Story by Carol Pappas Photos by David Smith and Carol Pappas
Dr. Alex and Janis Miller were never strangers to giving back to their community. They still aren’t.
In 1991, they founded Lakeside Hospice, a not-for-profit organization to care for the terminally ill, and they dedicated themselves to it financially and physically for the first years of its existence.
Dr. Miller has since passed away, but his legacy of giving back has taken the form of a community walking trail that bears his name. The winding trail outside the hospice headquarters on Alabama 34 in Pell City is “open to everyone. Everybody is welcome,” said Paul Garing, executive director of Lakeside Hospice, moments before cutting the ribbon on it.
It truly is a community gift to share, he said, noting that the entire community is welcome to not only walk there but “to hold events and fundraisers and further spread the word of Lakeside Hospice.” It was built from a vision to promote healthy living.
Miller served as the nurse on call 24/7 in those early days of hospice, and husband Alex served as medical director. It was the first not-for-profit hospice in Alabama, and that meant personal sacrifices of time and money to keep it going. “It was about Alex’s dream and what he wanted for his people – good, decent care to terminally ill patients,” she said.
And three decades later – “as long as we’ve been in business, it’s the same quality,” she said. “I’m so proud of our hospital, staff, volunteers and board.”
The trail, built by FlowMotion Trail Builders of Alabama, features a meandering path around the property as well as a fire pit to be dedicated to Dr. James Tuck, the current medical director. Mrs. Miller along with the Daniel Foundation financed the project.
A monument and sign honoring Dr. Miller welcomes one and all at the trellis entry to the trail.
Life is fickle and unpredictable. It is forever changing.
Sometimes it’s quiet, subtle shifts we barely notice. Sometimes our whole world changes in a heartbeat of a second. Either way, life changes every day, and we lose a lot along the way. We lose belongings, people and places. We lose love, memories and time. We lose ideas, dreams and our perspective.
Some losses are slight, while others are so big they become a personal measure of time – marking beginnings and endings of certain chapters in our life.
Some losses slip by unnoticed, while others we never fully recover from. We carry some voids with us forever.
The Portuguese people have a word for this that tenderly ties of these feelings – “Saudade.” It’s a rather elusive word that helps give a voice to that melancholic yearning for something that once was but never will be again.
I believe it’s these losses – the ones we grieve and still long for despite the passage of time – that define us. If we look closely at the things we miss the most – the things our heart longs for – I think we will find a part of ourselves in the void. To paraphrase Russian playwright, Anton Chekhov: Tell me what you miss, and I’ll tell you who you are.
(* The featured photograph is of the charred remains of the home of Phillip Hyatt and Tim Bennett of Steele. They lost their beloved hilltop home and all their belongings to a house fire on July 4, 2022.
I asked them to share with me what they found they longed for most:
Phillip, whose parents originally built the home, said his thoughts returned most often to a photograph of his parents (both now deceased) that hung outside the master bedroom since the house was first built.
“It was the heart of the home,” Phillip said.
Tim, practice pianist and music collector, lost instruments and decades of treasured memorabilia. “It was a lifetime of music I lost,” Tim said. “I miss that the most.”)
– Mackenzie Free –
Wife, mother, photographer & current resident of the unassumingly magical town of Steele, Alabama
Story by Elaine Hobson Miller Photos by Mackenzie Free
It’s difficult not to notice the white letters E-C-T-C on the giant Adirondack chairs at the corner of U.S. 231 and U.S. 411 in Ashville. Perched on a hill overlooking the county’s only traffic roundabout, the chairs were built by carpentry students at Eden Career Technical Center to bring attention to their school.
Despite such high visibility, the school has been called “a hidden jewel” by its principal, and “the best-kept secret in St. Clair County” by one of its teachers. Neither knows why that’s true, but it’s something they both want to see changed.
