A Greek bearing delicious gifts, a star-studded past
Story by Scottie Vickery Submitted photos
When it comes to cooking, Polly Warren has trained with the best. As a young girl growing up in Greece, she learned the intricacies of meals and pastries from her mother and grandmother. After marrying an American and moving to Georgia as a young bride, she mastered Southern dishes in her mother-in-law’s kitchen.
The result is something she calls American Greek cooking – a delicious blend of both countries born from two families full of tradition and love. “I love the cooking,” she said, her Greek accent still heavy. “I love to learn and do new things. If I see something I like, I make it, add to it, and make the recipe my own.”
As a result, she’s bridged the divide between two cultures by introducing her favorite Greek dishes to her American family and friends and taking some Southern favorites home to her family. “I made them chili,” she said, laughing at the memory of the first American dish she shared with her loved ones in Greece. “They loved it. They thought it was great.”
A popular caterer in St. Clair County, Polly works out of the kitchen of the Pell City KFC, which her family has owned for nearly five decades. In addition to weekly meetings of the Rotary Club of Pell City, she caters everything from tailgate parties and luncheons to teas, rehearsal dinners and weddings. “Whatever anybody wants, I can cook it,” she said.
Growing up Greek
Born Polyltime Stavridis, the daughter of Dimitri and Kostantina, Polly grew up in Athens, Greece, with her brother, Costas, and her sister, Vaso. Whenever she thinks of her childhood, the first thing that comes to mind is the family kitchen. “I can still close my eyes and see myself there,” said Polly, now 72. “We’d always be in the kitchen. Always the girls served the men.” The main meal was served at 2 p.m., and after an afternoon siesta, the men would return to work. “Then they would come back, and we would eat leftovers,” she said.
Even as young girls, Polly and Vaso worked alongside their mother and grandmother, who lived with them. “We started when we were young, 5 or 6,” she said. ‘“They always gave us a little dough so we could participate. We would clean the potatoes, help with the dough, make cookies. When we were 10, 11 or 12, we would start participating completely.”
Family favorites included stifado, a Greek beef stew; spanakopita, a spinach pie; bifteki, which Polly describes as a stuffed hamburger; and keftedes, or Greek meatballs. “My mother used to make a big pan and leave it on the stove, and we’d eat it like popcorn,” she said.
There were plenty of pastries, too. Melomakarona, or honey cookies, were a staple, as well as tea cakes and baklava. Polly remembers her grandmother rolling out big sheets of homemade phyllo dough that was used for pastries and pie crusts. “Back in those days we made it homemade,” she said. “It took two people.”
Cooking for a crowd proved to be a challenge. “Back then, we had a little bitty oven, and our oven couldn’t bake all those cookies and big dishes like stuffed peppers and tomatoes,” Warren said. They took their dishes and pastries to a nearby baker, who cooked it for them in his industrial oven. “You tell him you want it ready for the family at 2, you give him $1 or $2, you pick your food up and carry it home,” she said.
A good student, Warren skipped the sixth-grade and graduated from high school at 16. “I started modeling and playing parts in movies,” she said, adding that her uncle was a producer. “Somebody didn’t show up one day, and he calls me and said, ‘Polly, do you want to do this?’ It was a commercial for shoes.”
After that, she had a “little part in a movie here, a little part there,” including a role as a party guest in the 1965 Italian movie, The Three Faces of a Woman. The movie starred Princess Soraya Esfandiary Bakhtiari, the ex-wife of an Iranian shah, and Richard Harris, who later played Albus Dumbledore in the Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone and Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.
Young Polly’s acting and modeling career didn’t last long because she soon met her future husband – Wayne Warren, an American serviceman from Georgia who was stationed in Greece. “I have good memories of it, and I did it until I met Mr. Warren,” she said. “Mr. Warren, he says ‘no.’ He didn’t like all those guys hanging around.”
The two met when Polly’s friend, who was engaged to an American buddy of Wayne’s, invited her to a party. She was hesitant to go because she didn’t know what to tell her family. “Back in those days, you didn’t go off to a party,” she said. “I did a little white lying and said we were going to the movies.”
The two really did go to the movies a few weeks later, after Wayne had gotten permission from Polly’s father. “A commercial came on the big screen, and there I am big as life,” she said with a laugh. “I’m hiding under the seat, and he couldn’t believe it. It was a commercial for glassware for a wedding.”
After the two married, Polly left her beloved Greece in 1967 to move to the U.S. with Wayne. After a quick stint in Texas, they headed to Columbus, Ga., Wayne’s hometown. He was still in the Air Force, so Polly lived with his mother, Irene Warren, in her beautiful old house with a big wraparound porch. “It was very, very nice,” Polly said. “My mother-in-law, she loved me to death.”
Southern influences
Although she missed her family, cooking with Irene helped cure some of the homesickness. “We cooked together in this big kitchen, and you felt like it was home,” Polly said. “I learned how to do squash casserole, make creamed corn and snap peas.”
The dishes were different from anything she’d had before, but Polly appreciated good food when she tasted it. “Mac and cheese, I never ate it in my life, but once I tasted it, it was good. I learned to eat pork chops, and I learned to eat ribs and turnip greens. I loved it.”
As a new bride, she learned to fix some of her husband’s favorites, which quickly became hers as well. “I love a good steak and baked potato,” she said. “And vegetables with cornbread. I could sit and eat the whole skillet.”
