to be an Apple snob, but ...” 6

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Steve Maze published “Yesterday’s Memories” from 1996 to 2008. He’s often asked if it will ever return. “Basically ever time I see someone in town they ask me that.” He has no pat answer, but at the time he had one full-time job and the magazine was like a second one. But he doesn’t mind being asked – it’s a compliment. Ten days before Christmas break, Tim Crow’s phone – an Extension Agent essential – burned up on its charger. He was isolated. No sweat, he thought. Auburn could quickly replace it. Right ... The order finally processed after Jan. 1. Then FedEx got it lost for several days. Halfway into January he happily rejoined the 21st century.

Writing at 2 a.m., editor/publisher David Moore might question his sanity. Still, he’s never regretted leaving newspapers to go out on his own. But after three and half years of Good Life in Cullman and Marshall counties, he still not sure why producing eight magazines a year takes longer than 104 newspapers.

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Inside

10 Good Fun

Tickets on sale for Empty Bowls, Dinner on First Ave. and a tour of Ireland

18 Good People

Dr. Jeremy Stidham is, literally, a Samaritan

22 Good Reads

Check out “Pillar to the Sky,” “Magdalen Girls”

25 Good Cooking

Good Life Magazine’s Sheila McAnear takes you on an Italian food recipe tour

34 Good ‘n’ Green

After the drought, yards need some TLC

36 Rock House Farm

Annette and Bobby’s extensive remodeling allows old home a place in a new century

46 Water witching

Grandpa Jay Hugh Maze had the touch

48 Good Eats

Drop by the C Street Café in Hanceville for burgers, meat and three and cutting up

51 Mother Angelica

As the first anniversary of her death nears those close to her reflect on her devotion

58 101,101 miles by bicycle

Charles Coggins has dismounted for now, but he wants to keep a great ride going

64 Hurricane Creek Park

Buddy Rodgers loved spring there, John McCrary still does, and you can, too

70 Out ’n’ About

A look at yesteryear ... through postcards

On the cover: Buddy Rodgers built this dam about 45 feet wide and three feet high on Hurricane Creek back when he owned it. This page: The Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament is framed by an arch in one of its two colonnades. The top of the Roman cross on the temple’s pinnacle was severed by lightning during construction, leaving a Tau cross in the shape of the Greek letter ‘T.’ The Tau cross is a biblical sign of the faithful, was used by St. Francis in his signature and is a symbol of spiritual renewal. So Mother Angelica took the loss as a sign of divine providence and left it as is. Photos by David Moore

David F. Moore Publisher/editor 256-293-0888 david.goodlifemagazine@gmail.com

Sheila T. McAnear Advertising/art Director 256-640-3973 sheila.goodlifemagazine@gmail.com

MoMc Publishing LLC P.O. Box 28, Arab, Al 35016 www.good-life-magazine.net

Mo Mc PUBLISHING LLC

Chili is served in keepsake ceramic bowls created and donated by local potters.

‘Empty Bowls’ help refill empty food bank shelves T

here will be hundreds of empty bowls and full stomachs Feb. 20 at Cullman First United Methodist Church. But those empty bowls will help ensure that financially strapped and homeless people in Cullman will not have empty stomachs along with their empty bowls in 2017. The 16th Annual Empty Bowls chili supper will be held 4-6:30 p.m. that Monday at Hearin Hall at the church. Proceeds from the $10 tickets help replenish the shelves of the food bank operated by Cullman Caring for Kids. Close to 800 meals were served at last year’s event. The food bank has been hit extra hard this past year. The food bank served 7,241 families – 14,130 individuals in 2016. That’s 100 more families and 2,000 more individuals than the food bank helped the previous year, says Javon Daniel, executive director of CCFK. And most of the increase came in the past six or seven months. “I don’t know what caused the dramatic increase,” he adds. “But we helped 711 families in one month. I thought it might be seasonal or a once-in-a-while thing, but it was steady all year, and it started out that way this year.” Last fall, volunteers told him they had been assisting homeless people. Javon says 10

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Chili is served with grilled cheese and water, accompanied by gospel music and silent auction items ranging from gift baskets and handmade jewelry to gift certificates. that got his attention, and CCFK started keeping stats on Oct. 15. Since then, 13 homeless people have come to the agency seeking food. “If you look, you can see them,” Javon says. “They are here.”

mpty Bowls, a nationwide program, started in 1990 with an art teacher and his students, who made ceramic bowls for chili sold as a fundraiser. Guests are allowed to keep the handmade bowls as a reminder of the many hungry people in the world. The program came to Cullman in 2003 when Tanya Shearer, a hunger activist,

brought the idea to Javon. “We got a committee together and went from there,” he says. “The first year we thought if we made $500 it would be great. We made $6,200 that first time, and it has grown just about every year since then.” Businesses and those needing orders of 25 or more are urged to call ahead. Tickets are sold at the door, but buying them in advance helps volunteers judge how much chili to cook. Tickets are on sale at the church office or at Cullman Caring for Kids. For more info call: CFUMC, 256-7346690; or CCFK, 256-739-1111.

Spring ... it’s time to get out again • Feb. 16 – “Out of the Depths” Inspired by current events in the Middle East, this joint exhibition of street photography by Fadi BouKaram of Lebanon and abstract paintings by Joe Cory of Birmingham will hang at the Evelyn Burrow Museum at Wallace State Community College through April. The artists will attend the 7 p.m. opening this Thursday to give gallery tours. The special exhibition is curated by Matt Schneider, a pastor at Cathedral Church of the Advent in Birmingham as part of the church’s Arts + Culture Series. BouKaram, raised in Beirut, became a photographer in his 30s both as a therapeutic tool and a way to discover oddities within the mundane. He has a “fascination with watching and documenting the diverse humanity that surrounds us.” Cory is an associate professor of Art at Samford University. On a trip to South Africa he saw first hand how artists can be voices for the oppressed – a lesson he’s now applying to the plight of Mideast refugees. Museum admission is free. It’s open 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Tuesday through Friday and 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Saturday. For more information: 256-352-8547; or visit www. burrowmuseum.org. • March-October – Community Garden Learn gardening on your own plot at the CPR sponsored Community Garden. Classes and group work sessions at 6 p.m. Tuesday at Nesmith Park. Cost is $75. Register at the Cullman Civic Center or online: www. cullmanrecreation.org. • March 4-5 – Mulberry Fork races The Alabama Cup kayak and canoe series started in February on the Locust Fork. The second races are on the Mulberry Fork this weekend. The Mulberry course is about 100 yards long with some 25 gates to maneuver through class II/III rapids. You can watch from an easily accessible trail. Parking is $3, food will be sold, and water and portable toilets are available. The site is on Cullman County Road 509, accessible from Short Street in Garden City or from 509, off Ala. 91 south of Hanceville. Instead of being followed by the

Good Fun

“Bravo Dangerous Cargo” by Joe Cory, above; at left, “Barefoot Woman Confessing at the Our Lady of Lebanon basilica,” Harissa, Lebanon, 2013, by Fadi BouKaram. annual Locust Fork Classic, this year the Alabama Cup Racing Association will hold “Paddle Fest” on April 1 where Ala. 79 crosses the Locust Fork between Blountsville and Cleveland. Bring your canoe or kayak and tent if you want. For more information on visiting or competing, visit: www.alabamacupraces. com; or call: Tony Diliberto, 205-2237094. • March 9-12 – “Our Town” The classic three-act play by Thornton Wilder tells the story of the fictional American small town of The races take place on the Mulberry Fork just downstream from Garden City.

Grover’s Corners and its citizens in the early 1900s. Shows are 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday, 2 p.m. Sunday: Betty Leeth Haynes Theatre. Admission $10 adults, $5 students. • March 4-18 – Rock Climbing Classes Three sessions sponsored by CPR at 10 a.m. on these Saturdays. The first two beginning and intermediate classes will be held at Hurricane Creek Park. The third class will be a climb at an unannounced location. No experience necessary and open to all ages. All equipment included in the $75 cost.

Bosom Buddies founder Mary Dyar with firefighters from Arab and their pink fire truck. Pink fire trucks from Birmingham and Gadsden will also be in the parade on April 1.

Register at the Cullman Civic Center or online: www.cullmanrecreation.org. • March 25 – US Army Field Band and Chorus Known as the Musical Ambassadors of the Army, the concert band and soldiers’ chorus serve and inspire the American people by telling the Army story and honoring soldiers and veterans at home and abroad. The free performance is at 7 p.m.; Betty Leeth Haynes Theatre. • April – Historic walks part of Alabama200 Alabama became a state Dec. 14, 1819, but celebration of the bicentennial – known as Alabama200 – kicks off this year with an emphasis on “Alabama Places.” Cullman is participating with its annual historic walking tours every Saturday this month. The free, hour-long strolls begin at 10 a.m. in front of the Cullman County Museum led by local historians full of insights into the city’s past. For more info call: Drew Green, 256-739-1258. • April 1 – Bosom Buddies parade, run

FEBRUARY | MARCH | APRIL 2017

At the request of the Bosom Buddies, Mayor Jacob Woody is proclaiming the first Saturday of April as Cancer Awareness Day, and the group is kicking it off with its second-year parade and 5K run. Register for the Colors of Cancer Run ($25 or $30 that morning) at 7 a.m. at the fairgrounds. The race starts at 8 followed by awards. The parade starts at 10 a.m. at North Shopping Center led by the drum lines from West Point and Hanceville High Schools. Cancer survivors, patients, friends and family are welcome to enter

a float or vehicle. There is no charge to be in the parade. The parade ends at the fairgrounds where the Senior Spirit Kickers will perform at noon. The Wallace State Jazz Band plays at 1 p.m. and other local entertainment will be on hand along with fun activities for kids, craft and product and food vendors. It all wraps up at 2 p.m. with a big Colors of Cancer balloon release (balloons will be sold). Bosom Buddies is a local support group for patients with any cancer. Its non-profit volunteer foundation was

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formed four years ago to assist qualified hardship cancer patients and caregivers with rent, utilities, food and gas for treatment trips. For more info contact: Bosom Buddies member Judy Watts Grissom, who owns Options, 256-347-5993; or options5993@gmail.com. • April 6-8 – Tribute to “The King” The Wallace State Singers present a tribute to Elvis Presley; 7 p.m. at Betty Leeth Haynes Theatre. Admission $10 adults, $5 students. • April 20 – “I Write the Songs – The Music of Barry Manilow” Award-winning singer/songwriter Jim Witter, described as having “impeccable” vocals will perform a tribute to the iconic Barry Manilow. Reminisce as Witter and his band’s new show recreate Manilow’s classic songs in their full splendor. A production of the Cullman Community Concert Association, the show starts at 7 p.m. Tuesday in the Betty Leeth Haynes Theatre at Wallace State. Tickets at the door are $30. For more information or to order, call: Kathy Scruggs, 256-339-4447; Lavell

Thrasher, 256-590-6637; or visit: www. cullmancommunityconcertassociation. com. • April 22-23 – The 33rd Annual Bloomin’ Festival With about 140 booths, this popular two-day, juried arts festival draws some 25,000 visitors to the spring blooming campus of St. Bernard Abbey and Prep School. The Southeast Tourism Society calls the festival “one of a kind.” Not only can you find unique, handmade pieces of art, but you can watch some of it being created. Demonstrations include: blacksmithing, glass blowing, pottery throwing, broom making, portrait drawing and more. And there will be enough food vendors to eat your way around the campus. Donations of $5 give you an opportunity to win a 2017 Jeep Patriot, iPad Mini, Beats Studio Headphones, Fitbit Flex 2 or a Roku Express for HDTV streaming. Admission is $5; children 5 and younger, free. Grotto admittance is reduced to $3 and parking is free. No pets, please. For more info: www. bloominfestival.com.

