CULLMAN COUNTY
The chef at Brothers Kitchen shares some of his favorite recipes If you’ve never been inside The Borkenau, here’s your chance to see Roy’s home WINTER 2016 COMPLIMENTARY
Photographer George Ponder claims he’s no artist, but you might disagree
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Grilled salmon and stuffed baked potato – great with a beer.
Chicken tenders and sauce are tenderly delicious.
Deb Veres, left, visits with daughter Katie earlier this year in Hawaii.
Katie adds her 2 cents worth to Augusta lore ... and lends her name to a special menu item Steaks, seafood, prime ribs, burgers … everything people love at Augusta’s Sports Grill is in large part thanks to owner Deb Veres’ commitment to freshness and quality, and her and her sons Josh and Jason’s cooking talents. Well, almost everything, insists Mary Katherine “Katie” Sutter. Daughter of Deb and her husband, Jeff, Katie is a travelling nurse living with her family in Hawaii, who commutes by air to Oakland, Calif., to work six days a month. Despite her distance from Cullman, she’s all too aware of the attention her brothers are grabbing for their part in Augusta’s success. But neither, Katie laughs, has a menu item named for him – Kate’s Cake, a scrumptious cheesecake. “Ha-ha,” she laughs. “It’s definitely an honor, but what can I say? I’m the only girl and the only child that can cook!” Years ago Deb taught young Katie to make the cheesecake. It’s a favorite of Jeff’s, and daddy’s girl soon
learned to use it to her advantage. She’d make him a cheesecake if she got into trouble or wanted, say, a new softball glove. “I didn’t get in trouble often,” Katie says. “But I sure used it prior to asking for something if I knew there was a possibility the answer would be no. Funny thing, I now use it to my advantage on my husband, Hutch … but, shhhhh!” They plan to come home in December. Naturally, they’ll visit Augusta’s, and not just to bother Jason and Josh. “I’ll put in a custom order for a little bit of everything on the menu,” Katie says. “Especially beef. I’m tired of fish and rice. I keep trying to get Mom to overnight a Philly on dry ice, but it hasn’t happened yet.” What makes Augusta’s so good – beyond, of course, Kate’s Cake? “Freshness makes a world of difference,” Katie says. “You can truly taste it, and they really do focus on quality above all. Mom loves what she does and making people happy.”
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Welcome
Despite the hour, magical breakfasts are worth it
I
like breakfast. It just comes at an obnoxiously early time. One of my most memorable breakfasts – despite the foggy hour – was in 1977 at a rustic restaurant in the Kootenay Range of the Canadian Rockies in British Columbia. After backpacking in the Tetons, three buddies and I headed north to hike in Glacier National Park. The backcountry trails were so crowded, however, we couldn’t get a pass. I’d seen the Canadian Rockies before and eagerly suggested we drive further north, so we headed toward Jasper National Park in Alberta. En route, we camped somewhere in Southwest Canada, woke up early, grubby and starving and continued along a twisting mountain road with vast overlooks
of foggy valleys and peaks. Rounding a curve we came upon a quaint log cabin restaurant, rustic tables and windows covered with red gingham. We chowed down on pancakes, eggs, sausage and hash browns topped off with Beethoven’s Fur Elise wafting from a kitchen radio tuned to the CBC. It was magical. Last December, I had another magical breakfast, thanks to Roy Drinkard. I had been after Roy for some time to do a story on his house, The Borkenau. I had heard tales of what an amazingly unique place it is. So when he invited me to a Saturday breakfast there, I naturally jumped at the chance despite the hour such meals are generally served. It would have been special just eating
with Roy, just seeing his marvelous old house. But topping off the experience was that for the fifth year in a row he’d invited the monks from St. Bernard’s Abbey for a pre-Christmas breakfast. Seeing 19 monks, bedecked in their black robes drift among the heavy antique furniture, the richly paneled walls and ceilings and old, hand-carved friezes was like stepping into a magical past. No one played Fur Elise, but several of the monks took turns playing Christmas music on the Steinway ... making it a breakfast well worth the time of day.
David Moore Publisher/editor
Contributors Don’t mention it to her, but Deb Laslie is a secret agent. Here’s a recent email she wrote the editor: “Agent in store now. Incognito. Bag in safe. Emailing to you another photo using off-site private server. Will likely involve Russians again.” Also, please don’t ask her to fix your cell phone. Double-O Deb doesn’t even have one. Photographer/writer Patrick Oden has a recipe story on chef Rico Nishimura in this issue and another one on restaurant owner Michelle Sweatmon. He was also busy this fall shooting some great pictures of the Cullman County Fair. Don’t look for them in this issue, though. That was “Boy Scout” work in advance of the fall 2017 issue. Ad/art director Sheila McAnear bought a kayak in August and still hasn’t gotten it in the water. If nothing else, it needs the dust washed off. She hoped to go out Oct. 16 after printing proof pages for this issue, but technical issues sank her plan. “Maybe,” she hopes, “after we finish the Marshall magazine.” Maybe ... 6
NOVEMBER | DECEMBER | JANUARY 2016
Steve Maze’s story about his father’s two-story outhouse first ran in The Arab Tribune in 2009. David Moore, then the Trib’s editor, entered it in the Alabama Press Association Better Newspaper Contest, where it won first place in the feature story category. Despite how you vote, we think you’ll appreciate it, too. The work of a Regional Extension Agent is never done. Just ask Tim Crow. He went to the beach for several days in October for a family reunion. During that time he wrote the “Good ‘n’ Green” feature in this issue. But don’t worry too much for him. He won’t be working no matter what when Auburn is playing on TV.
Publisher David Moore’s car has memorized Ala, 69 from Arab to Cullman. But he’d love to have it relearn the often aggravating stretch of road. Arab Mayor Bob Joslin is asking legislators and Cullman County mayors to join him in petitioning DOT for building passing lanes. Here’s one vote.
Inside
10 Good Fun
Tickets are on sale for Share Club’s annual Christmas Tour of Homes
16 Good People
James Fields Jr. talks about public service
20 Good Reads
“Girl Waits with Gun” and “Duplicity”
23 Good Cooking
Rico Nishimura of Brothers Kitchen and Pourhouse shares some of his recipes
32 Good Eats
Michelle Sweatmon cooks good ol’ vittles at the Crooked Chimney in Crane Hill
34 Good ’n’ Green
Here are five planting ideas that do well when summer drought sets in
36 Roy Drinkard
Visit and get the story on The Borkenau, one of Cullman’s landmark old houses
46 A journey of pain
Larry Vondrasek and others with RSD have to work on creating a good life
52 Marlon Maze
His highly unusual monument to politics still stands in New Canaan community
54 From barn to table
Old wood gets up-cycled into furniture
61 George Ponder
Cullman photographer documents world of beauty and wonder around him
70 Out ’n’ About
Were you at Farm Y’all?
On the cover: A huge, elaborate Christmas tree decorates the great room at Roy Drinkard’s stone house, The Borkenau. For more on his home, a 104-year-old Cullman landmark, please see the story inside. Photo by David Moore. This page: Cullman photographer George Ponder says luck played a big part in capturing his shot of a crane, its legs extended with late evening sun on it, flying past a rising full moon; Photoshop, on the other hand, had little at all to do with the picture. More of George’s work is displayed inside this issue.
David F. Moore Publisher/editor 256-293-0888 david.goodlifemagazine@gmail.com
Vol. IV No. 2 Copyright 2016 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
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The Christmas Tour of Homes S
anta visits people’s homes over Christmas, and you can, too. You don’t need a sleigh of toys, but your visits will help the Share Club support Hospice of Cullman County and Good Samaritan Health Clinic. The club’s annual Christmas Tour of Homes will be 1-5 p.m., Sunday, Dec. 4. Homes on the tour are, clockwise from upper left: • James and Wendy Clements • Libby Crider • Jeff and Julie Wilhite • Rusty and Christy Turner • Ken and Diane Brown • Kelvin and Angie Veal Tickets are a $15 donation and available at From the Heart, Hagan Realty, White Willow, Three Pears, The Added Touch, Bill Smith Buick GMC, The Added Touch, Too and any Share Club member. The Tour of Homes, its biggest project, has raised $163,000 to date. For more information: visit the club’s Facebook page; call Mary Jane Waldrop, 256-531-3277.
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NOVEMBER | DECEMBER | JANUARY 2016
Good Fun
The season offers plenty of ‘activity gifts’ for the family • Through Jan. 30 – Laura Walker exhibit Laura Walker has always done art. A sampling of the Cullman artist’s work is on exhibit in the front hall of the Evelyn Burrow Museum at Wallace State Community College. A self-trained artist, she painted as a baby on her mother’s knee, literally, and since then has always read, watched and taken classes from anyone she can to learn more. She managed the Art Shop Around the Corner for eight years, helping it grow to a center for painting and pottery classes taught five days a week by six different teachers. A year ago Laura decided to focus on her fine art, now painting from home, giving occasional classes through Wallace and participating in art festivals and shows in North Alabama. She paints custom portraits of people, pets, homes and vehicles through Etsy, shipping across the USA and to other countries. Subjects that move her to paint on her own depict emotion, meaning and soul. Laura can be found as Art With a Soul on Etsy, Facebook, and Instagram.
Laura Walker’s rendition of the old Cullman County Courthouse Museum hours are 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Airport. Tuesday-Friday; 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Opening ceremonies are at 10 a.m. Saturday. For more info: 256-352-8457; with a ride-in by the Sons of Liberty. or www.burrowmuseum.org. Admission There will be displays of military is always free. vehicles, missiles and gear, artillery firings, and Civil War living history • Nov. 3-6 – “Singin’ in the Rain” camp, music by Round Two (11 a.m.-1 Wallace State Theatre presents p.m.) and a free meal for veterans and “Singin’ in the Rain” at 7 p.m., Nov. their spouses. 3-5 and 2 p.m., Nov. 6, at Betty Leeth Activities at the airport will be 11 Haynes Theatre. Admission $10 adults, a.m.-5 p.m. Food vendors will be $5 students. there. There will be tours of a P-51 • Nov. 5 – Veterans Day Mustang and a B-17 bomber. Vintage Commemoration aircraft will fly, there’ll be a skydiving Organized for the second year by show and much more. the Cullman Elks Lodge, the day-long After events at the airport, all program is divided between morning veterans and their spouses are invited activities at Sportsman Lake Park and to an evening of food, dancing and afternoon events at Cullman Regional fun at the Elks Lodge. Dress is casual.
