TherapySouth has expanded its presence in St. Clair County, adding a clinic in Springville at 300 Springville Station Boulevard, Suite 600. Cade Mullins serves as clinic director, and Libby Watkins is office coordinator.
Mullins earned his Doctor of Physical Therapy from Samford University. He is a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist with a passion for impacting his patients physically, emotionally, and spiritually.
“I am thankful for the opportunity that TherapySouth offered me coming out of school,” Mullins said. “When I was in school, we had to go to four different clinicals, and one of them was with TherapySouth, and I knew from the beginning that this was the company that I wanted to work for. They offer a unique model that is different from the rest of PT companies, that is where we are owned and managed by active PTs.”
The advantage, he added, is that “any discissions made by higher ups has been in my shoes of treating patients in that clinic. They also believe that that faith guides our service to patients, and as a Christian, I believe that we are called to serve wherever God takes us. It gives me confidence that I can openly talk about my faith with patients, and our company supports that.”
TherapySouth was founded in July 2006 by Steve Foster, PT, LAT, with a vision that it would be a therapist-owned practice, specializing in “hands-on care, close to a patient’s home or work”. Clinics are known for maintaining an informal atmosphere that helps patients feel comfortable in the surroundings and in their therapy.
“I am excited to serve the community of Springville with a great company whose core values align with mine,” Mullins said. “We treat a wide variety of injuries and impairments here. If anyone is interested in knowing more about us, they can call, or even drop by and talk in person.”
What if, instead of making lofty New Year’s resolutions, we all agreed to simply try a little harder to be a little better than we were the year before?
To be kinder – not just when it’s easy, but when it’s hard and inconvenient. To be more honest, even when it’s uncomfortable, and to forgive more readily, knowing we’ve all fallen short at some point.
What if we gave a little more – of our money, our time and our patience? What if we extended a little more grace to the people who need it most, including ourselves?
What if instead of looking too long at what’s behind us or constantly chasing what’s next, we took more time to appreciate what’s here now?
What if we loved a little better the people we often take for granted? The people who stand beside us and see us clearly – flaws and all – and choose to love and support us, not just for who we will be … but for who we already are today.
What if we try a little harder to find joy in the present moment – and keep our feet firmly planted in appreciation for the beautiful gift of life right now?
– Mackenzie Free –
Wife, mother, photographer & current resident of the unassumingly magical town of Steele, Alabama
Story by Joe Whitten Photos by Wallace Bromberg Jr. and Submitted Photos
In the words of American Bandstand’s Dick Clark, “Music is the soundtrack of your life,” and that fits Pell City musician Floyd Waites like a well-tailored 5th Avenue tuxedo.
Born to Edmond and Beatrice Waites in the Glenn City area of Pell City, Floyd was the youngest of their five children – three boys and two girls. This was a loving family overseen by Mrs. Waites after Mr. Waites became an invalid from a stroke.
By his teenage years, Floyd’s siblings had left home, so his mother depended upon him with chores and cleaning. “I was always singing when I was helping around the house,” he recalled. He heard the music coming from the radio, and he knew in his heart that if he had a piano, he could play those songs.
“I went to my mother and said, ‘I want to get a piano.’” He smiled as he told her reply. “She said, ‘Floyd, I can’t get no piano!’ She wasn’t able to buy a piano. But a few months after that, I began to get a small check from Avondale Mills because my daddy had worked there before his stroke.”
Floyd and Marie Knight take a bow at a concert in Paris
With that income, another plan took shape. “I told my mom that I was gonna try to get a piano (with that money),” he reminisced. “There was a piano company in Anniston, Alabama, called Forbes Piano Company. So, someone carried me there, and I looked around and spoke to the man in charge, and he said, ‘I can let you have it for so much,’ – whatever it was priced at that time. And I said, ‘Well, how much will that be a month?’ He told me what it would be and said, ‘Could you pay ten dollars a month?’ And I said, ‘Oh, I can pay ten dollars a month!’ And, so, they brought the piano out to our house.”
Oh, happy day! Now, with the radio on, Floyd could sit at the treasured piano, with his fingertips eagerly searching out the notes and chords and runs of what he heard. He was a natural – born for the piano and music.
He must have played too much Fats Domino or Chubby Checker, because one day his mother said, “Floyd, I don’t want you playing just anything and everything. You’ve got to play for the Lord.” He chuckled at the memory. “I said, ‘Oh, yes, Mama, that’s what I plan to do.”
And he did just that, beginning at Rocky Zion Missionary Baptist Church under the guidance of Rev. Silas Woods, who encouraged him in his playing for the Lord.