“People don’t realize the opportunities we provide to learn skills that turn into jobs that they can make careers out of,” says Trisha Turner, career tech director for St. Clair County Schools and principal at ECTC since 2018.
Part of the county school system, ECTC is celebrating its 50th anniversary during this entire school year. It was named after its first principal, John Pope Eden, who lobbied for a vocational school for five years. Pope died in November of 1972, nine months before the school opened at the Ashville Armory in August of 1973 and 14 months before it moved to its permanent campus in January 1974. The school was officially dedicated to his honor in February 1975.
Getting ready to weld.
The tech school started with 360 students and four programs — cosmetology, masonry, plumbing and electricity — which are no longer offered. Courses have evolved through the years due to demand in the world of trades and technology. Today, enrollment is at 315.
“When school started in August of 1973, we went to the Armory in Ashville,” says Dorothy “Sis” Wilson, 80, who retired this past May after driving St. Clair County school buses for 55 years, including 50 for ECTC. “That’s where we started the vocational and trade school. Then we hauled kids to help build the new school, and that’s the reason the office, horticulture and air conditioner (HVAC) programs are in brick buildings. (The others are made of metal.) When we got out for Christmas holidays, Mr. Griffin (Thomas L.), principal, said when y’all come back in January come to the (new) vocational school. There are no brick masons there now, but they had one (study program) there for a while.”
Those first three brick buildings were completed and furnished for $500,000, with 70% of that amount coming from Appalachian Funds, 30% from local monies, including a $20,000 grant from the St. Clair County Commission, according to a Birmingham News article from the early 1970s. When Eden began dreaming about a trade and technical school, only 12% of the county’s high school graduates attended college, the article states. Only vocational agriculture (vo-ag) and home economics were offered to the other 88% at the high schools.
County schools now offer 14 different technical programs, according to Trisha Turner, career technical director for St. Clair County Schools and principal of ECTC. “Eleven are located here,” she says. “Agricultural Science and Family & Consumer Science programs are offered at each of the five high schools. JROTC is offered at St. Clair County High, Culinary is located on the Moody High School campus, and there is a business program at Moody, too.”
Programs on the ECTC campus include HVAC (heating and air), welding, carpentry, drafting, business information technology, information technology (IT), collision repair, automotive service, health science, plant & animal science, and emergency and fire management services. JROTC is located at St Clair County High School. The latter is not a military preparation course, but a program that promotes ethics, leadership and respect for business and industry, according to Turner, who calls business and industry “the driving force behind careers in tech programs.”
To attend ECTC, a student must be in the 10th-12th grades and enrolled in a high school in the St. Clair County School System. Students are on campus at ECTC for half a school day and at their high school the other half. They are bused back and forth by drivers employed by the county school system. The courses are considered elective high school classes, but they earn credentials and certifications that enable students to get paying jobs in their fields.
“Virtual or online high school students enrolled in the county’s Virtual Preparation Academy can choose to come here for a program or two with their own transportation or take a bus from their school, if they can get to their school,” Turner says.
Career Coach Christina Puckett says the goal at ECTC is for the students to be career-ready when they graduate. “We also offer dual enrollment in two areas,” she says. “We are paired with Gadsden State for automotive and drafting and with Jefferson State for welding and for child development. In other words, the students can get college credits here for these courses.”
The automotive service program includes everything about car maintenance and repairs, from engines to tires. The collision repair program trains students to repair damage and to refinish vehicles. “The need for automotive service technicians is growing rapidly as people continue to keep their vehicles in operation longer than ever before,” a brochure about the school states.
The ECTC campus now has six buildings, with two classes held in most of them. A seventh may be forthcoming if tentative plans to build a culinary building come to fruition. “Right now, the old Moody High School’s lunchroom, which was converted to accommodate the program, is being used,” Turner says. “Chef Melissa Allphin is in charge and her kids always win in state competitions.”