A powerful and classic P-51 Mustang is one of the warbirds that will be at the Cullman Regional Airport for Veterans Day. NOVEMBER | DECEMBER | JANUARY 2016
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The event itself is free; the buffet dinner costs $6.
more info: 256-734-0454; or info@ cullmanchamber.org.
• Nov. 10 – Veterans Day Celebration Veterans will be honored at an 11 a.m. service at the Burrow Center for the Fine and Performing Arts.
• Nov. 18-19 – VBB Annual Craft Show Start your Christmas shopping at the Vinemont Band Boosters’ annual craft show at the Cullman Civic Center. Sixty-plus vendors will offer handmade jewelry, children’s and women’s clothing, UA/AU items, woodworking, metal art, candles, inspirational framed art and much more. Win a door prize or buy a ticket for a drawing for $1,000 at noon Saturday. Hours are 9 a.m.-7 p.m. Friday and 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturday. Admission is free; boosters will sell concessions.
• Nov. 12-13 – Christmas Open House Cullman businesses will offer specials, discounts and more. Shop for bargains 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday and 1-6 p.m. Sunday. • Nov. 12-Dec. 1 – Parade of Trees Stop by the Cullman Area Chamber of Commerce and not only admire Christmas trees displayed there, but bid on one and maybe take it home. The trees are being decorated by businesses and auctioned off to raise money for Brooks’ Place, the Child Advocacy Center of Cullman. Auction winners will be announced at the chamber’s Business After Hours starting at 5 p.m. Dec. 1. For
• Nov. 23 – Good Hope Thanksgiving Meal The town of Good Hope will again host its free, pre-Thanksgiving meal at 11 a.m. Wednesday in the Good Hope High School lunchroom. City employees, officials and volunteers will serve until 1,200 meals run out.
“Everything for our community is free,” says Mayor Jerry Bartlett. “This is not just for needy people, it’s for everyone anywhere else. Anybody that wants a dinner, we feed them.” • Dec. 2-3 – Christmas in Cullman Weekend A key fun component of the weekend will be the 6 p.m. Christmas Parade on Friday. A festival will follow at Depot Park and Festhalle with live music, drama presentations by Cullman High School, pictures with Santa, free kid’s activities, etc. The weekend actually opens Friday with Hollymarket (formerly the Christmas Arts & Crafts Show) held 9 a.m.-7 p.m. at the Cullman Civic Center. It will feature more than 80 vendors offering some of the best handmade items around. Admission is free. Hollymarket continues 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday. Meanwhile, Cullman businesses will offer sales and other specials as part of the holiday weekend. For more info: Kelly
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Pulliam, 256-734-9157; or kpulliam@ cullmanrecreation.org. • Dec. 2-Dec. 23 – Sportsman Winter Wonderland Pack up the family or friends over the holidays and drive through the annual Christmas light display at Sportsman Lake Park. Admission is $5 per vehicle. See Santa at the concession stand with hot cocoa and candy canes. Take a horse and carriage ride for $4 per person or hop the park train for $3. The lights will be on, unless it’s raining, 5-9 p.m. through the holidays. The park will be closed for a few weeknights, so you might want to call before you go: 256-734-3052. • Dec. 9-10 – Sheriff’s Rodeo The rodeo, back again, will be held at 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday at the Cullman County Agriculture and Trade Center on U.S. 31 North. Advance tickets are $12 for adults, $10 for children 6-18; 5 and younger get in free. Tickets will be
available at the Cullman County Sheriff’s Office, Jack’s Western Wear and all locations of Traditions Bank. Tickets at the door are the same price, but with last year’s rodeo drawing standing-room-only crowds, best come when the gates open at 5:30 p.m. to get a good seat. Top talent in the 2015 Professional Cowboy Association season will compete in bareback riding, barrel racing, bull riding, cowboy tie-down roping, cowgirl breakaway roping, saddle bronc riding and team roping. Rodeo clowns will keep you laughing. Family-priced food will be sold at the show. Proceeds from the rodeo will benefit safety and D.A.R.E. training at schools across the county and special projects of the sheriff’s office. A rodeo for special needs students will be held Dec. 8 and coordinated with the local schools. • Dec. 10 – Relay for Life pancakes Set aside Christmas doings long
enough to chow down on pancakes to raise money for the 2017 Cullman County Relay for Life. You can get ‘em to go or eat in 7-9:30 a.m. at Applebee’s of Cullman. Cost is only $5. You can put this in the back of your mind for after the holidays … Relay for Life next year will be May 5. For more info: 256-709-4019. • Dec. 12 – Community Band Christmas Part of the Cullman Community Concert Series, the Community Band’s annual holiday show is always popular. It’s at 7 p.m. at the Betty Leeth Haynes Theatre. Admission is free for concert association members and Wallace State students, faculty and staff. General admission is $30. • Dec. 16-17 – Christmas Extravaganza The Wallace State Fine and Performing Arts Department’s annual performance will feature bands and choral groups ringing in the season
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• Dec. 31 – Stony New Years Eve Night Ride Be different … ring in the New Year on your four-wheeler. Stony Lonesome OHV Park on Ala. 69 in Bremen is holding a night ride 6-11 p.m. For more info: 256-287-1133. • Jan. 2 – Community Wellness Day It will be a great day to start on your health and wellness for 2017. Toward that end, CP&R is holding Community Wellness Day at the Cullman Wellness & Aquatic Center. Admission is free all day to use the fitness center, indoor pools, basketball courts and other amenities. A community health fair will offer a dozen booths to help get your New Year’s goals accomplished. Start a membership that day and get $50 off any package. CP&R will hold its annual Polar Bear Plunge in the outdoor pool. Participants will have a chance to win a free one-year membership to Wellness & Aquatic Center. For more info: CP&R: 256-775-7946; or email wharbison@ cullmanrecreation.org. • Jan. 9-Feb. 27 – Learn to kayak Cullman Parks and Recreation will hold kayaking clinics at the wellness and aquatic center 7-9 p.m. Mondays. Use the indoor pool to learn and practice river rolls and other whitewater skills with a CP&R instructor, certified by the American Canoe Association. Bring your own boat and the cost is $5; use a CP&R boat and the cost is $10. Open to all ages. For more info: CP&R: 256-775-7946
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• Jan. 12 – Relay For Life Kickoff Hero of Hope Cecil Hammett will be guest speaker for the kickoff for the 2017 Relay for Life. The kickoff starts at 5:30 p.m. in the fellowship hall at Cullman First Baptist Church. For more info on Relay, set for May 5: 256-709-4019; or www.relayforlife.org/cullmanal.
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• There’s still time – Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons About 10 spots remain open for the May 27-June 2 tour of the majestic Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons national parks. The tour – sponsored by the Wallace State Community Alumni Association – flies you to Salt Lake City, then northward by deluxe motorcoach to some of the most spectacular scenery the West offers. See Old Faithful, take a wildlife safari, marvel at the grandeur of the Tetons viewed from Oxbow Bend on the Snake River, and experience the fun of Jackson Hole at night. Cost for double occupancy is $2,695 for alumni members, $2,795 for non-members and include roundtrip air, 11 meals, float trip and more. For details: LaDonna Allen, 256-352-8071. Post-Cancer Surgery Apparel & Accessories for Women
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Good People
5questions Story by David Moore Photo by Brian Lacy
G
rowing up poor in Colony played a part in James Fields Jr.’s continuing desire to be a public servant and a model for others to emulate. It’s a desire that led him to serve on at least eight various boards over the years, to be a pastor in the United Methodist Church and to hold the singular distinction of being the first African-American elected to public office in Cullman County – a term in Alabama’s House of Representatives. “There are a lot of things you block out of your mind,” James says of those early years of poverty and integration in southern Cullman County. “I remember washing clothes on a rock. We built a clothes line to let things air out in the spring. We didn’t wash our clothes much in winter, except our underclothes, and we didn’t have much of that.” They were a large family plagued by early deaths. His alcoholic father made money working in the coal mines until they shut down. Fortunately, they lived on a farm and had garden vegetables to supplement government commodities. He remembers picking blackberries and gathering wild pears and “Godgrown” apples his mother canned. “In the Colony there were things we couldn’t do,” says James, casually but sharply dressed during an interview in the boardroom at Cullman Electric Cooperative. “We couldn’t play baseball. We had no gloves.” Integration was underway as he completed the sixth grade at the old, ragged, black-only Colony School, and James was among the first group of students transferred to Hanceville. 16
James Fields, Jr. Answering varied calls to service from board rooms, to state, to pulpit “Kids were selected by economics,” he says. “All of us were poor, but some of us were not as poor as others, or as well-mannered. I was probably a little of both.” It was eye-opening in more ways than one. “I was playing seventh or eighthgrade football when I had my first shower,” he says. “We had no inside bath at home until I was in college in 1973.”
J
ames earned a degree in law enforcement with a minor in sociology from Jacksonville State University, but it was a dean at Gadsden State Community College who influenced him to join the Marines for two years after graduation. “I was tough and needed discipline,” he says. “I was in officer candidate school in Quantico, Va. It was hard to leave in a way, but I was in love, and it wasn’t really for me.” Honorably discharged, he came home and married for the first time. James went to work – wearing a coat and tie – at the state employment office in Cullman. After work, he’d often attend ballgames in the community. Standing six-foot-three with military bearing and still wearing office clothes, James Fields cut an impressive figure … a point brought home this year by Craig Flanigan, a Colony youngster from earlier days and later the first black quarterback at Hanceville High School. James was on the interview board this summer when Craig was hired as Hanceville’s first black football coach. Before his hiring, Craig says he told James about the impression the man had made on young boys like himself growing up in Colony.
NOVEMBER | DECEMBER | JANUARY 2016
“I said that as kids we’d see him all of the time at our games and other places,” Craig says. “He’d be wearing a coat and tie. We looked up to him and admired him and wanted to be like him. It was an air of confidence that we really admired.” Others also saw the sense of wellbeing James carried. And it opened doors for him into public service as people and groups asked or elected him to sit on the boards of directors of various community organizations. In 1977, a different call to service took him in a new direction. “I felt the calling of God to preach,” says James, who began studies at Birmingham-Southern, Huntingdon and Martin Methodist in Pulaski, Tenn. After several other assignments, he’s been pastor at St. James United Methodist Church in Irondale for the past 16 years.
1.
What’s important to you about public service? It’s being able to put yourself in the place of helping others, whether poor or rich. You have to be able to identify real needs. You don’t have be a state representative, a board member or a pastor or a city councilman or a mayor or CEO. A true public servant serves from behind. You have to have an attitude of servitude and realize it’s not about you. Public service is putting others before yourself … it’s an attitude. It’s giving without thinking. Giving without expecting anything in return. And understanding that the need is much greater than yours.
