Floyd Waites

Born to play the piano … and sing

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

Seddon Baptist Church

From fishing creek to Ferryville to Seddon

Story by Joe Whitten
Photos by Wally Bromberg Jr.
Submitted Photos

Today, the recreational waters of Logan Martin Lake wash over the abandoned 19th Century towns of Ferryville and Seddon.

Ferryville grew up around J.D. Truss’ ferry that connected St. Clair and Talladega Counties, lying across the Coosa River from each other.

James David “J. D.” Truss, the son of Enos and Tabitha Bradford Truss, married Martha Cordellia Coleman, daughter of William and Marannah Roberson Coleman of Riverside, on June 10, 1854.

When the Civil War began in 1861, Truss and a group of men met under an apple tree in Cropwell, and organized Company C of the 10th Alabama Infantry Regiment, with J.D. Truss as captain. Thirty-three years after the war, his obituary in The Southern Aegis, Feb. 1, 1899, told of his courage, leadership and love for his companions, but also spoke of his compassion for all people, rich or poor.

 The June 30, 1876, issue of The Southern Aegis, published an unsigned letter, titled “Ferryville, Ala.” It stated that Ferryville “…is a little village situated on the banks of the Coosa River.” They listed Ferryville’s businesses as “…a carriage shop, a blacksmith shop, a post office, a good Templer’s Lodge, a Baptist church, and the dry goods house.” Post office records show that in 1868 Sylvester Coolidge served as the Ferryville Postmaster.

 W.H. Cather wrote a series of St. Clair County history articles in 1897 for his newspaper, The Southern Aegis, which he established in 1872. In 1972, the St. Clair County Library Board transcribed Cather’s articles and printed them as his History of St. Clair County. One article, titled “An Indian Story,” tells of Ferryville’s connection with the Indians.

W.A. Coleman of Riverside took his four-year-old son, Sidney, to Coleman’s father-in-law, John Roberson, to visit with his grandparents in Ferryville. By the second day, Sidney wanted to go home, and while everyone was busy, he started out.

“He had not gone far,” Cather wrote, “until an Indian by the wayside saw him and knowing him, followed him for the purpose of protecting him … On arriving at home, little Sidney fell down on the doorsteps with the exclamation, ‘Ma, I thought I would never get to your house anymore.’ The Indian who had watched him through the forests, followed in immediately after him, and of course, there was great alarm until it was all understood.” Cather said Mr. Coleman’s eyes filled with tears when he recounted this.

Ferryville to Seddon

Ferryville flourished until the town of Seddon arose about a mile north with the completion of the Georgia Pacific Railroad in 1880. A June 6, 1942, Birmingham News article titled, “This Date in Alabama History,” tells for whom the town was named. It records that the railroad village of Seddon is “…on the Southern Railroad between Birmingham and Anniston. It was named for Thomas Seddon who … was associated with interests that financed the building of the Georgia Pacific Railroad, now the Birmingham-Atlanta branch of the Southern Railroad.”

According to Pell City Library Director Danny Stewart, “Thomas Seddon’s first job was at the Sloss in their railroad section, before he became president of the company.” Seddon died May 10, 1896, and was buried in Hollywood Cemetery, Richmond, Virginia.

 The “Seddon” article in The Heritage of St. Clair County records the population as 500 when the town was incorporated (1880) and states that some worked at the “…Empire Lumber Company which operated both a sawmill and lumber yard.”

It also records that Ferryville families moved from there to Seddon.

Seddon Depot

Mattie Lou Teague Crow, in her History of St. Clair County Alabama, wrote “The first merchant [in Seddon] was J.K.P. Lacy. Dr. Harry Green Crump was the first doctor. Other settlers were Jack Maddox, W.H. and W.N. Roberson and Harvy Bell. When the timber supply was exhausted, the mills moved away.”

Today, any memory of Seddon is fading like a sepia tone photograph forgotten in the sun. However, one vibrant entity still survives – Seddon Baptist Church.

Organized in 1873 as Fishing Creek Baptist Church, the name changed to Ferryville Baptist Church in 1874. Richard M. Perry served as the first pastor.

Early records are scant, and no one knows where the members met for worship before they constructed a building. Nor is there a list of charter members. However, Stewart’s research found that Seddon Baptist sent J.D. Truss as representative, or messenger, to the Coosa River Baptist Association meeting in 1874. So, it’s probable that Truss was a charter member.

Seddon Baptist provided a first for that association in 1908, as recorded in Coosa River Baptist Association, 1833-1983, by Margaret Keelen Newman. “Early, only pastors of churches of the Association were given messenger status. … The most important change came in 1908 when the Seddon Church sent Mrs. Stella Brothers, Miss Minnie Crump and Miss Lenola Crump as messengers to the annual meeting. During the afternoon of the second day of a three-day meeting, the accepted messengers voted to enroll the women as messengers.”

The church didn’t send a messenger in 1909 but in 1910 sent Miss L.E. Smith and none after. Because of Seddon, other churches began sending women messengers, and in 1913 the Association agreed that “there could be no barring of anyone on the basis of sex.”

The date for Seddon Baptist constructing a sanctuary is unclear; however, the July 3, 1889, Weekly Age Herald article, “Festival at Seddon,” reports: “The supper last Friday night given by the ladies of Seddon for the benefit of the new Baptist Church was a complete success, the net receipts accounting $206.05.” 

The festival also sponsored a “bouquet” contest. “The contest for the bouquet which was to be given to the most beautiful young lady was very exciting and $130.00 was raised from this. Miss Leona Fowler … received the bouquet from Mr. J.S. Lacy.” A total of $336.05 in 1889 was a grand sum. It seems this money helped construct the first sanctuary.

Singings brought together church and community. One for Seddon was announced in Our Mountain Home, Talladega, Alabama, May 19, 1909. “There will be an all-day singing at Seddon on the 5th Sunday in May. It will be a Sacred Harp singing and everybody is invited to come and enjoy the occasion. The old-time music is getting a new start among the people of Seddon.” This singing was acapella because the voice itself was the “sacred harp.”

Regular worship services flourished in the first sanctuary until the demise of the town. From 1926 until 1938 there was no church in Seddon.

