When you travel over Pell City’s William C. Ellison Bridge on U.S. 231 over Interstate 20 in years to come, no need to wonder who that namesake might be.
It is hard to look around Pell City and not see a connection to Bill Ellison, even if you’ve never met him. The legacy of his work may be in the grocery store you shop, the mega retail center where you buy clothes, gifts and products for your home or business.
Ellison devotes his talk to the ‘team’ that made the development a reality.
Find it in the hotels where family and friends may stay while visiting or watching a movie at the cinema. The connection is there even when you sit down to eat at a restaurant, enter your favorite fast-food drive-through or fill up your vehicle with gas.
Over the past four decades, Ellison has been the visionary who saw needs in his adopted, beloved hometown of Pell City and blazed many a trail to fill them. A developer by trade and serving as president and CEO of I-20 Development, make no mistake, it’s more than a job to him. It’s a passion.
With dozens of developments throughout the city to his credit, generating 40 percent of the City of Pell City’s tax base, the Ellison connection reaches well beyond those brick-and-mortar testaments to his success stories. Consider the beneficiaries of that burgeoning tax base – schools, roads, law enforcement, infrastructure. The sweeping connection to him in all corners of the city is unmistakable.
As city, county and state officials gathered in September to herald the official beginning of yet another development – a 147,500-square-foot shopping and lifestyle center – they seized the opportunity to give Ellison a lasting thank you.
Unveiling a sign that bears his name was the perfect tribute – William C. Ellison Bridge, connecting the Walmart Supercenter development on U.S. 231 North that sparked Pell City’s largest retail growth with Pell City Square, a 19.5-acre development that takes that growth to the next level.
The link that connects them is Ellison, whose dogged determination brought both projects to fruition. The first started with a convenience store, a gas station and a vision. Now, it’s a sprawling retail, hotel, entertainment and restaurant district.
Cross William C. Ellison Bridge, and the property that once housed only a county hospital and acres of woodland will be home to nationally familiar names like T.J. Maxx, Hobby Lobby, Old Navy, Ulta Beauty, PetSmart and Five Below. And there’s more to come along with those.
Ellison is quick to point out that it’s not a one-man show. He often talks of “team” and “we,” deflecting the credit and the spotlight to others.
“Really, it’s we, not me,” he told the gathered crowd. “I’m just a team player.”
Visibly moved by the bridge name unveiling, he added, “Being recognized by my peers, family, and friends today is the highest honor of my 40-year career. This bridge symbolizes how past, current, and future administrations can all work together to create incredible projects for the community.”
Mayor Bill Pruitt described Ellison as a visionary who “sees what Pell City could be,” noting a long list of developments behind which Ellison was the driving force. “Who is Bill Ellison?” the mayor asked. “He is truly an unstoppable force. He has left an indelible mark on Pell City and St. Clair County.”
Pruitt noted how far the city has come in terms of growth since Ellison’s first development across the interstate. “It’s a short trip from where we were to where we stand now.”
And the William C. Ellison Bridge now connects them both.
Big things happening: Breaking ground on massive retail development
Story by Carol Pappas Photos by Graham Hadley
When ceremonial shovels hit the ground, sending symbolic dirt flying, it signaled a new level of growth for Pell City and St. Clair County.
It has been a long, tough road, but three years later, Pell City Square, a 147,500-square-foot retail and lifestyle center is now official. Officials broke ground Sept. 8 on the 19.5-acre site fronting I-20. It closed the chapter on another historic groundbreaking – St. Clair Regional Hospital decades ago – and opened a new one on the future of the ninth fastest growing city in the state.
It will include retailers Hobby Lobby, T.J. Maxx, Ross Dress for Less, Old Navy, Five Below, Ulta Beauty, PetSmart, Rack Room Shoes and other retailers not announced yet. They describe it as a multi-use lifestyle center, which includes outparcels for such developments as sit-down restaurants and is the largest retail investment announcement in St. Clair County since Springville Station Shopping Center in 2005.
Not COVID, not complex partnerships, legal red tape nor any other hurdle would stop this partnership of Noon Real Estate, St. Clair County Commission, City of Pell City and the St. Clair County Economic Development Council.
St. Clair Economic Development Council Executive Director Don Smith talks about Ellison’s contributions as Mayor Bill Pruitt (left) and City Manager Brian Muenger listen.