Another Southern staple, fried chicken, soon became a big part of her life. After Wayne retired from the Air Force in 1970, they moved to Selma, where he worked with a dear friend who owned KFC franchises. He decided he wanted to open one himself. Although “we only had baked chicken in Greece, we never fried it,” Polly was on board.
Wayne started scouting locations, and while driving through central Alabama one day, he happened to stop at a gas station in St. Clair County. “An 18-wheeler driver told him to look at Pell City,” she said. “That’s what he did, and that’s where we are.”
Polly Warren plating her famous baklava.
While raising their three sons – Michael, Jimmy and David – the Warrens spent lots of time at various ballfields and soon became fixtures in the community. Polly got her catering start while working in the concession stands, where she cooked plenty of hot dogs and hamburgers. That led to dishes for athletic banquets and other events, and things took off from there.
“Before you know it, they asked, ‘Do you mind doing a tea,’ so you do a tea. Then they said do, ‘Do you mind doing a wedding,’ so you do a wedding. I started with 100 people, and I have been up to 600. That’s how it all got started,” she said.
Although Wayne passed away 10 years ago, Polly still loves cooking for her family and especially enjoys time in the kitchen with her four grandchildren. She’s happy to share recipes, although at times that proves a little difficult. “I never measure anything,” she said. “I put a little bit of this, a little bit of that. So, when they ask, I have to figure it out and write it.”
Alabama has been home for most of Polly’s life, but she still gets homesick for Greece on occasion. Yearly trips to Athens help, and she loves to get back in the kitchen with her mother, now 90, and her sister while she’s there. She makes sure to bring back her favorite fresh spices. “It grows wild over there,” she said. “You see rosemary, you see basil. I bring all that back. The American spices, they do not taste the same.”
Whether it’s the spices or the love she puts in each dish, Polly’s cooking is always a hit. “It’s good therapy,” she said. “I get in the kitchen and get busy cooking, and I never leave. I make a lot, and I give it away to neighbors and family and friends. I love it when people eat it and say how good it is. No one has complained yet.”
Amazing handiwork tells a story in every delicate stitch
Story by Leigh Pritchett Photos by Graham Hadley
Carolyn Hall is surrounded by heritage.
In her parlor are shelves of medical books belonging to her grandfather, Dr. R.A. Martin, and a wicker baby scale from a nursery unit at Martin Hospital. A collection of apothecary jars recalls the three generations that her family ran the corner Rexall drug store in downtown Pell City.
In a sunny room down the hall are two exquisitely detailed quilts that her grandmother Ada Kincaid made prior to 1936. The stitching of one quilt forms an intricate feather design, while the stitching of the other quilt is an equally complex rose pattern.
Treasured heirlooms they are.
Such a setting seemed appropriate for discussing keepsakes – those Carolyn inherited, as well as those she is creating for her four children, six grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.
The trove of cross-stitch artistry she has sewn for her family represents thousands of hours of work spanning decades.
“I have done a little bit of everything with cross-stitch,” Carolyn said.
She has made switch-plate covers, Christmas ornaments, a multi-dimensional Christmas train, tablecloth and napkins, pillows, pictures and cross-stitch designs on sweatshirts.
Several colors of thread were used to get the shading just right.
Cross-stitch afghans are the bulk of her work. She has completed many different afghans, featuring lighthouses, dogs, cats, stars and sailboats, ABCs, mallards and fruit.
Each piece has its own unique story and exhibits the special bond between the giver and receiver:
The afghan with an Aztec motif was the choice of daughter Cindy, who lives in Tennessee.
Daughter Stacy, who lives in Birmingham, wanted the afghan of “ice cream colors” that Carolyn made in the 1990s. “This is my favorite (afghan),” Carolyn said.
Daughter Mick, who lives in Colorado, displays one of her mother’s afghans as an art piece. Mick’s features wild birds perched on branches that stretch from square to square across the afghan.
For the afghan of son Rob, who works in construction in Florida, Carolyn chose storefront designs. She even altered the size, shape and lettering on the apothecary sign to make it read “Pell City Drug Co.”
Each grandchild and great-grandchild has one of Carolyn’s afghans, and a stash of afghans awaits future great-grandchildren.
Susan Mann, assistant director of Pell City Library, said Carolyn’s creations are priceless treasures the children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren can “cherish. … They will be special keepsakes forever. And each time they see them or use them, they will think of her, and remember those sweet moments shared.”
Friends and neighbors also have been beneficiaries of some of Carolyn’s handiwork.
Much care goes into each cross-stitch piece because Carolyn wants flawlessness.
“I don’t want to do anything that isn’t first class,” she said.
Joyce Thrower of Pell City, who has known the Hall family at least 50 years, has seen nearly every piece Carolyn has finished.
“She does beautiful work. Everything she does is perfect,” Joyce said.
Susan, likewise, described Carolyn’s work as “meticulous.” She pointed out that Carolyn’s cross-stitch is as pretty on the back as on the front.
When trying to decide which of Carolyn’s afghans she likes best, Susan confessed, “Every time she does a new one, it becomes my favorite.”
But Susan did say her top three would be the colorful birds on a pale mint afghan; a kitten whose spilled milk “drips” down an afghan, and the Victorian “painted ladies” homes of Chincoteague, Va.
The last one is in progress. Carolyn started the “painted ladies” afghan around Labor Day 2019. In August 2020, she reached the halfway point.
Carolyn may spend a year or two, working almost every day, on one afghan until it is completed.
