Cullman Good Life Magazine - Winter 2019

CULLMAN COUNTY

Nat’l. wakeboard champ, Kane Ward, 8, takes his skills to the world level

Mel and Donna Leigeber’s houses are perfect for hosting holiday parties WINTER 2019 | COMPLIMENTARY

First-ever toy from the Christmas of ‘39 still ‘rocking’ memories today

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Welcome

Serendipity saves a disaster

L

ast December I shot hundreds of pictures of Trena and Ron Pierce’s unique home, an old Cullman bank they restored and beautifully decorated for Christmas. I eagerly looked forward to sharing those photos with readers in this year’s winter issue.

But this summer, before shooting outdoors pictures to accompany the Pierce spread, I opened the computer file I had started with their photos ... and it was empty, emptier than my pre-coffee morning brain.

I was floored.

I searched the computer’s every nook and cranny.

I searched camera memory cards. I pointlessly asked my wife if she’d seen my irreplaceable photos.

In total dejection I confessed to Ron and Trena.

They were most gracious, even consented to my shooting their home again this Christmas. Still, I face an immediate disaster. I had nothing, nada, for this issue’s traditional Christmas home, other than what now seemed like a consolation prize; last December I’d shot decorations at the governor’s mansion, but that was for the “Good Getaway” feature.

Dejected, I scrambled to find someone who’d open their doors to an emergency Plan B home feature, even though they’d have no decorations up yet.

Eventually, I thought of Mel and Donna Leigeber and their historic craftsman house. They’d consented some years back to a home story, but sudden, out-oftown family needs nixed those plans back then.

When I couldn’t find their phone number in my old notebooks (I sense a theme here), I tried Google.

Lo and behold, my search pulled up a blog written

by Melody Ethridge of Simply Me Studios in Trinity, Ala., about a photo shoot she’d done at the Leigebers’ 2016 Christmas party because her sister-in-law had catered it. Her photos on the blog were beautiful.

Amazingly, Melody, also an at-risk teacher in Limestone County, let me use her shots. And the Leigebers agreed to a story. What are the chances?

“It’s the perfect definition of serendipity,” Melody, whom I’ve never met in person, told me by phone.

Like I enjoyed talking to Mel and Donna and seeing their house, Melody had enjoyed the shoot.

“It’s a charming old home,” she said. “I loved the way the light (earlier in the day) came through the windows and played off the woodwork.”

Me? I love the way serendipity came into play.

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Contributors Deb Laslie sold her mainstay bookstore in Cullman, but that doesn’t means she’s totally taking it easy.

“I have dogs that still get up at 5:30. That honey-do list I worked on for 15 years now has MY name across the top. Not sure how that happened. I never catch up on my reading.” And she still has a deadline for reviews.

Dust in one’s camera, says Joppa photographer Liz Smith, is dangerous in more ways than one – bad for equipment and soul alike. But work squeezes out her photography time. Driving in early to her job in Arab, however, she sometimes becomes entranced with a sunrise and simply has to stop and shoot it.

Steve Maze had plenty of toys as a kid (still does).

His father, however, never got a toy until Christmas 1939 when he was 7 years old. Steve’s dad valued the now 80-year-old toy so much that he kept it until his death. To keep it safe, he wisely forbade Steve playing with it. (Of course he does, now.)

In spite of his busy NASA schedule and making time to write novels, David Myers also takes time to sample new dining venues. His motto: “If you gotta take time to eat, you might as well eat good!” With an attitude like that, writing restaurants stories for GLM is a perfect fit.

After long hours giving the ads in this issue that special holiday appeal, advertising/art director Sheila McAnear cranked up her natural gas log fireplace for a long pre-winter nap. That didn’t happen. Instead she got out some old unfinished paintings with the firm intent to finish before starting on new ones.

David Moore recently hit 68. No news there.

But it was news nine years ago when his wife, Diane, pronounced him old. (She used a funnier description.) Not his age, she said. It was because he started taking Porter, their dog, in the car with him everywhere he went. “Hero,” Porter barked.

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

Vol. 7 No.2 Copyright 2019 Published quarterly

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

The loaded shrimp po’ boy is good any time

Deb Veres and co-cooking son Josh love feeding folks

Augusta’s pork ribs succulently melt in your mouth

Don’t worry ... Deb’s not going anywhere

Delectable grilled salmon, loaded baked potato Open Tues.-Thurs, 4-9:30 / Fri.-Sat. 11-11

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Perhaps you’ve gone to Augusta’s Sports Grill recently for lunch ... and found it closed.

Owner Deb Veres hopes you understand. The reason is explained on the big banner out front: “Life is short. Family is important.”

Don’t worry. Augusta’s is still open 4 p.m.-9:30 p.m. Tuesday-Thursday and 11 a.m.-11 p.m. Friday and Saturday.

Deb went to the new, shorter hours in September, but not without some hesitancy.

“Lots of folks came for lunch, and I didn’t want to disappoint them,” she says.

Subconsciously, perhaps, there was other guilt. As a kid, Deb could visit her grandmother’s house any time of day and get something to eat. She wants people to feel that way about Augusta’s.

“But I know what Grandmother would tell me now,” Deb grins. “She would say, ‘Debbie, you have too many irons in fire. You need to slow down.’

“I love this business, but I also enjoy my gardens. I enjoy cooking at home – which I don’t do anymore because I cook here. I love

609 Graham Street SW, Cullman

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spending time with my grandkids, and my husband likes to see me, too,” Deb says.

She also thinks her son and co-chef Josh needed to cut back, too, especially since he also runs Augusta’s food trailer.

Deb need not have worried about negative reaction to the cutback in hours.

“Everybody who knows us is saying, ‘Good job!’ ‘You need to take off!’ It’s amazing how people in Cullman are.”

Among signs of appreciation, one couple brought Deb a vase of flowers. Fred and Delores Osborne of Mary Carter Paint brought her framed copies of these ads that run in Good Life Magazine.

Cutting out the three lunches has freed up 15 hours a week for personal and family time for Deb and Josh – but now they’re even more packed on Friday and Saturday … sort of welcomed pay back.

“Cullman, we love you,” she says. “And we will keep feeding you!”

And so Augusta’s mantra continues: “Food for the body. Good times for the soul.”

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Paid Advertising

Inside 10 | Good Fun

Annual Christmas Tour of Homes opening some fine doors again

18 | Good People

Sister, mom inspired Melissa Dew to empower others to “Flourish”

24 | Good Reads

Your winter reading list: “Nothing Ventured,” “Stars of Alabama”

27 | Good Cooking

Nan Evans aways cooks in lots of good “soul” in her kitchen

36 | 1939 toy

The old Christmas gift still rocks today – and brings holiday joy

38 | A fine craftsman

The Leigebers’ old low-ball offer landed a home to love and share

46 | Good Eats

Rock n Roll Sushi is for those who love sushi ... and those about to

48 | Good Getaways

Take a holiday road to visit your other house in Montgomery

52 | Jack Tupper

Free-spirited Hoosier artist looks at walls and feels the urge to paint

59 | Katrina Kennedy

Irish native’s life roads led first to living in Australia and California

66 | Kane Ward

At age 8 he’s amassed a stunning resumé with his wakeboard skills

72 | Out ‘n’ About

If it snows this winter, here’s to hoping you enjoy the beauty On the cover | This small ornament in a house full of gorgeous decorations also caught Melody Ethridge’s sharp eye.

This page | Murals are not the only thing artist Jack Tupper creates. Photo by David Moore

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The 9,000-plus square foot home of Jason and Julee Butts sits on 43 rolling acres in Good Hope. As an example of the craftsmanship that went into the house, timber frames are constructed with pegs. The Butts decorate with whimsical fantasy for Christmas. You’ll be amazed.

Mike and Gay Voss’ 100-year-old arts and crafts-style home sits on Eighth Street SW in Cullman’s historic district.

Hardwood floors, interior columns and bookcases of wood, beveled glass and a coffered ceiling are part of the loving attention to detail that makes this a wonderful home.

With is annual Christmas

Christmas Tour of Homes opens doors to fun visits ... and a way to help

Tour of Homes, Share Club of Cullman again opens doors for you to experience and enjoy four beautiful homes beautifully decorated for the holidays.

The tour is 1-5 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 8.

Advance tickets will be available starting in mid-November from Three Pears, Added Touch, Added Touch 2, Vintage West and J. Drake Salon.

The Schlosser–Dunlap Home on Fifth Avenue is owned by Nell Dunlap, grandson Trystan and Oscar, their dog. Built in 1907, their home and contents abound with stories. Nell and Trystan decorate lavishly for Christmas. The house was featured in the 2018 winter issue of Good Life Magazine.

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Tickets are $20 and may also be purchased at the door of each home.

Since 1972, Share Club of Cullman has raised more than $200,000 to put back into the community. This year, proceeds from the tour will help the causes of Good Samaritan Clinic, Hospice of Cullman and Cullman Caring for Kids.

For more information: visit the Share Club of Cullman Facebook page; or Call Sheree Hillegass, 205-253-9076.

The core of Brandon Loyd’s house, also on Fifth Avenue, dates to 1937. It had been completely remodeled before he added a movie room, garage, pool and pool house and outside kitchen.

It has four bedrooms, three fireplaces and two vaulted ceilings.

It’s an amazing house with an amazing evolution.

Good Fun

• Nov. 14, Feb. 4 – Free films “Well Groomed” on Nov. 14 looks into the world of creative dog grooming and follows champion groomers and their colorful dogs through a year on the Technicolor competition circuit.

Director Rebecca Stern – who is scheduled to attend and discuss the film afterward – depicts an America seldom portrayed in cinema.

The third of six screenings of South Arts’ 2019-2020 Southern Circuit Tour of Independent Filmmakers, “Well Groomed” is presented by The Evelyn Burrow Museum at Wallace State Community College. All movies in the series start at 6 p.m. in the Burrow Center Recital Hall.

On Feb. 4, “Community First, A Home for the Homeless” will be shown.

It’s about a facility for the homeless in Austin, Texas, and explores the heartbreaking events that cause homelessness – and the heartwarming stories of being welcomed into a nurturing environment where dignity and self-worth are restored.

Director Layton Blaylock is scheduled to attend.

‘Tis the season to get out and do things • Now-Dec. 15 – “A Life in the Wild” This exhibition of 40 “legacy” images by internationally acclaimed wildlife photographer Thomas D. Mangelsen continues at The Burrow Museum. All of his fine art prints were shot in the wild under natural conditions over the decades, as he waited for the “picture perfect moment.” His heightened sense of animal behavior, feel for being able to read changes in the environment and his patience are a testament to the rewards that can come to people who slow down their lives and wait for nature’s revelations to happen.

Admission to the Evelyn Burrow

Museum is free. Open 9 a.m.-5 p.m.

Tuesday-Friday and 10 a.m.-2 p.m.

Saturday. For more information: www.burrowmuseum.org; or 256352-8457.

• Nov. 22-23 – “The Nutcracker” – and a tea party Wallace State Dance will perform Tchaikovsky’s, Nutcracker from Act I, Scene II through the Act II. Friday and Saturday ballets are at 7 p.m. in the Betty Leeth Haynes Theatre. Tickets are $10 at the door.

Don’t miss the special “Clara’s Tea Party” 4-6:30p.m. Saturday. Join Clara and all her dancing characters

in the Burrow Center for arts and crafts. Participate in a choreography from the ballet; learn fun facts about the ballet’s history; and enjoy an elegantly set tea and tasty sweets.

There will be plenty of photo and autograph opportunities with Clara and her special friends, so bring your camera.

Tea Party tickets are $40 and include priority seating at the 7 p.m. performance. Tea Party tables seat 10 guests so be sure you and your friends purchase tickets together.

Children must be accompanied by an adult. For more info: 256-352-8277 or 256-352-8046.

NOV. | DEC. | JAN. 2019-20

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Nov. 22-23 – Arts and Crafts The annual Vinemont Band Boosters Arts and Craft Show will be held at the Cullman Civic Center 9 a.m.-7 p.m. Friday and 9 a.m.-4 p.m.

Saturday. Find more than 80 local and regional vendors with handmade jewelry, children’s and women’s clothing, UA/AU items, woodworking, metal art, candles, inspirational framed art and more great Christmas ideas.

Win a door prize or buy a ticket for a drawing for $1,000 at noon Saturday. Concessions are available for purchase and local musicians provide free entertainment.

• Nov. 22-Dec. 29 –Winter Wonderland Christmas Lights This year you can drive though Sportsman Lake Park’s traditional, animated light display before Thanksgiving and after Christmas.

There will be new displays this year.

Admission is $10 per car or $15 for vans (cash only).

Unless it’s raining, lights will be on 5-9:30 p.m. nightly (closed Nov. 25-

28, Dec. 2-3, Dec. 9-10, Dec. 16-17 and Dec. 24-25). Santa will be there before Christmas, along with sleigh rides ($3), Christmas train rides ($4), horse and carriage rides (select nights $5), a snow machine, photo booth, hot chocolate and more.

• Nov. 22 – Christmas in Cullman Parade and Festival The late Thanksgiving this year has led to some earlier traditional events, including the Cullman parade and annual tree-lighting in Depot Park.

The parade starts at 6 p.m. and runs through 1st Avenue’s Downtown Entertainment District from Busy Bee Café to Depot Park. The tree–lighting ceremonies begin at 7 p.m. There will be Santa, kids’ activities, live music and more. It’s all free and brought to you by Cullman Parks, Recreation and Sports Tourism.

Entering the parade is free. Info will be posted soon on the CPR&ST website, or you can register online at Christmas in Cullman Facebook. For more info: 256-734-9157.

• Nov. 27 – Good Hope PreThanksgiving Meal The town of Good Hope’s annual, free, communitywide preThanksgiving meal starts at 11 a.m. at the Good Hope High School lunchroom. Don’t wait too long.

The town employees, officials and volunteers usually serve the last of some 1,300 meals by 1 p.m.

