MARSHALL COUNTY FALL 2022 | COMPLIMENTARY
The WWII story of a GI and a family in Holland resonates across time The Youngbloods are living their dream with a big family (and house) Taking in the Tennessee River from a working towboat pushing barges
“Set yourself “FREE” with a new pontoon from Freedom Marine” “Visit our new state-of-the-art boat dealership designed to better serve you!” — KENNETH CHAMBERS I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. - Philipians 4:13 19220 US HWY 431, Guntersville 256-660-1703 Mon. - Fri. 8-5 & Sat. 8-2 ● Authorized Yamaha warranty center ● One of the largest Power Pole dealers in the nation ● We’ve been the #1 Phoenix dealership in the nation 8 times We proudly support high school bass fishing GUNTERSVILLE
Alan Murphy, Agent 227 Cullman Rd Arab, AL 35016 Bus: alan.murphy.lxmk@statefarm.com256-586-2644
1246
Jesus B Granados, Agent 3985 Us Hwy 431 Albertville, AL 35950 Bus: jesus.granados.k2qo@statefarm.256-878-4040
Libby Mays, Agent 1162 N Brindlee Mtn. Pkwy, Arab, AL 35016 Bus: 256-586-6243 libby.mays.gscz@statefarm.com
Harris,
Lynn Holifield, Agent 1528 Gunter Avenue Guntersville, AL 35976 Bus: 256-582-3127
lynn.holifield.b9vl@statefarm.com
Jesus B Granados, Agent 3985 Us Albertville, Bus: jesus.granados.k2qo@statefarm.com256-878-4040 Harris Insurance Agcy Paul Agent Gunter Ave Guntersville, Bus:
AL 35950
Lynn Holifield, Agent 1528 Gunter Avenue Guntersville, AL 35976 Bus: lynn.holifield.b9vl@statefarm.com256-582-3127
Paul Harris, Agent 1246 Gunter Ave Guntersville, AL 35976 Bus: 256-547-5754
Paul Harris Insurance Agcy Inc
Kim Lee-Hammett, Agent 314 Billy Dyar Blvd Ste D Boaz, AL 35957 Bus: 256-907-9660 kim@kimleeinsurance.com
Alan Murphy, Agent 227 Cullman Rd Arab, AL 35016 Bus: 256-586-2644
AL 35976
256-547-5754 2001870 AUGUST | SEPTEMBER | OCTOBER 2022 3
Hwy 431 Albertville, AL 35950 Bus: jesus.granados.k2qo@statefarm.256-878-4040 We’re here with surprisingly great Auto and Renters rates for everyone. So call us to combine Auto and Renters and see how much you can save. You might be surprised. When a disaster strikes, industry’s largest catastrophe to help when you need Like a good neighbor, We’reWe’re State
Debra Noojin, Agent 13034 US Hwy 431, Guntersville, AL 35976 Bus: 256-677-6154 debra.noojin.vaavfk@statefarm.com
We’re here with surprisingly great Auto and Renters rates for everyone. So call us to combine Auto and Renters and see how much you can save. You might be surprised. Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there.® Individual premiums will vary by customer. All applicants subject to State Farm ® underwriting requirements. Here’s the deal. These rates are great, surprisingly great. great Auto and Renters rates for everyone. and Renters and see how much you can surprised.Farm is there.® applicants subject to State Farm ® underwriting requirements. Harris Insurance Agcy Inc Paul
alan.murphy.lxmk@statefarm.com
Agent 1246 Gunter Ave Guntersville, AL 35976 Bus: 256-547-5754 Lynn
AL 35976 Bus: lynn.holifield.b9vl@statefarm.com256-582-3127 Alan Murphy, Agent 227 Cullman Rd Arab, AL 35016 Bus: alan.murphy.lxmk@statefarm.com256-586-2644 Jesus
Paul Harris, Agent 1246 Gunter Avenue Guntersville, AL 35976 Bus: 256-582-3250 paul@paulharrisagency.com
Keith Webb, Agent 232 N Broad St Albertville, AL 35950 Bus: 256-878-1563
Paul
keith.webb.chm3@statefarm.com256-878-1563
Hwy 431
Keith Webb, Agent 232 N Broad St Albertville, AL 35950 Bus:
keith.webb.chm3@statefarm.com
Jesus Granados, Agent 3985 US Hwy 431 Albertville, AL 35950 Bus: 256-878-4040 jesus@jesusismyagent.com Harris, Holifield, Agent 1528 Gunter Avenue Guntersville, B Granados, Agent 3985 Us Bloomington,Farm
Libby Mays, Agent 1162 N Brindlee Mountain Pkwy Arab, AL 35016 Bus: libby.mays.gscz@statefarm.com256-586-6243
We’re here with surprisingly great Auto and Renters rates for everyone. So call us to combine Auto and Renters and see how much you can save. You might be surprised. Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there. Individual premiums will vary by customer. All applicants subject to State Farm underwriting requirements. Here’s the deal. These rates are great, surprisingly great. State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company State Farm Indemnity Company State Farm Fire and Casualty Company State Farm General Insurance Company Bloomington, IL State Farm County Mutual Insurance Company of Texas State Farm StateRichardson,LloydsTXFarmFlorida Insurance Company Winter Haven, FL 2001870
IL 2001966
4 AUGUST | SEPTEMBER | OCTOBER 2022 Experience is the difference with the Citizens Bank & Trust mortgage team. A loan closing is one time when there’s no substitute for an experienced lender. A mortgage is not just a loan, it’s a process, and at Citizens Bank & Trust our team navigates the territory with confidence. Buying or refinancing a home has enough things to think about without wondering if your lender has everything covered. Give our mortgage team a call at (256) 841-6600 – you’ll get a great rate, and the experience you deserve on your side of the closing table. A closing is no time to realize you chose the wrong mortgage lender. Albertville • 256-878-9893 Arab • 256-931-4600 Guntersville • 256-505-4600 Cullman 256-841-6600 Elkmont 256-732-4602 Hazel Green 256-828-1611 New Hope 256-723-4600 Rogersville 256-247-0203 visit us at citizensbanktrust.com NMLS# 401537
● www.retreet.fun Among
. . . •
•
Where nature meets luxury. Our six treehouses at the reTreet surround you with nature and luxury –the best of both worlds. Set on 40 acres near beautiful Lake Guntersville, the reTreet offers scenic hiking trails, 9-hole disc golf course and horseshoes. Launch your boat just a half-mile away. Let the serenity and bliss of the wind whisk away your worries as you relax on the suspended deck. Create a fabulous meal in your kitchenette as an evening breeze rustles the trees. Kick back on outdoor furniture at the common area fireplace. Then sleep peacefully in the comfort of your king bed before awaking to enjoy your morning tea or coffee while soaking in nature’s beauty among the loftyAndbranches.wearepet friendly. Bring your fuzzy friend and enjoy the tree house deck that overlooks a dog park. A fabulous wedding venue allows the bride to walk down the staircase of her bridal treehouse, down the aisle to a cedar pergola and waterfall feature. We’re the perfect vacation getaway destination . . . the reTreet is a blend of modern luxury and the peaceful outdoors. $195 a night per treehouse. All rentals are pet-friendly with a $45 per pet fee. Weekday discounts. Scottsboro, AL 35769 your treehouse amenities King bed in loft area; pull-out sofa Full bath with walk-in shower Towels and toiletries Kitchenette Wi-Fi; TVs upstairs and downstairs Personal golf cart 9-hole disc golf course, horse shoe pit Common space w/fireplace, grills on site Dog park
•
•
•
•
•
5843 Scottsboro Highway ●
•
•
As I hope you notice, our advertising sales and the magazine itself are rolling along about as strong as ever – for which I am both pleased and grateful. To my way of thinking, that also makes this a good time to retire. Sheila, Diane and I think too much of our magazine to ever want to see it dwindle away on life support. No, it isn’t farewell. Not quite yet. We still have some good non-news stories and photos to share in the winter issue.
After writing in this issue about the national decline in roadside attractions, Steve Maze says his new bucket list is a trip in search of possible surviving examples. “Used to be that the only thing on my bucket list,” he says, “was KFC”
David F. Moore Publisher/editor | david.goodlifemagazine@gmail.com256-293-0888
Sheila T. McAnear Advertising/art director | sheila.goodlifemagazine@gmail.com256-640-3973 Vol. 9 No. 4 Copyright 2022 Published quarterly MoMc Publishing LLC P.O. Box 28, Arab, Al www.good-life-magazine.net35016 Mo Mc PUBLISHING LLC Magazine deadlines invariably put David Moore in a time squeeze. Nature of the beast. But after missing three weeks in pursuit of needed fun this summer, the publisher/editor was re-reminded of the downside of vacations – returning to work.
This isn’t quite farewell yet ... we still have one more issue for you
Welcome
David Myers has had no problem keeping busy since retirement. But in spite of deckbuilding, novel-writing and Rose’s honey-do list, he finds time to try out local eateries. As he likes to say: “No matter how busy you may be, you still gotta eat!” Liz Smith enjoyed the fun at last year’s county fair where she shot photos for this issue. With an aerospace engineer dad who moved a lot, she’s been to fairs in seven states. Some funnel cakes, she observes, are better than others.
I had already worked 35 years at four Alabama newspapers when we left the Trib in 2013 to start two Good Life magazines, here and in Cullman County. By the time our final issues come out for Nov.-Dec.Jan., I’ll be 71 years old – the youngest I’ll be for the rest of my life. There are other things I’d like to write and read and do. And, I suspect, I’ll always want to shoot pictures. But I’d also like to enjoy more time with my very understanding wife, Diane, and we want to do some traveling.
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.
6 AUGUST | SEPTEMBER | OCTOBER 2022
Contributors While building ads for this issue, advertising/art director Sheila McAnear got inspired to get outdoors to explore and re-explore landmarks for which Marshall County is famous. Kayaking on Lake Guntersville sounds like a good start. When Sheila McAnear and I started Good Life Magazine in 2013, we made it a point not to be a showcase, not a newspaper. But we do have a bit of breaking news for you – this current fall cycle is the next-to-last issues of the magazine we’ll publish. We made that decision at the beginning of the year. Sheila’s a lot younger than I am, but she previously worked 27 years at The Arab Tribune then nine more with GLM. She’s ready for a change of pace.
Deb Laslie, who owned a bookstore in Cullman until a few years ago, seems to have taken well to retirement. One of her goals was to read an entire book series in order. “Done!”she crows. Read about it in her reviews in this issue. While writing for the fall issues of GLM, Seth Terrell played in the Grant Ultimate Frisbee League. “I realized I still have a few athletic bursts of greatness,” he says proudly. Then confesses, “They just come a lot more seldom at age 37.”
Seasoned Agents. New Company. And that’s good for you! “Great Real Estate is built on a Firm Foundation!” David Krauthmer Realtor 256-506-2277 Scott & Terri Haga Realtors 256-673-0959256-673-1223 Evan & Lauren Shaver Realtors 256-293-8056 Kim Lake Realtor 256-200-1032 Southern Elite Realty, LLC 384 GUNTER AVE, GUNTERSVILLE, AL 35976 www.MySouthernElite.comCaseyO’brien Office Manager 256-202-1648 Jeff Gibbs Realtor 256-640-3085 Bonnie Shipp Associate Broker 256-640-6839 Julie Brown Realtor 256-486-7339 Amy Glassco Realtor 256-738-1202PresleePatterson Realtor 256-400-8198 Jerry O’Neal Managing Broker 256-503-7949
Inside On the cover | The sun sets on a towboat pushing barges into the Port of Guntersville. This page | Fall brings flaming reds to Japanese maples and burning golds to hickory trees. Photos by David Moore 11 | Good Fun There’s a bountiful crop of events for your fall enjoyment 16 | Good People Beth Sprouse heads up the army that brings Christmas to many 22 | Good Reads A ‘chick-list’ book or a series, should you accept the mission 25 | Good Cooking Traci Rhines often plays gospel for inspiration with her recipes 34 | Good Getaways As the saying goes, “There ain’t no ham like a Birmingham” 38 | Living a dream Jess and Lisa needed a big house for the big family they planned 46 | Good Eats Co-op Brewery is not just about great craft beer by a long shot 48 | Remember these? Travel with Steve Maze down a nostalgic roadside of attractions 53 | Cave Mountain This little hike packs a lot of wonders into a mile-long loop 58 | A flag unfurled Jack Powers has a powerful token of sacrifices and bonds in WWII 65 | Ride a towboat Here’s a taste of barge work (and great lasagna) on the Tennessee 74 | Out ‘n’ About October means big crowds out for fun at Boaz’s Harvest Festival
AUGUST | SEPTEMBER | OCTOBER 2022 9 SINCE 1952 Proudly Serving You LOCATIONSWilksTire&Battery Service 428 N Broad St · Albertville, AL (256) 878 0211 Wilks Truck Tire & Service Center 424 N Carlisle St · Albertville, AL (256) 878 0212 Wilks Tire & Battery Service 1925 Gunter Ave · Guntersville, AL COMING SOON! Wilks Tire & Battery Service 501 E Broad St · Gadsden, AL (256) 546 6393 Wilks Tire & Battery Service 2049 Beltline Rd SW · Decatur, AL (256) 301-5444 Wilks Truck Tire & Service Center 2205 AL 20 · Decatur, AL (256) 350-0031 Wilks Tire & Battery Service 619 E Tennessee St · Florence, AL (256) 764 8551 Wilks A-One Tire & Service 4847 E US 84 · Dothan, AL (334) 792 2225 WILKSTIRE.COM
10 AUGUST | SEPTEMBER | OCTOBER 2022
From 8 am to 2 pm hundreds of cool cars, trucks and motorcycles will be at this annual car show, which is moving this year to the Boaz VFW fairgrounds on U.S. 431 to better hold the growing crowds and number of entries. But don’t worry – Barney will be back for Mayberry photo ops with you. There will be entertainment, fun for kiddos and lots of food trucks to keep your tank filled. Door prizes will be given throughout the day. Sponsored by the Guntersville Lions Club, it’s one of the biggest car shows in Alabama. Register online for the car show at www.RiverRunCarShow.net; or call at 256-677-9763. Gate admission for spectators is still only $5 per carload.
From face-paintinghappy to concerts in the park, offersSugarFestalot of fun. Photos provided by SugarFest.
• Sept. 3 – SugarFest
• Now through Aug. 26 – Tattoo Arts Local tattoo artists will exhibit photos of their favorite work. The Mountain Valley Arts Council exhibit is designed to help you appreciate the artistry – and steady hands – involved, even if you’re not “a tattoo person.”
Last year, the day-long event drew a big crowd with 100+ craft vendors, 20+ food vendors, great music and a “knock your socks off” fireworks show to close the night out. This should bring even more. The Sugar Rush 5K starts at 7:30 am near the pavilion across from the pool. Register ($25) 6:30-7 am day of the race or at any Arab City School during the first three weeks of classes. Numerous food trucks will be on hand with tantalizing selections to choose from. Adult beverages, along with sodas and water, will be available for purchase within a confined area. The Miss SugarFest Pageant starts at 9 am at Hunt School. Contact Denise Williams for registration info: dwilliams@arabcity. org. Live music starts at noon. Free concerts at the amphitheater are at 5 and 6:30 pm. Fireworks begin at 8:15 and last 15 minutes. For more info: www.thesugarfest.com.
The good eats for this Labor Day Weekend classic will be at St. William’s Foley Center at 915 Gunter Ave., Guntersville. Drive-thru hours for quarts of gumbo and Cajun boiled shrimp by the pound are 4-6 pm Friday; 7:30 am until sold out Saturday. Dine-in hours Saturday are 10:30 am until sold out for Cajun boiled shrimp by the pound, hot or frozen gumbo by the quart, catfish or grilled chicken dinners with coleslaw and hushpuppies, gumbo pints served hot and á la carte items. Prices to be determined.
• Aug. 30-Sept. 30 – Members’ Favorites Mountain Valley Arts Council members are avid art collectors, so this exhibit gives them a chance to share the art that really speaks to them. At the reception – 5:30-7 pm Sept. 13 –members will share the back stories on the art and why they love it. The MVAC gallery at 440 Gunter Ave., Guntersville, is open 10 am-5 pm Tuesday-Friday, 10 am-2 pm Saturday. For more info: www.mvcarts.org; or: 256-571-7199.
The MVAC gallery at 440 Gunter Ave., Guntersville, is open 10 am-5 pm Tuesday-Friday, 10 am-2 pm Saturday. For more info: www.mvcarts.org; or: 256-571-7199.
AUGUST | SEPTEMBER | OCTOBER 2022 11
• Sept. 10-11 – Alabama Women’s Disc Golf Championship Kudzu Cove – featured in the 2021 summer issue of GLM – will host the pro-am tournament, with $1,000 added cash for pros. Registration fees are $55 for amateurs and $75 for pros. For more info or to register,
• Aug. 27 – River Run Car Show
Fall’s not the only thing in the air ... Fun
• Sept. 2-3 – 52nd Annual Seafood Festival
Good
BuildingDiscountSupply Wehave130,000squarefeetofitemsforyourhome,lawn,deckorpatio... YourCompleteHomeCenterStore Family owned & operated Home Center Since 1972 Great Service — Great Prices — Great Customer Satisfaction DECKING Deckingby Trex•Sylvanix•EvergreenKeyLinkRailingBulkMulchRiverRock
Great Pumpkin”?
