Namaste

Goat Yoga more than just a craze for Springville couple and their farm

Story by Carol Pappas

Photos by Kelsey Bain

Make the turn off Springville’s Shanghai Road into CareDan Farm and it’s as if you have entered a magical world where animals rule, and the rest of us are lucky enough to be part if it – if only for a day.

The gang’s all there: Nigerian Dwarf goats Charlotte, Rose, Rosebud, twins Spur and Kid Rock and two new babies, Peanut and Cashew. There’s Rooster and Daisy, the horses, of course, and a lovable pig named Pancake. Talk about free range, the chickens meander around these parts to their hearts’ content while ducks splash playfully in a nearby puddle.

It’s just another day at the farm for them, but for those arriving by the carload, it’s an experience they won’t soon forget.

And that’s precisely the point, say Danny and Caren Davidson, who open up their Springville farm to young and old, friends, family and strangers from near and far, curious about a thing called goat yoga.

“It’s fun when people come out and do things they don’t typically do,” says Caren, who calls their fledgling business, My Farm Day, the perfect moniker, adds Danny. “Whether it’s fishing, riding horses, playing with the goats, we wanted people to have a ‘my farm day’ for them.”

Their first venture in providing that personalized farm experience is a craze sweeping the country, goat yoga. And on a summer Saturday morning, the rain didn’t seem to dampen the spirit of the day. Quite the opposite. Guests headed to the barn for shelter, where yoga mats and a menagerie of four-legged hosts awaited.

Certified yoga instructor Nancy Hunter of Springville explains her foray into today’s goat variety of this ancient practice. Caren had seen a post on Facebook about Nancy’s Yoga classes in Springville and at her studio in Oneonta.

Caren called and asked if she would be interested in teaching Yoga with goats, and Nancy said ‘Yes, I’m game. I’ll try it.’

“Caren is so amazing,” Nancy says. “These are her children,” she adds, motioning to the goats – old and new – the horses nearby, the baby chicks just introduced into the class (much to the delight of its students) and a host of other animals making up the zoo-like atmosphere.

In the beginning …

 It wasn’t always like this – a farm couple just working and sharing the land. They were from the big city.

But her grandparents had a farm in Tennessee when she was growing up. “I fell in love with the farm and the animals.” Charlotte, one of the goats, is named for her grandmother.

Danny and Caren grew up in Vestavia Hills and graduated from Vestavia High, dated at Ole Miss and married.

He served in the Army in San Antonio for a few years, and they moved back to Alabama when he finished service.

They bought property across from Matthews Manor and lived there for nine years in Argo. “I love to be outdoors,” Caren says. “He loves to build stuff. We moved in with some dogs and within a year, we added horses and a couple of more dogs. Our dream was more land and more animals.”

They found what they were looking for – the house with 69 acres bordering Little Canoe Creek – in Springville. “When we pulled in the driveway, four chicks came running out to meet us,” Caren recalls. “I thought, ‘I’m sold. This is awesome.’”

“We bought a tractor and few other things, and that’s how we got here.”

By day, Danny is about to begin a new job teaching Algebra at Moody High School. Caren is director of human resources at a Birmingham law firm.

“Because we grew up in the city, we didn’t know much about farm life. Fortunately, we’ve had some great neighbors and friends who have taught us a lot about barn and fence building, drainage, pond maintenance, etc.,” Caren explains. 

“What we didn’t learn from them, we learned from books or YouTube. Our master shower is frequently turned into an infirmary for injured chickens and ducks. We continue to learn most everything the hard way, but because it’s just the two of us, we have a lot of fun living the ‘farm life,’ which is a big departure from our ‘regular life.’” 

The Davidsons don’t have children, but they have a very close family with lots of cousins, nieces, nephews who enjoy ‘Farm Days’ at Uncle Danny and Aunt Caren’s farm, hence the name, CareDan Farm. “Farm Days,” she says, “consist of riding horses, playing in the creek, fishing, gathering eggs from the coop, riding 4-wheelers, Gator rides, canoeing, hitting floating golf balls into the pond and whatever other activities Danny dreams up. Evenings on the farm generally involve more fishing, campfires, watching football and listening to music on the back porch.”

On the farm, Danny’s job at first was that of goat wrangler. He is self-proclaimed “head goat wrangler,” and has a name tag to prove it.

He’s the one always bringing home the goats. She’s more practical. The night before this class, he brought home two more without telling her. But she couldn’t resist, it was easy to see, as she held them like babies, bottle fed them and sported a never-ending smile as they frolicked among the yoga guests in the barn.

The driving force

The genesis of this day, where smiles, laughter and squeals of excitement are quickly becoming tradition, came from an unlikely source – a tragedy involving Caren’s father, Dr. Cary Petry. He had suffered from depression and anxiety for years and sadly took his own life in 2017.

“The couple of years leading up to that event were quite stressful, as I tried to provide my dad with encouragement, support and different treatment options. After his death, I found myself just going through the motions most weeks. I’d spend all my energy during the week trying to do my job, and I’d use the weekends on our farm for quiet time in hopes of recharging for the next week. Being outdoors, surrounded by all of God’s amazing creations, was the medicine I needed, but it was still just a repetitious cycle week after week.”  

On a Sunday morning a year ago, her mother called as Danny and Caren were walking out the door to church. “She told me to turn on the news because there was a story coming on about a lady in Oregon who held goat yoga classes on her farm. I watched the story and couldn’t stop thinking about the satisfaction she had gained by sharing her farm and love for goats with others. I wondered if I could regain some happiness, and perhaps help others, by sharing my farm and animals with others.”  

When she took the next step and called Nancy, “Surprisingly, Nancy had actually participated in a goat yoga class and was eager to try teaching one. So, for my 46th birthday, I invited a few close friends and family to attend a goat yoga birthday party at the farm. I figured they wouldn’t turn me down since it was my birthday. I had never done yoga before, but I was excited to combine so many things I love into one activity – friends, family, animals, outdoors and some much-needed exercise.

“The goats kept escaping the temporary fence we had hastily put up and didn’t seem too interested in the yoga, but it was fun nonetheless.”

They experimented with two more classes that fall before deciding to get serious about it. “Well, as serious as you can get about goat yoga,” Caren adds. “I felt like goat yoga was the perfect way for me to share our farm with other people who may be in need of some laughter and a break from their stressful lives.”  

Where there’s a will …

“In January 2019, our two goat mommas, Charlotte and Rose, had three kids: Spur, Kid Rock and Rosebud. And in March, My Farm Day hosted its first official goat yoga class with our five goats.  Since then, we’ve had classes nearly every Saturday morning.”  Classes are limited to 12 people because the goat to human ratio is critical to participant’s enjoyment of the activity.  

With the emotions of her father’s passing still fresh, “I got excited about it. It was something we could focus on and find a way to let other people enjoy the farm. It’s a different concept. It’s silly. It lets you forget about all your troubles for a while. Life is tough. If you can take a few minutes to do something you don’t always do, that’s fun.”

She talks of mental health issues as an epidemic facing the country and sees the farm as a means of coping. “It’s hard to get the help you need. I want to help people laugh. That makes me happy.”