Snapshot: James Fields
• Early life: Born Nov. 27, 1954, in Colony to Ophelia and the late James Cleophis Fields, Sr.; one of 12 children, five who died at birth, and one after a few days. Four brothers and a sister are still living. • EDUCATION: Colony School then Hanceville High; graduated in1973. Gadsden State two years before graduating from Jacksonville State University in 1977 with a bachelor’s in law enforcement and sociology. • FAMILY: Married Valencian Ward, 1978; divorced 1982; children Channel Nicole Fields, Courtney Brainard Fields. Married Willie Mae Nall, 1984; died in 1998; children Nicholas Nall, Xavier Nall. Married Yvette Moorer Wright, 2002; children Nicole Nichols, Alisa Kelly and Stephanie Wright. He has 13 grandchildren. • Career: U.S. Marines after college; sergeant; honorable discharge after two years. Worked nearly 30 years for Alabama State Employment Service, 20 of those with the unemployment fraud unit; in between, he served as assistant director of the Alabama Department of Industrial Relations, 1999-2002, while on Gov. Don Siegelman’s sub -cabinet. Retired from the state in 2007 to become Cullman’s first African-American to run for and win a public office, serving in the Alabama House of Representatives, 2008-2010. Called to preach and licensed in 1997. Became part-time local pastor, North Alabama Conference of the United Methodist Church; 2005 became pastor and remains at St. James UMC in Irondale. • Community involvement: On the boards of Cullman Electric Cooperative (vice chairman since 1997), Alabama Wildlife Federation, Cullman County Victim’s Services, Hanceville Civitans (chaplain of North Ala. Region and of Civitan International); past board member, American Red Cross, Cullman County Extension, Cullman County Community Health, NARCOG; former Boy Scout leader; recently presented Civitan Honor Key.
It’s giving when all you have left is yourself. And public service does not depend on serving in a public service position. The bottom line is availing yourself wherever the need is. I don’t want to get preachy or religious, but Jesus Christ didn’t hold a position. He was not a priest or an elected leader. He was a carpenter’s son … and the greatest of all public servants. His work was such that He could do great things for people without even doing anything other than setting an example for life, and this is what I pray about myself. One example in my life was when a little boy about 10 – he’d never seen me in person, and I had never seen him in my life and have not seen him since – he came up to me one day in a barbershop and said, “I know you.” His mother said, “Get back over here and sit down and get out of that man‘s face.” He sat down and said, “Mother, I know that man.” He made his way back to me and said, “I know you.” I don’t remember his name, but he was in elementary school in Montevallo. I told him my name. His mother told him again, “Get back over here. Leave that gentleman alone.” He said, “Momma, I told you I knew that man. He is Mr. James Fields. We studied about him in our school.” How did I make it from Colony, Alabama, to that little boy’s school in Montevallo? I would say maybe his teacher was black and it was black history month, but she could have been white, I don’t know. There have been many, many rewards in my life from being a public servant. When I ran for state representative, a gentleman told me, “You don’t know me Mr. Fields, but you walked into Walmart one day and spoke to me and shook my
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hand. There have been many white politicians in this county who never spoke to me, but you did. You always shook everyone’s hand. You didn’t shun anybody.” I was always taught this was important in life: To have a friend, you have to be friendly. You never know who you will meet on your way up. It may be the person who lends you a hand on your way down. We all have to go down.
2.
Are you an optimist or pessimist, and why? I am an optimist because I believe there is a brighter day ahead. I don’t see things as doom and gloom. There is a reason for everything happening around us. And I realize we don’t control anything but ourselves and our own decisions. That’s all we have control over. Nothing else. I am an optimist, but you’ve got to put a little more in it sometimes and just keep going. I don’t care how dark it gets, just keep going. I’m an optimist. I believe there is hope in every thing. And I believe there is a way out of everything. I have never looked at a glass half empty. Everything is half full, and all you have to do is keep going. When you quit, you lose. In the Civitans we help people who are handicapped in some way. But they are capable of doing work in the community, even with their limitations. There is optimism to that. They are contributing.
3.
What is the saddest thing(s) about America to you? The distrust among us now. We still don’t see the disadvantaged as human beings. We think they are moochers. We think they are lazy. We think they are all living off the government dole, and we lump them all in there together. We don’t want to face reality.
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People still deny that they are privileged. People don’t want to face the fact that there is still such a thing as white privilege. Those are some of the things I’ve been dealing with lately. Our church is hosting a series of meetings on white privilege. We have a plethora of leaders, white and black, on the forum. They talk about their lives, about people. One day we lined them up and asked them questions about growing up, about their lives. If they answered yes, they stepped forward. If it was no, they stepped back. After 15 questions the whites had moved up, the blacks had moved back. My grandson is 21 and was never called the n-word until he was 21. It broke his heart. He said, “I thought we were past that.” Another thing is that people don’t think for themselves. Their whole life is dependent upon what someone else says. They believe what they read on Facebook or hear on TV. Even when they hear the truth they won’t believe it because of who said it. That’s one of the saddest things in life, and it’s hard to maintain my optimism when I see so much of that. The racial divide is one of the saddest things in America. We have made great inroads, but over the past few months I have heard things said that erode those inroads. We’ve got to straighten this up. We can’t do that with the rhetoric coming from both sides of the spectrum. The world has always been troubled. But let’s not let the world dictate to us. Let’s dictate what happens. I am a Civitan because I want to see a better and nobler society. My eyes see the hurt. My hands help the needy. That’s the way life should be.
4.
What is the greatest thing(s) about America to you? I have traveled to a lot of different
countries. There is not a better place to live than America, even with all of the problems we hear about. The air is clean; the environment is cleaner. People still respect one another despite all of our problems. There is a great love and no matter where you are in America, when one community is down, everyone comes to their aid. The one thing we have and still hold true is that we will still help our neighbors. You are not going to find a better place in Alabama than Cullman County. There is not a better state than Alabama. We have the most beautiful, navigable waterways, beautiful streams because of the concerted efforts of Alabamians to keep them clean. There is a will to do, a will to have, a will to serve. You will find that true in the majority of the people in Alabama. A will to give, to share, and it doesn’t matter if you are black or white or Hispanic. There is still a will to help, despite our politics and our political leaders.
We come to people’s aid. We believe in it. That’s one of the great things about America. We live in a republic government, with a democracy where people have the freedom to speak, express and protect themselves. I am like everyone else: I think you should have the to right bear arms and protect yourself. But along with that we have responsibility, and I think that’s where we miss it. I would say 80 percent of Americans get it. We get it. Along with privilege also comes responsibility. We need to remember that, we do. We’ve got to remember that. We are our brother’s keeper, whether we accept that or not. It would be nice if we were all good Samaritans. The world would be a better place. And the world Would be a better place … Put a little love in your heart … You know that song.
5.
What is something most people don’t know about James Fields? I love to cook. I pride myself in being a good cook. I am always stealing recipes and trying new things. The old saying is the best way to a man’s heart is through his stomach. The best way to anyone’s heart is feeding people a good meal. Cooking is like love. Love and trust are two of the things that keep us together. And food. Another thing … I really do have a real deep love and a faith in people. I guess they know that to a certain degree, but I don’t think they understand. I just don’t believe in “never.” Don’t say you can’t do something. I always believe everyone has something they can offer or give to make everything much better. I believe in sincerity. People know if you are sincere by the expressions of your body. Good Life Magazine
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Good Reads
‘Girl Waits with Gun’ is great read awaiting your pleasure
‘Duplicity’ is an all-too-real, make-you-lose-sleep thriller
my Stewart has given us a true-life heroine in “Girl Waits with Gun”: Miss Constance Kopp. (And, yes, I did choose this book for the cover!) Constance is everything I want to be when I grow up. She is charming (always), smart If I could give her one (obviously), witty (she silent gift from a mother will crack you up), brave (well, mostly) and she didn’t know she had determined to ensure that – it would be this: the justice is served. realization that we have Leaving the selfto be a part of the world imposed exile of her small town farm, in which we live. We Constance and her sisters don’t scurry away when team up with the local we’re in trouble, or when sheriff to bring down the someone else is. We don’t local mob-boss. Through a series of run and hide. madcap adventures – it is truly amazing how much trouble one can encounter from a simple buggy ride into town for a few groceries – Constance learns that fighting for what is right is oftentimes more difficult and irksome than doing what is wrong. So true for all of us, Constance. This is a wonderfully wholesome mystery. Beautifully written and immensely satisfying; your vocabulary will improve upon reading. Bravo, Constance! – Deb Laslie
ormer Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich and former Washington Post reporter Pete Early team up in “Duplicity,” a thriller that has me questioning everything I read in the news. With a presidential election hanging in the balance, incumbent U.S. President Sally Allworth plays Allworth ... was worried politics with American lives in a “wag the dog” the media would focus scenario at our embassy on Coldridge’s charge. If in Mogadishu, Somalia. that happened, she would Radical Islamic terrorists, be perceived as losing the crooked politicians, brave Marines and a real debate. Another thought investigative journalist frightened her. She had been (remember those?) collide unprepared for Coldridge’s in edge-of-your-seat action attack. What if he already and intrigue as the good guys try to win one against knew about her Somali some very evil men in a announcement? What most plausible scenario. if someone at the State Newt keeps the political Department or CIA had intrigue maddeningly realistic – I wonder tipped him off? What if her how many of these trap for him was actually conversations actually going to turn into an occurred? From Pakistan, ambush for her? to Northern Africa, D.C. to London, Minneapolis to Somalia, the tension builds. You will lose sleep with this book. (Caution: language). – Deb Laslie
A
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Good Cooking
Loves lead chef Rico to kitchen fame at Brothers Story and photos by Patrick Oden
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hat makes a Brazilian native move to Cullman as a teenager and never leave? Love. Rico Nishimura loves Cullman, and rightfully so. Cullman has been good to Rico. He was born in Sao Paulo, Brazil, his mother Brazilian, his father Japanese. Growing up, Rico had but one true love. A love so strong it made him leave his family and home and move to the United States. His love was tennis. “My goal was always to come to the U.S. to play college tennis,” Rico says. Initially he landed in Bristol, Tenn. While competing against Wallace State Community College in Cullman, he was recruited and offered a full scholarship to make the move to North Alabama. So he transferred to Wallace State half way through his freshman year. Rico loved the campus at Wallace State, and when classes returned after the winter break, Rico was a full-fledged Lion. He played for Wallace State until graduation, at which time he was the second highest ranked community college tennis player in the United States.