Her longest project took more than two decades. She started the piece – a cross-stitch, bed-cover quilt – when pregnant with Rob, her fourth child. She finished it when he was 23. In between, the project got shelved while she reared her children, was a homemaker and helped her pharmacist husband, Robert “Bob” Hall, run Pell City Drug Co.
A Pell City legacy
Carolyn’s grandparents – Dr. R.A. and Mary Martin – arrived in Pell City in its infancy.
“My grandfather moved here in 1903. He was a surgeon at the Gertrude Comer Hospital” at Avondale Mills, Carolyn said.
After the hospital closed in the 1920s, Dr. Martin opened a six-bed clinic above Pell City Drug Co.
When the building next door became available in the 1930s, Dr. Martin moved the hospital there. For more than 30 years, Martin Hospital occupied that building, which is now the law offices of Hugh E. and Gibson Holladay.
Carolyn and all four of her children were born in Martin Hospital.
Carolyn shows off one of her favorite afghans depicting famous lighthouses.
As for Pell City Drug Co., Dr. Martin established it soon after arriving in Pell City. “That was one of the first Rexall franchises (in the nation),” Carolyn said.
Her mother, Mary Ruth Kincaid, later inherited Pell City Drug Co. and then Carolyn and Bob acquired it after Mary Ruth’s death. Carolyn and Bob, who had met while studying pharmacy at Auburn University, operated the drug store from 1961 to November 2001. In just two more months, the store would have been 99 years old.
The drug store, with its iconic soda fountain, was such a fixture and a necessity in Pell City that is was open every day except Christmas.
Until her last child was in high school, Carolyn worked at the store only when needed. But after long-time bookkeeper Annie Scott Stephens died, Carolyn assumed that job.
Bob passed away six years after retiring.
No idle hands here
When Carolyn was in junior high school, her grandmother Mary Martin taught her to embroider. Carolyn’s first pieces were pillowcases and dresser scarves, most of which she still has.
Though she gave up needlework for a time, she resumed after college, putting it down again during child-rearing.
What drew her back to it is the fascination of creating an art piece one stitch at a time.
“The creating is what I like,” Carolyn said. “This satisfies my creativity.”
Instead of using pre-stamped, cross-stitch patterns, Carolyn prefers the challenge of starting with a blank “canvas.” She must align the subject perfectly and count each stitch she sews in order to be precise.
“With cross-stitch, you’ve got to pay attention,” because one mistake affects the entire design, Carolyn said.
Some of her projects are so complex that they may require as many as 75 different thread colors.
Though dealing with macular degeneration and glaucoma, Carolyn sews for hours each morning. Often, she becomes so engaged that she does not want to put it down.
“It’s calming. It’s peaceful. It keeps your mind occupied. And you’re creating something. What’s not to like? … My grandmother would be proud,” she said. “… My grandmother didn’t believe in idle hands sitting around at night.”
Carolyn also walks four times a week, reads mysteries and is a volunteer hostess for library events. She might also be found on a travel adventure, such as Iceland in winter.
Just the same, she is always looking to the next cross-stitch challenge. Already, she has another afghan to begin after she finishes the “painted ladies” … in about a year.
Tractors line Moody Parkway between Odenville and Moody.
Saving ‘ageless iron’ from rusty oblivion
Story by Elaine Hobson Miller
Photos by Graham Hadley
If you want to see a child’s eyes light up, put them on a tractor. Better yet, take them by Serrell Fleming’s house at 8701 Moody Parkway, between Odenville and Moody, where they will have almost three dozen tractors to climb on. They can turn the steering wheels, push the buttons and play with the knobs and gear shifts without fear of reprimand. In fact, the tractors’ owner encourages such behavior.
“I take the batteries out of most of them so kids can push all the buttons without starting up the tractors,” Fleming said.
Serrell Fleming showing off one of his vintage restored Ford Tractors.
Old tractors are, as one writer put it, “the antique cars of the farm,” which makes Fleming an antique dealer extraordinaire. He has been buying and restoring old and rare ones for 45 years, simply because he likes them.
For the past 25, he has lined them up in front of his house during major holidays and invited any with an interest to drop by.
His current count is 35 standard-size tractors in his display, plus a few lawn tractors and some children’s pedal models. He puts them in his front yard for at least a week around Memorial Day, July 4 and Labor Day. Many are decorated with American flags. During the Christmas holidays, he displays them for more than a month beginning in early December and extending well past New Year’s Day, decorated with lights.
He replaces the batteries and puts as many as he can find drivers for in the Odenville Christmas Parade. “All of them will run,” he said proudly. During the parade, he also pulls a flatbed trailer with child-mounted pedal tractors behind his pickup truck.
Cases, John Deeres, Minneapolis Molines, Olivers, Allis Chalmers models, Fords, Farmalls and Massey Harrises cover Fleming’s yard like wildflowers, their ageless iron shining under new coats of red, blue, orange and yellow paint. There’s even a pink one, a Power King that Fleming painted to show support for the American Cancer Society, even though the color is usually associated with breast cancer awareness. “I saw one done that way at an International show at the Coliseum in Montgomery,” he said. After his wife’s death from COPD two years ago, he dedicated it to her memory. “Her favorite actually was the Oliver 440, but she didn’t want it painted because it’s more valuable like it is,” Fleming said.
Passion ignited
Fleming’s tractor passion started with buying used ones and restoring them for his own use.
Later, he began selling them, then decided to become a collector.
He often finds out about them at tractor auctions like the one on RFD-TV on Tuesdays and has been all over Alabama and parts of Tennessee retrieving them. He finds most of them within a 50-mile radius of where he lives. “I don’t find them, they find me,” he said.