Floyd enjoys recalling those early years with Rev. Woods. “We had a Sunday for the young group to sing, and I began playing for them – songs that I knew and could catch onto. Rev. Woods liked for the Junior Choir to go with him when he preached at other churches. And I would go with them and play piano. I was encouraged a lot by Rev. Woods.”
In the spring of 1965, Floyd graduated from St. Clair County Training School, began looking for work and found scant possibilities locally. The Waites’ across-the-road neighbors had moved to New York City, and they encouraged him to come live with them. “You could get a job up here in New York,” they told him. “We could take you to the state unemployment agency, and they will find you a job.” Therefore, with hope in his heart, Floyd boarded a Greyhound bus and headed to the Big Apple – without a clue as to the places God and his piano would take him in the years ahead.
His friends met him at the bus station, took him to their home, and gave him a room until he could find work and rent an apartment of his own.
At the New York Unemployment Office, the interviewer asked him what kind of work he was interested in. and he told them he was a church musician. “They went into the back,” Floyd laughed, “and came back with a uniform, a khaki uniform, and they said, ‘This will fit you very good.’ And I said, ‘What’s that for?’ And they said, ‘This is for you to become a New York City police officer.’ And I said, ‘Oh, no! My Lord, no! That won’t work! I don’t think I could handle anything like that! Don’t you think you could find me something else?’”
So, they sent him to another section where he had a more favorable offer. The lady interviewing him said, “Mr. Waites, we have an opening for a job in the Bronx at a school, and it’s dealing with food service.” This interested him, and the lady’s next question raised his spirits higher, “Can you cook?” Floyd, feeling almost back home in Pell City, replied, “Honey, that’s right down my alley!”
Then she told of a position at the Walton High School, and Floyd said, “I would love to do that because that’s what I studied in school.” He was referring to the St. Clair County Training School where he was more interested in cooking than in farming and had taken Home Economics rather than Vocational Agriculture.
Following the lady’s instructions, he went to Walton High School Monday morning, and after being interviewed there, he was hired. The school system sent him to various training sessions that prepared him for a career in New York City school food services – the job he worked until he retired.
Music opportunities in New York City’s Harlem seemed to find Floyd without his looking for them. The leader of the Jimmy Smith Singers came up to him and asked him if he could sing.
“Oh, yeah, I sing,” Floyd replied, adding, “I’ve got a friend who sings, too.”
“Bring him along,” the leader told him. The friend was one he grew up with in Pell City, and he and Floyd had connected again in New York. The two young men rehearsed and sang with the Jimmy Smith Singers for a while.
“But it was still like something was missing,” he said. His mama’s words, “You’re not gonna play just anything and everything” no doubt hummed in his mind along with sacred memories of Rocky Zion and Rev. Woods.
Floyd and Evelyn Waites
“The pianist for the Jimmy Smith Singers was playing for a church in my Harlem neighborhood, and he said to me, ‘Floyd, why don’t you come to my church? I play up here at The Gates of Prayer Church. There’s a lady that’s pastor of the church, and her name is Prophetess Dolly Lewis.’ I said, ‘I don’t live too far from there. Maybe I’ll come one Sunday.’”
Not too long after that invitation, Floyd attended The Gates of Prayer Church, and there, by God’s providence, he found his spiritual calling.
Living close to the church, he walked to the service, and as he got closer to the sanctuary, the organ’s chords and crescendos urged him onward. He opened the church door and looking up to the pulpit, he saw a woman dressed in gleaming white looking out over the assembling congregation – Prophetess Dolly Lewis.
Floyd remembers the day. “She looked directly at me and says, ‘Come on in. Go over there and sit down at the piano.’ I must have looked funny, because she said, ‘Yeah, you can play, and you can sing.’ Now, nobody in New York had heard me play, and I wondered, ‘How did this lady know this?’ But I never did ask her.”
From that Sunday, Floyd played piano and sang at The Gates of Prayer Church under the guidance of Prophetess Lewis.
When she went to other cities, he traveled with her to play piano at her preaching services. For one who had never flown, an added excitement was flying to and from these destinations. On these trips, she also held private sessions in her hotel room, and people would be lined up to get messages from her. “A word from the Lord” in today’s Pentecostal parlance.
Prophetess Lewis introduced Floyd to two famous gospel singers – Marie Knight and Sister Rosetta Tharpe. He enjoys recalling those singers. “One Sunday, this lady walked into the church, and everybody looked around. Prophetess Lewis looked at the newcomer and said, ‘Come on up, Marie Knight.’ She was a professional singer, and she would travel all around with this other lady, Sister Rosetta Tharpe. Rosetta was an electric guitar player.” He paused, smiling, “Oh, she could lean back on that guitar and play.”