Drive-through and sit-down dinners are available, and shut-ins can call city hall to place delivery meals. According to Mayor Jerry Bartlett, who started the annual event 11 years ago with the late Paul Schwaiger, the dinner is open to the general public and made possible by volunteers and gracious donations from area businesses and residents.

For more info, call city hall: 256739-3757.

• Dec. 1-April 15 – “Art and the Animal” The Burrow Museum presents the flagship exhibition of The Society of Animal Artists. This show has been featured at more than 50 notable

At Cullman Electric Cooperative, we’re proud to be a part of it, bringing people together by providing energy for all the things you love.

@cullmanec 12

NOV. | DEC. | JAN. 2019-20

venues over the past 50 years, including museums, zoos and cultural and science centers throughout the U.S. and Canada.

Admission to the Evelyn Burrow Museum is free. Open 9 a.m.-5 p.m.

Tuesday-Friday and 10 a.m.-2 p.m.

Saturday. For more information: www.burrowmuseum.org; or 256352-8457.

• Dec. 13-14 – Sheriff’s Rodeo Experience bucking thrills and spills at the annual Cullman County Sheriff’s Office Jimmy Arrington Memorial Rodeo. It will be held at 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday at the Cullman County Agriculture and Trade Center on U.S. 31 North.

The 4L and Diamond S Rodeo Company, which puts on the show – draws some 4,000 adults and kids, and helps raise money for special needs students countywide. Pro cowboys will be doing bareback riding, barrel racing, bull riding, cowboy tie-down roping, cowgirl breakaway roping, saddle bronc riding and team roping. Rodeo clowns

“Art and the Animal” opens at the Burrow Museum Dec. 1.

CULLMAN

♥

Be an Ambassador We enjoy a great quality of life and quality job opportunities. We have dynamic people working to promote Cullman, but you are the perfect ambassador. This is your home. You love it too!

We need you to…

Talk up Cullman

with all non-residents you know and meet!

“Law enforcement and first responders work hard making Cullman safe. I’m proud to call this home and thankful for those who work to make it a special place.”– Lt. Jeff Warnke, Cullman Police Department NOV. | DEC. | JAN. 2019-20

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• Dec. 5 – Christmas Spectacular The Wallace State Fine and Performing Arts Department’s annual concert features performances from the music and theater departments. You’ll hear 90-plus minutes of Christmas music and singing plus – this year – see performances by the dance department. The free event is at 7 p.m. the Betty Leeth Haynes Theatre. For more info: 256-352-8277. will keep you laughing, and there will be a ladies envelope scramble and a little cowpoke gold rush.

Tickets will be sold at the door; $10 adults, $8 students (ages 6-18).

Gates open at 5:30 p.m. Come early to get a good seat.

• Dec. 14 – Bicentennial Extravaganza Today marks the 200th year of Alabama’s ratification, and Cullman will participate in the statewide celebration in a big way from 5-6 p.m. at Depot Park.

Drink free hot chocolate as performers commemorate Alabama’s statehood through songs and stories of our great state over the past two centuries, culminating in a rousing finale of music and fireworks.

Students from St. Bernard, East Elementary and West Elementary schools will sing the “National Anthem” and “Alabama.” Wallace State Fine and Performing Arts students will present excerpts from “Stars Fell on Alabama,” their summer tour show performed in Germany and France.

Local actors will portray famous people in Alabama’s history and tell their stories.

The event is free.

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• Dec. 16 – Community Band Christmas Concert The annual – and free – program this year will be at 7 p.m. at Cullman First Baptist Church.

“We will try to take advantage of that huge organ there,” says director Garry Traylor. “I also plan to have vocalist.

“It will be good. We have a few new folks and a good group this year. We always look forward to performing for the community at Christmas.”

Jan. 6-11 – Community Wellness Week Kick off the new year with CPR&ST at its annual Community Wellness Week at the Cullman Wellness and Aquatic Center. Enjoy $50 off any membership, giveaways to members, a health fair and free admission to the facility on Saturday, Jan. 11.

Open to all ages. Cost: $5 for nonmembers Monday–Friday and free on Saturday. For more info: CPR&ST: 256-775-7946.

Jan. 11 – Polar Bear Plunge Cap off Wellness Week – or your work week – this morning by jumping into the frigid waters of the outdoor pool at CWAC. Register to win a free

12-month family membership. Time to be announced, but whenever it is, it will be cold.

For more info: CPR&ST: 256-7757946.

• Jan. 16 – Relay For Life Kickoff The 5:30 p.m. event in the Cullman First Baptist fellowship hall leads up to the 2020 Cullman County Relay For Life aimed at all Relay team members, but open to the public.

Guest speaker will be this year’s Hero of Hope (to be named). Food will be provided.

“Anyone else who wants to know more about cancer in any way is welcome,” says Helen Allen, local Relay event leader. “We’d like to have them.

“We’d also be glad if they join us,” she adds. “Most of our money is raised through sponsors and teams doing fundraising.”

Last year contributions by teams and sponsors raised $114,640.

The 2020 Relay will be 6 p.m.midnight, May 1, at the Cullman County Fairgrounds and celebrate cancer survivors and those who contribute to the cause.

For more info: Helen Allen, 256709-4019; or www.relayforlife.org/ cullmanal.

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• Feb. 1 – Southern Charm Tour This is the payment deadline for the March 23-27 trip to Charleston, S.C. and Savannah, Ga, to experience perhaps the epitome of “southern charm.”

Cost includes motor coach transportation, four night’s accommodations, baggage handling, nine meals, activity admission, taxes and most gratuities.

In the two historic cities you will experience: Middleton Place Plantation, Drayton Hall, Savannah and Charleston market places, Angel Oak Park, Charleston Tea Plantation, Paula Deen’s Lady and Sons Restaurant, Creek House Seafood and Grill, Cathedral of St. John the Baptist, Historic Haunts Trolley Tour, Davenport House Museum, Tybee Island, Byrd Cookie Company, Blue Willow Inn and Leopold’s Ice Cream.

Buses will depart from and return to the Wallace State Community College Coliseum parking lot. Vehicles may be left on campus during the trip.

Anyone can travel with the alumni association, but space is limited so register early.

Single occupancy cost is $1,488 ($1,588 for non-members). Double occupancy per person is $1,136 ($1,236 for non-members).

Costs drop for triple and quad occupancy.

For more info contact LaDonna Allen: 256352-8071; ladonna.allen@wallacestate.edu.

Explore Savannah’s historic parks and Forsyth Fountain.

Among the stops in Charleston is restored Drayton Hall.

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Good People

5questions Story and photo

by David Moore

A

pril “Sissy” Williams has never been far from Melissa Dew’s mind or heart in everything she’s done to make Flourish of Cullman successful.

“Sissy was born with cerebral palsy,” says Melissa, her older sister. “We were always joined at the hip. I taught her how to write her name and tie her shoes.”

Melissa – a former occupational therapy assistant with Encore Rehabilitation – and Sharon Kane conceived and launched Flourish in 2016 as a non-profit with the goal of helping individuals with disabilities learn through life, social and job skills so they can function in society as independent adults.

“Only we do not use the word disabilities because that sets you up for ‘you can’t,’” Melissa says. “We use different abilities, because isn’t that true?

Everybody has different abilities.”

Near the middle of a combined family with 14 kids, she took on many of April’s responsibilities early in life.

“Mom worked,” Melissa says. “She had to feed all of us kids and left for work at a chicken plant at 4:30 a.m. I was in charge of getting my little brothers off to school.

“Then I put April on her bus to the Child Development Center.”

After their parents died in the 1990s, Melissa became April’s legal guardian.

She was thrilled that April could live in a group home, was active in the CDC’s Margaret Jean Jones Center and was even able to take vacations.

But in 2008 April fell playing Miracle League baseball. An infection set in that was harder to treat than common strains of staph. April had 10 surgeries in two years.

She’s now under nursing home care, and Melissa remains in near constant touch.

A

pril was part of Melissa’s inspiration to pursue a career in OT and start Flourish. But only part of it.

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Melissa Dew

She saw and met needs of children, always wanting them to ‘Flourish’ “It was really my mom and how she dealt with April and encouraged her when she was 5 and could not walk,” Melissa says. “She trained her to crawl down the hall to a potty chair.

“She encouraged Sissy to walk to visit the goats at the farm next door in Baileyton. She got her a goat because she learned to walk. Later, Sissy played hide and seek with “Billy,” who also pulled her around in a wagon – we are country! – that my step dad built.

“Mom was a visionary,” Melissa continues. “She said that April would do everything she possibly could as well as she possibly could. She wanted to see April … flourish.”

But before occupational therapy and Flourish entered Melissa’s life, she went through another phase – she became a police officer.

She enjoyed watching cop shows, loved detectives figuring out a case. She also wanted to help people, so she got a degree from Wallace State Community College in criminal justice.

She got hired onto the Hanceville Police Department in 1991.

“I did the school traffic thing with a big 10-gallon hat,” she laughs. “I looked like Barney Fife with my gun. And I thought that was what I wanted to do before God showed me differently. I didn’t realize that was the wrong profession for me,” she laughs. “It didn’t pay much and people wanted to kill you.”

T

hat learning curve started the day Melissa pulled over a guy for speeding in 1992. As she stood on the roadside talking to guy through his window, a second vehicle barreled past, apparently trying to hit her.

“I jumped to get out of the way with my Barney Fife gun and bullet-proof vest,” she says. “I twisted my back and landed on the hood of the guy’s vehicle. Everything seemed all right, but I was in shock and didn’t feel pain.”

The pain hit when she answered her next call – helping a baby who had consumed brake fluid.

“I went to take the baby but could not hold its weight and went down on the ground,” Melissa says.

She got the baby’s mouth cleaned out, but she couldn’t get up. Her left leg was completely numb.

She had an impinged nerve in her lower vertebrae. Doctors tried experimental treatments. She underwent electrical stimulation. She visited a Birmingham chiropractor twice a day for two weeks.

“I left the police department in 1993 and tried to get myself back to the land of the living,” she says. “It took several years for the leg to come back.”

Even after that she had physical therapy and OT on and off for 10-11 years. During that time, April assisted her dying mother for a few years.

In 2001 Melissa returned to Wallace State. Graduating in 2003, she was certified as an occupational therapist assistant.

T

wo days after graduation she went to work for Encore Rehabilitation in Cullman.

Sandra Davis, the supervisor who hired her, said Melissa would be good working with children, but at the time she preferred grownups in nursing homes because she needed the money and it paid better.

Sandra was able to arrange Melissa’s schedule so that she could fill in at nursing homes while assisting as an OT at the county and city schools.

She soon realized Sandra was right about her working with children.

Melissa helped those with “different abilities,” teaching them life skills such as dressing and cleaning to help them move toward independence. She was especially good with autistic children.

“Teachers often called me the Autism Whisperer,” she grins. And she felt her mom would be proud. “Sometimes I could

SNAPSHOT: Melissa Dew

EARLY LIFE: Born May 30, 1966; spent her early years in Jones Chapel, the middle of 14 combined children of Walter Williams

and Claudia Marks, both deceased.

FAMILY: Two children, both of Cullman, from her first marriage in 1982 – Brandon Tolbert (wife McKenzie and children Libby, 3,

and Sutton Rose, 1) and Kayla Corliss (husband Dr. Brian and children Sophia, 13, Kaydon, 10, Karson, 7 and Spencer, 7.

Married in 2007 to Gary Dew, IT consultant, Tangent Zero; he has a daughter, Bailey Flynn, 27, of Montrose, Col.

(husband Jason; children Sunshine, 3, Wilder, 1).

EDUCATION: Head Start through fourth grade, Jones Chapel; after her mom remarried, they moved to Baileyton; GED in ‘87;

Wallace State Community College, AA in criminal justice, 1990; AA as certified occupational therapy assistant (COTA), 2003.

CAREER: Hanceville PD, 1991-93; COTA, Encore Rehabilitation, 2003; promoted to Encore school coordinator, 2012;

co-founded Flourish of Cullman; executive director, 2016-present.

ACTIVITIES, AWARDS, ADVENTURES: Human Rights Board for Margaret Jean Jones Center; Governor’s Committee for People

with Disabilities; formerly on state Ticket to Work committee; WSCC Outstanding Alumni Award, 2006. She and Gary are

avid RVers, traveling to places such as Maine, Yellowstone and the Smokies, where they got married.

hear her – ‘Good job! You’re doing what you need to do.’”

Melissa also saw the importance of socialization for kids with “different abilities.”

In her off time she started a group at Cullman First United Methodist Church where kids 10-14 years old would, for example, hold pretend birthday parties to learn how to act in social situations.

She also started programs connecting parents of challenged children with local resources and educating them on strategies used at school in dealing with their children.

In 2006, Melissa received an Outstanding Alumni Award from Wallace State for these programs.

M

elissa acted on another need she saw. Kids could get OT at school, but to get it after school required traveling out of town. So she convinced Encore co-founder Paul Henderson to offer OT at the clinic.

In 2009, Melissa was promoted to school coordinator, directing services, referrals and ensuring Encore followed the individual education plans that schools devise for each challenged student. She also handled billing for Encore.

“I was going in at 3 a.m. to get bills done by noon. I had very little time to work with the kids,” says the Autism Whisperer.

Later, her sister was diagnosed with congestive heart failure.

“I didn’t know if she would make it much longer,” Melissa says. “She would get sick and be in the hospital for weeks at a time. I couldn’t leave her by herself. I am her translator.”

So in 2015 she turned in a month’s notice and resigned from Encore to care for April.

In 2016, Melissa – along with Sharon Kane, a retired special ed teacher with a master’s degree, 30 years of experience and a strong belief in promoting her students’ independence – attended a pancake breakfast at Applebee’s to raise money for autism.

Rhonda Davis, the speaker and head of the Cullman chapter of the Autism Society of Alabama, told them about a group in Birmingham called Triumph Services.

It provides community-based services to help individuals with developmental disabilities become more independent 20

NOV. | DEC. | JAN. 2019-20

through obtaining those important life, social and job skills.