St. Bernard’s Br. Pachomius Alvarado and Br. Benedict Dyar will be selling the famous Monk Bread they bake at the Bloomin’ Festival. • April 27 – Spring concert The Wallace State Community College Concert Band/Jazz Band will present their spring concert at 7 p.m., free admission; Burrow Center for the Fine and Performing Arts Recital Hall.

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Hannah likes the potato soup best at Augusta’s. The cheese and bacon are

Bailey and Jake usually order the Philly steak sliders. “I like steak,” Jake

she orders wings or shrimp, and she really loves the desserts, too.

every day!” Bailey says. “I’ve almost tried every bit of the food.”

part of her reason, but mainly it’s because “Meme makes it!” Sometimes

says. I like the juice in it. And the peppers and onions.” “I would eat here

Grandkids rave about eating at Meme’s restaurant, Augusta’s Eating dinner with Deb “Meme” Veres at her Augusta’s Sports Grill are her grandkids. They are, from left: Brooklyn, 6 and Bailey Sutter, 9; Jake Veres, 8; Kipton Sutter, 2, in Meme’s

arms; Hannah Veres, 9; and Rawlin Sutter, who turned 8 in February. The Sutter kids are the

children of Katie and Hutch Sutter, who recently returned to Cullman from Hawaii. The others belong to Tanya and Jason Veres. Jason works with brother Josh and Deb at Augusta’s. “We don’t know if Uncle Josh has kids yet,” Brooklyn says. “He just has a girlfriend.”

“They’re the best things ever,” Brooklyn says of the chicken fingers. “I usually drink Sprite or a Shirley Temple.” Meme owning Augusta’s is cool, she adds, “’Cause she’s the best cooker.”

Open for lunch, dinner and drinks Monday-Saturday

Wings are Rawlin’s top choice at Augusta’s. “I like how they make the sauce.” Hot and medium are his favs

• May 4 – Broadway Night Auditioned students in the Wallace State Fine and Performing Arts will sing, dance and act out pieces and scenes of their choosing. It’s at 7 p.m.; Burrow Center for the Fine and Performing Arts Recital Hall; $10 adult, $5 students. • May 5-6 – StrawberryFest Cullman’s annual StrawberryFest features the best strawberries and produce in North Alabama. It will be 3 p.m.-9 p.m. Friday and 8 a.m.-6 p.m. Saturday at Festhalle, along with great music, a classic car show, arts and crafts and scrumptious food vendors, plus you can shop the unique stores downtown and in the warehouse district. If you want a booth, the cost is $75. For more information contact: Kelly Pulliam at the Cullman Civic Center, 256-734-9157; or at kpulliam@ cullmanrecreation.org. • May 16-24 – Irish Heritage Plane seats for anyone interested are still available for the May 16-May 24 trip to Ireland with the Wallace State Abroad travel program offered through the Evelyn Burrow Museum. Cost of the nine-day trip – which starts at $3,210 and can be split into monthly payments – includes round trip flights to Dublin. Spend two full days in Dublin (voted one of the top 10 cities to visit in 2016 by Lonely Planet), then on to Cork and Killarney before returning to Dublin on day seven. The cost also covers accommodations, on-tour transportation, regional-style meals, full-time tour director, expert local

The Irish Heritage trip includes three days and four nights in Dublin, where one of the attractions is Ha’penny Bridge, above. On day five, visit Blarney Castle and nearby Blarney House, at left. guides, guided sightseeing, entrances to attractions on the itinerary and endto-end support for travelers. A three-day extension to Belfast is available at an additional cost.

For more information contact: Kristen Holmes, 256-352-8118 or Kristen. holmes@wallacestate.edu. or visit www. efcst.com/1859634UB for the complete itinerary and online registration. • May 20 – Dinner on First Last year’s inaugural Dinner on First was a sellout and got rave reviews from the crowd for the atmosphere and the food, all of which was served hot despite the logistics of cooking for and waiting on 150 people. Tickets and sponsorships are on sale for the second Dinner on First. Feast at a 300-foot table in the middle of First Avenue with a farm-to-table style meal prepared by Dyron Powell, of Dyron’s Low Country Restaurant. The unique dinner benefits the recreational Connected Park CPR is developing for children of all ages, limitations and abilities. For information on tickets or sponsorships contact: CPR, 256-734-9157; or wharbison@ cullmanrecreation.org.

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Good People

5questions Story and photo by David Moore

r. Jeremy Stidham is medical director for Cullman’s Good Samaritan Health Clinic. But he’s not always put a lot of thought and time into healthcare for the indigent. Initially, he didn’t even put much thought into becoming a physician. “In the sixth grade,” he laughs, “the teacher went around the room and asked everyone what they wanted to be one day. I said I wanted to be doctor. Fortunately, it worked out.” Indeed. An internist with Cullman Internal Medicine, he’s also chairman of the medicine department at Cullman Regional Medical Center and was chief of internal medicine in 2013. He was an organizer and former medical director for North Alabama Community Care, which works to improve primary care for Medicaid patients. For those efforts he was named an Alabama Hospital Association Physician Hospital Hero in 2013. The following year he was nominated for Healthcare Professional of the Year. Medicine was not inherent to young Jeremy. His father was an electrical engineer for the Air Force. Though the family moved frequently, it made them close, and they landed in Vinemont when Jeremy was a fifth grader. Three years later he transferred to Cullman High to play soccer. During this time he met – quite literally in passing – his future wife, Katie Weldon, who attended Fairview High School. They lived a mile or so apart on the same road, separated by a narrow bridge, and passed each other driving to their respective schools. “I remember thinking she was a terrible driver,” he says, “but she was 18

FEBRUARY | MARCH | APRIL 2017

Dr.Jeremy Stidham Working to improve indigent healthcare ... and make Wednesdays ‘Bow Tie Day’ awfully pretty.” They were never introduced, however, until he was in medical school at the University of South Alabama in Mobile, and his roommate got him a blind date with a Cullman co-ed. “I didn’t realize it was Katie until my first date,” he says. “It worked out well. We got engaged after a year then married (March 26, 2005) two years to the day after our first date.” Indigent healthcare was still far from Jeremy’s mind. Katie had just graduated from USA and entered dental school at UAB. Jeremy completed his residency two years before she finished dental school and, in 2009, became a full partner in Cullman Internal Medicine. They lived in Mount Olive with their new son. Jeremy commuted to Cullman. “Somehow she was able to finish dental school while taking care of Ben and me,” Jeremy says. Katie, DMD in hand, and the family moved to Cullman in 2011, and she started Signature Smiles of Cullman with Dr. Lindsey Marshall. In the next few years, as Dr. Stidham became engulfed in the medical profession, the plight of those needing health care with inadequate or no insurance became impossible for him to ignore.

How did you get involved with Good Samaritan Health Clinic, and what is the scope of the work performed there? First, I interviewed in an awful lot of places before deciding to practice at Cullman Internal Medicine. It’s fabulous – not only the city but the practice. The folks who ran this place for many years before I came built something very special here.

Back in 2002, the Rev. Brent Norris at Grace Episcopal Church initiated the idea for a free clinic. A lot of churches joined in the effort, and the clinic opened in January 2004. I got involved when Dr. Bill Peinhardt (a founding partner at CIM) was the clinic’s medical director. He invited me to drop by the clinic and see patients. I became a backup to the nurse practitioner. It opened my eyes to the need for the clinic, and I became a board member for a few years. We provide free primary care to lowincome people who have no insurance at all. That’s a lot of people. We have about 300 patient-visits per month. When Bill retired, the board asked me if I would fill in as medical director. It was a good fit. I knew the people there and how the clinic operated. Now I meet weekly with Randa Duke, the nurse practitioner. I review charts, sign prescriptions and see patients as needed. Randa will occasionally have a difficult patient and need a second set of eyes. I am that for her. I volunteer eight to 10 hours a month. How you define our success at the clinic depends. A lot of people think it’s defined by the number of patients we see. I’m not sure I completely agree with that. I think it should be measured in how well the people who need us have access to us, regardless of what that number is. The clinic has actually grown in volume since the Affordable Care Act. There is a gap between patients who qualify for Medicaid and those who can be covered under the Affordable Care Act. But I think many who would be eligible for care at the free clinic are not getting in. I think some of them are not trying to, for whatever reason.

Snapshot: Dr. Jeremy Stidham

FAMILY: Born in Arizona to Jerry and Patti Stidham. In 2005 married the former Katherine Weldon of Fairview, daughter of Kenneth and Pat Weldon and Charlotte Blakely. Children: Benjamin, 8, and Madeline, 4. Jeremy’s younger brother, Jonathan, a radiologist in residency in New Orleans, is married to the former Courtney Peinhardt, an attorney; they plan to return to Cullman in a few years. EDUCATION: Graduated Cullman High, 1997; University of Alabama at Birmingham with a B.S in biology, 2001; earned his medical degree from the University of South Alabama, 2006. Completed his internship and residency in internal medicine at Baptist Health Systems in Birmingham, 2009. CAREER: Joined Cullman Internal Medicine in 2009. CEO, Pinnacle Mobile Imaging since 2014. PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES: At Cullman Regional Medical Center, chief of internal medicine since 2011; chairman of department of medicine since 2012; medical director since 2013; board member, Cullman Regional Medical Center Foundation and secretary of its executive committee since 2014. Since 2013, medical director at Comfort Care Hospice, Comfort Care Home Health and, until 2014, at North Alabama Community Care. Board member, Heritage Diagnostic Center since 2014. OTHER ACTIVITIES: Member, St. John’s Evangelical Protestant Church. Co-leads with Jason Grimmett a new campaign through the Cullman Area Chamber of Commerce, “Converging for Success: Together We Can Accomplish Everything.”

There are people who do not qualify. There is an application process. The board has expanded its definition of eligibility. We have had meetings with the case management staff at the hospital to refer more people and get them registered. Case management is taking steps to get them in touch with us. We are funded primarily through donations from the community. We have some fundraisers each year and some church and individual sponsors, but finances are always tough. We run at a deficit most months. We rely on our savings to see us through. Something that has changed recently is that we are focusing not only on doing a good job, but proving that we are. There are specific “markers” in patient care that we track, and we are doing, I would say, better than the community average in reaching those markers – which is impressive given the population we see.

You were formerly the medical director for North Alabama Community Care in Huntsville, which seeks to improve primary care provided to Medicaid patients. What is the plight of Medicaid patients in the state? There are some 180,000 Medicaid recipients in the 23 counties in North and West Alabama. The biggest problem they face is finding doctors for their primary care. Very few doctors accept adults on Medicaid because it pays very little.

This leads to people not getting primary care, which leads to more advanced illnesses, which sends them to the hospital. Once they are discharged from the hospital, they don’t have adequate follow-up, and the problems just reoccur. During the years I worked with the not-for-profit Community Care organization, I learned the plight of Medicaid patients, which led me to start a Medicaid clinic five years ago here at Cullman Internal Medicine. We hired Stacey Varden, a nurse practitioner, and Jacob Watts, a medical assistant, to make room for Medicaid patients in my clinic. We see an average of 15 Medicaid patients a day, four days a weeks … probably about 250 per month. They get the same access to diagnostic imaging and laboratory work as all of our patients do. By having a clinic here at my office we are providing primary care … not only improving their health but improving the community’s health overall. Stacey and I both see patients. I take care of them in the hospital, and we both care for them in the clinic. That’s an ongoing, everyday thing, and I spend about half of my time doing that. Improving the healthcare of Medicaid patients has to start with physicians improving access for these patients. If we can deliver adequate care, we will decrease the overall cost of their healthcare.

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The problem the government has is paying for it all. If Alabama accepted the expansion of Medicaid, it would increase our ability as physicians to take care of Medicaid patients. Even so, Medicaid has been a big success. It’s decreased the number of hospitalizations of the folks we see and increased the access for primary care to adult Medicaid care patients here in Cullman.