Most people don’t realize they can have something built by the school’s carpentry students, like a shooting house or a tiny house, for a price. “Our xarpentry program also covers a little electrical, plumbing and masonry. HVAC covers a little bit of electrical work, too,” Turner says. “Kevin Self heads our HVAC program, and he just got some equipment that will allow them to cut ductwork. He’s passionate about getting skilled workers because he sees the need in the HVAC company he owns.”
Self is one of four teachers at the school who are graduates of ECTC, according to Sis Wilson. The others include Marcus Graves, carpentry; Jeff Parrish, emergency & fire management services; and Roger Peace, collision repair, who got the same job his father retired from several years ago.
Medical training is in high demand.
“We’re the best-kept secret in St. Clair County,” says Jeff Parrish, who started his career with ECTC night classes and began teaching there when he retired from 25 years with Pell City Fire and Rescue.
“I don’t know why” it should remain a secret, he says. Its merits are being discovered. Three state troopers visited his program recently looking for future recruits. “One trooper was from the State Bureau of Investigation, one from aviation (helicopter & fixed-wing division of state troopers) and the other was a trooper recruiter. They were pitching jobs. The Air Force visits our classes, too.”
The Health Science program, taught by Deanna Hartley, RN, and Amy Stephan, a nurse practitioner, trains students for their EKG (electrocardiogram) and CNA (certified nursing assistant) certifications and their BLS (Basic Life Support) instructor licenses.
“They can become monitor technicians for hospitals and can conduct stress tests, too,” says Turner. “They actually get practical experience that helps them decide what they really want to be. For example, some of them work in nursing homes and some decide that’s not for them. This saves the parents money on education, because kids sometimes change their minds about their careers after they’ve finished college or a trade school.”
Another feature that helps kids decide on a career is ECTC’s Summer Camp for students in sixth through eighth grades. Camp takes place from 8 a.m. to 12 p.m., for three days during Memorial Day week. Parents interested in enrolling their children may call the school at 205-594-2070.
The business information technology program is for students who want to pursue careers in business administration and management, whereas the Information Technology program is for those interested in careers involving information technology security, network analysis, planning and implementation, according to the ECTC brochure.
Noah Duke, a senior at St. Clair CountyHigh School who is enrolled in the IT program, was one of the guides explaining robotics to visitors at the school’s open house in the fall. “We participate in the BEST Robotics competition,” he says, noting that BEST stands for “Boosting Engineering Science and Technology.
Sponsored by Shelton State Community College, the multi-level competition has a different theme each year but always involves building a robot. “This year’s theme is Made2Order,” Duke says. His team built a long, wooden conveyor that the remote-controlled robot rolled on. As it moved, it picked up items and loaded them into a cart. Each team got one point for each item the robot successfully loaded, and the team with the most points won. ECTC’s team placed seventh out of 14 at the first level in Tuscaloosa in October.
“We are in the process of trying to begin a modern manufacturing program on campus, pending approval by the St. Clair County Board of Education,” Turner says. “If approved, it will be a partnership with the Alabama Region 4 Workforce, also known as the Central 6.”
The program will cater to the Honda plant in Lincoln and all the periphery manufacturing plants that supply it, and to the Mercedes plant near Tuscaloosa. “The state is divided into workforce regions, and we’re in Region 4, also known as Central 6 because it includes the six counties in the center of the state,” Turner says. “The goal is for every region to have a modern manufacturing program. We’re working with others in our region to develop this program. We hope to start it next school year.”
Career-oriented night classes for adults may be a part of the school’s future next year, too. Turner says they are applying for a grant that will provide for 12-week courses to train people to earn certificates and get jobs in welding, carpentry and HVAC systems. “The grant would enable us to provide courses for free, but some of my teachers want to start it and let people or their employers pay for it,” Turner says.