Melissa and Sharon signed up for a week of training at Triumph. Students across Cullman County are taught such skills. But after that first day of training, a nagging question hit the two women: What is happening to our individuals after they graduate?

They decided on the spot to form a non-profit and a few days later came up with the name: Flourish. Within five days of returning home, their non-profit and business papers were filed and Flourish of Cullman was born. Then they began looking for dedicated board members to help the cause.

1.

What is the key – or keys – to empowering people with “different abilities” so that they become as independent as possible?

August 22 was our third birthday. We started out with a $1,000 donation and no home. We have touched 150 lives, and we still have our original 12 people.

We measure our success by all of those clients. Some live at home, some independently. Our goal is to help them create a vision of what their future could look like.

We don’t wear rose colored glasses. We realize these people will need a circle of support even if they are more independent.

The key is helping them create their own vision for their life.

These individuals have always heard “you can’t,” or someone always makes decisions for them. So we help them to see they have a choice and deserve respect and acknowledgment – that this is their life.

That’s how it all starts.

Some of them tell us they want to be voice-over actors or YouTube experts. We explain you have to start small then go big.

We try to not squash their dreams. Instead we show them a path to get to that point.

We always share our personal life stories to help them see. I tell them this is not my first job. The first job I had was putting out shavings in chicken houses.

It didn’t smell very good in there, but it bought me school clothes.

We always speak the truth. It might not be what they want to hear, but we will help them adjust their goals to realistic things that they can achieve.

You have to empower them. They have to build those skills. That’s why we talk about the jobs in our lives that have led us to where we are now.

It’s amazing! Once we start discussing things and pouring time into an individual, we start to see a flicker in their eyes – they start to see a vision. The light comes on and they see potential and hope. And when they complete the steps to reach that hope, they really take off and excel.

This is not a short process. No. It takes time and building a relationship with people to help realize they are … awesome people.

2.

What part do social skills play in helping people with different abilities become independent?

People don’t realize what a big part social skills play in being successful at your job, in being integrated into the community with family members and making friends.

For somebody without social skills, it’s kind of hard to put them in a workplace. They don’t know how to communicate with their boss or perform as a team member with the person working beside them.

Helping them achieve these social skills helps them create and realize their vision through seeing and recognizing what other people do as independent individuals. They need to be able to talk about simple social things, to be able to share other people’s visions. If you can’t go up and talk to someone, how can you grow and develop?

We work with them on conflict resolution … having a problem and how to talk to a peer, a family member or an employer to resolve it. Conflict resolution is really big.

We work with them on understanding personal space. We have some individuals who come up right in your face. It’s hard for some of our individuals to understand that others have personal space that you don’t get into.

We also help them develop a circle of support. We want them to understand who they should talk with about a problem or issue, who it’s appropriate to share certain things with. It’s probably not the mail carrier. We do a whole class on the circle of support.

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We have a committee of our participants who meet once a month and plan our social calendar, and they all bring ideas. We try to plug them into activities in the Cullman community like the Sweet Potato Festival, Oktoberfest. We go to Second Fridays, to the St. Patrick’s Day get-together in Hanceville.

Our social groups are for men or women, and some groups are blended men and women. These social activities are to learn to make friends. To be out in our community. To see what possibilities there are. Lots of these individuals get out of school and stop having friends after that.

We use a holistic approach with social groups. We even provide one-on-one life coaching activities. It’s all a process. It doesn’t happen overnight.

3.

What part do volunteers play in Flourish?

They are very important. One thing about Flourish is that parents don’t come to our social events – because we are teaching independence. That’s why volunteers are so important.

When our social groups go out, we want to present them as a group of people out in the community – not a group of people with different abilities out in the community.

So they have volunteer mentors and people who come with them to help them figure out how to socialize. A social group can be up to 12 people with different abilities plus volunteers.

We were contacted by a group that wanted to be known as just “Volunteers on Smith Lake” that wanted to do a “dream day” for our people on Smith Lake.

They had eight boats with two captains and two volunteers on each boat. Some of them opened their lake houses to us.

We had one pier for fishing and another for swimming. And we all got tours of major things on Smith Lake, like the dam, the “witches house,” and, of course, the Popsicle guy who sells ice cream.

We started out at Brothers Pour House and ate lunch, and that’s where we ended again for supper. And these volunteers raised all the money for that dream day.

You can’t put a value on that. These volunteers really mentored our individuals and helped them overcome and experience things they had never done before. We had 22

NOV. | DEC. | JAN. 2019-20

Members of the Flourish of Cullman board of directors • Jo Keeton, president (parent) • Nikki Brooks CRNP, VP (parent) • Rhonda Davis, secretary (parent) • Michelle Ray (parent) • The Rev. Bobby Hill (New Life Church) • Jennifer Killion (parent) • Katie Fine (business owner) • Christy Boyles (business owner/ parent) • Dr Brian Corliss (pediatrician/internal medicine) • Blake West (attorney) • Robbie Downs (parent) • Brandon Tolbert (concerned citizen) • Jake Johnson (principal, Cullman Middle School) For more about Flourish: www.flourishofcullman.com

one young lady who had never been on a boat. It really was a dream day.

After making that connection, we now have about 10 of those volunteers who come to other social events with us. We let them plug themselves in where they can. They share their stories about how they started out, about their first jobs and how they got to where they are today.

It takes no particular training to be a Flourish volunteer. We try not to put too many stipulations and create barriers.

We also ask that our volunteers have a heart for wanting to help our people be independent.

For more information about volunteering, you can call me at 256-3393078.

4.

Given that Flourish has been in existence only three years and you are dealing with a lengthy process, do you have a few success stories you can share?

Sure. One young man that comes to mind is Matthew. His goals were to get a job, buy a car and, as he called it, get himself a place.

He got the job, six months later he purchased his car. He got a job washing dishes at The Texaco Fillin’ Station restaurant. He did that for a year and half

them moved to a better job at Boyles Tax and Bookkeeping. He now does data entry for Christy Boyles, one of our board members. He’s on track to lots more things with Christy as his skill set grows.

Matthew has autism; he’ll tell you that. His parents were great in laying a foundation for him to be successful. We don’t take our people away from their families. But we try to help families see the importance of allowing the individual to find their vision.

Janet is another success story. She has seizures and cognitive impairments. She has lived independently for over 10 years, so she had been making headway. But she did not have the component of a job. She needed help understanding social cues and such.

It took a while to find a job because of the seizures, she now works with Sharon Townsend at the Cullman County Library.

The library is great with her. When we find a perfect job for someone, we say that “angels sing.”

Janet has a boyfriend, Shane, who lives in the same complex as she does, and they’ve been together for eight years. He’s one of our young men. He’s working at Publix and getting a business degree online through The University of Alabama.

By the way, there are tax breaks for businesses that hire people with different abilities.

5.

What is something most people don’t know about Melissa Dew? A lot of people assume that because I have a college education that I finished high school. I didn’t. Because of health issues, I could not finish. But I saw immediately after I had my second child that I needed to further my education.

So I took the GED and passed on my first try. I realized I was not going to get anywhere in life without my GED. Then I went on to get my degrees.

For occupational therapist assistant I had a Pell grant and financial help from the Alabama Rehabilitation Department.

They believed in me as did Joseph Wright, my rehab counselor.

Everybody has a story. At Flourish, we take the time to listen to people’s stories and try to help.

Good Life Magazine

Hand-made Betsy Ross cutting boards are great Christmas presents; $80 or $125 with hand-branded stars. Also on hand, clockwise from right: stained glass; antique shelf brackets (and our own reproductions); doors galore; antique doorknobs; Victorian Eastlake brass door hardware.

Known for customized woodwork, SHR now sells architectural antiques

Since 2016, Southern Heritage Restoration has been creating unique furniture using repurposed wood salvaged from old barns. Swings, chairs, headboards, cabinets, hand-hewn mantles and an array of tables – from farm dinner to board room – can be found in a growing number of homes and businesses in and beyond Cullman County.

This year, owner Paul Moss expanded SHR, offering architectural antiques and artifacts rescued from old homes, churches and businesses – much of it now in his new showroom.

“We sell a lot of doors and windows along with the custom pieces we still do,” Paul says. “We have been busy.”

Initially, quality custom work and fair pricing grew his business. “One person told the next, and it snowballed from there,” he says.

He operated Southern Heritage Restoration from a shop in western Cullman until he and master woodcraftsman Mike Roberts ran out of room. So Paul rented 7,500 square feet in a building among other light industries on County Road 1297, moving to South Vinemont in the summer of 2017. He also out-sourced his demolition work, freeing more time for sales and working with Mike.

When a customer asked if Paul could find him an old door, he had his demo man locate one. That started the ball rolling on selling architectural antiques and artifacts. On top of that, the demand for their custom furniture work was growing.

Early this year, SHR more than doubled its space, allowing for a showroom.

All this time, Paul had continued his regular construction job, but in July he took a leap of faith and dove full time into SHR like a table saw into good wood.

“My wife, Kristie, has been a great support,” says an appreciative Paul. “But Mike is the hub of this wheel. He’s a true blessing, an artist in the shop. And I extremely appreciate how people in Cullman support local business.”

Visit Paul and expand your appreciation of Southern Heritage.

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Good Reads

Sean of the South weaves a tale that’s sure to move you

‘Nothing Ventured,’ much to gain with Archer’s new novel

ome of you may be familiar with Sean Dietrich, better known as Sean of the South. He is my new favorite author.

If you love a great story with believable characters written in a way that becomes a part of your soul, then you will adore “Stars of Alabama.”

The story takes place during the Great Their lives weren’t Depression. Marigold, beautiful.

In fact, their rejected by her family, lives were hard. And is on her own, pregnant whenever they settled and homeless. Migrant into a routine, along workers Vern and Paul (and Louisville the came something that bloodhound – I love changed it. They always this dog) team up with a seemed to be a few meals widow and her children as away from starvation, they all attempt to survive and they seemed to have the dust storms of Kansas. less each month than Coot, a 14-yearold preacher, is on the they had the month run with money stolen before. But life doesn’t from the tent revival. have to be beautiful to be Destination: Mobile. pretty, Paul thought. All All these lives it needs is red hair. intertwine through the years. You will laugh and rejoice in their successes and weep with them in their trials. This is one book that I will read again ... and perhaps again after that.

– Deb Laslie

ow, exactly, does one become a detective? Jeffrey Archer gives us the answer in his latest bestselling novel “Nothing Ventured.”

It is the story of William Warwick, who, against the advice and wishes of his father (a renowned London attorney) embarks on his “ABC,” was the first thing life’s dream: to become a Fred said when he was detective. introduced to the wetHis journey is much behind-the-ears young like that of any young sprog. He didn’t wait for man; there are rough roads, odd characters, William to ask. “Accept experiences that give nothing. Believe no one. him the self-assurance Challenge everything. It’s and certainty that he has the only law I live by.” found his calling.

Through it all, with determination, uncanny talent, and the blessing of a wonderful mentor and friend, William succeeds. From his early assignments “walking the beat” to his fledgling career at Scotland Yard we watch him turn into the man he knows he can be.

I’ve always enjoyed Archer’s work. He is one of my “go-to” authors with a beautifully written, well-crafted story that isn’t weighed down with expletives. His characters are real, and they become your friends. And after all, isn’t that why we read? To meet new people and experience new things? Your new friends await.

– Deb Laslie

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NOV. | DEC. | JAN. 2019-20

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The shed business has been in the family 20-plus years, and Linfred and Donald have owned Superior since 2017.

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Good Cooking

Nan pours pure soul into her meals

Story and photos

By David Moore

T

onight’s supper. Sunday dinner with company. Thanksgiving and Christmas feasts. It doesn’t matter. If Nan Evans is cooking it, it will be some good soul food.

“I just like to cook – period. I like sampling the food,” she grins. “And I cook nothing but soul food. That’s what I grew up on. That’s what I like. Keep the soul food going.”

Nan grew up in Scottsboro and still has lots of family there. But she and her husband, Terrald Johnson, have lived in Colony for the last 20 years.

“The Scottsboro crew like my pecan pies,” Nan says. “But it’s sweet potato pies for the Colony crew.”

She’s not really one to brag, but there are those in Colony who insist she’s famous for her fried chicken.

That fame may well waft back 15 years or so to when she and her son Mikey owned Nan’s Country Cooking on U.S. 91 east of Colony. For about five years lots of people got a taste of Nan’s cooking, but they closed the restaurant after Mikey was in a bad wreck and she had to help care for his children.

More recently, Nan cooked at Roadhouse 291, a nicely refurbished but short-lived restaurant next to the Shell Station at the nearby I-65 exit. Judging from reviews on the Yelp website, Roadhouse’s brief run – July 2018 to July 2019 – can be hung on Nan’s cooking …

“Tasty home cooked meals, generous portions, and fair prices. Especially love the pulled pork. … Will definitely stop again during my frequent road trips between Chicago and Tampa!” “… I had the farm burger which was a

“That’s my biggest joy of cooking – to see my family,” says Nan Evans. huge chunk of ground beef, a fried egg and hash browns very good burger. Service was good.”

And this review … “... The food was delicious and super fresh. Nice job! Prices were fair for the amount and quality – cooked fresh when we ordered. Nice job! I asked for a breakfast and lunch menu when we left – we will definitely be back.”

N

an’s father, Robert Trimew gets no credit for her cooking. That goes to her mother, Shirley, and her grandmother, Momma Cennie.

“I was a granny’s girl,” Nan says.

“I learned how to cook from Mom and Momma Cennie. It was good, home cooking. I cooked some as a kid, but I wasn’t left in the kitchen by myself.”

Young when she first married, Nan has four grown children from that eight-year union: daughters Stacy, Tracey and Cheryl and Mikey.

She was 37 when she met Terrald 26 years ago. Still living and working in Scottsboro, Nan had come to Colony to

visit a good friend, Molly Fields, who introduced her to Terrald, one of the locals.

“I met him at the old restaurant at the interstate exit. He was getting something to eat, and we were there having tea,” Nan recalls. “One thing led to another.”

