Month: December 2015

Christmas People

Tragedy leads couple on magical journey

Story by Leigh Pritchett
Photos by Wallace Bromberg Jr.

Carl and Rexanne Brownfield do not mind being known as “the crazy, Christmas people.”

“Christmas is probably my favorite holiday,” said Mrs. Brownfield, who naturally was wearing red.

Year around, the décor in their home includes two Christmas trees. One is always adorned in Christmas finery.

The buffet in their hallway displays a collection of their favorite Christmas books, among them, Operation Christmas Child by Franklin Graham and Donna Lee Toney.

Overlooking the buffet are many family photos of their four children, 12 grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

“So we have a huge Christmas,” Mrs. Brownfield said.

Four years ago, however, Christmas took on an even greater meaning for the couple and has grown to be part of who they are throughout the year.

Like so many defining moments, this one resulted from heartache.

On April 27, 2011, an EF-4 tornado churned through Shoal Creek Valley, leaving death, devastation and despair in its path.

Thirteen people, including a preborn baby, perished.

Brownfield found several fatalities as he cut through debris trying to reach rescuers working to get into the valley. Some of the injured were taken to what was left of the Brownfields’ home, where Mrs. Brownfield and others cared for them until help arrived.

In the weeks and months that followed, life for Shoal Creek residents seemed to be on hold as they worked to clean up and rebuild.

Later that year, Mrs. Brownfield — who adores all things Christmas — took her husband to Bronner’s Christmas Wonderland in Frankenmuth, Mich.

While his wife was shopping, Brownfield spotted an advertisement that actor John Wayne had once purchased a Santa suit from Bronner’s.

Brownfield thought about how the people of Shoal Creek Valley needed something to “build up beat down spirits.” They needed some joy and cheer.

He thought about how he had wanted to be Santa since he was 20 years old.

And here he was, in a massive Christmas store where he could get what he needed to be Santa.

Eight hundred dollars later, Brownfield had his first Santa suit.

Even more so, he became Santa, going to great lengths to find the right accessories for his suit and props for the stories he would tell children during his visits.

That first year as the Jolly Old Elf, Brownfield made appearances at three churches in the Shoal Creek area and one in Moody, at a Pell City day care and at a photo session at Shoal Creek Volunteer Fire Department.

The next year, the demand for the couple grew exponentially. Not only were they engaged for the same events as the first year, but also for a hospital, a children’s cancer group and others.

This year, their schedule contains all sorts of events, such as “breakfast with Santa,” private and company parties, a hunting club, parade, bank and even a hair salon in Georgia.

The Brownfields get bookings a year in advance.

All year long, the Brownfields are in Christmas mode. They are either thinking about, preparing for or actually being Mr. and Mrs. Claus.

Mrs. Brownfield, in fact, can often be found purchasing Christian coloring books, word-search books and plenty of colors at Dollar Generals. These go in gift bags for children who visit Santa.

Their appearances and the goody bags are the Brownfields’ gifts to all they see. They never charge for appearances.

When they are given donations, the Brownfields give them to Toys for Tots or to an entity that assists needy families in St. Clair County.

Being Santa and Mrs. Claus creates opportunities for them to tell children the real reason for Christmas, Brownfield said.

“(Rexanne) reads one of the Jesus stories” at events, Brownfield said. “Some people we visit, we are the only exposure to Jesus they get.”

Billy Wakefield, a friend of the couple as well as pastor of Bethany Baptist Church in Shoal Creek Valley, is “just proud of the fact they have used it like a ministry. They use it to share the message of Christ and bring joy to kids’ hearts, too. They have a tremendous passion for it. They take it to another level. It’s really who they are. It’s a calling.”

Once Brownfield became Santa, it was not long before he and his wife were asked to visit children with significant life circumstances. Some had experienced abuse or abandonment.

For some of these children, talking with Santa is therapeutic. They tell him things that they might not disclose to anyone else.

Visiting with Santa gives them a reprieve that brings a little laughter. Seeing those joyous faces blesses the Brownfields.

When a child smiles, “it’s just worth it,” Brownfield said.

The couple have no idea how much they spend each year preparing for and being Mr. and Mrs. Claus. Actually, Mrs. Brownfield said she is a little bit afraid to add it up.

She prefers to calculate it in different terms. If they are able to make one child smile or turn one person to Jesus … that’s priceless.