The years leading up to her father’s death “were really rough for us. Every weekend, I would be here and recharge. It made me feel better to be with the animals.”

Her father was an animal lover and when he was at the farm with his dog, Rowdy, his rare smile would appear and is a memory she savors. It is also a memory that sparked the adventure Caren and Danny are now on. And Rowdy now acts as greeter, escorting guests up and down the drive.

What’s in a name

They decided to name the business “My Farm Day” with the idea that “everyone needed ‘their’ day on the farm, just like when we had family out for impromptu farm days. We figured we’d start My Farm Day with a little goat yoga, and maybe later, expand it to include other activities like fly-fishing lessons, barnyard parties, etc.,” she explains. 

Goat yoga is the first real leg of that journey. And so far, the reviews have visitors coming back for more.

As the class gets under way on this particular Saturday, Caren and Danny place the newest baby goats on the backs of the participants who could hardly stifle non-stop giggles with the little ones prancing around, eventually leaping off as if the back were a high dive.

The newest goat crew will make their debut in yoga class in a few months. They are partial to crawling atop a human back or two or across their stomach as they lie motionless except for the full body stretch they are attempting.

“The older goats now are like teenagers. They have a mind of their own,” Danny said as the older goats wandered around the yoga class, going underneath, over and around outstretched bodies, occasionally pausing for a snack of hedges and vines nearby. Most did manage a snuggle or two with their human guests, enticing more than a few pets, hugs and rubs behind the ear from them.

One family arrived as part of a surprise for Jimmy Waldrop for Father’s Day. “He loves goats, but we live in the city limits (of Hueytown), and we can’t have them,” said Waldrop’s wife, Dana. He had mentioned he wanted to start yoga, and when she saw My Farm Day’s goat yoga, “it was perfect.”

Waldrop, a nurse at UAB, enjoyed his Father’s Day surprise outing. “I like getting out in a farm atmosphere, and I like goats. I don’t know why, I just do.”

Lana Clayton of Ashville is a return guest. “I fell in love with it, and I came back again and again.”

Farm living is the life for them

“Danny and I have had so much fun and met so many wonderful people during goat yoga classes.  We love it because it allows us to spend time outdoors together, with our animals, while sharing our love of nature with others,” Caren concludes. 

“People who don’t typically interact with farm animals, get a small dose of farm life, while getting in some terrific stretching and exercise. Nancy loves teaching the class because it introduces yoga to people who may not otherwise try a yoga class in a traditional setting.”  

Participants are encouraged to laugh and take pictures throughout class. “As we say, ‘It’s a little bit of yoga and a whole lot of goat.’” 

After class Caren and Danny help people pose for pictures with the goats. “Sometimes we have chickens join the class, and our pig, Pancake, has been known to shove her way in to the ‘yoga studio’ for a little attention. Every class is different, so it’s fun ‘work’ for us.”

Underneath a sign that appropriately says, Attitude is everything. Pick a good one, a table of wares displays Caren-designed goat yoga t-shirts and hats. Even the fresh eggs they sell have their own stamp on it – Laid With Love – a creation by Danny.

 “But it’s not about making money,” Caren says, “it’s about giving people an experience that’s a break from ‘normal’ life.” As one participant told her, “I found today that baby goats are the cure for nearly anything.”

So, what’s next for this farm-loving, farm-sharing couple? “It is our goal to later, when we retire, use our farm in ways to help people who are hurting,” Caren said. “Goat yoga is just our first baby step.”  

Editor’s note: More information about the farm and goat yoga is at myfarmday.com.

How a St. Clair faux cabin began a real home

Reclaim, repurpose, reuse

Story by Elaine Hobson Miller

Photos by Wallace Bromberg Jr.

Rodney Tucker and Billy Connelly wanted a relaxing retreat, a place to get away from the hustle and bustle of downtown Birmingham and their high-pressure jobs at UAB Hospital. In all the years they have been together, they have never built something new, but always renovated. When an internet search turned up a small 1980s cabin at the end of its own cul-de-sac in Odenville a few years ago, they didn’t waste any time taking a look.

What they found was a 900-square-foot box with a wrap-around porch, a stick-built house masquerading as a cabin by hiding under log siding. What they saw was potential.

“It ended up being a total redo,” says Tucker. “Our contractor, James Wyatt (Wyatt Construction), took it down to the studs. We extended it a little bit and enclosed some areas of the porch.”

“Extended it a little bit” meant adding 700 square feet. Wyatt removed all but one interior wall, pushed a couple of outside walls a little further out, enclosed parts of the porch to create an entry hall at the front and a gallery at the back, and added a large, asymmetrical screened porch on one side. What was once a two-bedroom house with two tiny bathrooms now has a large master bedroom and two guest rooms, two large baths, a laundry room and the aforementioned gallery and entry hall. As for the log siding, he replaced that with a fiber cement siding.

“Farmhouse chic” best describes the Tucker-Connelly house today. It’s filled with doors, furniture and decor fashioned from repurposed wood and metal. Most of the furniture was made by Stray Cats of Birmingham, while all the built-ins, such as the kitchen cabinets, were built by Joe Dickert of Big Rock Cabinets in Springville. Working with architect Bob Burns, Tucker, a palliative care physician, designed the “new” 1600-square-foot house (plus porches).

The section of the porch that formerly spanned the front of the house is now divided into anentryway with separate porches on either side. To the left and right of the entrance are the only two sections of the original porch that weren’t screened, glassed or incorporated into the house. On the left is the “cantina,” an outdoor overflow space for guests when the larger, asymmetrical screened porch gets crowded. The cantina is so named because its two tables have tops made from old tin Corona beer signs. A vintage, functional, circular Old Crown Beer thermometer hangs in the cantina area.

James Wyatt removed a wall to open up the living-dining area, turning it into one large room. The living room portion has a coffee table, credenza and end table made from reclaimed wood pallets. An Arthur Price oil painting of an old log cabin hangs on one of the walls.

“We replaced the dilapidated fireplace with Bessemer gray brick, and the new oak mantel is from an old mission-style house in Chattanooga,” Tucker says. “Only the leather sofa and love seat in here are new.”

Stray Cats made the 3.5 x 8-foot kitchen island, topping it with zinc-coated stainless steel. The cabinets are a dark-stained oak, while the all-electric appliances include a double wall-oven, a glass stove top and a French-door refrigerator with four drawers. Tucker and Connelly chose quartz countertops because they look like marble. “We would have preferred marble, but it stains easily,” Connelly says.

Tucked into one end of the kitchen, opposite the refrigerator and ovens, is Tucker’s pride and joy: a bar. Its tin ceiling came from the roof of an old Victorian house in North Carolina, while its chandelier used to hang in Rodney’s parents’ house in Gadsden.

Underneath the countertop are a wine or beverage cooler and an ice maker. The shelves over the bar house Tucker’s collection of about 1,000 pieces of barware, including wine and cocktail glasses, cocktail and martini shakers. The etched ship decanters probably belonged to sea captains at one time. “We have enough shakers to allow each guest to make his own drink, if we weren’t concerned with breakage,” Tucker says.