What caused this? The town’s economy lay in timber and lumbermills, so when the timber supply ran out, timber companies left. When the timber mills left, people left.

Jack Walker, who grew up in Seddon, recalled history he learned from parents and relatives when he wrote of Seddon’s decline.

“The clouds of a terrible depression were forming. Mills, factories, and stores were closing down. … Seddon which had been a thriving town was fast falling apart. We had a train depot, a drugstore, a general merchandise store, a grocery store, and other businesses as well as two large churches. Within a year, all these businesses were closed and boarded up. Both churches were closed. … Seddon had become a ghost town.” Walker’s memories were published in the Georgia newspaper, Jackson Progress-Argus, May 9, 2008.

According to Betty Clements’ Heritage article, Ruby Walker was the force behind resurrecting Seddon Baptist Church about 1938. At that time the only surviving church building was the Methodist church owned by Dr. John Roberson. Mrs. Walker met with Dr. Roberson, and he agreed to let the Baptists meet in the building; however, he soon asked them to meet elsewhere.

The Heritage article relates that Walter and Leona Crump had an unused barn, which they let the congregation use for church. The Crumps emptied the barn, cleaned it inside and out, painted the interior and exterior white, replaced the barn doors with two double doors, and added entrance steps.

Inside, they installed a wood floor. “They raised the floor in front,” she recounted, “so that the men’s choir would be on one side and the ladies’ choir on the other side. In between, they built a pulpit. The lighting was kerosene lamps.”

The Crumps donated both the building and the property to Seddon Baptist’s trustees.

Linda Haynes Grantham recalled girlhood memories of this church. “To get to church, we drove over the railroad tracks and down a slight hill … Seddon Baptist Church sat on the left, a beautiful church painted white. We had a potbellied stove in the sanctuary and a raised choir loft. A huge window fan was in the window on the right in the choir loft that kept us quite comfortable – even during hot summers.

“…Brother [Lewis] Nixon was our minister and Betty Williamson Turner was our talented pianist.” Lewis Nixon was pastor from 1952 until 1957.

The church thrived during these years, with yearly revivals announced in the newspaper, as in this News-Aegis of July 21, 1955: “The annual homecoming at Seddon Baptist Church will be held next Sunday. The revival will begin Sunday night. At Sunday’s homecoming, there will be singing and dinner served on the grounds at noon. The public is invited to come and bring a basket … Rev. J.S. Williams of Pell City, evangelist.”

In the 1960s, with the completion of Logan Martin Dam and the Coosa River’s waters filling the lake, Seddon Baptist purchased land on Cropwell Cutoff Road (Hardwick Road) and constructed a brick sanctuary. A News-Aegis article of June 4, 1964, announced the dedication to be “…on June 7th at 2:30 p.m. …Bro. Paul H. Mabe will bring the dedication message.”

“The new building,” the article continued, “is valued at $27,000.00. However, the work was done by members and friends in the community, thereby saving the cost of labor.” According to the article, Cady Bryan drew the plans and was in charge of construction. Rev. J.Z. Lipham was pastor.

The first revival in this building was announced in The Anniston Star on August 31, 1963. “The Rev. Barlow Mason, pastor of Grace Baptist Church, will be evangelist for special services at Seddon Baptist Church Sept. 28. The pastor, Rev. J.Z. Lipham, announced the services would begin nightly at 7 o’clock.”

As the years passed, Seddon Baptist attendance ebbed and flowed as was typical of many churches. Current pastor, Dale Foote, accepted the pastorate when attendance was perhaps at its lowest. “I started as pastor of Seddon Baptist Church in April 1995. That was Easter Sunday, April 16. At that time, we averaged less than ten people a Sunday,” he recalled.

A turning point occurred in February 1996, 10 months into Foote’s tenure. The church burned down. “Seddon Baptist Church Destroyed by Fire,” reported Gary Hanner in a Feb. 8 News-Aegis article. Hanner quoted Pell City Fire Chief Mike Sewell, “It appears the fire started around two gas heaters that were behind the baptistery. I saw a tint of blue in the flame and that let me know that natural gas was involved.”

Bro. Dale told Hanner, “When I became pastor, we had six people who came the first Sunday. The last Sunday we met here, we had 60 for the morning service. We’ve had 18 saved and 33 additions to the church … We aren’t going to let this get us down. We will rebuild in the same spot. The Lord sent me here for a reason. I just want people to pray for us.”

And it didn’t get them down even though insurance covered only a fraction of the rebuilding cost. “We had $180,000 in insurance,” Foote recalled, “and the estimated cost of building back was half a million dollars. We were $300,000 in the hole.”

Campers on Mission were a Godsend for the rebuilding. “I have a friend – a general contractor – who is a member of Campers on Mission,” Foote said, “and he helped us to rebuild.”

In the March 13, 1997, issue of the News-Aegis, Anne Boone wrote of Campers on Mission in her article, “Building churches, fellowship and faith.”

She quotes Camper Bill Pilgreen., “We are Christians who travel to … disaster areas that need us.” Boone told of Pilgreen and his wife, who, although living in Pell City, “…set up their camper with others from their organization across the street from Seddon Baptist Church.”

Boone reported that other churches, community folk and community businesses came together to help Seddon Baptist Church in the rebuilding. Some donated food, some time and material. Cropwell Baptist provided their kitchen for preparation of noonday meals for the Campers.

At completion, the church owed $90,000 – a lot of money, yes, but far less than the $300,000 insurance didn’t cover.

The church’s Fellowship Hall escaped destruction, so the congregation met there for worship from February 1996 until December 1997. “There were weeks that we didn’t have power or HVAC or water in the Fellowship Hall because of the demolition. We had porta potties,” Foote reminisced, “and we used a kerosene heater in cold weather. We never missed a service.”

“Just before Christmas (1997), almost 40 people with active membership at Seddon Baptist held Sunday morning service inside the new church sanctuary for the first time,” Laura Nation wrote in her Jan. 24, 1998, Daily Home article, “Good will breathes new life into church.” Her article announced a revival running from Feb. 16-20 and a Feb. 28 benefit singing featuring the musical group, “Assurance.” The building dedication would occur on Sunday March 15.