256-582-2792 3801 AL Hwy. 69, Guntersville
• Sept. 25-Oct.31 – 4th Annual Pumpkin Patch Guntersville Ladies Civitan Club brings back their harvest of pumpkins to the corner of Gunter Avenue and Loveless Street from 10 am-dusk. All sales support the group’s community projects that include Empty Bowls to support local food banks, for “The Check out the Guntersville Ladies Civitans’ annual sale Sept. 25-Oct. 31. Photo provided by the club. • Mon.-Fri. 7am-5pm, Sat. 7am-Noon
• Sept. 22 – Emily Joseph Band
Open
service
12 AUGUST | SEPTEMBER | OCTOBER 2022 visit: discgolfscene.com and use “Alabama” in the search filters under “tournaments” tab.
The Grant Chamber of Commerce’s annual Mile-Plus Yard Sale starts at 6:30 am to browse and shop their way a mile down Main Street where a hundred or more vendors will offer tons of yard sale bargains. Food vendors will also be on hand. Booth space rents for $30. For guidelines visit: www.grantchamberofcommerce. com; or Grant’s Mile-Plus Yard Sale on Facebook; or call: 256-728-8800.
• Sept. 24 – Grant’s Mile-Plus Yard Sale
Mountain Valley Arts Council’s free fall concert series kicks off with the return of the Emily Joseph Band. The group played last year, though bad weather moved the concert to the Guntersville Town Hall. That didn’t stop Emily Joseph and her all-star band from putting on a fantastic performance that one attendee announced as “ the best concert he had ever Assumingseen.”good weather, the show is at 6:30-8:30 pm at Errol Allan Park.
Looking
Guntersville homeless ministries, Guntersville Elementary School’s special ed program, ARC of Marshall County and The Maker’s Child. The pumpkin patch also makes fall and Halloween more fun.
• Sept. 30-Oct. 9 – “To Kill A Mockingbird” A coming-of-age novel about a man wrongly convicted and persecuted for a crime on the basis of skin color, Harper Lee’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel will be brought to life at The Whole Backstage by director Wesley H. Rorex. Like the book, the movie with Gregory Peck’s famous portrayal of Atticus Finch, and dramatized by Christopher Sergel has been experienced and loved by millions. Performances are 7 pm Sept. 30 and Oct.1, 6, 7 and 8; and 2 pm Oct. 2, 9. When available at wholebackstage.com, tickets will be $20 for adults, $18 for seniors, $12 for students.
AUGUST | SEPTEMBER | OCTOBER 2022 13
The Sept. 29 Mountain Valley Arts Council free concert should be a real “hoot.” Photo provided by MVAC 9167 Highway 431 | Albertville | 256-878-0789 | www.sandmountaintoyota.com proud to call Marshall County Home
• Sept. 29 – Uncle Shuffelo and his Haint Hollow Hootenanny Mountain Valley Arts Council’s second free fall concert brings this seven-piece, old-time string band from Rover, Tennessee, with a mission to relieve stress, give off good vibes and cause a general feeling of wellbeing in all people, while promoting the awesomeness of old-time music. They can be counted on to deliver a high-energy performance influenced by Uncle Dave Macon, Grandpa Jones, the Carter Family and other old-time greats. The show’s from 6:30-8:30 pm at Errol Allan Park.
More than just a dealership! Community, Faith, Friendships, Trust and Integrity We are a part of your community, and are
• Oct. 22 – Pink Pumpkin Run
If you’ve ever wanted to visit Switzerland, Austria and Bavaria, now would be a great time to plan. The Albertville Chamber of Commerce is sponsoring a trip for Oct. 4-13, 2023, but is holding a planning information session at 5:30 pm, Sept. 20. After an overnight flight, you’ll spend four nights at Hotel Bern. While in Switzerland, you’ll enjoy the its 500-year old capital, take the GoldenPass panoramic train excursion, see and sample cheese being made, visit the Alpine ski resort of Gstaad. Then spend four nights at AS Hotel by Marriott in Innsbruck, Austria. Travel the scenic countryside to Salzburg, and marvel at Linderhof in Bavaria. Rates are $3,999 pp double, $4599 single or $3,949 triple; rates include airfare from Birmingham, hotels, eight breakfasts and four dinners; and various fees, surcharges and transfers. (Book after April 5, 2023, and the above rates go up $250. Book a four-day, three-night optional extension to Vienna for $999.) For more info, contact Kathy Gore at the Albertville Chamber: 256-878-3821, or
Enjoykathy@albertvillechamberofcommerce.com.inspiringAlpineviewswitharideontheGoldenPassPanoramicTrainfromMontreuxtoGstaad.Photo:SwitzerlandTourism.
Pink Pumpkin Run/Walk – sponsored by the Foundation for Marshall Medical Centers at Guntersville Civitan Park – returns this year at an earlier date with the theme of “Reunion Tour!”
• Sept. 20 – plan for Switzerland, Austria and Bavaria
• Oct. 7-8 – Lake City Fallfest
• Oct. 6 – JED Eye Wrapping up the Mountain Valley Arts Council’s free fall concerts is JED Eye. Says the Huntsville band: “Making music and sharing it with music lovers is our passion. When we play music, we give it our all –and we don’t stop till there is nothing else to give to you. A JED Eye concert is not just about listening to the music ... it’s an experience of rock!” The show’s from 6:30-8:30 pm at Errol Allan Park.
Follow on Facebook @LakeCityFallfest.
Participants are encouraged to dress as their favorite musical star or group that needs a comeback. The event features a 5K, 10K, 1 Mile Fun Run, early registration and packet pick up, music, children’s activities and the popular Pink Pancake Brunch (9 am). Proceeds benefit mammography and cancer services at Marshall Medical Centers. You don’t have to run, just participate for a good cause. There’s even a “sleep-in” option. Register (before Oct. 1 and save $5) online: www.pinkpumpkinrun.com.
14 AUGUST | SEPTEMBER | OCTOBER 2022
• Oct. 7-8 – 58th Annual Harvest Festival Running daily 8 am-6 pm in downtown Boaz, it’s a weekend of arts and crafts, food, the farmers’ market, beauty pageants, corn hole competition, pumpkin contest, tons of children’s activities, classic car, truck and jeep show, gospel, country and bluegrass music and other entertainment. For more info, contact sponsoring Boaz Chamber of Commerce: seeboazchamberassist@gmail.com.256-593-8154,Alsopages74-75.
• Oct. 4-28 – Celebrating Cultural Heritages This exhibit at the Mountain Valley Arts Council will focus on the various cultures that make up Marshall County communities – Asian, Hispanic, Native American and more. A reception will be held 5-7:30 pm. The MVAC gallery at 440 Gunter Ave., Guntersville, is open 10 am-5 pm Tuesday-Friday, 10 am-2 pm Saturday. For more info: www.mvacarts.org; or: 256-571-7199.
The annual event, with an outdoor market and food trucks, is open 10 am-6 pm Friday in downtown Guntersville. Hours are the same Saturday with a return of the above plus live music, pumpkin patch, pumpkin bowling, games, contests, train rides, hay rides, costume contest and more.
AUGUST | SEPTEMBER | OCTOBER 2022 15 Customized your “barn” for the perfect: • Storage shed • Studio • Pool house • She shed • WorkLearnspacemore at sbarns.com Built with pride in West Point, Cullman County Delivered anywhere in North Alabama 256-735-4480 capacity.increaseloftssuchOptionsasandshelvingstorage God Is Good All The Time — All The Time God Is Good At Superior Barns you get workmanship you won’t find elsewhere. Giving you a building that lasts and you have a world of options. We Build With Quality. Period. Lifefirst Imaging & Oncology Care Group 1811 Park Way Circle Cullman, AL 35058 Hours: Monday - Friday 8 am – 4:30 pm, Closed Saturday & 256-737-2285Sunday Our Services: • (VMAT) Rapid Arc • PET/CT/MRI Fusion • Radionuclide Therapy • 4-Dimensional Radiotherapy • (SRS) Stereotactic Radiosurgery • (LDR) Low Dose Rate Brachytherapy • (IGRT) Image Guided Radiation Therapy • GE Lightspeed Wide Bore CT/RT Scanner • (SBRT) Stereotactic Body Radiation Therapy • (IMRT) Intensity Modulated Radiation Therapy Mind. Body. Spirit. Need CallScreening?Cancertoseeifyou’reeligible Compassionate Care: Cancer Care As It Should Be When you have a health problem, we’re here to care for you and your family. For over 20 years, Dr. Vincent Karolewics has been committed to providing the Cullman community with universitylevel care using leading-edge technology in a compassionate, caring environment. We are a compassionate cancer care center, and we make a personal commitment to care for the whole person, your mind, body, and spirit.
Story and photo by David Moore
“I truly love teaching,” she says. And she often sees or hears from former students.“Iam so proud of them … kids that are principals now; people who have wonderful fabulous jobs and they are giving back to the community. It’s neat.”
So Beth went beyond sponsoring. She became a volunteer. About 18 years ago she became a board member, and maybe nine years later – “I just don’t keep up with dates … you just do
Coalition’s volunteer elves and donors make Christmas special for 1,600 kids Beth Sprouse stands in front of a fraction of the toys for Marshall County kids bagged for pick-up last Christmas.
Heading to checkout while shopping, Brett and Lauren would count the thoughtful but relatively slim pickings for the coalition recipients. “Let’s get one or two more things!” they would tell Beth and Rusty. “As a teacher, I saw children who were just pitiful,” she says. “All you had to do was love on them a little bit – just let them know somebody cares for them.”
But Christmastime is nothing if not special. And making anything special takes effort on some front or another. Christmas was always special for Beth growing up in Albertville with a house full of sisters and parents who made it a point, and found it possible, to make Christmas that way. She recalls one especially special Christmas, from a “Santa” point of view. “That morning I came in the living room, and there set my new bicycle. I will never forget it. I didn’t see anything else because I had wanted that bicycle so badly. It had a banana seat and raised handlebars,” she laughs. “That’s definitely datingBeyondmyself.”Santa, Christmas with her parents meant giving and helping others. “All my life, really and truly, I was taught as a child that you help others,” Beth says of her parents, Jack and the late Bonnie Fricks. “My mother was an especially giving person and instilled in us how important that is. She took food to people. If there were children in need, she would give them our things or bought them things. And we would help, too.”
16 AUGUST | SEPTEMBER | OCTOBER 2022
Sprouse
It’s not like elves busting their little knuckles 24/7/364 in a North Pole workshop (they do get off work one day a year). But making Christmas happen for 1,600 local kids in need – letting them know someone cares at this special time of the year – is such a huge challenge that the small army of Marshall County Christmas Coalition volunteers have already set their figurative hammers to work as autumn rolls around. “Just the organization,” says Beth Sprouse, executive director of the nonprofit. “It takes a lot of help to get 1,600 people signed up; get them a sponsor; do all the shopping; get gifts to families. That doesn’t happen because Beth Sprouse did it, let me tell you.”
Beth
5questions Good People
Marshall County Christmas Coalition was established in 1996 as a non-profit. The founding board members were: Curtis Adams, Mike Alred, Dr. Judy Berry, Michelle Cowart, Jim Danner, Rick Douglas, Larry Hardin, Jean Ann Moon, Tommy Prestridge, Don Richards, Wayne Sellers, Rhonda Springfield, Jill Thompson, Tommy Turner, Tim Walker, Jeannie Wallace and Gina Walley. Through her teaching, Beth had already sized-up the financial straits in which many of her students lived. So it wasn’t long before she and Rusty were participating in the new group, along with their children, Brett and Lauren. “We sponsored kids for years and took our children to shop for them,” she says. “God has truly blessed us. Our children needed to see there are kids who did not have the things they would have.”
Lessons learned at home one day lead not only to Beth’s career, but to her children helping with Christmas Coalition.Beth traces her years in education to one of her mother’s ways of giving at Albertville First Baptist. Bonnie taught the Girls in Action, Sunday school and Bible school. It rubbed off. “By high school I knew I’d be a teacher,” Beth says. “I was doing children’s’ choir at that time. It was something God said: this is what you are going to do.” She also believes God meant for her and Rusty Sprouse to be together. That, however, was not immediately apparent when, as a ninth grader, his family moved from South Carolina to Albertville. For starts, she was two years older. “We met at church. The minister of music had invited his family to Teen Time, a Bible school for teenagers at night,” Beth says. That she had a driver’s license and he didn’t might have figured into the mix, but they did date in high school. She graduated from high school in 1977 and headed to Jacksonville State University to earn a degree in early childhood education. When he finished at Albertville, he also went to JSU. “We sort of dated there.” “Sort of” eventually morphed into “engagement” in 1982. They married the following year while she worked on her master’s. “I think it was His plan,” Beth says of God. “We tried to make it ours.” Rusty went on to become chief financial officer at B&G Supply, an Albertville trucking company started by Beth’s father Jack. (Jack, 88, still goes to the office daily, she says.) Beth went on to teach kindergarten and second grade and work as a parent engagement specialist for 31 years in Albertville. She still works part time for Marshall County Schools.
FAMILY: Married Rusty Sprouse 1983. They have two grown children: Dr. Brett Sprouse (wife Melissa), a team doctor for Auburn University athletics; and Lauren Wood, (husband Grant), who teaches pre-K for Albertville City Schools; and two grandchildren, Emery Wood, 3, Madilyn Wood, 1 on Oct. 1.
INVOLVEMENT: Years of volunteering and serving as executive director of Marshall County Christmas Coalition; lifelong member of Albertville First Baptist, where she’s served on numerous committees; Blessing in a Backpack; Montage Study Club; The Literary Club; and Marker’s Child, a program that offers respite for parents while their special needs children attend activities at area churches. And, she adds, her grandkids –“They are the bomb.”
AWARDS: Primary Teacher of the Year at Big Spring Lake.
EARLY LIFE: A lifelong resident of Albertville, she’s the second of four daughters born to Jack and the late Bonnie Fricks. Siblings are Cathy Lathem, Mary Malone and Sherri Smith.
SNAPSHOT: Beth Sprouse
CAREER: Educator, starting in 1982 with kindergarten at Marshall County Schools at McCord Elementary; kindergarten and second grade at Big Spring Lake for several years before going to second grade at Albertville Primary, where she taught most of her 31 years, along with serving as a parent engagement specialist. After retiring, worked part-time in the parent-engagement program at APS; now works part time in parent-engagement and pre-k for the county schools.
EDUCATION: Graduated Albertville High, 1977; earned a degree in early childhood education from Jacksonville State university in December 1981 and her master’s in the same field from JSU in 1983.
With our data base we can send a list to, say, the school counselor at Guntersville Elementary, showing who has applied and been approved incomewise. Sometimes they see people on that list who might not need the assistance. Counselors know people and families. They are vital to us. We have a great relationship with the counselors across the entireAnothercounty.way to check if people are playing the system is that we take every application and check it with DHR. We want to ensure that the person who completed the application has custody, or is the guardian of the children. DHR is very valuable to our stewardship efforts. They know lots of situations and are willing to help us so children can receive assistance for Christmas.
18 AUGUST | SEPTEMBER | OCTOBER 2022 what you have to do.” – she was named executive director. Sans a title, Rusty is right there with her as part of the army that works to make Christmas special for children in need. “There is absolutely no way I could do everything I do for Christmas Coalition without him,” Beth says. “If I’m doing something, he’s onboard.”
1. Can you explain to readers why the Marshall County Christmas Coalition is needed? Last year we served nearly 1,600 children who live in Marshall County. We’ve had more than 1,800 before. In my opinion, that’s all they get for Christmas – what sponsors give, what our volunteers shopBeingfor. a former kindergarten and second grade teacher, I had children in my classes who were recipients. They would come back after Christmas and say, “ Mrs. Sprouse, I got so-and-so.” And I knew that was all they got. Parents have said they were so thankful. They might have been able to buy their children a few little things, but what they got from Christmas Coalition was usually all there was. Beyond helping the recipients, we also provide an avenue for organizations, churches, businesses and individuals who desire to contribute or purchase gifts for children who wouldn’t otherwise have a Christmas. We make it easy for them. By the way, we sponsor by family. If you want to sponsor one child, we give you a family with only one. If you want six, we give you a family with six. That way, on Christmas morning we don’t have one child with two gifts and one with seven. One person shopping for a family comes closer to doing that.