For the story from Santa and Mrs. Claus’ point of view, read the December 2015 and January 2016 print or full digital edition of Discover The Essence of St. Clair

Ultimate Tailgating

Auburn Style and on TV

Story by Carol Pappas
Photos by Mike Feline, CNN HLN
and Carol Pappas

When Pell City’s Sandra Murray talks about how an Auburn game day tailgate party turns into a CNN event, she laughs and says, “When you’re not there, you get nominated.”

She and her husband, Dr. Ed Murray, have been hosting home-game weekend parties at their “Auburn House” for years. The house itself attracts plenty of attention. After all, it is appropriately painted orange and blue and sits conspicuously on a knoll overlooking campus and Jordan Hare Stadium.

In October, Ed’s aunt had passed away, and for only the second home game in 20 years, they were going to miss the party. So Sandra traveled to Auburn on Wednesday, set up everything for game day and asked friend Cindy Goodgame to host.

That weekend, she got a text from Cindy simply saying, “Call me when you can.” When she did, Cindy told her that someone from CNN tapped on the window and asked if they could film from the parking area of the house with the stadium for the backdrop. Oh, and they might film in the house.

Sandra said OK. Then another “oh” moment followed with Cindy adding, “And they need a woman to barbecue and compete in a cookoff, and I told him you would.”

“I said, What!,” And the rest, they say, is history.

Turns out CNN produces the HLN Tums Tailgate cookoff, which is set at various campuses across the nation during football season. The man at the window was producer Mike Phelan.

CNN Crews, as part of the cookoff series, have been at the Clemson-Notre Dame and Ohio State-Michigan State games. On this particular weekend, they came for Auburn-Ole Miss. The semi-finals will be in Atlanta for the SEC Championship game and the finals, in Glendale, Ariz., for the National Championship game.

Being a good sport, a good cook and enjoying the fanfare of a good tailgate party, Sandra obliged, cooking her original recipe, Cajun-fried chicken drumsticks with a Bulleit Bourbon sauce, for the competition. “It was only the second time I had cooked it,” she said. And it was only later that she learned famed chef Chris Hastings and Auburn’s Acre Restaurant use the same high-rye, award-winning whiskey in their own recipes.

At 5 a.m. on Friday and 4:30 a.m. on Saturday of the game weekend, a CNN satellite truck and other vehicles pulled up to the house and started unloading – lights, cameras, monitors. “Watching them set up was a lot of fun,” she said.

CNN and HLN sports anchor and correspondent Coy Wire, a former Stanford and NFL player, went over his lines. Cheerleaders from Auburn and Ole Miss arrived. Auburn Tiger mascot, Aubie, joined the fun. So did the Auburn Band. A crowd gathered. Lights, camera, action. “The whole progression was phenomenal,” Sandra said. “It was fun to work with them.”

She competed with Jeff and Jeremy Alexander of Athens, Ala., whom the Murrays have known for years. They own a game-day condominium behind their Auburn House. Coincidentally, they are professional barbeque cookoff competitors. They won the Sloss Furnace competition in recent months.

While Sandra’s drumsticks came in second, she wasn’t disappointed at all. “It was a lot of fun,” she said. “I’m tickled for them. It was good promotion for them.” The Alexanders’ winning dish cooked to order was a brisket. They also made a “Fatty” – Italian sausage taken out of the casing, flattened and topped with a mixture of peppers and onions, rolled up and wrapped in a bacon weave. It is smoked and then sliced into pinwheels. Hence, the perfect moniker.

“They’re serious,” Sandra said. For her, it was simply part of being a gracious hostess, even if her nomination came in absentia. The Murrays love to entertain, and the house they bought in 2004 underscores that notion.

It is the perfect game-day house. They completely redid the interior in 2005 – orange and blue motif and Auburn themed throughout. Mounted televisions are found in almost every room.

“When we found out Pella did navy-blue windows, we said, ‘Here we go!,’” she said, relating the story behind an orange and blue house. “When the crew was painting the house, people would pass by, blow their horn and yell, ‘War Eagle!’”

The house is comfortable and inviting – just like the Murrays. They have used the house for fundraisers and awards. The Pell City Cheerleaders were there for the Idaho game as part of an auction-winner event. “It’s for fun. That’s what it’s all about,” Sandra said.

And in typical, welcoming Murray fashion, she adds, “You know what we say: ‘One invitation lasts a lifetime.’”

River Hero

Doug Morrison, a strong voice for conservation

Story by Leigh Pritchett
Photos by Wallace Bromberg Jr.

Doug Morrison does not consider himself to be a hero.

He is just a man who appreciates God’s green earth, blue skies and crystal-clear waters, and he wants to keep them that way.