With this new beginning, attendance and membership increased as months turned into years under Bro. Dale’s bi-vocational ministry. In 2003, attendance had grown to over 100 each Sunday and the church called him as their first full-time pastor.

“We filled that building. It held about 150, and we stayed full for years,” Foote recalled. “In 2010, we went to two Sunday morning services, and by the end of that year, we were averaging 300 in the two services.” Although the church desired to expand, the property was land-locked, and no adjacent property was available.

One day, Bro. Dale saw the “For Sale” sign at the old 84 Lumber complex on Cogswell Avenue. The property had gone back to the bank, and someone bought it. In 2010, the church located the owner and began negotiations. In 2013, the church made an offer for the property, and the owner accepted it.

The church renovated the property for a sanctuary, a children’s worship center, and a youth worship center.

So, a facility providing building materials for houses became a facility providing building materials for the soul.

On Sept. 24, 2023, Seddon Baptist celebrated its 150th anniversary. On this day, Alabama Baptist State Missionary Ben Edfeldt presented a certificate of recognition from the Alabama Baptist Association. After the service, the church family enjoyed an afternoon of fellowship, games and food.

Associate Pastor Chris Mayfield first attended Seddon Baptist in 2005 because his girlfriend, Megan Foote, invited him. He continued attending with Megan, and in 2006 he accepted Christ and joined the church. He and Megan married and are parents to two children.

Chris serves in several areas, including adults, but his main area is with children and their Sunday school curriculum. “I’ve been in children’s ministry here for a decade or more, now” Chris commented, “so I’ve had a lot of my former kids come and serve alongside me in children’s ministry.”

Chris and Megan work together in the church’s summer Vacation Bible School, an event for the entire and surrounding communities. “I write the VBS curriculum and lessons,” Chris said, “and right now, I’ve got about four years planned.” Megan oversees the teaching staff, music, and decorations.

According to Bro. Dale, VBS is one of the wonderful ministry events of the church. Attendance averages around 300 each summer.

Micah Kitchen is minister of Seddon Students. “We seek to encourage and equip students to live their lives to the fullest for Jesus,” he recently commented. “We are passionate about teaching students the Word of God and how to live out their lives to make the Gospel known at home, their schools and their communities.”

Kitchen and his students participate in the First Priority Club at Pell City High School. They also partner with the St. Clair Baptist Association for See You at the Pole Afterparty and St. Clair County Night of Worship. Yearly student events include Summer Camp and Disciple Now – an event where students stay at host homes, attend study sessions and spend intentional time in discipleship.

Seddon is a traditional Southern Baptist church, having a senior pastor and two associate pastors. However, it differs somewhat from other Southern Baptists in that Seddon has both deacons and elders. “I am privileged to have Biblical elders,” Bro. Dale said. “I have five to eight men who preach here.”

Chairman of Elders Rodney Ray joined Seddon in 2008. “My wife and I saw the vibrance of the church and how the Word of God was preached. It was so refreshing that we have never left.”

Of the church being elder led, Ray said, “We kind of grew into it. As we studied the book of Acts and the Apostle Paul’s epistles, we saw that Paul’s instructions were always to appoint elders. It was plural. We have eight serving as elders, and we call it our Church Council. Three are paid pastors, and five are bi-vocational, or lay pastors.”

Each lay elder teaches a class and serves in other areas as well. Ray emphasized that members other than elders also teach classes, “… but I do feel that the teaching and preaching of the Word of God lies with the Elders.”

When asked for a comment about Bro. Dale, he said, “There’s a difference between a preacher and a pastor – someone you know was called by God and placed in that position. Dale Foote is at the top of that list. I say that because of the effect he’s had on my life.”

Today, attendance averages around 400. In 2024, the church hopes to complete a Family Life Center in their complex – a gymnasium-fellowship hall. The church serves all age groups, but the median age is 37 years. “We have wonderful senior citizen members,” Foote commented, “but we are still a ‘young’ church and have been privileged to reach young people.”

Bro. Dale’s focus for Seddon’s congregation is that they “Invite, Invest, and Intercede.” Invite someone, invest in them, and pray for them. “Our goal is to continue to share the Gospel and to make disciples,” he said recently. “That doesn’t change; every year, that’s our goal.”

Proverbs 3:5-6 is Foote’s favorite Bible passage: “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not to your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him and He will direct your paths.” He has seen the assurance of these verses proved true multiple times in his 29 years of serving God at Seddon Baptist.

In 1873, not only was Seddon Baptist Church organized, but Fanny Crosby’s hymn, Blessed Assurance, also was published in July of that year. Whether or not Seddon’s congregation sang it that year, we don’t know. What we do know is the assurance of Proverbs 3:5-6 connects well with the hymn’s words:

Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine,
Oh, what a foretaste of Glory divine.
Heir of Salvation, purchased of God,
Born of His spirit, washed in His blood.
This is my story, this is my song;
Praising my Savior all the day long.

Knowing this blessed assurance, Foote continues to trust God and His guidance as he and the elders lead Seddon in sharing the Gospel and making disciples.

From 1873 to 2024 and onward, Seddon Baptist Church continues faithful as a beacon of hope in a dark world.

Heritage Quilts

180-year-old cloth square replicated in acrylics for
barn display

Story by Elaine Hobson Miller
Photos by Mandy Baughn

When Mike Jones’ great-great grandmother, Euphrasia Hannah Gibson, died in 1874, she left a box of quilt squares that she had intended to sew together. She probably had no idea those squares would someday hang in the homes of future generations, much less be replicated on wood and hung on a barn in Cropwell.

“My grandmother had the box of quilt squares, and when she died 15-20 years ago, her daughters rediscovered them when they cleaned out her house,” says Jones. “They got together and passed them out to each of the 14 cousins. So, we have had them that long. My daughter, Kristina Alexander, has one, too. I’m not sure who has the rest of that box of squares.”