“They never stopped working,” said Don Smith, executive director of St. Clair EDC. “They banded together to keep moving forward.”
“I share Don’s excitement,” added Pell City Manager Brian Muenger. “This day has been coming for so long. The mayor and council were unwavering in pushing this project to completion.”
In 1968, officials were celebrating the laying of the cornerstone of St. Clair County Hospital. The county’s population stood between 26,000 and 28,000. Today, it tops the 95,000 mark. Pell City was a community of 5,000 people. Today, 15,000 call it home.
“We’re growing,” explained Muenger, and needs change. City officials kept hearing from citizens that they wanted “to keep their dollars here. This shopping center is going to do exactly that.
Muenger talked about the impact of a massive shopping center on a city the size of Pell City, benefitting schools and providing funds for infrastructure to better serve its citizens. “This is a great day for the city. It took a lot to get here.”
Located at the corner of Interstate 20 and U.S. 231 South, it will sit on the site of the former hospital. The property came under ownership of the St. Clair County Commission and the City of Pell City in 2011 to enable building Ascension St. Vincent’s St. Clair, a state-of-the-art hospital just across the interstate.
After years of planning and negotiation, officials agreed to highest and best use would be negotiate an agreement with Noon Real Estate, a seasoned development firm with plenty of retail experience. The goal was to bring in name brand retailers to keep shoppers in the county rather than spending those dollars elsewhere.
“The county commission has a history of supporting our communities to create new tax revenues and jobs in St. Clair County,” said Commission Chairman Paul Manning. “We believe this project will allow us to continue to grow St. Clair County’s economy while filling a retail need in the community.”
Retail Development Layout – Image courtesy of Pell City
Muenger agreed. “The construction of the Pell City Square development is transformational for the city and its residents. The addition of these national retailers will provide our citizens with more options to shop locally than ever before.”
“It’s been four years in coming,” said Noon Real Estate President Kevin Jennings. He thanked “the team” that made it happen, but he singled out a key player that provided the spark. “It all started with Bill Ellison,” who met him at a shopping center convention in Las Vegas to pitch the benefits of locating in Pell City. “Here we sit seeing this happen. Come back next fall and bring your credit card.”
Jennings’ partner, Jamey Flegal, said Ellison’s “vision and passion sold us on it,” and he credited another key player with closing the deal – Council President Jud Alverson, who pored over the numbers to ensure the deal not only could happen but would benefit all involved. Calling him “a rock star,” he said the city should be proud to have him in leadership. “It is rare to have leadership understand the numbers.”
Metro Bank is handling the financing for this project, and Smith lauded the bank’s involvement. “They are an incredible asset to this community.”
He also thanked attorneys John Rea of Trussell, Funderburg, Rea, Bell & Furgerson and James Hill of Hill, Gossett, Kemp & Hufford with helping the team over all the legal hurdles en route to the historic groundbreaking.
In another historic move that day, officials unveiled a new sign for the I-20 bridge connecting the northern and southern sides of the interstate as William C. Ellison Bridge.
Mayor Bill Pruitt talked of Pell City’s “great potential” and how “Bill Ellison saw that.” To Ellison’s credit are developments leading to the commercial district anchored by Walmart Supercenter, the South Park Shopping Center anchored by Publix and now, Pell City Square. Those developments generate 40% of Pell City’s tax revenues.
Humbled by the recognition, Ellison said, “I put my heart and soul into my work every day because I love Pell City.”
Efforts begin to save one of St. Clair’s most storied structures
Story by Robert Debter Submitted Photos
The story of the Looney Family, among the first settlers in St. Clair County and one of the oldest in state of Alabama, begins over 200 years ago on the high, east bank of Tensaw Lake, which had been from an old channel of the Alabama River at a place named Fort Mims.
Remaining structure after the fire, below
The fort began as the fortified plantation of early settler Samuel Mims and consisted of 17 buildings, a blockhouse and a log palisade.
Following the victory of the Red Stick Creeks at the Battle of Burnt Corn Creek on July 27, 1813, over 500 settlers from the surrounding area sought refuge at the fortified home. Maj. Daniel Beasley and 70 volunteers of the Mississippi Territorial Militia were sent to garrison the fort, while another 100 volunteers were sent to other nearby posts and forts.