Godmother of Rock ‘N Roll
Rosetta Tharpe was born in Cotton Plant, Arkansas, in 1915 to Katie Bell and Willis Atkins. Katie Bell played the mandolin, sang, and preached as a Pentecostal evangelist, according to the online Encyclopedia Britanica. She began playing guitar at age four and at age six she traveled and sang with her mother.
After moving to Chicago, she developed her own guitar style under the influence of Chicago’s blues and jazz musicians. When she moved to New York City in the 1930s, “…She sang traditional gospel songs with contemporary jazz tempos that she played on her electric guitar. With these performances, she introduced gospel into nightclubs and concert venues. Her work influenced early rock and rollers such as Chuck Berry, Jerry Lee Lewis, Little Richard and Elvis Presley.” She came to be called the “Godmother of Rock and Roll” and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2018.
The ‘Voice’
Marie Knight, born in Florida in 1920 or 1925, depending on the source, grew up in Newark, New Jersey. According to the online African American Registry (AAREG), Marie started touring in 1939. Sometime in the 1940s, she performed at the Golden Gate Auditorium in Harlem along with Mahalia Jackson.
Sister Rosetta Tharpe attended that concert and “…recognized something special in Marie’s contralto voice.” Rosetta invited Marie to tour with her, and they performed as a team for several years. Sister Rosetta and Marie’s 1947 recording of Up above My Head There’s Music in the Air reached number 6 on the Billboard chart in 1948. Marie sang both Gospel and Rock and Roll, but in her later years sang only Gospel.
When Marie Knight moved back to New York City, she began attending Dolly Lewis’ Gates of Prayer Church, where she organized the choir. Floyd was the pianist and his friend from Pell city the organist. “So, we started playing for Marie,” Floyd smiled. “I’ve got albums that I’m playing for Marie.” He lowered his voice to a baritone before saying, “She had a voice!”
When Marie began planning another tour, she came to Floyd and said, “How would you like to travel to Europe with me?” Floyd laughs as he tells it. “I said, ‘Oh, I don’t know about that!’ ‘Well, you’re gonna get paid,’ she told me. So, I said, ‘We’ll have to ask Mama.’ That’s what we called Pastor Dolly Lewis.”
Floyd asked Lewis’ advice, and after consideration, she agreed for him to travel with Marie, and assured him, “I’m gonna make sure she pays you, cause she’s kind of close with money.”
Floyd flew with Marie Knight and her entourage to Paris. Landing at the Charles De Gaulle Airport, they were met with the concert tour officials who took them to their lodgings for the night. From Paris they traveled to a city in southern France, whose name Floyd could not recall. From that city, Marie, accompanied by Floyd at the piano, gave concerts in various locations.
Then, it was on to San Sebastian, Spain, for the concluding few weeks of Marie’s tour. Then back to New York City.
“From that day,” Floyd recalls with pleasure, “Marie was happy to have me with her. But she paid,” he laughed. “Those hundred-dollar bills smelled good! And I kept on playing for her.”
Floyd met his future wife, Evelyn Keith, at Gates of Prayer Church. Evelyn grew up in Childersburg, so they had mutual connections back home. She was a singer, so she and Floyd sang together at whichever church he played for. They had one son, Kenny.
Floyd continued playing piano for Prophetess Dolly Lewis at Gates of Prayer Church until she died. When Lewis died, Marie Knight – now singing only Gospel – became pastor of Gates of Prayer. Floyd played piano at the church until Marie died in 2009 from pneumonia complications.
The Waites were on vacation in Alabama when Marie passed, Floyd relates. “They got in contact with me while my wife and I were down here on vacation, and we rushed back to New York.” When asked if he played piano for her service, Floyd responded, “I didn’t do too much playing, but I did sing some of the songs that she had sung, and I had played for her down through the years.”
Floyd also directed the choir in singing one of Marie’s best known Gospel recordings, Didn’t It Rain.
Dual roles
Most of the years that Floyd played piano at Gates of Prayer, he also played for another nearby church, Greater Hood Memorial AME Zion Church. “I was playing at Hood Memorial all along, because it was on a different time schedule for that church … And it was just around the corner from Gates of Prayer. I played the piano for them for years. And I played organ for them, too, because I had gotten into playing the organ. I played for the choirs – they had a nice senior choir that sang anthems,” Floyd paused, then added, “It was a fairly big church.”
