Marshall County Good Life Magazine - Winter 2021

MARSHALL COUNTY

Donald Walker spreads paint and sense of community with his brush

It’s not been easy taking the helm of MMC during Covid, but Cheryl Hays did WINTER 2021 | COMPLIMENTARY

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NOVEMBER | DECEMBER | JANUARY 2021-22

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Some financial trends are more obvious than others.

Thanks for making us Marshall County’s deposit market share leader – again!

For the third year running, Citizens Bank & Trust is Marshall County’s deposit market share leader based on the annual FDIC Summary of Deposits*. We’ve worked hard to prove the benefits of locally-owned banking, and we’re proud to submit the FDIC report as evidence. Being number one in our home county is a special honor. As the small bank with big-time products and services, we’re glad to serve the home folks who make it all possible. *FDIC Summary of Deposits as of June 30, 2021

BAN K & T RU S T Albertville • 256-878-9893 Arab • 256-931-4600 Guntersville • 256-505-4600 visit us at citizensbanktrust.com

Cullman 256-841-6600 4

NOVEMBER | DECEMBER | JANUARY 2021-22

Elkmont 256-732-4602

Hazel Green 256-828-1611

New Hope 256-723-4600

Rogersville 256-247-0203

This Christmas,

Shop Local

Support Our

and support ...

Quality of

Local Jobs Roads Schools Police & Fire Park & Rec

Life

Money spent in Marshall County stays in YOUR community A message from

Arab Chamber of Commerce Albertville Chamber of Commerce Boaz Area Chamber of Commerce Grant, AL Chamber of Commerce Lake Guntersville Chamber of Commerce Good Life Magazine/MoMc Publishing

B Boaz Area Chamber of Commerce

Chamber COMMERCE Grant, AL

NOVEMBER | DECEMBER | JANUARY 2021-22

5

Welcome

Value of the view from the Ala. 69 causeway jumps to $10 million

B

umfuzzeled, stewing, parade rained out ... doesn’t matter. By the time I drive 1.5 miles across Browns Creek on the Ala. 69 causeway, my mental status and outlook on life and the world has always improved.

And my usual good mood? It’s even further brightened by that broad expanse of water, whether it’s glimmering in sunlight or lying flat and gray. It’s a powerful view.

And, in case you haven’t noticed, the view is about to improve. Bunches.

The Electric Board of Guntersville is

about to remove the entire colonnade of old, leaning wooden power poles on the south side of the causeway plus all of the metal poles – which TVA turned over to Guntersville – on the other side. The board, assisted by Arab Electric Cooperative, has already installed 45 new poles – 65-75 feet tall – on the south side of the causeway.

They’ll be activated and the new lights lit before this magazine is out. The old poles will disappear by year’s end.

Jason Kirkland, general manager of the electric board, says the old lines required

upgrading. While they were at it, they installed new, taller poles and raised the new lines ... for the sake of aesthetics. The project costs $1.6 million.

I’m pleased that the two utilities are cooperating here for the betterment of the whole county. And I’m absolutely thrilled with the prospects of an improved view – something Jason hears from many folks.

“Your $1.6 million project,” I told him, “is giving us a $10 million view.”

Contributors David Myers and his restaurant review cohort/wife Rose are impressed with growth of Marshall County. “We are happy to test and report on its everevolving dining scene and have yet to find a lack of good eateries,” he says.

Count on reviewer Deb Laslie always having books in the batter’s box. “I’m reading a Brad Meltzer I missed.

Next up (in no real order): another in the Joe Pickett series by C.J. Box; ‘Butterfly Cabinet’ by Bernie McGill ... So many books, so little time.”

It’s not that Steve Maze is the type to hold a grudge, but ...

“One of my childhood letters to Santa was intercepted by the post office. I still haven’t forgiven them.” Read his story on page 36 for some insight into this ongoing rant.

Jacquelyn Hall daydreams of a marginally less chaotic kitchen – with four kids, there’s always someone in there – so she can indulge not only her creative side but her “foody” side by cooking all the scrumptious recipes folks give her.

Liz Smith is not a cold weather person, or, for that matter, especially since retiring, an early riser. Still, the Joppa photographer couldn’t resist getting out last February to shoot pictures of white pelicans for this issue. We’re really glad she did.

Seth Terrell is glad to finish writing for this issue, so he and wife can go to Memphis to catch the City of New Orleans train for a ride to its namesake city.

“My inner-little kid,” he says, “has always been fascinated by trains.” Give that man a “Hoot!”

Sheila McAnear has enjoyed getting out lately with a bit of fall in the air. “I really look forward to cooler days ahead this winter, but I bristle just thinking of January’s cold air,”she says, bristling for effect. “I’d choose being cool any day over cold.”

Mo Mc PUBLISHING LLC Proudly printed in Marshall County

by BPI Media of Boaz 6

NOVEMBER | DECEMBER | JANUARY 2021-22

“When I was young,” says David Moore, “and my brothers were off and my parents were in the den, I loved cutting the living room lights, curling under the tree and dreaming of what Santa would bring me. ‘Is it Christmas yet?’ I’d holler. ‘Son,” Dad would reply, ‘you’re 35.”

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

Vol. 9 No. 1 Copyright 2021 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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NOVEMBER | DECEMBER | JANUARY 2021-22

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Inside 10 | Good Fun

Santa is only a part of what’s fun about the winter season

16 | Good People

Cheryl Hays picked a fine time to take the helm of Marshall Medical

22 | Good Reads

Read ‘The Many Deaths of the Firefly Boys’ and ‘Miss Julia’

25 | Good Cooking

Albertville mom and daughter team up for healthy dishes

34 | Good Eats

You don’t have to drive to New Orleans for creole, only to Arab

36 | ‘Dear Santa’

He really thought Gold Bond savings stamps would work

38 | Built by Wootens

Rudy did the construction and Margie added the special touches

48 | Good Getaways Visit Lynchburg for a taste of what goes into Jack Daniel’s

52 | Donald’s murals

He paints fun, wisdom and a sense of community across Marshall

61 | Saddle up

Hit the backwoods trails at the state park with pro Sam Wright

68 | ‘Snowbirds’

Winter-migrating white pelicans have become regular visitors

74 | Out ‘n’ About

Been out and about with your kids? You may have visited Boaz.

On the cover | A Santa ornament looks right at home on a fence rail in the snow – and why not?

This page | Donald Walker painted this jolly pirate and his friends in murals at Corley Elementary in Boaz.

Photos by David Moore.

Reward Yourself

How to maximize credit card rewards while holiday shopping

November 2019GOOD LIFE MAGAZINE 2021 A Special Supplement to SPECIAL SUPPLEMENT Pickens Progress

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Bring your camera, bring your kids, bring your family, bring your friends and enjoy Christmas in the Park. See pages 12, 13.

Good Fun • Now – Tickets for England Some seats have opened up for the “British Landscapes,” an Albertville Chamber-sponsored trip set for March 20-29, 2022. Highlights include Edinburgh Castle, York, Chester, Llangollen, Wales, Stratford-uponAvon, Oxford and London. An extended three-night stay in Paris is available.

Pricing includes round trip air from Birmingham, nine nights in hotels, including H10 London Waterloo, hotel transfers, 12 meals and various fees. The double-occupancy pricing option is $2,998 per person, but 10

Find the ‘merry’ for you those prices cannot be guaranteed for late-comers. For more info, contact Kathy Gore at the Albertville Chamber: 256-878-3821, or kathy@ albertvillechamberofcommerce.com.

• Now – Blitz’n Boaz Registration deadline has passed, but you, your business or group can still set up a Christmas tree in Boaz’s Old Mill Park and be part of the Tinsel Tree Trail. Trees – either live or artificial – must be at least 6 feet tall with LED lights and weather-friendly decorations.

NOVEMBER | DECEMBER | JANUARY 2021-22

Also, you can decorate your storefront or the outside of your church for Christmas. Efforts will be judged with prizes of $100, $75 and $50. To register for either activity, visit or call the Boaz Chamber of Commerce: 256-593-8154 • Now-Nov. 21 – Auditions with WBS Auditions are open for the Whole Backstage production of the comedy “Dearly Departed,” set for Feb. 11-20.

They will be held at the WBS theatre, 1120 Rayburn Avenue, Guntersville at 6:30 pm Thursday and Friday, 10 am

Saturday and 1:30 pm Sunday. For more info: 256-582-7469.

Small ceramic Christmas trees with lights inside are one of the items created

by Emily Busby of Guntersville, who is one of the local artists with items for sale at the Holiday Art Market. See the other unique gifts offered in the market at the Mountain Valley Arts Council Gallery.

Photos this page

by David Moore.

• Now-Dec. 30 – Holiday Art Market Local artists will fill the Mountain Valley Arts Council Gallery not just to exhibit their creative pieces but to sell them as unique Christmas gifts. It’s the fourth year for the market.

Holiday quilts by quilters from around the county will be on display during the art market.

The MVAC Gallery, now across from the courthouse at 440 Gunter Ave., Guntersville, is open 10 am-5 pm Tuesday-Friday; 10 am-2 pm Saturday; and by appointment.

Admission is free. For more info visit: info@mvacarts.org; or call: 256-5717199.

• Nov. 18 – Albertville Christmas Parade/Tree Lighting With the idea of boosting its Christmas shopping season, the chamber of commerce, with input from the Albertville Downtown Merchants, shifted its parade and the open house (Nov. 19-20) to the weekend before Thanksgiving. The tree Lighting ceremony start at 5 pm Thursday at the Rotary Park Pavilion. The parade starts shortly after at 5:30 pm. Parade entrants can register at the chamber or online: albertvillechamberofcommerce.com.

For more info, call the chamber: 256878-3821.

• Nov. 19-20 – Albertville Downtown Christmas Open House / Cookies with Santa Open house starts at 5 pm Friday and continues 10-2 pm Saturday.

Merchants throughout town have lots of specials, refreshments, activities for kids and families, unique photo opportunities, Christmas reading, cookie baking, ornament making, a kids fun zone in Farmer’s Market parking lot and a wine and other tastings. Enjoy free carriage rides Friday evening and Saturday from the chamber office.

Cookies with Santa will be 10-noon Saturday at the Historic Train Depot.

The Junior Chamber will present a live Nativity in front of the chamber office 5:30-6:30 pm Friday. AHS

Vocal Ease will perform hourly Saturday at the depot parking lot.

Aggie Theater will perform “Matilda” at the Albertville Fine Arts Center at 7:30 pm Thursday, Friday and Saturday and also at 4 pm Saturday; admission: $10. Lighthouse Theatre Co. will hold a family market Saturday at the First Baptist Venue featuring local merchants and theatrical entertainment; $2 admission.

For more info, call the chamber: 256- 878-3821.

• Nov. 20 – Skinny Turkey 5K/10K Run off those extra holiday pounds – before the holidays. Dress up for Thanksgiving and register for Boaz Park and Recreation’s Fifth Annual Skinny Turkey 5K/10K and raise money for the Second Chance Shelter, a non-profit, no-kill dog shelter.

Pre-registration for the certified course is closed. Runners 12-70 can register the morning of, at the start station. Registration is $40.

The 10K starts at 8 am at the old Boaz Rec Center, 314 North King Street. 5K starts at 8:10. For more info: runsignup.com/race/AL/Boaz/ SkinnyTurkey; or call: 256-593-7862.

• Nov- 22-Dec. 21 – Free holiday gift wrapping The Albertville Chamber will provide the free service for any purchase made locally with a valid receipt. Please provide your own box.

• Now-Dec. 6 – Be Santa’s helper Create some “Good Fun” for those who aren’t financially able this Christmas – donate to the Marshall County Christmas Coalition. The group has received applications to help nearly 1,500 children. All applicants are screened and verified for need.

Sponsor a child – or several – as an individual, business or a group.

Sponsors are encouraged to spend at least $100 (tax-deductible) per child, and donations may be made in honor or memory of someone. Drop-off for sponsors is 8 am-4 pm Dec. 6-8.

Monetary donations are welcome anytime. For details on sponsoring a child: www.christmascoalition.org; or 256-582-9998.