When he buys an old tractor, it’s usually in pretty rough condition. “Most are basket cases,” he said. “They have been welded on and patched up and rusted so bad. The (Ford 2000) Hi Crop looked like it had been in a junk yard. I have to disassemble them, strip them (of any remaining paint) and replace parts.”
He has no trouble finding parts, sometimes through salvage yards, sometimes through Steiner Tractor Parts, a Michigan-based company that makes reproductions. A retired sheet metal worker (Hayes Aircraft), he, too, knows how to make parts when he can’t find what he needs. “When it’s using oil and smoking, I have to buy a part,” he said.
Every nut and bolt, manifold and carburetor is color-coded like the tractors: blue for Ford, orange for Allis Chalmers, green for John Deere, red for International. When the U.S. had a more agrarian-based economy, farmers bought whatever brand their local dealer had, and dealers usually specialized in one brand or another.
Fleming’s grandson, Chad Brantley, helped him research information on each of his tractors online, printed that information, encased it in plastic sleeves and attached it to the respective tractors for visitors to read. “It keeps me from having to answer so many questions,” he said. But he doesn’t mind answering a few and loves to talk about his favorites.
Tractors 101
The Oliver HG 68, for example, is a metal tractor that was used in apple orchards in Tennessee because it wasn’t easy to turn over. The Ford 2000 Hi Crop is a favorite because it’s so rare and unique. “I only know of two others, one in Leesburg,” he said. “I looked a long time for this one.” He bought it in 2018 and he’s only its second owner.
“My grandfather, Cecil Smith, bought this tractor for me to drive when I was 15,” said Mike Smith, in the printed information attached to the tractor. “It has remained in our family solely from 1964 to 2018.”
Another favorite and his rarest specimen is the Oliver 440, one of only 600 produced. He also has a rare Minneapolis Moline, one of only 137 built. “Honestly, my favorite is the one I’m working on at the time,” he said.
Then there’s the John Deere 40 All Fuel, so named because it has both a gas and a diesel tank. The one-gallon gas tank got the engine hot, then you flipped a switch to use the 10-gallon diesel. “It’s not loud, it’s a beautiful sound,” he said as he cranks up the engine and listens to it purr. “It was practical. It didn’t have a water pump because they wanted it to run hot to burn the diesel.”
Parade of visitors
Fleming is with his display from daylight to dark, watching the happy folks examining the tractors. They come from all over Alabama and nearby states, having seen the Tractor Man on Fred Hunter’s Absolutely Alabama (WBRC-Fox 6 TV) or read about him on his daughter’s Facebook page (Janice Fleming Brantley).
Others just notice his display as they drive by on Moody Parkway. This past July 4th, he even had a couple from North Dakota who were in town visiting relatives and read about the tractors in a local newspaper. He doesn’t have any way of keeping a count of visitors, because he doesn’t sell tickets, but for this year’s July 4th, he gave away all 500 of the tractor-listing sheets he had printed. He gives away bottled water during the warmer months, too.
“I plowed my garden with this one,” he told a visitor who was admiring an Allis Chalmers G. The G stands for Gadsden, where it was made in 1944. Whitt Davis, age 21 months, climbed all over the G while his mom, Jessica Davis, and granddad, Ron Chamblee, watched. “He loves tractors,” said Ron, a Springville resident. “We have to take a tractor or lawn mower ride just about every day.” Ron restores tractors, too, but not to the extent of Fleming.
Serrell loves to talk about his tractors. He knows just about everything about every machine on his property.
Abel Hilliard of Woodville, 15, visited July 3 with his dad and brother. “Dadread about it online,” Abel said. “I think it’s pretty cool. Dad has an old Farmall that he’s working on, too.”
Fleming loves watching the kids’ faces as they play on the tractors and enjoys hearing their parents’ comments, too. “Parents thank me for putting these out for them and the kids,” he said. “They say they appreciate what we’re doing here. One guy left a message on my answering machine saying he saw the tractors but couldn’t get in my driveway.”
Fleming also said the display, which is stored in a couple of sheds behind his house between holidays, is really a family thing. His daughter lives next door, helps with traffic and posts notices about the display on her Facebook page. His son-in-law helps drive the tractors out and back into the sheds, and on off days, he walks the rows of tractors, helping Fleming answer questions.A couple of neighbors keep him company under his sun tent. “There’s no way I could do all this without the help of my family,” he said.
He pauses, gazes out at the rows of tractors and the smiling faces of the visitors, and a broad grin lights up his face. “I’m so glad the young people are bringing the kids,” he said. “Tractor collectors are getting older, and we’re losing the heritage of these.”
The Tractor Man is doing all he can to maintain that heritage.
St. Clair women blaze trails in male-dominated fields
Story by Elaine Hobson Miller Photos by Kelsey Bain
The year 2020 marks the
100th anniversary of the passage of the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, the one guaranteeing
women’s right to vote. It could also be the year that the Equal Rights
Amendment, which guarantees equal legal rights for all Americans regardless of
sex, becomes the 28th amendment.
While legal experts
debate the uncertainty of the consequences of Virginia’s ERA ratification years after the original
deadlines, along with the recisions of five other states, a couple of
trailblazing women here in St. Clair County continue doing their jobs in
male-dominated fields without concern for equal treatment.
In fact, Stephanie
Foster, St. Clair’s first certified female school bus mechanic, and Belinda
Crapet, the City of Springville’s first female police chief, say they got where
they are with the help and encouragement of their male counterparts. For them,
equal rights have never been an issue.