Joe Whitten, a local historian, was a friend of the school’s namesake. He says all who knew “Pope” were greatly saddened that he did not live to see his dream come true. “The reality of his dream has flourished through the years,” Whitten says. “I know if he could see it today, he would be joyful that he did not fight and labor in vain for a vocational school for the students of St Clair County.”
Aviation Career Day much more than just an air show
Story and photos by Graham Hadley
It’s not every day that you get to see a Soviet-era MiG jet fighter roar down the runway and take to the skies over the St. Clair County Airport in Pell City.
But that was exactly what scores of visitors got to see Oct. 8. Children and adults pressed up along the ropes separating the viewing area from the runway as the powerful plane – and other vintage military and civilian aircraft of all kinds – took off as part of the St. Clair County Airport Aviation Career Day and Open House.
With the airport lined with unique aircraft, the event attracted people from all across the region. The lineup included military helicopters to an assortment of fixed-wing planes, including the Soviet-built MiG-17 fighter jet, a variety of World War II planes, a private jet, vintage and kit planes, not to mention the ever-present yellow sea plane that so often graces the skies over Logan Martin.
Precision flying over Pell City
Ant that was exactly the idea.
The Career Day has several purposes. It raises awareness about career possibilities in the aviation industry, highlights the importance the St. Clair County Airport plays to the local community, and ways the community and local governments can support the airport, said Ike Newton, a pilot, an event organizer and member of the airport board.
“We really wanted to shine a spotlight on why the airport is so important to the Pell City, St. Clair County and surrounding areas …,” he said. “We are the only general aviation airport in St. Clair County and a reliever airport for Birmingham,” and can handle a wide range of aviation needs, with the exception of large commercial airliners.
The St. Clair Airport not only provides hangars and fuel but is home to a flight school and related aviation businesses. It also handles some cargo flights and other related services.
According to a 2020 financial report, the airport had a $9-million financial impact on the region with a combined employment of over 100 people generating more than $3 million in payroll, and contributing over half a million dollars in local tax revenue, Newton said.
What’s more, the airport is a core service for the region, making it more attractive not only to people who own private planes, but also is one of the key things businesses and industries look for in any area where they are considering relocating. It also provides much-needed hangar space, something that is always in high demand across Central Alabama and surrounding areas.
And if what was on display at the Aviation Career Day is any indication, St. Clair County Airport is perfectly suited to the task.
“This airport we have here is a little jewel,” Newton said.
More than just an airshow
While all manner of unique planes lined the airport and flew in stunning aerial displays overhead – with regular overpasses by visitors taking rides in a helicopter – vendors lined the parking area and other parts of the property. Inside the airport building proper, presenters lined up to talk about careers in aviation and other topics of interest, like the roles women have played in the industry over the years.
Civil Air Patrol units from around St. Clair were especially on hand to help educate people, especially the younger crowd, about all the options open to them in the field of aviation and how to get involved.
Tomaze Jackson’s first time next to a jet
Major Richard Caudle with the Civil Air Patrol, with assistance from Cadet Staff Sgt. Luke Davis, manned the booth for the Springville Squadron 129 of the Civil Air Patrol. Touting the success of the program, especially the number of young members who have received their pilot’s licenses, the major showed off their displays of aviation information. It also featured tools, like model rocketry, they use in their training programs.
One of the key goals is to educate young people on the huge diversity of aviation careers available and the opportunities open to them for getting started with the programs from a young age.
And it’s not just airplanes and helicopters that the CAP and similar organizations are working with. Drone technology is becoming more important in both the civilian and military sides of aviation, and demand is high for people with those skill sets, they said.
While the vendors were busy talking to visitors outside, presenters in the airport were giving programs on all the career opportunities for people going into aviation, and there was something for everyone.
Holly Row, a retired air traffic controller and pilot, gave a class on Careers for Women in Aviation, followed by Lewis Holder, owner of Holder Aviation in Pell City, on Careers in Aviation Electronics. Other classes involved flying large commercial planes, aviation maintenance, military aviation and much more.