Greater Hood Memorial is historic in Black churches in America. Established in 1824 as Harlem AME Zion, this oldest Black church in Harlem has survived economic downturns (the Great Depression put them in dire financial circumstances), several relocations and a few name changes. But it has survived with Sunday services continuing for 200 years.
Having reached retirement age, Floyd supervised his last school lunch, played his last Sunday service in Harlem, packed his belongings and returned to the place called home, Pell City, Alabama.
Floyd relates how he and Evelyn came to Pell City every year for the month of August to visit relatives and churches in the area. They always visited Coosa Valley Baptist Church in Vincent where Rev. Willie Joe Posey was pastor.
Floyd in France at the Bosendorfer piano
“He would always tell me, when me and my wife would come down from New York, ‘Floyd, come on up here and sing, you and your wife,’ and we’d go up and sing for him. And he’d say, ‘Y’all see that man there? If he ever decides to come outta New York City, I want him right there,’ and he’d point to the piano.”
Today, Floyd is the full-time pianist at Coosa Valley Baptist where Rev. Posey still pastors. However, he ministers alone, for Evelyn died while they were living in New York. “I’ve been with Rev. Posey ever since I came back home to live,” Floyd muses quietly.
“I don’t charge them at the church, but Rev. Posey told me, ‘Oh no, you have to accept something, because people know how good you play and sing, they gonna take you away from us. The church will have to give you something. We don’t want you to leave us.’ So, I said, ‘Well, just sometime give me a love offering, but I don’t expect to be on salary. I don’t charge anything.’ So, every third Sunday, they give me a love offering, and I accept it.”
Rev. Posey has pastored the church for 48 years, and speaks highly of Floyd. “He has proven himself a believer in God and Christ. He’s a faithful man. He’s true to his word. … When he was in New York, I told him when he moved back here, he had a place (at our church), and he’s been with me.” Rev. Posey also noted the beautiful vocal harmony when Floyd and Evelyn sang together at the church.
In the community, Floyd is frequently asked to play for revivals, funerals and special events. At the 2024 Black History event at the Pell City Museum, he was one of the featured musicians of the day.
Many in the community call him “Uncle Floyd,” as did Amelia Beavers when she was asked for a comment. “There are so many things that I could say about Uncle Floyd, but the best thing is that he loves the Lord, and he loves people. He helps throughout his community any way that he can.
“If a loved one dies, he is willing to come to play and sing for the family. He has been a jewel of a friend coming back home to live. He is a beautiful asset to our community. I pray for him many years of serving the Lord and his community. All you have to do is ask and if he does not have another engagement, he is more than willing to accommodate.”
Floyd and Evelyn’s son, Kenny, lives in Childersburg, so Floyd is active in his life and the lives of his four grandchildren – two girls and two boys.
How would he like to be remembered? “I’d just like to be remembered as using the gifts that the Lord has given to me. If I was called to do something, it wasn’t for reimbursement. I thank God for the gift, and I thank Him that He allowed me to use it … It’s a gift that He has given, and I just want to give back.”
As a child and as an adolescent in Pell City, music captivated Floyd Waites and has held him fast all his years. One of the songs he played for Marie Knight was the traditional song Up Above My Head, and the lyrics are true for Floyd –
Up above my head, there’s music in the air Up above my head there’s music in the air, Up above my head there’s music in the air, And I really do know, Yes I really do know, There’s a heaven somewhere.
So, Floyd Waites, keep on playing and singing “for the Lord” and sharing your God-given gifts, for without a doubt, you enrich the music life of Pell City and St. Clair County. l
In an open field of tall grass, mud puddles and woods all around, three dedicated physical therapists meet on a Sunday afternoon miles away from the clinics where they work all week long.
Intertwined with the disciplined calls of hunting dogs, they discover solace in a shared passion. Well beyond their clinic walls, where muscles are mended and limbs rehabilitated, they embark on a journey into the wilderness.
It is here in the shadow of towering pines with five dogs among them, they train for the thrill of the hunt, forging an unspoken bond – not just with nature, but with each other. The scene is a powerful testament to their dual passions.
Tyler takes a shot
The sun peeks through a scattering of clouds, illuminating a scene in which they all have played a central role dozens of times before. They’re training for their next big bird hunt.
Their journey together has taken them far away from the St. Clair County clinics of Therapy South, where they work. Their hunts have taken them to Kansas, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Michigan and Oklahoma so far.
“We train out here,” said Tyler McGrady, motioning toward the field and woods that are part of the 70 acres he and his family own just north of Pell City. Wild birds are not as plentiful in the South as in other parts of the country, which necessitates the travel. But they don’t seem to mind. It simply brings them closer together.