• Nov. 18-Jan. 2 – Festival of Trees This 13th annual event organized by the Guntersville Museum features an array of festively decorated trees,

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11

wreaths and quilt art from some 35 organizations and individuals across Marshall County. The opening reception for members on Nov. 19th is bound to get you in the spirit of Christmas; individuals can pay $25 that evening to attend and get a year’s membership.

The museum is open 10 am-4 pm Tuesday-Friday; 1-4 pm weekends; free admission. For more: www. guntersvillemuseum.org; or 256-571-7597.

• Nov. 19-Jan. 1 – Antonio Diego Voci exhibit In conjunction with its Festival of Trees, the Guntersville Museum will have a special exhibit in Woodall Gallery of 15 paintings by Italian artist Antonio Diego Voci. Though he’s deceased, a member of the museum is loaning their private collection of his works for this special showing. (See event listing above for museum information.)

Private Diego collection to hang at the Guntersville Museum.

Nov. 26-Dec. 31 – Christmas in the Park The city’s holiday tradition continues for its 27th glimmering year as some two million lights transform Arab City Park into a festive magical spectacle. The lighting ceremony is at 6 pm, Friday, Nov. 26, after which the lights will glimmer and entice from dusk to 9:30 nightly through the end of the year, weather permitting. It’s free to walk and enjoy the park, which is located at 844 Shoal Creek Trail.

More info? Call: Arab Parks and Rec, 256-586-6793; visit www.arabcity.org; or visit on Facebook.

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• Nov. 26–Dec. 18 – Santa in the Park In conjunction with Christmas in the Park, Santa in the Park will be at Arab Historic Village – located in the park – 6-9 pm Fridays and Saturdays, beginning Nov. 26 and going through Dec. 18th. Visit Santa in his toy shop and see his elves.

There will be live music, food truck and more. Admission to Santa in the Park is free for kids 2 and under; $6 per person.

More info? Call: Arab Parks and Rec, 256-586-6793; visit www. arabcity.org; or visit on Facebook.

• Nov. 30 – Guntersville tree lighting Guntersville lights up the holidays with its annual 20-foot Christmas tree lighting ceremony at 5:30 pm at Errol Allan Park downtown. Sponsored by the city’s Tree Commission, Santa will be there. You can get hot chocolate and cookies plus hear the Guntersville Elementary Choir sing. Need more info? Call: 256-571-7561.

• Dec. 1-22 – Free gift wrapping – Guntersville Lake Guntersville Chamber of Commerce is offering free gift wrapping for anything you buy in town and have the receipt for. Bring your own box. The chamber is open 8 am-4:30 pm, Monday-Friday.

Dec. 2 – Arab Christmas Parade The parade starts at 6 pm at Arab First Baptist Church and runs south down Main Street to Snead State. The theme is “Toyland.” Grand marshal will be Danny Hawkins, who in 2020 won the Arab Chamber of Commerce’s Outstanding Citizen Achievement Award. Registration forms available at the chamber; entries are free except floats are $35 and eligible for $100, $75 and $50 awards. For more information, call the chamber: 256-586-3138; or register at: arabchamber.org.

• Dec. 3 – Boaz Christmas Parade Boaz’s traditional Christmas parade will again this year end at Old Mill Park in downtown where the

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city’s 40+-foot Christmas tree will be lit. Santa will be there, along with caroling, hot chocolate, the works. The parade starts at 5:30 pm. The theme for this year is “Christmas Movies.”

Entry deadline is Dec. 1; entrance fee is $10. For more info contact: Boaz Area Chamber of Commerce: 256-5938154; or boazchamberassist@gmail. com.

• Dec. 3 – Guntersville Christmas Open House Get in the Christmas spirit 4-8 p.m. as the North Town Merchants Association kicks off the shopping season. Participating stores will offer great specials, refreshments and other events, and you’re invited to “sip and shop.” It’s a prelude to the next event listing …

• Dec. 4 – A Night Before Christmas This annual Christmas tradition in downtown Guntersville from 4-8 p.m. is fun for kids and parents alike. Take carriage and train rides, decorate cookies, see Santa, go ice skating, have your face painted, enjoy

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music and more. All events are free, compliments of the North Town Merchants Association. Businesses will not only be open and offering sales, but offering refreshments and fun activities, too.

In conjunction with the event, Guntersville First United Methodist will again stage its outdoor “Night in Bethlehem” at the church.

• Dec. 4 – Grant Christmas Parade The town’s parade starts at 1 pm at DAR Schools and heads down Main Street. Lineup is at noon. There is no entrance fee but if you want to be in the parade, you need to call town hall and register: 256-7282007.

• Dec. 11 – Guntersville Christmas Parade The parade begins at 4 pm at Scott Street one block past the chamber of commerce and makes its way through town on U.S. 431 to Gilbreath Street. Theme for the parade is “Home for the Holidays.”

Applications – you need to fill out one to participate – are available at the Lake Guntersville Chamber of Commerce or online at: www. lakeguntersville.org. For more info: 256-582-3612.

• Dec. 14 – Lights of Love Shepherd’s Cove Hospice’s annual event will be both drivethru and virtual because of Covid concerns. The drive thru the Field of Love display of luminaries is 4:306:30 p.m. at 408 Martling Road in Albertville. Have a family picture made, make a holiday memorial craft, enjoy holiday refreshments with sounds of the season. $10 for a luminary, $50 for luminary and an ornament with a hand-painted name, $100 for luminary, ornament and live cedar to plant; all participation categories include a memorial name and message for the online Christmas tree. For more info, visit: www.shepherdscove.org; or call Shepherd’s Cove: 256-891-7724.

• Dec. 16-19, 24-25 – “Christmas Carol – A Radio Play” 14

Al Reese of Langston photographed this bald eagle.

Whole Backstage (under the direction of Johnny Brewer) and Sonny Lewis present the musical adapted for radio from the Charles Dickens novella by Anthony Palermo.

Technical director is Denton Gillen.

Shows are 7 pm except for Sunday, which begins at 2 pm.

Tickets: $20 adults, $18 seniors, $12 students; available at the office or online: www.wholebackstage.com.

The show will be streamed online Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. The Whole Backstage is located at 1120 Rayburn Ave. in Guntersville.

For more info: 256-582-7469.

• Jan. 5-28 – Show for the Birds In celebration of Lake Guntersville State Park’s Eagle Awareness events and the annual bird species counts, you are invited to exhibit your favorite bird art at the Mountain Valley Arts Council Gallery. The show is open for any medium – sculpture, painting, wood and more. Call to register your entry.

The MVAC Gallery, across from the courthouse at 440 Gunter Ave., Guntersville, is open 10 a.m.-5

NOVEMBER | DECEMBER | JANUARY 2021-22

p.m. Tuesday-Friday; 10 am-2 p.m.

Saturday; and by appointment.

Admission is free. For more info visit: info@mvacarts.org; or call: 256-5717199.

• Jan. 28-Feb. 11 – Eagle Awareness The eagle is landing again. After falling last year to Covid, Lake Guntersville State Park is again hosting its long-running winter weekend events that put American Bald Eagles center stage. Open to all ages. Plans were not yet finalized at deadline, but special overnight packages for Fridays-Sundays at the lodge and campgrounds have always been offered. The Saturday (5:30 am-5 pm) and Sunday programs (5:30 am-2 pm) are free and include guided field trips to view eagles in their natural environment, live bird demonstrations and notable speakers.

For more program info, call: the nature center, 256-571-5445; for campgrounds, call: 256-571-5455; for other reservations, call: 256-5056621; or google it.

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15

Good People

5questions Story and photo

by David Moore

I

n the best of times it would be a challenge to take the administrative reins of a healthcare system with two hospitals, nine outpatient locations, 1,569 employees, 220 skilled physicians, 26 specialties, a $165 million budget and the pressure of maintaining the standards required to keep its Joint Commission designation as a “Top Quality Performer” among America’s hospitals.

Those are the reins Cheryl Hays accepted at the end of April 2020, when Marshall Medical Center President Gary Gore retired after some 30 years of leading Marshall Medical Center North and South.

She took those reins as the entire world stood at the gaping threshold of the dark unknowns of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Cheryl had 31 years in nursing and hospital management – 21 of them in administration at MMCN – when board representatives began asking her in late 2019 about taking Gary’s place. Covid was unheard of; her reluctance was mostly because of Gary’s substantial shadow.

“I kept saying no,” says Cheryl, who at the time had been MMCN’s administrator for 17 years. “I felt our jobs were very different. Gary was such a visionary. I felt I was the boots on the ground making things happen. It would be big shoes to fill.”

In January 2020, Mike Alred, chairman of the Marshall County Healthcare Authority, came to Cheryl’s office as a show of confidence in her.

“I understand why you keep saying no,” she recalls Mike saying. “But I want you to know the board would be very supportive of you doing this.”

“I told him I would consider it and needed to pray about it,” she replied. She agreed about the time the first U.S. Covid case was reported, before anyone knew the coronavirus would cause the greatest 16

Cheryl Hays

Walking into the Covid pandemic as president of Marshall Medical Centers healthcare crisis ever, escalating to 242 million cases worldwide – and counting.

“Gary told me the new job was just more of what I had been doing. But we didn’t recognize the Covid factor,” Cheryl says. “It’s been nothing like what we’d been doing.”

C

ovid or not, while growing up in Oneonta, Cheryl never pictured herself running hospitals “As I recall,” she says, “I never really gave a lot of thought to what I would be.”

The main career avenues open to women then were teaching and nursing.

The former was Cheryl’s early interest.

“I lined up dolls with a chalkboard and taught them,” she laughs. As a teen, her mother told her she was smart and should be a nurse.

“I looked into it and decided it’d be interesting,” Cheryl says.

After graduating in 1976 from Oneonta, her boyfriend opposed her going off to a four-year nursing school, so she undertook a two-year medical assistant program at UAB – and enjoyed it.

That summer, Cheryl worked for a Cullman doctor. Summer’s end also saw boyfriend’s end, but Cheryl’s desire to earn a nursing degree remained.

“I asked my dad if he would be willing to support that goal, and he said absolutely.

So I finished at Jacksonville State with a BSN degree – and a husband.”

He husband, Tim Hays, is now a retired teacher who wrote an original musical The Whole Backstage produced in 2021. Featured in GLM’s spring 2020 issue, Tim related his version of how he “reeled in” Cheryl, saying he “happened” to be sitting on the hood of his Camaro, shirtless with gold-tanned jack-hammer muscles, playing a guitar and singing “Love Me Tender,” all to impress her.

After that, she was in hot pursuit.

T

im did make an impression, Cheryl laughs. “But he would tell you

NOVEMBER | DECEMBER | JANUARY 2021-22

I stalked him, and there’s not a shred of truth to that.”

He soon asked her out, but she had an upcoming chemistry test and declined.

“He assured me that chemistry was one of his best subjects and he could help me study. I fell for it – but I soon found out that he knew no more about chemistry than I did.

“However,” Cheryl continues, “he was really funny and a quick thinker, so maybe I was pretty easily reeled in – but I never pursued him. I was raised to believe that the guy always had to make the first move. You never acted interested – and yet we dated steadily. So maybe I reeled him in…”

Either way, they married in January 1981. She graduated that spring, they settled in Oneonta, and she became a nurse, working nights in Birmingham at Montclair Medical Center’s postpartum GYN unit for $7.35 per hour. St. Vincent’s East later hired her for its ICU. “I loved it,” Cheryl says, “but I did not love the commute.”

When her hometown hospital offered her an ICU position, she accepted. That led to a position as director of education/ infection preventionist.

Cheryl later started the master’s program at UAB but was disappointed with its focus on theory and not clinical nursing, so she changed to hospital administration.

“I knew immediately I was in the right spot,” she says. “It combined my interest in business with that of clinical care.”

T

hough happy in her studies, swapping a salary for tuition payments, commuting and raising their toddler son Adam on Tim’s teaching pay was a squeeze.

“By the time I finished my master’s, we had about $4 in the bank, a loan from my dad, some canned vegetables from Grandma, and baby Lindsey on the way,” she says. “But we made it!”