B
ut time stands still for no man, and Rico had to take the next step. “My grades weren’t that good,” Rico says with a grin. He had found himself, as many students do, working in a restaurant during college, and he had enjoyed it.
Rico Nishimura does most of his culinary work in the kitchen at Brothers Kitchen and Pourhouse as 216 1st Ave. SE in Cullman. “I started working at local restaurants, and I washed a lot of dishes in the beginning,” Rico says with a chuckle. “But I found I had a little passion for cooking.” Working hard and putting in long hours, Rico transitioned from washing dishes to prep, and eventually began assisting the chefs with whom he worked. “At one point I was working in four kitchens and going to school. I was working like 100 hours a week,” he says. “I worked with some great chefs,”
Rico adds. “I learned a little from each of them.” He now found himself attending Wallace State a second time. Rico had returned to the school’s culinary program. As it turns out, Rico found his next love in Cullman … his love of cooking.
I
t would seem that love is a connective thread in Rico’s life. In fact, it was while working for the late Mark Chamblee in his restaurant that Rico discovered his next and perhaps most serious love, Mark’s daughter Christine.
NOVEMBER | DECEMBER | JANUARY 2016
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The two were married and today can be found working together at Brother’s Kitchen & Pourhouse at 216 1st Ave SE. in Cullman. Now 34 years old, Rico smiles as he reflects on his life in Cullman. “I’m happy,” he says. Known for his flavorful recipes, fresh ingredients and shaking things up with
his dishes, Rico has become a cherished treasure in Cullman. “Cullman’s been good to me. The people here have been good to me,” Rico says. But it’s Rico’s culinary styling, not his truly wonderful personality, that keeps faces popping in his kitchen window and exclaiming “Rico … surprise me.”
Humble and sincere, he loves when his guests order a meal off menu as opposed to from the menu. As if to say, “That dish on the menu was great, what else ya’ got?” Rico loves the people of Cullman, Rico loves Cullman, and Rico would love to cook for you. Stop by Brother’s, stick your head in the kitchen window and give a holler. “Rico … surprise me.”
MAHI-MAHI TACOS Shredded Romaine lettuce 2 whole tomatoes, diced ½ cup shredded mixed cheese ¼ cup ranch dressing 1 lime, cut into wedges ½ red onion, diced Fresh parsley and cilantro ½ cup mango salsa 24
2 2 2 1
Mahi filets flour tortillas Tbsp. unsalted butter tsp. Cajun seasoning
Cook Mahi filets (seasoned with Cajun seasoning) in skillet with butter until done. Heat
NOVEMBER | DECEMBER | JANUARY 2016
tortillas. Assemble tacos by adding shredded lettuce, diced tomatoes, shredded cheese, onions. Add Mahi and then drizzle ranch dressing and garnish with mango salsa (see recipe on page 26), parsley/cilantro and a fresh lime wedge.
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2 filets of fresh redfish ¼ tsp. Cajun seasoning ¼ cup mango salsa ¼ cup unsalted butter Lemons /fresh parsley
GRILLED REDFISH Melt butter in a skillet on medium heat. Cook redfish, seasoned with the Cajun seasoning, in the butter until golden brown (for about 3 minutes each side).
MANGO SALSA 1 whole red onion ½-1 cup of fresh cilantro (depending on how much of the cilantro flavor you want) 2 oz. lime juice Salt/pepper 2 whole ripe mangos 3 fresh jalapeño peppers 1 red bell pepper, diced
CHEESE TRUFFLE A LA SCAMPI 5 jumbo shrimp 1 package cheese truffle pasta Pinch garlic salt 1 clove fresh garlic 2 leaves fresh basil ¼ cup Parmesan cheese ¼ cup unsalted butter ½ diced small tomato
SEAFOOD BISQUE ½ pound shrimp, deveined ½ pound scallops 4 cups diced potatoes 1 clove minced garlic ¼ cup butter ½ gallon chicken broth ½ tsp. white pepper/salt 1 cup heavy cream 1 cup milk
Dice red onion, mangos, jalapeño peppers, and bell peppers and add into a bowl. Finely chop cilantro and add to the bowl. Add salt, pepper, and lime juice and gently mix together. Serve on top of your favorite dish or fresh Mahi tacos
Add cheese truffle pasta to boiling water. In a sauté pan, add shrimp, garlic, fresh basil and butter. Cook until the shrimp are done. Add in the cheese truffle pasta. Cook for about 12 minutes. Add Parmesan cheese. Serve in a pasta bowl. Top with tomatoes as a garnish.
In a large saucepan over medium heat cook shrimp, scallops, potatoes, and garlic in butter until seafood is done. Stir in flour until blended. Add chicken broth, salt/pepper and let it boil. Stir constantly for about 15 minutes. Add the milk/heavy cream and stir for another 5 minutes.
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Plate over garlic mashed potatoes, and top with grilled asparagus and mango salsa as a garnish. See recipe for mango salsa below.
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HALIBUT SANDWICH 2 halibut filets 3 whole potatoes cut into wedges ¼ tsp. salt/pepper 1 Tbsp. Cajun seasoning ¼ cup butter Tartar sauce Cook halibut in hot skillet over medium heat in butter and lightly seasoned with Cajun seasoning, about 5 minutes or so. While working on the halibut, cut potato into wedges and fry in fryer, cook until golden, crispy done. Place the potato wedges on the plate after tossing in Cajun seasoning/ salt/pepper. Add the halibut to a bun, garnish and drizzle tartar sauce on top.
FRIED CALAMARI 12 ounces calamari rings, thawed I cup all-purpose flour 2 tsp. paprika 2 tsp. salt ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper 6 cups vegetable oil 1 lemon cut into wedges Stir flour, salt, paprika, and black pepper together in bowl. Press calamari rings into the flour mixture until evenly coated. Drop calamari rings in fryer with the hot oil until golden brown (about 1-2 minutes). Serve calamari with your favorite sauce and lemon wedges. 28
NOVEMBER | DECEMBER | JANUARY 2016
SHRIMP CEVICHE 1 pound of raw peeled shrimp 2 lemons 2 limes 2 oranges ½ cup red onions, chopped 1 cup diced tomatoes 1 whole cucumber, sliced Dash of kosher salt and 2 fresh jalapeños Small bunch of cilantro Chop shrimp into about ½ inch pieces and place in a bowl (lightly boil the shrimp, it does not need to be completely cooked through because of the acidity of the citrus). Add lemon, lime, and orange (juiced). Stir in cucumber, onions and jalapeños. Refrigerate for about an hour. Stir tomato, chopped cilantro, oil and a pinch of salt into the shrimp mixture. Let stand at room temp for about 30 minutes before serving and garnish with fresh cilantro.
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AHI TUNA STEAK 6 oz. tuna filet 1 Tbsp. black/white sesame seeds ½ tsp. salt/pepper 1 oz. soy sauce Tartar sauce Small dollop of wasabi Get the skillet hot and ready. Drizzle some cooking oil in the pan. Lightly coat the tuna steaks in the sesame seeds and season with salt/pepper. Add to the skillet and lightly sear on each side (about 1 minute). Plate over garlic mashed potatoes or potato wedges; add a small dollop of wasabi to the side of the plate and a small side of soy sauce. Drizzle tartar sauce over tuna steak. 30
MANHATTAN CLAM CHOWDER 2 slices bacon, chopped ½ cup onions /celery 8 oz. clam juice 6½ oz. can chopped clams, drained and rinsed 32 oz. peeled tomatoes, undrained and crushed 2 Tbsp. fresh parsley ¼ tsp. dry thyme ¼ tsp. salt/pepper In a large saucepan, fry bacon until crispy, add onions and celery. Stir until tender. Stir in tomatoes, clam juice, clams, thyme, salt/ pepper, and parsley. Simmer, uncovered, for about 15 minutes. Stir occasionally.
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TROUT ALMANDINE 2 Tbsp. flour ½ tsp. salt/pepper 1 lb. trout 6 Tbsp. unsalted butter 3 Tbsp. lemon juice 2 tsp. chopped parsley (optional, used for decorative appeal) ¼ cup baked almonds Mix flour and salt/ pepper, sprinkle on top of the fish. In a skillet, fry the fish with 4 Tbsp. butter (about 6 minutes) until lightly browned. Add the remaining butter to the skillet and brown almonds, stirring as needed. Stir in remaining lemon juice and parsley and pour over fish. Serve over fresh greens or garlic mashed potatoes.
MUSSELS MARINADE 1 pound mussels, cleaned 2 cloves minced garlic ¼ cup white wine ½ onion, chopped ½ cup unsalted butter Dash of salt/pepper About a cup of tomato sauce ¼ of a can of anchovies Bring mussels to a boil on stovetop. Mince garlic, onions, and anchovies and add to a sauté pan with butter. Cook for about five minutes. Add tomato sauce and white wine to the sauté pan. Let the sauce simmer for about 8 to10 minutes. Stir in the mussels and serve hot.
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Good Eats
The Crooked Chimney
Crane Hill offers
stick-to-your-ribs
home-style vittles
Story and photos by Patrick Oden
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ichelle Sweatmon never planned on running a restaurant. In fact, Michelle and her husband Tony didn’t know what they would do with the 112-year-old building across Cullman County 222 from his parent’s place in Crane Hill when they bought it in January of this year. But life takes its turns, and in May, after 17 years with the cable company, Michelle became a restaurateur and opened The Crooked Chimney in the historic building. “My husband pushed me more than anything,” she says. “He has a lot of faith in me.” And that’s lucky for hungry folks around Smith Lake. 32
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But The Crooked Chimney wasn’t a foregone conclusion. Michelle’s first thought was to open a bakery in the space that once housed Crane Hill Jr. High and the local Masonic Lodge. Deciding there may not be enough local business to sustain the space as a bakery, the decision was made to turn it into a sit-down restaurant with good ol’ stick-to-your-ribs home cookin’. They initially thought they’d call it The Kitchen Table. But when renovations began and the old paneling was removed, the most perfectly crooked chimney revealed itself to Michelle and Tony. “When they (customers) see it, they’ll always remember how crooked the chimney is,” Michelle says with her constant and beaming smile.
It may still feel and taste like you’re sitting at the kitchen table, but a quick glance at the west wall and you’ll understand why this historical landmark now bears the name The Crooked Chimney.