Tyler readily shares his land with fellow PTs, Cade Mullins and Luke Brasher. Tyler is a partner in Therapy South, and he oversees the clinics in Pell City and Springville, where Mullins and Brasher work.
Cade, Covey and Coosa
They joke that bird hunting isn’t a prerequisite for getting hired, it just happened that they all share the same after-hours sport.
On the job, you’ll find them bantering back and forth as they apply their healing touch to patients. The camaraderie is infectious. In an instant, patients join in the conversations about dogs, hunting and the great outdoors, perhaps helping them forget the pain and rise above their own physical limits, if only for a moment.
Tyler calls it “good-spirited ribbing.” A former baseball player at Jacksonville State University, he noted that all three of them are former college athletes and “too much time in the locker room” may be the catalyst for their approach in the clinic and on the hunt.
Luke, who played football at UAB, agreed. “We miss the time spent with teammates,” he said. Mullins played baseball at Delta State. “It gives us a deeper sense of teamwork,” added Tyler.
Once on the hunt, the teamwork becomes man and dog. The pride in each of their ‘best friends’ is evident. Tyler’s Maverick and Charlie are German Short Haired Pointers, whose grace and ability blend perfectly in pointing or hunting quail.
Cade’s Covey and Coosa are Wire Haired Pointing Griffons, whose loping gallop through a mud puddle or two, seems natural for a breed with an insular coat and webbed toes. Griffons love the water, and on this day, Covey’s penchant for puddles shows.
Luke and Duke
The pup of the bunch, an English Setter named Duke, belongs to Luke, who he is training himself. As he watches Duke circling through the tall grass – nose up to catch a whiff of a downed bird – Luke’s watchful eye has the noticeable glint of a proud Papa. After all, their dogs are family.
“My wife loves dogs,” Cade said. “They sleep in the bed with us.”
Tyler’s wife is “super understanding” about his past time, he said, and they’ve just added to their brood – a pup named Goose. His daughters, Brooke and Maggie, make it a family affair. They’ve developed a passion for assisting in training the dogs.
Luke’s wife didn’t really want a dog, he said. “Now she takes 20 pictures a day of him because she loves him that much.”
The three of them muse about the rewards reaped from their training and their hunts. “It’s your relationship with your dog. Your dog is your best friend,” said Tyler. “When you see what they were born and bred to do, when it all comes together in the field, it’s pretty cool to watch.” You’re able to turn off the outside world. “You’re in the prairie in the middle of nowhere with your dog.”
Cade loves “getting out and enjoying creation. Every time you go out, you pick something that stands out – a dog pointing – it points back to creation, this awesome place created for us.”
“It’s fun walking through the Lord’s creation,” said Luke. “It’s cool to see something that is innate in their nature – pointing and finding a bird.”
It allows you to become “disconnected from the world,” Tyler concluded.
They all have a healthy respect for Tyler’s dog, Maverick. Describing him as a stud with a championship bloodline, Luke noted, “If Maverick doesn’t point, there’s not a bird there. He’s pretty much a sure shot.”
How did they arrive at this place of solace and excitement entwined?
Duke standing behind grass
Tyler already had a dog when he got into bird hunting, encouraged by another physical therapist, Daniel Eck, who works in Therapy South’s Florence clinic. The two had played ball together in college. He’s been hunting ever since.
Cade grew up deer and turkey hunting on the family farm near Lake Martin. “I got tired of picking up birds and said, ‘Let’s get dogs and do this.’ ”
For Luke, the fascination began when he was 9. A neighbor had Brittany and Boykin Spaniels involved in field trials, and he would take him along. He strayed away from the sport for years, but Cade and Tyler “nagged that I needed a bird dog. It was the only way to be in the crew. So, I gave into peer pressure,” he joked, “but it was worth it.”
It’s all about the relationship with the dog and the excitement of anticipating what is to come, Tyler explained. In a world of otherwise instant information, “It’s the hope of what could be. You never know what the difference is going to be.”
Heritage Team puts the vr-r-r-oom back into speedway legends
Story by Elaine Hobson Miller Photos by Richard Rybka
Cars, airplanes and the museum itself are getting a facelift at the International Motorsports Hall of Fame in Talladega County, thanks to some St. Clair County guys and their buddies who share a love of automotive racing. And it all started when one of them visited the late Bobby Allison at his home in North Carolina.
“I went to his house in Mooresville in 2020 during COVID,” says Eric Perrine, who actually lives in Shelby County. “I had done an event with him in the past. My intention was to take him to the Herb McCandless Museum and have a fun day. McCandless was a champion drag racer for Sox and Martin and a friend of mine through the Mopar Circuit, where owners of Chrysler vehicles have car shows.”