SNAPSHOT: Cheryl Hays

Early life: Born Sept 30, 1958, in Cullman, second child of Emily and the late J.O. Marcum; grew up in Oneonta.

Siblings: Debbie, Lance and Linc.

Education: graduated Oneonta High, 1976; Jacksonville State University, BS degree in nursing, 1981; MS in Health Administration, the University of Alabama in Birmingham, 1988.

Family: 1981, married Tim Hays; son Adam died in 1999; daughter, Lindsey Ruggles (Alex) of Florence, grandson James Adam, 4.

Career: RN, Montclair Medical Center, Birmingham, 1981-82; ICU nurse, St. Vincent’s East, 198283; ICU nurse, director of education, Blount Memorial Hospital, Oneonta, 1983-85; VP of Clinical Services, Cullman Regional Medical Center, 1988-95; president, Lawrence Baptist Medical Center, Moulton, 1995-99; chief operating officer, Marshall Medical Center North, 1999-2002; administrator, MMCN, 2002-18; COO, Marshall Medical Centers 20182020, president, Marshall Medical Centers, 2020-present. Fellow in the American College of Healthcare Executives.

Cheryl was “over-the-moon happy” when Cullman Regional Medical Center hired her as Assistant Administrator.

CRMC was managed by Baptist Medical Centers, which seven years later took over Lawrence County Hospital in Moulton.

BMC sent Cheryl there as administrator.

Those were four tough years. “The medical staff was very opposed to Baptist taking over and made their objections loud and clear,” she says.

Hearing Gary Gore needed an assistant administrator at MMCN, she hopefully applied. Four months later, she was interviewed, hired and moved temporarily into a Guntersville apartment.

Tim remained in Moulton with the kids to finish his teaching year and sell the house.

Then disaster struck.

Cheryl had been at MMCN about two months when Adam, then 14 with a congenital heart defect, became critically ill. He spent 30 days at UAB awaiting a new heart. Only hours before a heart became available, he suffered cardiac arrest. His kidneys shut down. Doctors put him on bypass, proceeded with the transplant, but Adam never recovered.

Work was a struggle, to say the least.

“It was the darkest period of my life, and several years before I felt like I was back on my game,” Cheryl says.

“I’ll always be grateful to Gary. He was enormously patient.”

F

or 21 years at Marshall North, Cheryl loved working in operations, first as COO and later as administrator, the position she took in 2002 when Gary left MMCN to head Marshall Medical Centers.

In her early years, she gave little thought to being one of the few females in hospital administration.

“I always focused on the role I was in, doing the best I could,” Cheryl says.

Gary, the visionary, set goals for Marshall North and Marshall South.

Cheryl, the operations pro, the boots on the ground, ensured the hospitals achieved those goals. “As a team,” she says, “I think we worked very well.”

To ensure Gary’s vision of keeping MMC financially strong at a time when many local hospitals were forced to close their doors, he helped bring about an integration agreement with Huntsville Hospital Health System in October 2018.

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The two entities committed to investing $110 million over 10 years to expand MMC services to meet local needs.

That agreement was a key factor in late 2020 when the healthcare authority began to consider Gary’s pending retirement.

“We were still new in the integration agreement with Huntsville Hospital, and everyone felt that it wasn’t a good time to bring in a new leader,” Cheryl says. “No one could have foreseen that a pandemic would hit as Gary handed off the baton to me. I’m sure he would have rather left when everything was going well.”

Don’t think she’s looking for sympathy because of Covid’s timing.

“In leadership, you feel a heavy weight of responsibility to ensure we have the resources, staff and protocols needed to deal with any crisis,” Cheryl says. “But I don’t want anyone to think, ‘poor baby.’ I’m in offices all day. It’s our front-line people who are most burdened – they’re the ones dealing firsthand with the suffering.”

1.

What sort of impact has Covid-19 had on Marshall Medical Centers?

The emotional impact on everyone cannot be adequately described.

The virus is devastating to families, and to have that anxiety level multiplied by the visitation restrictions required to contain the virus – that impact is hard to describe. Masking made it harder for patients and staff to communicate.

To have such an influx of critically ill patients over an extended length of time – many of whom would not make it – drains the front-line staff, including physicians and nurses. To bond with patients, and be a part of the final hours between patients and families are emotional events that cannot be put away when staff leaves the hospital. It takes a heavy toll.

In addition to the emotional drain of caring, staff constantly fear unknowing exposure and carrying it home to their children, spouses, elderly parents. Many undressed in their carports and showered before interacting with family.

All of this might have been taken in stride had it lasted a month or two – but we’re in month 21 and counting.

NOVEMBER | DECEMBER | JANUARY 2021-22

When the pandemic began, an almost immediate nationwide shortage of personal protective equipment developed.

We didn’t know if we would have enough PPE and ventilators. We met daily to discuss inventory levels of gloves, gowns, masks, disinfectants and other necessities.

Sometimes asymptomatic patients exposed others before anyone knew they were positive. Testing supplies had to be limited to those most likely to be positive.

PPE had to be changed between patients, and visitors also needed PPE. We often got down to the last ventilator, then found one to borrow, buy or rent. Being in a system, we could also move vents as needed between North, South and Huntsville.

Extra staff had to be here to screen people entering the facility and ensure that everyone was masked. ER traffic had to be re-routed with screening outside, requiring extra nurses. Initially we opened a daycare center because the public ones closed, leaving many staff unable to work because of childcare obligations.

Our already shorthanded staff was emotionally and mentally exhausted with the extra patients. And because we couldn’t allow visitors, they had to make and take dozens of patient calls daily. Everyone understood – it was just difficult to meet the extra expectations on top of all the precautions.

At a time in history when we most needed to spend more time with isolated and scared patients, we had the least staff available to do so. Most family members understood. Some took out frustrations on staff or even hospital property. And not being able to care for patients the way the staff wanted to, is further emotionally and mentally draining – and the patients suffer the same loss of connection.

Policies regarding visitors, deliveries, equipment salesmen, pharmaceutical reps – everyone – had to be evaluated. Policies changed almost daily as new information came in constantly.

Rapidly changing information and policies, along with status updates, had to be disseminated to staff, physicians, board members, the public and Huntsville Hospital.

All meetings were replaced with conference calls, Zoom. Office workers were advised to stay in their own departments. With constant social

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distancing, not eating together or gathering to celebrate small victories, a total shutdown of the camaraderie that makes work meaningful, so much suffering … it’s been very isolating for everyone.

2.

What has enabled MMC to deal with the pandemic?

Much of it is disaster training. We’ve always had disaster plans ready for different scenarios and drill on them throughout the year. We work with community agencies to get comfortable with what resources they have and how we can best work together.

When Covid hit, we already had the structure in place to manage it and communicate. We updated the surge plan based on the disaster being a pandemic.

Possibly more important than preparedness is teamwork. We have a very resourceful and dedicated team led by incident commanders Audra Ford and Renee Jordan. I don’t want to go further with names because so many people played key leadership roles.

Pharmacists trying to secure treatments and vaccine. Clinical staff and physicians working far more shifts and much longer hours. Lab management securing reagents and Covid testing options when both were scarce. Nursing leadership, supply directors, human resources, marketing and communication, etc. We have many heroes; many people working long, intense hours behind the scenes to help us deal with the outbreak in addition to the many heroes at the bedside and in the clinical areas.

We have relied on every single employee. Each played a vital role.

During 2 of the 3 primary surges last winter, this past summer and fall, we had to shut down our ORs, cancel elective cases and convert our post anesthesia care units to overflow ICUs. Day surgery at North and ER at South became sites of monoclonal antibody infusion treatments. Unfortunately, during a surge – there are no beds available to transfer critical patients. Huntsville took patients when they could – although they were also full. With no ability to transfer, having the new dialysis service at South for the last surge was certainly a blessing.

Throughout the pandemic, a major factor in keeping up morale has been 20

the community outpouring of support. It began with the people hand-sewing and donating masks. Businesses donated PPE. Churches did drive-in prayer meetings and prayer bracelets. Food was frequently dropped off for staff. Notes were written by community citizens to the staff, showing appreciation and support.

These expressions of gratitude were critical to keeping morale up. Knowing that their effort was acknowledged and appreciated gave them the strength to keep going.

MMC employees will also tell you that the positive part has been that they pulled together as a team and, in many ways, developed closer bonds.

Everyone learned they can work under extreme pressure for an extended period of time, making critical decisions and changes as required. It has given us greater confidence as an organization.

We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; Perplexed, but not in despair; Persecuted, but not abandoned; Struck down, but not destroyed. – 2 Corinthians 4:8-9

3.

It sounds as if Covid demands most, if not all, of MMC’s resources and efforts. What projects/upgrades at the two hospitals were on the books but got delayed because of the pandemic?

We’ve repeatedly discussed the need for a detox center, but just can’t find time to fully evaluate. And with the pressure on staffing and beds, we cannot take on an additional inpatient service.

Even as we speak, South has a big project going to increase critical care beds by 50 percent – from 12 to 18 beds.

But it’s faced construction delays, state review board delays and shipping delays.

Meanwhile, steel, plywood and concrete have more than doubled in price.

We were expanding and coordinating our off-site labs, but that got hindered by workforce shortages and overwhelming time required for Covid testing, reporting and resource needs. We have increased the volume of work we send to the Huntsville Hospital lab.

Telemedicine … when the pandemic hit, we were exploring how we could use that to connect patients with specialists, or with their own physicians outside of rounds. That got interrupted.

NOVEMBER | DECEMBER | JANUARY 2021-22

4.

At some point in the future, when MMC has the time and resources to think of anything other than Covid – and after you address delayed projects – what needs and improvements would you and the board like to address?

We need to upgrade our information system and evaluate online scheduling for outpatient procedures. We want outpatient procedures to be as convenient and “sleek” as possible.

Despite Covid, we had a great year recruiting physicians, adding six doctors, five of them specialists.

This year we have just recruited an additional orthopedic surgeon, and hope to add a neurologist, urologist, gastroenterologist, anesthesiologist and an otolaryngologist (ear-nose-throat). We plan to open an additional operating room at each hospital. Once we have those in place – and our OR cases continue to grow – we may want to look at an ambulatory surgery center.

Prior to pandemic, our hospitals gave about 15 IV infusions daily, most commonly antibiotics, osteoporosis or lung treatments, blood products and IV fluids. Those resources had to be devoted to Regeneron infusions during the pandemic, but we’d like to look at centralizing those treatments at an infusion center.

We need additional critical care beds at North, where we only have eight. We had way too many days when we had to hold patients in ER because beds were unavailable.

5.

What’s something most people don’t know about Cheryl Hays?

I’ll have to dig deep for that. I’m pretty open. I think most people see me as being very in control of my emotions – very even-tempered.

But they don’t know that I suffer from road rage. I stay calm in just about any circumstance all day – but put me behind a left-lane driver – and I can barely hold myself together.

And there may still be someone who does not know that I am retiring by the first of March. Though, considering my road rage, I may not plan many road trips.

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Good Reads

Jump on the running board with the wild Firefly Brothers

You may know characters in this charming southern series

’m always on the hunt for a good story, something that makes me think, or laugh, or wonder about, or engages my brain in some new way – a mystery perhaps, a part of history newly revealed, or new worlds to discover.

“The Many Deaths of the Firefly Brothers” by We believe there are things Thomas Mullen had me engaged from the first that are possible and page. It’s part mystery, part things that are not, actions history with an added touch we can imagine doing and of wonder. others that are beyond Jason Fireson is a the pale. But the doors are novice bootlegger near swung and what once was the end of Prohibition.

Driving the backroads and impossible, unthinkable, outwitting the police are is there before us, quite a thrill, but as his happening to us. skills progress, so also do his ambitions. Like robbing banks, “because that’s where the money is!”

The Depression has hit his family hard. Soon his brother Whit has joined Jason. Exhausting the goodwill and bad judgment of old pals, surviving late-night police raids,sneaking through stake-outs ... the Firefly Brothers become the stuff of legends in a country desperate for distraction from real life.

Are the bank-robbing Firefly Brothers out for themselves, or are they do-gooders for the downtrodden? What’s the secret hanging between the brothers, and why is it they can’t be killed?