The Alabama Rivers Alliance sees it a little differently, though. Because Morrison has worked to protect creeks, rivers and their surroundings, the Springville resident was named a “2015 River Hero” by the alliance earlier this year.

“I was just doing my thing and loving doing it,” said Morrison, who picks up litter along St. Clair County Road 9 near the Big Canoe Creek bridge during his lunch hour.

The River Hero Award, according to the non-profit alliance, is “a lifetime achievement award given to passionate individuals who exemplify river stewardship and who have a rich history of advocating for the protection of Alabama’s waterways.”

Morrison, notes the alliance, received the award for helping to revive the Friends of Big Canoe Creek organization, for being president of the Coosa Riverkeeper, for working with Freshwater Land Trust to establish a Forever Wild preserve along a portion of Big Canoe Creek, and for being supportive of Alabama Rivers Alliance and other riverkeeper groups.

Morrison serves as president of the Friends of Big Canoe Creek, which has 50-60 members, and president of the Coosa Riverkeeper until his term expires this December.

“Every conservation project I’ve ever been involved in, there has been a champion,” said Wendy Jackson, executive director of the non-profit Freshwater Land Trust. “For Big Canoe Creek, that champion has been Doug Morrison, who has invested countless hours of his time and all of his heart to this project. Not only is he a river hero, he is my hero.”

Though Morrison is the one who received the award, he said he has not worked alone. He said both groups – the Friends of Big Canoe Creek and the Coosa Riverkeeper — have board members and membership “with the same passion and want to help.”

Path of understanding

Morrison’s journey to becoming a waterway champion actually started with a visit to Homestead Hollow in Springville.

During the excursion, Morrison and Joannie, his wife of 30 years, happened to drive along Oak Grove Road and into downtown Springville and decided this was the place for them.

They wanted to escape city life.

At the time, Morrison, an information technology consultant in the 401K record-keeping field, and his wife lived in Center Point.

A few years later, they saw an advertisement about a home for sale in Springville. The description mentioned a creek bordering the land.

When they visited the property, Mrs. Morrison explored the inside of the Victorian-style home, with its side turret and stained-glass transoms. Morrison, on the other hand, checked out Big Canoe Creek that flows about 140 yards from the home’s back deck. The pleasant childhood memories of looking for crawfish in Shades Creek in Jefferson County flooded his mind. Immediately, he was sold on the property.

That was in 1999.

For a while, he was content to sit next to his creek and occasionally be involved in various projects of Friends of Big Canoe Creek.

That changed noticeably after he saw neighbor Philip Dabney kayaking on the creek one day. Morrison decided he would like to do that, too.

As Morrison paddled in a kayak or canoe, he noticed details about the creek, the life in and around it, and the vegetation.

His fascination with the creek increased, and so did his activity on it. He took up wade fishing; he set a goal of paddling the creek all the way to Neely Henry Lake. (He has paddled about half of it to date.)

“As I paddled it and started networking with other river groups, (I discovered) a lot of creatures there, what depends on the clean water and what harms the water,” Morrison said.

More and more, he realized the importance of protecting this pristine creek that flows in the shadow of an Appalachian foothill.

With the help of neighbor Vickey Wheeler, a founding member of the original Friends of Big Canoe Creek, Morrison was able to reactivate the group in 2008.

Now called the Friends of Big Canoe Creek, the group has engaged during the past seven years in cleaning up the creek and its tributaries, monitoring watershed, testing water quality, promoting recreation and fishing, educating the community and planning special events.

When Morrison learned that the group, Coosa Riverkeeper, was forming, he wanted to participate because Big Canoe Creek is in the Coosa River watershed. Morrison was asked to serve on the board of directors and has been president for three years.

Representing the Friends of Big Canoe Creek, Morrison and Board members have worked with Freshwater Land Trust’s Executive Director Wendy Jackson, city and county officials to designate between 300 and 600 acres adjoining the creek as a preserve through the state’s Forever Wild program.

“We are continuing efforts to make Big Canoe Creek Nature Preserve a reality and are still working hard to see this through. Many wonderful folks have been involved, and there seems to be a genuine interest in having green space for folks to recreate in nature, to get their kids outdoors, away from their electronic life and truly experience what nature has to offer.

“In a book by Richard Louv, called Last Child in the Woods, he used the phrase, ‘Nature Deficit Disorder.’ That hit home with me, and I see how important it is to get folks back to nature, to have a place to sit quietly, listen to the forest, observe the creatures in the forest and listen to the simple sounds of a running stream. It is just downright good for your soul. So we are working hard to make this happen for the community, where folks can get away to a place in their neck of the woods and enjoy a natural setting.”