While Perrine expected their conversation to be about cars and racing, Allison took it in another direction. He talked about his disappointment with the deterioration of his airplane at the Hall of Fame, as well as the overall well-being of the Talladega museum, as most people call it.
“He talked about getting the museum back into its glory days, and the local support for that,” says Perrine. “Certain things hadn’t been kept up.”
With the help of friends Herbie Griffith, Johnny Capps and Barry Isbell, all of St. Clair, Perrine led the restoration project of Allison’s plane, a twin-engine Piper. Perrine met Dennis Dobbs of Springville at a local car show and invited him to the annual Heritage Preservation Show, which takes place at the museum every fourth weekend in October.
A vintage Corvette inside Dobbs’ shop
Dobbs volunteered to help Perrine restore cars for the museum, which was established in 1983 adjacent to the Talladega International Speedway, known today as the Talladega Superspeedway. Dobbs brought another Springville resident, Wade Wells, on board. Then, Robert Allison (no relation to the racing Allisons) and Ricky Humphries joined them and the Heritage Preservation Team took shape.
“The Heritage Preservation Show last October went very well ,” Perrine says.
“We had 300 vehicles from all over the USA, about $45 million worth, including the Richard Petty Superbird, Marty Robbins’ Dodge Daytona and his 1973 Dodge Charger, Bobby Allison’s Torino and Mustang. We also had the first Dodge Daytona ever built, which resides there at the museum, the No. 88 test mule (a drivable, pre-production vehicle) and many, many more.”
Visitors came from all over world, including Australia, the Netherlands and Canada, and from all over the United States. The two-day event drew about 700 people, which Perrine says is good for a car show.
The show is always open to cars and spectators, and he wants people to understand the purpose of what the museum and the Preservation Team are doing, and the event ties into that.
“The 2024 show raised $25,000 to spend toward building the Bobby Allison tribute room at the museum,” Perrine says. To make a donation, go to imhofhp.com. “Look for the sponsorship page.”
In 2022, Donnie Allison’s 1969 Ford Torino (No. 27) became the restoration team’s first car project. Next came the 1974 Richard Petty championship Dodge Charger, then the Buddy Baker Dodge Daytona.
Since the 2024 show, Perrine has been looking for volunteers and sponsors to help build Allison’s tribute room. It will feature personal memorabilia from Allison, who died Nov. 9, 2024, less than a month shy of his 87th birthday.
Perrine gained possession of that memorabilia long before Allison’s death. “I’ve taken in 20,000 items that are in a climate-controlled storage place,” he says. “The collection will be rotated frequently so people can enjoy all the items through the years. Our whole purpose is to preserve the history of legends and legacies of Alabama racing.”
The teamrecently restoredthe Dodge Daytona that was test driven by Buddy Baker. During that test, he became the first driver to average 200 mph at Talladega. “The Baker car is worth a lot of money,” Dennis Dobbs says. “It would easily bring $200,000 to $250,000, and probably cost only $4,000 to $5,000 when it was new.”
Wade Wells talks animatedly about the “neat history” of this car, which was a prototype for Dodge Daytonas sold at dealerships. “Back in the 50s – 70s, race cars had to be street cars first,” he says. “Even street versions had wings on them. Manufacturers had to make and sell 500 of these to qualify that model to be put into a NASCAR homologation.” (According to Wikipedia, a homologation in motorsports is a testing and certification process for vehicles, circuits and related equipment for conformance to technical standards.)
Dobbs also has restored Camaros, Chevelles and Novas, and is working on a 1970 Mustang now. He has a shop next to his house that he calls Red Dog Automotive after a dog he had named, you guessed it, Red. Wade has a shop at his house in Washington Valley, and calls it Real Performance Muscle Cars, meaning real performance muscle cars.
Wade Wells, Dennis Dobbs, Brenda Allison and Robert Allison
Dobbs comes by his love of race cars naturally, but surprisingly, from his mother, not his dad. “My mother used to drag race in the ‘50s and ‘60s in New Mexico when my dad was stationed there in the Army,” he says. “She tinkered with the cars and that got me interested. Many good friends have taught me along the way.”
As an adult, he worked for Chandler’s Garage in Irondale for 15 years. He has worked for Motion Industries for 21 years and is in the maintenance department now. “The Torino led to the Petty car and that to the Baker Daytona,” he says. “Wade got involved because I asked him to come aboard. Wade is into drag racing and restoring muscle-car classics, like Corvettes and Camaros.”
One of the most challenging aspects of race-car restoration is locating parts, according to Dobbs and Wells. “A lot of them are custom made,” Dobbs says. “Motion Industries, where Wade also worked for 37 years, has allowed us to make some there.”