Her cooking, she confesses, might have been part of the chain reaction. Either way, it was a long-distance common law relationship for about five years, with Terrald living in Colony and Nan in Scottsboro. That changed after the saddest stretch of Nan’s life.

Her father died December 1998, quickly followed by Momma Cennie January 1999. As a gut kicker, Nan’s mom died that May. “It was a rough patch,” she says. “I moved here after mom died. The change was good for me. And Terrald is an awesome man. He helped me through it.”

For the last 15 years, Terrald has commuted daily to his job at the Mercedes Benz plant in Vance. When he’s working days, he carries a sandwich for lunch and Nan cooks him a meal for supper.

Sometimes he gets a big breakfast on NOV. | DEC. | JAN. 2019-20

27

the weekends, but he can’t count on that. “Because,” Nan grins, “I like to sleep.”

B

acking up for some perspective … Nan’s youngest was a year old when she got divorced. Robert and Shirley, along with Momma Cennie, pitched in to help her raise baby Cheryl as well as her three older kids.

Nan’s son, Robert Michael “Mikey,” initially married Tamika, who already had two children, Stephanie and Brandon. Together Mikey and Tamika had Niya and RJ, short for Robert Jr. Sadly, Tamika died.

Much later, Mikey married his second wife, Jennifer, but times were rough before that. To help out, Nan and Terrald took in Niya and RJ, 9 and 7 at the time, and raised them.

“I thank God for my good parents,” Nan says. “I guess I just returned a favor. I was here for Niya and RJ. We had good times together.

“I have good times now with all my kids and grandkids.

They are my pride and joy. I have fond memories of all of them.”

It all adds to a joyfully big crowd to cook for.

For starters, Nan – and Terrald by extension – has her four grown kids and spouses, including Rodney Fielder and Willie Ward. Plus she has eight biological grandkids, ages 17 to 29 in December. There’s also Stephanie and Brandon, who Nan readily claims. Not to mention great grands who are 1, 2 and 4 years old.

“Good for bouncing on your leg,” Nan says.

S

ome of the family, such as Tracy and her bunch, live in Decatur, close enough to drive to Colony once or twice a month to visit and enjoy Nan’s soul food. Stacy, Cheryl and their families will readily drive from Scottsboro if Nan throws a cookout.

Everyone shows up for Thanksgiving. For Christmas, however, Nan and Terrald visit her family in Scottsboro, but not empty-handed.

“I cook the full course and take it up there,” she says.

Turkey, dressing, ham, greens, yams, maybe even some finger sandwiches, but for sure cakes, candy and perhaps 20 full-size pecan pies … “I take all of that good, fattening food.”

And tickled to do it.

“I am always happy,” Nan insists. “I’m a happy camper.

Every morning I wake up, I am happy. I thank God He woke me up. That’s something to be happy about.

“That’s my biggest joy of cooking – to see my family,” she continues. “They love for me to cook. And I love to see them.” Makes everybody happy.

Company often puts in requests before they arrive.

“They say, ‘Nan we want to eat this when we come.’ One granddaughter likes chicken and dumplings – ‘Yes Nan-bugs, I want chicken and dumplings.’”

Nan, of course, is more than happy to oblige.

“I sure am.”

Likewise, she’s happy to share some of her soul food recipes on the following pages.

Good Life Magazine 28

NOV. | DEC. | JAN. 2019-20

FOUR PECAN PIES (or 21 tart-size pies) 12 eggs 2.5 standard bottles white Karo syrup 1 cup of sugar 1.5 sticks of Blue Bonnet butter, melted 1 lb. whole pecans, use most of the bag 1 tsp. all-purpose flour 4 regular pie shells

Mix all ingredients adding the all-purpose flour to thicken it up. Pour filling into pie shells.

Preheat oven to 350 and bake about 45 minutes. Check to see if pie is done using a toothpick.

Filling should be firm and golden NOTE: You can also use this recipe to fill 21 tart-size pie shells.

FRUIT CAKE CHRISTMAS COOKIES 1 cup butter ¾ cup brown sugar (I use PC) 1 egg ½ tsp. vanilla extract 1 cup all-purpose flour 1/3 tsp. salt ½ tsp. baking soda 4 oz. candied cherries 4 oz. pineapple, chopped and drained 1½ cup dates, finely cut ½ cup broken walnuts ½ cup broken pecans ½ cup whole hazelnuts

In bowl, cream butter, sugar, egg and vanilla. Stir together flour, salt and soda and add to creamed mixture.

Stir in fruit and nuts.

Drop raw cookie batter by teaspoonful onto greased baking sheet. Preheat oven to 325 and bake for 15 minutes.

Store in tightly covered container. Cookies are best after a few days.

Makes 2 dozen.

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BLACK-EYED PEAS (With pork neck bone) 1 lb. dried black-eyed peas 1 med. smoked pork neck bone 3 cups water Salt and pepper to taste Wash neck bone and boil 25 minutes with 3 cups of water in covered pot.

Pick out any bad peas then soak in hot water 5 minutes. Strain off peas and add to neck bone and water. Salt and pepper to taste. Cook about 90 minutes, starting on high and turning to medium after several minutes of boiling. Don’t stir the peas much or they will fall apart.

NAN’S YAMS 2 medium sweet potatoes Cinnamon Nutmeg 1 tsp. of vanilla extract ½ stick of butter ½ cup of light brown sugar Enough water to cover yams Peel and wash sweet potatoes; cut into chunks and place in pan with water.

Add a dash of cinnamon, a dash of nutmeg, vanilla extract, butter and brown sugar and then simmer for 25 minutes.

FRIED BONE-IN PORK CHOP 6 pork chops, ½-inch thick, bone-in 1 cup self-rising flour Crisco or Wesson oil Salt and pepper to taste Wash and pat dry chops. Roll in flour to cover. Add more than enough oil to cover chops in a deep-fry pot.

Deep fry for about 10 minutes or until done. I can look at them and tell if they’re done.

SALMON CROQUETTES 1 - 14.75 oz can of salmon, drained 2 cups rice 1 Tbsp. butter 2 Tbsp. all-purpose four 1 cup milk Salt and pepper to taste 30

NOV. | DEC. | JAN. 2019-20

2 cups cracker crumbs 4 cups hot oil Prepare rice.

Melt butter; stir in flour, add milk, salt and pepper to make white sauce.

Add salmon to rice. Pour white sauce over salmon mixture. Chill overnight.

After chilling, roll salmon into balls; roll balls in cracker crumbs. Drop salmon balls into hot oil. Cook until golden brown.

CULLMAN

♥

Be an Ambassador We enjoy a great quality of life and quality job opportunities. We have dynamic people working to promote Cullman, but you are the perfect ambassador. This is your home. You love it too!

We need you to…

Talk up Cullman

with all non-residents you know and meet!

“We moved here three years ago – one of our best decisions ever!

Family and faith are important here, and you can really get involved.”

– Becky Goff, executive director, United Way of Cullman County

Thank you for allowing us to insure what’s important to you.

Happy Holidays!

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Home • Auto • Farm • Business • Life • Boat • Motorcycle NOV. | DEC. | JAN. 2019-20

31

MAC ‘n’ CHEESE

TURNIP GREENS 2 bunches fresh greens ½ of standard size Boston butt (uncooked) 1 tsp. salt

1 lb. bag, elbow macaroni 2 pkgs. cheese sauce, Velveeta or other brand ½ cup sharp cheddar cheese ½ stick butter 1 egg Salt and pepper to taste Boil noodles as package directs.

In a pan, melt together cheese sauce, cheese, butter, egg, salt and pepper.

Mix noodles and melted ingredients in a 2-quart casserole dish or other baking pan. Preheat oven to 350 and bake for 30 minutes.

Put halved butt in 6-quart pan. Bring to a boil then simmer for about an hour.

Meanwhile, wash greens with water about 6 times in the sink. It’s important to get all of the grit off.

Turn stove to high, add greens and salt to meat; simmer 4-5 hours, stirring occasionally.

FRIED CHICKEN (Water-based recipe; not pictured above) 6 chicken breasts, with skin and bone 1 cup flour Crisco or Wesson oil Salt to taste Soak chicken in salt water about 30

32

NOV. | DEC. | JAN. 2019-20

minutes. Wash well; dry with paper towels and wash again. Salt chicken then roll in flour while still wet.

Add more than enough oil to cover chicken in a deep-fry pot.

Deep fry for about 10 minutes or until done. Thick breasts take a

little longer; thin ones cook faster.

165 degrees is a safe temperature.

I like 180.

NOTE: I cook mostly breasts and use just salt. If I cook wings I put salt and pepper on them.

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33

POTATO SALAD 7 Idaho potatoes ½ cup mayo 1 tsp. yellow mustard half jar of sweet salad cubes (pickles)

Peel potatoes and cut in chunks. Boil in water 10 minutes. Drain and cool for 15 minutes.

Stir in mayo, mustard and pickles.

Serve warm or chilled.

NOTE: I don’t like a lot of mayonnaise, but you can use more if you like. I also don’t use eggs. To me, eggs make it stink!

HOMEMADE LASAGNA

BROCCOLI-RICE CASSEROLE 1 10 oz. pkg. frozen chopped broccoli ½ cup onion, chopped ½ cup butter ½ cup cooked rice 2 8-oz. cups cheese sauce. Velveeta or other brand 1 10-oz can cream of chicken soup

1 32-oz. jar spaghetti sauce with mushrooms 1 small carton curd cottage cheese 3 cups of mozzarella cheese, shredded from block 9 lasagna noodles 1 lb. ground beef or turkey

Combine broccoli with onion and boil in water 7 minutes. Drain well.

Mix vegetables with remaining ingredients.

Pour into 2-quart casserole dish. Preheat oven to 350 and bake for 30 minutes.

Brown meat and drain. Stir in spaghetti sauce and heat thoroughly.

Boil noodles per instruction, making sure not to beak them or

let them stick together. Rinse and lay them out on a cookie sheet that’s been sprayed with PAM. Spread about 3 Tbsp. of sauce on bottom of 13x9x2-inch casserole dish or pan. Layer in 3 noodles, 1/3 of cottage cheese, 1/3 mozzarella and 1/3 of sauce.

Repeat 2 times.

Bake uncovered for 45 minutes in oven preheated to 375. Cool about 10 minutes before serving … depending on how hungry you are.

Know a great Cullman County cook?

We love good food. We love those who know how to cook it.

We we love sharing their recipes and stories and have thousands of followers who love to read them.

Recommend a good cook and we might feature her – or even him – in a future issue of Good Life Magazine.

Please call or email David Moore: 256-293-0888; david.goodlifemagazine@gmail.com 34

NOV. | DEC. | JAN. 2019-20

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35

Story by Steve A. Maze Photo by David Moore

H

ow many people can honestly say they never received a toy until they were 7 years old … not even a cheap toy from a dime store?

That was the case for my dad, Marlon Maze. Grandpa made him things such as flutter mills, windmills and flips (slingshots), but Dad never had a storebought toy.

Dad hoped the Christmas of ’39 might change that. He had been a pretty good boy that year – at least in his opinion – and hoped Santa would leave him something special under the Christmas tree.

Christmas back then wasn’t the hugely commercialized event it has become by today’s standards. A large family gathering to share chicken and dressing with all the trimmings was about as huge as it got during the tail end of the Great Depression era.

Attending church services, dry sitting and serenading were all the Christmas activities there were to enjoy at the time.

Dad would help Grandpa cut a wellshaped cedar perched along one of the fence lines for the family Christmas tree. Small boards shaped like a cross would be nailed to the bottom of the tree to serve as a stand.

Dad then helped his mother adorn it with homemade decorations – silver streamers made from chewing gum wrappers, popcorn roping, strips of colored paper, pine cones and sweet gum balls. A piece of tinfoil would be shaped into a star that sat atop the tree.

The cedar emitted that special aromatic smell unique to Christmas throughout the little farmhouse. After the trimming process was complete, dad hung a well-worn sock to the fireplace mantel to serve as his stocking.

The Jolly ol’ Elf – who sported shaggy white hair and bushy white beard to form a ring of fur around his face – would usually leave a few apples, oranges and pecans in the stocking. If Dad was lucky, he might find

The value of the old $3 toy surpasses the $350 Steve Maze estimates it would bring on today’s antique market.

36

NOV. | DEC. | JAN. 2019-20

a peppermint stick hidden in the bottom of his sock.

But hope springs eternal.

C

hristmas Eve morning arrived with bitter freezing rain, but soon huge flakes of snow began to quickly cover the ground. It soon smothered the small cedars and pastures around the 40-acre Brindley Mountain farm.

Dad gazed out the kitchen window and wondered how long it would be before it got dark. The sun was not his friend.

He spotted a fox dressed in its flowing red winter coat intently watching a mouse at play in the snow. Dad enjoyed the scene, but the anticipation of a visit from a man dressed in his red and white suit was more exciting.

Tongues of wood smoke had been curling out of the chimney all day.

Split oak wood in the fireplace kept the cold Cullman County winter at bay. Slowly, eventually, darkness crawled its way into the window where dad stood.

Grandmother sent him to bed early that evening even though he was much too anxious to sleep. Dad finally managed to doze off, but awakened a few hours later. Even though their house did not have electricity, he could see from the light of the fireplace that Santa had made his annual visit.

Dad jumped out of bed and began examining his bulging stocking filled with fruit and candy. Then he noticed a small, brilliantly colored cardboard box sitting on the floor next to the fireplace. The box was unwrapped. That was unusual since anything other than fruit or nuts was usually wrapped in the colorful comic strip pages of a newspaper.

All of those young hopes in 1939 were gloriously fulfilled with his first toy

Steve Maze shot this picture of his dad, the late Marlon Maze, and brother, Keith, 14 years ago.

They are “playing” with two wind-up toys given as gifts 64 years apart at the time.

E

yes wide and fingers trembling, Dad opened the box. Inside was a striking tin litho toy made by Marx, and licensed by the Walt Disney Company.

The brightly painted, two-piece tin toy had a base that rocked back and forth when wound with a key. The top was a slender piece of metal that fit into a slot in the base, and held a miniature figure of Pinocchio atop a trapeze.