On a narrow, inset wall between the bar and the living room is a vintage slot machine perched atop a church pedestal that looks like a pastor’s lectern. “Oh, the irony,” Tucker says.

At the back of the house, behind the kitchen, is the gallery that Wyatt fashioned by enclosing that portion of the wrap-around porch. Tucker and Connelly refer to it as a gallery because that’s where much of their extensive pottery collection is housed. Displayed in a Dutch mission-style cabinet, it includes creamware and pieces by Weller and by Roseville.

A king headboard of repurposed bead-board dominates the master bedroom, but also notable are the side tables and a chest of drawers made of recycled tin ceiling tiles and a mission-style chair and desk. The banjo propped in one corner belonged to Tucker’s grandfather. That bathroom has new floor tiles that look like old, gray wood. The vanity is made of repurposed wood, too. The walls of the shower are a wider version of the bedroom’s floor tiles, while river rock covers the shower floor.

“We tried to keep everything neutral — earth tones — gray, brown, white beige — so the house would blend with its surroundings out here,” Tucker says. “We have some pops of sage green here and there, and the exterior walls are sage green, too. We wanted the house to be natural and complement the landscape. A modern glass and metal structure would be out of place here.”

On the opposite side of the living room and kitchen from the master suite, Wyatt restructured the original bedroom, bumped its wall out a bit and fashioned two smaller guest rooms, a short hallway to connect them, a large bathroom and a laundry room.

One guest room is dubbed The Hillbilly/Cowboy Room. There’s a large, predominantly red, pop-art, mixed-media piece of a vintage cowgirl on one wall, an equally colorful guitar in one corner, and a lamp that has a base of a moonshine jug with the moonshiner holding on for dear life (Mountain Boy Pottery out of Ohio). 

Then, there is the collection of figurines — animals, hillbillies, outhouses, jugs, etc. — from the 1940s and ’50s in a nearby cabinet. Hanging rather incongruously in one corner because nothing else would fit there is a Catholic icon. The upper portion depicts Mary and Jesus, while a drop-down, hinged door beneath them would have been used for incense and candles in a good Catholic’s home.

The pack sled from Switzerland was used as the headboard for that room’s bed at one time, but now stands against a wall, next to a pair of wooden skis from Germany. The credenza and end table in that room were manufactured in Bali from wood reclaimed from boats. “Jamey (James Wyatt) bumped out one wall in here to make a window seat,” says Connelly, who is vice president of ambulatory services at The Kirklin Clinic of UAB Hospital. “This is where my mom often sits to quilt when she comes up.”

Down the hall, the bathroom doors once opened the entry to a surgery room at an old hospital in Decatur. “They were hospital green, but we sanded them down and applied wood sealer,” says Tucker.  “Jamey spent a lot of time getting them to hang evenly and roll smoothly.”  The vanity is one of the few manufactured pieces in the house, but Stray Cats made the mirror. The floor is the same type of tile as in the master bath, but in a different color. What appears to be a collection of small cigar-box covers on a board that’s covered with a wax sealer is the main art piece in this bath.

At the end of the short hall is another guest room made by enclosing another section of the wrap-around porch. “Jamie got creative and pushed out a section of the side wall to create a one-foot-by-ten-foot alcove that gives the room a little pizzazz,” Tucker says. To save space, Wyatt used pocket doors for the closet in this room. He enclosed another section of the wrap-around porch to create a laundry room off this bedroom.

The quilt on the bed here comes with an interesting background story. Tucker went to an estate sale and found old fabric squares that were newspaper backed, as if someone was preparing to piece a quilt. “One of the newspaper pieces dates to 1938,” Connelly says. “My mom finished the quilt in 2018.” More of the couple’s pottery collection is housed in an antique barber’s cabinet and a mission-style display cabinet.

When the couple throws a party, most guests end up on the large, asymmetrical porch on the left side of the house outside the kitchen-and-bar area. It’s such an inviting room that you just want to sit down and enjoy the breeze or soak up the woodsy atmosphere. Guests have a choice of seating here, including a pew from an old church in Selma that is gone now.

The repurposed theme is obvious in here, too. There’s a sofa table with a wood top made from flooring out of an old school in Georgia. The coffee table is actually a 1922 transfer table from a Boston manufacturing company.

One promontory of the porch features a white hutch made of repurposed wood out of North Carolina. Around the corner, an old Hudson hubcap that probably covered the spare tire on the back of that car hangs over feed-and-seed signs and a coat rack. It’s next to a white repurposed glass-front cabinet that was originally built into an old house. “I bought that cabinet at an antique store,” Tucker says. “I don’t like to refinish the vintage furniture we find. I sand them down and use a clear sealer.” Over that cabinet hangs a Hinman Milkers sign, while an old metal dairy box rests on top of the cabinet. The dairy box bears the name, “Connelly’s Dairy.”

 “We bought that at an antique shop in Atlanta,” Tucker says. “In the early days of home milk delivery, the bottles would go into the metal box, and it would hang from a bicycle. I told Billy I didn’t know his family had a dairy.”

An unusual mirror hangs over the outdoor or porch sink that Connelly uses to wash the dogs and pot his house plants. It is a big dot inside a larger tin circle that was once part of a heater in a chicken house. Speaking of plants, this porch displays succulents, ferns, begonias, ponytail palm, a shrimp plant and not a few coleus.

Wyatt recalls saving only bits and pieces of the house’s original hardwood floors. “I think all we saved were pieces of the living room and master bedroom,” he says. “The kitchen was water damaged a little, had some rotten spots, so we put in a new subfloor there and new hardwood.”

Outside, the swimming pool required a total redo, too. “It had to be torn out and new gunnite poured,” Tucker says. “We also built a pool house that carries through with our unique decor as well.”

Landscaping is Connelly’s bailiwig, with the help of his mother, who visits about once a week. Cone flowers, zinnias, black-eyed Susans, petunias and salvia flank the rock-and-gravel walkway leading to the front door. Nearby are Knock Out roses, French and snowball hydrangeas, camellias, hostas and ferns. Japanese maples thrive throughout the property. “I’ve planted lots of fruit trees and muscadine arbors, lots of native azaleas,” Connelly says. “I’ve made jelly and wine from the muscadines. Gardening is my therapy.”

Exotic animals dot the landscape around the property, too. Four monkeys reside in two separate cages. Another cage houses Patagonian cavies and two kangaroos. A pasture features a zebra, emus, alpacas, horses, ostriches, sheep and goats. “I’ve always had exotic animals of some sort,” says Connelly. “Rodney tolerates them.”

“I love animals, too, but the volume we have is sometimes overwhelming,” Tucker confesses.

“You should see our feed bill,” Connelly adds.

Outdoor multi-level decks on one side of the driveway provide additional relaxation space. “They made this space usable,” Connelly says. “One of them replaced an outdoor dog pen, and another one camouflages the storm shelter under it.”

Security lights line the driveway, which winds past a derelict modular home used for storage, a barn, animal cages and the pasture, where the four-footed creatures are kept. And a fire hydrant.

“We have our own fire hydrant,” Tucker says. “It’s the result of the entire 30-acre property once being zoned for and promoted as a future housing development.”