What drives, if that’s the correct word, you to give so much of your time to helping the poor with healthcare? I have heard physicians say they feel they are rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. But the patients we see at Good Samaritan and the Medicaid clinic at my office give us a good opportunity to save the ship. The people who put in the effort to find us at the two clinics have opened the door. They just need someone to walk in and turn the lights on. The impact you can make for them is very significant … often with very little effort. I think what I am getting at is the overall satisfaction of caring for these folks is what we get most out of it. Cullman Internal Medicine has been very supportive of these efforts. That’s because it’s structured so that each doctor here makes his or her own decision with the way they run their practice. We all believe it’s not right to be in a predominantly rural community

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and not take Medicaid patients. Not just any clinic would allow me to do this.

You volunteer your time as a member of the Cullman Regional Medical Center Foundation. Why is the work of the Foundation important to you? The Foundation is a group of really talented folks who have been together for years. They are a big part of the community, not just in terms of the foundation itself, but they are active in a number of other civic organizations as well. The main purpose of the Foundation is to raise funds for the needs of the medical center. Some of the things the Foundation has done include the Golden Window Campaign that expanded our emergency room. The Refresh A Room campaign modernized the facility and added much needed comfort to waiting areas and patient rooms. The Foundation also added advanced EKG machines to our ambulance service to diagnose heart attacks from the field. The Foundation is a big part of why we can continue to operate here as a modern hospital. That’s why it’s important to me.

What is something about Dr. Jeremy Stidham that most people don’t know?

I started Bow Tie Wednesday here at the office (chuckle). Now, every Wednesday, we wear bow ties. We’ve been looking for something for the girls but have not hit on it yet ... Back during residency I started wearing bow ties and kept it up when I came here. It spread through the practice, and now I have the personal goal of seeing Bow Tie Wednesday observed throughout Cullman before I retire. Some patients say they only schedule appointments here on Wednesday, so I think there is something to it. Another thing is that most people don’t know my premed advisor at UAB consistently told me to find a backup plan to becoming a doctor. I’m not sure what she was saying there, but my backup plan was to become a novelist. I toyed with writing and enjoyed reading novels. I am, at least technically, a published author. I wrote a story called “A Pair” that was published in a volume of short stories. You had to enter a contest to get into the book, and my story was among those chosen. I’m not sure I got paid, but they did send me a copy of the book. I got that for free. Actually, I have started a novel. I’m only 45 pages into it, but I don’t think I have touched it a single time since we had Benjamin eight years ago. Today I toy around with the idea of writing a novel after I retire … and after I have completed my goal for Bow Tie Wednesday in Cullman. Good Life Magazine

Lots of ‘Samaritans’ help at the free clinic Good Samaritan Health Clinic offers free primary health and wellness care to low-income, uninsured individuals. It’s located on the basement floor of the Folsom Center on Arnold Avenue in Cullman. The clinic’s motto is “Go and do likewise,” from the parable of the Good Samaritan in Luke 10:25-37. For information on qualification requirements and application, please visit: www.goodsamaritancullman.com; or call: 256-775-1389. Board members are: Eric Laney, chairman; Matt Carter, vice-chairman; Jerry Jacob, secretary; Mike Waters, treasurer; Deborah McAfee, Teri Mobley, Conna Canada, Clayton Ingram, Tyler Roden, Lindsay Rhodes, Dr. Matt Dellinger, Charna Brown, Ann Culpepper and Keith Varden. Staff members include: Jolanda Hutson, executive director; Cindy Barnett, clinic administrator; Randa Duke, CRNP; Jessica Evans, certified medical assistant; Judy Thomason, patient advocate; Jean Elsberry, office assistant; Megan Williams, receptionist. Volunteers are Conna Canada, audiologist; Monica Phillips, RN; Kay Parker-Phillips, RN; Ann Harrison, RN; Stephanie Barnett, RN; Carol Robertson, clerical; Clarice McGrath, clerical. Dr. Jeremy Stidham is the medical director.

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Good Reads

Magdalen Girls explores lives of fallen women in ’62 Dublin

Sci-fi thriller pits a theory against politicians, Mideast

eagan, Lea and Nora are Magdalen Girls within the gated grounds of the convent of the Sisters of the Holy Redemption in 1962 Dublin. Along with the other “fallen” “You’d best come inside, women – unwed mothers, unless you’d like to spend prostitutes or petty the rest of your life on the criminals – the three form grounds. I wouldn’t suggest an unlikely bond in “The Magdalen Girls” by V.S. it.” Teagan knew she had Alexander. no choice as she watched In a little known bit the nun climb the steps of history in Europe and to the door. It creaked as even here in the United States, these laundries Sister Anne pulled it open. were intended to reform “Welcome to your new young women but most home – for as long as is never left the institutions, necessary to expiate your finding themselves unable to adjust to the outside sins.” Teagan crawled to her world, and their former feet, studying the woman reputations ruined. who now lorded over her. A A gifted writer, Ms. long corridor lay in a dark, Alexander has done an incredible amount of endless stretch before her. research on the laundries; the fictional story she weaves around these actual places and events is fascinating. I was hooked from the first page. I hope you’ll read and enjoy “The Magdalen Girls.” – Deb Laslie

’m a bit of a science fiction geek. I love Bradbury and Heinlein, and the recent “The Martian” by Weir. The best part of science fiction is when it morphs into science fact. And after Their dream was a space reading “Pillar to the Sky” tower, or “elevator,” that by William Forstchen, I’m would reach from the a believer in this particular equator to geosynchronous dream. But more than a sci-fi tale, this is chock-full orbit, 23,000 miles above of current events. the earth. At first glance it There are gifted and did indeed seem like a mad near fanatical scientists scheme, but the science was intent on not only proving that their theory is viable, there to prove it [could be but will ultimately done]. . . .in the same way free mankind from its that other dreams – to dependence on fossil fuels reach the moon, to cross (free energy from the sun – for all – forever). the Atlantic by plane, even The philanthropists to just fly or move a ship and investors involved are without oars or sails – had willing to take a gamble on long ago started out as huge future profits, but the politicians, academicians dreams. and the Middle East are doing everything they can to stop the pillar from being built. Part thriller, part history and science lessons (no tests!), but most importantly, a great story. – Deb Laslie

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Good Cooking

You know it tastes good when people ask for your recipe

Story by David Moore Food photos by Sheila McAnear

“I tried to start out cooking vegetables because that’s what was always on the table at Mom’s house,” Sheila says. “But putting a pot of green beans on the stove didn’t always turn out good. You have to do something to them. So I called Mom. Countless phones calls later, I had learned how to cook a meal.” As time passed, Sheila tried cookbooks, but the dishes never turned out like she expected. “So I learned to wait until someone cooked something good, then I asked them the for recipe.” She apparently did a lot of asking. “I have recipes stuffed everywhere now. I have a huge to-do list to get them on the computer and organized.” With Sheila’s timeintensive job, her youngest son, Terry, 18, has resorted to DIY kitchen measures. “He’ll want pancakes or something and know I’m busy working,” she says. “So he’s started digging into my recipes.”

ike many cooks, Sheila McAnear collects recipes. Unlike many cooks, she’s collected very few recipe books. “I do like recipes,” she says. “And a cook is no better than her recipes. If I taste something that’s good, I always try to collect that recipe. To me, it’s a great compliment to the cook if someone asks for the recipe.” As a partner in MoMc Publishing, Sheila is the advertising/art director for Good Life Magazine in Cullman County and its sister publication in Marshall County. Besides working in both counties she lives in Scant City between Arab and Guntersville, but she grew Sheila’s Italian wedding cookies will literally melt in your mouth and up in the New Canaan are guaranteed to put a smile on anyone’s face, wedding or not. community in eastern Cullman County, along The recipe for them is on page 26. Photo by David Moore. with three brothers. For much of their early lives, Sheila’s mother, Sara Tielking, was a single mom. hen she can’t ask for a recipe, Sheila figures out how to mimic it. Such was the case after she and a girlfriend “She was a do-it-herself person,” Sheila says. “She worked returned from a restaurant where they’d ordered delicious full time, she cooked, she cleaned the house, and she always had a huge garden to feed us. She just didn’t have time to teach fettuccine alfredo. “We started throwing things into a pot and came up with the me how to cook.” recipe,” she says. It must be good. “I’ve never made it when When Sheila got married, she had few cooking capabilities. someone didn’t ask for the recipe.” “Chicken and dumplings were the only thing I knew how to Besides organizing her recipes, another quest Sheila is on cook when I left I home,” she laughs. “That’s when I realized I is learning to make really good wine … in fact. She’s been didn’t know how to do anything … including clean house. I had working on it for years. to collect recipes pretty quickly to put anything on the table.” “The first batch I made turned out really well, but I tried he young couple lived with her husband’s parents for to follow that same recipe and it didn’t turn out so good.” It’s a while, and so it was that Sheila learned a lot about cooking much easier, she laughs, to visit your favorite wine store. from watching her mother-in-law, Nadean Light. Years later On the following pages, Sheila shares some of her favorite she had to phone Nadean and Sara a lot for help. Italian dishes ... and you don’t even have to ask for the recipes ...

FEBRUARY | MARCH | APRIL 2017

OVEN BAKED CHICKEN 1 cup dried breadcrumbs ¼ cup grated Parmesan 2 Tbsp. chopped parsley ½ tsp. pepper ¼ tsp. salt ½ cup butter, melted 2 tsp. fresh chopped garlic 6 boneless chicken breasts Heat oven to 375. Combine breadcrumbs, cheese, parsley, pepper and salt in a shallow bowl; set aside. Combine butter and garlic in a 9” skillet and simmer one minute. Cut chicken into large strips and dip one at a time into the butter mixture then place into breadcrumb mixture, turning to coat evenly. Place each strip on baking pan. Drizzle with any remaining butter and breadcrumb mixture. Bake for 30 minutes or until chicken is lightly browned.

SPINACH LASAGNA 1 pound ground sausage 1 pound ground chuck 3.5 oz. package sliced pepperoni 2 Tbsp. Italian seasoning (see recipe on page 28) 24 oz. spaghetti sauce 1 cup water 8 oz. box lasagna noodles 1 Tbsp. olive oil 1 tsp. salt 12 oz. frozen chopped spinach, cooked and drained 4 oz. shredded mozzarella cheese 1 cup shredded asiago cheese Cheese Mix: 16 oz. ricotta cheese 8 oz. shredded mozzarella cheese ½ cup grated Parmesan cheese 2 eggs 1/3 cup fresh chopped parsley ½ tsp. garlic powder ½ tsp. salt ½ tsp. pepper Heat oven to 350. Add oil, salt and lasagna noodles to 3 quarts of 26

FEBRUARY | MARCH | APRIL 2017

boiling water. Cook 5 minutes, drain and set aside. Cook spinach and set aside. Mix ground beef and sausage in a large bowl; add seasoning mix. Brown meat mixture in a large skillet until done. Stack the sliced pepperoni and quarter them. Add to the cooked meat. Cook one additional minute. Pour spaghetti sauce and water into medium saucepan; simmer for 10 minutes. In large bowl stir together ricotta, mozzarella, Parmesan, eggs, parsley, garlic, salt and pepper. In a 13x9-inch pan layer one cup of sauce, three noodles, half of the meat mixture, one cup of sauce, half of the spinach, half of the cheese mixture, three noodles, one cup of sauce, remaining meat mixture, remaining spinach, three noodles, remaining sauce, remaining cheese. Top with grated mozzarella. Cover with foil and bake for 45 minutes. Remove foil and cook additional 15 minutes. Let stand 10 minutes before cutting.

ITALIAN WEDDING COOKIES 1 ½ cups unsalted butter ¾ cup confectioners’ sugar ¾ tsp. salt 1 egg white 1 ½ cups finely ground pecans or almonds 2 tsp. vanilla extract ¼ tsp. butter flavoring ¼ tsp. coconut flavoring 2 ¼ cups unbleached flour, selfrising 1/3 cup confectioners’ sugar for coating Preheat oven to 325. Cream butter in a bowl, gradually add sugar, salt and egg white. Beat until light and fluffy. Add nuts and flavorings. Blend in flour gradually and mix well. Shape into one-inch balls using about 1 tsp. for each cookie. Place on cookie sheet, and bake for 12 min. Do not brown. Cool slightly, then cover in confectioners’ sugar.