The cartoon character tumbled in the air as the base rocked back and forth.

Even though “Pinocchio the Acrobat” was one of the earlier Walt Disney toys, dad quickly learned how to operate the new technology.

The noise from its constant rocking in the wee morning hours soon awoke other members of family.

My grandparents patiently watched as Dad eagerly, and repeatedly, demonstrated how the toy worked. It was apparent from the smiles on their faces that they were as proud of the toy as their youngest child.

Dad couldn’t wait to show off the special “surprise” Santa brought him to everyone who visited that day. He didn’t learn until years later that his oldest brother had actually helped Saint Nick pick out his gift.

The toy was certainly special to him. It was one of the few things Dad held on to during his lifetime. Through all of Dad’s house moves before his death in 2007, Pinocchio followed him.

T

he toy was always stored in the top of a closet away from curious eyes and the hands of my brother and me. Dad would occasionally retrieve the toy and demonstrate for us how it

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And that’s the only reason it still survives 80 years later.

I inherited the toy after dad passed away and did something he never let my brother and me do. I allowed my two granddaughters to play with it. They absolutely loved watching Pinocchio tumble back and forth on his trapeze.

My youngest granddaughter then asked me to bring it to her school to tell the background of the toy and demonstrate how it worked to her class. I hesitated as I wondered if kids used to playing with computers, Xboxes, cell phones and other electronic gadgets would really enjoy an old mechanical toy.

The looks on the faces of her classmates as Pinocchio rocked back and forth told me all I needed to know. They squealed with delight when he began his acrobatic maneuvers. Of course, the third-graders wanted to touch the toy, as well as wind it up.

The teacher immediately told them not to touch it as she was afraid they might damage the valuable keepsake.

The toy probably cost no more than $3 when it was purchased, and it is now worth about $350. It’s worth double that amount with the box, but Dad threw it into the fireplace on that long ago Christmas morning.

The value of the toy, however, has nothing to do with a dollar amount. It is the smiles on children’s faces that enrich it.

So yes, I did allow the students to touch the toy … and even wind the key to make Pinocchio rock back and forth.

I think Dad would have approved.

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37

Christmas parties with Donna and Mel

Mel and Donna’s craftsman style brick home is listed on the National Trust registry, as is the white house they own next door.

Both get gussied up special for Christmas.

This is the living room tree prior to the Leigebers’ last party in 2016, the year Donna had to retire from decorating. That year, daughter Erin along with Mel’s sister, Shelby Solley, decorated and planned. Sherry Pitts has helped with the parties for years.

Holiday tradition opens the Leigebers’ doors — a joyful way to share their home with others Story by David Moore Photos by Melody Ethridge/ Simply Me Studios

S

tarting in the late 1980s, Christmas parties were a tradition for Mel and Donna Leigeber, a way to share with friends and family their rambling historic house on First Avenue SE – or houses, really – on the edge of downtown Cullman.

Then again, Christmas has meant big doings for the couple ever since their days as high school sweethearts.

“One of my fondest memories were Christmases at the Leigeber home,” Donna says, sitting with Mel over coffee in the kitchen he meticulously remodeled to fit their home’s mid-1920s craftsman style.

40

NOV. | DEC. | JAN. 2019-20

On those Christmases she gleefully joined in the holiday circus atmosphere created by Mel’s parents, their 11 children and a congregation of kin.

“Being an only child, I was awestruck at that many people and the number of Christmas presents stacked around the tree,” she laughs.

Later, as Mel’s siblings had children, the Christmas crowd grew. Even during the years he and Donna lived in Washington, D.C., where he was an FBI agent, they never missed coming home for a Leigeber Christmas.

Following Mel’s transfer to the FBI’s Huntsville bureau, he and Donna began throwing Christmas parties – sometimes calling them an open house – at the house

they’d bought in Cullman. It started as office parties for agents who couldn’t return to their hometowns for Christmas.

The events were semi-formal, coat and tie, because, well, that’s how the FBI dresses.

Over the years crowds varied, usually 10-40 couples. The year they combined the annual event with Mel’s retirement party, 200 party-goers attended. Some years they had an open house; other years drew heavily on their St. Paul’s Lutheran Church friends. Many overflowed into the white house next door, which the Leigebers also own.

The once awestruck only child and her FBI agent husband received great joy from the parties they threw to share that joy and their fine old craftsman-style

Party-goers congregate in the hallway. But 3,500+ square feet (four bedrooms, three baths and other rooms) give the Leigebers plenty of room to absorb crowds. Desserts and the chocolate fountain are set up in the white house, the bar in the carriage house. home. Those famous parties, however, have been on hold for three years, but more on that later …

T

he Leigebers’ brick house and the white, single-story white house next door – built in the Appalachian farmhouse style – are tied together by more than neighborly proximity. Mel and Donna own them both.

And both were built by Ernst Hauk, who, born in 1862. (He’s the great grandfather of Ernest Hauk of Cullman.)

Ernst owned a meat market as well as and ice factory and lived with his family above his ice business, located where Knight-Free Insurance Agency is today.

In 1907, he built the white house a few blocks south of the ice business for his daughter Flora Fehler and her husband George.

After Ernst divorced Elizabeth, he married the family’s nanny, Augusta, and in the mid-20s built her the brick house next to Flora’s house. At some point, Ernst

and Augusta’s daughter, Alberta “Tootsie” Rainey and her husband Charlie lived in the brick house.

Their daughter Helen later lived in the white house until she moved to Birmingham as the wife of U.S. Circuit Judge Robert Vance. He was assassinated by a mail bomb at his home in 1989 that seriously injured Helen. Ironically, special agent Mel, to limited degree, worked with the FBI on that case.

In time, Helen Vance inherited both houses.

Growing up in Cullman, Donna doesn’t ever remember seeing the white house or her future craftsman house.

“But my mother used to walk past it on the way to school,” she says. “And Mel’s dad did plaster work there.”

Donna is the daughter of Lillie Mae and the late Bernice Tucker. Mel is the son of William and Eva Leigeber, both now deceased. They started dating April 1, 1972.

“She thought I was a rich Leigeber,” he laughs. “Then she found out I was one of the dirt farmer Leigebers. April fool!”

The Cullman city limits ended at the dirt road to the Leigeber farm in the Bolte community. Mel was the 10th of 11 kids.

“If you can’t hire farm help,” he says, “you make it.”

Donna’s dad was a jack of numerous trades at the old county courthouse.

Starting in elementary school, every day after school she went to the courthouse.

“If daddy wasn’t there, Raymond Higdon, the tax assessor, would look after me,” Donna says. “He taught me more about the ABCs and 1, 2, 3s than my teachers.”

“She was,” says Mel, “the courthouse darling.”

T

hey graduated from Cullman High in ’73 and married the next year.

Donna had been working part time for Circuit Clerk Ruth Gasser and went full NOV. | DEC. | JAN. 2019-20

41

time the day after graduation. It wasn’t long before she went to work for Circuit Judge Jack C. Riley.

Mel, however, wasn’t as lucky or connected, at least not immediately. Since the age of 15, he worked with his brothers at Leigeber Brothers Dry Wall while also working on his dad’s farm. But when the bottom fell out of construction in 1974, he found himself unemployed.

“My parents didn’t believe in college,” he says.

Back then, the FBI used courthouse officials such as Ruth Gasser as recruiters, and she encouraged Mel to look into working for the Bureau.

“She introduced me to the idea,” he says “I started watching ‘The F.B.I.’ TV show with Efrem Zimbalist Jr. It captured my imagination. I wanted the fastest way to get into the Bureau.”

Doing that was not easy. Some 10,000 people annually apply to become agents; only about 400 make it to the FBI Academy in Quantico, Va., for new agent training.

A degree was essential for admission, preferably in law or accounting, because of the new push against white-collar crime.

“I realized I should have gone to college,” Mel says. “I learned I could go to college at night – but I had to pay for it. My whole goal was to get into the FBI Academy.”

T

Woodwork – including coffered ceilings in the living room, top – is amazing throughout the house.

What Mel has added, such as a modern bath off the bedroom and outside living areas, is also commendable.

42

NOV. | DEC. | JAN. 2019-20

o get a foot in the door he got a low-paying clerical job at the Bureau’s Washington, D.C., field office.

Donna worked for the Bureau as a stenographer and later as a constituent case worker for U.S. Rep. Tom Bevill.

“She made the money,” laughs Mel, who took a full load of night classes in accounting at Southeastern University graduating in May 1978. Mel turned 23 in June 1978 and was sworn in as special agent that July – one of the youngest ever to enter the FBI Academy. He underwent 16 weeks of training in firearms, defensive tactics, law, interrogation techniques and an array of other FBI skills.

“It was fantastic,” Mel says, but also demanding. Every class was pass-fail, and a score below 85 meant you were no longer a G-man. Failing was not an option.”

After graduating from the academy, he was assigned to the FBI’s Washington, D.C., Field Office. Due to his accounting

degree he was able to forgo the usual one year of working applicant security background investigations normally required of rookie agents. Instead he was assigned high-profile, white-collar crime cases and political corruption matters.

In those pre-cell phone days, even before beepers, FBI agents had to be physically available within two hours of contact, requiring that they check in constantly with the office.

“You have to be willing to live your life that way, and that way only,” Mel says.

T

heir daughter Erin was born in 1982, around the time Donna ran into medical issues. With Mel traveling a lot, she left the work force to spend time mommy-ing.

“We both felt it was important for her to raise Erin,” Mel says.

With Donna’s medical issues and Erin still a baby, they were given temporary hardship status and sent briefly to Huntsville in early 1983. Mel transferred to the Birmingham field office in late November 1983. They rented a house in Cullman, bought a farm and planned to build.

Their plans to build hit the brakes one day in June 1984 as Donna drove down the street and, for the first time, noticed a large brick house on First Avenue SE. A foreclosure sale sign stood in the yard.

She parked, walked up on the huge porch and peered through an original glass door. It was love at first peek.

“I could see all the way down the hallway,” she says. “I could see all of the fine woodwork that had never been painted, the oak floors, the trim and stairway.

“I could tell it had been empty for several years. Doors and light fixtures were missing. It obviously needed some work … but it could be a beauty.”

Mel saw the place after work and readily agreed. A week later, to their surprise and delight, the bank accepted their low-ball offer. The house was theirs.

“And,” she laughs, “we have literally been working on it ever since.”

I

n 1985, when Mel was assigned to the Huntsville office, it had only seven agents covering North Alabama. It was with this crew that the Leigebers’ first Christmas parties started.

One Cullman case he helped crack in 1983 was the robbery of the former

Nutcrackers stand festive guard at the original door on First Avenue.

The Leigebers own the only two houses on the street, so the city allows them to block it off for their Christmas parties. Guests are shuttled by Southern Style Carriage Service.

NOV. | DEC. | JAN. 2019-20

43

Mel and Donna have put a lot of work into their kitchen, from the replica cabinets he made along with the old library-type rolling ladder to reach the high ones, to the colors Donna picked out.

It’s unknown if their daughter, Erin Mann, will ever live there.

Formerly with the FBI herself, she’s left to run her own business while caring for her and Craig’s child, Lucas, 4. They live in Warrenton, Va. Central Bank of the South, the city’s first bank robbery in 15-20 years. Mel and the police arrested the bad guy in a day or two.

“The moral of that story is to not rob a hometown bank,” Mel laughs. “We had a photo of him. Other cases involved interstate transportation of stolen property, wire and bank fraud, pornography and human trafficking.”

A

lso a fine craftsman, Mel spent much of his spare time working on the house. As if that wasn’t enough of a project, in 1992 they bought the old white house next door, initially for Donna’s parents.

Shortly thereafter a severe thunderstorm toppled two large oaks, almost destroying the white house. Mel and Donna, with the help of a lot of friends and family, rebuilt the home.

In doing so, the white house won third place in exterior renovation from the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

Donna’s mom and step-dad, Allen Morris, finally moved into the white house in 2003. He died the following year, and she lived there until 2013 before moving upstairs in the Leigebers’ house.

In 2003, Mel returned to Washington and Quantico as an FBI supervisor working counter terrorism assignments overseas as well as being part of the FBI 44

NOV. | DEC. | JAN. 2019-20

director and attorney general’s security and protection detail. Out of the country four to six months a year, he flew home on weekends whenever he finished an assignment.

Mel retired Dec. 31, 2006 after 31½ years with the FBI – freeing up needed time for projects at both houses.

In 1998, when Erin turned 16, Donna returned to work, taking a state job at the courthouse with the 32nd Judicial Circuit.

She worked for several judges and retired in January 2017 while working for current Circuit Judge Martha Williams.

W

hen the 2016 Christmas party rolled around, Donna and Mel combined it with an open house for her retirement.

Erin, Mel and his sister, Shelby Solley, planned everything from decorations to caterers. They felt Donna shouldn’t have to plan her own retirement party.

“We blew it out,” she says.

The blowout was fitting – in more ways than one. Regrettably, that proved to be – at least so far – to be the last Christmas party in their houses.

The Leigebers skipped the 2017 party because Donna’s foot was in a cast after extensive surgery.

For Christmas 2018 they were still recovering from injuries incurred that June when the scaffolding Mel was using for repairs from that spring’s hail

storm collapsed. He fell two stories; the scaffolding landed on Donna, breaking her back and putting her in a brace.

Donna’s neurosurgeon told her this fall that if they threw a party this year, she’d need to wear her brace.

“Not gonna’ happen,” she declared.

But they are determined to be back for Christmas 2020 (thought they are hosting the Leigeber family Christmas this year).

They hope her doctor clears her for 2020, and Mel should be finished with his longrunning hail-storm rehab on the house.

“We always love the parties,” Donna says. “They bring everyone we care about together at one time. They are just fun.

“Probably the house is one of the biggest factors. It lends itself to a big party.

There is,” she continues, “a joy in sharing the house.”

Over the years, she and Mel have lived in houses both old and new, and they prefer the former. They have lived in this house for over 35 years.