Holding their quilt squares in front of the Jones barn are cousins Joy Sanford, Kathy Callahan (standing in for husband Jimmy), Walter Jones, Mike Jones, Michelle Dowler (for her mom, Gayle Boone), Karen Ragsdale, Christy Robbins (for her dad, Don Callahan, deceased), Carol Tucker, and Quinn Stewart (second oldest cousin at 83)

Kristina’s daughter, Jules, was 16 when she translated her 4th-great-grandmother’s quilt piece to a wooden board during the summer of 2023. Jules’ mom did the math and figured out how to enlarge the quilt block pattern to scale for a 6-foot-2.5-inch square piece of plywood that Mike cut for that purpose.

She put a screw in the center of the board and tied a string to it to make a compass, then used geometry to figure out the ratios. That was after Mike had painted three layers of a white base coat onto the board. Jules used a pencil to draw the design, a Dresden Plate with a star in the center and some extra colors in the corners.

“It took me a good while, because I had lots of coats to do,” says Jules. “I had to tape off each section to get clean lines. My grandfather picked the colors. He wanted something fall but bright and festive.”

Jules has been involved in art a long time, and usually prefers working with watercolors. She has painted stationery for friends and family, and helped groups from her church, Pell City United Methodist, to paint murals in a local private high school. “So, when my grandfather asked me to do this job, I was excited.”

The quilt squares are about 180 years old, according to Mike’s wife, Sandra. “The blocks were given to all the cousins in Mike’s generation.”

On Aug. 31, most of those 14 cousins gathered at the Jones House to celebrate Labor Day and compare their quilt squares. Each one features the same Dresden Plate design, but in a different color palette. Some have framed theirs, others haven’t yet. Each is proud of the heritage, though.

The Joneses hope their barn quilt will become a part of the Alabama Barn Quilt Trail. An agricultural tourism project, the Trail is designed to promote travel and community pride by encouraging the public to explore the state’s roads, farms, businesses and historic towns, according to its website. “Barn Quilts are part of what has become known as ‘The American Quilt Trail Movement,’ featuring colorful quilt squares painted on barns and buildings throughout North America,” the site states. “It is one of the fastest-growing grassroots public art movements in the United States. Tourists come to discover the quilt squares on thousands of barns and buildings scattered along driving trails throughout the nation.”

A Jones Family scrapbook displays a photo of Euphrasia Hannah Gibson (woman on right-hand page), among other family members

Regina Painter founded the Alabama Barn Quilt Trail in 2015, primarily in five northwestern counties of the state because of grant money from the Northwest Alabama Resource Conservation & Development Council. “We are very concentrated in north Alabama, but now have grant money from the Alabama State Council on the Arts to cover the entire state,” she says.

A fabric quilter herself, Painter saw her first barn quilt at a quilt show in Tennessee several years ago. “I fell in love with the idea and wanted to see them in Alabama. So, I started the Alabama Barn Quilt Trail with assistance from several groups and individuals.”

 By registering with the Trail, a person encourages agritourism and promotes small communities across the state as visitors check out the beautiful quilt blocks and their settings, Painter says. “We promote the Trail with brochures, public presentations, social media and various television and printed publications.”

The organization will help anyone pick out a design and colors, and will register a barn quilt for the trail after forms available on the site are filled out and turned in. (See alabamabarnquilttrail.org). If, like the Joneses and at least half a dozen others in St. Clair County, you have already painted your quilt, you can still get it added to the trail. Interested barn owners may contact the organization by email (alabamabarnquilts@gmail.com)

According to the website, the benefits to communities and their small businesses include:

  • Providing an economic benefit from tourism for businesses and farms on the Quilt Trail
  • Promoting preservation of our historic barns
  • Honoring the agricultural roots of the State of Alabama
  • Creating public art and paying tribute to the uniquely American history of beautiful quilts.

The trail is supported by the Alabama State Council on the Arts, ALFA and the Alabama Farmers Federation.

Of the 204 quilts on the state trail, seven are located in St. Clair County. In some cases there may be more than one wooden quilt registered. The Ashville House of Quilts in downtown Ashville, for example, has three designs. Greensport Marina has one, and one of the marina owners, Beth Evans Smith, has three others registered at various buildings on Greensport Road. The Trousdale Family has three blocks at 22630 U.S. Hwy. 411 in Ashville.

A barn quilt at 4522 County Road 22 is registered to Mark and Emily Taylor of Ashville. But it actually belongs to Emma Bean, the granddaughter of Emily’s deceased sister and husband, Doris and Billy Bean.

Painted in 2022, Grandmother’s Flower Garden is the name of Emma’s quilt square. “This was her grandparents’ barn,” says Mark. “An Alabama Barn Quilt Trail crew drew the quilt pattern.” Father and daughter, Nathan and Emma Bean, along with other volunteers, painted it. The barn and the land it’s on was passed down to Emma from her grandparents.

“We have some at my business, Taylor Fence, at 4097 County Road 22, and at our home, 9463 County Road 31, both in Ashville, but they are not registered on the Alabama trail,” Mark says.

Quilter Joyce Foster, who lives on Belvedere Drive in Ashville, doesn’t have a barn and didn’t fancy mounting a large board on her garage, so she attached her 10-by-10-inch quilt square to her mailbox post. “It’s no particular design,” she says. “I just drew some lines on a piece of plywood and filled them in, then painted it. I think that was about four years ago.”

Rosie the Riveter

Springville’s Own Gatha Harvey

Story by Joe Whitten
Submitted Photos

It was 2011 when retired Pell City educator Deanna Lawley offered an idea to help boost the Pell City Schools Educational Foundation’s On Dec. 8, 1941, at 12:30 Eastern Standard Time, a solemn silence settled over the nation as stunned citizens heard President Franklin Rosevelt over the radio intone these stark words: “Yesterday, December 7, 1941 – a day which will live in infamy – the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by the naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan.”

Six and a half minutes later, President Rosevelt ended his address: “I ask that the Congress declare that since the unprovoked and dastardly attack by Japan on Sunday, December 7th,1941, a state of war has existed between the United States and the Japanese Empire.”

Gatha Harvey of Springville, Alabama, remembers how she learned of the Pearl Harbor attack. “We had been up to my sister’s and were on our way home,” she recounted. “Daddy always liked to have music, so he had the radio on, and they interrupted the program and told about Pearl Harbor being bombed.”