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ITALIAN SALAD 2 cups Romaine lettuce 2 cups green leaf lettuce 1 cup baby spinach ¼ red onion, sliced paper thin 3.5 oz. can whole pitted black olives 15 pepperoncini, whole

¼ cup asiago cheese, grated ¼ cup Parmesan cheese, grated Roma tomatoes Croutons Combine mixture of greens

ITALIAN SALAD DRESSING 1 cup Hellman’s mayonnaise ¼ cup light olive oil ¼ cup red wine vinegar ¼ cup white vinegar ½ tsp. parsley flakes 2 Tbsp. Italian seasoning ¼ cup grated Parmesan cheese Whisk together mayonnaise, oil and both vinegars in a small bowl. Add parsley, seasoning packet and cheese. Chill before serving. 28

FEBRUARY | MARCH | APRIL 2017

into large salad bowl. Top with the onion, olives, pepperoncini, and tomatoes, and croutons. Add freshly grated cheese, if you like. Top with salad dressing and mix well. Serve immediately.

ITALIAN SEASONING MIX 2 1 1 1 1 2 1 1 1

Tbsp. dried oregano Tbsp. garlic powder Tbsp. onion powder Tbsp. sugar Tbsp. parsley flakes tsp. salt tsp. black pepper tsp. basil tsp. celery seed

½ tsp. white pepper ¼ tsp. marjoram Combine all ingredients in a food processor and blend to a fine powder. This seasoning mix can be made ahead and used with a variety of Italian recipes.

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SHRIMP FETTUCCINE ALFREDO 12 oz. package fettuccine noodles 1 Tbsp. olive oil 1 tsp. salt 1 broccoli head 1 pound large shrimp, deveined, no tails Pepper to taste Alfredo Sauce: 1 cup heavy whipping cream ½ cup milk ¼ cup butter 4 ounces cream cheese ½ cup Parmesan cheese 1 Tbsp. parsley flakes 1 tsp. garlic powder ½ tsp. salt ½ tsp. pepper Add oil and salt to 3 quarts of boiling water. While noodles are cooking, chop broccoli and steam for four to five minutes. Brown shrimp in a skillet with one Tbsp. of butter for three minutes, add pepper to taste. In a saucepan over medium heat combine whipping cream, milk, butter and cream cheese. When melted, add Parmesan, parsley, salt, pepper and garlic powder. Fill plate with noodles; add shrimp and broccoli; top with Alfredo sauce.

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RED WINE SANGRIA 1 bottle Merlot wine ½ cup brandy 1 cup triple sec ½ cup orange juice ½ cup pomegranate juice ¼ cup simple syrup, or more to taste (equal parts sugar and water, heated until sugar dissolves, cooled) 1 cup cold seltzer Juice of 3 limes ½ cup blackberries ½ cup strawberries ½ cup blueberries ½ cup raspberries One apple, sliced One orange, sliced Mix all ingredients together except the sliced orange. Let stand in a tightly sealed container for 24 hours in the refrigerator. Add sliced oranges before serving for presentation. 32

FEBRUARY | MARCH | APRIL 2017

CHICKEN FLORENTINE 3 boneless chicken breasts 10 oz. frozen chopped spinach ½ tsp. salt ½ tsp. pepper 3 Tbsp. Parmesan cheese for spinach mix 1 cup prepared sauce mix 3 Tbsp. Parmesan cheese for topping Sauce Mix: 3 Tbsp. butter 3 Tbsp. flour 1 cup milk ½ cup heavy whipping cream ½ tsp. salt ½ tsp. pepper ¼ tsp. nutmeg 3 Tbsp. Parmesan cheese Melt butter in a small sauce

pan, add flour, milk, cream and whisk. Cook on medium heat until thickened. Add seasonings and cheese. Use one cup of this sauce on the spinach mix; the remainder will be used over chicken. Cook spinach, drain. Add salt, pepper, cheese and sauce mixture. Set aside. Cut chicken into small bite-size slices and brown in skillet with 1 Tbsp. of butter; set aside. In a 9x9 glass baking pan layer spinach mix and cooked chicken. Spread sauce mix on top. Sprinkle with additional Parmesan cheese. Place in 350 oven for ten minutes, then broil for 3-5 minutes or until top is browned.

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FEBRUARY | MARCH | APRIL 2017

Good ‘n’ Green

Rain, rain, don’t go away, spring will be rough enough anyway In recent years the Bailey Mews horse farm in Baileyton and the rest of Cullman County have experienced beautiful springs, thanks to ample rains. This year might be different. Story by Tim Crow

ince the beginning of December our area has been welcomed with ample rain, which has started to refill our creeks and ponds. We might quickly forget the previous four or five months that left us in dust and withered leaves – but we shouldn’t. Our area suffered one of the worst and longest droughts in some time. Crops were diminished, gardens abandoned, landscapes forever changed, and lawns may not survive. Drought can cause so many issues for our plants, many of which won’t be unveiled for some time. Drought stress on plants leads to many problems. Obviously some are evident very quickly. We see plants start to wilt and go from green to brown overnight. This is the case in most of our herbaceous plant material. Moisture is used and moved so quickly in these plants, they’re usually the first to show the wrath of drought. But what about our more hardy plants? Our shrubs and trees? Drought stress is usually slower to identify itself in these plants because they have more extensive root systems and can store more water and nutrients. Does this mean they are immune to the damage stress can cause? Of course not. Signs just appear more slowly, which in some cases can be more dangerous. 34

FEBRUARY | MARCH | APRIL 2017

In our shrubs and trees we can start to see branches within the plant that seem to be stressed from drought. That usually means parts of the root system have been damaged, which causes a lack of water and leaves nutrients unable to be moved within the plant. While that doesn’t sound like the end of the world, it could just be the beginning of multiple issues for a particular plant. Any time plant tissue dies on a plant, it can start a domino effect for potential problems.

unguses and plant diseases quickly move to dead tissue on a plant as they now have an entry point. This becomes a breeding ground for these plant problems that allows a partially harmed plant to face an array of problems. Insects are attracted to plants with a weakened defense system. We typically see insects invade these types of damaged plants to forage and cause further havoc. Once a plant has minor damage, it can quickly be affected by many sources looking to cause harm. What about our lawns that were decimated by the heat and lack of rain? Turf typically will try to go dormant in times of drought to protect itself from damage, but it can only take so much. Turf will weaken and thin during drought allowing weeds, insects, and disease to move in. While some cultivated turf types

might struggle during drought, some of the weed species thrive. This causes weeds to over-compete with our turf for nutrients and what little moisture is in the ground. This can lead to severe turf loss during times of drought. Because lots of plants go dormant in the fall, we won’t know the full extent of the damage caused by last year’s drought until well into this spring season. We’ll see plants struggle or fail to come out of dormancy in the spring due to root and cell damage this past year. This will give us an idea of some of the work we face this year to try and preserve our plants. Trees and shrubs may take a little extra TLC this spring. Supplement water if we go through extended periods without natural rainfall. Try not to use fertilizers on plants that are stressed. Try to get a handle on weeds in your lawn to promote new turf growth. Remove any dead or dying branches that may be entry points for disease and insects.

astly, make the hard decision to remove plants if they are too far gone to try and nurse back to health. Sometimes starting over is not that bad an idea. This spring surely will be a challenge for our most novel gardeners that love to spend time with their plants. Be proactive and recognize the problems early. And perhaps it will be a spring filled with spring showers. Good Life Magazine

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His old stone farmhouse would make Pa Dye proud

Located on Cullman County 1564 in the Welcome community between Fairview and Baileyton, Thomas Marion Dye started building his stone farmhouse in 1908. Carving out stones hauled from Welcome Falls, he slowly continued to build the sturdy house for 18 years. After being occupied until the early 1970s, the house stood unoccupied for about a decade, until Bobby and Annette Ellenburg, Pa Dyeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s granddaughter, renovated it in 1982. Not only is the rest history, but also all that came before it.

Story and photos by David Moore

t seems only fitting that Annette and Bobby Ellenburg remodeled the old stone farmhouse her maternal grandfather, Thomas Marion Dye, built years ago in the Welcome community east of Fairview. The place evokes a sense of solid permanence that cannot be denied. That’s because Pa Dye, as Annette calls him, built the house with 400 wagonloads of stone he hand-quarried from nearby Welcome Falls, just over the Morgan County line. It was 1908 when he started the house on the west side of Cullman County 1564, across the road from his home at the time. After hauling the stones to the site, Pa Dye used hand-chisels to square up each stone and chip out its textured facing. Block by block the basement walls slowly rose from the ground to the cornerstone level he laid in 1917. Finally, with Zella Nixon “Ma” Dye and their children already living in the farmhouse, Pa Dye finished off the front porch in 1926. Although hand-hewn, each wall stone is nearly identical in size. Stone sizes on the porch columns and three chimneys, however, are randomly sized. Still, no more than a quarter-inch of mortar separates any two stones. It was a house built to last lifetimes. Annette’s memories of Pa Dye and the house are less physically stout than the stone but strong in another sense. It was the first house in the area with electricity. Pa Dye installed a dynamo in the basement. He also had an incubator there and hatched and sold baby chicks. His chimney work was in demand back in the day. Annette recalls riding the countryside with Ma Dye in later years, and she’d proudly point out houses with chimneys her husband built. Besides stonework, Pa Dye rowfarmed, grew an orchard and was a blacksmith. Help him on his house, and he’d grind your corn in his gristmill. One thing about Pa Dye puzzles Annette today – he was a Methodist, yet he co-founded Welcome Baptist Church. Either way, he was as soft-spoken as his stone block was hard and never cussed – not even the time Annette saw him 38

FEBRUARY | MARCH | APRIL 2017

smash his finger with a hammer. His strongest utterance ever? “Ah, the devil.”

n some circles today, Annette is still known as “Bet,” a carryover from her older brother, Edwin, mispronouncing her name as “Annibet.“ When she was very young, her father fell off a 70-foot pole working for Alabama Power, and the family moved

into the stone house with Pa and Ma Dye for an extended convalescence. They later moved to Childersburg, then Steele. During that span, in 1944 Pa Dye took ill, and Annette’s family returned to Welcome to visit her failing grandfather. In the course of a week, Annette watched his jet-black hair turn snow white. Then he died.