“To me, old houses have a feeling about them,” Donna says. “The creaks in the floors, the stories they hold, their character.”

This one is also great for living. And great for parties.

“I would not host a party unless I could host it at home,” Donna says. “I live in my own personal venue.”

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45

The Tommy Lee Roll and Chicken Hibachi are shown at left.

Above is the Sammy Hagar roll. At right the Crispy Crab Wontons are a favorite. Interior photo provided by Kelsey Moore.

Good Eats

Rock n Roll Sushi

Think sushi is just raw fish? You hit the wrong chord Story by David Myers Photos by David Moore

S

ometimes it takes a stick of dynamite to blast me out of my comfort zone, especially when you’re talking about my favorite comfort foods.

I’m a meat and potatoes guy.

Occasionally, Rose – who loves to try new things – will light the fuse and force me to try something I’m not so familiar with.

That was how we found ourselves in a booth under a huge picture of Prince at Rock n Roll Sushi in Cullman.

We were out of our element so we put our trust in the general manager, Kelsey 46

NOV. | DEC. | JAN. 2019-20

Moore, who has a sixth sense in figuring out what type of sushi people will like.

First, she started us with their steppedup version of the standard starters in Asian restaurants – ginger salad and miso soup.

The fresh ginger dressing was enhanced with sesame oil and sesame seeds. We found the soy-based broth rich and flavorful.

Next came an appetizer sampler, which Kelsey calls an “education.”

“People love it. It’s not scary.” She’s talking about people like me who are scared of sushi.

What’s not to love? Egg rolls and Asian Boom Boom Shrimp nestled around sweet chili sauce for dipping. Jalapeño poppers

and crab wontons were spectacular dipped in Headbanger sauce. Talk about good!

I kept reminding myself to stop because these were the starters and more food was coming. As usual, though, I didn’t listen to my own good advice. Before I knew it the platter was empty.

R

ock n Roll Sushi’s menu is a musical feast. It’s broken down into Opening Acts, Headliners and Classic Rock.

“Classic Rock is traditional sushi, like a California roll,” Kelsey explained. “The Headliners are what make us famous.”

What makes it fun are the walls covered with old rockers like the Stones and Johnny

Rock n Roll Sushi in Cullman is located at 1900 Market Platz Center SW. Lunch specials are offered daily. Hours are 11 a.m.9 p.m. Sunday-Thursday and 11 a.m.-10 p.m. Friday-Saturdays.

Cash, guitars of the rich and famous, and real album covers transformed into menus.

I loved the ambiance as much as any place I’ve been in.

“The attention to detail is very important to Rock n Roll Sushi,” Kelsey says.

When the sushi arrived, I began to squirm a little. Now don’t get me wrong – I love seafood. All kinds of fish, crab and crawfish are welcome on my plate. I just don’t fancy them raw.

Again, Kelsey came to the rescue and explained that sushi doesn’t have to be raw. My ears went up. Rice is the heart of sushi, even though Americans think of it as raw fish. Actually, it’s “sashimi’” that refers to raw fish.

Our first roll was fully cooked – deep fried even. That really had my attention.

Onto the table danced the Michael Jackson roll. Turns out that for me the king of pop is the king of tasty. Made of shrimp tempura and cream cheese, the whole roll is fried and topped with baked crabmeat,

spicy mayo, eel sauce and crunchy flakes.

It was a ‘thriller.”

By the way, the eel sauce isn’t made from eel.

The Rolling Stones Roll delivered plenty of satisfaction. This crowd pleaser of spicy tuna, cream cheese, cucumber, avocado and shrimp tempura dressed with crabmeat, eel sauce, sweet chili and spicy mayo was cool and crunchy.

T

he playlist of sushi rolls is too lengthy to list here but suffice it to say that your favorite singer and band are likely represented. Kiss, Pearl Jam, Metallica, ZZ Top, Bob Marley and Elvis make appearances. Naturally, there’s a Sweet Home Alabama Roll.

But the star of the show easily could be the hibachi grill. It may not be as sexy as the rockers but it delivers on taste and style. Our platter arrived with a mound of fried rice, chunks of chicken grilled golden brown and tender crisp veggies.

That’s a perfect plate of food as far as I’m concerned.

Hibachi choices include filet mignon, shrimp and lobster that can be staged as rockin’ solos or rockin’ combinations. I’m a fan of all of them.

A kid menu of shrimp, chicken nuggets and fries or a choice of Bento boxes, as well as “After Party” desserts round out this culinary concert.

The establishment’s creative concept was the brainchild of owners Lance Hallmark and his wife Gerry, who grew the first restaurant in Mobile to 36 locations throughout the Southeast and Texas with more to come. The Cullman location opened in January with, no doubt, a little encouragement from co-owner and senior VP of development Joe Ragsdale, a Cullman native.

“Cullman,” says Kelsey, “has been very receptive to adding this to their dining mix.”

Good Life Magazine NOV. | DEC. | JAN. 2019-20

47

Good Getaways Story and photos

by David Moore

H

ere’s a Christmas holiday idea ... why not pay a visit to your other house and see how it’s decorated? You know – the mansion in Montgomery where the governor lives.

The house is open to Christmas tours on three evenings in December.

Kay Ivy, the state’s 54th governor, is the current resident. She is, however, only the 13th different governor to live in the mansion since Gordon Persons moved in Jan. 16, 1951, the day of his inauguration.

According to the state website, from the time Gov. William Bibb took the office of the new state 200 years ago in November, until 1911, Alabama governors, while in Montgomery, resided in private homes, hotels and, yes, taverns.

The state bought the first official executive residence for $46,000 in 1911. Emmet O’Neal – No. 34 – was the first governor to live in the military-looking Beaux Arts brownstone on the southwest corner of South Perry and South Streets; last to live there was James “Big Jim” Folsom – No. 42 – of Cullman during his first term. Later used for state offices and a school, the old mansion was demolished in 1963 as part of the construction of I-85.

During his second term, Folsom followed Persons to the current mansion.

It was built in 1907 for the prominent family of Robert Fulwood Ligon, Jr. The state’s purchase of the mansion arose from Folsom’s friendship with

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NOV. | DEC. | JAN. 2019-20

This Christmas visit your other house ...

The Governor’s Mansion

The mansion, above, shows off its decorations from 2017.

Five first floor rooms are open for touring. One is the dining room, far left, with its mahogany table made in Andalusia and symbolic seat cushions done by the Mountain Brook Chapter of the Needlepoint Guild.

Center, fireplace decorations and flanking trees make the small parlor festive. Ribbons and decorative magnolia leaves are appropriate for the tree in the sunroom, left.

NOV. | DEC. | JAN. 2019-20

49

For a change of pace from the formal Governor’s Mansion, above, yet in line with history, grab a bite with plastic ware on Styrofoam plates, left, at Chris’ Hot Dogs located at 138 Dexter Ave., Montgomery. In business since 1917, it’s not only been a favorite of locals and governors but has served Presidents Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry Truman, George H.W. and George W. Bush – not to mention Dr. Martin Luther King, Hank Williams and Elvis Presley.

Ligon’s widow, Aileen. The legislature bought the mansion for $100,000 and spent another $130,000 on renovations and furnishings.

Items in the mansion come from all parts of the state. During her husband’s term (1968-’71), Martha Brewer established the First Ladies’ Parlor, inviting each first lady of the house to provide a portrait to hang in the parlor, a collection which has since been discontinued. She also added new draperies and carpeting and refinished furnishings.

During the ‘70s, a swimming pool in the shape of the state was added in the garden area.

Though the Governor’s Mansion was purchased as “the people’s house of Alabama,” it was not always open as such.

That changed in 2003 when First Lady 50

NOV. | DEC. | JAN. 2019-20

Patsy Riley coordinated an effort to raise private funds, renovate the mansion and reopen it to public tours.

Good Life Magazine

If you go ...

The Alabama Governor’s Mansion is located at 1142 S Perry St., Montgomery.

It is open for Christmas tours 5:30-7:30 p.m.

Mondays, Dec. 2, 9 and 16. Admission is free, but you do need to pick up a ticket at the gift shop across Finley Avenue to the south of the mansion.

Some 2,200 people visited last year. Michael Walczak, executive director of the mansion, suggests you come around 5 p.m. to get a ticket, or wait until around 6:30, after the opening rush.

Volunteers will be in the five open rooms to answers any questions about the furnishings or history. For more info: (334) 834-3022.

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51

Hoosier Jack Tupper created a free-spirited route to paint a life in Cullman Story and photos

By David Moore

“I

see a wall,” says Jack Tupper, “and I’d like to paint it.”

That’s what the self-taught, 63-year-old, white-maned artist does. He paints murals on buildings, inside and out, all around Cullman and Hanceville. He also does lettering, portraits and more.

Even if you never noticed his signature, if you live in Cullman County you have seen Jack’s murals, from scenes depicting local history and the USS Cullman on the north side of Village Furniture, to foreign landscapes and whimsical works for kids.

This is how he makes his living. While he’s not a starving artist, it’s hardly a get-rich scheme. But that’s fine with him.

“I try to live an easy, simple life,” Jack says. “So far, so good.”

“Simple” translates to ignoring what many consider to be necessities of life, such as owning a cell phone, having a computer at home. Even though he can’t access it, he does have a Facebook page — but he didn’t do it.

Kendra Waters set it up for him.

“She’s a real nice woman,” Jack says.

“I did a pencil portrait of her baby, and she made a nice Facebook page for me.”

His parents, Ralph and Helen Tupper, are both deceased, his mom being the last to pass in 2015. Keeping life simple, Jack lives off St. Joseph Drive in his parents’ former house where he grew up after being transplanted as a Hoosier kid from his beloved Indiana. He drives his mom’s car, an aging little Chrysler he babies to keep it rolling.

“My sister-in-law called me eccentric. I didn’t know what that was until I looked it up. Basically, it means oddball.” Jack grins, considers this and decides, “I am very freespirited.”

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That, he adds, is how artists are supposed to be. Right?

S

ome of Jack’s earliest memories date to when he was 3 or 4 years old, and coloring on the porch in Evansville. Indiana.

“I was really good,” says the late-arriver of three children.

His father was an electrician and head of maintenance for Bendix-Westinghouse. He

did well, and Jack says he never wanted for anything.

“But I knew I was not going to be an electrician,” he laughs. “When I was a kid, Dad was working on a light socket, and I stuck my finger in it. I’m sure I looked like the cartoon skeleton where you see the x-ray of the bones. The room smelled like burnt ham.”

Jack was 10 when his father was

transferred to the company’s former plant in Vinemont. The family moved to Cullman.

“It was a shock,” Jack says, though not electrical. “Evansville was a real city.”

He was ribbed for being a Yankee. “But that didn’t last long. The girls in the fifth grade liked me because I had the accent,” Jack says. “I had a blast in high school.”

His sophomore and junior years, he played quarterback on the JV team. The late

Dr. Garlan Gudger was his coach. During one game, Jack got knocked out cold for, he thinks, about 10 minutes.

“I was in la-la land,” he says. “Later, Coach asked me if I thought I could go back in. I said, ‘Who are you?’”

He quit his senior year when the varsity coach wanted to move him to tight end.

Jack was also into other things, such as girls. He also rediscovered art and served

Artist Jack Tupper sits at a small table in the alcove that is the children’s waiting room at Dr. Sonya Hallmark’s dentist office in Cullman.

He’s surrounded on three sides by a mural depicting an underwater fantasy, which he painted on commission this past June and July.

NOV. | DEC. | JAN. 2019-20

53

three years as president of the Cullman High School Art Club. His art was encouraged by one of his teachers, Spencer Speegle, who said he had talent.

Jack used his talent drawing and painting posters and banners for the football team to run through and banners for proms. He also sold his first piece when the mother of a girl he dated a few times, paid him $50 for a painting.

“She wanted Van Gogh’s Sunflowers,” he recalls. “I copied it. It was really good. I wish I had it now.”

A

fter graduation in 1974, Jack took a 15-year hiatus from painting. In the interim he followed the call of his free spirit, sometimes chasing wild hairs, sometimes chasing women.

His mom worked at the employment office and got him a construction job in Jacksonville, Fla. After the company went under, Jack lived a while in Fort Lauderdale, doing some free lance art and signs for shops there.

Later, in Birmingham from 1976-88, he answered a want ad and landed a job in the mailroom of Luckie and Forney’s large advertising firm. A year later he was promoted to the art department, doing layout for clients from industrial companies, car dealerships and politicians.

Jack had ice skated as a kid in Indiana, and hockey was his favorite game, but he never played the game until that first year in Birmingham when he joined an amateur team.

“Nobody wanted to be goalie. I liked blocking shots, so I got the position,” he says. “You can’t play goalie if you’re scared.”

The team sometimes scrimmaged against the Birmingham Bulls, a pro team, and Jack once played against Frank Mahovlich, an eventual Hockey Hall of Famer. It was scary.

“He let off a slap shot from about center ice,” Jack recalls. “I didn’t even see the puck. It went through the plexiglass behind the net. I was asking myself, ‘Why am I here?’”

Jack had also learned the art of screen printing – before computerization – and operated his own shop for a couple of years before going into a partnership with some hockey teammates. When that ended, he left in 1988 for Bloomington, Indiana, a state never far from his heart.

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In October, Jack was refurbishing his 2010 mural on the Fricke, Sweatmon & Co., P.C. building, top. Above is a shot of him from his amateur hockey days in Birmingham. His sister-in-law, Leslie Tupper, photographed Jack at work on his dining room table, below.

To contact Jack about work: 256-734-8557.

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“It’s beautiful,” he says. “A lot of people think Indiana is really flat, but it has lots of rolling hills. I think about it every day.”

A self-described “walking screenprinting shop,” Jack had no problem landing a job there.

D

rawn to the rivers, covered bridges and places such as the Hoosier National Forest, Indiana coaxed Jack back to painting. He took up the brush and he loved it.

In 1991 he free-spirited to tiny Nashville, Ind., an art colony, and worked in a print shop. Jack hoped to one day take over the business, but the owner’s wife died, the owner’s own health deteriorated, and he closed the shop in 2003.