Plant your feet firmly on the running boards and hang on.

– Deb Laslie

ooking for good southern writing with characters that you feel you already know (because you live next door to them)? Ann B. Ross’ charming “Miss Julia Speaks Her Mind” begins the series featuring Julia Springer.

Miss Julia, recently widowed banker’s Men, religious men, had wife of 45 years and proud member of First been making decisions for Presbyterian, finds her me all my life, telling me life and her community not to worry, do what I tell turned upside down you, I know what’s best when her dead husband’s for you, what you want is “lady friend” (Wesley not important. And I’d let Lloyd hasn’t been in his bank-related meetings them, always assuming every Thursday evening that they were right, that for years?) drops her they knew more than I husband’s 9-year-old son did, that it was my place on her doorstep. to agree and go along, What’s an upstanding even as the icy knife of matron to do? What will the neighbor’s think? Her resentment cut wider and friends? Her pastor? As deeper into my heart. the prayer-chain phone lines buzz with what will suffice for the latest “concern,” Julia is learning to deal with her inheritance, manage a household that now includes a young boy who desperately needs a haircut, and coming to the realization that her very satisfactory life has not been satisfactory at all. A page-turner.

– Deb Laslie

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Ellen Honea, left, is joined in her kitchen by daughter, Julie McGowan and granddaughters Milla and Darcie. At least half of them prepared the spread pictured here. Julie is married to Connor McGowan. Ellen is married to Albertville Mayor Tracy Honea. They are also the parents of Riley and the late Nick Honea.

Good Cooking Story by Jacqulyn Hall Photos by David Moore

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he Honea/McGowan mother/ daughter duo have all but mastered the coveted balance of beautiful seasonal foods that are healthy and as delicious to eat as they are to the eye.

Ellen Honea, First Lady of Albertville, has always enjoyed cooking for her family.

“Mom always caters to our needs and requests,” Julie McGowan affectionately says of her mother. “Her love language is food, I think.”

A retired nurse, Ellen has meshed her love of health and cooking into one comprehensive way of taking care of her family.

“Health is a constant job – not chore – to maintain,” she says. “There’s no magic pill to fix it. It takes work to maintain it.”

Ellen finds the most joy and satisfaction in making kombucha and sauerkraut.

She thoroughly enjoys both the creative and scientific aspects of the fermentation process. When making kombucha, she gets to mix and match flavors, and as with any fermentation process, it takes precision, time and nurturing in order to produce a delicious result.

In the last eight years or so, Julie says, Ellen has “basically changed everything I knew about food and cooking; what is healthy and what isn’t, and the impact it has on our health.”

Mom/daughter cook on same page with healthy, eye-grabbing dishes She started on this healthy cooking journey through Julie’s influence.

A vegetarian since third grade, Julie introduced her mom to many of the healthier versions of family favorites, particularly sweets like gingersnap cookies and energy balls.

Julie enjoys making healthy food that is not only beautiful, but tastes good; showcasing to friends that food can be all those things even when not processed.

The recipe that she has found to garner the most surprise is for her beet hummus.

“It’s so pretty,” Julie says, “and so good!”

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ulie has teaching her girls, Milla and Darcie, at the forefront of her mind. One way she is helping her girls understand the differences between whole or processed foods, is by calling some of her healthy recipes and whole foods “strong foods.”

Sitting down to a meal with the family leaves no one longing for processed substitutes. Ellen and Julie have every course that one can imagine covered with a healthy alternative; from scrummy appetizers like stuffed pickled jalapeños

and goat cheese cranberry pecan truffles, all the way through to dessert.

The truffles are wonderfully creamy, have a hint of sweetness and just the right amount of tang from the goat cheese and cranberries.

A healthier alternative to their bacon-wrapped cousins, stuffed pickled jalapeños satisfy the craving for something not-too-spicy with a perfectly seasoned cream cheese filling.

When the weather turns chilly, the family enjoys a varied selection of healthy and robust soups and chowders. One of Julie’s go-to recipes is her quick and easyto-prepare red lentil curry soup. Vegan and yet hearty, it’s ideal for a cold day; the warmth from the spices and the soup itself makes for the ideal comfort food.

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llen makes a creamy potato corn chowder that has all the creaminess of a traditional chowder without the heavy cream; yet it fulfills all the classic characteristics that one would expect.

Balancing the soups with their apple beet salad drizzled with maple Dijon dressing lightens the fare, not only in substance, but in color and flavors.

NOVEMBER | DECEMBER | JANUARY 2021-22

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APPLE BEET SALAD WITH MAPLE DIJON DRESSING Spring mix or lettuce of choice Diced red or green apple or combination of both Thinly sliced red onion 1 small roasted fresh beet, sliced or cubed Crumbled feta or goat cheese Chopped walnuts Toss salad ingredients in large bowl. Serve with Maple Dijon Dressing Maple Dijon Dressing ½ cup good quality extra virgin olive oil ¼ cup apple cider vinegar 2-3 Tbsp. pure maple syrup (depending on how sweet you prefer) 2 Tbsp. Dijon mustard 1 clove chopped garlic or ¼ tsp. garlic powder Pinch of salt and pepper Place all ingredients in a glass jar with lid. Shake well until thickened and well combined.

PUMPKIN CORNBREAD (gluten free; Ellen) 1 egg 1¼ cup cornmeal (not cornmeal mix) ½ cup almond flour 1 Tbsp. baking powder ½ tsp. sea salt 1 cup whole milk, buttermilk or almond milk

¼ cup pumpkin puree 2 Tbsp. pure maple syrup 3 Tbsp. melted refined coconut oil or vegetable oil

It perfectly blends tangy acidity and sweetness with the fruit and dressing.

Dessert is not off the table in the Honea and McGowan households.

Julie’s soft baked gingersnap cookies are favorites with her family, including her girls, who love their “strong food” cookies. Soft like a brownie but with the warmth of a traditional gingersnap, the cookies do not last long once word is out that Julie made them.

Opting to cook seasonal and locally grown produce as much as possible, Ellen and Julie frequent both the Albertville and Guntersville farmers markets.

What they do not find within Marshall County, they enjoy from CSA organic farm subscription from Mountain Sun Farm in Mentone. The farmer brings the subscription boxes to a pick up location at Jamoka’s in Guntersville.

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Preheat oven to 425.

Mix dry ingredients together. Add

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he Honeas and McGowans do not let vacations or other trips from home alter their whole food take on conventional recipes. They do their homework by virtually scouting the farmers markets and juice bars at their destination. To ensure that things run smoothly in the kitchen while away from

NOVEMBER | DECEMBER | JANUARY 2021-22

milk, egg, pumpkin, maple syrup and oil. Stir together until well combined.

Pour into preheated greased iron skillet or 8x8 baking pan lined with parchment. Bake 23-25 minutes until golden brown. Great with soups!

(Photo on page 30.)

home, they always bring their essential appliances, namely their favorite blender and water filter.

Love is what started the Honeas and McGowans on this whole-food journey.

Love of beautiful and healthy foods, love for each other – a desire for everyone’s best health – and love of cooking. This venture into the “less processed foods” lifestyle has strengthened the familial bonds of the Honeas and McGowans, as they enjoy the best side-dish to any delicious meal; good, heartfelt conversation.

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BEET HUMMUS (Julie) 2- 3 medium beets 1½ cups cooked chickpeas (or 1 can chickpeas drained and rinsed) 2-3 cloves of garlic 1 tsp. olive oil 2 Tbsp. lemon juice ¼ cup tahini ¼ tsp. salt

Pepper to taste Water to thin Preheat oven to 375. Scrub beets and cut off leaves. Rub with oil and wrap in foil.

Cook 45 minutes or until tender. Let cool, then rub skins off with your hands.

Add all ingredients to the food processor. Process 3-5 minutes or until smooth. Adjust consistency by adding 1 tablespoon of water at a time. Taste and adjust seasonings to your preference.

Serve with your favorite veggies and crackers. Makes a great sandwich spread too!

GOAT CHEESE CRANBERRY PECAN TRUFFLES (Ellen) STUFFED PICKLED JALAPENOS (Ellen) 26 oz. can whole pickled jalapenos 8 oz. container garlic and herbs soft cream cheese - recommend Alouette brand Chopped pecans, to taste Cut pickled jalapenos in half. Scoop out seeds and membranes. Fill jalapeno halves with herbed cream cheese, top with chopped pecans. Refrigerate until time to serve.

Tip: Place cream cheese in zip-lock bag and snip corner to fill jalapenos easier.

28

NOVEMBER | DECEMBER | JANUARY 2021-22

2 4 oz. logs goat cheese, plain or with honey (softened) 4 oz. cream cheese (softened) 1 tsp. cinnamon 3 Tbsp. honey 1½-2 cups chopped pecans 1 green onion minced ½ cup chopped dried cranberries Cream goat cheese, cream cheese, green onion, cinnamon and honey together until smooth. Add in ½ cup chopped pecans and ¼ cup chopped cranberries.

Refrigerate mixture until chilled for easier rolling.

In a small dish, combine remaining 1 cup chopped pecans (may need additional ½ cup) and remaining ¼ cup chopped cranberries.

Roll cheese mixture into small balls. Roll balls into pecan mixture to coat. Store in refrigerator until time to serve. Can be made several days ahead.

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29

CREAMY POTATO CORN CHOWDER (Ellen) 2 small bags frozen corn kernels, thawed 3 lbs. medium size red potatoes, peeled and cubed 2 Tbsp. vegetable oil 1 onion chopped 3 carrots peeled and chopped 1 stalk celery chopped 5 cloves chopped garlic 1 red bell pepper, chopped 1 tsp. salt, or to taste 1 Tbsp. Old Bay Seasoning 2 tsp. smoked paprika 1 tsp. cumin 32 oz. veggie broth, water or chicken

broth (if not vegetarian; I use my homemade freezer veggie stock) 1 can full-fat coconut milk (preferably without added gums) Reserve 3-4 potatoes and boil until tender in separate pot.

In large stock pot, sauté onion in oil until tender. Add celery, salt, red pepper, carrots, garlic, and seasonings. Cook for a few minutes until veggies start to soften. Add ½ the broth or water and cubed potatoes (except the reserved

potatoes boiled separately). Bring just to a boil then reduce to a simmer.

Cook until potatoes are just getting tender then add in 1 bag of the thawed corn. Meanwhile, in a blender combine the coconut milk, remainder of the broth, 1 bag corn and the cooked potatoes (drained) that were boiled separately. Blend until smooth.

Pour the blended corn/potato mixture into the pot. Cook additional 10-20 minutes until potatoes are soft.

Taste and add more seasonings as needed.

RED LENTIL CURRY SOUP (Julie) 1 Tbsp. olive oil 1 onion diced 1 red bell pepper diced 1 jalapeno finely diced 1 Tbsp. peeled and minced ginger 2 cloves of garlic finely diced ⅓ cup tomato paste 1 heaping Tbsp. Thai red curry paste ½ tsp. cinnamon 2 tsp. salt 7 cups water 30

1 can unsweetened coconut milk 2 cups red split lentils, uncooked 1½ cups of chickpeas (or 1 can drained) Juice of 1 lime Heat olive oil in a large soup pot and add onion, red bell pepper and jalapeno and cook for 5 minutes or until soft. Add ginger, garlic, tomato paste, curry paste, cinnamon and

NOVEMBER | DECEMBER | JANUARY 2021-22

salt. Cook for 2-3 more minutes until the mixture is toasty and fragrant.

Add water, coconut milk, lentils and chickpeas.

Bring to a boil and then reduce the heat to a simmer and cook uncovered for 20-25 minutes. Add lime juice at the end of cooking.

Serving suggestion: top the soup with a sprinkle of fresh cilantro, a few cashew pieces and a lime wedge.