Unique creek

Big Canoe Creek begins at Zamora Lake Park in Clay in Jefferson County and crosses northern St. Clair County. When the creek reaches Gadsden in Etowah County, it becomes part of the Coosa River.

As Big Canoe Creek winds along its 50-mile path, it is fed by Gulf Creek, Muckleroy Creek, a Little Canoe Creek near Springville and another Little Canoe Creek in Etowah County.

One of its unique aspects is that it flows northeasterly, Morrison said.

In the creek is an array of fish, such as redhorse sucker, bass, crappie, bream, rainbow shiner, longear sunfish, alligator gar and southern studfish. Some are so colorful that they look tropical.

“Big and Lit-tle Canoe Creeks are home to 54 known species of fish and 23 rare and imper-iled plants and ani-mals doc-u-mented through-out the water-shed,” reveals Freshwater Land Trust.

According to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, two federally protected mussels — the southern pocketbook and the triangular kidneyshell — can be found in Big Canoe Creek. Federal listing is being sought, as well, for the Canoe Creek clubshell mussel and the trispot darter.

The Canoe Creek clubshell mussel “is entirely new to sci-ence and was recently dis-cov-ered,” reports Freshwater Land Trust. As for the trispot darter, it is “a rare fish once thought to be extinct in Alabama.”

In 2004, 18 miles of the creek were deemed a “critical habitat” under the Endangered Species Act, states the Friends of Big Canoe Creek web site (www.bigcanoecreek.org).

A “critical habitat,” explains the wildlife service, is an area that “contains features essential for the conservation of a threatened or endangered species.”

The fact that mussels live in Big Canoe Creek is indeed positive because they require good water quality to exist.

“Their persistence in the Big Canoe Creek watershed is a testament to its ecological integrity,” states www.bigcanoecreek.org.

Wading in the creek one afternoon with a Discover photographer, Morrison came upon a sizable freshwater crustacean.

“There’s a big ole crawfish back there,” he said, estimating the critter to be possibly 6 inches long.

Studies of crawfish in Big Canoe Creek have found quite a diverse population.

“I didn’t know there were so many varieties of them,” Morrison said.

The creek also attracts blue herons, green herons, box turtles, salamanders, minks, otters, owls, raccoons, turkey, deer and many other creatures. Morrison said he has encountered a black coyote and a bobcat that was “one of the biggest … I’ve ever seen.”

In 2013, the Friends of Big Canoe Creek was involved in a huge undertaking to remove part of a 19th century grist mill dam, the only dam on the creek. A study showed that the dam was keeping fish from migrating up and down stream. Also, the pooling of water behind the dam was promoting a buildup of sediment, which was adversely affecting aquatic life.

Seven national, state and local entities teamed to remove a portion of Goodwin’s Mill Dam to let the creek flow unobstructed.

Morrison said a recent biodiversity survey indicated that the different species living in that part of the creek are flourishing since the dam’s removal.

Life changer

Big Canoe Creek and its interests have become an integral part of Morrison’s everyday life.

He has his coffee at the creek some mornings and relaxes there after work. He likes “just sitting on the bank, listening to the water” as it hits the rocks of the shoal. He goes there at night, builds a fire and enjoys the peacefulness.

Often, he gives presentations about the creek, counsels Boy Scouts working toward their sustainability merit badge, presents rain barrel workshops, and encourages groups to practice the three R’s of reduce, reuse, recycle.

Because it is largely hidden, Big Canoe Creek remains untouched with few threats to its ecology. “We’re blessed not to have industry on it,” Morrison said.

However, he does not want the creek to remain a secret.

“I’d like to continue educating people about it,” he said. Specifically, he envisions more video documentation that would “bring to people’s living rooms” the beauty and life in and around Big Canoe Creek.

“People that paddle it get to experience that beauty,” he said. “And once you experience that beauty, you may become like me and want to protect it.”

Whenever he has the opportunity, he talks about Big Canoe Creek and the Coosa River because of water’s importance to man and creature. “In my opinion, anyone who fishes or swims or drinks water from the Coosa watershed ought to be concerned about it and support the work of the Coosa Riverkeeper,” he said.

He encourages people to support riverkeeper efforts in their area because these groups are the “eyes and ears of the water community.”

Morrison realizes that his transformation from a guy who enjoyed a creek to a guy determined to preserve it has been a significant one.

“(The creek) has changed my life,” said Morrison, the father of two and grandfather of four. “I wasn’t into … conservation … until we moved out here. The creek changed me. It has given me a better appreciation of what we have here in our state. To see what we have in our own back yard is incredible. … This may sound corny, but it’s true: Be a better steward of the earth. Enjoy what God has given us, this common ground for all living beings to thrive.”