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riginally offering lunch and dinner buffets, things have changed a bit in the five months the restaurant has been open. “Supper didn’t go so well,” Michelle says. So in mid-September she decided to try opening for breakfast instead. “It’s gone over very well. So far, everybody loves it,” she says. “My momma’s chocolate gravy is a big hit.” And the change suits Michelle just fine. “I love cookin’ breakfast … I love
Sure enough, the red brick chimney, upper left, is true to the name of the restaurant. Owner Michelle Sweatmon, above, serves up different menus from the buffet. The restaurant is located on County Road 222 east of the intersection with County Road 940. cookin’, but I love cookin’ breakfast,” She says. And there is no doubt about it, Michelle can cook. A sentiment reinforced by a diner who was overheard saying, “If I lived around here, I’d eat here every day.” “We call Wednesday Thanksgiving Day,” Michelle says. On the Wednesday menu? Chicken and dressing, thick cut ham, sweet potato casserole, mashed potatoes, deep-fried corn on the cob, cornbread and two kinds of fresh fruit cobbler.
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bounty indeed, but one item might have jumped out at you … deep-fried corn. It’s an invention of Tony’s, who was helping Michelle one day in the restaurant and got a little bored.
“There must be a way to deep fry the corn,” she remembers him saying. Boiling it is a lengthy process that can cost some flavor. Indeed, there was a way to deep-fry corn on the cob, and Tony found it. The results are no less than amazing. But you already know it’ll be good. Only the good stuff makes Michelle’s menu. She’s picky, cooking nearly all of her food from scratch, using locally sourced fresh ingredients whenever she can … and she can most of the time. Her sister-in-law, Sherry Starnes, runs a family produce market just across the road. And Michelle and Tony live close enough to keep an eye on the restaurant in the rare case Michelle slips home to rest. “I can see from my recliner when cars are pulling in and out,” she says.
But it’s hard to imagine Michelle being away from her restaurant. Speaking casually of 14-hour-days, Michelle obviously loves her customers. If she isn’t behind the counter serving them, she is buzzing around the small dining room, speaking to customers as if they were guests in her home. And well cared for guests they are. Assisted by Bethany Shellnut and Tammy Calvert, no need goes unnoticed or unattended to. If you find yourself in the Crane Hill area … be hungry. Visit The Crooked Chimney. If you find yourself hungry … drive out to Crane Hill. Eat what’s cookin’, enjoy the history of the place, and be assured Michelle and company will take care of you. Good Life Magazine NOVEMBER | DECEMBER | JANUARY 2016
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Good ’n’ Green
Fight drought by planting with smarts
One plant group we should take advantage of in years like this is ornamental grasses, such as muhly grass. It’s known for its either pink or white inflorescences. Muhly grass grows to about 3-4 feet in a clump form. It can be planted and pretty much forgotten about. Other than some minor trimming in the winter months, this one is as hands-off as they come.
Story by Tim Crow
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016 has been a difficult year for farmers, landscapers and just everyday horticulture enthusiasts. The late winter and early spring started off with ample rain, even on the brink of too much. Things were moving along fine through April and May and even into the early part of June. Then, in the blink of an eye, it was as if someone cut off the water faucet. Days turned to weeks, and weeks turned to months with little to no rain. People watched their gardens begin to struggle. At the Extension office we got many calls on drought-related issues with both garden vegetables and landscape variety plants. With a year like this it makes us step back and appreciate some of our drought-tolerant plants that have continued to thrive even in conditions like these recent months. With that, I’d like to spotlight some plants you might want to consider putting out next year … plants you can feel confident will survive and thrive no matter what the conditions. Here are five choices to consider … 34
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For a small tree try Ilex vomitoria, or “yaupon.” Taking the same umbrella form as crape myrtle, yaupons average 10-18 feet in height and are great foundation trees to break up height along a house or structure. It does not make a showy flower but does produce a red berry like our traditional holly shrubs that are attractive for wildlife. This plant is very heat and drought resistant.
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Drought-tolerant dwarf mondo can be used in many landscape situations. It can serve as a ground cover, turf or simply a filler in certain areas. It is a plant that simply requires no care. It only gets about 2-3 inches high so it needs no pruning unless used as a turf, and then once a year is adequate.
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Have a visit with Roy Drinkard at The Borkenau
Roy Drinkard sits in front of his Christmas tree last year in the great room at The Borkenau, surrounded by the monks from St. Bernard Abbey, whom he invites for an annual holiday breakfast. Among them is Abbot Cletus Meagher, standing behind Roy.
In addition to the huge tree in the great room on the preceding page, Roy Drinkard’s house has a formal Christmas tree in the foyer, above, and another, sporting a fishing theme, in the library. All five bedrooms are decorated for Christmas, as well as the cozy study, at right, that adjoins Roy’s bedroom. At far right, in this provided photo, the greatgrandchildren are pictured at Thanksgiving 2015 with “Paw Paw Drinkard,” as they call him. From left are: Madelyne Grimmett, Julius Boggus, Mitchell Collins, Paw Paw, Rachael Collins, Morgan Grimmett, Joe Boggus and Roy Grimmett.
It’s a home that grew more dear by the year Story and photos by David Moore
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he first place Roy Drinkard lived when he moved to Cullman was above Drinkard Funeral Home. The apartment is worlds apart from The Borkenau, the name of the house Roy has been inseparably associated with for 66 of his 96 years on earth. Over the decades – as Roy sold cars and later developed much of the retail 38
space in Cullman – he and his late wife, Edythe, raised their daughters Karen and Sharon at The Borkenau. The name of the stone house is spelled in bas-relief on granite over the arched portico. Though an odd spelling, Roy says, it translates as “pleasant meadows,” or “walking among the meadows.” Despite its Germanic name, the house was built with tile roofing in the Spanish mission style, its u-shaped rear defining a pocket courtyard. Its interior has been
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compared to the style of a small Bavarian hunting castle. Not only are Roy and his family deeply associated with The Borkenau, but a number of people across the county have associations with the historic stone house as well. Graduates in caps and gowns with no ties to the Drinkards have had senior portraits shot on the grounds. Cheerleaders with matching pompoms have been photographed here.
“Weddings and receptions have been held here whenever we could arrange it,” 96-year-old Roy says. “These were not limited to our closest friends. Edythe chose who could use it and would graciously help each family work out all the details. She was the Queen of The Borkenau.” He can’t totally give Edythe all the credit for events there. Fifth graders from St. Paul’s Lutheran School continue to hunt Easter eggs on the grounds. “Every kind of event has been held here, from choir rehearsals to political events and local club parties,” says Roy. For the past five years, the monks of St. Bernard’s Abbey have developed an annual
association with Roy’s house. Roy invites them in mid-December for a Christmas breakfast. “It’s an event they look forward to.” But don’t let him fool you. Roy relishes it, too.
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hen Roy moved to Cullman, he never imagined one day owning and dwelling for decades at The Borkenau. Born July 12, 1920, in Falkville, he was fifth of the six children of Lucy Hardwick and Elbert Luther Drinkard. Also known as “EL” and “Mr. Elbert,” Roy’s mortician father owned a growing chain of funeral homes that included Cullman.
Roy moved into the apartment over the Cullman funeral home so he could attend nearby St. Bernard Preparatory School. During his years there, he once was invited by Harry Fuller Jr. to spend the night at The Borkenau, then owned by Harry Fuller Sr. “I felt comfortable,” he recalls. “I spent one night in the same room I sleep in now.” While the house initially made minimal impact on Roy, the girlfriend of Harry Jr.’s twin brother, Dwight, was another story. Her name was Edythe Lee. “Dwight was her boyfriend when I came to Cullman,” Roy says. “Her home and the funeral home were next door.
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That’s how I met her. She would not go out with me.” After Dwight left for the University of Alabama, Edythe eventually agreed to a movie date with Roy. Things progressed from there. “Finally we ran off and got married,” he says. That was February 1938, a few months prior to his graduation from St. Bernard’s. Both 17, they got married in Pulaski, Tenn., because 18 was the legal age in Alabama without parental consent. “I was the first married student at school,” grins St. Bernard’s oldest living alum. “It caused a lot of consternation at the time.”
recruiting office to protect our soldiers following the attack on a recruiting office in Chattanooga.” After his father sold the funeral
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ne week later, Dwight Fuller, Edythe’s ex-boyfriend, visited her to announce that, with the death of his father, the family would sell The Borkenau. “Tell Roy that he can buy it now before we put it on the market, because I have always wanted you to live there,” Roy says, recounting the story. That evening, Edythe broke the news to him and they discussed it. With his recent business purchases, the timing was bad. Edythe, for her part, had never expressed any wishes about living in The Borkenau and questioned if they could afford it. He doesn’t say as he couple lived in much, but perhaps a wave Roy’s apartment while of romanticism washed he served as a mortician through Roy. The next day, downstairs. They moved to he put down a check for Guntersville in 1940 where earnest money on the Fuller he ran the newest addition to estate. his father’s eventual chain of “On reflection, they 14 funeral homes. Morticians were deemed came back that night and essential to the community, said it was not enough for so Roy was not drafted a transaction that size,” when World War II erupted. Roy says. “So I gave them By 1943, though, he could a check on Leeth National no longer sit idly by and Bank.” went to register and take W.O. Dunlap Sr. was his physicals. Both the president during those Army and Navy failed him. simpler times – a good thing Undaunted, he simply got for Roy. back in line for a second try. “I went into the bank the “I thought maybe they next morning and said, ‘Mr. wouldn’t recognize me,” he Dunlap, I’m going to be chuckles. They did. your neighbor.’” Guntersville artist Martha Bradford painted the now late Edythe’s “They almost locked “The hell you say,” portrait in the 1950s. Staying with the Drinkards for two weeks, she me up for wasting the responded the good-natured painted two hours every morning when the lighting was just so. government’s time,” he says. W.O. “But then the sergeant at the “Yes, sir. I gave them a next table stamped me in. check on your bank.” He said, ‘I’ll take this stupid The bad news was that home chain, Roy moved his family SOB.’” Roy didn’t have an account there. back to Cullman in 1949 and took over With that, Roy found himself in the “No problem,” W.O. told him. “How Drinkard Pontiac GMC. They lived Marines. much money do you want to deposit in in a rental near Cullman First United As for his service, don’t refer to your account?” Methodist Church. Roy as an ex-Marine. “I still am one,” “I don’t have any.” The summer of their move, Roy he’ll say. “I took a vow to protect my “We can take care of that, too,” his new bought a bakery in Guntersville and a country. Because I still stand by this banker responded, and gave him a loan. burial vault manufacturer in Albertville. vow, I put bulletproof glass in the local That night, Roy wrote his father
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The great room at The Borkenau, above, is one of three rooms trimmed around the high paneled ceilings with mahogany friezes, or carvings. The Garden of Eden is the theme in the great room, while the dining room has animals that would be killed for meat at a Bavarian hunting lodge. The library friezes depict mythological imagery, left. Carl Boehme carved the friezes about 1914 using small hand tools. He lived in the house five years until the friezes were completed. “He worked for 50 cents a day and all the beer or wine he cared for,” says Roy. “In the carvings of the Garden of Eden, the serpents still have legs. Yet, all the imagery, from oak leaves to animals, including the mythological creatures, represent Christ to those in Germany.” Since in 1963, Roy has handed out $2 bills with his contact information stamped on them as business cards. Roy put his face on all of his business cards. Asked if that might be illegal, Roy says, “Only if you deface it. Not if you enhance it.” NOVEMBER | DECEMBER | JANUARY 2016
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a letter about his transaction and handdelivered it the next day. “He said what he always said to me. ‘We can handle this. We can beat this, if that’s what you and Edythe want.’” It was several years after his father’s death in 1956 that Roy realized the influence he’d been in his life. “My dad was a great father and a family man and successful in business,” Roy says. 42
“He was my role model and coach who always challenged me to reach my full potential and accomplish more than him. “I also know it was my mother and her unwavering love which guided me through many of my life trials. Because they loved each other so deeply, I considered them ideal mates and parents.”