Although the house renovations were completed about two years ago, the pair really aren’t finished with their retreat project. Ultimately, they would like to build a couple of small, one-room guest cottages.

“This was a large remodeling project, and we worked shoulder-to-shoulder on the design,” James Wyatt says. “I’ve done a lot of those in Mountain Brook and Vestavia, and it was good to do such a high-end remodel right here in St. Clair County.”

Watson-Byers Home

Built of tradition, family roots and love

Story by Joe Whitten

Photos by Wallace Bromberg Jr.

Submitted Photos

The white column c. 1910-1911 Watson-Byers House rests on a grassy knoll in Odenville, gleaming in summer sun as lovely as a jeweled tiara resting on a green velvet cushion.

A St. Clair County vintage home, indeed, but for those nurtured by previous Watson parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles, it is a house of unconditional love. Talk with any child, grandchild or cousin, and you hear only happy memories.

The original owner, William Clayton “Will” Watson, was born March 4, 1861, in White Plains, Benton, later Calhoun County, to William Alvin P. and Eliza Ann Hart Watson. Eliza’s father, Andrew Hart, ran Hart’s Ferry on the Coosa River, ferrying between St. Clair and Calhoun counties. The Harts owned and farmed the land where Andrew Jackson constructed Ft. Strother in 1813.

 William Alvin P. Watson died at Vicksburg in the Civil War. Widowed Eliza Ann Hart Watson married John Lonnergan in 1869. John and Eliza Lonnergan eventually owned the two-story double dog-trot log home built by John Looney in Beaver Valley. In a recent interview, Will’s grandson, Frank Watson, recounted that family oral history said that “Grandpa Will, when he was 18, rode the horse over to the Looney’s and bought the house for his mother, and then the Lonnergans moved in.” Frank added, “Now, I haven’t checked this out; that’s family lore.”

Will attended Southern Normal School and Business College in Bowling Green, Ky., graduating in 1887. Then, two years after graduating, he married Mentie Cox of Ashville on October 9, 1889. Will and Mentie lived in the Ragland area of St. Clair County, where Will at various times worked as postmaster at Lock Three and as a teacher. Grandson Frank treasures the school bell his grandfather used in his school.

Will and Mentie had a large family of 12 children and desired them to have the best education possible. Therefore, when Odenville was chosen as the location of St. Clair County High School, Will began planning to move his family from Ragland to Odenville.

“It was about 1909 or 1910 that Will bought the land here in Odenville … and they built the house and moved here in 1911,” Frank recalled. Saraharte Watson Byers’ notes indicate it was completed sometime in 1910.

“He cut all the timber over there where he lived and shipped it here by rail, and this house was built out of rough timber,” great-grandson Jimmy Byers added. One of Will and Mentie’s daughters died in 1908, and their last child was born in Odenville. Eleven of their 12 children attended St. Clair County High School. Daughter Roberta graduated in the second graduating class in 1913.

In a conversation with this writer many years ago, Saraharte Watson Byers recounted how that after the house was completed, Will shipped their furniture by rail from Ragland to Odenville. Then the family came by train to their new home and new town. Arriving at the Odenville depot, the Watsons got off the train and walked to their new home. Father led the way, mother behind him, and the children behind her from oldest to youngest and like a moving staircase marched up the road.

For many years, the Watson-Byers House has had the square columns on the front, but those were not on the house originally. Frank reminisced: “It originally had double porches, not columns. I remember when it got changed. Uncle Hop, Will’s son who lived in the house, got tired of that upper porch. It was before they had treated lumber, and he got tired of replacing it; so, they took the upper porch off and put the little portico up there and put up the columns. Originally, a long, wide pathway wound uphill to the porch and visitors always entered at the front door. But the house hasn’t been changed much inside. Maybe the only change in the old house is the kitchen windows. They are double now, and they were single back then.”

Inside the home, a central hall extends front to back with high-ceiling rooms on either side. Most visitors today enter at the kitchen, furnished with table and chairs of the period of the home. The cook-stove looks like a wood-burning stove from 1911 but really is an electric stove that Saraharte Watson Byers had shipped from Canada after she and Alvin became owners. She also installed hardwood floors in all the rooms except the dining room, which retains its original pine flooring, the standard flooring of that day.

The rooms are large as was the turn-of-the-century custom, with tongue-and-groove pine walls rising ten feet. Those tall ceilings made the rooms cooler in the summer, but they could also make for cold rooms in the winter. The house was originally gaslit from a Delco gas system from which gas was piped into the light fixtures. One gas-lamp globe survives in Frank’s possession.

 A stairway leads to the second floor where several newlyweds started their married lives —Saraharte and Alvin Byers, Jimmy and Karen Byers, Al and Donna Byers, as well as cousins lived up there.

Frank remembered that the garage and the men’s toilet were across today’s U.S. 174, which did not cut through the property until years after the house was built. The ladies’ toilet, however, was located on the hill behind the house.

Deeply rooted family tree

Frank was only five years old when his grandmother, Mentie, died in 1938 and barely remembers her. However, he recalls well his grandfather, Will. “Granddaddy loved to tell ghost stories to us grandkids, and he would frighten us all to death. He could tell good ones, and he had a knack of telling the punch lines. … He’d tell Civil War ghost stories about when they lived at Lock Three.

“After he came to Odenville, he was a merchant. But he went out of business during the Depression — let too much out on credit. In his later years, he would go down to the local store every day, and he would always carry his long umbrella. The guys teased him about that, and he’d say, ‘Pshaw! Pshaw! It might rain.’ But he was using it for a walking cane!”

Will died in 1950, and his funeral service was held at the house he’d built, just as Mentie’s had been in 1938. Both are buried at Liberty Cemetery, Odenville.

Will’s son, Hobson “Hop” Watson and wife Sally Robison Watson lived in the house with Will, caring for him until his passing. When he died, Hop and Sally became owners of the home and lived there with their daughter, Saraharte, called “Sade” by many friends. She grew up loving the old home, her family, Odenville and the people of the town. Saraharte graduated from St. Clair County High School in 1945. She attended the University of Alabama but earned her undergraduate and graduate degrees from Jacksonville State University. Later she earned her Ed.S. from the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

Saraharte Watson married Alvin Byers in 1947. Alvin had dropped out of school in 1944, his senior year, to fight in World War II. When the war ended, he returned to St. Clair County High School and graduated in 1946. Alvin attended JSU and earned a degree in education.

The Byers had three children. Jimmy married Karen Turner, and they have three children Matthew, Adam and Joshua. Al married Donna Colley and they have three children, Rodney, Jeremy and Zeke. Lynn married Jed Brantley and they have two children, Jacob and Rachel. Alvin loved sports and all three children got involved in sports. Lynn could play as well as her brothers. Her comment was, “He taught me to play anything that had a ball in it!”

Both Saraharte and Alvin had careers as teachers in Odenville. Alvin taught various subjects and coached various sports and is well-remembered for his baseball teams and both boys’ and girls’ basketball teams. Both teams went to state playoffs at various times. Saraharte taught elementary grades and retired as head of the elementary school.

Hop and Sally Watson lived in the house until their deaths. Saraharte and Alvin became owners at Sally’s passing. Then Alvin died in 2001 and Saraharte in 2003. After her death, great-grandson Jimmy Byers and wife Karen became owners/caretakers of the lovely old home.