All about the aircraft
As much as the vendors and educators kept people informed, the biggest draw of the day was the aircraft – helicopters, seaplanes, personal jets and vintage aircraft of all shapes and sizes were on display – both on land and in the air.
As the various planes, particularly the vintage military ones, lined up and sped down the runway, people flocked to the dividing ropes to catch the takeoffs. Followed by demonstrations of formation aerial demonstrations, low passes just off the runway. It was particularly impressive when the MiG fighter jet did its flybys, followed by tight formations flying over the crowds, trailing streamers of smoke for all to watch.
Wave after wave of pilots showing off their very best skill held the constant attention of everyone on the ground.
For the planes on display, visitors got an up-close-and-personal view of some amazing aircraft.
Koley Thompson looks inside the Commemorative Airforce’s Fairchild PT-19 cockpit.
Tomazz Jackson of Pell City posed in front of a private jet on display and was quick to point out that was the first time he had ever been near a jet. The owner allowed people to walk through the small, twin-engine private jet and get a feel for what flying in one would be like.
Koley Thompson of Alpine got to see firsthand what a vintage open cockpit of a trainer airplane from World War II looked like up close and personal. The beautifully restored and maintained blue and yellow Fairchild PT-19 is maintained by the Commemorative Air Force unit in Birmingham.
Allen Pilkington and Andrew Kennedy from the Commemorative Air Force Birmingham Escadrille were thrilled to show off the plane, a great source of pride for both men. Compared to the cockpit of the jet or even some of the newer propeller planes, the controls for the Fairchild were about as simple as you can get – the bare minimum necessary to fly a plane. Because of that and what Pilkington and Kennedy described as one of the smoothest flying planes they had ever been in, the Fairchild PT-19 made for the perfect pilot trainer during the war.
As popular as the vintage planes were, one of the biggest draws of the day, especially for the youngest future aviators, was the UH-72A Lakota helicopter from the National Guard Unit in Birmingham.
The pilots had disconnected the batteries, and children were allowed full access to the military chopper, including the cockpit. The pilots said this helicopter is mainly used for scouting missions in the United States – everything from border patrol assistance to search operations and other support roles after hurricanes and other emergencies.
Looking to the future
Airport Manager Wendy Watson and Newton classified the day as a huge success.
“We had a good turnout this year. Every year we have been growing, and that is definitely the direction we want to continue,” she said.
Newton noted the event does an excellent job of highlighting the important role the airport plays in many aspects of quality of life for the area and in the economic success of the region.
Likewise, both cannot stress the important role the community and local governments can play in the success of the airport enough.
Aviation Career Day plays a vital role in doing all those things – in addition to being a great, family friendly way, to spend a sunny Saturday.
“It’s a win, win, win situation for everyone involved,” said.
And with everything it takes to put the event together, they are already looking ahead to next year, with expectations of an even bigger crowd. l
Jess Lauren Alexander sees art in everything. When she looks at coffee filters, she sees flower petals. Colorful yarn looks like the bristles of freshly dipped paintbrushes, and in her mind, plastic bottles have the potential to become sculpted human figures.
“I don’t think I’ve ever not done art,” she said. “My mother’s side of the family is very artsy, and I just took up with it.”
Alexander, who grew up in Ashville, wants children to have the same opportunities she did to explore different artistic mediums, unleash their imagination and develop their creativity. That’s why she opened Little Art Tree on the Courthouse Square just over a year ago.
Young artists showing off their work.
“It’s a need I don’t think is being met,” she said, adding that art is no longer a regular part of Alabama’s school curriculum. A former substitute teacher, Alexander always had students asking her how to draw different things. When she realized how many children had the desire to learn, she started an afterschool art program at the elementary school. More than 60 children signed up, but the class was short-lived because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
She began teaching again in 2021 and opened the studio that September. “To me, art is not just something to do or a possible career. It’s therapy; it’s an outlet,” she said. “My middle school students deal with so much. Sometimes they just come in here and start drawing and talking, and it’s a release. It gives them a chance to just chill, draw and decompress.”