At noon, on Aug. 30, Red Stick warriors, led by William Weatherford, or “Red Eagle,” assaulted the haven by rushing though the fort’s open gate and firing through the gun ports. Maj. Beasley and his militiamen fell during the first part of the enemy’s attack.
It fell to Capt. Dixon Bailey, a Creek, and his force of Americans and Creeks who repelled the hostiles for four hours. The battle ended when the fort’s buildings were set ablaze. The casualties numbered from 300 to over 400, mostly women and children.
Gov. Willie Blount (pronounced “Wylie”) of Tennessee was quick to react and the state legislature authorized him to summon 5,000 troops to defend the Mississippi Territory. Major General of the Tennessee Militia, Andrew Jackson, who was recovering from a near fatal brawl in Nashville, was given command of the volunteer forces.
On Oct. 7, with his arm in a sling, Jackson and his second in command, Gen. John Coffee, departed Camp Blount in Fayetteville. They made their way south and later erected Fort Strother along the Coosa River in present day Ragland.
The Creek War came to a close following the Battle of Horseshoe Bend on March 27, 1814, and many familiar names of places in Alabama came about as result of this often-forgotten war, such as: Moulton and Somerville and the counties of Blount, Coffee, Jackson, Lauderdale, Montgomery and Wilcox.
St. Clair beginnings
Among the brave Tennessee volunteers were John Looney and his son Henry, of Maury County. During the war, they had come through this land, helped construct Fort Strother, and fell in love with the beautiful country that surrounded them during the campaign.
In the aftermath, father and son returned to Maury County and in 1816, John began selling his land. In late 1817, he, his wife Rebecca, and their children left Maury County, bound for the land described by Julia Tutwiler, as “Goodlier than the land that Moses climbed lone Nebo’s mount to see.”
Trusting in the Lord with their hearts and leaning not on their own understandings, the John Looney Family settled in Beaver Valley in 1818, and the site they chose was near a sparkling spring, not far from Little Beaver Creek. They soon began work on their house and were finished by the winter.
The new spring brought with it swarms of mosquitoes, illness from fever and chills and a flooded home. A new home place was found nearby, and the house was moved to higher ground where it has stood ever since.
John Looney became a prominent leader in the young St. Clair County, serving as a justice of the peace and foreman of the first jury. After his death in 1827, Henry became head of the family and married Jane Ash, the daughter of Ashville’s namesake John Ash, on Oct. 25, 1838. Henry departed this life in 1876 at the age of 78 and was interred at Liberty Cemetery in Odenville. Jane moved to Texas around 1888 to live with her son George and died there in 1900, aged 85. She was laid to rest in City Greenwood Cemetery in Weatherford, Texas.
Henry’s siblings were Jack (married to Lucinda Cooper), Asa (Joyce Cooper), Absolom (Nancy Chenault), Sophia (John Cooper), Elizabeth (Wylie Yarbrough), Isaac (Elizabeth Hammond), Wylie (Laurinda Little) and Melinda (Hugh Cooper).
The Looney House, with all its history and dovetailed, heart of pine logs, was sold in the late 1800s by D.W. Looney to John and Eliza Lonnergan. It remained in the Lonnergan Family until it came into the possession of Col. and Mrs. Joseph R. Creitz.
The house, once the perfect picture of pioneer architecture and Southern resolve, was now without a roof, missing many of its window panes and overgrown with honeysuckle. In March 1972, the couple offered the house to the county or any historical organization that would vow to restore the property.
Historical Society steps in to save structure
On April 8, 19 people attended the founding meeting of the St. Clair Historical Society at the Odenville Community Center. On Sept. 15, the house and property were given to the St. Clair Historical Society for $10 and by the end of the society’s first year, its membership measured over 500.
Mrs. Mattie Lou (Teague) Crow valiantly led from the front and organized the restoration of the home. A cedar shake roof was installed, window panes were replaced, and the grounds were cleared, with much appreciation being extended to the Ashville Garden Club and the John Pope Eden Career Technical Center.
The front porch was restored by Jack Bowling of Rainbow City for the cost of around $2,600 and it was said, “It’s as near to the original as we could build it,” as a great deal of research was conducted to determine how the first porch looked.