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hile his heart’s full of memories
today, it was an empty house he, Edythe and the girls moved into in 1949. They scattered what little furniture they had about the 7,200-square-foot house and settled in. “I was not especially in love with the house,” Roy says. “That developed over the years.” They bought furniture piece by piece, usually antiques, not from any specific period or place, just things they liked.
As a ‘Benedictine Baptist,’ Roy Drinkard’s encounter with a new priest shows his quick sense of humor
Roy Drinkard deadpans when he
calls himself a “Benedictine Baptist.” He’s been a member of First Baptist for ages, but he moved to Cullman as a teen to attend St. Bernard Preparatory School. “The Catholic community was the first one to pick me up and take me in,” he says with true fondness. For years he’s enjoyed attending 6:30 a.m. mass at the abbey and recalls some years ago attending Father Kevin McHugh’s first service there. “I went up and took communion like any other good Catholic,” Roy says. “Afterward he met me and said, “Mr. Drinkard, I know you don’t know this, but as a non-Catholic I cannot serve you communion.’” Actually, Roy said, he knew that. “Then why did you take communion?” “I didn’t think you knew I wasn’t Catholic,” Roy replied.
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This provided photo shows The Borkenau prior to the tornado that struck Cullman in 2011. While the landmark house was spared, most of the stately trees are gone. The original Borkenau was built by Austrian immigrant Ignatius Pollack in 1909. When it burned in 1912, he rebuilt it with a floor plan that provided windows in all of the bedrooms as fire escapes. Much of it came from Jim Norman Auction in Hartselle. The fireplace in the living room has always been a family focal point and in winter still blazes with crackling oak. “Karen slept many a night right there by the fireplace,” Roy recalls. The girls had birthday parties and sleep-overs with their young girlfriends. There were Halloween parties and
sorority parties as the girls grew older. It was home for them. Sharon once guided visitors through The Borkenau for an Alabama Historical Society Tour of Homes. “She said she never new her home was different than anyone’s else’s until she started school and found out most of her friends thought it was haunted since it was so large,” Roy says. “Cullman has many
ometime later, the priest attended a breakfast at First Baptist where Roy was serving coffee. They shook hands amicably enough, then the priest extended a cup. “Mr. Drinkard, can I have some coffee?” “Father Kevin,” Roy replied, “you know you are at First Baptist Church. I can’t serve you …” The priest did get his coffee, but Roy got the last laugh.
larger houses, today, and such a concept seems funny to her. “Edythe,” Roy continues, “had enough German in her to keep her feelings in reserve. She took pride in keeping the house ready for visitors and came to love living there, but she never needed to live in The Borkenau simply because it was large. “Like other great things, it was a little love and pride that slowly grew NOVEMBER | DECEMBER | JANUARY 2016
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Parallel wings of the house form a pocket courtyard in the back of The Borkenau, where Roy enjoys his hydrangeas in the summer. A spiffy dresser, he sports a purple shirt and bow tie for a portrait on his front porch facing 9th Street SW in Cullman. and improved. As we worked on the shrubbery and furnished the house, it became more us and became more dear to us.”
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t took some warming up to, but Roy Drinkard says the amazement of living so long at The Borkenau has never worn off. “I am thankful and amazed,” he says. “That happens a lot when I am alone, maybe sitting before the fire. I am so glad I am here. I am appreciative. I’m blessed to have lived here since 1949. “I came to realize no one person would ever own The Borkenau. I have a deed to my home, but she’s meant to be shared with everyone in Cullman and all those who enjoy being here.” In typical Roy fashion, he says one of his fondest memories was the day they burned the mortgage. Slightly more seriously he adds, “I am thankful for my age. And my health continues to improve.” Good Life Magazine 44
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hey are smiling, boating and jet-skiing on Smith Lake. It’s a pretty summer day. Everyone appears to be having fun. So what’s wrong with the people in the photo on this page? They’re in pain, that’s what’s wrong. They live in pain, constantly. Five of the eight people pictured here have been diagnosed with reflex sympathetic dystrophy – RSD for short. It’s also referred to as complex regional pain syndrome, or CRPS. It can strike anyone and has no cure. The relative good news is that the FDA classifies it as a rare disorder. Hard to diagnose, no firm numbers exist on sufferers, but it’s estimated that 60,000 people a year develop RSD. The bad news for those who do have this chronic, neurological pain syndrome is that it’s devastating, disabling and life-changing. The pain is sometimes described as more severe than a constant jellyfish sting. Or having burning lighter fluid flow through your veins 24/7. Many sufferers can’t walk or work. Sometimes their skin is too sensitive to wear clothes. In numerous cases, people dealing with the syndrome also have to deal with additional serious medical conditions. A leader among groups focused on this type of chronic pain is the Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy Syndrome Association out of Milford, Conn., which advocates for people with the disorder and raises money for better diagnostics, treatments and a cure. The group also encourages the forming of communities of these people to help them ward off isolation and take control of their lives.
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oward this end, Larry Vondrasek, at the wheel of his boat here, hosted a retreat this summer at his house on Smith Lake. It was attended by 27 people from as far away as Connecticut and Texas, 18 of whom are RSD patients. Also attending were doctors, physical and occupational therapists – including Tammy Gipson of Cullman at the right – representatives from two national associations and others who care, such as Tammy’s husband, Rodney, in the rear of the boat. The idea was to learn, to share and to have a little fun despite everything else. Here’s the story of Larry’s journey of pain and his decision to build a good life regardless … 46
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Making the most of it
A journey of pain
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and all of the surgery and therapy, his hand was there, but the life he’d known was gone. Larry’s journey of pain had started. Between the hand and RSD pain, Larry lost 80 percent of his mobility along with his ironworking career. Facing limited union disability, he opted to return to school.
in Moscow, Oklahoma City’s new federal building after the terrorist bombing there in 1995, and replacement windows on Chicago’s 108-story Sears Tower. sually a traumatic “trigger” sets Besides a house in Cullman, the off RSD/CRPS, some kind of injury to the Vondraseks also bought a lake house. bones, muscles or nerves. Surgery can even “I found Smith Lake and it’s been great be a trigger. ever since,” Larry says. “I turned the tears In Larry Vondrasek’s case, his trigger to sweat and wiped them off with my was a literal one, and he got his right hand success. I have gone through ripped off. bad stuff but have gotten on my Until then, life had been feet many times to provide for pretty sweet. my family.” Growing up he waterskied In 2004 he started his own professionally at Wisconsin architectural consulting firm. Dells in his home state. He was Pain was still his constant good enough at high school companion, but it was mostly football to pique scholarship confined to his right side where interest from the universities of his nerves continually misfired, Wisconsin and Nebraska. But overloading the parietal lobe of he wasn’t interested in more his brain, which interprets pain school; instead, he accepted signals. an offer from the Chicago His re-attached right hand, ironworkers union and began arm, leg and foot swelled a five-year apprenticeship in abnormally. The skin would 1976. change color. He’d break out Larry and Ramona got married in the hospital in 1985, five “I was not afraid of in sweat. He was in and out of heights,” Larry says. “Or days after his hand got ripped off his arm. Today she’s a hospitals. working hard.” makeup consultant at Belk in Cullman. Daughter Chandra But Larry refused to give in, He became a journeyman and grandson Preston, 12, live in Phoenix, Ariz. Son Cody kept plugging away. ironworker in 1981, and by “I did not stop working until and his wife, Emma, live in Cullman. the age of 21 was building 2012.” skyscrapers from Miami to California. He earned $65 an ctually, Larry quit hour and lived it up in Southern He’d had no choice in what had working only because he slipped in the California, riding horses, driving nice happened, but he did have a choice of garage and broke his neck. He underwent wheels, hitting good restaurants. studies. Working odd jobs full time, Larry his fourth neck and third back operation. That life came to a screaming halt in learned how to use a computer and, through Then, to his dismay, Larry discovered 1985 atop a high-rise in downtown San Diego. Larry was boring through steel with San Diego State online and correspondence the pain had invaded his left side as well courses, studied engineering and as his right. RSD was attacking his entire a high-power drill when the bit suddenly architecture, fields he’d been exposed to as body. locked up, catching his hand inside the an ironworker. Further agonizing his life, three years handle so he couldn’t release the trigger Times were hard. Sometimes Larry ago Larry was diagnosed with multiple on the tool. The torque of the drill motor had to bring home food for his family sclerosis, a cureless disease in which the ripped off his hand. from a Catholic Church handout. But he immune system attacks nerve coverings, fought through the pain and eventually short-circuiting signals between the brain t was a nightmare accident, but it did began picking up estimation and project and the rest of the body. not equate to the excruciating level of pain management jobs. A combination of RSD and MS he developed. “I was,” Larry says, “very proud of deteriorated the ligaments in his left wrist. Seven operations were required to fuse Operating, doctors found nothing but Larry’s hand back onto his arm. It was after myself.” soft tissue, amputated his hand, cut back his third operation that doctors were able n 1994, an international contracting several inches to good tissue in his arm to nail down the hard-to-diagnose RSD firm in Birmingham offered him a vice then reattached the hand with plates and syndrome. president position. Larry and the family he screws. It was caused by accident damage that Larry thinks he’s probably had MS now had moved to Cullman. made his sympathetic nerve and immune for 20 years or more, but it was disguised No longer did he scale soaring, iron systems malfunction. In turn, that caused behind RSD. skyscraper skeletons, but he was able nerves, initially on Larry’s right side, to MS affects people differently, Larry to travel again, reviewing drawings on misfire and overwhelm his brain with notes. One its most troubling effects projects that included the U.S. embassy excruciating pain signals. After two years Story and photos by David Moore
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www.debsbookstore.com NOVEMBER | DECEMBER | JANUARY 2016
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Standing behind Larry Vondrasek at the wheel of his boat is Jim Broatch, the 15-year executive director of the RSD Syndrome Association. He traveled from Connecticut to attend the retreat Larry hosted this summer. “People who don’t have RSD don’t understand,” Jim says. “You’re in pain 24/7. You must learn to accept it.” A 2004 study by Johns Hopkins showed that half of these patients consider suicide, especially during pain flair-ups. Get-togethers like Larry’s are important sources of inspiration for patients, as well as professionals who care for and treat patients with RSD. Though research is underway, Jim continues, there is no cure yet, and to get any sort of treatment patients have to a find a doctor who is even familiar with RSD. For more information, visit: www.rsds.org. manifested itself in the last few months by attacking his throat. “It’s hard to swallow,” he says. “The nerves in my throat are not telling the muscles to swallow or if it’s food or liquid in my mouth. I aspirate a lot.” Steak is impossible, but one day he managed to get down a single bite of chicken. He has to add gelatin to liquids. “I have to swallow it like Jell-O so I won’t drown,” Larry says. He’s undergoing speech therapy for a year trying to re-train his muscles to swallow. If that fails, he faces a feeding tube. Not to outdo the biblical Job, but Larry also had a shoulder replaced last year and an artificial knee installed this March.