Numerous companies have donated parts and labor, Wells says. “Bryce Thomas Radiator in Gadsden is one, and U.S. Radiator in Gadsden. Also, V.P. Racing Fuels, through Rick Pennington, their distributor, has been very helpful in getting the special high-octane race fuel for the cars. Jamie Willis of Willis Performance Engines in Pell City has helped us out on all engine machining required. Herbie Griffith Paint and Body, Odenville, painted Bobby Allison’s airplane and other race car pieces. NAPA in Trussville has also helped tremendously. We rely on people’s goodwill.”
Goodyear recently provided them with $5,000 worth of tires and only charged them for taxes and shipping, according to Perrine.
Wells and Dobbs have made a few small pieces themselves, and several companies have put up money to help. Finding time to work on these projects can be a problem sometimes, though. Perrine will push the team when a car show, like the one held each October, is coming up.
“We especially want to thank the Springville Police Department for allowing us to operate these cars on the road (for shows and other events) without license plates,” Wells says. “You gotta road test these cars, right?”
Team members attended the Richard Petty Foundation event in Gatlinburg this past summer, and Petty was there. “We brought the car to the show for him to enjoy and autograph,” Wells says. “He signed the hood and the trunk, and it’s now at the museum.”
On the short list for restoration is the Wonder Bread car belonging to Ricky Bobby in the movie, Talladega Nights. It’s already at the museum. Bobby Allison’s Matador and a Davey Allison Thunderbird are on that list, too,but the Allison room is up first.
Back in the day
Most of the team members grew up watching the Alabama Gang race on television. “The original Alabama Gang really was only three guys: Bobby and Donnie Allison and Red Farmer,” says Perrine. “The irony is that none of them were from Alabama. They moved up here from Florida and weren’t even born there. They were labeled the Alabama Gang by other racers. You can blame the media for throwing others from Alabama into the gang. Farmer is the only one of the original gang who lives in Alabama. He’s 92. Donnie is 85, and Petty is 87. Bobby died last November at 86.”
The Hall of Fame has 122 -plus vehicles on display, according to Executive Director Adam Stocks. “We have a couple of volunteer organizations that are absolutely phenomenal,” he says. “They don’t get paid, they do it for love of the sport and restoration of these autos that have great history behind them.
“They put so much of their time, effort and some personal money into raising money and begging companies for parts, to put these vehicles back to running again. That says a lot. And it helps us a lot because we’re then able to take these vehicles to shows and other events. Take the Richard Petty car or Donnie Allison car we have, crank it up, every head turns and people walk to the car. That’s a great piece of advertising.”
The whole purpose of the Hall of Fame is to preserve the history of the legends and legacies of Alabama racing, according to Perrine. The team and other volunteers want to raise awareness of the museum and help raise money for it.
Wells puts it another way. “It’s our love of racing that keeps us going, to be able to carry on the legacy of early NASCAR and all forms of racing.” Adds Dobbs: “We’re restoring cars that belonged to some of the racing heroes we grew up with, and we want to honor their contributions to racing. If these museums close up, the cars end up in private collections and no one will see them anymore.”
It’s somehow fitting that the Howard Family Holiday Farm in Moody has quickly become a go-to destination for folks hoping to create wonderful family memories. After all, the farm, which opened in September and was a celebration of all things fall before getting decked out for Christmas, is the culmination of a dream that grew from the childhood memories of owner David Howard.
“When I was 14, I told my grandmother I wanted to start a business,” Howard said. “She asked me what I wanted to do, and I said, ‘I’m going to sell Christmas trees.’” He set up a stand at a gas station at Moody crossroads owned by a family friend, Clemons Macon, and got to work.
“He had an old produce truck that sat out front,” Howard said. “I would ride the bus there and sit inside that old produce truck and do my homework and sell Christmas trees until my parents (Charles and Mary Ann Howard) came to get me at 8. My dream was that I would become a Christmas tree farmer, and it stuck with me all my life.”
Forty years later, Howard has turned that boyhood job into a way of life. And the best part, he said, is that after living and working in other places for 25 years, his dream brought him back home.
“Moody helped create the foundation of who I am today,” he said. “To be able to come back and do this and bring something wholesome and family-centered to the community is amazing.”
All the holidays
Although Christmas trees, wreaths and garland are getting top billing now, Howard opened the farm as a pumpkin patch. More than 5,000 visitors came through between opening day on Sept. 20 and Oct. 26, when they closed for a few weeks to gear up for Christmas.