The rock steps, quarried out of Beaver Mountain and hand hewn, date back to the 1860s and were donated from the old Cox house in Beaver Valley. Wild roses and four o’clocks were planted. For the inside of the house, Miss Nan Young made the rugs and Miss Nellie Patterson made the briar-stitched curtains.
Furnishings and decorations were donated from treasures found in the homes of many St. Clair Countians: Karl Scott donated a pegged rope bed; Ann Riser gave a lovely chest of drawers which opens into a desk; Elizabeth Teague donated a period rocker; and the Rankin Family gave a beautiful wardrobe.
Howard Hill gifted a set of candle molds, which belonged to his grandfather, and his wife, Elizabeth, the great-granddaughter of county pioneers Littleton Yarbrough and Reuben Phillips, donated a reel, for arranging thread, from her great-grandfather Reuben Phillips’ plantation and a butter mold used by her mother, Sallie (Phillips) Hodges.
The first of the St. Clair Historical Society’s Annual Fall Festivals took place over the weekend of Nov. 23 and 24, 1974, and the grand opening of the museum was attended by a crowd of over 2,000. The ribbon cutting was officiated by Dr. James McClendon, the father of Sen. Jim McClendon, and music was provided by the Springville and St. Clair County High School bands.
The Looney House was soon added to National Register of Historic Places and on Feb. 15, 1975, a certificate, signed by Alabama Gov. George C. Wallace, recognizing this achievement was presented to the St. Clair Historical Society.
In 2018, descendants of John and Rebecca Looney came together from all over Alabama, as well as Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Oklahoma, Ohio, Tennessee, Texas and Utah in a homecoming celebration as part of the St. Clair County Bicentennial.
Until a tragic fire destroyed it on Aug. 6, 2022, it was considered one of the oldest-standing, two-story, dogtrot houses in the state of Alabama.
Tracy Rybka turns old clothes into heirloom quilts
Story by Elaine Hobson Miller Photos by Richard Rybka
You might call Tracey Rybka a “memory preservationist.” She turns old shirts, used quilts, scruffy housecoats and fabric scraps into quilts that preserve memories of the people who wore or used those original items. She calls them T-shirt and memory quilts. Her customers call them wonderful.
“My dad always wore overalls,” says Vicki Buckner of Springville, a happy Tracey’s Stitches & Designs client. “When he passed away in 2020, I took his overalls to Tracey, and she made miniature overalls for 20 teddy bears. I gave those bears to my nieces and nephews – his grandchildren – for Christmas that year, and they loved them. All of them are in their 20s and 30s, and they say they bring back lots of memories of their grandfather. Tracey did a wonderful job.”
Jacket made from ‘scrappy quilt’ with pieces that would have ended up in landfill
Tracey has been sewing since she was a child. Her first project was a skirt for 4-H Club, and her first quilt was for her own granddaughter. “My mother sewed and quilted, and she has quilts all over the world,” Tracey says. “Almost 10 years ago, my daughter went through some fertility issues. After five years, she and her husband gave up, then she got pregnant. I wanted to do something special to honor my mom and my new granddaughter, so I made a baby quilt. I was hooked.”
Between them, she and her husband, Richard, have five children, seven grandchildren and one great-grandchild. Tracey has made quilts for all but a couple of those descendants. “I watched YouTube and read quilt magazines,” she says. “I still do. I probably have 50 magazines.” She keeps several projects going at the same time and estimates she has made 50-60 quilts in the past 10 years. “The majority have been memory quilts and T-shirt quilts,” she says.
Her sewing room in her Springville home contains boxes of fleece, rolls and bags of batting, plastic see-through bins of zippers, threads and fabric scraps. Three clothes racks are draped with WIPs (works in progress), including quilts and some finished Christmas stockings. Several fabric animals watch from atop the bins, awaiting their final touches. She makes dogs, bears and bunnies from the same basic pattern, changing the length of their ears for the various species.
Often doing her hand work in a chair draped with the first adult quilt she made, she has a 10-foot long-arm machine nearby for the quilting process. Originally, she quilted on her mother’s long-arm, a 1950 Singer A1 built for use in a sweatshop. “I used it my first four to five years, but it got hard to find parts for it,” she says. “So, I bought another used one.” She in fact has two working long-arms – her mom’s being disassembled and packed away.