Information from Alabama Rivers Alliance, Freshwater Land Trust and The Friends of Big Canoe Creek was used with permission.

St. Vincent’s St. Clair: Four Years

No matter the measuring stick, there is no mistaking the impact of St. Vincent’s St. Clair inside and outside its doors over the past four years.

Stories by Carol Pappas
Photos by Wallace Bromberg Jr.
and from the Discover Archives

Replacing an aging building that had become obsolete by today’s medical standards, the new St. Vincent’s St. Clair opened in Pell City in December 2011 to great fanfare. And rightly so. It ushered in a new era in health care for the entire region.

“This is a great community, and we are proud to be here,” said Michael Korpiel, who just took the reins of St. Vincent’s St. Clair and St. Vincent’s Blount as their president. He had been serving as president of St. Vincent’s East, but a strategic restructuring added two more hospitals to his administration. And the fit is not just good in terms of geography but in the services they can provide together.

“I’m excited about how we can make all three hospitals work more closely together,” he said. As an example, he cited St. Clair’s certification as a chest-pain center, stringent standards that mean when time is of the essence, lifesaving procedures kick into action quicker than ever before.

St. Vincent’s is the first health system in the country to be certified under these new standards, and they enable emergency department staff to begin care for a patient suffering from chest pain – often a sign of a heart attack – even before they reach the emergency room.

Once they are assessed at St. Clair, they can be transferred to a sister facility, if necessary, in a matter of moments, saving critical time through a coordinated effort in treating one of the biggest killers in the United States, Korpiel said.

Specifically, St. Clair has many more advancements that continue to keep the hospital and the care its patients receive on a progressive track.

Specialties added since opening are continuing an upward trend. A female obstetrics and gynecology doctor is opening a practice in the adjoining Physicians Plaza. Dr. Kim Cox Gorman will practice at St. Clair and deliver babies at St. Vincent’s East.

Plans are under way for St. Vincent’s St. Clair Transitional Care, a “swing bed” program, which allows patients to receive skilled nursing services within this acute care hospital setting. “It enables us to better manage care for patients without transferring them to a nursing home or other hospital,” Korpiel said.

It basically involves designating beds when the 40-bed hospital is not at capacity for use as continuing care. If a patient needs longer term care, the designation of the bed simply changes, and the patient never has to leave the room. That system would allow more patients to remain close to home for post-acute care services.

“The addition of transitional care beds would strengthen our position as the provider of choice for the people of St. Clair and nearby counties,” according to a release announcing the plans. “It’s better for the patient, and it’s better for us” in providing the continuum of care, Korpiel added.

Bariatrics is “going strong” at the hospital with 30 surgeries targeted for this year. Combined with education and a support system, it is helping patients lose weight en route to healthier lifestyles.

Dr. Gaylyn Horne-Ballard has opened her pain management practice in Physicians Plaza, performing 20 to 35 procedures a day.

Gastrointestinal services are being performed at the hospital as well, with several physicians from Birmingham offering outpatient procedures at St. Clair.

Partnerships have strengthened with local practices as well. “Northside Medical Associates continues to be a great partner,” Korpiel said, noting that such specialists as those with Birmingham Heart Clinic have established clinics within Northside.

And Pell City Internal Family Medicine, housed at Physicians Plaza and at the Publix shopping center “have done a great job” in delivering services, he said.

As for the future, it’s looking better than ever. More specialties in urology, orthopedics and ear, nose and throat are on the horizon.

He acknowledged that while he has been “blown away by the support of this hospital,” he would like to see greater strides in the Emergency Department. It is not unlike national numbers. The lowest statistics for satisfaction are in the area of emergency departments because of long waits and more expensive care.

“My goal is to improve service through the Emergency Department,” he said. Through the hospital system’s Lean initiative, those improvements are already being seen. Delays in lab and radiology results are being eliminated. Transfer time for patients needing emergency services for a heart attack has been cut by 20 minutes, something that is critical to the patient.

The goal for turnaround time for troponin lab tests, which help rule out a heart attack diagnosis, was 30 minutes. It is now being done in 23 minutes.

And overall, 30 minutes has been shaved off Emergency Department times for services rendered.

What all that means is better care and better results for patients close to home at a hospital that consistently rates in the top 10 percent of hospitals in the St. Vincent’s Health and Ascension Health systems across the country for patient satisfaction.