4. Beyond the hard work, on a Christmas-spirit level what makes Christmas Coalition a success? Like I said, there are so many great
2. What churches and other groups work in conjunction with Christmas Coalition? And what part do volunteers play in its success? Multiple churches – and multiple denominations – throughout our county work with us. I honestly don’t know how many … I’d say 25-plus. Then there are civic groups. There are local government agencies, school clubs, social groups, Sunday school classes, charity groups. I don’t have permission to give names, but a number of corporations are heavily involved. They may take 150 children and spend well over $250 per child.There are some families who instead of exchanging gifts with each other, say, “We don’t need anything else.” And they’ll take a list from us and shop for the children or donate money. Almost 1,500 individuals, businesses, agencies, churches and clubs shopped themselves for Christmas presents in 2021. That’s pretty average. Our volunteers shopped for 188 children supported by way more than that many people who donated money. It doesn’t surprise me that people here are so generous. If they know a need is there, they’ll meet it. I’ll have people call close to the end of the drive and say, “Let me know if you need help.”Our volunteer numbers vary year to year. We probably have 100-plus. They are huge to us. Plus, we’re blessed with many return volunteers who come back every year. I also must say we have a “working” board. When they volunteer to serve on the board, they know they’ll hit the ground running in September and handle it all by parent-pickup time the second week of December. Most of our volunteers help during assistance sign-up. It takes up to 15 at each place over 30 hours across four days. Some can be there all day, some come on their lunch break. Most of them have done this before. The new ones, we have to train so they fully understand the three-page application form. We have volunteers that help with drop-off and volunteers that help us with pick-up. Plus we have volunteers and different groups that will shop along with a board member who pays for everything. Most of the shoppers have been with us for years, too. It takes an army to make Christmas Coalition happen – it really does. The hundred or so volunteers, plus the 18 board members, the coalition assistant and me. Of course, everything during Covid was crazy. But we made it happen. Thank you, Lord. 3. What steps does the coalition take to ensure there is no overlap in assistance to households and no one plays the system? Are we foolproof? Absolutely not. There are people who slip through the cracks. But we must be good stewards of people’s money and time.
To begin with, we ask recipients for one of these four ways to verify income: a 2021 tax return; a current SSI letter; a current legal paycheck stub; or they can show bank statements for July and August. If there is another adult working in the household, they must also bring proof of income. We require proof of residency in Marshall County – an electric bill, a water bill, something that is paid monthly. Or they can bring us their lease. Finally, we need a photo ID that has the same name as the document they provide us for residency.We’ve built an extensive data base from approved recipients’ applications that lists children’s names, ages, schools and grades. We have many clubs, churches, businesses and individuals who contact us and say, “So-and-so reached out to us for Christmas help. Are they on your list?” We say if they are or aren’t. “OK, thank you.”
AUGUST | SEPTEMBER | OCTOBER 2022 19 Making the Most of Home · GIFT SHOP · HOME DECOR · BOUTIQUE Now Located at the Fant’s Building 355 Gunter Avenue, Suite 1 ● Guntersville 2 5 6 4 8 6 2 0 1 1 www.HadwinHouse.com FAMILY RUN — VETERAN RUN Come by for our wine tastings ... with Hadwin House Just like at your own home… we are ever evolving here at Hadwin House. We’ve added some new items and are restocking daily on the things you love most! We’ve expanded our selection of Olive Oils and Balsamic and our kitchen department! Our home decor selection is constantly being updated and our famous candles are getting some new scents added. We’ve also added to our events with Trivia every Monday night and Live Music nights as well. We’re also proud to announce that we have added Interior Decorating services. Inspired at Home (tm) is a service we offer to bring a new spin on interior decorating and home staging. Come. Evolve with us. Whatever your plans and dreams are let us help you Make the Most of Home. Olive Oils and Balsamics Charcuterie Boards for one or a crowd Wide selection of Wines Live & Silk Florals Seasonal Home DecorVersaTotes Hand Poured Candles Open tues.-thur. 10-4, fri. & Sat. 10-5 355 Gunter Ave. 256-582-3845Guntersville Fant’s Mercantile building is now a part of the National Trust for Historic Preservation designated by the US Department of Interior and the National Park Service. Our building dates back to the early 1900’s. Our companies’ goal is to preserve a small part of downtown Guntersville for the future. Fant’s commitment to our customers and our community remains as strong as ever.
or visit www.discoverourlake.com www.facebook.com/GLgrande/ Introducing a Lake View Community of Villas & Craftsman Homes in
Some of these callers don’t live in the county anymore but want to make a donation. They do it because it brings joy to them knowing that it helps children here have a Christmas. One called and said, “I got help as a child. I have a great job now and want other kids to have Christmas. What do I do?”
Christmas Coalition sign-ups are open to qualified Marshall County residents. Household income limits are determined by federal poverty guidelines, but the board had yet to determine the percentage as of press deadline. Sign up is Sept. 6-9 at Albertville First United Methodist Church, Boaz Park and Recreation and Guntersville Rec Center; times are 9 a.m.-6 p.m. Tuesday and Thursday, noon-6 p.m. Wednesday and Friday.
Sponsorship forms are available at: www. christmascoalition.org; or by calling the coalition office: 256-582-9998. All monetary donations are welcome yearround. They can be mailed to: Marshall County Christmas Coalition PO Box Guntersville,71 AL 35976 As a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, sponsorships and donations are tax deductible. A thank you letter, which will serve as your tax receipt, will be mailed to you in January.
I don’t even remember my scores. I don’t know how I did it because I am so uncoordinated, but I usually had a strike or aAnotherspare. thing people might not know is that, as a teenager, I played the organ and piano at church. Like I said, I am not a very coordinated person, but I had good organ and piano teachers. Patsy Bolton and Gail Hiett taught me well. Good Life Magazine
and
Includes board and batten/lap/shake siding and trim, hardwood, tile, crown molding and baseboards, 10-ft. ceilings, granite countertops, stainless appliances, tankless water heater, attic spray-foam insulation, private balconies and more.
service. For information about owning or investing in your new cottage or villa call
Sponsors for children are asked to spend $200 for ages birth-12; $250 for 13-15.
From $429,900
20 AUGUST | SEPTEMBER | OCTOBER 2022 people in Marshall County who make the Christmas season happen for the children … people who want to pay it forward. It touches me every year that people call and say, “I got Christmas Coalition when I was a child. Now I want to help others have it. Please send me x-number of children to shop for.”
help
5. What is something people might not know about Beth Sprouse? My husband reminded me of this ... “I bet nobody knows that you can bowl really good.” I said I haven’t bowled in years. He said, “Yeah, but you always beat me!”
Here’s how you sign up ... and Amenities include swimming pool facility, hydro-court tennis courts, maintenance-free lawn landscape Ken Williams at 256-302-1510. Guntersville, AL.
One of our board members got Christmas Coalition help as a child. They said that, as a child, their dad left and their mother worked. She did everything she could do but didn’t have any money left to buy Christmas for her children.Ithink that’s why I’ve stayed here as long as I have. I feel God has put me here to help children in our county know that others care about them so that they can have a little joy in their lives, too. Our board members and volunteers truly have a heart for it, or they wouldn’t be here. I am very blessed to be a part of it.
18-hole, award-winning golf course,
AUGUST | SEPTEMBER | OCTOBER 2022 21 ● Sugar Explosion Fireworks ● Sugar Rush 5K ● Miss SugarFest Pageant ● Craft Vendors Marketplace ● Food Trucks ● Sugar Pie Kidz Zone ● Live Music Presented by Fine Thin gs 25th AAnnual Ch ri stma s Open Hou se Dogwood Plaza • Arab • 1942 North Brindlee Mountain Parkway 256-586-5685 SAVE THE DATE! Saturday, November 5th from 9 am - 5 pm 20% Off Sale Excludes Anne Neilson Please join us for a book signing NeilsonAnne Artist, PhilanthropistAuthor,from2-4pmPre-orderhernewrelease“EntertainingAngels”now! Fine ThingsBridalRegistry&GiftShop Chapter 16, “Earthly Angels” by Jacob Bright
They are fun, flirty and have a way with the written word that gives us great insight into their quirky personalities and innermost thoughts. Lincoln initially sends them a warning about the “personal nature” of their back and forth banter, but then cannot stop himself from continuing to monitor their conversations. He begins to care about them as individuals and realizes his own limitations with his life, job, friends and, ultimately, his love life. He is smitten. “Is it possible to fall in love with someone you’ve never met or seen?”
don’tnewspaperaretheirtheandJennifer,editorialmovie/book/lifestylearea.Sheandherbestfriendacopyeditoratpaper,knowthatpersonalemailsbeingmonitoredbysecuritybuttakeitseriously.
Love. Purpose. Those are the things that you can’t plan for. Those are the things that just happen. And what if they don’t happen? Do you spend your whole life pining for them? Waiting to be happy? Good Reads
You know how it ends, but the ride is a breath of fresh cool air in these times of heaviness. Chill out with Rainbow Rowell and Attachments.” – Deb Laslie
22 AUGUST | SEPTEMBER | OCTOBER 2022
Rowell’s ‘Attachments’ is the perfect ‘chick-list’ book Ahhh, late summer in Alabama. Hot, steamy air you can wear. So get those chores done in the morning and spend the rest of the day relaxing with a good book – or 15 books. Your mission, should you decide to accept it (you really should), is to read Clive Cussler’s entire Oregon Files series, starting with “Golden Buddha.” Juan Cabrillo is chairman of the Corporation, a groupgovernment-sponsoredspecialthatoperatesout of a ship called the Oregon; a marvel of scientific research equipment bristling with state-of-theart weaponry - but disguised as a heap of junk. These books are perfect for adventure junkies of all ages (great for summer school – they’ll never know they’re learning world geography, science, and history). Whether it’s hunting for treasure, foiling the plots of terrorists, subverting the release of poison gas on untold millions or rescuing hostages – the crew of the Oregon is ready and supremely able to carry out the mission with daring, courage and a positiveYou’llattitude.comeaway feeling proud of the truly good and patriotic folks that make up our country. Read the series in order – or not – but it’s fun to follow the characters and exploits book by book. And #16 comes out in September!–Deb Laslie They say a ship is only as good as her crew,” Juan said. “I couldn’t agree more. I’m proud to say that the Oregon has been, is, and always will be the finest ship afloat.”
Your mission (and you should accept it) is to read this series R ainbow Rowell has written the perfect chick-list book – “Attachments.” It’s a tale of two people who long for each other, but don’t know who their “other” is.
Lincoln is the IT guy (information technology) for a newspaper. Beth is in the
AUGUST | SEPTEMBER | OCTOBER 2022 23 All your eye care needs in a friendly, comfortable, family environment. Monday - Friday 9 am - 5 pm 1327 Gunter Avenue Guntersville, AL 35976 256-582-3146 gec2020@gmail.com www.guntersville-eyeclinic.com L-R: Sarah Carter, Angela Blakely, Dr. Suzanne Holmes, Denise Edmondson Focused On You Since 2000 GUNTERSVILLEEYECLINIC 2626 N. BRINDLEE MT. PKWY., ARAB 256-586-3435 Letushelpyoufindyourstyle Granite/Quartz/SolidHardwood/Carpet/Tile/Vinyl/RugsBlinds/ShuttersSurfaceCountertops Parkway Flooring & Interiors Haralson Drugs HealthMart PHARMACY 1941 Patterson Street • Guntersville, Alabama Monday - Friday 8:30 - 7:00, Saturday 9:00-5:00 256-582-3661 and gift shop & gift registry for over 30 years Fall items arriving daily - Check us out!
24 Day 256-582-8844 Night 256-302-0485 Lake City Auto & Tire Family-owned and operated for over 30 years 628 Gunter Ave., Guntersville — Open Mon. - Fri. 7:30am - 5pm 256-582-884424-hourtowing&recovery FULL LINE OF NEW TIRES AND A GOOD SELECTION OF USED TIRES WeOurGuaranteework! 12 mos/12K miles on most models See Us For All Your Auto Repair Quality auto repair, including oil changes, brakes, shocks, alignments, air conditioning, collision repair and more. Voted America’s HealthMart Pharmacy of the Year 2022! BUNCH PHARMACY Practicing at home for 40 years - 25 owning Bunch Pharmacy Mon - Fri: 8:30 am - 7:00 pm, Sat: 8:30 am - 2:30 pm 1800 Henry Street • Guntersville, AL Let Buddy and Amy take care of all your vaccinations. 256-582-5700 www.bunchrx.com 1615 Town 7805754256-739-4380Cullman,SquareALALHwy157Cullman,AL256-739-4310MainStreetNEHanceville,AL256-352-6245 250 N Brindlee Mtn. 256-586-6567Arab,Pkwy.AL WWW.WAREHOUSEDISCOUNTGROCERIES.COM “A FAMILY TRADITION SINCE 1976”
AUGUST | SEPTEMBER | OCTOBER 2022 25
Traci Rhines loves color in the dishes she prepares. Her recipes have appeared in The Advertiser-Gleam and the Lakeview Community Civic Organization’s newsletter. She works at Family Services of North Alabama; Lakeview Credentialing and Administrative Services; and works evenings as office manager for her cousin’s Twindom Counseling in Boaz. In January Traci started the Cultural Connection Committee, which strives to raise awareness of differences in the community and help to break down barriers and stereotypes.
Traci Rhines cooks for family and community with color, love and gospel music Cooking
Good
B aking may not be Traci’s favorite side of cooking, but don’t tell the folks who always ask her to bring her Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies to any event she is invited to, big or small. It was just a cookie recipe she had at first, then she found a cookie recipe with brown butter and cinnamon.
Story by Jacquelyn Hall Photos by David Moore Fun, family, community and, above all, love are what keeps Traci Rhines’ Guntersville kitchen full of delicious and usually colorful creations. And it started at home with her dad, James Rhines, who passed away in 2020, and her mom, Sandra.Growing up, she watched them in their element of expertise. “My dad could grill like nobody’s business,” she says. “Mom does downhome cooking, and between the two of them, I just picked it up.”
Traci’s son, CJ, is well on his way in continuing the family’s cooking legacy, following in his grandfather’s footsteps by making his own spice mixes and recipes.Though she never really participated when her parents cooked, Traci picked up a lot just by observing them in action. “Cooking was one of those things that, when I was older, I just wanted to know how to do. I didn’t want to be someone who couldn’t boil an egg or needed instructions to boil water,” she laughs. “Dad would marinade using his own spices and sauces. He was well known for his barbecue and his sauce. “I started experimenting with my own stuff. I’d see a recipe and think, ‘If I change this and that…’ Measurements are tricky, not so much with cooking, but baking has to be precise.”
Well known in the community, Traci has worked in the kitchen for various church events. Prior to covid, she cooked for vacation Bible school at St. Minor Primitive Baptist Church in Guntersville, and she has cooked for different work events. Her chili has become locally famous, having won two cook-offs. Traci’s sister submitted her chili and it won a third. Her chili is not for the faint of heart or tender of palate – she makes it hot and spicy. Traci loves getting colorful and creative with recipes, like her “Ultimate Cobb Salad.” Bright and scrumptious, it’s filled with steak, shrimp, chicken and a garden’s worth of vegetables. She also enjoys figuring out how to reconstruct her favorite restaurant dishes at home. After having hibachi steak and vegetables, she decided it looked easy enough to make, and so she learned how to make it herself. It’s her favorite dinner to make.Herfavorite dessert is vanilla cake – even if it is a cake. She dusts the pan with sugar before baking to give the cake a light caramelized outer crust. Then she serves it with homemade whipped cream and chopped strawberries. Traci not only has fun cooking, but also finds peace along the way.
26 AUGUST | SEPTEMBER | OCTOBER 2022
2 cups corn 1½ cups of half and half 2 green onions, chopped Cheddar cheese, shredded Salt and pepper to taste
CREAMY
In a large pot, melt butter over medium heat; add peppers and onions. Sauté until tender. Add garlic and cook for about 30 seconds. Whisk in flour and cook about 2 minutes, stirring constantly. As you stir, slowly add chicken stock and whisk until blended. Add potatoes and bay leaves. Season with salt and pepper. Bring mixture to a boil, stirring frequently. Reduce heat to medium-low and cook uncovered about 10 minutes or until potatoes are tender, stirring occasionally. Add cooked chicken, corn and half and half. Simmer uncovered for 10-15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Serve topped with chopped bacon, cheese and green onions.
6 cups chicken stock (you can use broth) 3 medium potatoes, peeled and diced (about ½-inch thick) 2 bay leaves
“And I thought, ‘What would it be like if I combine the brown butter with a chocolate chip cookie?’” Making brown butter is a bit tedious, she“Itwarns.takes a while for it to turn the perfect dark honey color. Just a hair over, and it burns,” Traci says. “There are bits left over in the bottom that some people throw that out, but it’s flavor, and I keep it in.”Cookies may be the exception to the baking rule, but cakes make the rule. “Cakes are always hard – everything has to be measured,” she grins. “You can’t stomp around or they fall, and homemade icings are hard, too.” One rule of Traci’s that spans both baking and cooking that she will not break or bend involves almond flour: “Anything keto with almond flour, I will not make it. Almond flour just does not cook up the same.”