Back home, his father had died in 1983. His parents had celebrated their 50th anniversary earlier that year in Acapulco, after which his dad developed cancer.

Two years later his mom married Willie Thomas of Hanceville. They lived in her house in Cullman until he died in 2002.

“I am glad they met each other,” Jack says. “It was great. He was a real good guy. A lot of people remember him.”

After the print shop in Nashville closed, Jack tried unsuccessfully to find a good job. He didn’t want to return to Cullman, but bills were piling up. What’s more, he knew his mom was sad and lonely.

“It’s just fate,” he shrugs. “I came back, and it has worked out really well.

I’ve been busy ever since.”

While living with his mom, Jack soon found work for Todd Bennett at Bad Boyz Customs, doing lettering, paintings on cars and a mural in the office. He painted delivery vans for Fairview Florist, and signage for Garlan Gudger Jr.

A

big break came in 2010 when, thanks to Dot Gudger, a board member and former president of the Cullman County Historical Society, he was commissioned to paint murals on buildings around town.

“The Gudgers mean a lot to me,” says the former JV quarterback turned artist.

From 2011-13, the Hanceville Preservation Group, the City of 56

NOV. | DEC. | JAN. 2019-20

Jack likes to replicate styles of famous artists. He took after 16th century Italian painter Giuseppe Arcimboldo in juxtaposing fruits, vegetables and plants to create a portrait of a person – in this case, Col. John Cullmann. The veggie style is apropos.

The painting, now hanging in the Cullman County Library, was commissioned last year by the North Alabama Agriplex.

Hanceville and Faith Hammock commissioned Jack to paint similar murals around their town depicting scenes from Hanceville’s history. Jack also found sign, mural and custom car painting work for car shop owners Jerry Burgess and Mike Brown.

Last year, he branched out, creating 14 illustrations for “The Reluctant Topiary,” a children’s book written by Ben Johnson – South of Cullman.

“I’ve done a lot of artwork for him over the last three years,” Jack says. “I am real lucky. I think talent helps create luck. I have been real busy.”

Keeping him busy from late 2014 to 2017, Jack painted murals for the nursing home residents on the thirdfloor of the Folsom Center, creating the feel of a neighborhood with churches, homes and other buildings around Cullman, such as the old train station.

The eating area and one hall are painted in the style of Thomas Kinkade.

“I threw in some Indiana themes, covered bridges and things,” he says. “I always do that when I can.”

Sadly ironic, his mom moved into the nursing home in November 2014.

She died the following year.

“Mom lived to be 98,” Jack says. “She was saintly. I was a smart-ass in high school and apologized a lot to her that last year.”

He also painted their house in the hallway outside the door to her room. In the mural, one can see Jack sitting at their dining room table in Cullman, painting.

S

ince returning to Cullman, Jack has become a fan.

“Seeing it grow over 53 years now has been great,” he says. “Any state that had Cullman in it would be a better state. People have really helped me out here. Cullman has really, really nice people.

“I like it a whole lot,” Jack continues. “But Indiana is always going to be home. I’m always going to be a Hoosier.

But if someone came here and starting ragging Cullman, I’d get in their face.”

Who knows? One day he might just follow his free spirit back to Indiana. But he harbors no regrets about coming here. In fact, he says he has no regrets in his life, including never getting married.

“I enjoy being a bachelor. It’s a blast,” Jack says. “I was proposed to twice. One lady I really liked. I never wanted kids, though. I didn’t want to mess up anyone else’s life. If I wasn’t successful, I didn’t want to take anyone else down with me. Like I said, I try to live a simple life.”

There is, perhaps, one regret.

A wistful look in his eyes, Jack says, “I wish I had my old coloring books.”

Good Life Magazine

Part of Jack’s Folsom Center project includes his painting of his mom’s house by the door of her former nursing room. He includes cardinals in the painting, a la Thomas Kinkade.

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Katrina and Josh Kennedy’s family has grown since September with the unplanned addition of Torben Schiele, 15, left.

From Düsseldorf, Germany, he enrolled as a senior at St. Bernard through the Christian Youth Exchange. Because of an email mixup, he initially did not have a host home and stayed a few weeks in a hotel. He then moved in with Matt Lader, who’s on the school staff, and his wife, Gail. But the Laders seventh child was on the way, so that was temporary from the start. “Josh called me from school in an act of desperation and said this kid had to go back to Germany in two weeks if he didn’t find a host home.” Katrina says. She did some quick research and felt like Torben would work out well for the year. “Josh usually brings home four-legged creatures,” Katrina laughs. Torben, who’s taken five years of English, met Josh through the St. Bernard Choir.

Katrina Kennedy From Ireland, Australia and California with a dream for her son ... and maybe a pot of gold Story and local photos

by David Moore

L

ong-time residents landed in Cullman – at least in DNA form – generations ago. More recent arrivals might say they landed here through the purposeful move of a divine hand, or perhaps a seemingly random move of fate on the cosmic chessboard of life.

Others arrived via a string of moves calculated to improve their and their families’ personal lots in life.

Katrina Kennedy landed in Cullman in 2018, an interesting string of moves in tow.

Born in Ireland, she later lived in

Australia. She bought a townhouse in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., before ever moving to the United States, and came to Cullman from Thousand Oaks, California, where she started a gold company. “‘How did you end up in Cullman?’ people ask me,” says Katrina in her Irish lilt. “I tell them, ‘Have you ever heard of Google?’”

And what did she google? St. Bernard Preparatory School for her son, Joshua’s education.

Now 16, he came to St. Bernard in 2017 as an eighth-grade boarding student a year before Katrina moved here.

California had lost much of its luster.

“There was a lot of bullying,” Katrina says of the Hollywood types. “‘My dad has five Emmys.’ Josh needed a place with more spiritual emphasis.”

She was extremely busy with her company, which Josh understood. So they discussed trying boarding school for a year. He had family in Ireland, the UK and Australia, but they were far away. Katrina googled small schools in the U.S., using parameters that included accepting young dormers, Catholic, military, fine arts and such. The top two hits were Howe Military Academy in Indiana and St. Bernard. (Howe, it turns out, has since closed.)

Katrina’s first impression of St. NOV. | DEC. | JAN. 2019-20

59

Bernard was, “Where in God’s earthly name is Cullman, Alabama?” But the more they researched, the more they liked.

“It has a 900-acre campus and is 128 years old,” Katrina says. “It’s all green and has many alumni who have gone places. It allows Josh to be in a faith-based program where he can pray and not be persecuted.”

As a final positive, when she phoned St. Bernard, Diana Urbina, the director of admissions at the time, answered. Diana is an alum from California.

K

atrina was one of five siblings raised on a dairy farm in Ireland’s County Carlow.

“It’s very similar to Cullman,” she finds.

Among the early influences on Katrina was her grandfather, who collected gold and silver coins.

“He used to tell me, ‘This is God’s real money,’” Katrina recalls. “I knew somehow I would get into the gold business.”

American tourists were another influence.

“We’d recognize them by the busload in every shade of green, coming from lots of different parts of America – from New York to Texas,” she says. “We thought everybody in Texas was in the oil business.

It was the wild, wild West. It was a romantic idea, you might say.

“But the tourists were very thorough people when they came to research their ancestry. They knew more about our history than we did. They put us to shame.”

They also planted the dream of coming to America in young Katrina’s auburnhaired head.

In college she majored in economics and business, minored in French.

Afterward, she worked in livestock procurement for an export beef company.

Her French was useful in dealings with Algerians.

Though not directly involved in it, the ritualistic, or halal slaughtering of cattle bound for the Middle East disturbed Katrina.

“We had some of the best beef in Europe,” Katrina says. “I’m pretty tough, but they slit the throats of the cows. They said slitting was more humane. I asked them if some cow had come back from the dead and told them that.

“They never could give me an explanation as to why it was more humane.”

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K

atrina has had family in Australia since 1912, including, at the time, a successful uncle and his wife. Opportunity nudged her nomadic side. So, armed with a working visa, she moved to Sydney in 1987 and stayed with her uncle and aunt.

Her first job was at the Australia film and TV casting center. Among her uncle’s businesses was a Mr. Yummy ice cream franchise, and she later peddled frozen treats at the beach and in town.

“I thought that would be fun,” Katrina laughs. And it was – until she knocked the top off the tall ice cream truck driving it into a low portico at a car dealership.

After a year and half she returned to Ireland.

“But I still had a nomadic desire,” she says. “I still wanted to come to the United States.”

The trick was to land a permanent residency green card – for which Katrina needed some “luck of the Irish.”

For three years running, she applied for the Donnelly and Morrison visa lotteries, drawings in which some 40,000 Irish won green cards in the early 1990s. Meanwhile, Ireland’s unemployment was high, but Katrina got a job selling life insurance and related investments, which she loved.

In early 1994, while vacationing in Fort Lauderdale, she purchased a twobedroom townhouse in a gated community as a rental investment and for her own use when visiting. With some Irish luck, she was able to immediately lease it to the real estate woman who sold it. After mortgage, insurance and fees, Katrina was clearing $650 a month.

“Maybe Americans will think I am not looking for a handout from the government,” she told herself.

That spring, after a second, trip to Florida, she returned home to find a large envelope addressed to her from the U.S. Embassy in Dublin. She’d won a lottery visa.

“I opened it and it said, ‘Congratulations! Welcome to the United States of America!’” Katrina beams. “I didn’t have to jump a wall or anything. The Americans were inviting me!”

I

n August 1994 – as soon as she could – Katrina immigrated to the States via New York where her sister lived. Her second day here she was thrilled to get a Social Security

Got a bit o’ “nomadic” blood in her, Katrina might say, and her life bears that out in these photos of hers, clockwise from upper left... Katrina visits the Connemar district of County Calway in western Ireland, known for its mountains, lakes and coast. She and her sister, Annette, who now lives in Manhattan, sit outside the house on the horse farm where Katrina and her boyfriend raised horses in Leighlinbridge, County Carlow in the late 1980s. In her teens, she sung in a local band called Lightning Express, a name inspired by her mother’s love of the Everly Brothers and one of their songs.

Josh and his mom sit on the rocks at Malibu Beach; the photo was shot in 2015 when he was 12. The photo of Katrina on a tour boat was shot in Sydney Harbor in the summer – November – of 1986.

NOV. | DEC. | JAN. 2019-20

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Card. (In 2010 she would get her U.S. “I was in a good public school,” adds. “Gas is super expensive, like $5 citizenship.)

Josh says. “I just wanted a change, to a gallon.

“I came with a dream of try something new.”

“I like Huntsville and Cullman, the entrepreneurial spirit,” she says. “In Cullman and St. Bernard certainly movies and Heritage Park. Cullman Ireland we believed that is easier to drive in, and Americans would give you things are close. But I a great shot at being the don’t like the drivers.” best version of yourself As his first year ended, you want to be. Work hard Katrina’s lease came and play hard. up on her call center.

“I was always also That’s when Joshua fascinated by the West Ault – a native of Little Coast. My dream was Rock, Ark., whom she’d to live in Beverly known for 10 years – Hills, 90210,” Katrina suggested they become continues. “And I did. I partners in a new, online rented a little place on business without the call Roxbury Drive. It was center and its personnel beautiful. It was perfect. concerns.

They told me Jimmy Losing the call center Stewart used to live at the freed Katrina to join Josh top of the hill.” in Cullman. She moved She considered insurance here July 31, 2018. work but instead joined a Through their firm, group that marketed home Gish Capital, she and security systems in Southern Ault sell “bundles” of Marty is Katrina and Josh’s pet. When Josh is not studying or California. Seeking various coins and bars of involved in extracurriculars such as choir, he sometimes plays something more, Katrina got gold, silver and palladium guitar. For his birthday in March, Katrina presented him with into venture capital. Also – as a college savings a Hyundai Elantra. “I’m not spoiled,” he says. “I’m paying for it shades of her grandfather – fund. Investors can keep myself.” So he works at Starbucks. He wants to become a lawyer, she became an independent their precious metals contractor affiliated with themselves or deposit in part for the money. But he also wants to work for himself, not Beverly Hills Commodities them in their Gish Bank. someone else’s firm. “I just don’t like being told what to do.”

Group and started selling It was Ault who What’s more, adds Josh, “As a lawyer, when you defend gold and rare coins. suggested the name. an innocent person and get them off – that’s justice.”

One company she raised It came from when capital for was bidz.com, he was young and which dealt with jewelry, couldn’t pronounce his fit the bill. Dorm life was a hard collectibles and antiques. The company grandmother’s name – he called her adjustment, but Josh went home went public and investors did well, she Gish. for Christmas, Easter and a funeral. says.

Katrina met him at St. Bernard’s Through that venture project, in 1997 o the lady with the gold for a surprise birthday, and he spent she met a native Californian. They had a company moved from Ireland to Thanksgiving in Panama City Beach relationship into which Josh was born in Australia, then back to Ireland where with Father Joel Martin and a group of 2003. When they separated, she retained she won a green card lottery and classmates, mostly from South Korea full custody of Josh. brought her entrepreneurial spirit where they enjoyed Chinese food in In 2016 Katrina started Veizot, her to America, and eventually she and lieu of a traditional turkey feast. own gold company in California. She her son left Southern California for “If I have to go to school, I guess advertised heavily on Christian and Cullman and St. Bernard Preparatory I’ll go to St. Bernard,” says the conservative radio, buying and selling School. gold bars and gold coins. It grew rapidly, teenager. “It’s better than any place “I’m fine,” says Josh. “As long as else I could go. The teachers are really and she soon had 22 employees in a call I am in a stable home, have a car, a good … like really good.” center, taking calls from people who job and get a good education, I have He misses the fun Southern heard their commercials. nothing to complain about.”