“The mechanics here (at
the Pell City Schools bus shop) encouraged me to take the certification test,
and they keep telling me I can do this,” Foster says. “Other mechanics
sometimes make derogatory remarks at conferences and mechanic classes, but no
one at the shop does.”
Foster, the second woman
in the state to earn a school bus mechanic certification, is shop assistant for
the Pell City Schools Transportation Department. Her primary job is behind a
desk, where she handles morning dispatches and deals with parents calling about
kids missing buses and drivers calling about fights among students.
She checks images that
are captured from security cameras and sends digital copies to the Police
Department when a video shows a driver not stopping while a school bus is
loading or unloading. Occasionally, she fills in as a bus driver. A big part of
her job is ordering parts, and being a certified mechanic comes in handy for
that.
“Before,
when a driverreported a problem, I had to get a work order to a
mechanic, he would look at the bus, then a lot of times, I had to call a parts
manufacturer for a diagram of the area where the problem was. Then the mechanic
would identify which part was needed from the diagrams, and I would place the
order,” she says. Now, she looks at the bus and diagrams, which she keeps on
file, and determines herself which part to order. “It’s much more efficient
this way,” she says. “The quicker we can get that bus back on the road, the
better.”
She has been with the
department since 2013 and was certified in January of last year. “You have to
work in a shop five years before you can take the certification test,” she
says. The three-part exam included an on-site, hands-on portion that involved a
state instructor “bugging” a school bus. Foster found nine of the 10 changes
the instructor made to the vehicle. “I missed the easiest one — the oil
dipstick was missing,” she says.
Although she knows a
piston ring from a push rod, shecan’t rebuild an engine. But she is
familiar with all its parts. She helps with the state-required monthly bus
inspections, hooking her laptop to the bus to find what’s causing engine lights
to come on. She replaces fluids, light assemblies and switches. She is
qualified to replace brake chambers, hazard and turn signal switches, and one
of the most common problems in school buses — door switches. “They tend to
break a lot on our new buses,” she says.
Drivers have to do safety
pre-checks before each trip, mornings and after school. If they hear air
escaping, or the air pressure gauge
shows it isn’t building enough pressure, they know there is a leak. “I got
certified because I wanted to be able to walk out to the bus and know what it
is that’s leaking, not just say we have an air leak, but to tell them it’s the
right rear brake chamber of a door that’s leaking air, for example,” says the
2010 graduate of Pell City High School. “Safety is important to me, and I
wanted to make sure when I talk to our mechanics that I know what I’m talking
about. I wanted to speak their language.”
The 27-year-old has
always liked taking things apart to see what was inside and to learn how they
worked. Her interest in mechanics developed as a teenager, when she hung out
with her best friend, Patrick Ferguson, who worked on race cars, four-wheel
drives and rock crawlers. “I was his sidekick, and he taught me a lot,” she
says. She worked at Advance Auto Parts in Pell City and Leeds for two years,
then as a painter’s prepper in a body shop.
Her
husband, Joshua, paints vehicles for a living. The couple has two children.
Their son, 7-year-old Tristan, thinks it’s cool to hang out at the shop with Mom
each morning while awaiting his bus ride to school. Five-year-old Emma has
shown no signs of following in Foster’s footsteps.
Kristy Lemley, shop
secretary, was impressed when Foster did a road-side repair on a recent trip.
“We were taking two buses to Transportation
South,
a bus dealer and repair shop, and the air line going to her seat busted,”
Lemley said. “It made a loud noise, and Stephanie jumped. Then she hopped out
of the bus, looked around and found the problem and fixed it. We went on with
our trip.”
“They were air-ride
seats, and mine dropped to the floor,” Foster recalls. “I couldn’t have driven
the bus like that.”
“She doesn’t give herself enough credit,” says
Lemley. “She can do my job, her job, the supervisor’s job and most of the jobs
of our mechanics.”
Justin Turner and Greg
Davis, the other two shop mechanics, spent a lot of time helping her prepare
for the state exams.
“Without those two, I
would not have made it through the test,” Foster says.
Davis says he and Turner
“think the world of her” and that she has been a definite asset to the shop.
“If just any woman had come up to me and wanted to be trained, I would have had
reservations, but I knew Stephanie’s character,” Davis says. “She has always
been wise beyond her years and driven to be successful at things she does, so I
had no qualms about showing her how to become a mechanic. She’s a bulldog, and
when she gets something into her head, she does it. Those qualities are hard to
find in any gender these days.”
This woman answers to ‘Chief’
Belinda Crapet Johnson
has those same “git-‘er-done” qualities. She didn’t grow up wanting to be a
police officer. She stumbled into law enforcement for lack of something to do
and discovered her true calling. “My youngest child was in kindergarten, and we
lived across the street from Moody City Hall,” says Crapet, who uses her middle
name professionally. “I walked over to see whether the city was hiring. I got a
job as part-time dispatcher. I was trained on the job.”
As a dispatcher, she
would take a call, then send an officer to investigate. “I often wondered what
happened on those calls,” she says. That curiosity led her to attend the
Reserve (Weekend) Police Academy in 1992. “They don’t change anything in the
academy because you are female,” she says. “Physical agility, firearms, all of
the requirements and tests are standardized.” She prepared herself for the
physical demands of the academy by running to get into shape.
Sometime during the early 1990s, central
dispatch came into the county, eliminating her job with Moody. She went to work
in the county probate office. She had already finished the academy by then, so
when Moody had an opening for a police officer, she joined the force.