Nationally, it means Joint Commission Accreditation and Joint Commission’s Top Performer Award on Key Quality Measures for the local hospital.

“My vision for St. Clair as the county continues to grow and Pell City continues to grow,” Korpiel said, “is to enable this hospital to provide as many comprehensive services as possible” so that patients get the care they need “close to home.”

For more stories on St. Vincent’s St. Clair four-year anniversary, read the print or full digital edition of the December 2015 and January 2016 edition of Discover The Essence of St. Clair Magazine

Features

Log cabin with an Asian flair

By Elaine Hobson Miller
Photos by Wallace Bromberg Jr.

For eight years, Steve and Carla Valdes have been trying to turn their log home on Logan Martin Lake into a 14th-century Japanese-style home. They tore out the country kitchen, removed a clawfoot bathtub, reworked the master bedroom fireplace and painted the door frames black.

Despite their best efforts, it’s still a log house. It’s also a showcase for their Asian art collection, which constantly pulls your eyes away from the rustic American details.

“It looked like a cowboy bunkhouse when we bought it from the bachelor who lived here,” says Steve. “I hope it conveys an Asian feel now.”

The couple were drawn to Asian art when they lived in China and Japan while Steve sold medical devices from India to California for Johnson & Johnson. They began picking up a Burmese temple guard here, a Japanese kimono there, and the first thing they knew, their house was an Asian art gallery. ”My daughter calls it an Asian antiques store,” Steve says.

Carla, who is originally from Tarrant, was an Atlanta-based Delta flight attendant for 32 years. Steve, originally from Miami, grew up around water. They have lived in several countries and traveled all over the world, but wanted to settle in Atlanta when Steve retired 12 years ago. After searching that area for a house, Steve saw the online real estate ad for a log house on Logan Martin Lake, decided Pell City wasn’t so far from Atlanta, and drove over to take a look. “I had never been inside a log house before,” he says. “We walked in, and I said, ‘This is the place.’ I love the warmth of the wood.”

From the outside, the house looks like a typical log home, with wide, square logs and gray chinking. The silent sentinel near the front door, a stone Chinthe (lion-like creature that guards Burmese temples), and the Japanese-inspired lattice work between the porch rails on one side, hint at the treasures within.

Just inside the door, a Buddhist home-worship altar sits on a tall-legged cabinet. A small Buddha rests on top, with a gong behind him. “So much of Asian art is religious,” Steve says, although he isn’t.

Ceramic horses, copies of those found in Chinese burial mounds, stand on the sofa table to the left. Continuing left, on the wall separating the kitchen from the entrance hall, hangs a 14th-century Chinese scroll in a cabinet Steve built for it. As he turns the scroll, the pictures change, revealing a series of seaside and forest scenes done in ink on silk. “It’s a 30-foot-long story,” Steve says.

He replaced the maple kitchen cabinets with birch and the ceramic-tiled countertops with red and black granite, but the red appears burnt orange. “It looked more red when we picked it out,” Steve says. “We thought it would pop, but the color is swallowed up by the wood.” Stainless-steel appliances include a Jen-Air range with ceramic cooktop, bought because it has a downdraft. “We didn’t want a draft hood blocking the view of the lake,” Steve says.

In a corner of the dining area stands a tall, free-form, paper lamp, signed by its Japanese artist, although Steve can’t recall his name. “This is my most prized possession from an artistic point of view,” he says. “From a value point of view, it would be the Chinese scroll.” A four-section, Asian-style curio cabinet nearby houses part of Carla’s Madame Alexander doll collection, one of the few feminine touches in the house.

Light pours into the great room from two sets of French doors and the fan-shaped transom above one set, illuminating the wide-plank pine floors and the tongue-in-groove pine ceiling. Both ceiling and floors are stained a golden oak color. Recessed lights in the vaulted ceiling also shed light on the seating area in front of the fireplace.

An Asian-style open-front curio cabinet on the right side of the fireplace displays more Chinthe temple guards, including a small ceramic pair that are male and female. The painted ostrich egg, meerkat and giraffe figurines are African, yet seem to fit right in with their Asian cousins. A child’s Japanese kimono hangs on the wall behind the curio, while another child-size version and two adult kimonos hang high in the seating area. Bali puppets flank the chimney on stone shelves above the mantel, where a wooden ship rests. An antique Samurai suit of armor from the late 19th or early 20th century drapes a mannequin on the left side of the fireplace.