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SOFT-BAKED GINGERSNAP COOKIES (Julie) ¼ cup almond butter (the kind with no added sugar. Any nut butter will work!) ¼ cup coconut oil, melted ¼ cup coconut sugar ¼ cup molasses 1 egg at room temperature 1 tsp. vanilla 1 cup almond flour ⅓ cup coconut flour ½ tsp. baking soda ¼ tsp. salt 1 tsp. cinnamon

1 tsp. ginger ¼ tsp. allspice For rolling ¼ cup coconut sugar 2 tsp. cinnamon Preheat oven to 350 and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. In a small bowl, whisk together the almond butter, coconut oil, coconut sugar and molasses. Add the egg and vanilla. In a

medium bowl, mix together the almond flour, coconut flour, baking soda, salt and spices. Add wet ingredients to dry and stir until completely combined.

Refrigerate for 30 minutes. While chilling, pour coconut sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl. Once chilled, roll dough into 16 balls and then roll each in the cinnamon sugar mixture.

Place on baking sheet and flatten with your hand. Bake 9-11 minutes. Allow cookies to cool completely before eating.

LOADED TRAIL MUFFINS (gluten free; Ellen) 1½ cups almond flour ½ cup arrowroot powder/flour 2 Tbsp. coconut flour 1 tsp. baking soda 1 tsp. cinnamon ¼ tsp. salt ½ cup pumpkin seeds ½ cup chopped walnuts ½ cup unsweetened shredded coconut 2 Tbsp. chia seeds 2 Tbsp. hemp seeds 1 cup shredded carrot 32

1 cup finely chopped apple ½ cup golden or regular raisins, soaked in warm water several minutes.

3 eggs ½ cup unsweetened applesauce ½ cup pure maple syrup ½ cup melted coconut oil 1 tsp. pure vanilla ½ tsp. apple cider vinegar Preheat oven to 350. Stir together almond flour, arrowroot flour, coconut

NOVEMBER | DECEMBER | JANUARY 2021-22

flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt.

Stir in pumpkin seeds, walnuts, coconut, chia seeds and hemp seeds. Add carrots, apples and raisins.

In a separate bowl, whisk eggs, applesauce, maple syrup, coconut oil, vanilla and apple cider vinegar. Mix wet ingredients into dry until well combined.

Spoon into paper lined muffin pans.

They should be almost full. Bake for 25-27 minutes until done in the center.

Makes 12 muffins. (Photo on page 30.)

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Good Eats

Story by David Myers Photos by David Moore

I

cut my teeth on red beans and rice, watched Mardi Gras parades roll by as a toddler and ate seafood every Friday night like a good Catholic.

Nobody loves New Orleans cooking better than I do. So you can imagine my delight to meet a chef who grew up devouring it, same as I did, then earned a 34

Cajun/Creole? Visit Li’l New Orleans (It’s as close as Arab)

culinary degree and brought his skills to Marshall County.

Suffice it to say, if you go to New Orleans, you ought to go see the Mardis Gras; if you go to Arab, you ought to go see Chef Joe. Chef Joseph Vance recently opened J&A Li’l New Orleans in Arab, saving me an eight-hour drive to the Crescent City.

J&A features New Orleans Creole/Cajun and American cuisine and is decorated with

NOVEMBER | DECEMBER | JANUARY 2021-22

memorabilia from the Big Easy and pictures from Chef Joe’s long career in cooking.

It began in a small café at the driving range in New Orleans’ City Park, which I remember well. The staff catered to the musicians performing at the Budweiser Superfest the first year it moved to the park from the Superdome. They couldn’t get enough of the Cajun shrimp fettuccine and jambalaya, which Joe made in the Creole style with tomatoes as opposed to the brown

with a basket of fresh Cajun chips and remoulade sauce for dipping. With a base of mayo, herbs, pickles and capers, we already knew this sauce is heaven on crab and shrimp, but paired with the warm, crunchy chips it made a delicious appetizer. Other starter choices include boudin balls, fried green tomatoes and bayou crab cakes.

My Alabama-born wife has adapted her tastes to include those from my roots and one of her go-to’s is shrimp and grits. Chef Joe’s version was divine with creamy grits topped with perfect-textured shrimp, spicy chunks of andouille sausage, peppers, onion and scallions. She grudgingly shared with me.

The New Orleans platter, my pick, came loaded with blackened catfish and shrimp on a bed of that jambalaya the chef has perfected over the decades. You will not find a better New Orleans dish anywhere.

The fish was very tender, moist and wellseasoned, but not overly spicy.

As a special treat, he topped the dish with a crawfish Pontchartrain sauce that elevated it to French Quarter status. I shamelessly stuffed myself.

Both dishes were served with slices of Leidenheimer bread, a New Orleans classic for more than 100 years. Considered the finest French bread made in the Crescent City, the family-owned bakery turns out countless loaves every single day to serve in New Orleans restaurants and to ship all over the country to folks who can’t find anything comparable.

Across the top: New Orleans platter, shrimp and grits and crawfish etouffee. Undecided about dessert? Order the Arab Ultimate Platter with red velvet cheesecake; bread pudding with whiskey sauce, praline cheesecake and buttermilk chess pie . J&A is open 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. and 4 p.m. to closing Wednesday through Saturday. Sunday features a lunch/ brunch menu 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Joe – also the chef at Marshall Medical Center South – and Arnetta, lower left, do catering, and he plans to offer cooking classes soon. style preferred by Cajuns in Southwest Louisiana.

Joe earned his culinary degree at Delgado College, just across the street on City Park Avenue.

Now the chef at Marshall Medical South, he lives with his wife and cooking partner, Arnetta, in Cherokee Ridge. They started testing the Arab market by selling his handmade pralines (pronounced prawlines down there), another traditional New

Orleans favorite of mine. That grew into hot food being served on weekends out of a local antique mall.

When that effort went over big, they started looking at restaurant space and found a perfect spot on Brindlee Mountain Parkway in the Northgate Shopping Center, former home of Fonseca Factory.

W

hen my wife Rose and I visited J&A, we started our much-anticipated meal

J

&A’s entrée options are Cajun Joe’s Pasta served with a choice of chicken, shrimp or crawfish, Black Skillet Ribeye, crawfish etouffee, red beans and rice with Conecuh sausage, gumbo with rice, their Gumbo Ya Ya, po’ boy sandwiches and burgers. Just writing that list makes me homesick as well as hungry.

We could have stopped eating then, of course, but there was one more tradition on the menu we didn’t want to leave without sampling. Arnetta brought out a lovely dish of bread pudding – made with that same Leidenheimer bread, filled with cranberries and topped with a whiskey sauce. Having grown up eating this dessert and testing many versions in fine restaurants, I can tell you that this is the real thing. It was warm, light, moist and absolutely delectable.

Save yourself a long drive. Go to Arab instead.

Good Life Magazine

NOVEMBER | DECEMBER | JANUARY 2021-22

35

1964 promised to be a golden Christmas Story by Steve A. Maze

E

ven though it has been more than three decades, it doesn’t seem that long ago that I assisted my daughter with her annual letter to Santa.

I couldn’t help but chuckle as we assembled her wish list each December. I wasn’t laughing at the huge number of items she was requesting from Santa. It was because her Santa note reminded me of a letter I mailed to St. Nick when I was a kid going back to the late 1950s.

My mother usually helped me with my Santa letter.

Unfortunately, she always cut the length of my wish list down to three items before personally mailing the letter to the North Pole.

I made up my mind that the Christmas of 1964 would be different.

Lois Lyons, my second grade teacher, had done a good job of teaching me to read and write the year before, so I decided I could send a letter to the Jolly Ole Elf without Mother’s help.

To put my plan into action, I first had to secretively find the Sears-Roebuck catalog. Then I leafed through the pages and began writing up my wish list.

I

t wasn’t long before I filled up five full sheets of notebook paper intended for schoolwork. But I reasoned the paper was being used for educational purposes – after all, I did a lot of adding while totaling up the items on the list.

I was especially careful not to forget the most desperately needed items from my list: baseball uniform, complete cowboy outfit with boots and hat, basketball goal, pup tent, sleeping bag, walkie talkies, Swiss Army knife, pool table, ping pong table and a bicycle.

I knew mother wouldn’t be happy unless I asked for some clothes, so I listed a variety of those as well – some like the other kids wore to school, not the ones Santa normally brought me.

36

In my humble opinion, I had been especially good that year, so I felt justified in asking for a few “surprises,” such as a microscope, telescope, baseball cards, a little cash

stuck it beside the first one. Better safe than sorry.

I slipped out of the house and placed the letter in our mailbox. I even raised the flag so the mailman would pick up and deliver my unedited list on time.

Now, all I had to do was wait for the “big day.”

To my surprise it came the next morning … but it wasn’t Christmas.

W

and other miscellaneous items.

With the list finally completed, I stuffed it into a plain white envelope.

The flap would not fold completely over the bulging envelope, so I pulled it over as far as it would go and taped it.

Then I scrawled Santa’s name and “North Pole” on the front of the envelope. Not wanting Kris Kringle to deliver my bounty to another kid by mistake, I added my name and return address to the upper left hand corner of the envelope.

E

ven at my young age, I knew the post office would not deliver a letter without a stamp. It seemed I had seen some postage stamps in the kitchen junk drawer, so I sneaked off to see if I could find one.

All I found were some Gold Bond trading stamps – similar to S&H Green Stamps – that grocery stores once gave shoppers. I figured a stamp was a stamp, so I stuck one on the upper right corner of the envelope.

Recalling that Mother sometimes put two stamps on thick envelopes, I licked another Gold Bond stamp and

NOVEMBER | DECEMBER | JANUARY 2021-22

hen the phone rang, Mother answered it. I tried but couldn’t hear who she was talking to. It didn’t sound good, though.

“Yes,” she affirmed, “I have a son named Steve.”

A slight smile grew on her face as the conversation continued.

“What kind of stamp?”

Mumble, crackle.

Mumble, crackle.

“How many pages?”

Mumble, crackle. Mumble, crackle.

“What ? The longest Santa letter you have ever received?”

Mother turned and looked at me, phone to her ear, and burst into hysterics.

My face grew redder with each passing moment until it matched St. Nick’s Christmas suit.

The gig was up.

Someone at the North Pole had ratted me out.

S

o everything on my list got whacked out but three measly items.

To top if off, the only “surprise” I got that Christmas was a telephone call, this one from some idiot at the post office who identified himself as one of Santa’s elves.

I hadn’t been that embarrassed since I tried to cure a headache by taking one of my mother’s birth control pills that I found hidden in the junk drawer with the Gold Bond stamps.

But that’s another story.

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37

Canaan Creek Farms

Rudy and Margie Wooten’s home and farm have an extra personal touch — Rudy built it all

Margie and Rudy Wooten have an inviting entrance to their farm, and they enjoy its lifestyle and wide open spaces. Besides building all you see from the driveway with his hammer and lumber, Rudy also dug the pond shown on the previous page.

40

NOVEMBER | DECEMBER | JANUARY 2021-22

The Wootens enjoy Margie’s cookies and lemonade in the first of two pavilions Rudy built. They love to entertain their grandchildren at the farm: Isabella, Adalin, Grey and Ella. Nothing against Grey, but after raising four boys they were thrilled to have three granddaughters come along. Margie’s brother Stevie died in a 1967 car wreck. Her other brother is Billy Stricklend, who lives in the Hulaco area west of Arab. A former investigator, he manages the Morgan County Celebration Arena.

Story and photos

By David Moore

M

argie Wooten knows her man well.

“If he has a piece of wood, a nail and hammer, he’s going to build something,” she says of her husband, Rudy. “When you turn in the driveway, anything you see, he built with his hands.”

The Wootens live at Canaan Creek Farms, a 36-acre spread facing U.S. 231, a mile south of the Arab city limits. Their rambling house, the barns, various and sundry sheds, cattle chutes, fences, even the authentic log cabin with its stone chimney … Rudy built it all. Much of the timber he milled himself from logs.

Nearly everyone adds personal touches to their house or apartment. They decorate their space with colors, textures and, mostly, belongings that resonate with their lives, ultimately arriving at a comfortable

sense of self. That’s true of the Wootens, too, but their home is all the more personalized in that Rudy hand-built it.

“It just boils down to Rudy having a vision,” Margie says. “And he just kept going.”

“There is a sense of satisfaction,” Rudy says of his 45 years of building on their farm. “It’s been a labor of love. I don’t hunt, fish or play golf. I just play around on the farm.”

Some of his construction was out of necessity – a feed barn and chutes for cattle, for instance.