“I was was there six or
eight years and was one of the first school resource officers in that city,”
she says. “This was around the time of the Columbine (Colorado) school
shooting.” She was a police officer in Odenville from 2001-2008, served briefly
on the Ragland police force, then went to Springville in 2010. “I started as a
patrol officer, was promoted to investigator, then I was appointed chief in
2018,” she says. “I had the rank of sergeant
in Odenville but was hired as a patrol officer here.”
Although she’s the first
female police chief for Springville,
Crapet
is quick to point out that she isn’t the first woman police chief in St. Clair County. “Branchville has had two
women police chiefs, Wendy Long and the late Joann Lowe, and Argo has had one,
Rebecca Downing,” she says.
According to a recent
article by the Associated Press, only five of the nation’s 50 largest police
departments are led by women. A 2013 survey by the National Association of
Women Law Enforcement Executives showed only 169 women leading the more than
1,500 law enforcement agencies across the United States that responded to the
survey. A 2018 survey reported by Statista, an online business data platform,
said only 26.7% of law enforcement
officers are female. Springville has two females out of 11 officers, including
Chief Crapet.
Even though she’s the
chief, Crapet doesn’t wear a full or Class A uniform all the time. “That’s for
dress-up,” she says. She usually works in a Class B uniform, which consists of
a Polo-type shirt and black or khaki pants. Her five children grew up seeing
their mom in a police uniform, but her eight grandchildren and two great-grands
are still getting used to the idea.
“The grandkids don’t
usually see me with gun and badge,” she says. “One day I walked into the house
of my 3-year-old grandson in full uniform and he said, ‘Nana, what are you
doing?’ I said, ‘I’m a police officer.’ He just looked at me.’ Another
grandchild had to do a history project and chose female law enforcement
officers in Alabama as her topic.”
As for how she would feel
about one of her grandchildren going into law enforcement, she says she would
support her — or him. So far not
one has
expressed an interest in it. “I was school resource officer at Moody High
School when my kids were there,” she says. “That was awkward for them.”
Her job requires a lot of administrative work
in her office at City Hall. That office could best be described as “executive
unisex.” A four-month dry-erase calendar hangs on a wall behind her large desk.
“A Policeman’s Prayer” banner hangs on another
wall, alongside a painting of rocking chairs and an American flag on a country front porch. Facing the desk is a
flat-screen television hanging next to a Back-the-Blue wreath. A vacuum cleaner
sits next to a coffee pot.
Theoretically, Crapet
only has to spend 40 hours per week in her office or in her unmarked patrol
car. Realistically, she is on call 24 hours a day. She doesn’t get called out
much in the middle of the night, though. “I had to go out more when I was an
investigator,” she says. “My husband hardly knew when I was gone.”
She likes getting out of
the office, talking with business owners, their employees and people on the
street. She wants them to know she cares. “I go to school events, too,” she
says. “I’m best at community relations. I love that and working with children.”
Frank Mathews, a police
investigator for Springville, has known Crapet for 17 years. “She’s a great
chief, she’s doing an excellent job,” he says. “It’s the experience she has
behind her that makes her so good. She’s been there, done that. She has come up
through the ranks. Blue is blue — male or female.”
Springville Mayor William
Isley says he recommended Crapet to the City Council upon the recommendation of
former Chief Bill Lyle when Lyle retired. “She wears the hat well,” he says.
“She works hard to retain the officers we have and makes sure they stay
up-to-date on all their certifications. I’m impressed with her. She’s in a
male-dominated profession, but this lady has walked into it and stood tall. She
demands the respect of all who work for her. I fully support her in all she
does.”
Crapet says she and
Cathy Goodwin, a lieutenant with the St. Clair County Sheriff’s Department,
have been around longer than any other female law enforcement officers in the
county. “I’ve got 29 years of service, 25 of them on the street,” she says. In
all that time, she has caught no flack about being female, neither from fellow
officers nor from people in the communities in which she has served. “I’ve had
a lot of good mentoring from male officers through the years,” she says. “I’ve
seen a lot of women come and go. I’m still here because I’m just stubborn. When
you come into this field, as long as you realize you are held to the same
standard as male officers, you will be fine.”
“How would I describe Marion Frazier?” Bill Hereford, asked,
echoing the interviewer’s question. “That’s easy — dynamite comes in small
packages. Marion is a great community leader and friend who lives her faith.
She gives me chills when she sings our national anthem.”
If you don’t know Marion Frazier, you’ve missed knowing a Pell
City personality whose countenance and demeanor radiates her love for God,
family, church and community. She has a deep concern for others — a life
principle instilled in her by her mother, Lizzie Roberson. Marion voiced this
when she spoke of her students as “the students I served.” Only the rarest of
the best see teaching as a service to students.
“My mother was one to help people in the community,” Marion
recalled, “She instilled in us that we needed to help somebody when they need
it … and that’s what I’ve done.”
Born to John H. and Lizzie Roberson, Marion grew up in a home full
of love. The family was one of togetherness that included evenings at the
fireplace singing, playing games and mom making popcorn ball treats. These
times contributed to a large family learning to live together. Her parents
believed, “All of us want to live and want to be in harmony. That’s what we
were taught at home. We didn’t fight at home.” She paused, then with a laugh
confessed, “But we took care of each other if we needed to when we got
outside!”
Her community influence started in 1967 at Eden Elementary School,
and she’s been a driving force since then in the betterment of Pell City and
St. Clair County. “She is dedicated to the betterment of the community,” said
Sherry Bowers.