“Usually when I’m in the kitchen, I’m playing gospel music,” she says. “Even when I’m cleaning the kitchen, I’m playing gospel music. It’s just a peaceful connection with God.” ’Tis said that love is the best ingredient in home-cooked food. If so, perhaps food made while loving the Creator is a smidgen better. But those who are lucky enough to sample Traci’s dishes probably already know that. Good Life Magazine
1 lb. cooked boneless chicken breast, shredded 8 slices of cooked bacon, crumbled 1 large red bell pepper, diced 1 medium yellow onion, diced 2 jalapeno peppers, seeded and finely chopped 4 cloves minced garlic ¼ cup butter ⅓ cup all-purpose flour
CHICKEN AND CORN CHOWDER
Fully Accredited Durable Medical Equipment Home Health Oxygen Services Diabetic Shoes Diabetic Supplies 24-Hour Emergency Line Convenient Drive Through Prescriptions Are The Heart Of Our Business! 8180 Alabama Highway 69, Guntersville 256-753-9500 New Turkish towels hand loomed in Turkey 532 Gunter Avenue, Guntersville Providing healthy, organic options to keep you well 256-860-0462 Tues.- Thurs. 10-5, Fri. 10-6, Sat. 10-1 Owner: Tyler Hawkins Adult Delta 8 CBD Gummies & Suckers ––––––––––––––––––––––––Certified CBD Products Get all the benefits of Hemp with THC FREE products Try Three Spirits Alcohol-Free Cocktails • Plant-based • Gluten-free • ––––––––––––––––––––––––Vegan 75% off select NOW products ––––––––––––––––––––––––Our CBD products are locally grown and manufactured L-R: Pamela Davis, tech; Eli Lecroy, DME manager; Linda King, tech; Tina Latham, owner/office manager; Barry Latham, owner/pharmacist; Emily Mauldin, pharmicist; Meagan Jester, lead tech; Emily Moses, clerk. Not pictured: Scott Miller, pharmacist “Find Low Prices & Quality Service On Every Aisle!” Now Offering Curbside Pickup Shop Online at .
½ Tbsp. onion powder
28 AUGUST | SEPTEMBER | OCTOBER 2022
ULTIMATE COBB SALAD
1 chicken breast 1 steak (cut of your choice, seasoned and cooked to your liking) 8 large or extra-large shrimp, shell off and de-veined 2 slices bacon 2 eggs, boiled and sliced Salad greens of your choice (I prefer spring mix) 1 cup extra sharp cheddar cheese, shredded ½ red onion, sliced 1 medium tomato, diced ½ cucumber, sliced and halved ¼ cup carrots, shredded 1 yellow bell pepper, sliced 3-4 Tbsp. cooking oil 1 pat butter
½ Tbsp. garlic powder ¼ Tbsp. chopped parsley Steak marinade Salt and pepper to taste Blend onion powder, garlic powder, salt, pepper and parsley together and season chicken with about half of this seasoning mixture, or more until well-seasoned, cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes. Marinate steak using the marinade of your choice. I use a secret family recipe handed down to me from my dad. While meat is marinating, boil eggs, slice vegetables and shred cheese.Cook bacon until slightly crispy. Remove from pan but do not drain grease. Allow bacon to cool then crumble and set aside. Return bacon grease to medium high heat (may opt to use cooking oil). Add additional 1 Tbsp. cooking oil, if needed. Remove chicken from the fridge and add to the skillet with bacon grease, reduce heat to medium and cook until browned on both sides. Make sure the temperature inside of your chicken is 165 before removing from heat. Place chicken on a cutting board, breast side up and allow to rest for 10-15 minutes. In a clean skillet, heat 1½- 2 Tbsp. of cooking oil and half the bacon grease (optional) on medium high heat. Add steak cooked as desired. I prefer mine medium and seared on each side. Set aside and allow meat to rest for at least 10 minutes before cutting. In large skillet, heat 1 Tbsp. of cooking oil on medium high heat. Add butter, shrimp and sprinkle with seasoning mixture. Be careful not to over season the shrimp. It doesn’t take much to add flavor to shrimp. Cook about 2 minutes per side or until shrimp is opaque. Do not overcook shrimp or it will become rubbery.Carefully cut chicken breast into ½-inch cubes and slice steak to desired thickness. To prevent steak from being tough, always cut against the grain of the steak. Cover a plate with the greens of your choice. Carefully arrange sliced vegetables, cheese, eggs and meat in colorful rows on top of the bed of greens. Season with salt and pepper, if desired, then top with your choice of salad dressing.
AUGUST | SEPTEMBER | OCTOBER 2022 29 Women's Healthcare & More! Contact us today to schedule your www.swtaylorobgyn.com256-840-4530appointment! 2505 US HWY 431 Women's Center Suite A Boaz, AL 35957 Dr SWTaylor IIIBrittany McClendon, CRNP BNK-6611G-A edwardjones.com Member SIPC Protect your savings with FDIC coverage up to $2.5 million. Our Insured Bank Deposit program offers the assurance of Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) protection. This interest-bearing savings solution gives you the convenience of having your savings and investments on one statement. Getting started is easy. Call your financial advisor today to learn more. Deposits are FDIC-insured up to $2.5 million ($5 million for joint accounts of two or more people). Amounts that exceed the program’s FDIC coverage limits will be removed from the program and invested in the Edward Jones Money Market Fund, unless you opt instead to deposit such amounts in an Excess Bank as outlined in the program disclosure. More information about the Insured Bank Deposit Program, including the program disclosure, is available from your financial advisor or at www.edwardjones.com/bankdeposit. For more information about FDIC insurance, go to www.fdic.gov. April R Hinds Financial Advisor 12 Guntersville Road Arab, AL 256-586-049435016 April R. FinancialHindsAdvisor 12 Guntersville Road Arab, AL 256-586-049435016 april.hinds@edwardjones.com John Clay Dollar Financial Advisor 12 Guntersville Road Arab, AL 256-586-049435016 john.dollar@edwardjones.comMKT-9811B-A edwardjones.com Member SIPC Lorna S O'Leary Financial Advisor 12 Guntersville Road Arab, AL 256-586-049435016
In a large bowl, mix peanut butter, melted butter, white sugar and brown sugar together until blended. Slowly add eggs, vanilla extract and salt. In a separate bowl, combine flour and bakingSlowlypowder.addthe dry ingredient mixture to the wet ingredients, folding it in until combined. It is important that you do not overmix the ingredients to avoid a cake-like consistency.
½ cup peanut butter 1 cup all-purpose flour 2 large eggs ⅓ cup melted butter ²/³ cup white sugar ½ cup brown sugar 1 tsp. vanilla extract 1 tsp. baking powder Pinch of Preheatsaltoven to 350. Line 9x9 baking pan with parchment paper.
Spread the batter evenly in the 9x9 baking pan and smooth it out. Bake for 30-35 minutes. Do not over-bake or they will be dry. You want them to be moist with a chewy texture. Remove from oven. Brownies should have a soft, gooey texture. They will firm up as they cool. Brownies will have a slightly wet look in the middle but should not be raw. For added yumminess, serve with ice cream!
PEANUT BUTTER BROWNIES
BROWN CHOCOLATEBUTTERCHIPCOOKIES
1¼ cup salted butter ¾ cup granulated sugar 1 cup firmly packed brown sugar 2 large eggs 1 tsp. vanilla 2¾ cup all-purpose flour ½ tsp. salt 2 tsp. baking soda 2½ cups semisweet chocolate chips (use 2 cups if you prefer less chocolate)
Preheat oven to 375. Grease baking sheets with cooking spray or line with parchment paper.
30 AUGUST | SEPTEMBER | OCTOBER 2022
In a medium-large saucepan, brown butter over medium high heat. You will need to stir the butter constantly to prevent burning. When the butter reaches a deep honey-like color, remove it from the heat and pour into a large mixing bowl. Place butter in the refrigerator until set. It should have the consistency of butter at room temperature, solid but not hard. Do not use the butter while it is still liquid. Once butter is set, cream the butter and both sugars together. This should take about 1 minute. Add eggs and vanilla; mix until well blended and fluffy. Add flour, baking soda and salt. Mix until dry ingredients are combined but do not over mix. Stir in chocolate chips. Using ¼ cup of dough (loosely measured) for each, roll dough balls and place on baking sheet. Make sure to leave enough space between the balls of dough to give cookies room to spread. If placed too close, cookies will bake together and loseBakeshape.for 8-10 minutes or until the top and edges are golden brown. Allow cookies to cool for 2-3 minutes before moving to a cooling rack.
AUGUST | SEPTEMBER | OCTOBER 2022 31 Over 30 Years of Jewelry Excellence 204 North Brindlee Mountain Parkway • Arab Open: Monday - Friday 10 to 5, Saturday 10-2 256-586-1058 JEWELERS • Premium Jewelry • Diamonds • Custom Jewelry • Repair • Jewelry Boxes • Watches For the ultimate in fine jewelry see Gary and Dee Brown at Magnolia — HERE FOR YOU SINCE 1963 — Let us put our experience and expertise to work for you We have everything for your building needs • Hardware • Garage Doors • Lumber • Windows/Doors Appliances•Flooring•Trusses•Lighting• Do it yourself AREA-WIDE DELIVERY Let us install 79 Schoolhouse Rd. — Just off Highway 69 in Baileyton WALKER BROTHERSLTD .BAILEYTON, AL 256-796-2211 peoplesbankal.com WE ARE IN THE BANKING BUSINESS because we believe in helping people with their financial well-being.
32 AUGUST | SEPTEMBER | OCTOBER 2022
EGG ROLL IN A BOWL (Keto friendly recipe)
1 lb. of ground sausage, chicken or ground beef 7 cups of coleslaw mix (with purple cabbage) 2 Tbsp. low sodium soy sauce 1 Tbsp. ground ginger 1 tsp. garlic powder ½ cup onions Salt and pepper to taste Cook meat until browned in a large skillet. Drain and set aside. Reserve 1-2 Tbsp. of grease in skillet. Mix coleslaw, garlic, ginger and soy sauce, in the same skillet stirring until completely cooked. Stir until well blended and allow cabbage in coleslaw to absorb flavors and soften slightly. Do not cook until mushy. You want the coleslaw to still have a crunchy texture. Blend meat back into veggies. Turn off heat and add green onions. Remaining heat will allow onions to become fragrant without overcooking them. Serve in a bowl. NOTE – Want traditional egg rolls? Prepare recipe as instructed then spoon mixture into egg roll wrappers and fry until golden brown on all sides. Be sure to seal edges of egg roll wrappers using water to prevent filling from leaking out. Both options are delicious!
CAJUN AND SAUSAGE VEGETABLE SKILLET
5-6 Roma tomatoes, diced 1 orange or yellow bell pepper, seeded and diced ½ red onion, finely diced 1 avocado, peeled, pitted and diced 15.5 oz. can corn, drained 15 oz. can black beans, drained and rinsed ½ cup cilantro, chopped (I love cilantro so I use slightly more) 1-2 jalapeno peppers, seeded and finely diced 2 cloves garlic, pressed or minced or ½ tsp. garlic powder 4 Tbsp. lime juice ½ cup Italian dressing ½ tsp. chili powder ½ tsp. cumin Salt and pepper to taste (I recommend at least 1 tsp. each) Combine vegetables in a large bowl. Stir in lime juice, dressing and seasonings. Mix until blended. Serve as a side dish or with tortilla chips or Scoops corn chips for dipping. CORN, BEAN AND TOMATO SALSA
1 lb. large shrimp, peeled and de-veined with tails removed 14 oz. smoked sausage of your choice (I used Conecuh to make it even more spicy) 2 medium zucchini, sliced (I suggest slicing them fairly thick so they don’t cook too quickly) 2 yellow squash, sliced (again, I suggest making the slices fairly thick) ½ bunch asparagus, sliced into thirds 2 red bell peppers, sliced into chunks (I do ½-inch squares)
2 Tbsp. olive oil 2 Tbsp. Cajun seasoning Salt & pepper to taste Add the shrimp, sausage, zucchini, squash, asparagus and bell pepper. Add in oil, salt, pepper and Cajun seasoning; toss until well coated. Add to a large skillet and cook on medium high heat for about 5-7 minutes, until shrimp is pink and vegetables are tender with a slight crunch. DO NOT OVERCOOK VEGGIES.
Vegetables should still have a slight crunch to them without tasting raw. That will allow them to keep their flavor andServenutrients.immediately.
NOTE – I precook sausage for 2-3 minutes in 1 Tbsp. oil because I like my sausage browned. Then toss the rest of the ingredients in only 1½ Tbsp. of melted butter before adding them to the skillet with the sausage. The butter adds much flavor!
SHRIMP
AUGUST | SEPTEMBER | OCTOBER 2022 33 2140 GUNTER AVENUE • GUNTERSVILLE AL Aqua Restaurant 256-264-0141 Wyndham Hotel 256-582-2220 Buffalo Eddie’s 256-505-0966 Full Bar with Great Food Menu NEW Tues.-Thur.HOURS:6pm-closeFriday3pm-closeSaturday6pm-close Fine dining by Lake Guntersville See our menu @ www.aquarestaurantal.com 22 CRAFT BEERS ON TAP Buffalo Eddie’s Pour House YOUR FOOTBALL STATIONS Brewer Patriots .......................On Your Dial 107.1 Alabama Crimson Tide ........... On Your Dial 92.7 Arabian Knights On Your Dial 92.7 Fyffe Red Devils ........................ On Your Dial 92.7 Austin Black Bears On Your Dial 104.9 “Hometown Banking Wherever You Are” 4770 Main Street ● Grant, Alabama www.fsbal.com 256-728-8000 See us for all your mortgage or new construction loan needs. For Your Convenience SATURDAY BANKING! Our Drive Thru is Open 8:30 till 12:00
Story and photos by David Moore I am no stranger to Birmingham. Broken up by four years at the University of Alabama and by living in the woods nine months while hiking the Appalachian Trail from Georgia to Maine, I lived in the Birmingham suburb of Bluff Park and later in the city on the Southside for about 20 years. And over my years of newspapering around the state, Diane and I – later with our son, Hunter – often went home to visit family. But this summer was the first time I ever went to Birmingham as a visitor on an overnight getaway. Honestly, I’ve been spoiled by small-town life, and Birmingham is way too big for me to want to actually live there. At the same time, I can unequivocally say I thoroughly enjoyed our short trip there. The city is much changed and has a lot going for it. We stayed at the historic Tutwiler Hotel – now a Hampton Inn – located downtown across Park Place from the old library and Linn Park. The rooms and halls are hung with hundreds of old photos of Birmingham, black and white accents to its history. A must see on my list was my old buddy Vulcan, perched atop Red Mountain. In the old days, I was always taken by the cascade of singing water that tumbled down from the base of the statue’s pedestal. I’m old enough to remember when there was no elevator, climbing the 159 steps around and around up to the windswept balcony bolted around the top of the pedestal. The view is still amazing. Looking southwest I could make out the angled point of South Shades Mountain where Bluff Park nestles. Birmingham is a foodie destination thanks almost single-handedly to nationally acclaimed
There ain’t no ham like a Birmingham Just ask the big guy on Red Mountain
At 56 feet tall, Vulcan is the world’s largest cast iron statue and stands atop a 123-foot pedestal. Vulcan Park and Museum is an iconic stop for visitors (admission is $6 adults, $5 seniors, $4 children). You can ride the elevator up or hike the stairs for a sprawling view of Birmingham, right. For more info: visitvulcan.com.
Good Getaways
Along with the Civil Rights Institute, the Birmingham Civil Rights Heritage Trail walks visitors through an important part of Birmingham’s history. One stop is across from the 16th Street Baptist Church, site of the 1963 Klu Klux Klan bombing that killed four young girls. They are memorialized in the statue “Four Spirits” across from the church. Part of the statue, top left, depicts the youngest victim, Denise McNair, 11, releasing six doves. Far from perfect, as they are nationwide, race relations today stand in sharp contrast to 60 years ago. Likewise, Birmingham’s architecture can be viewed in sharp contrast, top right.
AUGUST | SEPTEMBER | OCTOBER 2022 35
chef and Cullman native Frank Stitt. Unfortunately, his flagship Highland Bar and Grill is still unopened following its Covid closure. His other two acclaimed restaurants are open, as are numerous other fine eateries, including Hot and Hot Fish Club at the Pepper Place development, several blocks east of historic Sloss Furnace National Historic Landmark. Back Forty, one of Birmingham’s many breweries and distilleries, is also at Pepper Place. Also new since my days in town is Railroad Park, a 10-acre green area adjacent to the train tracks. It’s surrounded by new apartments, which have boomed in Birmingham. The Barons play at Regions Field, adjacent to the park. The half-mile Rotary Trail connects Railroad Park to Sloss Furnace. Speaking of sports, Protective Stadium, the newest addition to the BirminghamJefferson Civic Center, is home to the UAB Blazers and Birmingham Stallions of the United States Football League. Diane and I only scraped off a few layers of the many levels of activities Birmingham has to offer these days –because, as the saying goes, “There ain’t no ham like a Birmingham.” Just ask my big iron buddy lording over the city from atop Red Mountain. But even with its many new attractions and activities, Birmingham still feels like home to me.
I have always loved Albert A.brothersthewingrecentlystudents)$4ofAlabamamust-seeplaceandPointsRailroadBelow(admissionMuseumatpermanentaYosemite“LookingBierstadt’sDowntheValley,”left,stunningpartofthecollectiontheBirminghamofArtisfree).arescenesfromParkandFivePublicHouseOysterBar,acasualfordining.Aforfans,theSportsHallFame($5adults,seniorcitizens,$3downtownopenedanewthatholdssomeofartworkofoneofmy–TheDanielMooreGallery.