She works from home Mondays and Tuesdays from 8 a.m. until 8 p.m., teaches sewing classes for all ages on Wednesdays at Sewing Machine Mart in Springville, then heads to Mentone with Richard, a photographer. They stay through Sundays, working from her shop from 8 a.m. until 5 p.m. Tracey opened the shop Aug. 1 and teaches classes there on Saturdays. She and Richard hope to buy land and move to Mentone someday. For now, they have a camper on leased land.
“We fell in love with Mentone 20 years ago,” she says. “It has a touristy, creative atmosphere.” Her shop is in a 115-year-old school building, formerly Moon Lake Elementary School, that has been turned into Moon Lake Village. Rooms are rented to artisans such as Tracey. “We have the fourth-grade classroom,” she says.
In her Springville classes she has taught 9- and 10-year-old Girl Scouts from Trussville, and her eight-year-old granddaughter is getting private lessons at Tracey’s home. “Mine are one-day classes lasting two to five hours each, and the students walk away with a finished project, such as 2-by-2-foot scrappy quilts, pillow cases and zipper bags,” Tracey says. “I usually furnish them a kit with all the materials they’ll need.”
While she orders most of her fabric online because of quality issues, choices, and the ease of getting it – not to mention wholesale pricing – some of her best work has been from scraps. “I save everything,” she says. “I make scrappy-fabric wall hangings from old sheets and pillowcases, stained shirts and torn jeans.”
An example of a “landscape quilt” hangs on a wall of her shop. Another WIP, it is a farm scene with a red truck, ducks, a barn and a house. She cuts wavy strips of fabric for the mountains in the background and the fields in the forefront. “I sold one last year with a swing made of fabric and jute that actually moved,” she says.
She encourages her students to use whatever materials they have on hand. “A quilt backing can be an old sheet, or you can make a quilt reversible with scraps on both sides,” she explains. “Then you just have to buy the batting. Actually, you don’t really need batting if the fabric is thick enough.” Although she pieces her quilts together on a sewing machine, she has no issues with those who prefer to do it by hand. “I’m not the quilting police,” she tells her students.
Dubbing her scrap-method “up-cycling,” she took a king-size quilt with holes and stains, cut all of that out, and made baby quilts, lap quilts, diaper bags and pillows. “That carried on the memories of that quilt,” she says. She has made jackets and vests from old quilts, too. “So, you don’t have enough tees or whatever to make a quilt? Add fabric,” she teaches.
Her T-shirt quilts are made primarily from kids’ tees and sports tees. The memory quilts are made from shirts, gowns and housecoats, overalls, blue jeans, baby clothes and just about any other type of clothing. “I’m working on T-shirt quilt now with a little boy’s leather vest in it,” she says. “The vest is a tiny thing. The boy is now in college, and his mom is having it done as a Christmas gift.”
She also makes cork wallets and purses. “I learned about cork on YouTube,” she says. “Thecork is grown in Portugal, where cork oak trees are stripped, and the best bark is used for wine stoppers. The remainder is graded for other uses.”
According to an online article on cork fabric, the outer section of the tree bark is harvested with axes, not machines, then peeled back to reveal the cork layer. The cork is laid out to dry for six months, then boiled in water, flattened and molded into whatever material it’s going to be. “It’s pressed and then pressed again but with fabric the second time, to make cork fabric,” Tracey explains. Stripping the bark does not hurt the trees, and the bark grows back. It can be harvested every 9 to 12 years, causing no harm to the tree, so it’s eco-friendly.
“You can’t sew with cork on a domestic or household sewing machine, though,” Tracey says. “I use an industrial-grade machine. I buy patterns off YouTube. My bread-and-butter is the T-shirt and memory quilts, but my fun is making purses and wallets.”
Denise Key believes she was one of the first people to hire Tracey to make memory quilts. Her husband’s parents had died, and hers were already passed away. While going through each parent’s belongings, she came across some old quilts made from clothes that were, in turn, made from flour sacks, and quilts made from old children’s dresses. “I had quilts made for our children and grandchildren,” Denise says.
There were some items too worn for Tracey to do anything large with, but she made them into small throws and pillows. “My nieces got a baby bag and all kinds of cool things from them,” Denise says. “Tracey probably made a dozen or so things for each side of my family. She would put a new backing on or whatever was needed to preserve it.”