Americans were galvanized toward winning this war. Scores of youths dropped out of high school to join the military. Women became part of the war effort by working jobs previously occupied by men now fighting in various parts of the world.

Gatha would soon become part of the women’s work force.

From Hartwell to Marietta, Georgia

Graduating high school in 1944 at age 17, she wanted a job, but Hartwell offered very few choices – working in a sewing factory or clerking in a department store. Not an exciting outlook for her.

Then her aunt and uncle came from Marietta for a visit one weekend. Gatha recalls the day. “Daddy’s sister, Ruth, and her husband were working in the Bell Bomber Plant in Marietta, Georgia. They made B-29 planes. She said, ‘Why don’t you come to Atlanta with us?’ ” And I said, ‘I don’t know if Daddy would let me go that far away.’ ” However, Ruth did the asking, and Gatha’s daddy did indeed let her go with them.

Gatha Harvey poses for a portrait

At Bell Bomber Plant, Ruth took Gatha to the employment office, and they hired her. “I started working on airplane wings, bucking rivets,” Gatha smiled. An online article, Buck Riveting Basics, explains the process. “A bucked rivet is a round fastener that attaches two or more pieces of metal together. The rivet is driven by a rivet gun (a specialized pneumatic hammer) with an attached rivet set (strike surface) shaped to match the rounded shape of the manufactured head of the rivet. During the process, the tail of the rivet is backed up by a bucking bar that acts as an anvil while the rivet gun and set are repeatedly striking the head. As the rivets are driven, the tail (blunt end) of the rivet is transformed into a flat mushroom called a ‘shop head.’ ” So, in June 1944, Gatha officially became a Rosie the Riveter – a group still famous.

“The first day I was working,” Gatha reminisced, “I’ll bet I had gone that far (measures about two or three feet with her hands), and the inspector came to check my work. He was a young man, and he marked every one of my rivets, and I had to take ‘em all out. And I thought, ‘Boy, you sure are mean.’ Every one of my rivets had to come out because they were too close to the edge. So, I got ‘em all put in, and got ‘em right, and kept going. If we hadn’t got ‘em out, that plane could have come apart when it got in the air.”

The inspector, Alfred Harvey, was not mean after all, because four months later, on Oct. 21, 1944, he and Gatha White were married – a marriage that lasted 47 and a half years until Alfred’s death in 1992.

In January 1945, expecting their first baby, James Richard, Alfred and Gatha quit their jobs at Bell Bomber and moved to Birmingham. Alfred worked for a while in an airplane plant, then drove a truck. His sister who worked in the Tax Assessor’s office and suggested that if he wanted to drive a truck, he should take the Civil Service Test and work for the city of Birmingham. He took the test, passed it, was hired and worked 29 years for the city.

“We had a good life,” Gatha reflected. “On Oct. 28, 1945, my son Jimmy Harvey was born., and seven years later my daughter, Alice Faye Harvey Stone was born. We weren’t rich, but we had a good life.”

Growing up

In the summer of 1926, a heatwave skewered Georgia, and on the day Gatha White was born, July 21, the sun blazed over the horizon and sizzled the thermometer up to 108 degrees at Reed Creek community, her birthplace. It’s still the record heat today.

The fifth of nine children born to Judge Reese White and his wife, Arlie Maude Brown White, Gatha talked of her early years. “My daddy was a farmer. He raised corn, cotton and vegetable gardens.” All farm family children worked a farm thinning corn, chopping cotton, weeding the vegetable garden, gathering the vegetables – whatever the season required. “There were nine of us,” Gatha reminisced, “and as we got big enough to work, we all worked in the field.”

When the cotton matured, they helped with the harvest. “We would get out of school in September for six weeks to pick cotton,” Gatha recalled. This discontinuing of school for several weeks, called “getting out for cotton picking,” was a common practice in Southern states.

“We had a good time,” Gatha smiled, recalling home and her brothers and sisters. “On Sunday, my daddy would hitch up the mules to the wagon, and we’d go to church. And if there were any neighbors that didn’t have a way, he’d take them with us in the wagon.” The family mostly attended the Baptist church, but many churches had preaching only once a month, so the family attended whichever denomination was having church on Sunday.

Remembering those long ago preachers, Gatha reflected, “Sometimes they would pay the minister with chickens. Vegetables. They seldom got much money.”

She reminisced about school. “We went to a country school and rode the bus at Reed Creek. Then when we moved to Hartwell, Georgia, we’d walk to school. We all graduated high school.”

Gatha’s favorite subject in school was cooking class. “I used to watch my mamma cook, but she wouldn’t let me cook, so I would watch her. She could make some of the best biscuits.”

This recollection led to more food memories. “We’d go to the garden and pick beans, she’d can ’em. Pick peas, she’d can ‘em. Tomatoes, she’d can. Apples, she would dry. She had a frame that she’d put the sheets on, and we’d peel the apples and peaches, and she’d put ‘em out there to dry, and we’d have dried apple pies. You had to cover them up to keep the flies off.

“And we had homemade ice cream. And we made lemonade – got lemons and made it in a tub. We had a good life,” she smiled.

The family raised their own beef and pork. When hog killing time came, nothing was wasted. “Mamma and Daddy would cut pork chops, and they cured the hams with salt. We used everything but the chitlins,” Gatha recollected. “Mamma fried the sausage and put it in quart jars and canned it. She made souse meat.”

Souse meat, sometimes called hog’s head cheese, was the forerunner of sandwich lunchmeat. Gatha tells how her mother made it. “She’d boil the head and the pigs’ feet and get all the meat off that. And she put other stuff in it and she’d scrunge (squeeze) it up and put it in a big pan and put a lid on it and pressed it down to get all the grease out of it. It’s really good.”

Old recipes add various spices – pepper (black and red), sage, garlic, cloves and pickling spices. Old directions also recommended putting the souse meat in the smokehouse for a while before serving it.

Printed flour sacks and feed sacks were a godsend during lean economic days. Gatha recalled “Mamma would show daddy the sack design that she wanted him to get at the store, and when she got enough of the same design, she made our dresses. I never had a bought dress.”