The first thing Jimmy and Karen had to face was the bat infestation in part of the house. And not just any bat, but the protected brown bat, requiring that they be relocated. Only a wildlife relocator could do this. Jimmy located one of American Indian lineage who successfully got them out of the house and relocated. “We probably had a thousand bats,” Jimmy said. “The porch ceiling was sagging from guano. We had to redo the ceiling on the porch and redo two walls in the living room.”

When talking with Jimmy and Karen, their son Matt, and Jimmy’s first cousin, Judy Gibson Banks, one hears memories of loving parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles spilling out as refreshing as a fire hydrant at full flow on an Alabama summer day — memories of a house full of loving kindness.

Jimmy lived his first three years in this house, for Saraharte and Alvin lived upstairs in the house until they could build a home in Moody. Karen commented, “They brought Jimmy home from Leeds Hospital to the Watson House. Saraharte talked about having the heater upstairs and how they had to keep it warm for Jimmy.”

Jimmy’s face broke into a wide smile when this interviewer asked about his memories of his Granddaddy Hop and Grandmother Sally. He chuckled as he began. “Granddaddy was my buddy. I loved him with all I could love anybody. When I was a little fellow, I guess it was in ’54, Granddaddy bought a Shetland pony. We took the back seat out of the car, and we brought the pony home in the car. We named him Buckshot and he actually lived to be 34 years old.

“Later we had horses, but we had Buckshot before we had anything else. And because me and my brother Al were just kids and weren’t good with the reins yet, so Granddaddy would lead us all over the pasture — us on Buckshot.”

When Jimmy paused to reflect, Karen added, “Jimmy talked about Granddaddy riding him and Al around the pasture; well, he did the same thing with our boys. He would sit them on the pony and ride them around the pasture and they loved it. Our boys loved their Grandmother and Granddaddy Watson.”

“This happened later,” Jimmy continued, “but Granddaddy was — how can I put this — was feeling pretty good one day, and he brought Buckshot up the steps and into the living room and Buckshot messed in the floor. Needless to say, Grandmother put him and Buckshot back out of the house!”

Judy Gibson Banks and her sister Wanda grew up in the Byers’ home under the guardianship of their Uncle Alvin and Saraharte. Hop and Sally happily added them as grandchildren. Judy lovingly remembered “Grandmother and Granddaddy” and the good times she had at their house on the hill. “The horses were up there at the Watson House. Wanda and I started working with the horses, and we rode horses all over that hill. But Granddaddy would worry about us, so when we were riding — no matter where we were on that place — we could look up and Granddaddy would be somewhere on that hill watching to make sure we were OK.”

Hop and Sally loved their grandchildren and the grandchildren’s love for them comes shimmering through in interviews. Karen commented, “Hop and Sally, were two of the most giving people you would ever meet. She welcomed everybody into this house. The football team — Jimmy and Al would bring folks home, and some of ‘em stayed. She was so good about that. Always had food for them, cooked for them.” 

On the way to school each morning, Sade would drive her family to school, stopping at Sally’s to check on her. Every afternoon they would stop by again. A fond memory that lingers is how almost every afternoon Grandmother Sally would have divinity, or pound cake, or some snack for the grandkids after a long school day.

When Jimmy started college in Jacksonville, he recalls that when he and David Veasey commuted together, “I’d pick up David in Moody and then we’d come by here every Sunday evening when we headed to Jacksonville. And she’d fix us snacks for the week and feed us before we started up there.”

Legendary fried chicken and more

Sally’s cooking was legendary in the family. Jimmy remembered, “Every weekend we ate up here at Grandma’s house. And on Sunday — she had the best fried chicken you ever would eat. In all my life, I’ve never tasted any as good as hers.” He said that eating at Grandma’s on Christmas was like eating at a cafeteria she had so many dishes. “She was a diabetic,” Jimmy noted, “but she cooked it all!”

Jimmy’s sister, Lynn, joined the dinner-memory choir, saying, “Sunday dinner at Grandmother’s was amazing. She made the best fried chicken around.”

Lynn also spoke of her love for Granddaddy Hop. “I loved just spending quality time with my Granddaddy. He was one amazing man. I loved listening to all the stories Granddaddy would tell us.”

Another occasion for family meals occurred Easter Sunday. The family would attend church and then to Grandmother and Granddaddy’s house for a big meal — and of course it included Sally’s fried chicken! After lunch, the kids hunted Easter eggs hidden over the hilltop.

The family enjoyed telling about Hop’s pipe and Sally’s cigarettes. “Granddaddy smoked Prince Albert tobacco in his pipe,” Jimmy related, “and Grandmother smoked cigarettes. Well, she got tired of buying rolled cigarettes, so she used a brown paper bag. She would cut the paper bag up and roll her cigarettes using Granddaddy’s Prince Albert tobacco and smoke those brown sack cigarettes.” Sally bought cigarettes only when they visited relatives.

Sally did all the driving, for Hop never drove a car. The grandchildren told how when school was out in the spring, Sally would load the family in her car to visit relatives in various towns in north-central Alabama. “Granddaddy always went with us, but he had little patience with visits and was ready to leave soon after arriving,” Jimmy remembered.

Although Hop never drove an automobile, in his later years, he bought a riding lawnmower and had a good time riding it all over the home-place hill. Today, where he had such a good time, his descendants had enjoyed festive occasions. In the past several years, the hilltop has been used for wedding events.

Quiet home weddings have occurred in the home, including Donna Colley and Al Byers and Judy Gibson and Curtis Banks. However, Jimmy and Karen, wanting family members to continue enjoying the old home place, have hosted the garden weddings and receptions for family members. The first one of these was for Lynn and Jed’s daughter, Rachael. The ceremony took place on the wide front porch with guests sitting in chairs set up on the lawn. A white tent in the back, where Hop drove his lawnmower, served for the reception and dancing with a live band.

 One can hope that Hop and Sally and Sade and Alvin (should he be interested), somehow get a glimpse of those festive events at their well-loved old home.

Great grandchildren also have delightful memories of Hop and Sally Watson. Matt Byers in a college essay wrote this:

“The greatest man I ever knew was Hop Watson, my great-grandfather. … No child could have known a more caring, loving and understanding human being.  … I remember the look in his eye when his ‘little man’ would do something he’d taught him and do it right! From riding mop ponies to real ponies, I learned it all from him. He taught me so many things about life, the land, and most importantly, about love. … When my brother, Adam, came along, I had to share my granddaddy. That was tough for me, but I managed. … With the help of our granddaddy, we thought we could do anything. He loved us dearly and we loved him. After Granddaddy passed on, I made a promise to myself to let everyone I cared about know it. … I still think about him today. His influence over my life is still prominent and I owe him a lot. I just wish that I’d told him how much I loved him. So, to ‘the greatest man I ever knew,’ I love you.”

In a recent conversation, Matt joined the “Hallelujah Chorus” of Sunday dinner at “Nana’s and Granddaddy’s house. My great-grandmother fried chicken like nobody else. Her recipe, which to my knowledge has not been matched in St. Clair County, drew people from miles around. Everyone wanted some of that delicious, crispy-hot poultry. Granddaddy Watson had fresh corn and other vegetables to go with it. And if it was July, you could thump the watermelons and enjoy something delightful. Those were the days!”