Good Life Magazine
AUGUST | SEPTEMBER | OCTOBER 2022 37 Designer Bath Tubs ● Faucets & Showers ● Brick & Mortar Types ● Wood & Vinyl Sidings ● Windows & Doors ● Cabinets & Hardware ● Decking & Railing ● Roofing Styles ● So many options just waitingforyou Arab Lumber & Supply, Inc. 841 & 825 N. Brindlee Mtn. Pkwy., Arab ● 256-586-4197 Family Owned & Operated Building Supply CUSTOMERStoreDESIGNERSHOWROOMCometouch,seeand feel the products before they go into your new home Albert ville AlwaysSmoking! www.mylocaljoes.comASK ABOUT OUR DAILY SPECIALS WE DO CATERING ... Call 256-505-9326 Rent Hammer’s Hall for your party, reception or event Hours: Monday – Thursday 10:30-8; Friday & Saturday 10:30-9 102 East Main Street, Albertville, AL 35950 256-400-5600 Arab Electric has one goal when it comes to providing electricity to you, OUR MEMBER ... ARAB ELECTRIC COOPERATIVE Servinghome,farmandindustrysince1947 331 South Brindlee Mountain Parkway • Arab, AL 35016 256-586-3196 www.arab-electric.org ... to have the safest & most reliable electrical service at the lowest rates possible. CUSTOM HOME PLANS & REMODELING SUSAN G. L e SUEUR 449SUSAN4DESIGN@YAHOO.COM256.586.5815N.MAINSTREET•ARAB,AL —EST. 1985—
Youngbloods are living their dream on Georgia Mountain
Jess and Lisa bought property – located at the far end of the gated, Savannah Place development on Georgia Mountain Road –about 2008. After nine months of planning and three more to get a bid, the project came in well over budget, and they gave up on the architect cutting the cost. However, Adam Gregg, the builder from Guntersville, felt badly for them and offered to design the house. “He started from scratch and drafted the entire house,” Jess says. “It took about six months to draft and get a bid together. He did a phenomenal job, stepping in at a point when we felt really defeated.”
With final plans and a bid in hand, the Youngbloods and Adam were only half way home. And they soon hit a hard problem – rock. The basement, which opens to ground level in the back, required digging 10 feet deep in the front, and the bones of the earth were just under the surface.
It’s a big house. But it’s a big family that Dr. Jess and Lisa Youngblood are raising there on Georgia Mountain – a jumble of well-mannered J’s: Jalyn, Julia, Jana, Jess Jr. and Jordan. The Youngbloods are living out their dream.Big families run in the family, so to speak, at least in Lisa’s case. She’s second to the youngest of six children. Her mom is the oldest of eight. Had the Youngblood kids been older, there’s enough of them for a construction crew that could have helped build the house. Reminiscent of an English castle, it has 10,000 square feet. Construction took 18 months, on top of 18 more in planning.
40 AUGUST | SEPTEMBER | OCTOBER 2022
“Adam got the biggest machine available to break up the solid rock,” Jess says. While digging out rock for the pool, a cave was unearthed. “You could throw a rock in and hear it going and going,” Lisa says. After consulting a geologist, they basically filled the cave with concrete. It was an unexpected – and major – expense. “It was,” Lisa says, “literally money thrown away in the ground, never to be seen again.”Exterior stonework took a year, partly because there’s so much of it, and partly because the stone masons from Oneonta did amazingly meticulous work, the YoungbloodsApproachingsay.the house from a curve in the road, the copper roofs atop two stone Lisa and Jess stand behind all of their J’s, who from left are Jalyn 16, Julia 14, Jana 13, Jess Jr. 11, and Jordan 10. The family attends Boaz Church of God. Just to keep it all in the family, so to speak, Jess’ parents, Paula and John Howard Youngblood, moved from Mississippi to Guntersville a few years after Jess and Lisa. The sectional sofa and great room, opposite top, are both ample for the family. A formal dining room, located at the front of the house on the ground floor of one of the turrets, can be seen from the kitchen, opposite, right.
Story and photos By David Moore
After graduating high school in 1998, she pursued a business office degree from Pearl River Central Community College. Jess, son of John Howard and Pamela Youngblood, spent his early years, along with his sister, Rachelle, in Chalmette, Louisiana, a suburb of New Orleans. His dad was an investigator for the US Department of Labor; his mom a church secretary. “I told Dad I wanted to be a garbage truck rider,” Jess recalls. “He said those guys work really hard. Not to be disparaging, but he wanted me to come up with something different. If I couldn’t be the guy on the back of the garbage truck, I wanted to be a doctor. I pretty much decided that as a kid of 5 or 6.”
At 13, Jess’ family moved from the NOLA suburbs to McNeil, Mississippi, a rural hamlet of 631 people in a county neighboring Poplarville. “I was in cultural shock,” he says. “ I didn’t know anybody at all, and my accent was way different. I was struggling. I was so nerdy I immersed myself in academics. That’s pretty much what I did for the next …” he laughs, “well, almost 20 years.” Lisa puts it differently: “He was always full of ambition, thinking of what he could do later.” Being a nerdy academic had a financial upside. After high school in 1996, Jess attended Mississippi College where the “lots of” math and science scholarships he had earned covered all his undergrad expenses, including the semester in London.“With what I earned in high school and applied for and won, I think I actually made a little money in college,” he says. Further scholarships from UM completely covered medical school classes in 2000-2004 at the University of Mississippi Medical School, though he had to borrow for living expenses. A now humorous courtship started while Jess was visiting home in 2001. He met Lisa while attending church with his parents.“Isaw her and wanted to say hello,” he grins. “But I was in my second year of med school, and I couldn’t even talk to a girl. I stuttered the whole time.”
So they went out Friday – and a few days later Lisa ended up in the hospital. Then in and out for several months. Everyone gets along fine now, but her dad was so upset he actually asked Jess’ father if maybe his son had given Lisa some kind of drug.
AUGUST | SEPTEMBER | OCTOBER 2022 41
turrets first grab the eye. Their part in the design traces back to an amazing semester Jess took off from Mississippi College to study at Birkbeck, University of London. “Adam asked what kind of theme he had in mind for the house, and I said English castle,” Jess explains. “This was his creation. I like the copper. It is different.”
Jess owns Premier Family Care, with a clinic and a health spa on South Main Street in Arab and a new clinic under construction on Blount Avenue in Guntersville – not the sort of guy Lisa envisioned marrying. “She always thought she would marry a cowboy, which is funny,” Jess laughs. “I’m the furthest thing from a cowboy I know.” Both have Mississippi ties. A daughter of Belinda and Tom Lock, Lisa grew up on a farm in Poplarville, a burg of 2,900 about 45 minutes south of Hattiesburg. Living with five siblings may be why Lisa spent a lot of time outside and became fond of the farm animals. She loved bottle-feeding them, even though most were raised for the dinner table. “My dad would never tell who I was eating,” Lisa laughs. “He knew if it was someone from the farm, I would never eat.”
A diagnosis was never given, but Lisa offers food poisoning or stress as possible suspects. Either way, she lost from 105 to 80 pounds.Forhis part, Jess was a regular – and concerned – visitor. Beyond pushing her IV
“He said, ‘I might come home next Friday,’” Lisa laughs. “’Do you want to do something if come in on Friday? Maybe go out Friday? Do something on Friday?’”
42 AUGUST | SEPTEMBER | OCTOBER 2022 pole when Lisa got out bed, he brazenly read her medical charts. “I’m thinking, ‘My Lord! This is so embarrassing!’” Lisa laughs. “Honey,” a nurse told her, “I guess you’re breaking him in to see if he really wants to do this medical stuff.” Lisa and Jess married Oct. 11, 2003. He had jitters about being broke and supporting a wife. She’d need a job and had prepared a resume, but writing a cover letter got lost in wedding mayhem. “I wanted to ensure that while we were on honeymoon, her resumé was percolating,” Jess laughs. “So while she was getting her wedding dress on, I was in another room typing her cover letter.”
All five children have upstairs bedrooms with the three girls sharing a bath and the two boys sharing another. The kids also have an upstairs laundry room for washing their own clothes … yes, there’s a learning curve involved. The unfinished attic over the garage is the off-season home to Christmas trees. Besides a safe room and den, the basement serves as a bathhouse for the pool. Under the turret is the grilling area and adjacent to it a covered dining table, above, that seats 10. The stone arches there offer a view of the pool and its large waterfall – all of which is perfect for entertaining company or simply accommodating the houseful of kids.
Jess brought in an auditor who discovered that his business office was behind $1 million in billing. Changes were
Jess and Lisa’s master bedroom suite is located on the main floor and has access to an outdoor sitting area off the main deck, underneath a rear turret, surrounded by stone arches and looking out over the pool.
He had his best man deliver Lisa a stack of letters to sign as she finished dressing for her wedding. When they returned from honeymooning in Gatlinburg, she had a job with a real estate lawyer. Jess earned his MD in 2004 and completed a residency in family medicine in 2007 in Jackson, Mississippi. Both desired a big family, but, ever the planner, Jess wanted to wait on babies until after his residency. Generally, it takes about six months to conceive after ceasing birth control pills, he’d learned, so they quit the pill six months before his residency ended. Two weeks later Lisa was pregnant. From then on she was either pregnant or nursing for the next six years. Meanwhile, Jess scoured the Southeast for a position with a doctor or medical group with an entrepreneurial mindset. He wanted to learn the business-side of medicine, which most med schools don’t teach. He found that in Albertville with Dr. Raymond Ufford, who owns Medical Asset Group.Jalyn, the Youngbloods’ eldest, was born in Mississippi. The rest were born in Boaz, where the family moved. “We really fell in love with this area,” LisaAftersays.three years learning from Ufford, Jess decided to start Premier Family Care in Guntersville. Others advised against it, saying he’d never do as well financially as he would being partners with Ufford. But he went ahead and opened Premier in early 2011, and his hopes soared after seeing 50 patients the first day. Business continued to be brisk, and Jess was able to pay employees and bills. But after six months he had yet to take home a paycheck and tapped their savings to live.“We hocked everything we had to open that practice,” Jess says. “I felt like a failure six months into it.”
AUGUST | SEPTEMBER | OCTOBER 2022 43 quickly made. In the next six months his and Lisa’s take-home was higher than it had ever been – great news with baby four on the “Weway.were so grateful the Lord had come through for us on that,” he says. With the practice growing, he opened the Arab office in 2015, a third one in Blountsville in 2020 and, in 2021, Premier MediSpa in the old Otelco building next door to the Arab office. “He is always thinking ahead. Even when he’s not at work that little hamster is still running on that wheel.” Lisa looks at him and adds, “You’re pretty great, babe.”
“You always encourage me,” he replies.
“We are a Christian family and wanted to use that in our business,” he adds. “And we wanted our house to be a place where people are welcome.”Forher part, Lisa says she loves being a stayat-home mom. “I always wanted Jess to live out his dream. I have never wanted to be that woman who held her husband back. “If you fail,” she says to Jess, “we can go find a box to live in – a big box.”
44 AUGUST | SEPTEMBER | OCTOBER 2022
Prior to buying land for a home on Georgia Mountain, Jess bought 85 acres there to pursue his love of hunting. They were thrilled to later be able to buy the three lots at the end of Savannah Place abutting his hunting land. They see a lot of deer and wild turkey out there. “It’s hard to find hunting land inside a gated community,” Jess laughs. When they first opened Premier, he says, they did so with the philosophy that medicine could be a ministry to serve people.
Good Life Magazine A fountain trickles away in the turnaround in the front of the house. 141 Golfview Drive NE Arab, Alabama Phone 256-459-7771 Fax morganfamilypractice@gmail.comMFParab.com256-673-2212&MSCarab.com Bring your inner beauty to the surface with SkinPen® microneedling.PrecisionBrillaintlyremoveshair,pigmentandvascularlesionsinallskintypes. Ask us about the top 14 areas for women and men to have laser hair removal These skincare services and more now available at Morgan Family Practice, LLC
AUGUST | SEPTEMBER | OCTOBER 2022 45 For All Your Real Estate Needs EQUAL OPPORTUNITYHOUSING Celeste 256-990-9643REALTORWooten Kim 256-506-8454REALTORCarey Melinda 256-200-6925REALTORHamiltonTeressa Campbell ASSOC. 256-572-9192BROKER Joan Harper ASSOC. 256-200-0200BROKER Dianne 256-505-7870BROKERPrestridge The Premiere Agency It’s a great time to buy or sell a home! GIVE US A CALL TODAY. 423 N. Main St. • Arab , 256-586-7450AL Reservations@KudzuCove.com256-571-5915SpecialEventPlanningHikingTrails Disc Golf Course 3 Fishing Ponds 10 Vacation Rentals 1576 Buck Island Road, Guntersville, AL 35976 U.S.A. Gathering Areas NMLS #466340
The three silos that greet motorists crossing the Tennessee River into Guntersville have stuck out like a sore thumb for years. No longer. The silos are still there, but in an entirely new setting. The City Harbor development has given a new lease on life to the old structures. Now they provide a warm and striking greeting to visitors and residents alike. They are restored, beautiful and stand as the beacon of not only City Harbor, but its anchor, the Brewers Cooperative. No way were Rose and I going to miss this experience. Though I’m a far cry from a Certified Cicerone – a beer sommelier, if you will – I do appreciate a cold one. Not a beer lover? Don’t let the “brewhouse” moniker keep you away. This establishment serves excellent food in a hospitable setting, and offers an enticing kids’ menu. Not sure about the wide variety of the brewers’ trade? Sampler flights are a fun way to try them. The Guntersville taproom features 20 unique beers on tap – all of which can be sampled with a flight – and many more in the bottle. Most are beers that would prove difficult to find elsewhere, particularly in one setting. Rose and I started with a flight of four, choosing from the board and just looking for something interesting. We somewhat randomly selected: Lilly Flagg, Chill Pils, Stout @ the Devil and Watermelon Wheat. We realized, after the fact, that all four were creations of Huntsville’s Straight to Ale brewery. There were plenty more on the board to sample – next time. And there will definitely be a next time. Tip: Some brews are seasonal, so the window of opportunity may be limited for a specific beer. This was the case with the Watermelon Wheat, with which I was very pleased. In fact, I loved it. Something Rose and I particularly enjoyed was the opportunity to sample brews while we dipped into our starter dish. There was an attractive list of starter options, but we were unable to get past one in particular.Wechose a fantastic dish, a Conecuh sausage and pimento cheese dip. It was served in a cast iron skillet with the cheese just slightly browned on the top. There were chunks of sausage and the dish was served with crispy chips. We each ordered an individual plate and mine was from the City Harbor Favorites section of the menu. I relied on a recommendation from co-founder Bruce Weddendorf, which was the Tempura Fish and Chips. They were wonderful. Rose happened to get another winner with a flatbread selection. These selections are served on sweet potato flatbread. As you browse the menu, you’ll find them difficult to pass. Rose’s dish was the Smoked Brisket - Burnt Ends. It featured a bourbon-onion bacon jam with tender pieces of beef and globs of pimento cheese.
Photos by David Moore
Story by David Myers
46 AUGUST | SEPTEMBER | OCTOBER 2022
Sure, it’s a brewpub, but don’t let that fool you about the quality of the food BreweryCo-op
Good Eats The
As Rose says: “Smoked brisket – don’t you miss it.” The taco selections include redfish, shrimp and a vegetarian offering. We sampled the fish tacos and the shrimp tacos – love and recommend both. The Co-op intends to move forward with new and interesting ideas. There are currently five breweries represented at the Guntersville establishment. They hope to add more. They will start brewing onsite soon and offer selections that will be unique to Guntersville, available only here. An interesting option for those particularly interested in brewing is the opportunity for a Co-op membership. Because the brewing of beer is more complex than many realize, this will present the opportunity to interested folk to pick up details and information on things such as: what goes into flavors, the stories behind brewery creations, the latest methods, newly created brews and more. Inquire at the Co-op if interested. Oh, yeah, regarding new creations, members will get the first taste. Before I retire into the kitchen for a delicious lunch of last night’s Coop leftovers, let’s close with a quote from Bruce: “The Co-op is all about collaboration. We bring people in and connect them through the love of beer.” Hey, Bruce, don’t forget the great food. G ood L ife M agazine
An outstanding dish – which, by the way, she graciously allowed me to sample. Here’s where we got to meet Chef Rochelle Vargas, who moved back here from the West Coast. “I wanted to bring my California sensibilities to Alabama food and blend them together, along with shrimp and fish because of the waterfront setting.” That brings us to several additional dining options, all perfect for the setting. The Co-op Pub Burger is already becoming a legend. I tried it and it’s fantastic. It includes the delicious bourbononion bacon jam and the meat is smoked brisket.