For 32 years, she “served” Pell City’s children. Her first year at
Eden, she had a combined first- and second-grade class, which presented
difficulties, she admitted. However, it was a good year. “Although I was the
only black teacher there,” she remembered, “they took me under their wings —
teachers, parents and children. … And all those children at Eden school, I
loved them. I still get letters from them, and I see them in town and we just
had a wonderful year.” She taught at Eden seven years, at Iola Roberts nine
years, and finished her career teaching at Kennedy. She emphasized that she
enjoyed teaching in each of those schools. All of her “children” were under her
wings of love and acceptance.
“Marion Frazier was an exceptional teacher who loved her students
and was dedicated to meeting each one’s individual needs,” said Sherry Pate,
Marion’s principal at Kennedy. “She not only educated minds but also hearts.
Mrs. Frazier’s spiritual beliefs spilled over into the lives of her students.
It was an honor and pleasure to work with my good friend, Marion Frazier.”
Her God-given compassion got her appointed to the YWCA Purse and
Passion Steering Committee. “Purse and Passion is a part of the YWCA,” Marion
explains. “We work to fund Our Place, a home for abused women and children from
St. Clair and Blount counties. It has been in existence since 2008. I came on
the Steering Committee in 2010.”
The biggest fundraiser for this is the summer luncheon. At this
event, tables are sponsored by individuals who invite friends to come who know
they’ll be asked to donate to the local domestic violence shelter. Corporate
and private foundation gifts are collected or pledged prior to the luncheon.
The event raised $54,000 in 2019, though naturally the amount fluctuates year
by year. According to the August 8, 2019, St. Clair Times article, Purse
and Passion has helped raise $650,000 over the past 10 years.
Blair Goodgame, who served as co-chair of the event, considered
Marion’s help as vital to the luncheon’s success, saying, “Marion has been an
invaluable asset to the YWCA Purse and Passion Luncheon. Serving on the
steering committee and as a table captain for many years, Marion has
contributed not only her time, but also her talents. She often sings the
National Anthem at the luncheon. As her voice fills the First United Methodist
Church’s Beacon, it puts a smile on the faces of everyone in attendance … She
is a true blessing for the St. Clair County community.”
For more than 20 years, Marion has served on the boards of The
Children’s Place and DHR. The Children’s Place provides help for abused
children. An April luncheon raises funds for this important facility. The
director of DHR meets with the board to bring concerns to them for their
counsel. “Marion and I worked together as DHR board members,” said Rev. Paul
Brasher. “She is one of the most caring and tender-hearted persons I’ve ever
known. She’s a fantastic person and a fantastic Christian that I really
respect. It’s an honor to be her co-worker.”
Marie Manning spoke of Marion’s work in helping college students
financially. “She has served on the Scholarship Committee of the Delta Epsilon
Chapter of Delta Kappa Gamma to provide students with funds for college. …
She is truly a leader in her community and the city.”
With a servant’s heart, her sunshine disposition has blessed many
people at St. Vincent’s St. Clair Hospital, where Marion has volunteered as a
Pink Lady for 26 years.
She has served patients by reading to them and family members by
praying with them in the chapel, and she now works in the gift shop.
Undoubtedly, she has brought comfort to a hospital room through her singing,
for songs can soothe the troubled soul.
Church is a sustaining force in her life. She’s been active in
First Missionary Baptist Church, Pell City, since childhood. “I was over the
Youth Department for 27 years,” she said. “My mother was a singer, and I enjoy
singing. I have been singing in the choir since I was in the youth choir, and
then the adult choir, and now I’m still singing in the senior choir.” Of their
September 2019 Women’s Conference, she said, “We brought in a speaker, a singer
— she was a recording artist — and we had a splendid time!”
Although having given up a lot of her church responsibilities,
she’s still over the program committee and does all the programs for special
events. “She has worked in the church and community for many years, and I’m
certain her efforts are appreciated by many,” said Dr. Jeffrey Wilson, her
pastor,
Her sphere of service extends beyond the local church, for since
2000, she has been secretary of the Mount Zion Coosa Valley District
Association of churches serving St. Clair and Jefferson counties.
Married to Jesse Frazier for 46 and a half years, they have one
son and daughter-in-law, Jamey and Kimberly Frazier, who are parents to
Isabella.
Kimberly Frazier wrote, “To my second Mother, You have been the
best mother-in-law anyone could ask for. You portray everything good in the
world, and I am honored to be your daughter. You are always there for us,
without hesitation, and with loving, open arms. Thank you for the father and
husband you raised for Isabella and me. He carries your Godly spirit. You mean
the world to us, GG.”
Marion’s mother was the great influence in her life, and the love
of God the guiding force. A song she loves is Dottie Rambo’s “He Looked beyond
My Faults and Saw My Need.” The concluding stanza reads: “I shall forever lift
mine eyes to Calvary / To view the cross where Jesus died for me. / How
marvelous the grace that caught my falling soul; / He looked beyond my faults
and saw my needs.”
Marion Frazier has looked beyond the faults of others, saw their
need and sought to lift up wounded, falling people to give them help and hope.
Faith
and dynamite — that’s Marion Frazier. And when faith and dynamite join hands,
step aside. l
Story by Elaine Hobson Miller Photos by Mike Callahan Submitted photos
One night, artist
Joy Varnell was up late watching television when she stumbled upon a show about
beach weddings. As the camera panned the California venue, she spotted an
artist among the guests, paint brush in hand and canvas on easel. Intrigued,
she recorded the show, then played it several more times. Realizing he was
painting the wedding scene, she said to herself, “I think I can do that.”