From Birmingham to Springville

Gatha’s memories returned to her married life and living in Birmingham. “We lived in Woodlawn. We rented a house that had an apartment, and Alfred’s mother and daddy moved into the apartment. I cooked on Sunday to have ready when they come home from church, and my father-in-law liked pot liquor (turnip greens broth) with cornbread.”

After Alfred’s father died, the Harveys bought a house in Center Point and Alfred’s mother, who used a wheelchair, reluctantly moved with them. “She knew she was gonna have just one room and use of the house. Well, when all the neighbors made her welcomed, she was satisfied. She lived with us until ’74.”

After that, she moved in with her daughter for a while, and then into a nursing home. “She was a good lady. And she always said, ‘I hope you will have a daughter-in-law that’s as good to you, as you are to me.’ And if she was living, she’d know now that I did.”

Gatha’s eyes twinkled as she said, “My mother-in-law had a cough, and one of her sons, Ralph, was a policeman on the Birmingham police force. So, he brought her a pint. She mixed it with lemon and honey – made her a toddy. Well, that went on for about a month, and she said, ‘Ralph, bring me another pint of whiskey. I’m out.’ He said, ‘Mamma, you didn’t drink all that!?” Her reply was, ‘A little bit at a time,’ then added with justification, ‘Well, I had a cough.’ “So, he brought her another pint.”

Alfred had always wanted to travel, so prior to retiring, he had purchased a motorhome for traveling days to come. When he retired, they sold their home and headed out in the motorhome.

Alfred and Gatha

Their son, Jimmy, and his wife, Betty, had Springville property where Jimmy built a carport high enough for them to pull the motorhome under and a porch for them to step out onto when it was parked. He also put in a water hookup and installed a septic tank. They would come back from a trip and be at home in Springville in the motorhome until the next excursion.

Alfred and Gatha’s days of travel were cut short by Alfred’s emphysema. They returned from a Florida trip, and the drive home was difficult for Alfred. He had a doctor’s appointment but was so weak that Gatha drove him. His doctor put him in the hospital where he stayed 10 days, during which time he was put on oxygen. Gatha brought him home, where he died April 8, 1992.

Gatha kept active, and her four grandchildren, eight great-grandchildren, and her one great-great-grandchild, have all been blessed by her love and concern for them, for she speaks of them with smiles on her face. Each one has received a quilt – all hand-stitched and hand-quilted – with love in every stitch. Granddaughter Sonya’s quilt has scraps of dresses Gatha made for her when she was small. Grandson Richard commented on her grandmothering: “She took care of my sister and me when we were growing up, and we developed a special relationship with her. She was stern, but she was gentle. We loved her to pieces.”

The family also enjoys her cooking. At Christmas time, she always makes the dressing. She makes banana nut bread for granddaughter Sonya, her daughter-in-law Betty and herself. Grandson Richard Harvey – Springville’s Fire Chief – gets his favorite poundcake. Betty relates how “Gatha makes a buttermilk poundcake – it was my mother’s recipe – and she’s got the Springville Fire Department spoiled with it.”

Asked about the poundcake, Richard responded, “Oh, her poundcake. Yeah, she makes probably the best poundcake that’s ever been. But it’s not just me; it’s the entire Fire Station. The guys love it when she makes us poundcake.” Richard allows that the cake is especially delicious with strawberries and whipped cream.

Springville First Baptist Church

When the Harveys began parking their motorhome in Springville, Mrs. Barfield, their neighbor across the road, invited Gatha to go with her to church at Springville First Baptist Church where she was a member. Gatha accepted and went with her when she and Alfred would be in town between travels.

After Alfred passed, she became an active member of the church and was involved in its ministries – especially Sunday school and Saints Alive, the senior citizens group at the church. For Saints Alive, Gatha helped two directors, Geniva DuPre Smith and Linda Lee, by calling members to remind them of meetings or trips planned for the group.

At a recent Saints Alive lunch meeting, attendees sat by birth month at round tables, and Gatha lunched with five men who ranged in age from mid-60s to an 89-year-old. At the end of the meal, she got the group’s attention and said, “I’d like to say how much I have enjoyed dining with these younger men.” This is typical Gatha humor, as her neighbor, Dennis Jones, recently affirmed by telling, “Every time the TV says, ‘Check on the elderly,’ Gatha calls and checks on me – even though I’m 25 years younger.”

Today Gatha is the First Baptist church-member who has accumulated the most years of living. Until two years ago, she drove herself to church. Now Betty brings her.

At 97 / 98, Gatha rarely ever misses a Sunday school class or worship service. Her Sunday school teacher, Beverly Bullock, remarked, “Gatha Harvey is an example of a quiet soul who speaks loudly about her Lord and makes an effort to be in God’s house every Sunday.”

Tom Brokaw called the WWII era the “greatest generation,” and Eleanor Roosevelt said of the women of her day: “A woman is like a teabag, you don’t know how strong it is until it’s in hot water.”

Family gathers for Christmas 2023

Having lived almost 100 years, whatever “hot water times” Gatha has experienced has made her stronger. Whether the hot water of having to remove her first row of rivets or the twists and turns of living almost a hundred years, Gatha exemplified the strength Eleanor Roosevelt acknowledged.

Gatha’s grandson Richard Harvey agreed. “My grandfather treated her like an angel – he did everything for her, but at the same time she did everything for him. She was the classic housewife of that generation. Then when he passed, she was pretty much on her own and had to take care of herself. She had never driven when he passed, so at 65 she got her driver’s license.” He paused, then added, “She was never afraid.”

Whether Gatha Harvey is patriotic Rosie the Riveter, faithful wife, well-loved mother-in-law, or loving grandmother, she is an inspiration to all who know her, for she is an example of a life well-lived.

Richard recently told of his grandmother’s 90th birthday. “I said, ‘Grandma, what’s something you’ve never done?’ And she said, “I’ve never ridden a motorcycle, and I’ve never flown in a plane.’ So, for her 90th birthday, I put her on the back of my motorcycle and drove up to Ashville to a friend who had a plane. We put her in the plane, and he flew her all over St. Clair County.”