A Christmas tradition

Shawn Banks, Judy and Curtis’ son, remembered Christmas time. “Some of my happiest memories are of Christmas at Granddaddy and Nana Watson’s home. Each year, a week or two before Christmas, Granddaddy would gather the grandchildren and set out to find the ideal tree. After traipsing down the hill, across the highway, through the woods along the creek, we would find our tree.

“When the tree was in place, everyone would gather in the living room to decorate our prize. We hung the stockings and … when the decorating was finished, Nana would say, ‘Isn’t that pretty?’ My favorite time was topping the tree with the star. Not an elaborate star; just a simple one that Granddaddy had made of cardboard and covered with tinfoil. Each year, a different grandchild got to put the star on the tree. It was an exciting time when my turn came around.”

To Shawn, the memory of that homemade Christmas star is “…a spark of inspiration. A little spark that could relight the ashes of burnout, until we spring forth like the Phoenix, finding a new zest and appreciation for family and happy memories.” Today, the cherished star radiates memories throughout the year from its protected place in a curio cabinet.

Sally and Hop were icons in Odenville, as were Sade and Alvin. Their many years of teaching in the elementary and high school bring fond memories to Odenvillians, many now in the senior citizen years.

Ode to Sade

Sade’s students undoubtedly remember her love for Alabama and Odenville history. She diligently collected local history and shared it with her students. When an Odenville history project was under way, she tracked down vintage photographs and located individuals who could contribute to the needed information. She was a cheerleader for Odenville.

Family members agree that Sade was the “Rock of Gibraltar” of the family and her heart was full of love for family and friend. Karen recalled Sade’s love for people and how she wanted everybody welcomed who came to the house, making sure that each had been introduced around to the others. Having grown up in a loving home, Sade knew how to love generously. That is a beautiful legacy expressed by her poet grandson, Matt Byers.

“Sade”

The picture of what love should be

Was seen upon her face.

The matron of our family

Displayed her love with grace:

Examples of how we should live

In order to bear fruit —

Examples of the way

To give to others as our root —

For Sade was more than we could see,

A wife, a mom, a saint.

A Mimi’s grandiosity

Whose ways were calm and quaint.

She cared for all as if her own

And never so for gain.

Her seeds of love were aptly sown,

Forever to remain.

Some sunny day, should you drive by this lovely home, think on this:  Happy memories are built on love, and love endures long after a dear one has left us behind. Such is the history of the Watson and Byers families.

Bridal Special

From New York to an island paradise, the sky
is the limit when you are willing to travel

Story by Linda Long
Submitted photos

Planning on attending a wedding anytime soon? Then, you might want to don some traveling duds and pack a suitcase. Destination weddings are a hot item these days, according to Joanie Mardis owner of Seasons of Adventure Travel in Moody.

From Half Moon Bay, Calif., to Tucson, Ariz., adventurous couples are hitting the road for hot places to get hitched. Among the top 10 in the U.S., says Mardis is, “anywhere in Florida – from San Destin to the Keys. “The closest to us for a wonderful wedding is San Destin with beautiful green waters and sugar white sand beaches.”

Other can’t miss destinations include Cape Cod, Napa Valley, Newport, New York City, Aspen and even as far north as the state of Maine. “And, of course, Las Vegas, where almost anything goes,” says Mardis. “Although, I can honestly say, I’ve never booked the Elvis Presley Wedding Chapel for anybody,” she laughed.

According to Mardis, the Caribbean is also a popular place to go where an all-inclusive resort is a favorite choice. At some venues, the wedding package is actually free of charge. The most familiar is Sandals Resort with options in Jamaica, Antigua, Saint Lucia, Bahamas, Grenada and Barbados.

“They have a basic wedding package that includes the ceremony (on the beach, in a garden, in a gazebo, day or night),” said Mardis. Add a bouquet and boutonnière of orchids, reception, decor and wedding cake, all in a standard color scheme of fuchsia and yellow, and you’ve got all you need.”

Mardis says the bride and groom can customize these weddings with different styles, ideas, colors, flowers and decor. The couple can have a larger, more elaborate reception for as many guests as they choose to bring. The more guests to stay at the resort with them, the more perks the couple gets, such as a welcome celebration, spa themes bridal party and a room category upgrade.

Another great resort for the free wedding offer, according to Mardis, is the Couples Resort in Jamaica. “A couple can choose from three locations for a dream wedding, free for the bride, groom and four guests staying in the resort for three days or more. These weddings can be customized for only the bride and groom, called the Runaway Bride Package for $350 all the way up to a Private Island wedding for up to 40 guests for $4,750.

Another popular wedding destination – a ship – from a private yacht to a cruise ship.  According to Mardis, cruise ship weddings take place, usually, before the ship sails. The wedding party boards the ship as soon as the ship is ready for passengers. A venue is already set up. The ceremony and reception take place. Then, those not sailing depart the ship before sailing time, and the bride and groom go on a honeymoon cruise.

But why are brides and grooms choosing destination weddings instead of traditional church wedding at home among family and friends?  There could be any number of reasons, says Mardis.

“It might be a second marriage for the bride and groom, or the couple may have families in different places. Instead of one family traveling, everyone travels. You get a great family vacation along with the wedding. Many times, the family only stays about 3 days (before, day of and day after the ceremony), then the bride and groom remain for several days for the honeymoon. Sometimes the bride and groom do not necessarily want a huge wedding, so they only invite a few people to join them in the destination of their choice. Or maybe, it’s just the thing to do these days.”

Mardis has one bit of caution, however, for couples planning a wedding outside the country. Requirements can vary from location to location. As Mardis explained, “Some places require you to be on the island for a select number of days before you can apply for your marriage license, anywhere from one to seven days. Some islands charge you fees to get married or to obtain your license, which can be up to $450 or maybe less than $100 depending on the island you choose.”

Couples also will have to have proof of ID, divorce decrees or a spouse’s death certificate if previously married, or parental consent, if under age

For more of Discover St. Clair’s special wedding coverage, read the full magazine in print or online at ISSUU

BEI Lighting and Warning

Retired policeman turns on “blue light” for business

Story by Jackie Romine Walburn
Photos by Graham Hadley

Retired police officer Ed Brasher has found his ideal after-retirement avocation.

Brasher – a former police chief and regional drug task force officer – combined an innate mechanical ability and career-honed knowledge about emergency equipment with a passion for the adrenaline boost of fast, cool vehicles to create a growing electronics, lighting and warning equipment and installation business in Odenville.

BEI Lighting and Warning (BEILW), previously Brasher Electronics, outfits police, fire and emergency vehicles with lights and security features, produces graphics and detailing for business and public vehicles and, most recently, is marketing its own line of LED lighting and sirens.

Today, the business Brasher and son Trey started in 2003 in the family’s two-car garage is the largest supplier of emergency equipment in Alabama with 5,000 square feet of custom work space and three employees.