At least one major house addition fits that category, too. When he and Margie married, they suddenly had four boys, and soon wanted a bedroom for each. Rudy made adjustments to that side of the house, creating a dorm hall with four bedrooms, and built a master suite for Margie and himself on the far side of the house.

“We had Hank Junior coming out of

one room and Guns and Roses blaring out of another,” he laughs. “It was a hoot, I tell you.”

I

nterestingly, Rudy, who turned 69 on Nov. 18, envisioned building out that property as a kid.

His father left before Rudy was born.

His mom, Willie C. Wooten, worked 35 years at Redstone Arsenal, raising Rudy his older brothers, Rex and Rod, in a house owned by her father, Leonard Campbell, a Baptist preacher.

The house sat on a 10-acre cotton field, now part of the Wootens’ farm.

“I grew up at the end of my driveway,” Rudy says. “I’ve been working this farm my whole life. Since I was 9 or 10, I had expectations of one day owning it.”

Daughter of Bill and Betty Stricklend, Margie was born in Gadsden. The family moved several times with Bill’s career in Continued on page 44

NOVEMBER | DECEMBER | JANUARY 2021-22

41

Though limited in the past by raising chickens, the Wootens love to travel in their RV, and the Smoky Mountain National Park has long been a favorite destination. On a side trip to Cades Cove some years ago, they were both impressed with John Oliver’s cabin there. Built sometime after 1820, it’s the oldest building in the park. Rudy was taken by the craftsmanship – for one thing, it was built without nails – and inspired on the spot to build a replica of it. So he took notes, which Margie says always means he’s about to build something else on the farm.

Rudy finished the project in 1989. Margie decorated it accordingly and shot the snow photo above in 2014.

42

NOVEMBER | DECEMBER | JANUARY 2021-22

Though not strictly furnished with articles from the 1800s, Margie took pains to decorate the cabin accordingly – to the point of real candles on the Christmas tree. A second bed is tucked away in the loft of the cabin. A close look at the door reveals the wooden pegs Rudy used for nails and detail work he put into the latch. But what was really hard, he says, was laying all of the stone. Unlike the original cabin in Cades Cove, this one includes a storm shelter in the basement where they safely rode out the tornado that hit their farm in 2011.

NOVEMBER | DECEMBER | JANUARY 2021-22

43

Continued from page 41 the propane business, living in Boaz and Millbrook before moving to Arab where he operated the former Empire Gas. Margie was in the ninth grade and went on to become head cheerleader for Arab High School. Rudy played tackle and defensive end … but this is no football romance.

“Head cheerleaders don’t date linemen,” he grins. Plus, “I couldn’t talk to her. I was too bashful to talk to a pretty girl.”

Margie graduated in 1970, going on to earn a nursing degree from Calhoun Community College. She worked 15 years at the old Arab Hospital in labor/delivery and the emergency room, then eight years more at Marshall Medical Center North ER. Rudy may not have gotten the cheerleader, but when he graduated from Arab in ’71 he did get a scholarship from Bear Bryant to play football at Alabama.

“When he would come into a team meeting,” he remembers of Bear, “it was like John Wayne coming into a saloon with a shotgun. Everybody shut up.”

Rudy redshirted his sophomore year, dressed out as a junior but didn’t play.

“I majored in sweating profusely,” he says.

“You can look at our place now,” Margie laughs, “and know he was good at that.”

R

udy left college after three years, coming home to do construction and later cabinet shop work. Significantly, he never lost sight of his dream.

His grandfather’s house was gone, but around 1974, Rudy bought the 10-acre site from his uncle, Harthrow Campbell, plus an adjoining 15 acres that included a barn and rental house.

It was quite the outlay on his $3.10/hour salary, but Rudy paid $1,000 per acre and in 1975 built a three bedroom, two bath house with a carport for $15,000.

Rudy later worked as patrol officer for the Arab Police Department.

“It was more like Mayberry than anything else,” he says with a fondness of those early police days. “We had a lot of fun. Everybody knew everybody. We had old town drunks to pick up, and a few hostage situations. We also did ambulance and fire calls – it was one big family.

“I’d like to think of myself as a peace officer rather than a law officer,” Rudy adds.

“Helping people instead of prosecuting them.

44

We took a lot of kids home to their parents.

You could do that back then.”

While he might have been too shy in high school to approach the head cheerleader, as a police officer – and soon a lieutenant – he had ample opportunities to drop by the ER to check on nurse Margie.

“You know what they say about nurses and cops,” Rudy says. Even in Mayberry, so to speak, they both dealt with trauma and worked similar shifts. And both liked pancakes.

“We were together a lot,” she says. “But – big spender – we had one date … to IHOP in Huntsville.

They married in 1981. For a sweet 40th anniversary this year, they returned to the International House of Pancakes.

M

argie’s three boys – ages 10 to 3 when she married Rudy – are Steven Chad, Brady and Adam. Rudy’s son Chad, 8 at the time, added up to a house full of boys – not to mention the confusion of two Chads.

“Brady would say this is my brother Chad, and this is my other brother Chad,” Margie laughs.

Until Rudy built the master bedroom, the guys doubled up in the other two existing bedrooms. To handle the near-standingroom-only crowd, he first closed in the carport as a living room and built on a den.

“When they all played football, that was a hoot,” Rudy says. “We’d have five or six games a week plus all that practicing.”

Despite a little wrestling, the boys were locked in for life as brothers, their parents say. And locked into eating. To make ends meet, in 1983 Rudy built two chicken houses and began raising the birds for Wayne Farms.

In 1987 Margie quit the ER to teach health science at Arab High for students considering medical careers. Over the next 25 years, her reputation became iconic, especially as the sponsor of the school’s HOSA club (Health Occupations Students of America, now Future Health Professionals).

Margie would take 20-35 students to annual state and national competitions where they’d be tested in numerous areas, from medical terminology and reading, administration and healthcare issues, to biomedical debates and a medical version of scholars bowl.

“Every year we won state and were in the top 10 nationally. A lot of smart kids came out of that,” she says, “many of whom won individual national championships.”

NOVEMBER | DECEMBER | JANUARY 2021-22

Meanwhile, Rudy was building stuff on the farm.

S

chool officials never could track down how many of Margie’s students become nurses, nurse practitioners, doctors, veterinarians, dentists and administrators.

“Margie loves to decorate, and it kind of turned into what it is,” Rudy says of the 3,800-squarefoot home he constructed, mostly since getting to know her when she worked at the old Arab Hospital, above. The house – with a living room, top, sitting room, den, and today four bedrooms – is filled with numerous antiques, including lots of clocks.

Without being too shy about it –-and perhaps with no exaggeration – Rudy declares his wife to be a world-class teacher.

“I have heard her students over the years talk about her,” he says. “They really admired her – they still do.”

“The benefit of having a program like HOSA,” Margie says, “is that many of the students come back to the community as healthcare providers. In 25 years, you cover a lot of kids. I absolutely loved it.”

A few years ago she found herself lying on an examination table in the emergency

room at Marshall Medical Center North, and a former student walked in, Dr. J. Tyler Hughes.

“That was interesting,” Margie says. “I told him, ‘I kept saying all those years, one day I might be looking up at you.’”

Even after she retired from teaching in

NOVEMBER | DECEMBER | JANUARY 2021-22

45

From logs to lumber, at right is Rudy’s sawmill, which he’s modified to be a one-man operation. Most of the lumber has gone into to the 12 structures he’s built on his farm (he finally counted them at the magazine’s request). One of his structures is a garden shed, to which Margie has applied her flowering touch. Rudy got the stones from their pond and the property.

2004, she worked another nine years as the technical education coordinator.

For his part, Rudy retired from the APD after 20 years, going from “Mayberry” to growing a beard and working uncover with the Northeast Alabama Drug Task Force.

“It was the absolute opposite of my personality,” he says of working undercover.

It was hard on the nerves – and Margie – and neither liked him working nights. So after a year undercover, he worked another year as a deputy for the Madison County Sheriff’s Office.

“I got to view the ills of society,” he says. “That’s why I finally got out in 1992.”

A

fter leaving law enforcement – peace encouragement, as the case might be – Rudy built two more chicken houses.

And, until just this past May, he continued a part-time job he’d done for 29 years: driving a school bus.

46

“If you’re a farmer,” he says, “you can’t just do one thing and make a living.”

In the rash of tornados on April 27, 2011, the Wooten’s basically lost their four chicken houses. So after nearly 30 years of raising birds for Wayne Farms, Rudy tore down the chicken houses, rebuilt them as hay and cattle barns and concentrated on cattle farming.

More for himself than anything else, for the past 20 years or so, he’s owned a sawmill. When you build as much as he does, it’s well worth the investment.

He and Margie don’t even bother trying to count the number of structures he’s built on the farm, for it’s all part of that dream he’s wanted since he was a kid.

And he’s still building.

Rudy’s latest project (as of this writing, that is) is a koi pond with a waterfall out by a second, smaller pavilion he built. Next on his agenda is a greenhouse.

NOVEMBER | DECEMBER | JANUARY 2021-22

“He says it will be his last one,” Margie laughs. “I’m going to hold him to it. But if I see him with a pad and pencil, we’re in trouble. He starts making plans.”

Can Rudy tear himself away from his hammer, nails and saw? From his dangerous pad and pencil?

Well … maybe, sorta?

“People retire and sit down and die,” he says, perhaps recalling Bear Bryant’s fate. “I may just go at a slower pace. I still like my sawmill. I can do that and work the cows. I look forward to doing what I want to do instead of what I need to do.”

A large shed for the camper, a barn for hay, bedrooms in the house? Sounds like needs. A koi pond and waterfall, a second pavilion, a Cades Cove cabin? Sounds like wants. Perhaps Margie knows her man sometimes confuses his wants and needs.

Rudy laughs. “She says I do.”

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47

Lynchburg, Tennessee

Home of the world-famous Jack Daniel’s distillery

The Moore County courthouse anchors Lynchburg’s square. Nearby is the distillery campus, where a bronze statue of Jack Daniel (on the rocks) stands in front of Cave Springs, source of 800 gallons of water per minute for whiskey making. A tour takes you to see the charcoal works, the grain mill, the distilling process and, at right, a barrel house and Jack’s preserved office.

Good Getaways Story and photos

by David Moore

Y

ou don’t have to be a whiskey drinker to enjoy a getaway to Lynchburg, Tennessee, and the Jack Daniel’s distillery. And you don’t have to – but you certainly can – make it an overnight stay.

It’s a pleasant drive from Marshall County to the distillery in Lynchburg, a town of some 48

6,000 folks in the scenic, rolling hills of southcentral Tennessee.

Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the distillery is located on part of a 1,700-acre campus scattered with 78 barrel houses. Jack Daniel’s 700 or so workers – many of them multi-generational employees – ship 119 million bottles of the famous whiskey annually to over 170 countries around the globe.

While its home of Moore County is dry, you

NOVEMBER | DECEMBER | JANUARY 2021-22

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Overnight accommodations will likely take you out of Lynchburg, but there are hotels and quaint inns nearby. One option is down the road at Mulberry Lavender Farm and B&B. Breakfast, above, is served at the door of its rustic-chic cottage. Family-style lunches are served at Miss Mary Bobo’s in downtown Lynchburg, left. can buy beer and wine in town, but Jack Daniel’s is sold only at the attractive visitor’s center. Even then, by state law, you are only paying for a souvenir bottle. The whiskey is technically free.

Tours of the distillery cost $20-$35 and last between just over an hour to an hour and a half – the difference being if you take the “dry” tour or sign up for one including a tasting.

You’ll learn a lot about not just Jack the whiskey, but Jack the man, who for his stature in the world of whiskey-making stood only 5-foot-2 – shorter than eight of his black-label bottles stacked end to end.

As a young boy, he ran away to the next-door farm of a preacher who had a whiskey still. As a teen, Jack bought the still for $25 and launched his legacy.

Not surprisingly, the presence of Jack Daniel the man can be seen nearly everywhere in the small town that a visitor turns. And there are a lot of visitors.

Annually, Jack Daniel’s the distillery draws 275,000 people from every state and many countries.