Fall visitors could pick their own pumpkins from the patch or choose from a variety of gourds offered in an assortment of sizes, colors and shapes. The hayride was a huge hit with the kids, and the cut-your-own-flowers field of zinnias and sunflowers was a big draw, as well.
The farm reopened for Christmas on November 22, and two days later, Santa Claus arrived in dramatic fashion. He landed at the farm in a helicopter just in time for “Ice Cream Sundaes with Santa,” something Howard plans to make an annual event.
Santa’s arrival by helicopter on November 24 is just one of many events planned
Guests had their pick of flavors, thanks to the Hershey’s Ice Cream bar located inside the farm’s country store. In addition to the 24 ice cream flavors, which Howard plans to expand to 36 next Spring, there is an array of toys, gifts and assorted jams, jellies, and other treats sold under the Howard Family Holiday Farm label, including pickled okra, candied jalapenos and peach halves.
“We have sold out of the apple butter so many times, it’s crazy,” Howard said. The peach butter, blackberry preserves and fig preserves are favorites, too, and the offerings also include muscadine grape jelly, red pepper jelly, green pepper jelly and peach preserves.
“We provide our family recipes, and a company produces it for us,” Howard said. “These are all flavors that I grew up on and helped can, pick or both.” They also offer GunRunner Gundog Honey, made by Howard’s cousin, Kenny Armstrong, a beekeeper.
The big draw now, though, is the Frasier Fir and Black Hills Spruce trees that were cut and shipped from farms in Michigan and N.C. Howard hasn’t given up on his dream of being a Christmas tree farmer, however, and he plans to plant a field of Murray Cypress trees so visitors can cut their own.
“It’s a variety of Cypress that’s specifically bred for Christmas trees,” he said. “We’re going to plant some real mature trees so we can speed up the process. We hope that in two years, we’ll be cutting 7-foot trees.”
The plans don’t stop there. They’ll take a break after Christmas and build an outdoor pavilion before reopening in March for the rest of the year. Howard said they’ll offer Alabama-grown produce, some of which will be grown at the farm. “Our first crop will be watermelons, cantaloupes, and various peppers, and then we’ll grow from there next year,” he said. “We’ll also plant Silver Queen corn, and ultimately, that will be a corn maze.”
Howard said they’ll offer seasonal potted plants and three acres of flowers, including zinnias, sunflowers, dahlias and peonies. “Folks can come pick flowers for their special events and have photo shoots in the field,” he said.
“We’re going to do anything we can that’s community-driven,” Howard said. “We’ll just see what the community will support, and that’s what we’ll morph into.”
The road back home
Howard and his partner, Gary Perkins, are thrilled to be back to their rural roots. Perkins, a pharmacist, grew up on a tobacco farm in Kentucky, and they both were ready to get back to a slower pace of life.
After graduating from Moody High School and then college, Howard worked in the RV industry, in marketing and advertising, and owned a martini and sushi bar. He’s also worked in the residential construction and real estate industries. For the past 15 years, he’s owned Panama City Beach Properties, a full-service real estate brokerage company that he recently sold. “I would build five houses, keep one in my inventory of rental properties and manage properties for other people,” he said.
David Howard and Gary Perkins have Christmas trees ready to sell
While he loved his career, having a heart attack three years ago at age 51 changed his perspective. “Being faced with the possibility of something catastrophic, I felt like there is so much more for me to do,” he said. “At the beach, there’s constant tourism and everything is always ‘on.’ You can’t just go out to dinner without waiting at least an hour. Something just clicked, and I said, ‘I’m done.’ We were both done. I didn’t have to convince Gary; he was ready to make the leap to farm life long before I could get the words out of my mouth.”
Although his new venture is a far cry from the fast-paced world of real estate, Howard said he and Perkins couldn’t be happier. “We’re here to stay,” he said. “I’m back home. I think about that, and I get emotional.”
Family has always been important to Howard. “My grandmother owned multiple restaurants, and she instilled that entrepreneurial drive in me,” he said. “My first job when I was 12 was washing dishes in the restaurant because I wanted a dirt bike. When I sold the Christmas trees, I got a taste of making a few bucks, turning that into more bucks, and I was hooked. I’ve been working for myself ever since.”
Now he’s thrilled to be doing just that back home. “Moody helped shape me,” he said. “I love this city, absolutely love it. I wouldn’t have wanted to grow up anywhere else, and our commitment here is community.
“When we did this, it was a leap of faith, and we didn’t know what would come of it,” Howard added. “Seeing all the families and the smiles makes it all worthwhile. Everybody comes in and says, ‘I hope you’re successful.’ We already are, and we’re having a blast.”