The master suite features a bathroom with white-washed ceiling boards — Steve’s attempt to lighten the ceiling without losing the grain and texture of the pine. This is the bathroom that had a clawfoot tub on a platform when they bought the house, and when he removed it, “people were clamoring for it,” he says. He replaced it with a jetted-tub next to a shower that has glass on three sides. The vanity has two matching bowls that sit on top, both with a design depicting orange coy swimming in a sea of emerald-green. Hanging over the tub is a geisha looking into a mirror as she puts on her makeup. “It’s an embroidery cloth traditionally used as wrapping paper for important gifts,” Steve says. More Chinthe stand guard from each end of the vanity.

Steve tore out the stone fireplace in the bedroom, which shared a chimney with its twin in the Great Room, and replaced it with black marble. The bedroom has a three-dimensional Mandarin king and queen wall hanging made of ivory and wood and a Chinese secretary that serves as a television cabinet.

An open deck spanned the back of the house when the Valdeses bought it. Steve screened in both ends, leaving the center section unscreened for outdoor grilling. The section that opens off the master suite is furnished in wicker seating that has predominantly black cushions with an off-white design in them. Another favorite piece of Asian art, a Japanese garden lamp, is located on an end table there. The screened porch off the dining area has more wicker, but with striped cushions in green, tan and red. That porch also has a glass-topped end table that Steve made using a gnarly tree stump he found on the property as the base.

Two areas of the 3,000-square-foot home reflect the eclectic side of Steve, who builds wooden model ships, collects military memorabilia and stocks his bar with South African wines and Italian grappa. (The latter is a fragrant, grape-based pomace brandy.) One is the loft overlooking the great room, the other the basement.

That loft was completely open and had been used as a bedroom when Steve and Carla moved in. He tried to make it look as Asian as possible by building a new bannister with an Asian flair and painting it black. He put up a half wall and painted that black, too. Then he turned its under-the-eaves closet into a storage area and the loft into an office. A Cambodian goddess made of wood, twin dragons made from teak and teak dust that was hardened with glue, and some Thai temple rubbings are the primary Asian art touches. Most of the loft is filled with odds and ends of things that Steve happens to like, such as a small pair of Mayan statues, an FDR “Man of the Hour” clock and the scale model of the steamboat Robert E. Lee that Steve built. “It took me a year,” he says of the project. “Now I’m working on a model of the CSS Alabama.” On the log wall behind his computer hangs a propeller from his dad’s airplane with a clock that Steve inserted in the center hole. “Mom and Dad are pilots,” he explains. “I wanted to be, but I’m color blind.”

Lights come on automatically as you descend the pine-plank stairs into the basement, which has Mexican-tiled floors. Framed Confederate war bonds hang on one wall of the hallway, which leads to two guest rooms, a small bathroom, Steve’s “man cave” and a War Room. He calls the bathroom the Florida bath because of the wooden fish that hang on the wall, fish that he carved himself. “The former owner laid part of the tile floor and I did part,” Steve says. “He did the stucco walls.” Unlike the main floor, the basement has round log beams.

His man-cave features exposed log ceiling beams, tree-stump benches, a wooden bar for his wines, a Thai spinning wheel and another display case of Carla’s Madame Alexander dolls. The closet in one of the guest rooms houses his Nazi and South African Army uniforms and his U.S. Navy peacoat. A Korean painting done on silk hangs on one wall of the room, while a triangular table from China or Taiwan (he’s not sure which) stands beside the bed, and Korean puppets and figurines are displayed in a glass-fronted curio cabinet.

He calls the unfinished basement area his “War Room” because of the military memorabilia there. He has Swiss Army helmets, a German propaganda poster, rifles, a radio-controlled PT boat, and a mannequin dressed in his old flight suit, his jungle boots from Vietnam and a flight helmet and Mae West from his Dad. “That’s a medical dummy, actually,” he says of the mannequin. “It has a pacemaker in its chest. Johnson and Johnson was tossing it out in favor of a newer model, and I adopted it.” He also has autographed photos of famous World War II pilots such as George Gay, a Nazi flag, a Confederate flag, a work bench, and the safe from his grandfather’s cigar factory in Tampa.

“My wife doesn’t like this house as much as I do because it’s so masculine,” Steve admits. “It’s like The Lodge. As the real estate agent told us, it’s not a house on the lake, but a lake house.”

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Married in the mountains

Ashville farm turns into special wedding, event venue

Story and photos by Jim Smothers
Submitted Photos

When Jeff Caddell’s parents, Bud and Mildred, bought 110 acres in Ashville in 1989, they weren’t just looking for a home, they were also looking for the perfect spot for Bud to be able to enjoy his life-long hobby of building and flying remote controlled model airplanes. But he didn’t want it just for himself, so he chartered an RC club so others could enjoy the sport, and he was just happy to be able to host them at his place. The club is still going strong, even after his death, with 45 members at last count.