“We grew up on a farm,” she says. “ We knew animals died, but he was the first person I knew who died. It was sad.” She was in the third grade when the family permanently returned to Cullman County, moving to a small farm just east of the rock house. Four years later, they moved back into the rock house with Ma Dye. Annette was living there when

she and Bobby became high school sweethearts at Fairview – but they earned the distinction just under the wire. “We started dating May 6 of our senior year,” Bobby grins. “We came real close to missing it.” “He was real quiet in high school, still is,” Annette kids him. “He didn’t even talk to himself.” Their first date was a setup, though

Befitting most farmhouses, along with the kitchen, the front porch is a focal point for family and friends. Pa Dye cut the lintels over the door and windows from single pieces of stone, leaving the Ellenburgs to wonder how much they weigh. After handchipping a face onto each stone block, Pa Dye used ice tongs to lift them into place. FEBRUARY | MARCH | APRIL 2017

finally Johnson and Grissom highs before retiring in 1991. Bobby spent his last working years rebuilding and trading cars in Arab and Huntsville. After a life of flux, the solid anchorage of Pa Dye’s stone house beckoned them home for good. Though it had been uninhabited for about a decade and fallen into disrepair, the idea of restoring it and living there was alluring. Bobby, however, was doubtful they could sell their house in Huntsville because interest rates at the time were as high as 17 percent. But Annette remained positive. She believed if God could use them better in Cullman than in Huntsville, He’d find a way. “My only talent,” she laughs, “is cutting out Annette and Bobby Ellenburg have two grown sons, Bobby free-hand letters. So I Wayne Jr. of Hazel Green and Roger Lynn of Birmingham. made us a sign.” Lo and behold, they They have eight grand and step-grandchildren and seven found a buyer who could great grandkids. Bobby is one of five children born to wait until June to move the late Jasper and Eunice Harper Ellenburg. in.

it’s debatable who initiated the scheming. Her brother H.C. – now a neighbor of the Ellenburgs – asked if Bobby wanted to attend a drama festival in Hanceville with him and Annette. After Bobby agreed, H.C. backed out, leaving the sweethearts in an incubator of their own.

ollowing high school, Bobby and Annette tested the theory of distance and heart fondness. He joined the Air Force, learned airplane hydraulics, and was stationed in Illinois, Louisiana and England, while Annette attended Berea College in Kentucky for two years. “I changed my major about every two months,” she laughs. “I started in pre-med. They got me up in the middle of the night to see a baby born. I said I didn’t want to ever see that again. I left as a geology major.” She was studying geology in 1957 when Bobby came home on a 30-day leave and they got married. After he returned to the service, she came home to the sturdy, stone house then occupied by her mother and younger brother, H.C. St. Bernard College was the logical place to continue her education, but it didn’t accept women then. A creative cousin, however, got Annette enrolled under A.H. Ellenburg, using her initials instead of her name. “My cousin was a drinking buddy with one of the priests,” she says. “I didn’t have any trouble there as a woman except for one priest who started telling me how all the sin in the world started with a woman. He got married and didn’t last the year. It was justification for all the nasty things he said to me.” It would be 10 years before Annette finally graduated from college. Out of the Air Force, Bobby and Annette 40

FEBRUARY | MARCH | APRIL 2017

lived a while in Charleston where he was a commercial airplane mechanic. Moving back to the stone house, she held short teaching jobs at Holly Pond

and Eva and birthed their sons Bobby Wayne Jr. and Roger Lynn. While big Bobby worked at Thiokol, Redstone Arsenal and later for Chrysler at Cape Canaveral, the family lived in Arab, Merritt Island, Fla., and Huntsville.

n the end, Annette not only graduated with a history degree from St. Bernard, but she also earned a master’s and AA teaching certificate from Alabama A&M. Besides Berea she remembers also attending the University of Tennessee-Chattanooga. “I almost forgot about it, it was so exciting,” she says. “Shakespeare and botany. I was just there a semester.” Annette eventually taught at Arab and Guntersville high schools, as well as in Florida, at J.B. Pennington and

And so on March 4, 1982, Annette and Bobby dove into restoring Pa Dye’s old stone house in Welcome.

y the time they were basement deep into the project, the Ellenburgs questioned the sanity of their decision. As proof, Annette points out a 1982 Polaroid shot taken just after the project started. In the photo, the roof and second floor have been removed, leaving three stone chimneys jutting above the rock walls like skeletal fingers. The inside is completely gutted. “It looks like Gone with the Wind,” Annette says, sitting a spell on the front porch, looking at the seemingly hopeless picture. However, the Ellenburgs had no choice but to continue the daunting project. They were still living in their house in Huntsville, but with interest

Pa Dye laid the cornerstone to what he called “Rock House Farm” in 1917. During renovation, above, the house looked awfully rough, like “Gone with the Wind,” Annette says, referring to the razing of Atlanta. With the roof removed, contractors found the names of dozens of neighbors who helped

with construction written in the concrete that tops the rock walls. The rock is 24 inches thick in the basement and 12 inches thick in the upper walls. At left, leaning under the second cornerstone at the house are the ice tongs Pa Dye used for lifting the stone blocks and the auger bit he used to work them. FEBRUARY | MARCH | APRIL 2017

A photo of Pa and Ma Dye sits on the dining room table. Annette is standing on the back left behind Pa Dye. Her brothers Edwin and H.C. are on the back right and front center, while the other children are cousins. In the kitchen, right, a hand-carved rolling pin and bread bowl – once respectively belonging to Annette’s paternal grandmother, Ma Hare, and to Ma Dye – are treasured keepsakes in the kitchen. In addition to an alleged “7,000” golf clubs, the basement also provides storage for the food Annette cans, below. Voted most athletic in their senior class at Fairview, the couple still love to play golf. In 2000, Bobby won the Cullman County Golf Championship. He was 65. Not to be outdone, Annette the same year captured the women’s title. He also won the Alabama State Senior Championship 2002. Bottom center, Annette made the yoyo-patterned quilt for Bobby for their 50th anniversary. “It took her 50 years to make,” Bobby laughs. She sews by the front upstairs windows.

rates so high, they couldn’t afford to lose the sale. So Annette kept the fires of inspiration going under the contractor’s feet. Drainage ditches under the house, unattended for years, left the basement a shallow, muddy swimming pool. New 42

FEBRUARY | MARCH | APRIL 2017

flooring was needed on the main level – as well as a new floor plan. “My mom described it like a barn,” Annette says of the old layout. “There was an eight-foot front hall of wasted space. You had stalls on each side and a feed room at the end.”

Working with an architect, the Ellenburgs fixed the layout problem by relocating the stairs to the second floor into the former hallway so they divided the living and dining rooms. While cleaning out, they discovered two shoeboxes crammed with uncashed

checks written to Pa Dye. The amounts were for 50 cents or maybe $1.25, written once upon a time for shoeing a horse, hatching a batch of chicks, grinding a load of corn. “I asked Ma Dye about the checks,” Annette says. “Pa Dye had told her back

then, ‘You know we can afford that more than these folks can.’”

y May 1982, the contractor warned them: no way to finish by June. In that case, Annette answered, the contractor could just pay their rent.

“After that,” she says, “the work lights burned at night, and we moved in by June 1. I knew they could do it.” And so it is that she and Bobby are sitting on the comfortable front porch not long ago, sizing up for the umpteenth time the stone house they resurrected and FEBRUARY | MARCH | APRIL 2017

The Ellenburgs take an evening stroll through their backyard. The giant willow oak there is the second largest in the state, according to the Cullman County Extension office. Below, evening sunlight ignites the leaves on one of two persimmon trees growing by the couple’s arbor. They also have five apple trees, four pear, two pawpaw, two fig, two pecan and a quince tree. In addition to blackberry and blueberry plants, they also planted a garden, running their beans up a string tied to the arbor. have now enjoyed living in for 34 years. “I never knew Pa Dye,” Bobby says. “But I’m sure he would be proud of what we did. I’m proud of it.” Obviously, Annette is, too. “He took the time to put a facing on every rock,” she says. “Just the memories … and it’s a pretty house, too. I hated to think about all the work he put into this and then see it fall in.” Annette’s major in history colors her thinking on the old house. “When you look at this country, we just throw away too many things,” she says. “We have no sense of history, no sense of pride in what went before us. It’s a shame we don’t preserve more than we do.” “‘Ah,” Pa Dye might well agree, “the devil.” Good Life Magazine 44

FEBRUARY | MARCH | APRIL 2017

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Grandpa could ‘witch’ a mean water well

Story by Steve A. Maze

Computer graphic by Sheila McAnear

he drought of 2016 left all of Cullman County high and dry. Around the New Canaan area – and probably elsewhere – a few folks even began mumbling out loud that we needed to seek out a “water witcher.” Witching was very popular in most parts of the U.S. up to the mid-1950s. Not the type that involved black magic or incantations, but the method certain people used to locate water before a well was dug. A witcher – sometimes referred to as a “dowser” – is a person who is able to locate underground streams with the aid of a forked tree limb, often called a divining rod. At least that’s the way my grandpa, Jay Hugh Maze, did it in the eastern part of our county. Though many tried, not everyone could be a witcher. Some said it was something that was passed from generation to generation. Grandpa was an accomplished dowser, yet his sons and other family members were unable to duplicate his feats. It seemed the witchers had a special talent or spiritual power that enabled them to discover underground streams. As a result, some people have suggested that witching for water is evil since it supposedly involves the supernatural. Grandpa insisted it was just the opposite and had nothing to do with sorcery. Instead, he felt the ability to find much needed water was a special gift given to him by almighty God.

he community dowser, Grandpa was often called upon to help neighbors locate water for a new well they planned to dig. Water was a precious commodity during Grandpa’s day because public utilities were not available in his end of the county until 1943. His busiest time of the year was during the summer when existing wells would not hold water in the blistering heat. Grandpa would begin his dowsing expeditions by cutting a forked peach tree limb and stripping any leaves and twigs from the “Y” shaped branch. The shaft was trimmed to two and one-half feet in length and sharpened on the end. It was important to cut a new limb each time he dowsed because it would quickly dry out and lose the “bounce” it got when drawn to water. Grandpa would firmly wrap his hands around the forked “Y” portions of the limb from underneath – thumb side upward.

He then walked across the property in a stooped-over

FEBRUARY | MARCH | APRIL 2017

manner until he could feel the shaft begin to pull downward. The size of the underground stream was determined by how hard the shaft was drawn toward the ground. A small water stream would only exert a slight pull while a larger stream would draw the shaft down in a quick motion as if the strong force of a magnet were somehow tugging on it. At times, the pull would be so strong that the bark on the limb would twist off in grandpa’s hands.

nce the water was located, it was time to see how deep the well would have to be dug. Grandpa cut a straight limb to make this determination. He would squat down and place his hand on his knee with the limb hanging over the freshly discovered stream. The limb would then begin beating or “thumping” the ground. The number of beats determined how many feet it was to the water – 15 beats meant the water was 15 feet beneath the surface. Grandpa was pretty accurate with his water witching most of the time. He was not always accurate on the footage, but he was usually close. Instead of peach tree limbs, some of the more modern-day dowsers use two L-shaped rods in their divining efforts. The rods are made of light metal, such as a wire clothes hanger, and will cross when a hidden stream is detected beneath the surface. Folks in the past relied heavily on water witchers, but today’s society is more skeptical of them since they do not understand how dowsing works. That’s understandable. Most dowsers didn’t know how it worked, either. It just did. Some utility companies today employ dowsers to locate underground water and electrical lines. Still others dowse for other material hidden under ground such as oil, metals, gravesites, keys, wallets and even buried treasure.

truly believe Grandpa had the gift of water witching. What makes me believe is that he had three wells on his 40-acre farm. He witched two of them, and they provided a good supply of water for many years. Grandpa later hired someone to dig the third well, the one he didn’t witch. It never held water and was eventually filled in. Good Life Magazine

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Waitress Barbi Blake looks over the shoulder of Hanceville Fire Chief Rodger Green, above. “My wife and I like to come for steak night,” says Hanceville Police Chief Bob Long, wearing white at the “liar’s table” to the right. “I like the cheeseburger,” he adds with a laugh and gesture to those around him. “You know they use 100% beef – just look at all the bull they serve ...”

Good Eats

C Street Café It’s like an old town square, only it serves up good food Story and photos by Patrick Oden

here was a time before technology dominated our lives, when the members of a community would meet in the town square to discuss the issues of the day or perhaps just gossip. It was a simpler time. We knew our neighbors, and they were friends. Our communities were stronger for those relationships. 48

FEBRUARY | MARCH | APRIL 2017

Luckily for folks in Hanceville, the town square still exists … it’s just been moved inside and now serves delicious food. Located on Commercial Street, the bright blue façade of the C Street Café commands one’s attention almost as much as the wonderful smells emanating from its kitchen. But its mirrored windows hide the best part of C Street Café from casual passers-by. What makes C Street Café truly special are the people you’ll find inside. The residents of Hanceville. And as much as C Street Café is the town square, it could also be argued it’s part of Hanceville City Hall … perhaps an unavoidable outcome when one of the two hands-onowners is the mayor. After 25 years with the police department, the third-term Hanceville Mayor Kenneth Nail opened C Street Café in June of 2016 with his sister, Brenda Carter, and it’s been a whirlwind for the dynamic duo ever since. After Kenneth and a business partner bought the old building they discussed its potential with Brenda. Kenneth mentioned the possibility of a restaurant and, as Brenda puts it, the rest is history.