Rhonda Reece commissioned Tracey to make six lap quilts and several pillows from her dad’s shirts. She gave those to her children and grandchildren, then had a tote made for her Bible, a hobo purse and doggy-doo bags to carry doggy bags when she walks her four-legged friend. “The doggy-doo bags are so cute,” Rhonda says. “She does wonderful work. And she’ll sit down and explain how she’s gonna make it or will custom make it the way you want it.”
It’s these kinds of comments and the emotions evoked by her work that give Tracey so much satisfaction.
“One of the first memory quilts I made was finishing one started by a woman whose dad had passed away,” she says. “It was made from his shirts. Her mom had dementia. The day the woman picked up the quilt, her mom was with her, and didn’t know who she was or where she was. But when her daughter put the quilt in her mom’s lap and asked, ‘Do you know what this is?’ the elderly woman looked at it and said, ‘I think this is your dad’s shirt.’ The daughter and I cried alligator tears.”
Two years of a pandemic certainly changed the way Pell City Rotarians have operated, but their actions have never wavered from their guiding principle, “Service Above Self.”
As daily routines return more and more to normalcy, Rotarians have emerged with renewed vigor – a new determination – to do even more for their community. A synergy is taking hold as a new generation of leaders are stepping up to build on the legacy of making its community a better place.
“I joined Rotary when I attended Smiths Station High School after learning about what Rotary did for our community,” said Casey Cambron, one of Pell City Rotary’s newer members. “We stayed active in our town, visiting veterans’ homes for Christmas, area cleanups and other various community volunteer activities. As an adult, I still believe in volunteering in our community and found that Rotary was active in my area, and I wanted to give back to my community.”
And give back, he has. In addition to volunteering for a number of causes around the city, he has been involved in Rotary’s Father Daughter Dance. “I have helped with the Father Daughter Dance and seen many young girls spending time with their fathers. Seeing them dance together, spending quality time is an amazing experience.”
Rotary at Work: J.P. Dailey and Don Smith help out on on a playground project.
One of the local club’s most anticipated events of the year in the community, it wasn’t held in 2021 because of the pandemic, but resourceful Rotarians found a way around it. They created colorfully decorated boxes filled with treats and ideas for special activities for fathers and daughters to share quality time together. Within a week more than 100 boxes had been given away.
In 2022, the dance was back – bigger and better than ever.
“I have had the chance to be involved in multiple fundraising and service projects, but one of the most rewarding has been the Father Daughter Dance,” said Rotarian Matthew Pope. “To see those fathers all dressed up and the sheer joy on the girls’ faces is so awesome.
“As fathers, we have a duty and obligation to show our daughters how they deserve to be treated,” he said. “Hopefully, we are doing that daily, but this gives a specific event where we can be intentional about loving them and ‘modeling’ what their future relationships should look like.”
Rotarians Meg Clements, a lawyer and mother of two, and Blair Goodgame, tourism coordinator for St. Clair County, make the evening a perfect picture by creating an almost magical atmosphere for fathers and daughters with a themed event that follows through with elaborate decorations and attention to every detail. The memories last a lifetime.
The two also team up on a tennis tournament Rotary holds each year around Halloween, and it’s nothing short of being ‘spooktacular.’ One of the club’s major fundraisers, the community comes together around this tournament – participating, sponsoring, cheering – and it offers an opportunity for competition in a variety of categories.
The club’s oldest fundraiser, chaired by longtime Rotarian Joe Paul Abbott, is the Pell City Rotary Charity Golf Tournament Ray Cox Memorial, another communitywide event that draws golfers from near and far to compete in this impressive display of community spirit.
“The golf tournament brings so many people together for a good cause,” said Abbott. “From the sponsors to the volunteers to the golfers, themselves, it’s a fun-filled day, and the bonus is that the money raised goes right back into the community.”
“When I was in high school, the phrase ‘Service Above Self’ was a quote from Rotary,” Cambron said. “That phrase has stuck with me my entire life. I truly believe that helping your community builds a better community.”
Why Rotary?
“Ihave met many great people with our Rotary Club,” Cambron added. “I have been given opportunities outside of Rotary to volunteer with other organizations that are directly connected to Rotarians.”