Alexander, who is married to Andrew and is mom to 12-year-old Dawson, teaches six classes a week to nearly 50 students ranging in age from 4 to 18. She also offers the occasional adult class – a group recently made door hangers – and she’s looking for another teacher to join her so adult classes can be a more regular occurrence. “It’s hard to switch my mindset from children to adults,” she said.
Besides, helping children and teens fall in love with art has become Alexander’s passion. “I teach techniques, but it’s mostly about giving kids space and a place to come and explore art,” she said. “Anyone can be an artist. It’s just finding the style and medium that fits your personality.”
She uses her own family as an example. Her mother, Beverly Burnett, paints landscapes with oils, makes quilts and crochets. Her great-aunt is an abstract painter in Birmingham and works mostly with acrylics. Alexander, whose style is “semi-abstract,” prefers to mix things up a bit, often combining watercolors, acrylics, and ink with non-traditional materials, such as coffee grounds, in her artwork.
To help her students discover their own talents, Alexander’s classes focus on a variety of mediums. “We do a little bit of everything – painting, drawing, mixed media, clay,” she said, adding that she hopes to add a kiln to her ever-growing list of offerings soon. “Some of the kids have just extraordinary talent for such a young age,” she said.
Alexander knows that art lessons can be out of reach for many families, but she wants to make them accessible to as many children as possible. She’s reaching out to individuals and businesses who may be interested in sponsoring a child for $100 a month, $500 for half a year or $1,000 a year. All the materials are provided, and classes are held August through May, she said.
Sparking imaginations
Alexander’s studio, in a historic building that has taken many forms, including a feed store and a beauty parlor, is the perfect backdrop to showcase the students’ work as well as some of her own. Paintings hang on an exposed brick wall, and Alexander loves knowing that the building has a history of inspiring budding artists. Christine McCain, whose family owns the building, was an artist and once taught art classes there, as well. Alexander’s mother was one of her students.
“I fell in love with the building,” Alexander said. A colorful mural of flowers, mushrooms and a tree that Alexander painted on the back wall is a nod to the studio’s name, as well as its mission. “We grow artists here,” it reads.
Detail work on a sketch of a flower
The classes have proven to be a big hit with the young artists. “I like art,” 10-year-old Jayden said in one recent class. “You can paint and use your imagination.”
Her sister, Kadence, 12, said drawing is her first love, but she loves painting and learning other skills, as well. “I love doing stuff like this,” she said, using a palette knife to paint the black markings on the trunks of birch trees. “I’ve never done this before, and I love creating stuff. When I was little, I loved to draw. I have notebooks full of drawings.”
The same can be said of Alexander, who found her inner artist with a how-to-draw horses book as a child. “I would take paper and that book and sit and trace and copy for hours,” she said. “I did it so much I got to the point where I didn’t have to trace anymore.”
Alexander said she’s studied pretty much all forms of art over the years, including painting, drawing, sculpture and pottery. “I’m always taking classes and workshops to learn new things,” she said.
Although she loves introducing new techniques to her students, Alexander also allows them free time to work on whatever they want. Some paint, some draw, some sculpt with clay and they have access to all of the art and craft supplies she keeps on hand.
Alexander has three cans marked “Theme,” “Description” and “Color” the students can use if they get stuck. They can draw an idea from each of the cans to give them a direction or starting point. Alexander recently drew “fish” for the theme, “stressed out” for the description and “warm colors” for the palette.
“It’s usually something silly, but it will spark an idea for them to work on,” she said, adding that watching them explore is one of her favorite things to do. “Everyone has a medium they’re better at and they enjoy more, and I want each of them to find their thing. When they do, I get teary-eyed. It just gives me the most joy.”