AUGUST | SEPTEMBER | OCTOBER 2022 47
Clockwise from left: Pub Burger with a flight of craft beers; chef Rochelle Vargas with her Blueberry White Chocolate Bread Pudding; Well, Pickle My Peaches Salad and Smoked Brisket “Burnt End” Flatbread; Conecuh Sausage Pimento Cheese Dip, and Pork Candy on sticks; Herb-Crusted Pork Loin. Located at 299 Scott Street, the Co-op is accessible by land or water. It’s open Monday–Thursday, 11 a.m.–10 p.m.; Friday and Saturday 11 a.m.–11 p.m.; Sunday 11a.m.–7 p.m. The Co-op accepts reservations and encourages groups and parties.
attractionsRoadside
48 AUGUST | SEPTEMBER | OCTOBER 2022
Story by Steve A. Maze Photos from the author’s collection People have traveled the land for centuries, but transportation was once limited to walking, horses, mules and oxen. Trains became a popular form of transportation during the 19th century, but it wasn’t until after the invention of the automobile that travel began to resemble what it is today. By the 1920s, travel had taken another dramatic step forward. Not only were more people able to own automobiles, they could also afford the expensive 20-cent per gallon gasoline that powered them. The increase in road travel created opportunities for other industries to branch out. It wasn’t long before an influx of hotels, gas stations and cafes dotted America’s landscape. Many early travelers, however, carried their own food and bedding with them on longer trips since few could afford to dine out or stay in a hotel. Small diners and boardinghouses were available for those who could afford to pay for a room or meal. It wasn’t long before roadside attractions took on a life of their own, but not the theme park variety. The gas stations, restaurants, cafes and hotels themselves actually became attractions. Unique advertising styles, giveaways and business slogans became a part of America’s roadways in the 1930s and ‘40s. Gas stations, constructed to catch the attention of drivers popped up across America. Remember the green dinosaur outside the Sinclair stations? Frank Redford, influenced by Indian art and culture, built his first Wigwam Motel in 1933 near Horse City, Ky. The tepee-shaped buildings were large enough to accommodate a family in a comfortable fashion.The food industry was not about to be left out of the eye-catching construction trend and created its own advertising themes and novelty architecture. Tail o’the Pup – a 17-foot long hotdog stand that appears as a mustard-dripping wiener – has been a tourist attraction in Los Angeles since 1946. (It finally closed in 2005, was stored in a warehouse and museum, but has been repurchased and
They just don’t make ‘em like they used to
Interstate highways were constructed in the 1950s and many of the unique advertising themes were replaced with more modern buildings that sported neon signs. It seemed like a natural transition as technology made for better service (no more gravity flow gas pumps). The brightly colored neon signs allowed motorists to more easily see their businesses from the highways at night. It was very helpful to know that a restaurant was “open” before pulling off the highway, or to be aware that there was “no vacancy” at a particular hotel. Drive-up dining became popular since you could walk up to a window, place an order and eat in your car. Some eateries were even more convenient. An attractive teenage girl on roller skates would take your order and bring it to you while you sat in your car.
A number of novel, theme-styled water tanks also exist. The one in Collinsville, Ill., was built in 1949 to resemble a ketchup bottle to honor local ketchup maker, Brooks Brothers. An apple motif graces a big tank in Jackson, Ohio. A tank in Luling, Texas, appears as a giant watermelon, while a giant strawberry appears in the skyline of Poteet, Texas.
A few themed structures were still being built in the 1960s with one being the “Flying Saucer” gas station in Ashtabula, Ohio. The station’s canopy appeared to be a U.F.O. hovering over the gas pumps. The flying saucer, however, was dismantled in 1999 and is now in the Crawford Auto Museum in Cleveland, Ohio.
AUGUST | SEPTEMBER | OCTOBER 2022 49 moved to Route 66 in LA for reopening this year.) In 1953, Randy’s Donuts opened up for business in Inglewood, Calif. It prominently featured a giant donut mounted atop the structure to draw in customers. It worked! The donut shop is still in business. Other industries jumped on the band wagon as well. In 1948, shoe magnate Mahlon N. Haines – aka “Shoe Wizard” –constructed a 25-foot tall stucco replica of a high-top work boot in Hallam, Penn. It was originally used as a guesthouse, but Haines later allowed honeymooners to stay in the structure for free. The tourist attraction later sold ice cream and today is a private home.
Bondurant’s Pharmacy in Lexington, Ky., was built in 1974. A themed-structured building resembles a giant mortar and pestle. The pharmacy closed in 2011. The building still stands, but today it’s a liquor store, painted to resemble a cocktail.
Stanton, Iowa, has a water tank resembling a coffee pot since the town’s claim to fame is hometown actress, Virginia Christine, who portrayed Mrs. Olsen in the old Folgers Coffee commercials. And, of course, the peach tower in Clanton is appropriate since Chilton County is considered the Peach Capital of the South. These roadside attractions began to disappear by the 1960s and ‘70s. The new interstate highway system of the ‘50s diverted much of the tourist traffic away from the old routes, and chain stores did in many unique small businesses.
The unidentified service station in the 1920s photo at the left covered its gas pumps with a “parachute” canopy. Some readers will remember the “wigwam” constructions that once popped up as hotels. The one in the 1930s photo below left sold gas. Others, such as the one on the Old Bessemer Highway here in Alabama, offered a restaurant. Some Texaco stations in New York, mostly in areas with a heavy Dutch population, were built in the 1930s to resemble windmills, such as this pictured here. Some had rotating, illuminated blades, each advertising different items such as gas, oil, grease and service.
Unfortunately,
A store near Eva was known for the 1939 Beechcraft mounted out front. It closed some years ago, but the plane remained. Now, says Eva city clerk Pat Hopkins, a local Itherelaughs.theit.andboughtbusinessmanthestoreplanstoreopen“Hebetterkeepairplane,”she“It’sbeenaslongascanremember.” only a fraction of these unique buildings are left standing today, including a couple of them in North Alabama.Oneis the The Hangar, at the intersection of Ala. 67 and Ala. 69 in Cullman County, opened some years back as a restaurant. Housed in a Quonset hut resembling an aircraft hangar, it is now closed.Itis encouraging, however, that the modern trend for some municipalities is to paint or fashion their water towers with localWillthemes.thistrend continue? I hope so. It sure would be nice to drive down the road and see a green dinosaur looking back at you, or to spot a flying saucer hovering above some gas pumps as you make your way to a giant shoe in which to spend your honeymoon.Ah…roadside memories. They just don’t make ‘em like they used to.
Good Life Magazine 50 AUGUST | SEPTEMBER | OCTOBER 2022 Dry Cleaning • Laundry • Alterations Botox For Your Clothes TWO LOCATIONS WITH DRIVE-THRU SERVICE Convenient Drop-Off And Pick-Up GuntersvilleNewLocation Next Day Service In Guntersville: Drop off before 1 pm 2020 Gunter Avenue 7256-891-0008OpenMon.-Fri.am-6pm,Sat.9-12 Same Day Service In Arab : Drop off before 10 am Mon.-Fri. 223 Plaza Drive, Arab 256-586-1104 CLEAN RIGHT CLEANERSGOLF COURSEGOLF COURSE TWIN LAKESTWIN LAKES Monday - Friday: 9 holes w/cart $19 18 holes w/cart $26 Senior 18 holes w/cart $24 Military Discount $5 Off Weekend: 9 holes w/cart $22 18 holes w/cart $32 Owners David & Shirley Chastain invite you to come play Twin Lakes 211 Golfview Drive NE • Arab 256-586-3269 GOLFCALMKEEPANDON
AUGUST | SEPTEMBER | OCTOBER 2022 51 996 N. Brindlee Mtn. Pkwy. darlenesheltoninsurance.net256-931-4226dsinsured@gmail.com N0W LOCATED NEAR PAPA JOHN’S We represent over 30 “A” rated insurance companies. We do the shopping ... You save the money! Home Auto Boat RV Business Motorcycle Bonds Darlene Shelton, DarleneOwner/AgentShelton JeremyInsuranceMooney,Agent Your wellbeing is our number one priority. We appreciate the opportunity you have given us to keep you healthy for over 50 years. Stop by today for your vaccinations Our pharmacy has more than 100 years of combined experience and our friendly staff will treat you like family. 10460 Suite 1 AL Hwy. 168 ● Boaz, AL 35957 256-593-6546 ● www.boazdiscount.com We provide a wide range of services to meet your health care needs PHARMACISTS: Dale MeredithBobMichelleBrianRachelAnnaJohnsonJ.NoojinR.LambertWilliamsThomasonBlakerBrown Utilize our new two-lane drive thru 1946 N. Brindlee Mountain Parkway - Arab, beside Fine Things 256-200-6687
52 AUGUST | SEPTEMBER | OCTOBER 2022 Arab 256-586-7549 Huntsville 256-722-2752 Main Office 256-582-2750 4121 AL Hwy. 69, Guntersville, AL 35976 www.bugdoctor911.com ✔ Mosquito, Termite & Pest Control ✔ Rodent Control ✔ Lady Bug Control ✔ Convenient Scheduling ✔ Residential, Commercial & Industrial ✔ The ONLY local pest control business owned by a Entomologist!professional Satisfaction Guaranteed or Your Money Back! YOUSERVINGSINCE1987! Custom Built Homes & Remodeling Serving Lake Guntersville & surrounding areas 256-302-0644 dgreen3905@yahoo.com Dewayne GREEN Contracting LLC LAKE GUNTERSVILLE ACE HARDWARE 1536 Blount Avenue | Guntersville, AL 35976 | 256-582-3353 THE PAINT STUDI DREAM IN COLOR Add comfort to your outdoor space with natural gas A message fromyour natural gas company since 1953 ARAB 256-586-8303 ALBERTVILLE 256-878-4591 GUNTERSVILLE 256-582-5641 PAY BY PHONE 877-852-8477 TOLL FREE 800-552-1382 Pay your bill online @ www.marshallcountygas.com 11888 US HWY 431 S. Guntersville, AL 35976 JAPANESE STEAKHOUSE Menu and daily specials available on www.sakuraguntersville.comwebsite:Phone:256-878-1886 Unique Dining Experience Sushi Hibachi Bar
You know what walking is – put one foot in front of the other, move from point A to point B. You’ve done it since you were, what, 12 months old? Walking generally implies covering short distances without undue effort.
Welcome to Cave Mountain Small Wild Area: 34 acres TVA set aside in 1976 as one of 28 areas systemwide that provide habitat protection for wildlife. You can bring your pooch, but it needs Take a little hike that offers nice big payoffs
Story and photos by David Moore
A sea of fall leaves settle over the floor of the woods and scattering of rocks.
Cave Mountain Trail is more than a walk. But it’s not really a hike, either, not in any serious or epic sense of the word. The loop trail clocks in at about 1.5 miles with an elevation gain of maybe 200. Even if you bushwhack to the top of Cave Mountain, you’ll add a climb of only about 170 feet. So, let’s call the trail a little hike.
AUGUST | SEPTEMBER | OCTOBER 2022 53
Cave Mountain Trail
I’ve hiked the trail numerous times over the years. It requires no elaborate backpacking gear, but you might want to grab a daypack and some water. Maybe a snack. And I’d say you’re crazy if you don’t take a camera, because this little hike packs an interesting assortment of features – from a bit of Civil War history to limestone-jumbled forest, a long, sheer bluff wall, a fascinating swamp, wetlands, sinkholes and – as you’d expect – a cave. Actually several. Cave Mountain Trail is located off Union Grove Road on Snow Point Road, which goes down to Guntersville Dam. It’s on your left at the foot of Brindley Mountain. Just after you pass the gate into Tennessee Valley Authority property, the parking area is on your left.
54 AUGUST | SEPTEMBER | OCTOBER 2022
The swamp displays seasonal beauties that are all intriguing. The shot at upper right was made the first week of November 2021. Though usually on the lookout, the author has never seen a snake at Cave Mountain. For a moment, though, the dead tree above provided a jolt, looking too much like a giant python well out of its natural habitat. The trail along the base of the rock facing offers its own brand of intrigue, right, which is enhanced by the gaping mouth of a cave mined for saltpeter during the Civil War.
AUGUST | SEPTEMBER | OCTOBER 2022 55 to be on a tight leash. I’ve never taken my dog, but I’ve read reviews of people who did, only to discover Rover balks at the two flights of steel mesh stairs on the trail near the powerline right of way. TVA is a partner of Leave No Trace. You can bring stuff that makes litter, but do everyone a favor and carry it out with you.
Trash your backseat instead of our neat chunk of land. Not to get political, but littering is one of the best arguments I know for capital punishment.Withpreliminaries out of the way, in the right rear corner of the parking area you’ll see the path heading into the woods and soon reach a fork where this southeastto-northwest oriented oval loop trail ties together. As Yogi Berra famously advised, if you come to a fork in the road (or trail), take it. The choice is yours. I generally go right and hike the loop counterclockwise because you see the changes in the trail’s microcosms sooner.Several sinkholes punctuate the craggy, karst landscape as the path picks a lazy arc around the wooded underbrush of the southeast base of Cave Mountain. Rather abruptly, the trail steps down about 15 feet between the rocks, swings hard left and below you opens an attractive hardwood forest with a sloping floor. The path now takes you through this different world, running northwest along the base of a rock wall facing that grows taller as youAhike.s you make that hard left turn down through the rocks, look up to your left and you might detect the remnants of an old trail that climbs the mountain then runs along the top of the ridge wall, parallel to the main trail you are on. I’ve not climbed that route in years, but, as I mentioned earlier, it’s basically bushwhacking and views are limited, even in the winter.
Far more interesting is this lower main trail along the rock wall. And it soon grows more interesting as the hardwood forest gives way to another microcosm – a black gum swamp. At first, the swamp is maybe a couple hundred feet from the trail, but as the wall to your left grows higher and higher, the swamp edges closer and closer down the hillside to your right. I’m not sure what my favorite season is for seeing the swamp. The dark entrance of the cave –mysterious in the way that only caves are
56 AUGUST | SEPTEMBER | OCTOBER 2022
Each seasonal palette tints Cave Mountain Trail in its own unique light. The pictures on this page were shot March 13, 2022, on the transient cusp between winter and spring, when a hiker is as likely to see early trillium popping from the brown carpeted floor of the forest as icicles growing from the walls of the rock bluff. The swamp magnifies the blue of the crisp sky and starkly elongates the black gums that shoot up from its shallow depths.
– opens in the rock wall near the far end of this stretch of trail. Sadly, because of people screwed up enough to pack cans of spray paint for a hike, TVA has erected a sign asking people to not enter the cave.
I’ve not discovered much history on the cave, but during the Civil War the Confederates mined it for saltpeter to make gun powder. Nor have I ever ventured more than 100 feet or so inside, but what I said about dealing with those who litter applies to vandals who think nothing intelligent about painting their initials on the walls of a cave. But despite their callousness, the cave is cool.
Hiking this whole section of the trail, you can hear, as white-noise reminder in the background, the distancemuffled roar of the Tennessee River spilling through the gates of Guntersville Dam. Soon past the cave, the swamp gives way to a long, open pond. And, where the rock wall reaches the right-of-way for power transmission lines from the dam, a steel staircase arises. While not natural, it is a portal to yet another microcosm.
Limestone rocks and boulders pepper the woods as you walk with the hillside to your left. When the woods start opening out to your right, look for a rock jumble around the sinkhole that has another cave in the bottom of it. I doubt it, but maybe it eventually makes a narrow way under the mountain to the Civil War cave and the microcosm on the other side.
Cave Mountain is just a little hike, but after all these years I’m pretty sure I have yet to learn all of its surprises. Good Life Magazine
Adjacent to the swamp is a wetlands pond, above. You get a good view of it from the steel stairs that connect you to the loop trail. Transmission lines from the dam run up a right of way by the steps, cut across Long Branch Holler and climb Brindley Mountain. The lines, along with the low sound of water crashing over the spillways, are a reminder that Guntersville Dam is just under a mile away as a bald eagle would fly.
Just past the top of the stairs, as you enter these Appalachian woods, somewhere to your left the remnants of the old trail to the top of Cave Mountain exists. Explore all you want.
AUGUST | SEPTEMBER | OCTOBER 2022 57
“Daddy could probably have gotten out of having to serve,” Jack says, “especially at his age and with three kids at home, but he felt like he had to go.”
Drafted at the ripe age of 33, just as World War II had begun, Mark temporarily left his work for the Dr. Pepper Co., where he’d built a close relationship with J. B. O’Hara, chairman of the board of the already famous soft drink, to join the Allied cause fighting in Europe.
Story by Seth Terrell Photos provided by Jack Powers “This story is not about me,” Jack Powers says. He sits at his desk at the Mark Powers Company on Ala. 69 in Guntersville. Strewn across his desk are old black and white photographs.Thereare photos of soldiers and of children, one which includes a grinning, 6-year-old Jack and his sisters, Patricia and Barbara. Another photo of his mother, Alice Powers. Wallet-sized pictures that Jack’s father, Mark, carried with him across the war-torn landscape of Europe 75-plus years ago. There, too, are photos of the Versteijnen-Doljé family of Heerlen, Holland, who, like Mark, found themselves unlikely players in a story that is at once personal and universal. Holding the photographs in your hand, piecing them together, or synthesizing them as Jack’s niece, Lacy Crockett, has done in two neatly bound, hardback, coffee table books, is a journey in itself. There in the center of them all, is Jack’s father, Mark Powers, donned in his Army uniform.
58 AUGUST | SEPTEMBER | OCTOBER 2022
In the photograph, Mark is smiling, his hair-line receding. His fellow soldiers would call him, Pop, on account of his age. Present in the warm smile is maturity of a man who had already settled down to live a successful life before such dreams were interrupted by war.
With ofunfurlingeachagifted flag, a story,WWIIboth personal and universal, lives on
“And now comes the wash on the Siegfried Line” is hand-painted in Dutch on the large flag Mark Powers was given by a family in Holland, in gratitude for both his service during World War II and for helping them honor – through a most serendipitous encounter – the fallen son of the chairman of Dr. Pepper.