In anticipation of upcoming birthdays, Richard says he keeps asking her, “When are we gonna jump out of that plane?” Her answer so far has been, “I don’t think I’m gonna do that.”

How about it, Gatha. Is that water really too hot?

The Right Track

Architect designs, creates, builds model trains

Story by Scottie Vickery
Photos by Mandy Baughn

It’s been said that much about your childhood – your neighborhood, the house you grew up in, or the size of your backyard – often seems smaller when viewed through adult eyes.

For Malcolm Sokol, everything about Birmingham seems downright tiny. That’s because the retired architect and model railroad enthusiast has spent years recreating his version of the city’s Industrial District, all in miniature.

Trains are the centerpiece of Malcolm’s model city

He’s built his own small-scale 1952 versions of Ensley, Pratt City, North Birmingham, Elyton, Red Mountain and other areas, along with the railroads that connect them. There are restaurants, stores, warehouses, iron ore mines, steel mills, a rail yard, Sloss Furnaces and a railroad trestle. And he’s built it all within a room that measures 13 x 19 feet.

“A genuine model railroader tries to make everything as realistic as possible,” said Sokol, who now lives in Cropwell on Logan Martin Lake. There’s no doubt that Sokol, who estimates he’s spent more than 12,000 hours over the past eight years or so on his hobby, is the real deal. He’s got an assortment of regional and national awards for his designs to prove it.

“You can make a career out of a hobby, but when you love it so much it’s not like going to work,” he said. “You don’t put any value on your time with a hobby unless you plan to sell something, and I would never sell this.”

In addition to the time and money he’s spent creating his HO scale model railroad layout, Sokol has an emotional and sentimental investment, as well. It brings back memories of his childhood.

“I grew up in Fountain Heights, and when I was a kid, we used to walk down to the railroad tracks, which were about two blocks away,” he said. “We loved to watch the switching (of rails and cars) at all of the industries.”

Getting on track

Sokol, a member of the Wrecking Crew Model Railroad Club in Birmingham, got his first model railroad set when he was 8 or 9. “My father gave me and my younger brother, Howard, a Lionel O Guage railroad set,” he said. “We played with that thing until we wore it out.”

Some neighborhood friends had sets, as well, and they would put them together and play for hours. “That was my introduction to model railroading,” he said.

His interest was renewed not long after he and his wife, Marilyn, had their first child. They went to a model railroad show, where Sokol bought a set. “I said I was buying it for my son, but he was only a year and a half old at the time,” he said with a laugh.

Today, Sokol loves sharing his hobby with their three children and their spouses, along with their seven grandchildren and four great-grandchildren. The Sokols’ home may be the only house on the lake where guests want to spend as much time inside as they do by the water.

 “They love to run trains,” he said of his family and friends. “Everyone who comes here says, ‘Let me see what you’ve done on the trains’ They love to see the progress.”

There’s always something new to see in his train room, which used to be part of his garage. When Sokol got serious about his hobby, he finished the area, adding a ceiling and walls. He put the Masonite backdrop on three walls of the room, and he and his grandson, Garrett, used stencils to paint clouds and mountains. He later installed additional mountains he’d painted on panels of Masonite in the foreground, creating a multi-dimensional background.

The first two years were dedicated to building the frame and foundation for the layout and for laying the track. Using historical rail maps for Birmingham as a guide, Sokol added some of the industrial buildings that were built alongside the city’s tracks. His layout includes Loveman’s Warehouse, Pittsburgh Plate Glass Co. and the A&P Warehouse and Distribution Center.

First National Bank and Pete’s Famous Hot Dogs are represented in the layout, while some of the stores, such as Marilyn’s Knit Shop, were named for family members. Businesses in the Ensley section of the layout include Ideal Furniture, The Bank of Ensley and Gilmer Drugs. Sokol recently added Phase 2 of his railroad, which extends into an adjacent room measuring 13 x 6 feet.

Details matter

Sokol said the skills he honed during his architectural career, which spanned more than 30 years before he retired as CEO of Evan Terry Associates in 1998, has come in handy. “It definitely helps,” he said. “I have the design ability and the construction knowledge.”

Being his own client has allowed him the freedom to build everything just the way he wants. Although much of the layout was based on historical renderings, he took some artistic liberties, as well. “When you own a model railroad, you’re the owner and designer and you can make all the decisions,” he said. “When you’re playing all the roles, it’s easier.”

Special attention is paid to the lighting setup down to the street lamps

Sokol’s attention to detail is amazing. Although many model railroaders buy pre-made tracks, he bought the rails and used a band saw to cut 35,000 tiny wooden ties, which he attached with miniature metal spikes. “It’s all hand-laid, just like the real railroad does,” he said.

Most of his buildings are scratch built, meaning he designed, cut, assembled and painted them by hand, rather than using a kit. A watercolor artist, Sokol’s painting skills add an additional level of realism to his cities and buildings that takes time to create. He spent six months, for example, building and painting the railroad trestle, which is modeled after the L&N Cane Creek Trestle #10 in Brookwood.

Sokol’s favorite building, which happens to be the first one he made, is one he named the Starry Eye Mattress Company. In addition to the architectural details, there’s a dumpster, trashcans, barrels, bales of cotton and small wooden pallets where workers can be seen stacking mattresses.

The design won two regional awards, including Best in Show, and was displayed one year at the National Model Railroad Association’s convention. “One of the kit manufacturers from Maine found me and said, ‘I want to build a kit out of this model,’” he said.

Sokol gave him permission and the kit maker changed the name of the business to Sokol’s Mattress & Furniture Company as a nod to the creator. The original limited run of 500 kits, priced at $160 a kit, sold out in the first year. Some are currently being re-sold on eBay for more than $200.

While many of the railroad accessories can be purchased, Sokol spends hours creating his own. Model railroad switches, which allow trains to be guided from one track to another, can be purchased for about $30. “I built my own switches for $2 worth of materials,” he said. “I probably saved about $3,000 right there.”