Co-owners and siblings Brenda Carter and Hanceville Mayor Kenneth Nail, top, are very hands-on at C Street. Above, a well mopped plate is compliments to Brenda’s cooking.

he motivation for “Ken & Bren” to open the restaurant was a shared love of Hanceville. As mayor, Ken hoped to help promote downtown Hanceville. For Brenda, it’s simply a love for what she refers to as “my city.” A lifelong resident of Hanceville, Brenda says of co-owning C Street, “my favorite part is meeting and reacquainting with the local residents and making new friends.” Having retired as a public transportation driver in 2014, Brenda had no true restaurant experience. But in true southern tradition she was no stranger to the kitchen. “I love to eat and I bake constantly,” she says. “I’ve never cooked for a large crowd though, so I’m learning as I go.” For Ken, visiting with people is where he takes pleasure at the C Street Café. And the residents of Hanceville often have the captive ear of the mayor as he serves their meal or clears their table. But don’t for a second think the C Street Café is a serious environment. When the front door cracks the first inch to open, the roars

of conversation and constant laughter billow from the small café in much the same way air leaves a tire when the valve is depressed. And much of that laughter comes from the tall tales spun at the “liar’s table,” a large round table near the kitchen, painted black to distinguish it for what it is. The folks are friendly, and you’ll surely feel at home, but if you’re a visitor to Hanceville, it might do to take things with a grain of salt.

erhaps the hardest thing about planning a visit to the C Street Café is deciding when to go. Should you visit for their fantastic home-cooked style breakfast? But then you would miss their daily lunch special. That’s right, daily. So which day should you go? Maybe Friday night is the answer. That’s C Street Café’s immensely popular Steak Night. Decisions, decisions. But don’t worry, Hanceville residents don’t have it any easier, and perhaps that proximity explains why many eat at the C Street Café on a daily basis. Good Life Magazine FEBRUARY | MARCH | APRIL 2017

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Mother Mary Angelica died last Easter, but the faithful servant’s glorious vision is alive in loving hearts at a beautiful shrine Story and photos by David Moore

Our Lady of the Angels Monastery, the cloistered home of the Poor Clares of Perpetual Adoration, was established at Irondale in 1962. But with expansion at

There, says Sr. Mary Michael, one of the Order’s founding sisters, the statue of the Divine Child famously told Mother, “Build me a temple, and I will help those who help you.”

t’s hard not to feel Mother Angelica’s presence if you visit the Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament, the magnificent church and monastery she was inspired to build on 400 acres of countryside along the banks of the Mulberry River, six miles east of Hanceville. Were she alive, Mother would be the first to tell you it’s not her presence you feel at the shrine. “I think she would like you to take away a sense of having felt God’s presence here,” says Sr. Mary Michael, a nun at Our Lady of the Angels Monastery, which adjoins the shrine. March 26 will mark the first anniversary of Mother Angelica’s death. Though she departed this world, her memory and love live in the hearts of her In a provided photo, Mother Angelica stands in front of a statue of sisters at the monastery and the friars at the shrine and the Divine Child inside the shrine’s main church. “I think she in the hearts of millions of would only want to be remembered in relation to Jesus, as Catholics worldwide. His faithful servant,” says Sister Mary Gabriella. What’s more, Mother’s work on earth – God’s work, she would quickly say – continues not only at the shrine but also at Eternal Word Television Network. She started EWTN in 1981 with $200 in a garage in Irondale. It grew with her vision and leadership – not to mention her beloved, down-home personality that blossomed on her show, “Mother Angelica Live!” Today, through multiple languages, EWTN reaches 230 million homes in 144 countries and territories via TV, shortwave, AM/FM radio and the internet.

EWTN, the Order eventually needed a new home, and in 1995 Mother Angelica decided to build a monastery and farm chapel near Hanceville. Those plans soon blossomed into something Mother never could have imagined. Raising funds for EWTN’s Spanish program in Bogota, Columbia, in 1996, she attended mass at a small chapel dedicated to the Divine Child.

he temple was to be dedicated to the Blessed Sacrament, which refers to the consecrated bread and wine that, in the Catholic faith, is the Real Presence of the Lord Jesus. Mother Angelica got five anonymous families to donate an initial $50 million, and ground was broken on the land in Cullman County. Mother Dolores, who follows M. Angelica as head of the monastery, remembers her and a few of the Sisters sitting around a table in the monastery in Irondale with the team from the Brice Building Co. pouring over the plans and details of the new shrine. “Mother Angelica was very much involved in all the different stages and decisions about this project and came to visit the site often to see the progress,” M. Dolores recalls. “Mother also asked our input in different areas, depending on each sister’s experience and interest. She was very excited about the desire of her heart coming to fruition: building a beautiful place for Our Lord to be adored.” From the start, Mother Dolores says, Angelica referred to the site as “the farm.” “She wanted it to be a quiet and peaceful place away from the fast pace of the world, a place set apart for people to encounter God,” Mother Dolores says. Continued on page 54 FEBRUARY | MARCH | APRIL 2017

“From the moment the white fence begins, many feel a lifting of burdens as they enter the shrine grounds,”says Father Paschal Yohe, administrator at Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament. “We all long for God, even if we do not recognize that deep desire we have for Him. The shrine is built upon the trust that He will open up that space in our hearts so that we would return to the world with more peace and strength to carry out God’s will for our lives.” Members of Our Lady of the Angels Monastery who provided comments for this memorial to Mother Angelica stand beside a statue of St. Clare in a parlor of the cloistered portion of the shrine. They are: from left, seated, Mother Dolores, Sister Mary Michael; standing, Sister Mary Gabriella, Sister Marie St. John, Sister Mary Paschal and Sister Mary Jacinta. At the far right, visitors pray in the main church. The ornamental screen that rises behind the altar is called a reredos. Looking like a cathedral itself, the screen is made of cedar and covered with 24-karat gold leaf. A 7.5-foot monstrance stands just under the center “spire” of the reredos and contains the Blessed Sacrament. 52

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Father Paschal pays his respects at the crypt of Mother Mary Angelica located in the lower church beneath the main church of the shrine. All of the sisters of Our Lady of the Angels Monastery are, or will be buried there. M. Angelica’s crypt is located immediately over that of Sister Mary David, her mother who died in 1982 and was moved to the shrine after it was built. The piazza in “That is why she liked the long road leading to the chapel – from the start of the long row of white fencing – to give people time to become recollected.” “She wanted visitors to have a sense of anticipation; waiting for a glimpse of the shrine to come into view and then to be drawn into the Eucharistic Presence of Our Lord.” “Eucharist,” which means “Thanksgiving,” is what protestant faiths refer to as Communion. Sister Mary Michael says Mother Angelica was actively involved in planning the shrine and its grounds. 54

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“She could read architectural designs and was able to spot mistakes,” she says. “In planning the monastery she took into consideration all the needs of the different types of work that would be done as well as making sure there were enough grounds inside the enclosure for the sisters to be able to spend quiet, private time outdoors.” On the public front, in addition to the main church – the Temple of the Divine Child – and its lower church, Mother arranged for a gift shop, conference rooms and devotional shrines for the pilgrims. Many of those who come are of denominations other than Roman

Catholic. Peace in the presence is peace in the presence.

iraculously, on Dec. 19, 1999, three and half years after breaking ground, the temple, lower church and monastery were consecrated. It quickly became known as a peaceful place of prayer, even with the visitors and busloads of pilgrims. Father Paschal Yohe certainly understands the attraction. A member of the Franciscan Missionaries of the Eternal Word, founded by Mother Angelica in 1987 in conjunction with EWTN in Irondale,

front of the main church is 259 x 289 feet – the size of two and a half football fields. A statue of the Divine Child Jesus stands in the center of the piazza. The view in the center photo is from the bell tower, or campanile, which is 110 feet tall. Its 14 bells ring on the hour and quarter-hour. Statutes of two trumpeting angels, at right, stand outside the entrance to a life-size nativity scene. he came to the friary in 2006, quickly became familiar with the shrine in Cullman County, and a year ago became its full-time administrator. “I often tell people that I feel spoiled to be here,” Father says. “It is so gorgeous. Its beauty provides a sense of wonder and of peace.” “Going about our daily life in the world, we forget how beautiful God is, and I think she built the shrine to be so beautiful because Mother realized this in her own life. God deserves the very best.” Sister Marie St. John of the Poor Clares

says Mother always sought to give God the best she could, regardless. “I remember hearing criticism when the shrine was being built about how big it was and it was too ‘fancy,’” Sister Marie says. “Mother never defended herself, per se, but she did say that God deserves the best we can give Him and all she did was for His honor and glory.” Sister Mary Gabriella says Mother was a servant of God, consecrated to and drawn by love of the Most Holy Sacrament. “Mother desired to give Him glory by building a beautiful church in which His

Eucharistic Presence would be loved and adored,” she says. “Jesus was the center of Mother’s life, and she wanted to facilitate other souls in their search for Him.” “Everything in the shrine,” Sr. Gabriella adds, “points to Jesus. It was for Him that she built the shrine.”

n 2000 Mother retired as CEO of the network. The next year she suffered a stroke, leaving her to wear an eye patch on the show she hosted. Suffering, which she felt called to do, was nothing new to her. An accident as a young FEBRUARY | MARCH | APRIL 2017

girl had put her in leg braces. She dealt with Bell’s palsy, heart disease and asthma. On Christmas Eve 2001, a second stroke, accompanied by severe cerebral hemorrhaging, scared the Poor Clares. Mother made a remarkable recovery but was left virtually speechless. Restricted to a wheelchair or walker, she was forced to give up her show. She lived at the monastery in silent communion with the Lord. Eventually, she became bed-ridden, suffered broken bones. On Good Friday 2016 she was in agony. But Mother always felt suffering was united to Christ and offered to Him, and she indicated to the sisters and nurses that she wanted to be kept alive as long as possible, despite the agony. By Easter afternoon, however, she had grown quiet and peaceful. “I celebrated Mass for her that Easter Sunday, not knowing that it was her last,” Father Paschal says. “It was an overwhelming moment of thankfulness for the gifts that God gave to Mother Angelica, and to me through her ‘yes.’” She died peacefully, shortly before 5 p.m., surrounded by the Poor Clares, priests just outside the door. She was 92. Many have commented the day of Christ’s resurrection was a fitting day for Mother to meet God. But, they note, she died that afternoon, for Easter morning belonged to the glory of the Lord. It was “a gift that the Lord took Mother to be with Him on Easter,” said Father Miguel Marie Soeherman during the homily he gave at the vigil and rosary for her at the shrine, three days after her death.

or 15 years Mother Angelica had been out of the public’s eye, though EWTN broadcasted – and continues to do so – still popular reruns of her show. But now she was gone for good from this life. Now she was truly gone. “Great grief, loneliness … I missed her,” says Sister Mary Michael. “I was happy that she no longer suffered and was enjoying her eternal reward, but I missed her presence here.” She can imagine Mother’s reaction to this grief. “She would probably give me a knowing, understanding look and a hug, but she would want me to go on with the Lord’s work, doing God’s will,” Sr. Mary 56

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Michael continues. “I think she would want to assure us she is still with us and looking after us. She might say, ‘Avanti – Let’s move it!’” As Sister Mary Jacinta moves on, she takes with her a fond memory of Mother after her return to the monastery following the cerebral hemorrhage in 2001. Sr. Jacinta was clearing away the sacristy items following a private mass in Mother’s room, when she felt Mother’s gaze upon her. She asked if Mother, who was seldom

able to speak a word, wanted to share something with her. Mother responded with only a twinkle in her eye. “I finished my duties, and before departing I knelt by Mother to squeeze her hand and say goodbye,” Jacinta recalls. “Her strong grip caught me, bringing me closer to her smiling face. With a deep voice and enunciating each word, Mother slowly and reverently recited the first and greatest commandment.” Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with

Dusk changes the feel of the shrine. It is opened for free to people of all faiths 6 a.m.-8 p.m. every day except Sunday, when it closes at 6 p.m. The nuns chant at six services each day. Mass is daily at 7 a.m. in the main church and at noon in the lower church, except the second mass on Sunday is held at 10 a.m. in the lower church.

all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. “I was stunned, grateful for this lesson, so important for a young novice to learn” Jacinta says. “The goal and meaning of everything.”

s the anniversary of M. Angelica’s death nears, Sister Mary Paschal reflects on the legacy Mother leaves. “Her life’s work was spent telling as many people as possible that God loves

you and wants you with Him forever,” she says. “Her programs on EWTN became her TV training sessions for a holy life – for everyone.” “And the Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament serves that same desire of hers – that all may come and experience a foretaste of their destiny: heaven and God Himself.” Mother Dolores says that M. Angelica’s passion was spreading the Gospel so others would fathom the depths of God’s love. “This was the point of her teaching – so

that others would come to know Jesus and to love Him and live their lives for Him,” she says. “This is the experience that we would all hope for visitors to leave here with: a deep knowledge of how precious each one is in the eyes of God and that each of us is called to a life of holiness.” And if you also feel the presence of Mother Angelica while visiting the Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament, well, that’s only human. Good Life Magazine FEBRUARY | MARCH | APRIL 2017

After 101,101 miles, Charles Coggins doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t want to stop pedaling ...