AUGUST | SEPTEMBER | OCTOBER 2022 59 Mark
Today, Mark’s son, Jack Powers, right, proudly keeps the flag he inherited. Jack, who lives at Cherokee Ridge, and his late wife, known as SuSu, have two grown daughters who live in Guntersville, Paula Allen, who works for DHR, and Jenny Powers who owns Powers Real Estate and is shown here with Jack. Photo by David Moore.
Mr. Versteijnen opened the door with his wife, huge smiles painting their faces. They had a family member who had left Holland and become a priest in Dallas. Such serendipity immediately created a bond between the American and the family. During the war, they became very close with Mark visiting every chance he had. He had gone to Europe to serve his country, but there in Heerlen he found a treasure of friendship that reminded him of exactly what and who he was fighting for. Powers
Surprised by the question, the men remained silent until Mark piped up. “Yes. I’m from Dallas.”
Europe was an experience unlike anything Mark could have imagined, and he wrote home to his wife and children every single day. He saw his first jet plane there, he fought bravely in combat zones where few returned home alive. Under Gen. Patton, Mark served with the 30th Division, a duty that would take him into the unforgiving winter forests during the Battle of the Bulge. For his efforts and bravery in combat, he was awarded four bronze“Hestars.didn’t talk about his war experiences too much, though people knew him as an honorable man,” Jack says. “And he loved people.”Itwould be this love for people that would, by providence, lead to a lasting connection with the Versteijnen-Doljé family, a rich friendship that would help sustain him through the long, grueling war. Having advanced so far into Europe with the 30th, Mark and his fellow soldiers first found themselves in Holland in the early fall of 1945, liberating each town as they went. One morning he and his comrades stood knocking on the door of a house in Heerlen. Before anyone came to the door, a voice from within shouted, “Are any of you men from Dallas, Texas?”
60 AUGUST | SEPTEMBER | OCTOBER 2022
A people person, Mark enjoyedPowersvisiting infamilysadJ.B.farpossible,wheneverfamilyVersteijnen-DoljétheinHollanditwasabove.Atleft,Mr.andMrs.O’HaralookedwhilevisitingtheinHolland1947.Thefamily made good their promise to Mark and the O’Hara’s, placing fresh flowers on the grave of their son to honor the ultimate sacrifice he made in the fight for freedom.
When the war ended, Mark returned home to his family and began a new life, picking right back up where he’d left the old one, with Dr. Pepper. Through his prior connections with J.B. O’Hara, Mark founded the Mark Powers Company in Birmingham, a company that innovated and greatly contributed to the world of soft drink distribution. Jack eventually bought the company and with his wife SuSu, moved it to Guntersville. There were war stories Mark would remember, and many he would seldom speak of. But before he left European soil, the Versteijnen family gave him a unique token of esteem that seemed to trump them all: A captured German flag with all the swastikas removed, outlined in crayon and hand painted by Mr. Versteijnen and other DutchThenationals.flag,stripped of all its German markings, would become known as the Siegfried Line flag. The story of the Siegfried Line seems to have curious origins. It was first a reference to the 390-mile line of fortifications, bunkers and tank traps stretching from the Netherlands to Switzerland. It was supposed to be a well-manned line of defense by which the German Army would protect their western boundary at all costs. A song sprung up about the mythical
“We have met many American soldiers these last six months,” Mr. Versteijnen wrote to Mark’s wife, Alice, back home in Dallas. “But never have we met such a nice man. Mark seems to be our brother.” Mark and the Versteijnens shared meals and laughs together, they told stories and mourned the loss of friends. One such friend was J.B. O’Hara’s son, Bob, a pilot who’d been killed. Upon the news of Bob’s death, the Versteijnen-Doljé family wrote to J.B., Mark’s former mentor and employer, offering heartfelt condolences. As a gesture of thankfulness toward Mark and the Allied liberators, the family offered to decorate Bob’s grave, which rested in a nearby cemetery in Margraten, Holland, 10 miles away. “Our dear friend Mark asked us to visit Bob’s grave,” they wrote, “I promise you, we shall visit his grave and bring flowers as a note of cheerfulness for what he did for us. I shall take a picture of his grave that I will send to you as well.”
AUGUST | SEPTEMBER | OCTOBER 2022 61
Mark Powers was always close to his son, Jack, right, who went into business with him bottling and distributing Dr. Pepper. Back when the “Powers that be” added the chocolate drink YooHoo to their line-up of products, they were in New York and took in a Yankee’s baseball game. The famed Yogi Berra posed for a photo with them and a bottle of YooHoo.
The song rose in popularity for the first years of the war, known and played in households all over Europe: We’re gonna hang out the washing on the Siegfried Line, Have you any dirty washing, Mother-dear? We’re gonna hang out the washing on the Siegfried Line, Cause the washing day is here. Whether the weather may be wet or fine, We’ll just rub along without a care. We’re gonna hang out the washing on the Siegfried Line –If the Siegfried Line’s still there!
When Allied forces liberated Heerlen in September 1945, they were greeted by the former Nazi flag now turned a welcome banner. A 14-foot wide flag, painted with the image of clothes hanging on a clothesline. Mark was soon given the flag. “And now comes the wash on the Siegfried Line,” are the words written in Dutch.“We had the finest moment in our lives,” Mr. Versteijnen wrote in a letter to his friends in America, “when we saw our liberators coming to hang their wash on the Siegfried Line.”
British soldiers adopted the song to boost morale and mock the Germans, suggesting that – once the Allies liberated the western front – the famed line of defense would be no more venerated than a clothes line for hanging the wash.
Mark returned from the war and settled in Birmingham to run his business, but he kept the flag and passed it on to his children after his death in 1969. With almost no signs of wear or tear 77 years later, the hand-painted job still perfectly displays its vibrant and subversive message.AsJack and his daughter, Jenny, unfurl the flag in a warehouses at Mark Powers Co., Jack stands back admiring and remembering.“I’mkindof a World War II buff,” Jack says. “I thought this needed to go somewhere important.”
Providing Dependable Electricity at the Lowest Possible Rate Since 1942 P.O Box 724, Boaz, AL 35957 ~ www.mdec.org ~ 256-593-4262 Vineyard Vines Southern Tide Madison Creek Outfitters MountainSouthernPendletonMarshOverUnderHUKGenTealKhakisCoastalCottonJohnnie-OFishHippieGameGuardTommyBahamaWranglerCutter&Buck Men’s Fine Clothing & Formal Wear 352A Gunter Avenue • Lake Guntersville 256-571-9971 M-F 10 am - 5:30 pm • SAT 10 am - 5 pm
62 AUGUST | SEPTEMBER | OCTOBER 2022 line of defense that talked about “hanging the washing along the Siegfried Line.”
Somewhere beneath the universal story of independence and victory, remains a story of a friendship, one that transcended boundaries of language and nationality, one that stood the test of war. While the quiet meals over supper tables somewhere in Heerlen, Holland, won’t make it to history books, the Powers family remains inspired and transformed by the generosity and brotherhood Mark found so far from home. And with each reminiscence and unfurling of the Siegfried Line flag, the story lives on. Good Life Magazine Mark Powers with a post-war 1945 smile.
Jack, his sister Patricia and friend of the family, Martha, brought the flag to the Birmingham Antiques Roadshow where a World War II historian and appraiser noticed the unique nature of the redesigned flag, suggesting it was a true presentation piece. So, Jack sent the flag to the World War II museum in New Orleans, but it was eventually returned because the museum could not quite figure out what to do with such a large flag, though they certainly recognized its remarkable shape and the fascinating story behind it. Today, the flag remains the largest among several threads of memory woven into the family tapestry. It is at once a reminder of all that was at stake in the Second World War, the lives lost, the prices paid. Often called the Greatest Generation, veterans of the war who came home with their lives brought recollections both thrilling and sorrowful. The Siegfried Line Flag remains a symbol of liberation and goodwill. “I give this flag to my friend Mark Powers,” Mr. Versteijnen wrote, “as a souvenir that he can show his American friends of the trust and faith we had in the American Army in spite of the German domination of our people. The arrival of the Americans was like a dream come true.”
AUGUST | SEPTEMBER | OCTOBER 2022 63 64 N. Main Street • Arab, AL 35016 Open Mon.-Fri. 10-6, Sat. 9-5, Sun. 1-4 256-586-1717 A modern general store wrapped in southern culture. Shop anytime@ www.DeepSouthMercantile.com WE SHIP! Custom Drapery and Soft Furnishings Studio IN HOME CONSULTATION AVAILABLE DOGWOOD PLAZA • ARAB, ALABAMA 35016 256-931-2577 Beautiful Faux Iron Grilles to accent any window or wall in your home. CUSTOMIZING INSTRUCTIONS height of the logo must be maintained as shown below. elements can appear in this clear zone. Logo and tagline may manipulated in any way. Shop curationslimited-edition of best-sellingskincare & color supplieswhilelast.22MerleNormanCosmetics Inc. Guntersville Merle Norman 380 Gunter Avenue, Guntersville, AL 256-582-6493 • Tues.-Sat. 10am-5pm Sale NighttimeDaytimePrices:sets$55sets$70 Jami Russell 256-348-1325 jami.cooking@yahoo.comwww.pamperedchef.biz/jamicooking Your Pampered Chef Consultant Chantz Bennett 1014 N Brindlee Mnt Pkwy Arab, AL cbennett@alfains.com(256)586-458035016-1095 Chantz Bennett 1014 N Brindlee Mnt Pkwy Arab, AL 35016-1095 (256) cbennett@alfains.com586-4580 For The Journey Ahead, Choose Alfa®.For The Journey Ahead, Choose Alfa®. Chantz Bennett 1014 N Brindlee Mnt Pkwy Arab, AL cbennett@alfains.com(256)586-458035016-1095 Present this ad for a APPETIZERFREEwiththepurchaseoftwoentrees (Excludes fried combo) santafecattleco.com 7349 US-431, Albertville, AL 35950 256-878-0559
64 AUGUST | SEPTEMBER | OCTOBER 2022 Preemie - Size 10 • Baby Registry • Gifts • Monogramming • Vinyl • Sublimation Owners: Amber Isom and Abbey Warren Open: Tues.- Fri. 10-5, Sat. 10-2 1078 North Brindlee Mountain Parkway Arab, AL 256-931-4663 CHILDRENS BOUTIQUE Ready for the game? Let us cater your next event! Neena's COURTHOUSE GRILL A great – and fun! place for lunch Daily plate lunch specials & a 256-571-7731menu Located on the ground floor of the Marshall County Courthouse, 424 Blount Avenue, Guntersville ASE Certified MECHANIC We do AC and other mechanical work on most American and foreign vehicles. From left: Chris Cornelius, Adam Holmes, Martha Pesnell, Jimmy Estes, Max Pesnell, Micky Cornelius, Darlene Cornelius Serving you, our valued customers, for more than 40 years...and still 256-586-4164counting!216 Cullman Road, Arab Everything Outdoors! Kayaks ● Fishing Gear ● Kayak Gear Guns ● Ammo ● Hunting Gear 27 2nd Street ● Arab, AL 256-640-8330 Come see us at our new location! 256-586-5060 1074 NORTH BRINDLEE MTN. PARKWAY, ARAB Laura Huckaby, TiffanieTerrieJohannaMalieaOwnerHillMillerAmberPackAngieClickTonyaSmithUnderwoodLawrence Now doing death datesTerry & Renee Humphries, OwnersKenan Warren, Operations Manager671 Sundown Drive NW • Arab 256-586-7866 www.arabstoneworks.com WSARABTONEORKSWestandbyyoursidetoensurethatyourlovedones’memorieslastforever. Memories Etched in Stone Highest themonumentsqualityforlowestprices.
Story and photos By David Moore
The electronic security gate clicks and whirs open to the walkway to Nickajack Dam where the towboat David R. Hill and seven barges wait to enter the lock. And, I fear, wait on me. For my part, I’ve been waiting and working toward making this trip happen for at least a year.
AUGUST | SEPTEMBER | OCTOBER 2022 65
With Capt. Clay Culp at the helm, the towboat David R. Hill nears Guntersville as dusk descends on the river.
Long ago, through a military friend of my father, I was able to hitch a ride from Miami to South America aboard a commercial banana freighter. For a magazine story a few years ago, I hitched a freight train ride from Guntersville to Gadsden on the Alabama & Tennessee River Railroad. Most of us know what it’s like to be on the Tennessee or Lake Guntersville for fun. Most of us don’t know what it’s like to be on these waters for work. I was keen to experience it by hitching a towboat ride, which I initially figured would be between Decatur and Guntersville. Several friends who knew a guy at one towboat company or another helped this eventually come about despite dead ends, boat scheduling nightmares, Covid concerns and the closing of Wilson Dam for major repairs.Finally, I was thrilled when Andrew Gobin of Tennessee Valley Towing in Paducah, Ky., texted the night before saying I was on for today; details in the morning. My wife, whom I’d volunteered to shuttle me, was far less enthusiastic than I. Would she have to find me at some midnight dark dock in Decatur? Nope. Earlier this morning we learned Diane needed to drive me to Nickajack, Tenn., for an allday, 68-mile cruise to the Port of Guntersville. I’d left my car in the Davis Lee Companies’ parking lot, a block from the water at the end of Worth Street. We left there at 10:15 a.m., cutting it close to reach Nickajack by noon. I’d further pushed my luck with Diane’s good graces when I inadvertently took us to the wrong side of Nickajack Dam to access the lock. My goof-up required a winding loop back across the Tennessee to reach the far side of the dam. Diane and I are both thrilled when that security gate whirs open.
Towboat life on the Tennessee
Greg waves from the lock as the security gate closes behind me, and a minute later we meet. His first order of business is issuing me a life-jacket.Wewalk across the upper gates of the lock. Down to the right we hear the whooshing sound of the refilling lock that will drop us 41 feet from Nickajack to Lake Guntersville; just below us to the left, bound side by side, are the bows of three 35-foot wide barges. Lashed behind them are two sets of two barges each, altogether forming a seven-barge raft – it’s called a tow, I learn – the length of two football fields. The David R. Hill is behind them all. “I cut it close,” I tell Greg, glad the lock is still refilling. “At least I didn’t keep you guys waiting.”Ifollow him down a ladder and onto the first barge, then down the length of narrow steel deck between it and the center barge. I glimpse water between the two hulls as we step over cables and deck fittings. Six of the barges are hoppers with sliding arched covers to protect cargo; the seventh barge is designed for liquid cargo. I try to remain professional but inside I’m as giddy as a kid at a water park. Entering the towboat’s third-deck wheelhouse, Greg introduces me to the pilot, Buddy Russell, an 80-year-old riverboat character who couldn’t be much crustier were he named Mark Twain. Buddy has just spelled Capt. Clay Culp, who’d finished his six-hour shift and retired to his cabin. Greg gives a brief safety talk. I sign some legal papers, agree not to go out on the barges, then get a quick tour of the David. R. Hill before he debarks to drive back to Paducah. When the lock master opens the upper gates, Buddy gently revs the big engines and
Without graciously catering to a curious journalist, general manager Andrew Gobin and executive VP Barry Gipson have their hands full at Tennessee Valley Towing, a division of James Marine in Paducah, Ky. TVT operates a fleet of 20 towboats – not counting fleet tugs or other motor vessels – and has some 200 employees, most working on the water. The company provides barge transport on the Tennessee and Ohio rivers and parts of the Mississippi and Illinois rivers.
Andrew initially planned to ride with me, but real work called in Paducah this morning, so he sent safety manager Greg Vaughn, who drove across Tennessee to meet me here at Nickajack.
Greg Vaughn of Tennessee Valley Towing, top left, heads for the towboat along the narrow barge decks. The “tow” is lashed in one row of three side-by-side barges and two rows of two. After pushing the tow into the Nickajack lock, Buddy Russell, the 80-year-old pilot, above, maneuvers the boat into the slot, immediate left, beside the two rear barges so the MV David R. Hill will fit. The boat, in the TVT photo below, is named for a longtime port engineer at Paducah, Ky.
nudges the tow – 105 feet wide at the front three barges – into the 110-foot-wide lock. The three-two-two barge configuration barely fits the 600-foot length of this and most locks on the Tennessee River. After tucking in the barges, Buddy reverses, then pulls into the slot created by the two-wide section of barges. Deckhands lash us up. The gates close, and with a hiss the lock begins draining. It takes 15 minutes for the water level to drop. All goes quiet for a few minutes, then the tall, lower gates slowly open.
Buddy amazes me with what, to my thinking, is a fancy towboat dance that all commercial captains and pilots can probably do. From our position in the outside slot beside the two-by-two barges, he nudges the entire tow out the gates for about the length of the David R. Hill. After we’re unlashed, Buddy uses both steering rudders and forward and reverse thrust on the props to literally move the towboat sideways, lining it up where we initially began behind the liquid barge.
The dam is at river mile 424.75. About 1:45 pm we finally clear the lock and surge forward – more or less. We’re making 8.2 miles per hour, according to the Rose Point Navigation System – a computer whose screen displays a continuously scrolling digital chart of the river – beside Buddy. Later, with the water a little deeper, we’ll hit 9.2. Even at 80, Buddy’s eyes must be 20/20. In the narrow channel above South Pittsburg he spots in the distance what may be a buoy floating loose of its mooring. He keeps to port and, using binoculars, soon determines it’s actually the hefty trunk of a mostly sunken tree. We pass it just to starboard of lead barge, 600 feet in front of us.