California offers – beaches, malls, Neither does Katrina. theme parks and go-cart racing. er business was wide open when “As a single mother raising a child, “I don’t necessarily miss the people Katrina and Josh decided a boarding school it has been an adjustment,” Katrina or how expensive everything is,” Josh was what he needed. says, “but we love it. I believe some of

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Co-owner of Gish Capital, Katrina can work from her home office. She has a database of thousands of potential clients. Her website drives others to call her. Gish Capital offers bundles of gold, silver and palladium coins and bars for college savings plans. “It’s the gift that keeps on giving,” Katrina says. Gish Capital can also roll over IRAs. For more information: www.gishcapital.com. the people I have met here, God sent for me.”

Among them are Jack and Allan Thrailkill Pelletier, Emely and Paul Sammon and their son Joseph, also southern California transplants, Hunter Mami, Jenny Bahadursingh and Mary and Glenn Snapp.

Katrina has made it a point to get involved in the community, especially at St. Bernard’s Bloomin’ Festival and the Bernard Blues and BBQ Festival.

“The kids at St. Bernard are so good. I am blessed,” she says. “Josh is like, ‘Mom, I don’t know why all of my friends like you so much.’”

What’s funny, she laughs, is when people hear her talk and their face turns quizzical. “They say, ‘Where are you from?’ Oh, I just moved from Southern California,” Katrina tells them. “‘That’s a Southern California accent?’ Now I guess I’m a southern belle.”

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65

Kane says he loves wakeboarding. That does not mean he’s not intensely immersed in what he’s doing on the water.

Story and photos

by David Moore

Kane Ward on his board

K

ane Ward is a wakeboard wonder, his level of skill and achievement all the more insane for his ripe young age of 8.

For some perspective on just how good Kane is, consider that …

• He first soloed on a wakeboard at age 3.

• At 5, he won his first tournament, the 2016 Spring to Summer event at Lake Guntersville.

• That year Kane picked up his first sponsor, Russell Marine, whose dealership in Dodge City handles Nautique water sports boats.

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8-year-old Cullman marvel scores only 2.67 points below the world champion

• In 2016 Hyperlite’s regional manager became a sponsor. The Washington-based company makes wakeboards and all things “wake.”

• Kane picked up California-based Grom as a sponsor in 2017. It makes highend sporting apparel, which it sends Kane by the case.

• “Kane Shred to School,” made in 2017 at age 6, is a clever, entertaining video that’s racked up 163,600+ views on YouTube. Over 2.4 million viewers have seen part of Kane’s “Shred” on a “People Are Awesome” video, “These 10 kids are the future of awesome.”

• The same year France’s Unleashed – International Wake Magazine wrote: There is no age to be passionate, Kane Ward is 6

years old and already a great competitor in the wakeboard world. … We haven’t finished seeing him on the water ...

• “Kane’s Toy Review” hit YouTube in 2018 and has some 8,000 views.

• In July 2019 Kane won his division in the World Wake Association (WWA) National Championship in Monroe, WA. • That earned him an October trip to the World Wake Association World Championship in Cancun, Mexico.

Competing against older kids in the junior boys division, Kane finished second, down by only 2.67 points to the eventual Australian champ.

Kane obviously has high goals, but not for the sake of achievements or bragging rights. Says Kane, “I just love the sport.”

Left to right, top to bottom, Kane does a 360, passing the rope and handle from right to left hand behind his back.

L

ike anything one loves, wakeboarding is often on Kane’s mind.

“I think about it about 80 percent of my day,” says the towhead third grader who attends West Elementary in Cullman and is the son of Justin and Cassie Ward.

“I’m daydreaming. Sometimes in math I daydream about the competition.”

That 80 percent figure might include nights, too. Wakeboarding splashes into his dreams as well.

“In tournaments in my dreams,”

Kane says, “I fall and then make a big recovery.”

Interestingly, that dream played out in real life at the WWA nationals in July.

The course for such events is marked by two buoys placed far enough apart that the wakeboarder has time to perform five tricks on the way to buoy two, and five more after the boat turns and heads back to buoy one. One fall, and the wakeboarder gets a wet mulligan and is picked up where he landed. Two falls and he’s out.

On his final run, going last in his field, Kane fell on his third trick, an easy but required 180 nose grab.

“I was surprised because I fell,” he says. “I was slapping the water like I was going to lose. I thought I was. Then I told myself, ‘I can do this.’”

Knowing he had to go for high-scoring hard tricks, and visualizing every move he had to make, Kane got up and ripped off two flips before reaching the buoy.

Making the turn, he then proceeded to stun everyone with his flawless execution NOV. | DEC. | JAN. 2019-20

67

Left to right, top to bottom, Kane goes clockwise practicing one of his flips on Smith Lake that he took to the world championship Oct. 18-19 in Cancun, Mexico. His goal is to perfect a double flip, unheard of by anyone his age pulled by a boat. of five tough tricks that some older competitors haven’t mastered.

His dad can run the replay in his mind.

“He does a backflip, toe side backflip, heel side 360, comes back with a switch 180 and then another heel side back side 360 to win,” Justin beams. “It was clutch, and he definitely got some fist bumps and claps from the boats that were judging.

You just don’t see a little kid doing that kind of stuff.”

It is, one might say, the stuff of dreams – a national championship.

D

reams come true with talent and lots of practice.

Before ever trying aquatic acrobatics on a wakeboard, Kane spends hours working on the required moves on a trampoline at home. It’s equipped with a tow handle and rope. For safety reasons, 68

NOV. | DEC. | JAN. 2019-20

the trampoline is buried, its surface flush to the ground.

“Whenever I am comfortable with a trick on the trampoline, I’m like, ‘OK. I’m gonna’ try on this on the water next time I go out.’”

Not all tricks can be fully replicated or mastered on the ground. Two particularly hard ones require polishing on the water.

One is a toe side 540, which involves spinning one and a half times. In a tournament, landing it awards you lot of points.

It’s Justin’s favorite of all of Kane’s tricks. Working on it in September, Kane nailed it four times in one day but it evaded him the next, ending in painful wipeouts, hitting the water on his back.

“It’s like a belly-flop off the high dive – except hitting your back on the water at 20 miles an hour,” Kane says. “I’m kinda’

used to it. It’s like a big pain in your back.

Then you’re up and riding again.”

Staying with the toe side 540 paid off.

Kane had it down pat by early October and performed it at the world championship in Cancun.

Another trick he’s still working on is a double flip.

“It really is scary,” Kane says.

“He wants to be the youngest person to land a double,” Justin says. “Age 15 is the youngest now.”

One 9-year-old actually did a double, but not on the wake behind a boat; he did it in a wakeboard cable park, pulled by highspeed winch and jumping off a ramp to get the needed elevation.

While Kane can make tricks look relatively easy, it comes with a price.

“I do lots of wakeboarding,” he says.

“It can make me really sore.”

The Wards on the water: Kevin, Kane, 8, Kruce, 5, and Connie.

Kane has mentioned playing baseball and football, but his parents aren’t too sure.

It would take away from wakeboarding time and he’d probably end up missing practices and games, Connie says. “We try to have time to do things with the family, too,” Connie says.

The family attends Northbrook Baptist Church. Photo by Kenneth Boone.

T

hose who’ve seen “Kane Shred to School” are amazed. (To “shred” is to perform a sport such as wakeboarding with skill and enthusiasm; to, literally, shred the water.) Like a pro, his tricks appear effortless.

“It’s really hard,” he says of the work that went into the video.

Kane actually came up with the idea for the video. His dad shot and edited the footage, and his mom and host of others pitched in to make the productions happen.

It was shot at Huntsville’s Big Springs Park and Flip Side, the wakeboard cable park at Oak Mountain State Park south of Birmingham and another of Kane’s sponsors. “‘Shred’ put Kane on the map,” Justin says. “But I wish I had waited until now to do it. As good as he was at 6, the difference in his abilities now are night and day.”

“Kane’s Toy Review,” another of Justin’s creations, offers insight into some of the thinking of his son – who, amazingly, says he’s never played a video game in his life. The video opens with this: Warning! Kane’s Toy Review is not responsible for any increase in popularity, increase in feelings of selfworth, or being somewhat aware of

one’s own capabilities as a human being as a result of following the suggestions mentioned in this review.

Viewer discretion is highly discouraged!

The viewer sees Kane on a sofa, supposedly playing Fortnite, a video game.

“This guy’s shooting at me… and I’m dead. This is lame. You know what’s even more lame? You watching me play this.”

Cut to Kane at the wheel of a snazzy Nautique from Russell Marine: “You know, I could sit at home and play Fortnite, but I really want to take a girl to the prom one day. ...”

The camera shows bikini-clad sisters Chloe and Claire Harbison of Cullman on-board the boat. One hands Kane a wakeboard as he walks toward the stern. “… Thanks, Chloe. And that’s why I ride this Hyperlite Murry Junior.”

Now in the water, Kane tells Claire at the wheel to go, and he proceeds to do flips, spins and board grabs.

Kane onshore, addressing the viewer: “All right. (Electronic) devices. I’m going to make this short and sweet. Your parents are right. You spend way too much time on these things. I heard a kid went blind from watching too much YouTube.

I’m not taking any chances. I’m going wakeboarding.”

K

ane – along with his brother, Kruce, age 5 – were introduced to wakeboarding and encouraged by Justin.

They both rode tandem with Dad at age two and soloed at three.

Justin started water skiing at Kane’s age now, wakeboarding and learning tricks from older guys when he was 20.

“That was about 1996-98 when wakeboarding started getting popular,” Justin says. “It’s come a long way. The tricks Kane is doing now at age eight are what those guys used to do.”

Daniel Uline, manager of the local Russell Marine dealership, supports Kane in numerous ways, including sometimes providing him with a Nautique G23 for wakeboarding.

“The boats have big wakes and are designed to be the best on market for this,” Justin says. “But it doesn’t take a big, new boat to wakeboard. Kane rides our old Nautique 210, which has a smaller wake. That’s good because a smaller wake makes him learn to ride the wake correctly.”

There are also cable parks where you can rent all you need for wakeboarding rides.

What attracts most young people to sports, especially in this region, are football, basketball, baseball and soccer.

NOV. | DEC. | JAN. 2019-20

69

Kane is not just good on the water. He makes straight A’s in school. “He’s a bit of a perfectionist,” says Cassie Ward, his mom. “We are proud of him to work as hard as he does on the wakeboard and at school.” Rock on, Kane.

“Many parents push their kids to be the next big pro in those sports,” Justin says. “We’re not going to hold those kids back. But some kids come to a wakeboarding clinic or cable park, and they suddenly excel at something that is not in the big four.

“But some kids never get that shot.

They don’t know wakeboarding exists,” he continues. “So many kids play video games all day because they don’t want to play the big four.

“Introduce them to something else.”

Kane loves basketball and soccer. But 70

NOV. | DEC. | JAN. 2019-20

his greatest love is wakeboarding, and he wants to share it.

“It’s fun and usually nobody else does it,” he says.

Kane has kids rib him because he’s never played video games. But he shows no interest in following the crowds.

“It’s inspiring me,” Kane says, “to get the other kids to do what I do.”

W

hile many more kids could learn to wakeboard and love it, few are born with the natural desire to push themselves and their abilities like Kane does.

“He’s been flipping since he was around two years old,” Cassie says. “I think he was 18 months old when he jumped off the couch.

“I have video of him doing a roundoff (similar to cartwheel, but more advanced),” she adds. “Everyone who came over would get nervous about some new trick he would do.”

Besides his wakeboard antics, these days he’s been known to do front flips off the second platform at Point Mallard and back flips off the Brushy Creek bridge north of Arley.

Is Kane fearless? Depends on whom you ask.

“Unh-uh,” he says after a moment’s thought. “Not really. I wouldn’t jump off a cliff.”

“I would say that he is,” Cassie says after her own moment of thought. “I feel like the older he gets the more fearless he gets. He thinks, ‘I can do things with my body.’ I think he thinks he’s invincible.”

Learning to watch him flip in the air on a wakeboard was an acquired ability.

“I guess God gave me nerves of steel,” Cassie says. “I am able to watch and not even flinch. He has so much awareness. He’s like a cat and lands on his feet – most of the time.”

She gave up long ago on saying “be careful.”

“Those words don’t even come out of my mouth,” Cassie laughs. “In high pressure situations, I feel like he gets nervous if I say anything, so I stay quiet.

I let him approach me. If he doesn’t, I stay back until it’s over.”

B

esides danger, Mom also watches as her son gets lots of attention and accolades heaped upon him.

“He’s pretty cool about it,” Cassie says. “But, as an 8-year-old, he has to be reminded from time to time that no one likes to hear bragging, so be humble.

“I don’t know what he says when he goes to school,” she adds. “But sometimes I think he doesn’t realize some of the things going on and what a big deal they are. It doesn’t even register that, ‘Wow! This is all pretty big.’”

Maybe not. Just give the guy a wakeboard, a ride and let him shred.

“It is,” Kane says, “just really cool being a part of it.”

Good Life Magazine

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Out ‘n’ About Joppa photographer Liz Smith is itching for a good snow. It’s been a while. She had to dig back to Feb. 13, 2014, to find these images. Camera around her neck, she set out walking that cold day from her house on County Road 1763, making a mile-long loop before circling home. She did get lots of snow last January while visiting Jackson Hole and Yellowstone in Wyoming. But she wants a local snow. “I hope we get a good one,” Liz says. “I have some places scoped out that I want to shoot this year.”

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NOV. | DEC. | JAN. 2019-20

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Postcards

Driving though Cullman today, you almost always see construction underway. Few if any of those projects will end up on postcards. But Cullman’s L&N Railroad Depot, built in 1913, did. So did the city’s old elementary school, shown below prior to its bell being hung in the hung in cupola. That bell, dated 19011, now hangs a the Cullman County Museum, which provides these cards.

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Dental Arts has provided high-quality dental care to our area since 1981. In 2015, Dr. Kari Bartlett took over Dental Arts continuing the tradition of dental excellence.

With the old office on 2nd Avenue growing crowded, Dr. Bartlett built a state-of-art office on 4th Avenue to better serve her patients. She and her growing staff – complimented by her associate, Dr. Abby DiLuzio – remain committed to providing top-quality dentistry and friendly, personal service for you and your family.

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