L
ike many RSD patients, on good days Larry lives with constant “level-six” pain. Flare-ups can shoot it up to a “10” for a day and send patients to the ER. How does he deal with this life of pain? 50
Because of new opioid guidelines the Centers for Disease Control set this spring, for the first time in 21 years Larry isn’t taking pain meds for RSD. “I did what I was supposed to do for those years,” he says. “But it’s actually a relief from some of the stress from the stigma attached to taking opioids.” Larry does get low-dose infusions of ketamine, often used in anesthesia and traumatic pain control and now for RSD pain. He has to travel to Tennessee for his infusions. For MS, Larry gets a daily neurological med, biweekly therapy and monthly infusions of enriched plasma. Mostly, he strives not to let pain control his life, to keep positive and even perhaps inspire others. “I always try to look at the good,” Larry says. If I don’t it’s really easy to say the hell with it. I struggle with it every day, but I won’t let it win.”
NOVEMBER | DECEMBER | JANUARY 2016
To his thinking, it’s how one should deal with life in general. “You have to make the most with what you have,” he says. “It can all be taken away like that. That’s what happened to me. In one accident, all of it was gone … the house, the cars, the freedom of not being in pain, the ability to provide – all gone.” He had no choice in the accident, he says, but he had one in dealing with the results. He decided to learn to tie a tie, work a computer. “Not everything is rosy for everybody on the lake,” Larry says. “Not everyone is wealthy with a $2 million house. But I don’t care how much money you make, you are going to have struggles … “In my struggles, given what I am given, if I can make my life and the life of my family – who got me through these ordeals – the best I can, and I can share that with others, isn’t that good living?” Good Life Magazine
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Marlon Maze is gone now, but his commentary on politics remains Story by Steve A. Maze Photo by David Moore
M
y dad, Marlon Maze, lived most of his life in the New Canaan community in eastern Cullman County. Many people remember him for his great sense of humor. Not only a cutup and practical joker, he truly enjoyed life and lived it to its fullest before his passing in 2007. But that isn’t the only thing people remember him for. His involvement in politics is what people most remember. He never ran for nor desired to hold political office, but he held politicians’ feet to the fire on a variety of issues. Like most ordinary citizens, Dad felt everyone should be treated the same, including those in his community. Though New Canaan lies in Cullman County, it is also within the police jurisdiction of nearby Arab. Even though citizens within any police jurisdiction cannot vote in that city’s elections, by state law they are required to pay a halftax to that city. Taxation without representation – or rather without adequate representation – got Dad’s ire up. He always insisted that those living in his community received insufficient fire, police and ambulance service from those sworn to protect them. Cullman County would answer calls to the area, at least back then, but they were 25 miles away – too far for timely emergency calls. Arab was the primary responder, but Dad felt calls outside the city limits were viewed as more nuisance than emergency. Calling his area of the county “No Man’s Land,” he became the voice of local citizens. Some politicians dubbed him the “Mayor of New Canaan.” Dad did not discriminate when sharing his criticism of politicians. That meant office holders from Arab, Cullman County and the state of Alabama felt the wrath of his ire on more than one occasion.
A
lot of people remember Dad for something else he did just before his death. He constructed a narrow, wooden two-story building on a lot beside his 52
home. During its construction, most folks had no idea what it would be. Some guessed it was a hunting stand, but there were no deer in our neck of the woods. A few thought it resembled an old prison guard tower. Others cocked an eye upward without venturing a guess. Dad just smiled, choosing not to divulge his little secret … telling curious visitors they just had to wait. It wasn’t until the signs were tacked over the lower and upper doors and he drew off patterns for the moon and stars that some people started to get the picture. And the older folks recognized it first. Outhouses pretty much disappeared 40 or 50 years ago after most homes got indoor plumbing. But this wasn’t just any old run-of-the-mill privy. It was special. The double-decker building had one outhouse stacked directly on top of the other. It wasn’t hard to determine that the person in the top outhouse had a distinct advantage over the person sitting in the bottom. That’s why dad placed a “Politicians” sign over the door on the top floor and a “Voters” sign over the door on the bottom. Shortly after that, the road in front of Dad’s house became jammed with sightseers. Most would slowly make their way along in their vehicles, pointing and laughing at dad’s handiwork. Several, armed with camera phones, stopped in the road and took photos from their vehicles. Some – including politicians – posed for pictures by the outhouse.
D
ad kept his sense of humor right up to the end of his life, and particularly delighted in giving politicians grief when they visited him. And there were many of them. “I wish y’all would quit using the outhouse when you stop to take pictures,” he laughed. “But if you have to, I have a syrup bucket full of corncobs in case you need them.” Dad also kept a shovel handy so politicians could help clean out the privy. “Y’all can go a half-mile up the road to
NOVEMBER | DECEMBER | JANUARY 2016
Maze Cemetery and dig up votes when you are through,” he suggested. Dad was a familiar figure at the Cullman County Courthouse. Most politicians and employees who worked there knew him on a first name basis. He even bragged to me one time that the revenue commissioner had told him that they had a picture of the outhouse in his property tax file. That gave me an opportunity to play a little trick on the one who seemed to enjoy practical jokes so much. As much as Dad took pleasure in pulling a joke on people, he equally despised spending money. His photo is shown next to the definition of “cheapskate” in most dictionaries. “Dad, the reason they have a picture of your outhouse at the revenue office is because the building is considered an improvement to your property,” I told him. “I bet your property taxes go up at least $100 next year.” “Do you think they will assess my property at a higher value next year?” he asked, the smile wiped from his face. “Well, you are always giving the politicians a hard time,” I replied in a serious tone. “You know they are hunting a reason to get even with you.” The following morning I saw Dad’s truck headed down the road toward Cullman. He never mentioned what happened when he made it to the courthouse, and I didn’t ask.
M
y brother and I worked hard at cleaning up Dad’s place after he passed away. We burned rotten wood and other debris, hauled off scrap iron … and then burned some more. One day while I tended a fire, a person approached and asked if I was going to burn Dad’s outhouse. “Lord no!” I exclaimed. “That’s his memorial … a monument to what he stood for. Burning down his outhouse would be like tearing down the Statue of Liberty.” Dad’s outhouse still stands nine years after his passing. FYI, my brother and I left the syrup bucket and corncobs in place. You know … just in case the politicians need them. Good Life Magazine
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Some lean. Some sag. Some almost sigh.
seems, long past their prime, awaiting a bulldozer or
Their tin roofs, brown with age, their clapboard
fire to finish off their last breath.
siding, gapped and gnarled.
But Paul Moss, Tyler Trakel and Mike Roberts
Some bake out in open fields. Others are smothered in weeds, overgrown by woods.
look at old barns differently than most people. They understand that the heart of much of this vintage wood
They are depositories of old junk – farm implements,
is rock solid, its age now a viable virtue. And skilled
rotting feed bags, tumbled stacks of planking,
hands armed with the right tools are capable of giving
discarded appliances eaten up by the cancer of rust
new life to old wood in the form of custom furniture.
sitting atop piles of plain old garbage. These old barns dot the landscape, lingering, it
You’ve heard of the farm-to-fork movement. Now say hello to another movement ‌
From Barn to Table
Paul Moss, co-founder of Southern Heritage Restoration, examines an old Falkville barn he and partner Tyler Trakel plan to demolish in exchange for the wood.
Southern Heritage Restoration made this farm table used for merchandise display at Book and Barrel men’s clothing shop in the Cullman Warehouse District. The surface area of the table is made of restored oak from an old gymnasium floor. The breadboard, or siding of the table, along with the legs, are black walnut from a barn Paul and Tyler dismantled. Story and photos by David Moore
T
he word “heritage” entails an appreciation of one’s cultural and historic past and is emblematic of craftsmanship. And while preservation of heritage requires a proper state of mind, keeping it alive requires effort and action. Paul Moss and Tyler Trakel of Southern Heritage Restoration are putting their attitude to work this Saturday morning, driving out Eva Road to Falkville to check out an old barn. Beyond the inevitable trash and rot they find in these 100-plus-year-old barns, they also uncover hand-processed timber they can “up-cycle,” as Paul puts it, use it to build kitchen and end tables, benches and swings and doors, shutters,
mantels and other accent wood in new and redecorated homes. A property owner who wants or needs to get rid of an eyesore and liability, can get a piece of property cleaned up in exchange for the wood that Paul and Tyler – along with Mike Roberts – salvage and up-cycle. Saving that wood, that heritage, is important to these men. “The craftsmen who built these old houses and barns did so without power tools, blueprints off computers and other marvels we take for granted today,” Paul says. “They thought them up in their head, built them with metal blades and hewing axes, and they stood the test of time. They turned into something lasting.” “But now they’re slowly but surely disappearing, rotting away.” “We want to preserve the past,” Tyler
says. “Things were built differently then, with more care and attention. It’s worth it because it’s what our forefathers did a hundred years ago. I think there’s something to that.” Old farmhouses and their outbuildings take many people back to childhood memories of playing in haylofts and other simple pleasures. “And old wood” Tyler says, “has that history with it.”