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Story and local photos by David Moore

Charles Coggins pumps his way up Nine Mile Hill on Route 66 outside of Albuquerque, N.M. during his coast-to-coast trek. Photo by Barbra Munk.

t’s been a heck of a ride. In the last 31 years, Charles Coggins has logged a stunning 101,101 miles on bicycles, including a 27-day cross-country trek from the Pacific to the Atlantic Ocean. His accomplishments are all the more astounding because he’s 76 years old. On April 23, 2016, a cheering crowd of friends and well-wishers turned out at Sportsman Lake Park in Cullman to watch Charles tick his computer-counted bike mileage over the 100,000mile mark. Hitting that milestone required him to average pedaling 3,333 miles annually for 30 years – that’s like 64 miles a week. Initially he biked for his health, but his exercise of choice also has social aspects. People he rode with became friends. And at some point, because he’s an accountant, biking also turned into a numbers thing for Charles. Naturally, not all of his cycling has been over flat terrain or easy coasting downhill, literally or figuratively. Like life itself, Charles has struggled to pump his pedals up a lion’s share of hills and mountains. At least for now, however, life has hit a mountain he can’t climb on a bike. In fact, he can’t even climb onto a bike. Four months after Charles hit his 100K-milestone, vertigo hit Charles. Actually, he first felt it about four years ago. The bouts didn’t last long, but they gradually worsened and cut into his biking. “Now I might wake up in the morning feeling like I can ride 75 miles,” says the guy who’s sometimes mistaken for a 60-year-old. “Then I stand up and get so dizzy I have to flop back in the bed.” His doctor said that, while Charles wobbled when walking, he should be fine biking. But then he started feeling weakness, numbness and pain in his legs and feet. It got worse and worse, and in September he was diagnosed with peripheral neuropathy. “My nerves are damaged and do not conduct a signal to the muscle very well,” he explains. “It’s a lifetime problem.” The last time he was able to ride a bike was Nov. 28. He dutifully entered the 17.4 miles in his log. Ah … his log. Come what may, it’s a record of many a fun mile with many a good friend. That, Charles will always have.

ontrary to what one might think, bicycles hardly figured into Charles’s life until he was 45. FEBRUARY | MARCH | APRIL 2017

He has to think hard to remember even having a bike as a kid. Youngest of eight children born to sharecropping parents in Chilton County, he got a bike about age 8. A brother in the Army gave it to him. “I rode around the big oak trees in the front yard,” he remembers. “My mother wouldn’t let me get on the road. I wore a trail around those trees, but that’s all I recall of it.” After high school, Charles left the poverty of home – and his sweetheart, Minnie – and served three years as an Army MP. He then worked part time typing freight bills for what later became AAA Cooper Transportation’s Montgomery office, meanwhile attending Massey-Draughon Business College. Though he typed 120 words per minute, the school nixed his diploma because he couldn’t write 80 wpm in shorthand. “I got up and said thank you and left,” Charles says. He worked full time for AAA Cooper and married Minnie, who’d been teaching in Georgia. One day the impressed owner of the trucking firm said he needed Charles to work in his general office in Dothan, and so the family moved. “I finally gave up the job, went to college at The University of Alabama and graduated in 1970,” Charles says. “I wanted a degree because my wife had one.” Besides a degree in accounting, he got something else while at UA – a bicycle. It had gears – “I learned how to shift some of them” – but it was nothing more to him than cheap transportation. “I could not tell you what it looked like,” Charles says. “It got me to the classroom and back.”

or a while Charles worked with the accounting firm of Deloitte & Touche in Birmingham then in Mobile, where, he was told, he was in line for a partnership. That never materialized, but Mack Dove, one of the owners of AAA Cooper, had been hounding Charles for 15 years to return to the thriving carrier. So in 1980 he, Minnie and their two daughters again moved to Dothan. Over the next 24 years there he worked 50-hour weeks as vice president and CFO, traveled extensively for 60

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Charles Coggins rides at Sportsman Lake last fall with Rick White, center, and Paul Levering, right. Like other serious cyclists, they make safety a priority. Still, accidents happen. Charles has had two broken collar bones, four broken ribs and a slit liver. Paul’s had three wrecks – all of them with Charles, he quips – but no broken bones. Rick’s had better luck but has not been biking as long. Several groups in Cullman – including the Cullman City Cycling Club – get together for bike rides and to welcome newcomers. For info., call: Dixie Bergquist, 256-739-4777. national trucking meetings and, seemingly, served on the board of everything in Dothan. In 1986 – about the time he became president of the chamber of commerce – Charles realized he needed to do something else. Exercise. “People jogged up and down the streets,” he grins. “I tried that and quickly decided that was not what I wanted to do. ‘Well,’ I thought, ‘I rode a bicycle in college. I’ll get a bicycle.’” A religious man in the traditional sense, he also became religious in his new exercise regimen. “I was on the bicycle every morning at 5,” he says. Charles became an accountant because “I just liked to do numbers.”

That explains why he began a logbook, religiously entering his mileage every time he went cycling. Dothan, at least then, had few cyclists, but they seemed to find each other, and Charles usually rode with a circle of guys, finding some strength and safety in numbers as motorists constantly blew their horns at legal bikes on the road. Among Charles’s riding buddies were Joe Copeland, Mike Schmitz and Bob Theune. It was Joe who one day suggested they join a coast-to-coast bike tour. “Are you crazy?” Charles recalls their response. “We laughed at him for a month.” Which is how long it took Joe to talk

Charles Coggins did not initially set a goal to cycle 100,000 miles, but once he reached about 80,000 he set his mind and legs to accomplish the milestone. He hit the 90,000-mile mark on a seven-day tour with Paul Levering that started in the Netherlands and went into Belgium, above. It was unique because their international group rented a barge which followed a river. They slept and stored their bikes on board at night, then during the day would pedal the countryside and catch up to the barge farther down the river. Below, Charles, third from the left, and his riding buddies from Dothan complete their trek across America at Tybee Island, Ga., where they ceremoniously dipped the front wheels of their bikes into the Atlantic. Their group started at Newport Beach,Calif., where they’d dipped the back wheels in the Pacific, them into doing something crazy from sea to shining sea.

harles and his buddies trained hard for eight months before dipping the back wheels of their bikes into the Pacific Ocean at Newport Beach, Calif., on April 26, 2006. Then they pedaled eastward. A group of 25 cross-country bikers was organized and led by Mike and Barbara Munk of Prattville. The entourage included a van pulling a luggage trailer. The driver fed them at rest stops during the day, between motel stops at night. “On a hundred-mile day we’d have about three stops, and she’d have the tables out there with whatever we wanted,” Charles says. A bike computer logged his mileage FEBRUARY | MARCH | APRIL 2017

and other trip data, flew a powder puff derby including his top speed of from coast to coast. 40.5 mph and his longest Furthermore, she worked day, 147.5 miles. with an architect to design Several times, the a second home for them group had to travel on on Smith Lake. interstate shoulders, but It was there that always with state trooper Charles moved alone in approval and for the 2009. For a time he biked briefest time possible. by himself, sometimes up “It was the worst place to Spring Hill then back to ride,” Charles says. down through Good Hope. “We had to dodge dead Eventually, he met up with dogs and armadillos and other cyclists – among trash.” them Paul Levering, Rick A passing trucker once White and Dixie Bergquist threw a water bottle at – and several of the the cyclists. The truck Cullman groups that ride happened to be from together. Troy, Ala. Charles got He values the its number and made a camaraderie and connected phone call. appreciates the fuss they He climbed to made over his milestone 7,275 feet crossing the 100,000. But his ailments Continental Divide at have kept him off his Mingus Mountain in bike for a while, and new Arizona, then hit scary complications hit him in speeds on the way down. January. He weathered intense As a relief from heat, popping lightening vertigo, Charles says storms and a stinging Dixie recommended he hailstorm in Arkansas. It read 30 minutes, three all made him stronger. times daily, while rocking “We just felt like we in a rocking chair. could do anything. You “It’s working,” he says. had to have that attitude,” “Right now I don’t have he says. any real feelings about The four Alabama vertigo.” At his house on Smith Lake, Charles still has five of the 14 bikes he’s buddies were excited to His peripheral owned over the years. These two touring bikes, bought 20 years enter their home state and neuropathy, which some of or more ago, are made by Tommasini in Italy. pedal through T-town. his friends don’t yet know After 27 days – about, is a different matter. including two days of “I’ve not been on a bike traveling sick – 27 motels and 200 flat tires in the group for two and a half months, and right now I don’t know when I and 2,940 miles, Charles and company pedaled through will be back on the bike,” he says. “My friends are going nuts Savannah, Ga., out to Tybee Island, and dipped their front because I am not riding with them.” wheels into the Atlantic Ocean. He is, too. Charles lost 18 pounds but gained a lot of respect, some “Sometime you have to fight a long hill,” Charles says. of it self, some of it from his fellow trekkers. They gave him “One of my big concerns is I’m 76. As you age, it makes things more difficult. But the bicycle is why I am 76 and until recently an award as the oldest survivor in the group – 65. was very healthy.” innie never got to celebrate Charles’s continental ride “I certainly hope to get to the point where I can get back much less his 100K-mile accomplishment. She died in 2000, riding with my friends,” he continues. “I will not be riding 100 before both achievements. miles, but I would like to get back to 30 or 40 miles … just for Besides raising their two daughters – Dr. Carla Gilroy my health.” of Birmingham and Christie Dover, who died four years Besides, who wants a heck of a ride to end? And his ago – Minnie had a long career teaching math. She also was logbook always has room for more numbers. a pilot, taught Charles and their daughters to fly and once Good Life Magazine

FEBRUARY | MARCH | APRIL 2017

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Hurricane Creek Park

Where Buddy loved the spring, where John McCrary still does ... and where you certainly can, too Story and photos by David Moore

So impressed was John that he went overboard on litter patrol, climbing into steep areas to bag a bottle or other discarded item. Despite the litter – he and Nicky more than filled their bag – Hurricane Creek’s beauty far out-weighed the careless disregard some visitors had for the natural wonder. “I didn’t want to leave,” John says. Later in 1989, he and Nicky married and moved to Cullman.