Although saving costs in what can be an expensive hobby is a motivator, part of the fun for Sokol is figuring out how to make his own buildings and structures. The blast furnace on his Sloss Furnaces layout, for example, was made from a wiffle ball bat. “I needed something that was rounded and tapered, so I just cut off each end of the bat,” he said.

He made his lampposts, which are only a few inches tall, out of three different thicknesses of tubing. All of the lighting on the layout, whether on lampposts or in buildings, is fiber optics, he said.

Much of the materials he uses comes from his own backyard. He gets scoops of dirt, bakes it to kill any bugs, sifts it, and attaches it to the ground of the layout with white glue. He makes tree trunks from azalea limbs, drilling holes in the trunks to add smaller branches. Sokol uses hairspray to make clumps of painted ground foam that he uses for the foliage on trees and bushes. “I’ve given workshops on making trees,” he said.

Sights and sound

The electronics that are part of the railroad layout are as impressive as the designs. One of the most popular features is a lightning and rainstorm over one of Sokol’s buildings on his miniature Red Mountain. The soundtrack features thunder and wind, slamming screen doors, barking dogs and other lifelike noises.

The evolution of the technology used to operate the trains makes everything more realistic, Sokol said. “It used to be that every train on the track would go at the same speed and in the same direction,” he said. Now, there’s a computer chip in each locomotive, and model railroad engineers can run trains backward, forward and at different speeds, all on the same track. They can also control sound effects, such as bells, horns and brakes.

Although Sokol completed most of the work on his layout himself, he had several model railroader friends who shared their expertise. Steve Singer helped lay the ties and build the benchwork, which is the foundation for the trains and scenery. Winston Greaves helped with the electronics, and Dave Whikehart helped build the structures. Sokol said he figures everything is about 80 percent complete, but don’t hold him to it.

“A lot of people will ask model railroaders when they are going to be finished, and the answer is they will never be finished,” he said. “There is always more detail to add, and some will build a scene, decide they don’t like it and start over with a new one.”

Although the trains have brought Sokol much joy, they are not his only hobby. He and his wife love to travel – they’ve been to Australia and New Zealand this year and often spend a month or more in a city so they can live like the locals. Although he loves the adventure, he’s always glad to get back to his model railroad.

For the past 15 years or so, he and the other members of the Wrecking Crew club have built locomotive exhibits for the McWane Science Center, which are displayed during the holidays. Aside from the fun of helping to create the layouts, he enjoys watching the children and families enjoy them.

“It’s very rewarding,” he said. “This is a great hobby.”

Chandler Mountain: Save the Mountain effort focused on history and the future

Top Photo: Keith Little Badger, Cherokee tribe of Northeast Alabama, surveys area

Story by Mackenzie Free and Carol Pappas
Photos by Mackenzie Free

Charlie Abercrombie has a history on this mountain, dating all the way back to the War of 1812 and a man by the name of Chandler.

That’s why today’s fight to save it meant so much to so many. For Charlie, it was personal.

Many joined the fight along the way and for varying reasons – from newcomers to old timers. It was personal to them, too.

Mackenzie Free, a photographer for Discover Magazine, joined the effort and was a vocal advocate in the Save Chandler Mountain movement. She lives in the mountain’s valley on the same land her husband’s family raised generations. Mackenzie and her family stood to lose it all – just like Charlie – if Alabama Power’s quest to build a hydro dam there succeeded.

Charlie Abercrombie on the dam on family’s land

It didn’t. 

This is but one story among many, painting the picture of how history could be lost so easily. Here are excerpts from Charlie’s story that Mackenzie shared on social media at the height of the fight to save the mountain:

This is Charlie Abercrombie.

Out of all the folks I’ve met since moving out to the Steele/Chandler Mountain area 10 years ago, he might very well be one of my favorites.

I “think” he said he’s 77 years old, but I might be mistaken because he’s far too sprightly and agile for that to be correct.

He’s very charming and intelligent and has a memory that far exceeds mine.

He is also humble, hardworking and takes a lot of pride in his land.

You see, this land he calls home is special.

Very special …

His property was part of a presidential land grant from the U.S. government to Mr. Joel Chandler (yes, Chandler… as in ‘Chandler Mountain’) for fighting along with Andrew Jackson in the war of 1812.

A short while later, in the early 1840s, a grist mill (grinding wheat to flour and corn to meal) was built here.  It was powered by water… this dam and Little Canoe Creek.

One of the pictographs found on the mountain

Mr. Abercrombie’s great grandfather later purchased this property and grist mill from the daughter of Joel Chandler in 1896. Let me reiterate that … 1896!!

(*To put that in perspective this property has been in his family longer than Oklahoma, New Mexico, Arizona, Alaska, and Hawaii, have been a part of the United States!!!)

This land is more than just his home… its history!

It’s his heritage.

It’s sewn into the very fiber of who he is.

It’s his legacy.

And you’ll find that is a common theme for most of these families (mine included) that stand to lose everything their forefathers fought so hard to protect. 

It’s more than land … it’s bigger than that.

It’s not money either …  it’s about history, heritage and the American dream.

Land has always been a staple of the American dream. From the Mayflower Compact of 1620, to the Homestead Act of 1862, all the way down to the ongoing battle we face to preserve what we have today … land has always been a integral component and driving force for the American way of life.

Mr. Abercrombie’s family worked their entire lives to earn, maintain and preserve the land they have for the next generation.

He is a steward of this land and the natural wonders around him … just as his great grandfather was.

He stands to lose it all.

The same sentiment played out across the mountain and down in the valley. They treasure the land, and they want to preserve it for future generations.

People like Fran Summerlin, Ben Lyon, Leo Galleo and a host of others led what did indeed become a movement to stop the project. The Alabama Rivers Alliance lauded them with an award for what was called a valiant battle.

The consensus was that the mountain isn’t just a geologic formation, it stands as a monument to history and heritage. It still stands because people cared enough to get involved in a fray most didn’t think they could win. But, they did.

Native American groups stepped in with support for preservation of land their ancestors once lived. Twinkle Cavanaugh and Chip Beeker of the Alabama Public Service Commission visited the mountain, heard the group’s pleas and decided their votes on Alabama Power’s proposal would be ‘no.’

Within days, Alabama Power announced it was cancelling its plans.