When Pope joined, he recalled, “I wanted to be part of an organization that focuses on the community and gives me opportunities to serve the community I live in. I also love the networking and social aspects of Rotary. I have made some lifelong friends and have developed relationships that have helped me learn and grow in my personal and professional life.”
Rotary, he added, is “100 percent focused on the community. As a service organization, our conversations constantly center around ways we can improve, support and strengthen our community and community partners. We help support other nonprofits with monetary donations and service projects. We also fund two scholarships each year for a local high school senior” that can be renewed throughout their college experience.
Lunch, learn, network
Weekly meetings of the Rotary Club are more than just a meal. “Our lunch meetings allow me to network weekly with leaders in our community,” Pope said. “We also have fantastic speakers and programs where we have the opportunity to hear inspiring stories, learn about local businesses and organizations and receive updates about things and events going on in our area.”
The benefits are many, members say. Rotary is an investment, but the return is so much greater. “To be able to point to dozens of Rotary-supported worthwhile causes – people and organizations doing great things for our city – to see our city grow, makes me proud,” said Serge Brazzolotto, the club’s president-elect.
“I joined Rotary several years ago only because of its service to community pledge. I spend as much time as I can serving the club needs and fundraising. I came from another country and have been here for many years, and Pell City and its citizens have been good to me. I have been retired for 10 years and since then, I have tried to give my time to help those in need and serve the community and to give back. Rotary was a perfect fit.”
He noted the pride in seeing Rotary’s hand in the Christian Love Pantry, Education Foundation, Community Clinic and a host of others benefitting and flourishing “because of our support,” he said. “In turn, we must thank the community. Because they give us a service that we all need, so it is our duty to give back to them and support them.”
D-Day vet remembers that day, many more, at age 97
Story by Roxann Edsall Photos by Richard Rybka
Robert L. Curl was just a boy, like so many others, when he enlisted in the Navy. It was the summer of 1943, just a day after graduating from Minor High School in Adamsville. He had to take his dad with him to sign his enlistment papers because he was only 17. “My dad told me he wished he could go with me,” remembers Curl. “He was the best man I’ve ever known.”
The next three and a half years would take him all over the world as a member of the special amphibious unit, “Scouts and Raiders.” A precursor to the modern-day SEAL teams, these special forces were expected to identify landing beaches for troops during World War II and to lead forces to those landing zones.
Veteran Robert Curl shows a V-mail he sent to his sweetheart during World War II.
Curl was a radarman aboard a Landing Cruise Control (LLC) headed to Normandy leading up to D-Day. It was his job on LCC-10 to find Omaha Beach and lead the first two waves of soldiers ashore. “That morning I was scared to death,” he recalls, “But I told myself I’m going to do my best. They had me wear an impregnable suit with a special armband that would change color to let us know if the Germans were using poison gas.”
They had already practiced the invasion during a top-secret mission called Operation Tiger, performed less than two months before. To prepare the Allied Forces as much as possible, this full-scale rehearsal for D-Day took place on the south coast of England. “It’s a good thing we did it,” said Curl. “There was a problem with what they called the Mae West lifejacket. During Operation Tiger, these were new, and the soldiers didn’t wear them right. So many people died in the waters because of that. They learned from it and taught people how to use them right.”
At 97 years old, Curl is sharp as a tack and recalls stories with vivid detail. Despite the wartime and personal tragedy he has experienced, he is one of the most positive and genuinely happy people you could ever meet.
He spent more than 70 years with the love of his life, whom he met just before the war. When he talks about his Nell (Spring) Curl, his face beams.
He met her the first Sunday after his Methodist minister father moved them to a new town. “When we got to church that day, I saw the most beautiful girl in the world doing the devotion,” Curl tells. “I leaned over to the guy next to me and told him I was going to marry that girl.”
He had to wait until the end of the war, but in 1946, he married his sweetheart. He shows me a piece of Victory Mail (V-Mail) that he sent to her during Operation Tiger dated “April 1944 – from somewhere in England.” Though she passed away in 2015, he still talks to her every evening before bed.
Curl still drives and often goes on road trips with his two sons, Rick and David. He tells of his first car, long since traded. “Ever heard of a Crosley,” he asks. “I had a ’46 Crosley and it had a whopping 46-horsepower engine the size of a carton of cigarettes,” he adds, laughing.