For most of the first hours I hang out with Buddy in the wheelhouse or step out on the flying bridges on either side of it. Buddy, who lives in Shelbyville, Tenn., worked as a dockhand at 17, only to get laid off because he was too young. He later ran boats on the Ohio River for 27 years, spent 23 on the Tennessee, a few years on the Black Warrior and Tombigbee and did dredging work in Florida.“TheOhio is good river to run,” he says. “The Tennessee has nice scenery, but it’s crooked above Nickajack and the farther you get above HavingChickamauga.”spentmostofhis career as a captain, Buddy is now content being a pilot. “Being captain is too much bull,” he mutters.
Completed in 1956, the boat is 149 feet long with a beam of 34 feet and draft of 9.8 feet. Vigilant behind 600 feet of barges, Buddy evaded the end of a large tree trunk, lower left.
Still, he’s sharp. I’m oblivious to it, but he senses something in the boat and radios a deckhand to tighten a gap between barges. In the course of conversation some miles past South Pittsburg, Buddy explains that, like most towboaters, he spends 28 days on the river, then gets off two weeks. Also like many of them, he’s divorced. “You can’t be married and work out here on the river,” he says. “Ain’t too many of them that stay together.” Buddy says he’ll likely retire in another year when his five-year license comes up for renewal. Maybe sooner. What then? Buy a boat for “Whenfun?Iget off this river and go home,” he says. “I ain’t going to get on no boat. I used to have one, but I sold it.”
68 AUGUST | SEPTEMBER | OCTOBER 2022
Robert introduces me to his world of two huge, 16-cylinder diesel engines, oil pumps, compressors, circuit breakers and forced air induction blowers. We squeeze down a short flight of stairs to see two spinning shafts that, beyond the bulkheads and hull, turn the big props that churn the river.
Robert Allen waves me in and gladly agrees to be a tour guide – but not before I don a required sound-baffling headset, which renders the engine room to merely loud while still hot as hell.
Besides the captain and pilot, the crew is comprised of an engineer, mate, cook and five deckhands. The latter –who earn about $195 per day – rotate in two sets of two, six hours on and six off. The fifth deckhand is on call, sleeping unless the boat’s locking through or picking up or dropping off barges. In my quick tour at Nickajack, I had learned my way to the head – boat-speak for bathroom – engine room and galley. There I met the cook and learned we’d have lasagna for supper. Lasagna had been on my mind all day, but now it’s the engineer I want to find. Opening the engine room door, I’m engulfed by heat that might come from a sub-basement of hell; no tortured souls scream, but two big engines churn out an unholy din. I hurry through the narrow passageway to the far end where I spot the engineer behind the window in his cabin, which overlooks his hellish domain.
Fortunately, it’s too loud and muffled to talk, so I can’t show Robert my mechanical ignorance. Instead, as he silently points out gauges and knobs to me, I nod in what I think is an intelligent way or give him a thumbsAup.fter the tour, we sit and talk at a table with a red and white checkered cloth in the cool, lasagna-infused air of the galley. Robert grew up in Chicago and southern Illinois, did an Air Force stint and lived a while in Las Vegas. He has a total of about 13 years with TVT, including five as a “deckineer,” a sort of apprenticeship program that’s half deckhand and half unlicensed engineer. “You make good money out here on the river … probably twice the pay I could get at home, unless I worked in a coal mine.”
Robert, 39, lives in Rosiclare, Ill. –which is on the Ohio River – along with his wife, three kids, two step kids and his wife’s teen-aged cousin, over whom they have temporary custody. That’s a lot of family needs, both in terms of paychecks and desired quality time. He splits the difference, working 28 days on the river then taking 28 days“Unlessoff. they are very dedicated to you, it’s hard to keep a wife and work out here on the river,” Robert says. “You pretty much can’t make it work out on the usual 28/14 schedule, but it’s doable at 28/28. The wife still doesn’t like it, but it’s definitely doable. “You can’t beat the money though –$76,000 for six months of work. And I make all that I can out of the six months I get off.”
I have lasagna even more on the brain now, but I go back to the wheelhouse for the changing of shifts to meet Capt. Clay Culp. He comes on early at 4:35 p.m., relieving Buddy, whom he’s worked with for years. After settling in, Clay checks the navigation system and says we’re still five and half hours from Guntersville. Now, he adds, would probably be a good time to talk to deckhands while they’re on supper break. It’s music to my stomach. The galley is located beyond the engine room. With a radar lock on food – and interviewing deckhands, of course – I shoot through the engine room so fast I hardly notice the heat and racket.
RobertTenn.atRhinehartthethefaritsDavidtowboatgroup“tow”revenue.additionalToday,referstotheofbargesapushes.TheR.Hillandseven-bargetow,left,approacharchedspanof1,514-footShelbyBridgeSouthPittsburg,Left,engineerAllenreigns over the engine room. The noise from the two big diesel motors, one shown here, is deafening –so much so that ear protection is required. Robert rates the combined diesels at 4,200 HP.
AUGUST | SEPTEMBER | OCTOBER 2022 69 The term “towboat” arises from the end of the steamboat era. With declining profits they started “towing” wooden barges alongside to earn
About the time we enter Marshall County
Carla wakes at 3:30 a.m.; has breakfast cooked by 4:30. She naps a few hours before waking again to have lunch ready by 10:30. After cleaning the kitchen she starts dinner about 3 p.m. After everyone eats, she cleans up once again before turning in. If not sleeping, off time is usually spent in her cabin watching a small TV, TikTok on her phone or texting and talking to family. “I can say it’s beautiful out here on the Tennessee,” Carla says. But she’s worked an extra two weeks this cycle and is ready to see her three grown kids and seven grands. Plus she’s ready for some peace and quiet. “Hear this …” she says. To the constant background rumble of the moving towboat, the galley adds rattling eyes that vibrate on the two stovetops. “I’m ready to sleep at home where I don’t hear anything.”
“I got on at Guntersville my first day ever on a big boat,” Carla recalls. Being with strangers in a strange environment on a strange river made her a nervous wreck. “But the whole crew was friendly and helped me out,” she says. “And I love cooking for hungry men. It’s just like cooking for my family – and we’re out here together about as much as we are with our families at home.”
pontoon boat, jet skis, bass boats or even racing. Not surprisingly, straight from high school in 1998, Clay became a deckhand. He went to work for TVT about 2013, earned his maritime pilot’s license in 2014, his captain’s in 2018. He did contract work for a time when TVT leased its boats to Inland Marine Service, then rejoined the company when it again handled its own boats.
The Tennessee flows past Clifton, Tenn., where his grandparents lived and his parents still reside. His grandparents had a houseboat, and during summers the family, Clay included, would sail off for weeks, long ago establishing this as his favorite river. He and his wife, Christy, have three grown children and live in Tupelo, 45 minutes from the Tennessee-Tombigbee. Unlike Buddy, Clay’s off days were always – and still are – about getting out the
70 AUGUST | SEPTEMBER | OCTOBER 2022 No one is in the galley except Robert Allen and the cook, Carla Austin. “The lasagna is on the stove. Help yourself,” she tells me. “And there’s some left-over red velvet cake that I baked yesterday.”“Thegrub is generally good,” Robert says. “But it depends on the cook. Carla’s one of the best I’ve had, honestly.” I dig in. The grub’s not generally good –it’s Carla’sgreat. been with TVT since 2017. She lives in Poplar Bluff, Mo., a couple hours west of Paducah.
Crews tend to stay together. Carla and Robert will be among those rotating off tomorrow morning when the David R. Hill and its tow lock through Guntersville Dam. A company vehicle will drop off their replacements and take them to Paducah, after which they go their own ways.
Sitting at the helm of the David R. Hill, Capt. Clay Culp is, literally, in his wheelhouse. Being a towboat captain runs three generations deep in his blood, figuratively more depth than the river. His father, Donnie, is still a captain with TVT.
“Commerce and transportation … the older I get the more important I realize it is,” he says. “I feel we’re doing something for the greater good of the world. Feeding people. Making sure they have what they need. We feed the cats of the world,” he laughs because of the loads of corn TVT delivers to the Meow Mix plant in Decatur.
Towboats, it seems, fit Capt. Culp like a generational glove. “But it’s not for everybody – just like working in a factory is not for me,” he says as river miles scroll away on the navigation screen and the afternoon wans. “You have to have a good strong woman to stay around when you are gone nine months of the year.”
Just upriver from Bellefonte, the David R. Hill passes the St. Paul, a 76-foot towboat operated by Marquette Transportation of Jefferson, La. According to TVA, 13 locks along the 652-mile length of the Tennessee River provide passage for 25,000-30,000 barges annually, carrying 40-50 million tons of goods, saving consumers $400-$500 million in transportation costs. In 2021, Nickajack handled 408 commercial barges hauling 2.1 million tons of product. Guntersville Dam handled 813 barges with 4.3 million tons. One barge has the capacity of 15 jumbo rail hoppers or 58 truck trailers. At far left, Capt. Clay Culp goes over reports with ships’ Mate John Reed of Smithland, Ky. After a big lunch, cook Carla Austin, left, made a “light” dinner of lasagna.
The money is good. So is TVT. And the Tennessee River is scenic. But Clay finds a further sense of job satisfaction, one tied directly to the tow he’s pushing.
In Guntersville, the crew will pick up two more empties to take downstream and three barges of wheat. Dusk has settled over the river as we push our tow within sight of Guntersville. “There’s an old captain’s joke,” Clay says: “‘It’s easier to drive at night because you don’t have to worry about hitting things you can’t see.’ But you really have to be more aware. It’s where these come in really handy,” he adds, head-pointing to the radar and nav system. He brings us to a near stop as we veer out of the channel and into the three-quarters-of a-mile-wide mouth of Spring Creek between Signal Point to our port and City Harbor to starboard. On the radio to the small harborworking tugboat Jack Rose, Clay explains his tow size, configuration and what he needs to pick up in Guntersville. In the towboat world, things happen slowly – as you want them to. When something happens fast, it’s not usually good.Ithas been fully dark a while when Clay slowly maneuvers us so that the Jack Rose can nudge up to the tow and assist him in deftly swinging us alongside the outer edge of what he calls “the fleet.” This is a
Christy, whom he married in 2015, “is one of a kind. Most people working on the river are divorced.”
On the way to Chattanooga, the David R. Hill delivered four barge loads of gypsum for a drywall plant in Bridgeport; in Chattanooga, where it turned downstream again, the towboat delivered three barges of steel coils, two of aluminum hydrate, one of coke and another of equipment. It’s now returning empties except for the liquid barge, which carries caustic soda.
– with little or no fanfare around river mile 373 – I ask Clay about any romantic notions he might have regarding the days of old steamboat pilots. “They had it rough,” he laughs. “No air conditioner up there. The old boats were hot. Those guys also actually mapped the river. They were the ones who started this. “That’s whats wrong with the industry now,” he adds with a nod to the sophisticated Rose Point Navigation screen. “My granddaughter can do this, can hold the sailing line. But turn that off and run by even just this,” a nod to the radar, “or by the book of charts, and it’s a different story. You can’t beat experience. There’s nothing that can replace that.”
AUGUST | SEPTEMBER | OCTOBER 2022 71
A dark, embarrassed dread creeps over me. “Well …” Then it hits me. I pull out my cell phone and open “maps” to locate the street, forgetting the clever app also shows my location. And there I am, pulsing on the screen, a blue light with a beacon to one side. It’s out in the middle of the water. “Cool!” I show Clay. “That’s us. And here is Worth …” And it gets cooler still. There on the map on the screen, a block from the edge of the water, is a little blue icon labeled “Parked Car.” As I often confess, my phone’s smarter than I am. Clay and I laugh and shake hands. I thank him profusely, gather my camera bag and laptop – and phone – walk down the steps from the wheelhouse and out to the deck where two hands await. We board the skiff and, relying on the warmly glowing screen in my hand, I point them in the direction of the beacon and my car.
G ood L ife M agazine
“I don’t think so …”
“Do you know where Worth Street is?”
I certainly don’t begin to have Clay’s experience. Or Buddy’s. Or even that of the greenest deckhand. But now, every time I see barges on the river, I’ll be reminded of my experience today, reminded that I do know a little about towboat life on the Tennessee.
72 AUGUST | SEPTEMBER | OCTOBER 2022
The lights of the David R. Hill fall away in the night as we cut a wake across the dark water toward the black shore. Looking at my phone, I recall Clay’s comments about today’s advanced navigation system captains and pilots rely on – “You can’t beat experience.”
The Guntersville pusher-tug Jack Rose, top, comes to assist Capt. Clay Culp in maneuvering the towboat and its barges to the fleet mooring area. Clay uses a spotlight on the wheelhouse to light up the destination, center. Once in place, deckhands lash the David R. Hill’s barges to the fleet, below.
mooring of dozens of towboats off the point occupied by the Pilgrim’s Pride feed plant. Deckhands lash our tow onto the huge island of barges so work can begin on picking up the five additional barges. It’s about 10 p.m. – time to get me out of the way.Clay radios for two deckhands to launch the towboat’s skiff to shuttle me to land. The far dark shore, more than a half-mile from the fleet, is punctuated by scattered lights, none of which stands out as a landmark to identify the end of Worth Street.“Is there a place to dock the skiff there?” the captain asks.
AUGUST | SEPTEMBER | OCTOBER 2022 73 Arab Jewelry & Pawn LLC Case Knives, Electronics, Full Line Jewelry Store, Musical Instruments Estate Jewelry 50 N. Main Street, Arab 256-586-2567 We Buy Gold & Diamonds 354 Gunter Ave., &Follow256-486-9449Guntersvilleus@blossomofgvilleblossomofgville@gmail.comMerchandiseOFF50%RemainingSummer • QUALITY FISH & SEAFOOD • Q U A L I T Y F I S H & S E A F O O D • Q U A L I T Y F I S H & S E A F O O •DOOFAES&HSIFYTILAUQ•D & S E A F O O D • Q U A L I T Y F I S H & S E A F O O D Bragg’s FISH MARKET & SEAFOOD Over 80 Quality Items Available -- Since 1962 -1625 Henry Street HWY 69 - Guntersville 256-582-5996 INSURANCECRAFTAGENCY Boat • Auto Home • Life Steve Craft, Insurance Specialist 415 North Main 256-586-1136Street Bo & MasterStateWaldrepScottLicensedBarbers Voted #1 Barber Shop & #1 Barbers East Side Barber Shop 105 5th St SE Cullman, AL Next to Busy Bee Cafe Proudly Celebrating60 YEARS OF 256-734-9969BARBERINGEstablished1962 • Will specialorderfor you! • Lots of craft beers! • Party kegs! PREMIUM SPIRITS & IMPORTS. Next to Guntersville Publix 9-11 Mon-Thur; 9-midnight, Fri-Sun 256-486-2323 BUDDY’SFlowers An Arab Tradition for over 40 years Flowers For All Occasions 229 North Main Street 256-586-4115 MARSHALL COUNTY SUMMER2022 | COMPLIMENTARYWhichismoreamazing?TheHicks’ houseortheirjourneytogetthere? SeeB.B.Huydspeth’swildcollectionof western TV/movie memmorabilia Boazvolunteershadaraceforhistory incompletingcity’snewmuseum This twelfth-page ad is only Quarterly,$102with4-runcommitmentCALLSHEILATODAY!256-640-3973 376 Gunter Avenue 256-582-7745 Antiques &Sweets Wed. & Thurs. 10-4, Fri. & Sat.10-5 25 Retail Shops Under 1 Roof 336 Gunter Avenue 256-582-1300 Bakers on Main WrapFreeGift Have lunch with us Cafeat336 Generations FOOTWEARFOOTWEAR 352 GuntersvilleAvenue,Gunter 256-582-8995 580 ArabMtn.BrindleeNorthPkwy., 256-586-0304 378 Gunter Avenue, Guntersville Mon. - Sat. 10am-5pm theredelephantmarketplace@gmail.com256-486-3796TheRedElephantMarketplace
Out ‘n’ About You might want to plan on being out and about Oct. 7-8 when the Boaz Chamber of Commerce throws its 58th Annual Harvest Festival downtown. The event runs 8 a.m.6 p.m. daily. Booked for entertainment are the gospel groups Gold City and The Perrys. If you were out and about last year, some of the fun doings you probably saw included the amazing gymnasts from Sand Mountain Cheer, bottom right. And the beauty pageant was, well, a thing of beauty, as evidenced by the top five with Miss Harvest Festival 2021 Madison Camper, center, right. For more info, contact sponsoring Boaz Chamber of Commerce: 256-593-8154, boazchamberassist@gmail.com.PhotosbyLizSmith.
A level of care exceeded only by the level of 256.894.6750caring.•mmcenters.com
Care and caring – related but di erent when it comes to cancer treatment. The best care is a given at Marshall Medical, including investments in the latest technology. But caring is something not purchased or learned. It comes from the heart of the people who deliver the treatment. People who have a passion for helping that comes through with a smile or an encouraging word. Marshall Cancer Care Center, care and caring working together in a powerful combination. The latest technology is just the beginning at Marshall Cancer Care Center.