o John Wesley McCrary’s thinking, Hurricane Creek Park is inseparable from the late William “Buddy” Rodgers. As far as that goes, John finds it mentally hard to separate himself from the 67-acre park located in a gorge along U.S. 31 five miles north of Ala. 157 in Cullman. The first statement is true because on his first visit to Cullman in 1989, John was introduced to Buddy and the park ohn grew up on a big farm he created. The second statement in Hardin County, birthplace of is true because John later managed Abraham Lincoln and home to the unique facility 13 years for Fort Knox. A former Boy Scout, Cullman Parks and Recreation. he and Nicky missed outdoor A native Kentuckian, John was recreation while living in Atlanta a hair stylist when he met his wifebut made up for lost time at to-be, Denise “Nicky” Thomas, a Hurricane Creek. young architectural draftswoman “It was extremely beautiful and from Cullman. Both lived in convenient,” John says. “It was a Atlanta, a big city but not big retreat, a getaway. And since we enough to keep them apart. knew Buddy, it was easy to run up William “Buddy” Rodgers in May 2003 at the John first noticed Nicky there and see him. He was a war dedication ceremony for Hurricane Creek Park. because she got her hair cut at the hero.” shop where he worked. Later he They loved to hear him recount He donated his beloved park to the state, which saw her photo on the cover of a his days as a fighter pilot and leased it to Cullman Parks and Recreation. local hairstyle magazine. Then he building the park. Photo provided by John Wesley McCrary. spotted her at a hair show. Buddy flew 120 combat “I had to talk to her,” he grins. missions in World War II and “The rest is history.” the Korean War. He once flew During a trip to Cullman to meet her now deceased parents, Edmond R. Morrow, the famous WWII radio correspondent over enemy lines in his P-47 Thunderbolt, fitted with a second Dennis and Clara Thomas, Nicky told him about her favorite seat for Morrow. Initially the flight was non-eventful, but the place in Cullman County – Hurricane Creek Park, where she’d hiked since childhood. She insisted on showing him the park and correspondent requested another flyover, and he and Buddy took on enemy fire, according to a 2005 story in the Hartselle introducing him to Buddy. Enquirer. “I met him and really liked him,” John says. “And the park Buddy told John stories about flying under bridges, buzzing was wonderful. We tried to pay him to enter, but he wouldn’t let GIs on the ground, boosting morale by reminding them of the us. Instead, he gave us a Walmart bag and asked us to just pick brave air support they had. up garbage. He couldn’t get down into the park much by then.”

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Cullman Parks and Recreation has gotten Hurricane Creek Park certified and protected by the National Wildlife Federation as a National Wildlife Habitat. After last summer and fallâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s cruel drought, one hopes streams are resurrected and the sounds of flowing and falling water again tickle the cool air in the park this spring. The season officially starts at 5:29 a.m. March 20. By early March, however, small green buds and a few brave flowers should already be peeping back to life on barren trees and the forest floor.

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The trail system at Hurricane Creek is laid out in a rough figure-eight – two 1.5-mile loops joined in the middle by several foot bridges. From rocks and bluffs to Hobbit roots, the trails boast numerous features. On the southern side of the gorge it climbs up to and through Twilight Tunnel and the Bottle Neck squeeze. The park is also still known as the William “Buddy” Rodgers Natural Area, who previously owned, developed and ran it 40 years as a passionate, private endeavor. Typically, pocket parks are small “To fly a machine that size under a bridge, most people would call him crazy, but I imagine the rush he had,” John says. Buddy explained his first encounter with Hurricane Creek Gorge. He spied it from an Alabama Air National Guard plane during a mapping mission in 1961. He said it reminded him of a place he loved in Colorado where he was once stationed called Seven Falls. Intrigued, Buddy returned by car, parked off the recently constructed U.S. 31 at the foot of the steep hill between Brindley and Lacon Mountains and skittered down another 160 feet or so to the bottom of the rugged gorge. Buddy found Hurricane Creek flowing through a virgin forest nestled between bluffs and boulders. Just as John did years later, he immediately fell in love with 66

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the place. Buddy decided on the spot to purchase the land, develop it as a park and preserve its natural beauty for people to enjoy – especially kids. So he persuaded three landowners to sell him 140 acres along the creek.

or two years Buddy toiled alone building several miles of trail, in some place carving out his own paths in the gorge, elsewhere building upon ancient Indian and wildlife trails. Lugging in railroad ties by hand, he built Satan’s Stairway – today called Heaven’s Stairway – into a rock wall. Farther down the northern ridge, John says, Buddy used a small bulldozer to cut an access road – today a trail – down to the creek where he built a picnic area. Buddy spent one summer building a

small dam to create a swimming hole and waterfall. He used the dozer to temporarily redirect the creek around two huge boulders. Then he’d tote a heavy sack of concrete down the slope in the morning, mix it and lay rock, eat his lunch, climb back up the slope and fetch a second sack of concrete to use that afternoon. The next day he’d do it again. “He was an amazing person,” John says. “But Twilit Cave was perhaps his most grueling undertaking.” On the southern slope the trail goes through the relatively short cave. But to reach the natural entrance, Buddy cleared out a dirt and rock-filled crevice using buckets because his wheelbarrow didn’t fit. It took all winter, but Buddy was undaunted. From the deck at the office/apartment

places often built on vacant city lots. But Hurricane Creek Park is, literally a “pocket” of park, 67 acres filled with an often lively creek, about 13 waterfalls and three miles of hiking trails – all inside a 160-foot gorge wedged into a steep, 400-foot deep valley. The waterfalls usually run about eight months of the year. Cliffs, overhangs and unique rock formations provide great climbing faces year round. The park – now passively managed by Cullman Park and Recreation - is open all of the time and admission is free. he built at the top of the gorge, Buddy even constructed a small cable car, driving angle irons for the rails into the rock. After two years, he finally opened Hurricane Park to the public, charging a quarter for entrance. Tweaking trails here and there and performing constant maintenance, Buddy ran the park, basically as a one-man operation, for 40 years.

fter moving to Cullman, John studied industrial sewing and furniture refinishing at Wallace State Community College for three years and worked with his father-in-law at Thomas Drapery. Later, he managed the bike shop at Werner’s Trading Post for owner Rob Werner and worked another four years as store manager for Charlie Buettner at the former High Adventure Outfitters.

He’d work four days a week then spend long weekends with his own guide service business, leading hiking groups on southern sections of the Appalachian Trail for OutVenture in Chattanooga, or teaching rock climbing at sites from Cherokee Rock Village in North Alabama to advanced cliffs in the Pisgah-BrevardWhiteside area of North Carolina. In 1994, John incorporated a new sideline, Pangaea Vertical Caving Systems, designing and sewing cave harnesses. (Please see story on the following page.) The next year, Cullman Park and Recreation’s Roger Calvert hired him part time to run an outdoors adventure program that took Cullman groups to Hurricane Park and other fun sites across North Alabama. Meanwhile, age and rheumatoid

arthritis were catching up with Buddy, who lived in the apartment over his office. Already unable to hike the trails he’d built up, down and around the gorge, in 2003 he toppled down a staircase in his apartment. “That’s what really made his decision to leave the park,” John says. Buddy donated the park to the Alabama State Lands Division, which leased it for 30 years to Cullman Park and Recreation for $1 annually. CPR hired John full time to manage Hurricane Creek Park. “Buddy was in the office up until the point I was named manager,” John recalls of his friend. “I helped him pack his stuff and move to his sister’s house in Hartselle. “He repeated many times to as many people as he could that his main reason to build the park was that children could come and enjoy the nature.” FEBRUARY | MARCH | APRIL 2017

The topic came up again on the day of the move. “I could see it in his eyes he did not want to let go of his baby,” John recalls. “But he did tell me he was happy that it was me who would be running it. I looked in his eye and told him I’d always take care of it to the best of my ability – and I meant it.”

n good weekends the park might draw 50 vehicles with people. It was not a get-rich scheme, but for John it was a dream job working in the park. Whether at the top of the gorge or the foot of the bluffs John could usually hear the creek singing through the woods. “It was a lot of backbreaking work,

but I extremely enjoyed my job,” he says. “Everyday I thought about it as one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever seen.” Though summers sweltered, each season created magic. Spring was the favorite for Buddy, who died in 2008 at age 86. Spring is John’s favorite, too, as trees bud and wildflowers inch back to life. Good, bad, beautiful or ugly, all things end. So it was with John’s job. After 13 years he turned in his notice, worked out his final two weeks at the park and returned to hair styling. He’s a hair stylist again, working for a while with Jimmy Drake at J. Drake Salon and now cutting hair at Bella Faire. He

also maintains his vertical cave harness company. While plenty busy, he’s found it hard to let go of the park. With the coming of spring, John expects to be drawn again to one of his favorite places on earth. “I may head up there and sit under one of the big bluffs and just enjoy the scenery and how beautiful the park is,” he says. “Buddy would be the first person I would think of.” While the solitude would be nice, John would be thrilled to see a family with children traipsing down the path. “Well, Buddy,” he says he would think, “I hope you’re seeing this.” Good Life Magazine

A love of rock climbing and an old VW seatbelt led McCrary to make vertical caving harnesses

John Wesley McCrary, 50, sits at the foot of what’s now called Heaven’s Stairway on a steep section of Hurricane Creek gorge. Certified through the American Mountain Guides Association, he is a guide, rock climbing instructor and mountain bike enthusiast as well as a hair stylist. His artist wife, Nicky, has a rare muscular disease, dermatomyositis. Fortunately, John says, she’s still producing art in her studio at her late parents’ home in Welti where the couple lives. For more on Nicky, please visit: www.nickymccrary.com. 68

FEBRUARY | MARCH | APRIL 2017

hile conventional caves have horizontal passages, vertical caves have, well, vertical shafts falling away up to several thousands of feet straight down. Descending them requires specialized techniques and equipment. John Wesley McCrary’s interest in vertical caving was half the reason he started a boutique company more than 20 years ago that makes high-performance vertical caving equipment. The other half of the equation was ability. He studied industrial sewing and worked at his now late father-in-law’s Hanceville business, Thomas Drapery. Shortly after moving to Cullman in 1987, John got into rock climbing and, through Birmingham Grotto, caving. About 1991, a caving friend visiting John noticed his industrial sewing machine. The friend had the “bright” idea that John could make caving gear and suggested they use his harness webbing as a practice model. “I said yea, I’ll try to do that,” John laughs. “We went out to my old VW bus, cut out the back seatbelts, and I set down and butchered his cave climbing gear.” But the learning curve paid off, and John eventually made a harness his buddy used for 15 years. Others in the grotto saw its quality and placed orders, too.

In 1994 John incorporated his sideline business and began designing and making “ropewalker systems” that used chest harnesses and foot loops for lowering one’s self into deep vertical caves. He named the company Pangaea Vertical Caving Systems after the supercontinent that, 175 million years ago, began drifting apart into today’s seven continents. His wife, Nicky, provided administrative assistance, but it was basically a one-man operation. John began traveling to big caving events and meetings, setting up a booth and selling his wares. Business was pretty consistent, but he grew to dislike traveling and quit selling at shows. To keep his workload under control, John advertises only by word of mouth and Facebook. His customer base ranges from local amateurs to an outdoor adventure company in North Central Mexico and climbers who tackle Yosemite’s El Capitan. “I sell 20-30 systems per year without pushing it or getting more than I can handle,” John says. “I’ve had offers to buy it, let other caving companies have it, but I just can’t do it.” The moral to the story could be “never let go of your vertical caving harness.” For more information: Pangaea Vertical Caving Systems. – David Moore

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Out ’n’ About

John Hancock, now of Bay Minette, shared some old postcards of his hometown, offering glimpses of Cullman from yesteryear, clockwise from above. The exterior of the old downtown Cullman Christian Church has changed little, but its neighborhood has grown up, and its name is now Cornerstone Church of the Nazarene. St. Paul’s of the past was destroyed by the tornado of 2011 and looks quite different yet still beautiful today. The Wells Motel, 2.5 miles south of town on 31, offered free passes to an outdoor theater once upon another decade. And Anderson Motel on U.S. 31, hill heading north out of town, not only offered TV, AC and phones in all 47 units, but “music by Muzak.” The former post office was brand new in 1910. Today it’s leased for office space. 70

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