And, as they expand the business with a new line of lighting and sirens and a growing list of services and clients, the father and son are continuing a family tradition of owning a business – begun by Ed Brasher’s businessman father.

Law enforcement career

After a very short tenure training as a butcher apprentice (too cold and messy, he recalls), Brasher began his three-decade career in law enforcement as a policeman in the small St. Clair town of Whites Chapel, a community that’s now part of the town of Moody. Next, he moved to the Odenville police department and served as police chief for Odenville from 1987 to 1990.

Joining the Pell City police force in 1990, Brasher served as night shift patrolman, then sergeant. He spent the mid-90s as part of the 30th Judicial Circuit’s Drug Task Force. Eventually promoted to captain then assistant police chief with Pell City Police, Brasher officially retired in 2014.

While a police officer, Brasher continued to drive trucks for his father’s business. “Some days I’d park the patrol car at the end of a shift and get in the 18-wheeler for a long haul, then return to start over again,” says Brasher, who noted that many police officers and firefighters supplement their incomes with additional work. “You do what you have to do when you are raising a family.”

Family tradition

Born in Birmingham, Brasher moved with his family to California and spent his childhood on the west coast where his father operated one of his businesses. Returning to Alabama with his family when he was 16, Brasher attended Hueytown High School for six months, then settled in at St. Clair High School, where he would meet his future wife on his first day.

“I sat down behind her in homeroom. I saw this beautiful girl and fell in love,” he says of his wife of 38 years, Kathy Foreman Brasher. “I told my best friend then that I was going to marry Kathy one day.”

And, he did marry Kathy Foreman, who it turns out shares Brasher’s mechanical bend and “adrenaline junkie” passion. They raised two sons, Trey, 33, and Shannon, 30.

Before becoming a police officer and as a sideline income since, Brasher drove long haul trucks for his father’s business, including delivering natural gas in 18-wheel rigs.

While Brasher worked as a police officer and sometimes truck driver, Kathy worked for the St. Clair sheriff’s department as a 911 dispatcher for 10 years and today manages the county’s pistol permit program.

Fast cars, motorcycles and an airplane

Always an “adrenaline junkie,” Brasher first flirted with speed and daring as a drag racer in California as a teen. He’s since had fast cars – a favorite being a 1969 AMX hot rod – and motorcycles, enjoying both the rides and the tinkering with engines and anything mechanical.

When their sons were young, Ed and Kathy Brasher loaded the boys up on their his-and-her big motorcycles and traveled on vacations to the west coast and Canada. Trey recalls these trips with fondness and admits to inheriting the mechanical adventure spirit from his parents.

 Brasher recalls with Trey, who is co-owner of BEILW and the company’s graphic expert, the time his parents had a 350 Chevy V-8 engine up on blocks in the living room, rebuilding it.

Since then, there have been other fast cars, a Piper 235 airplane that he and Trey are both licensed to fly and a new Gold Wing motorcycle, purchased as Brasher’s retirement present to himself.

Try this

The catalyst for what became BEILW was a friend who was selling police equipment but didn’t install the equipment. “He knew I had a background in electronics and asked if I was interested in the installation side of the business,” Brasher says. The friend knew the products would sell better if installation was part of the deal.

One day, Brasher came home to find a Crown Victoria in the driveway with equipment in the seat and a note, “Try this.”

Brasher and Trey installed the equipment on the Crown Vic. Then there were two or three more police cars in the driveway. They soon set up shop in the family garage.

Four years later, in 2007, they built the lobby and first workspace at the current location on Oakley Avenue in Odenville. In 2015, a graphic workspace was added. Then, in 2017, the company added its giant warehouse addition designed to accommodate fire trucks and ladder trucks, even 18-wheelers, with a 12- by 16-foot door. Upstairs is a break room and Brasher’s office. There’s also a parts room. The most recent workspace addition is a converted garage outfitted for painting and powder coating equipment.

Lights, sirens, graphics

Brasher’s company serves a specialty market, installing lights, sirens and other equipment on police, fire and emergency vehicles. The services and products include prisoner partitions, equipment consoles, radar, gun racks, laptop connections and push bumpers for police vehicles. They add towing bars and safety lifts on wreckers. The company creates graphics for the exteriors of emergency vehicles and for Realtors and others businesses. The graphics side of the business also produces signs and banners for the general public as well.

As each job on a vehicle begins, the business digitally records the VIN number and image of each vehicle they work on, before and after. This video databank helps with quality control, warranties and being able to reproduce exactly what the customer wants again.

In addition, video security cameras – and screens in Brasher’s office – work 24/7 patrolling the areas around the business to protect the expensive equipment and the customer’s vehicles.

Smart start

Another service offered by the company is installation, testing and removal of “Smart Start” ignition interlock systems in vehicles as part of court-ordered alcohol monitoring of drivers convicted of driving under the influence. The company is one of the state’s certified installers of the system that analyzes the driver’s breath and locks up if alcohol is detected. The Smart Start program is operated by Alabama’s Department of Forensic Sciences.

LED lights a game changer

LED lights that last longer and shine brighter have changed the world of emergency lighting, Brasher says. “They are compact and more reliable and use less power.”

The company’s new line of lighting and siren products, called BEILW and for sale online at BEILW.com, include products designed by Brasher and son with installation and use in mind. “They are more installer friendly, more functional and more aesthetically pleasing,” Brasher says. The line includes siren speakers, beacon lights, light bars and dash lights.

Emergency lighting on vehicles is color coded. Red is for firefighting vehicles; blue is for police, and amber is for emergency vehicles. “It’s always been against the law to have colored lights on civilian vehicles. The type of lights might change, but the color code is consistent, at least regionally. But, it’s the opposite “up north,” Brasher says, with fire being blue and police red.

Investing back in the business

When Brasher still worked with the police department as the company ramped up, he made sure he met all ethics requirements to not do business with police department he’d work for, and he made sure to funnel company proceeds back into the young business. Today, he says, the company is debt free as it continues to grow and add services. Before he retired and went to work there full time, “we invested everything back into the business,” he says, noting there were many what seemed like “43-hour days and 23-day weeks.”

But now the retired police officer tries to hold his work days to five-day weeks, leaving him time for adrenaline-inducing fast cars, motorcycles and airplane rides.

Doris Munkus

Organizer extraordinaire puts skills,
compassion to work for good causes

Story by Elaine Hobson Miller
Photos by Michael Callahan
Submitted Photos

Doris Munkus likes to organize. When she’s not organizing line dancers, senior citizens and fundraisers, she turns to her own household.

“I color-code everything,” she confesses, not the least bit sheepishly. “I have five grandchildren, and I color-code their towels, their bedding, their chairs, even their toothbrushes and drink cups. They can’t change them, either. I don’t have to buy name tags at Christmas, I just wrap their gifts in their colors.”

Freud might call her anal about organizing, but folks around Pell City call her genius. Over the past six years, her organizational skills have helped raise more than $150,000 for various charities and first responders in her community. Her main claim to fame is Dancing With Our Stars. This annual competition mimics television’s Dancing With The Stars, pairing experienced dancers with local bankers, professionals, business owners, elected and school officials, firefighters, police officers and others.