So after Jeff and his wife Sheila had a beautiful wedding of their own on a small island in the 8-acre lake on the property, it wasn’t long before they wanted others to be able to be able to use the property for their weddings, too, and they got the ball rolling last year. To date, about a dozen couples have begun their lives as man and wife at Mountain View Farms.

“There are five or six places here where people could have weddings,” Jeff said. “Inside or outside the barn, in the middle of a field, on the island – they could even have it on the lawn in front of our house overlooking the lake if they wanted to.”

Actually the barn isn’t ready yet, but the Caddells are excited about the plans for the future. Rather than building a purpose-built barn for weddings, they want to convert an existing barn that can be used for not only weddings but other large-scale events. The plan is to retro-fit the exterior of the barn with board and batten walls while retaining the original wood and tin on the inside for atmosphere.

“There’s 5,000 square feet inside. You can get a lot of people in there,” he said. “We will become a destination wedding and events venue next summer once we complete a big remodel of our large home that is being converted into a lodge with lots of stone, cedar, rusty tin and barn wood.

“‘The Lodge’ and ‘The Cottage’ at Mountain View Farms will sleep about 20 people and will be … offering overnight stays.”

Jeff credits an old friend with suggesting the farm as a wedding venue. Gary Liverett, director of the nearby Alpha Ranch ministry for young men, built the island and gazebo for Mildred Caddell in 2007. When the project was completed, Gary remarked it would be a nice place to have a wedding, which put the wheels in motion for Jeff and Sheila’s wedding in 2010. While the plan for hosting weddings was being hatched, Jeff and his mom were puzzled as to where the bride and bridesmaids could get ready. Sheila pointed out there was an unoccupied two-bedroom house on the property that would be perfect.

“’Well, duh!’ I thought,” Jeff said. “That was perfect.”

To get started they set up a Facebook page and offered the use of the farm at little or no charge for a limited number of weddings as a promotion, with the understanding that the Caddells could use photos from those events to show others what they had to offer.

One of the first weddings was actually a couple who remarried each other after being apart for decades.

“Dianne and Gary Duck actually remarried each other here at Mountain View Farms in May. It had been over 30 years since they divorced! They had a small wedding, and then rode away on Gary’s Harley. Gary remarked that he was young and stupid and lost her after being married a short time. Life went on, circumstances changed, and he found her again,” Caddell said.

A very special wedding for Belinda Dorough and Daniel Creech.

More recently, the Caddells offered the farm as a venue for a very special couple. Daniel Creech and Belinda Dorough both attend a day program at United Cerebral Palsy in Birmingham, spending most of their days in wheelchairs, and living in a group home at night.

Daniel communicates by using his eyes to type on an electronic device and surprised Belinda when he popped the question to her. She can speak a little and first responded “What?” and then started crying before answering, “Yes!”

Daniel’s mom reached out to the community for help in making their dreams of a beautiful wedding come true via a Facebook post in which she was merely asking for some suggestions. In the end, a motorcycle club held a charity ride for them, and donations of rings, a cake, photographs and other services were all donated as word about their needs got around.

Their wedding day went like clockwork on a beautiful fall afternoon. Their powered wheelchairs zipped back and forth across the wooden bridge to the island as a custom-built sound system enabled friends and relatives to hear the ceremony and enjoy recorded music. The reception tent a short distance away provided an efficient serving area, and tables under strings of lights gave guests an enchanting evening as they enjoyed dancing on a pallet wood dance floor, a project which another couple that tied the knot there built for the Caddells.

All of the couples are special people, and the Caddells stay close to events to make sure their needs are met.

They are working on a plan to share the farm with another special group of people.

“After my mother passed, it was our great pleasure to make a substantial donation to Children’s Hospital in my parents’ honor,” Jeff said. “Mom and Dad had a charitable trust that provided for any remaining funds after their deaths to be donated to the charity. In talking to people at the hospital, they were interested in having a place for kids to go as a respite, so we’re working towards that.”

They are in the process of setting up a non-profit foundation to be funded by proceeds from weddings and other events at the farm to help fund those kinds of visits.

They are carrying on a tradition of giving established by his parents and want the Caddell Foundation of Hope to give hope to ailing children and their families and underprivileged children.

“When kids go through extended illnesses, their families are incredibly strained,” he said. “There are so many out of pocket expenses.”

The plan is to organize activities at the farm to give them a break without any expense.

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