S
outhern Heritage Restoration was an outgrowth of Paul and Tyler’s barn jobs. “I had never messed with wood,” says the Cullman native. “Brick, rock, block … I grew up in a mason family with a construction background.” As a sideline, about eight years ago he started tearing down old barns on
NOVEMBER | DECEMBER | JANUARY 2016
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Mike Roberts, Tyler Trakel and Paul Moss, left to right, discuss ongoing projects (and tell jokes and stories) during weeknight shop sessions. They run a backlog of work with 80 percent of their orders being for custom furniture. They plan to move in some other directions, such as making duck decoys and stars, at right, and working with ancient sinker cypress raised from South Alabama swamps. Another plus for vintage timber – they just don’t grow it like they used to. The piece at the bottom right has 170 age rings visible, but is probably much older. Today’s 2x4, bottom left, has 20-30 rings. weekends and selling the distressed timber to individuals and businesses such as Southern Accents. By 2014, he and a buddy were brokering old lumber together, tearing down old barns, selling the vintage wood and using the proceeds to buy more old barns. When the buddy dropped out because of time constraints, Paul continued on his own. Curious, he began asking customers what they did with the old lumber. Beyond using it for accent decorating, they were hiring woodworkers to build farm tables, end tables and such. Paul had dreamed of someday starting his own business, and now an idea flickered that was somewhat foreign to his background – building furniture. Enter Tyler, who works as a civil engineer for Fluid Engineer in Decatur. He and his wife, Rose, are friends with Paul and his wife, Kristie. During a discussion Tyler mentioned that upscaling old lumber was interesting to him and told Paul to let him know if he ever needed a partner. 56
Last February, they joined forces and started building furniture in Tyler’s basement. The first piece they built was a 4x8foot table for Garlan Gudger at Southern Accent. Not counting “barn time,” it took Paul and Tyler three weeks to build, much of that chalked up to trial and error, but they earned a check for $800. “This is going to work,” Paul thought. It worked for Garlan, too, who soon ordered a 5x5-foot table with two benches. Lessons gleamed from the first project whittled production time. Plus, the set sold for $1,000.
O
ther avenues opened when Mark and Kim Hall and Libby Crider got some unique swings made of vintage wood from Louisiana, and Lance and Carrie Taylor put in orders for Paul and Tyler to build a couple more in a similar style to sell at one of their stores, White Willow. It took the guys 26 hours to build the first swing. The second took 20. With a few bucks banked, Paul and Tyler formed Southern Heritage
NOVEMBER | DECEMBER | JANUARY 2016
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Restoration LLC in April. Needing space, they moved for a while into a small shop owned by their friend William Scott. By June, however, they found a larger place they could call their own, an old muffler and AC shop across U.S. 278 from West Elementary. In July, they hired Mike Roberts. Retired from U.S. Steel since 2001, he and his wife, Betty, had moved to Smith Lake in 1999 to be closer to their daughter, Amy Handley, and their grandchild. Mike always had a woodworking shop and among other things, he made intarsia items (mosaics using different shapes and types of wood), duck decoys and Shaker furniture. The three men began woodworking three or four hours most weeknights. One hears joking and banter nearly as much as power tools. To hear Paul and Tyler tell it, some folks think Mike taught them all they know about woodworking. To hear Mike tell it with a dry grin, that’s sounds about right. “They were really going down hill, and I brought them back up.” He laughs but is quick to add, “They have taught me a lot.” Truth be known, they appear to make a good team. “Mike’s always got that positive outlook, always looking for something new,” Paul says. “He has a very good imagination. He studies what people are buying and looks for ways to incorporate old wood into those products.”
T
he guys laugh about their early days. Now they can produce a custom-quality farm table in about 12 hours – the equivalent of four nights’ work. “We don’t have to keep cutting off legs to make it level anymore,” Mike laughs. “It rocks perfectly the first time we set it down …” “Let’s make some chairs that rock with it,” Paul grins, “and it will be just right!” More seriously, he’s thrilled to see the growing and continued interest in up-cycling vintage wood, taking things of quality and giving them new purpose. “I thought it would be a trend, and it would end, and I’d go on with what I do,” Paul says. “But it snowballed.” It’s good for business. It’s also good for the preservation of heritage. Good Life Magazine
Paul wipes down a mantel repurposed from a handhewn, heart pine log in the nearly completed new home of his brother and sister-in-law, Tim and Trish Pitts. Southern Heritage also used repurposed wood to build sliding doors, exposed beams, trim and the arched front doors and their frames in the house. The marks of the old circular saw mills used in another century can be seen in the arched top of the door. The marks add not only a physical texture to the wood but a texture of heritage and history as well.
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George was “rambling” about the Welti community one morning in search of photographic opportunities when sunlight filtering through the mist caught his eye. Revisiting the site later, the peaceful moment had vanished.
G
The photography of George Ponder
eorge Ponder does not consider himself an artist, though many people viewing his wildlife and landscape photography would argue the point. He cannot recall a time when photography did not play a part in his life. His ancestors, settling in Cullman prior to Col. John Cullmann, had no cameras, but his father and grandfather did. When he was young, local photographers introduced George to wet trays, darkrooms and composition, provided him with film to go out and shoot. At Cullman High School he photographed sports. His work for the Bell companies over the years did not involve shooting pictures, but night jobs with Cullman and Homewood law enforcement did. It was through police work in the ’70s that George got serious with his photography and developed a dedication to the documentary style he favors. Following retirement, in 2007 George became a volunteer with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service at Wheeler National Wildlife, putting his cameras and eye to good use. “I do not consider myself an artist since an artist
creates from a blank canvas, a lump of clay or what is envisioned within himself,” George says. “I simply document what is placed in front of me while looking through a camera lens. The use of computer editing George Ponder is always kept to a minimum so that the photograph is a true image of the scene I observed.”
W
hile his approach sounds passive, don’t be fooled. George is driven by a persistent dedication that pries him out of bed in the wee hours to shoot moonlight on the lake, to be positioned in the woods when the wild birds fly, to religiously stand on his dock, evening after evening, capturing whatever the next sunset brings. George Ponder is driven, compelled in his photography ... like an artist.
NOVEMBER | DECEMBER | JANUARY 2016
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George Ponder religiously shoots sunsets nearly every evening from one of about five vantage points from his house at Beaux Point, which overlooks Goat Island on Smith Lake. “I started my sunsets there as therapy years ago,� he says. He often posts series of sunsets on his website: www.pbase.com/beauxpoint/profile. As a tip for shooting sunsets, he suggests bracketing exposures and not being in a hurry. Wait a few minutes and the entire scene can change.
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NOVEMBER | DECEMBER | JANUARY 2016
George shoots birds of a feather ... well, sometimes. He photographed the two eagles at top left near Guntersville Dam. One of its parents brought a fish to an immature eagle on a bare limb. , It dropped the fish, causing the young bird to start squawking. The other parent, shown here, brought another fish. “The immature eagle is still pitching a fit because it’s thinking about what it dropped ... just like a child pitching a fit,” he says. He shot the second eagle about to land on a pond near Cullman. Above, male and female mallards take off across Wheeler Wildlife Refuge. George says his favored Canon EOS 5D Mark III has such good noise reduction that he shoots at ISOs between 1,600 and 5,000, which allows him very fast shutter speeds that in turn free him up from lugging around a tripod. At left, some of the 20 or so whooping cranes that migrate to the Wheeler area take flight, colored ID bands on their legs. Only about 150 of the endangered birds live east of the Mississippi. George went out that morning to an old corn field hoping to get a shot of the cranes. “I just happened to catch them coming out of the cornfield,” he says. “A good portion of the better photos I take, I attribute to the good Lord being with me and throwing a little luck my way.” NOVEMBER | DECEMBER | JANUARY 2016
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NOVEMBER | DECEMBER | JANUARY 2016
The night shot from George’s dock takes on the look of a painting, partly because of the thin veil of mist lying on Smith Lake between the summer and fall. He sometimes awakes in the middle of night just to capture such images. Juxtaposed to the moon here, the sun burns through a thick morning fog on the lake. George was out in his boat to shoot sunrise shots when he heard the roar of bass boats and suddenly found himself in the middle of a dash by tournament fishermen to their favorite spot. “They came out of nowhere,” he says. “I couldn’t believe they were going at the speed they were going in the fog. I got off a picture then moved over a little more in the water.” Similarly, he was looking for turkeys to photograph one morning near the Mulberry River in southwestern Cullman County, when a buck abruptly appeared out of the fog. “I was in the right place at the right time,” George says. “He came out of nowhere and disappeared into nowhere. I don’t think he gave notice that I existed.” NOVEMBER | DECEMBER | JANUARY 2016
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Lightning bolts electrify an eerie sky over Goat island, and George was there to capture the instant. It was not raining at the time, he says, but a front was moving in bringing lightning with it. Shooting a flash of lightning is tricky at best, but George maximizes his chances when atmospheric conditions are right. First he says he can get a bit of a rhythm going and feel when the air is getting charged. He then holds the shutter for a burst of 20 or so high speed frames. With a bit of luck, one of the frames will yield a spectacular shot such as this one. NASA has used his photos before in studies on lightning.
Out ’n’ About If you were out ‘n’ about Aug. 27 in Cullman, there’s a good chance you visited Farm Y’all Festival, the annual salute to the county’s strong agriculture base and the farm-to-fork movement. Some scenes include, clockwise from top: pumpkins so huge Tony Glover had to move many of them by forklift; raptor expert Emily Stauss introducing a great horned owl to onlookers; Extension Agent Raydonna Sims demonstrating how to make apple butter; Danielle Thompson and her daughter, Ruby, selling peaches from Thompson’s Orchard in Fairview; Alle Ackley, tracing with her finger watermelons carved by Rozie Hartley of Stone Bridge Farms; and Audrey Floyd cowgirl-riding a mechanical bull. Photos by David Moore.
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NOVEMBER | DECEMBER | JANUARY 2016
NOVEMBER | DECEMBER | JANUARY 2016
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