But Doris’ organizational skills go back much further than the 2014 debut of DWOS, however. “I organized a float to represent Dallas County for former Gov. Guy Hunt’s inauguration parade,” says Doris, who taught art in that county’s school system when she lived in Selma. “I staged an Invention Convention for the school children, too. I like to organize big things.”

In 2001 former Pell City Councilwoman and fellow church member Betty Turner picked up on Doris’ organizational abilities and asked her to start an exercise class at their church, Cropwell Baptist. “I couldn’t then because my mom lived with me and I was taking care of her,” Doris recounts. “She died in 2002, so in 2003 I started that class. It was free and open to anyone.”

 After seven or eight years, the exercising hour got a little too long. Doris had taught line dancing as activities director at the Pell City Senior Citizen Center in the late 1990s, so she suggested adding that to the mix. Everyone involved agreed.

“We did a half hour of exercise, half hour of line dancing for several years, then we dropped the exercise portion and just did line dancing,” Doris explains. In 2009, the classmoved to Celebrations, and Doris added a$4 charge per class to cover the expenses of renting Celebrations, buying the music, the signage, the DVD player and other incidentals. The rolls show 50 people, but the average attendance is about 30.

While the class was still at Cropwell, the late Kathy Patterson was on the board of the St. Clair County Relay for Life and asked whether Doris’ line dancers might want to raise money for cancer research. “That first year we raised $2,000, and dancing wasn’t even involved,” Doris says. True to form, shestarted thinking bigger, and the class held sock hops the next year. People responded well, so Melinda Williams, the American Cancer Society representative for St. Clair and several other counties, suggested the dancers hold a Dancing With Our Stars as another fundraiser.

“Our first was February 14, 2014,” Doris says. “February seems to be best month, but we have done it in March and April. In February of this year, we raised $23,111 and those numbers are still climbing because we’re selling DVDs from the show.”

Deserved rave reviews

Tim Kurzejeski is a battalion chief and one of four members of the Pell City Fire Department who line-danced to the 1977 Bee Gees hit, Stayin’ Alive, at the first DWOS – in full protective gear. He has nothing but praise for Doris and the DWOS event.

“Thefire department here in Pell City has had a dance team at Dancing With Our Stars every year since that first year,” Kurzejeski says. “Doris is great. She’s very energetic, she just tries to do the best and most she can to give back to the community. She’s very easy to work with, and it’s actually fun.”

Dancing With Our Stars no longer raises funds for Relay for Life. Instead, the money goes to a different organization each year. In 2016 it benefitted Children’s Hospital of Alabama, in 2017, it was the Pell City Fire Department, in 2018 the Pell City Police Department, and this year, it was for the St. Clair County Sheriff’s Department. Next year, DWOS will raise money for the St. Clair County Children’s Advocacy Center. “The dancers and people who buy tickets respond well to local charities,” Doris says. “People call us and ask us to raise money for their charity, and we put them on a list. We check them out, and the entire committee must agree on them. We’ll never do it for an individual, though.”

She has a committee of eight line dancers who do much of the planning for the event. “We already have the menu for next year,” she says. “Vickie Potter, who’s in charge of the food, already has next year’s food court and theme. It will be a hobo theme in 2020.”

Other committee members include Donna McAlister, photo and technical coordinator; Kathie Dunn; Kathy Hunter; Lavelle Willingham, treasurer; Martha Hill; Paulette Israel and Sue Nickens, Silent Auction coordinators. Jeremy Gossett has been emcee, and Jamison Taylor has been the disc jockey for the event since its inception. Griffin Harris is the tech guru who sets up the text line the audience uses to vote for favorites. “It’s all run by volunteers,” Doris says.

Recruiting dancers was hard the first year, but it’s much easier now. In fact, people often call Doris asking to participate. “It’s amazing how much talent we have in this area,” she says. This year, 600 people paid $25 each to eat dinner and watch the show at Celebrations, where all but one DWOS has been held. Next year, it will move to the CEPA building, on the gym side, which holds 2,000 people. “There’s more parking space there, too,” Doris says.

St. Clair County Sheriff Billy J.Murray readily admits that Doris is one of two people he just can’t say “no” to. (The other is his wife.) “Doris has a tremendous work ethic, and she’s very organized,” he says. “There’s always a lot of stuff that comes up that someone has to handle in preparing for the show, and she steps up to the role of managing the chaos.”

Although dancing is out of his comfort zone, he has already signed up for next year because Doris makes it so much fun. “I know how to be sheriff, but I don’t know how to dance,” Murray says. “We (the sheriff’s department) had nearly 30 people helping in some capacity this year, dancing, building props, helping with costumes and makeup. I wouldn’t hesitate to partner with Doris and her line dancers again.”

Joanna Murphree, the executive assistant to the administrator of St. Vincent’s St. Clair, has worked with Doris on DWOS for the past three years, and she, too, has high praise for this wonder woman. “The hospital has had a team in the group division, the Dance Fevers team,” she says. “Doris’s organizational skills are phenomenal. She’s pleasant to work with, too, and very thorough.”

Destination: Worthy cause

When she’s not working on DWOS, Dorisorganizes short, one day or overnight trips for the St. Clair County Baptist Association as a volunteer, as well as cruises and one- and two-week bus trips under the banner of her Pell City Cruisers. This sideline began in 1998, when she worked at the senior center. She charters the buses, plans the itineraries and the meals, books the hotels, the whole shebang. “I did one 14-day bus trip where we flew into Las Vegas and toured 12-14 national parks in nine states,” she says. She has done tours to Canada, Colorado, Montana, Utah, the Ark in Kentucky and the Panama Canal Zone. She makes photo books of each trip, just like she does with each DWOS event. “All of these trips and cruises are open to anyone of any age or denomination,” she says.

In addition, she and the Pell City Line Dancers perform at community events, such as the Halloween Festival at Old Baker’s Farm in Shelby County, Homestead Hollow in Springville and the Pell City Block Party. They dance monthly at the Colonel Robert L. Howard State Veterans Home in Pell City, at the Village at Cook Springs, and at Danbury in Inverness in Shelby County.

When she isn’t traveling or organizing something, she helps her husband, Victor, who is retired from National Cement in Ragland, with Munk’s Renovations. They remodel apartments, refurbish the cabinets they remove and resell them. The couple has been married for 22 years, and yes, she organizes his life, too. But he doesn’t mind at all.

“She’s a wonderful lady, she’s sweet, lovable, real thoughtful,” he gushes. Victor says she organizes his closet, too. “I have a section for work shirts, for dress shirts, for shoes, socks, pants and underwear,” he says. “She has tags, so I’ll know where everything’s supposed to go. She doesn’t like for me to leave my shoes or clothes lying around, and she’ll come behind me and pick them up. I’ve been living with her for almost 23 years, and I guess neither of us is going to change.”

Editor’s Note: For a video or DVD of still pictures of the 2019 Dancing With Our Stars, call Doris at 205-473-4063. They are $10 each.

You may also call her for more information about her trips.

Line dancing classes meet at 9 a.m. on Wednesdays and Fridays, with beginner classes following at 10 a.m. on the same days. Payment is on the honor system, with a box set out to collect the $4 per person charge. l