Good Life Magazine

If you go ...

Lynchburg, Tenn., is about 75 miles from Arab via Fayetteville; or 85 miles from Guntersville through Grant and Fayetteville. The countryside is attractive. If you enjoy driving and want to see a corner of Alabama many folks miss, you can return home via an easterly route to Winchester, Tenn., then south through Hytop, Ala., to Scottsboro.

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Donald Walker

His vivid murals and figurative fingerprints are all over Marshall County and beyond Story by Seth Terrell Photos by Jordan O’Brien

I

n the cafeteria of Brindlee Mountain Elementary School, a pop culture mural enlivens the wall as Barney Fife peers over the lunchroom with his comical scowl.

On a mural in downtown Boaz, the city’s history, patriotism and nostalgia all unite in a stunning visual experience. In Albertville, a three-dimensional cityscape spans the front walls of Compassion City Church. In Arab, residents and travelers are greeted by handcarved, stone-like welcome signs as they enter the city limits.

No matter where you go in Marshall County, Donald Walker’s artistic fingerprints are everywhere. There may be no official description for muralist laureate of the county, but if there were, Donald would fit it perfectly. Classrooms and cafeterias, offices and churches are a little brighter and far more creative thanks to his influence.

“Art brings about a certain community where I have an opportunity to glorify God and meet new people,” he says. “And the schools and towns in this area have been great to work with.”

While most of his art these days is completed within an 80-mile radius, including projects in the Huntsville area, Cullman and Blount counties and beyond, Donald has traveled the nation and barnstormed the South, filling downtowns, private homes and outdoor spaces with his vivid murals.

He especially remembers a mural he was commissioned to do as part of the ArtFields 52

festival in Lake City, South Carolina. In recent years, Lake City has undergone a near miraculous revitalization, fueled by the botanical gardens there. Donald’s downtown mural greets lucky passersby who are charmed not only by the painted butterflies and greenery, but also by the scene’s many little detailed images and hints – “Easter eggs” of information – that he’s painted into the piece as a sort of scavenger-hunt for viewers.

“My philosophy is about making art for everybody,” the Arab native says. “I try to paint murals that appeal to everyone without them having to work too hard to figure it out or explain it.”

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T

ake a stroll through downtown Boaz on a clear afternoon, and you’ll see what Donald is talking about. On either side of the street are finely detailed paintings of old service stations and classic cars, the historical Cobb’s Syrup Mill and a Boazthemed coat of arms complete with a Treasure-Island-themed pirate (a nod to the school system’s mascot) who looks ready to step out of the stone at any moment and cross Main Street.

Another Boaz mural that sparks emotion in the way only national memorials can: it is complete with warships and planes and portraits of local veterans and past mayors.

Donald applied a coat of humor to this part of his national park-themed mural at Albertville Elementary.

Donald’s art is often interactive, merging the hyper-realistic and trompe-l’oeil (‘to deceive the eye’). Take for instance a few classic trucks at The Barn on Connor’s Island that are complete with “bullet holes” so realistic, an unsuspecting passerby might try to gouge a finger inside one of them only to find solid metal.

“When art is interactive, it makes it easier to stay busy and to reach a broader audience,” he says. “Not many people are art experts, but my hope is that they can still enjoy and appreciate my work.”

When he was painting the Boaz murals a few months ago, as is often the case when he’s painting in public, passers-by often

stopped to watch him work. Others shared stories and personal connections to his depictions, such as the mule barn and other places of lasting memories.

“I have always enjoyed art that appeals to me and to the masses.”

o

n a cool Wednesday morning, Donald stands with arms crossed before a wall-length mural-in-the-works at Free Life Worship Center in Boaz. Here, in the children’s wing of the church, he sweeps a hand over a sloping, cartooned field of green. Scattered across the playful scene are pencil-sketches of children in motion.

But, as Donald’s vision comes streaming

through hand and paintbrush, those sketches soon become fully realized, colorful creations wearing pleasantly exaggerated facial features that betray his previous experience illustrating children’s books.

Down the hallway, the walls are full of bright-colored, whimsical houses with street names borrowed from Bible verses as well as other home-themed depictions designed to spark kids’ interest.

“When I paint for kids,” he says, “I paint things that I want them to know, or things that are important for them to know, in hopes they’ll research it for themselves.”

In school libraries all across Marshall Continued on page 56

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The memorial mural to Boaz Veterans is epic in both scale and theme. It’s one of several major murals Donald painted this year on downtown Boaz buildings. Left, he paints a figure on a beach in the Treasure Island/pirate-themed murals in the cafeteria at Corley Elementary. Above, he makes a relatively new pickup look rusty and bullet-riddled at The Barn on Connors Island. He painted the Texaco logo to look old, too. Photos by David Moore.

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Continued from page 53 County, children are greeted by Donald’s literary depictions of characters such as Harry Potter and Captain Flint. The goal is to inspire spaces and places. Such inspiration, as Donald sees it, leads to an accessible knowledge, especially for kids.

W

hen his son, Noah, was younger, they would embark together on “mural missions.” Today, Noah, who has completed service in the Navy, is still an artist. And Donald’s daughter, Jordan O’Brien, likes to write as well shoot photographs.

Dad is encouraged that maybe the artistic gene is also making its way down the line to his grandkids. He and Tammy, his wife of 31 years, have four: Emma, Adam, Grady and Russell.

Part of Donald’s artistic energy stems from the youthful energy his grandkids have spread to him – he has an extensive “Princess Bride” theme planned out for Emma’s bedroom. Such a feat sounds a little much until you realize that he recently finished a private mural in the upper floor of a local house that replicates Rapunzel’s 56

Donald painted Teddy Roosevelt and his message at Albertville Elementary.

He’s painting a storybook-themed mural in the bedroom of his granddaughter, Emma O’Brien of Arab.

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Spiderman and Twin Towers adorn the bedroom of Donald’s grandson, Adam O’Brien. tower in the Disney movie, “Tangled.”

“I realized early on,” he laughs, “that painting would be much better than having a job.”

Having sold his sign business a couple of decades ago, Donald has been a full-time artist for nearly 20 years. This combination of hard work and creative vision has shaped him into the kind of “everyman” that his art strives to inspire.

As a teenager during the 1980s, he cut his teeth on airbrush paintings. While he’s

quick to point out that much of his artistic skills were not honed through traditional classes, it is his commitment to life-long learning, books and his own curiosity that have shaped his talents.

A

s the conversation steers toward inspiration, his knowledge of art and art history shines through the everyman disposition.

“As a kid I had a fascination with Leonardo daVinci and Michelangelo,” he

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says. “The pre-Rafaelite period was really a strong part of my inspiration. Then later, I discovered the French painter, WilliamAdolphe Bouguereau, and the illustrations of J. C. Leyendecker and the photorealism of Chuck Close.

“Oh, and of course, Wile E. Coyote.”

Donald smiles, “Wile and I know what it’s like to be on super tight deadlines to get a painting done.”

Though his creative energy is often strongest in solitude, for Donald, each work of public art is a group effort.

“I love sitting down with clients or local art commissions and discussing all their ideas; sometimes there’s a tremendous amount of content, especially when the work is designed to capture a small town.”

For Donald, art, in its essence, is about community building. Connecting with fellow travelers and making discoveries about oneself.

Armed with only a paintbrush, an imagination and a few gallons of exterior latex paint, Donald Walker is bringing people together, sparking new curiosities, and giving locals an artful, fresh perspective on old memories.

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Saddle up Sam Wright opens the mountains and forests to the fun of trail-riding

While leading a group through the woods, Sam Wright turns to answer a question from writer Seth Terrell.

Story by Seth Terrell Photos by David Moore

S

am Wright makes a half-turn in his saddle and looks back at me from atop his horse, Uno. The earliest threads of fall are woven into the overhead canopy of pines and poplars. A subtle crispness to the air betrays the coming season. Sam gives the appearance that he’s reflecting deep on the question I’ve asked: “How’d you decide you wanted to ride horses for a living?”

His horse keeps at the trail as Sam scans the terrain around us, then faces me.

“Watching Westerns,” he says.

We both laugh. Then comes the more reflective answer I was looking for.

“It’s just a slower pace of life,” Sam says. “You can really just unplug.”

Our horses take us onward, through the woods along the path that snakes around the backside of Lake Guntersville State Park. I’m riding a few feet behind

Sam and Uno on a tall Appaloosa gelding, Comanche.

Behind me, my editor and photographer, David Moore, sits – somewhat gentlemanly, somewhat stiffly – atop his mount, Culbert. David admits it’s been 20 years since he was atop a horse, but as we go along, he seems like a natural – clicking away with his camera as we follow the often sloping land.

Behind David is J.R. Pankey, a rangy cowboy who calls Horton home. Behind

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J.R. comes David Culbert, a nearby farmer who keeps our trail party cheerful with his pleasant laughter. (After he sold David Moore’s horse to Sam, Sam named it Culbert.)

Bringing up the rear of our group is 73-year-old John Boyd, riding a mule and leading a pack mule behind.

These last three riders are just some of the folks whose support and hard work have helped Sam since 2020 when he started his company, Alabama Horseback Adventures.

M

aybe it’s the way the sun slips through the hickory limbs in this late September morning or the smell of sassafras and slightly damp earth. But whatever it is, the view of the world by horseback gives a new contour to old familiar places.

I grew up riding horses, though I would never call myself a true horseman. Yet the smooth-going is at once nostalgic and exhilarating. Comanche knows what he’s doing, with or without me, and closing my eyes amid the clomp of hooves and gentle breaking of trailside twigs, I imagine such a morning 100 years ago when the only way to journey the deeper woods was on horseback.

Eastward as we are, it’s hard to ignore the Old West feel to our travels. And this feeling is precisely what Sam had in mind when he left Wyoming where he had worked for years as a backwoods horse guide and elk hunting outfitter. He made his permanent and final move to Marshall County where the vision of AHA began, and where it thrives today.

“We wanted to bring Wyoming here,” Sam says, leading Uno through a sandy draw and up the rising trail before us.

Having spent most of those years around Yellowstone, Sam has experienced horseback riding through some of the roughest and prettiest terrain the country has to offer.

To successfully bring the riding experience back to Marshall County, Sam had to be OK with trading the deep woods and mountains of the west for the deep-wooded yet gentler terrain of the lower Appalachians. But it’s his and J.R.’s attention to detail that makes the experience unique: each pack mule is outfitted in the western style, loaded with the gear and grub necessary for all-day rides and overnight stays, both of which AHA provides.

62

Sam leads Seth, J.R. and John along part of the 17 miles of trail.

David Culbert, below left, who left the ride early to get back to chicken farming, has been working on area horse trails since 2003. Seth lets Comanche do his thing going downhill. John and his pack mule keep everyone stomach happy.

We take the path into wider spaces and weave in and out of evergreens while our horses keep churning. Sam is a gifted rider with a quick-witted humor and strong penchant for local history and nature that endows the journey with a sense of connection to the past and the present.

NOVEMBER | DECEMBER | JANUARY 2021-22

J.R. joins in too, offering insight about the area in the days of the Wakefield Indians.

And we pass the ruins of several old homeplaces, primitive rock chimneys still standing as they have for decades.

A

s we circle the homeplace markers,

We aren’t quite to the half-way point of our ride where we’ll lunch, but for now, with the help of John, and thoughtful preparation by Sam’s wife, Karen, it is snack time. We tie our horses to the hitching cable strung between posts and trees and settle in for a bite to eat.

The snack fare is quite elaborate, complete with jerky and cheese, a bite or two of something sweet and plenty of water – Karen thought of everything.

The picnic area is well-kept, immaculately litter free. Much of the upkeep of the trails and riding areas are all possible because of the Northeast Alabama chapter of Back Country Horsemen of America, a national entity dedicated to keeping public horse trails safe and beautiful. David Culbert is a volunteer with the local chapter, whose focused efforts span several counties and state parks and public lands.

Now, through Sam’s partnership Lake Guntersville State Park and regional superintendent Mike Jeffreys, there are some 17 miles of accessible horse trails in the park and adjoining property protected by the Forever Wild Land Trust.

“Ever since I was big enough to sneak off and ride a pony, I was on horseback,” David says. Not far over the ridge, his chicken farm lays in a quiet stretch along the river valley. Today he is atop a mule; he has spent a lifetime riding the trails as a way of both embracing the husbandry of the backcountry and also a way to stay connected with his old stomping grounds.

It’s the land of his people, a land that is in his blood.

S

Sam fills my head with stories of close encounters with grizzly bears out West, and other tales of successful elk hunts and snow drifts and mythical Rocky Mountain vistas.

“I’ve never been a hunter myself,” he says, “but our elk hunts were nearly always successful.”

While there is no hunting involved here, Sam, J.R., David Culbert and John know the backcountry of Marshall County as though they had an internal GPS. We meander through switchbacks and up small leafy inclines until we reach a picnic area deep in the park.

oon, talk of the days of moonshine and old farms puts me in mind of my own ancestral stories from these parts, stories that often creep into every piece I write about the area.

Upon mention of my great-grandfather, J.R. and I put the pieces together and realize that we are cousins – his grandmother and my grandfather were sister and brother.

We both grew up with horses, previously unbeknownst to each other, and J.R. has a pasture full of fine mounts. For the record, he is a far better rider than I. “I just always had an appreciation and love for them,” he says, helping me readjust my stirrups. “And now I get to ride every day. I love it.”

John stands nearby helping prepare for

NOVEMBER | DECEMBER | JANUARY 2021-22

63

the next stretch of our ride. He isn’t a tall man, but throughout the ride I’ve looked back occasionally to watch him ride his mule with near perfect balance while leading the other pack mule the whole way.

“I hope I can ride half as good as you at age 73,” I tell him. John nods kindly.

His friendship with Sam has been years in the making, and he rarely misses a chance to hit the trail.

“I like the freedom of riding horses,” he says.

“You can just pick a place wherever you want way back here, and know you won’t be bothered.”

Such solitude seems innate. The enduring image of the American cowboy/cowgirl has always been one that exudes a fierce independence. A lone prairie, or a forgotten stretch of woodland or range, a rider and horse.

But AHA has helped make that experience a communal one, shared by people of all walks of life, especially including those who’ve never been on horseback.

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oon, near our Town Creek trailhead, AHA will offer wagon rides and a circular path for children under 12 to ride. Having gone through all the proper channels and certifications, AHA brings a rare experience to the state park that Sam and his benevolent posse hope will become a mainstay in North Alabama. He goes through his mental guestbook of visiting clients.

“As far away in the U. S. as Oregon and Washington, Illinois, Wisconsin,” Sam says naming states from whence riders have joined the AHA experience at the park. “Other countries, too,” he continues, “France, India, Portugal.”

“Douglas,” I add, smiling.

“Yes, Douglas, too,” he laughs.

Sam is a former Douglas Eagle and a father of four children, Jake, Jonah and twin sons, Daniel and Samuel. Horses have become a therapeutic bond that helps his family connect. Daniel, a sophomore at Douglas, has special needs, and a love for horses is one of the ways that Sam and Karen get to witness Daniel’s joy and curiosity. His brother Samuel is always right by his side.

Such a bond is born from a way of life that started many years ago when Sam discovered an itch he had to scratch. He’d spent time on horses and had learned a thing or two about breaking them. So, when an opportunity out West knocked, Sam headed to Colorado where even now he still visits from time to time to prepare his local horses for the trails.

David Culbert’s chicken houses, top, are visible from the Twin Towers, a stop on longer rides.

John, who has “Grumpy” monogrammed on his shirt, unloads lunch, while Sam, as usual, spins interesting yarns, left.

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Alabama Horseback Adventures, a concessionaire of Lake Guntersville State Park, provides tours from the trailhead at Town Creek into the park and adjoining property. Saddled with a gentle horse, if you’re 12 or older, you and your group can take one- and two -hour trail rides, or arrange for longer rides and even an over-night adventure. For details, call Sam Wright: 256-558-7923.

Leapfrogging through the West, he finally arrived in Wyoming, riding trails and rubbing elbows with some legendary horsemen and hunters, including Ben Masters from the Netflix hit documentary, Unbranded. But something about riding Marshall County and introducing new and experienced riders to this place seems to captivate him.

“It’s about symbiosis here,” he says, “good relationships with other riders and with the park and with the outdoors.”

J.R. agrees, “We all have to work together to make it successful.”

S

everal riders on horseback riding getaways stroll through as we hit the trail again. We do our best limbo as we sweep a few dew-soaked spider webs from the tree branches above us. They dwindle and spin away like shimmering strings of glass.

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The path takes us up past the Bain family homestead where an old gristmill sat, then beyond the Stubblefield homeplace, then near enough to the river that the lake glistens through the breaks in tree lines.

Before heading back to the Town Creek trailhead, at last we arrive at Stubblefield Mountain for lunch – a spread that is just nearly too much to eat.

Once again, Karen thought of everything.

Sam, David Moore and I walk out to the Dr. Bill Benton Overlook, often called Twin Towers, where we can see nothing but lower mountains and green valley all the way to the Tennessee River.

To the east, is the far stretch of David Culbert’s farm.

The last time I was this far into the woods surrounding the state park, I was on a mountain bike, hustling and

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bumping through miles of cambering roots and up rocky inclines. But today, the journey is slower, more my pace.

My thoughts run wild with camping under the stars and communing around campfires.

Sam reminds me that AHA offers such experiences and invites me and my wife, Crystal, to join him and J.R. on a longer ride sometime soon. This certainly sounds good to me.

“Is there a limit on how long we can ride?” I ask, grinning.

Sam considers the question and points out over the horizon with a grin of his own. He’s right. A couple more turns left and a few more miles past the river, Wyoming and parts West are waiting.

But for today, all the West we need is right here.

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White pelicans These winter-visiting waterfowl add their own twist to the term ‘snowbirds’ A small group of white pelicans seems to enjoy a foggy morning on the shimmering February waters of Lake Guntersville near Beech Creek.

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Pelecanus erythrorhynchos, the American white pelican, is a surface feeder. They work together to herd baitfish, then scoop them up with uniquely designed beaks. A group of pelicans has many collective nouns, including a “brief,” “pod,’ “pouch,’ “scoop” and “squadron.”

Story by David Moore Photos by Liz Smith

H

uge expanses of water, trophy fishing, boat races, gorgeous parks, Appalachian forests, rolling hills, ancient plateau walls, great people … Lake Guntersville boasts nearly boundless attractions.

But here’s an attraction most people don’t consider – fresh sushi. For free.

OK … this doesn’t entice lake-living real estate sales, nor is it a tourist magnet, at least not the human kind. But this abundant supply of “sushi” is the reason Lake Guntersville began attracting flocks of migrating American white pelicans – literal snowbirds.

The sushi bar is located immediately 70

downstream of Guntersville Dam and other such powerhouses along our southern stretch of the Tennessee River. Playing sushi chef, as it were, are the spinning turbines that drive the hydroelectric process, chopping baitfish as they’re sucked through the plant’s waterways.

According to Mike Ezell, a retired naturalist from Lake Guntersville State Park, this spread of fish is what first enticed migrating white pelicans eastward into the Tennessee Valley about 2005. Prior to that, he says, their great birds’ migratory routes pretty much followed the Mississippi River basin, between the pothole lakes of the upper midwestern states and Canadian prairie provinces where they breed and nest in the summer to their winter habitats along the Gulf Coast.

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“The sushi bar at the dam gets them here,” says Mike, who lives in Rogersville and laughingly self-titles himself as “naturalist emeritus.” “Once they’re here, the pelicans strike out up the tributaries.

Flying 30 miles for a big bird is no big deal.”

Further downstream at Joe Wheeler Dam, the big whites roost overnight on islands and fly up nearby creeks to fish during the day, he says. Popular pelican fishing holes for birds at Guntersville Dam are the impoundments at Browns Creek and Big Springs, where they gather in large numbers and seem to enjoy the fellowship found in fishing and frolicking together.

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Two white pelicans take to the air. The California condor is the largest North American bird, followed by the American white pelican and the bald and golden eagles. for feathers to adorn fashionable hats here and abroad. DDT and other chemicals later took a greater toll on the birds, many of which were granted protection under the Endangered Species Act. While white pelicans are not qualified as “threatened,” in the U.S. and Canada they are protected under the Migratory Bird Act. The American white pelicans you see in the winter in Marshall County are part of the waterfowl’s eastern population. The western population migrates along the Pacific Coast.

Both – along with their brown pelican cousins – have thrived with protection.

Because of their growing numbers, Mike says, the eastern whites have broadened their winter migratory range, extending out from the southern end of the Mississippi Valley into the Gulf Coast states of Texas, Louisiana, Alabama and Florida, and, to some extent, the Cumberland Valley.

“They usually show up around November and leave about the first of March, but some hang around,” Mike says. “Wheeler Wildlife Refuge sees about 2,000 come in.”

O

ther than obvious feather coloring, white pelicans differ in several ways from their brown cousins.

The browns, which do not migrate, usually travel in relatively small “squadrons,” gliding just over the shallow coastlines of the Gulf, Atlantic and Pacific. Once they spot fish, they climb and attack from on high, dive-bombing into the water with their long bills, every bird for itself.

A more gregarious lot, the whites tend to flock in larger groups and don’t dive bomb. Rather, like synchronized swimmers, they hunt in cooperative groups on the surface, forming a line to herd baitfish into the shallows, then dipping together, as if on cue, to scoop up their catch.

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It’s here that their famous pouch – which expands between the bill and So ... is it trying neck – comes into play, the one that to be funny or inspired this popular and partially true actually turning limerick: left? Either way, A wonderful bird is the pelican. the birds are His beak can hold more than his belly can. entertaining.

He can hold in his beak enough food for a week, But I’ll be damned if I can see how the hell he can.

He can because of what’s called a gular pouch. It’s made of reinforced, flexible skin, attached to jaw bones that not only open and close but spread out horizontally. The pouch opens under water like a fish net and scoops up the bird’s prey – along with about three gallons of water, which is more than its belly can hold.

But rather than store fish in the pouch, the water runs out as the birds tilt back their heads, and they swallow their catch whole.

S

porting wingspans up to 9.5 feet, these snowbird visitors to Marshall County are the second largest birds in North America.

While they sometimes wreak havoc at catfish farms farther south, they are more benign visitors in these parts.

Mike refers to the white pelicans as “charismatic megafauna,” putting them in the same category as bald eagles, pandas and koala bears.

“The pelicans are pretty and graceful, cute and big, and that appeals to people. It’s an attraction a lot of people can’t resist.

“They are a welcomed edition,” he says, “to local waterfowl in North Alabama.”

Good Life Magazine NOTE: Other sources include: Cornell University, allaboutbirds.org and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

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Out ‘n’ About The $16.6 million Boaz Parks and Recreation center opened in August. The sign, above, was painted by Donald Walker (see page 52). The 46,960-square-foot facility includes an outdoor pool and a natatorium, both handicap accessible; two basketball and two volleyball courts; four pickleball courts; and four conference rooms with a warming kitchen that you can rent together or separately for events. High school swim teams from Boaz, Albertville, Guntersville, Arab, Scottsboro and Section participated in the Jackson-Marshall meet in October. “This is state of the art,” says Scottsboro coach Shalyn Benson. “I’m glad they put in the diving well.

Swimming and diving just go together.” Courtney Partridge of Albertville, left center, and her daughter Weslyn, 4, walk around the courts on the raised track with Racquel Smith, Boaz blue pants. Bree Kyle, far right, and Avery Garrison work on dribbling at their second team practice for the 8-and-under rec league girls basketball. Their coach, and Avery’s step-dad, Alec Taylor of Crossville, left in photo, likes the new Boaz facility. For more info call director Sonja Hard: 256-593-7862. Photos by David Moore.

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The faster you get treatment, the sooner you get back to having fun. That’s why Marshall Therapy & Sports Rehab moves quickly to develop a personalized, custom plan for every patient. You get the benefit of 33 experienced therapy professionals, and your injury gets handled in the fastest, safest way possible. Get the time clock working in your favor – learn more at mmcenters.com.

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