The problem was,
she didn’t know how to get started.
That issue was
soon resolved when she walked into the home of a friend/client and spotted a
wedding invitation on her kitchen counter. “The client mentioned that she
wanted to give the wedding couple something unique, and I suggested that I go
to the wedding and paint a picture,” Joy said. “She agreed, and when I got back
to my car, I thought, ‘What have I done?’ ”
What she did was
create a new twist in her artistic career, one that eventually caused her to
dump her day job and paint 40 hours a week. She attends weddings and
receptions, capturing special moments on canvas. After eight years, that twist
has resulted in more than 300 paintings, taken her and her husband all over the
United States, and made a lot of brides happy.
Joy started
drawing as a child and painting as a teenager. She studied interior designat
Southern Institute (which later became Phillips College) and worked as a
kitchen designer for 16 years before striking out on her own to do interior
design and faux finishes — a lot of faux finishes.
During all those
years, she was painting in her spare time and selling her work. Her husband,
Tim, kept encouraging her to spend more hours at her easel. Then came that
first wedding, a huge event at the Birmingham Museum of Art. She painted the
bridal couple descending the stairs for the reception, and in a newspaper
article about the wedding, the bridegroom mentioned that her painting was his
favorite gift. From there, her new venture took wings.
“This got bigger and bigger and just took over, and I quit
doing interior design,” she said. The transition from landscapes, pet portraits
and still life to painting people was a struggle at first, but Joy has a knack
for looking at something and being able to paint it. Soon, she was painting
weekdays and attending one or two weddings on the weekends. Now, it’s a full-time
business. “I did 48 paintings in 2018,” said Joy, who calls herself a
“live-event artist.”
Her modus operandi is to show up about three hours before the
event, usually wearing a black dress or pants, to start painting the
background. “The vendors usually dress in black, so I do, too,” she explained.
The most popular request is to capture the bride and groom’s first dance, so
she usually sets up at the reception. When the guests come in, she’s ready to
paint them into the scene. When the wedding couple appears, she adds them to
the painting.
She tries to get a good likeness of the bride and groom, but
not the people in the background. Most of them can be recognized by what
they’re wearing. She uses the term, “most,” but brides and their mothers are
much more specific than that. “The details of the people in the painting
are amazing,” said Pamela Rhodes, mother of a bride who married in Addis,
Louisiana. “Joy painted my daughter and son-in-law’s first dance as husband and
wife (Peyton and Sean Forestier). We are able to identify every person painted,
even the guy singing on the stage (my brother-in-law).”
“The Creator of the Universe certainly shines through Joy’s
hand,” gushed Jurrita Williams Louie of Dallas, Texas, who got
married in Tuscaloosa, her and her husband’s hometown. “She captured our first
dance as Mr. and Mrs. Calvin Louie as if God came down from heaven to earth to
do it. I can’t quite get over the detail and thoughtfulness with each stroke.”
Joy’s medium is acrylicsbecause they have no odor and
dry quickly. “I have to work very fast, so at least the couple can see
themselves before they leave,” she said. “People come up and say, ‘It looks
just like them,’ as if they are surprised. Well, that’s the point.” As for
mistakes, she just paints over them.
At the time she started, she found only four artists doing
what she does. Three were in California, one in New York. There are many more
now, but she believes the examples on her website, joyvarnellart.com, and her willingness to travel make her stand out. Her new business
has taken her to California, New York, Indiana, Florida, Louisiana and along
the Gulf Coast, Georgia and up and down the East Coast as well.
“I average about 12-15 weddings around the New Orleans area
and south Louisiana each year,” she said. One such event took place at the
restored art deco Lakefront Airport terminal in New Orleans. “It was my
daughter, Celeste’s, wedding to Don Jude,” said Claudine Hope’Perret. “It was
their first dance, and the painting shows amazing work and detail, even down to
their lit-up tennis shoes.”
No one has ever expressed a dislike of her paintings, though
she did have a girl ask her to re-do the groom’s hair once. “I strive very hard
to get what they want,” she said.
Tim, who is retired from the Norfolk Southern Railroad, goes
to the weddings with Joy and does most of the driving. Anything over 500 miles,
they fly. He packs up her paints and tools at home, unpacks and sets up at the
venue, then repacks. “He calls himself my roadie,” she said. “He’s my public
relations man, too. He mingles.”
Some of the brides are nervous, and others just very excited
and enjoying their day. The grooms are always nervous, and usually say, “Where
do you want me?” Kids just stand and stare.
The most common request she gets while painting is, “Will you
take 10 (or 20) pounds off me?” That often comes from the mother of the bride.
“Sometimes a woman will come up and talk to me because she’s afraid to talk to
Joy,” Tim said. “One woman asked if Joy would take off her stomach and give her
some boobs.” A man might ask her to cover a bald spot.
Sometimes Joy adds details that represent something
meaningful to the couple. Once, she painted a map rolled out to represent a
treasure hunt, because that’s how the groom led the bride to her ring and his
proposal. She has painted favorite dogs, relatives who couldn’t attend, even
dead relatives into the paintings. She has put cats in, too. “Very often the
venue will have one, and I’ll paint it peeping through a window,” she said.
Occasionally she’ll give the bride a brush and let her paint a few strokes of
her own.
She has painted outdoors in all types of weather, from
35-degree temperatures on New Year’s Eve to 95-degrees in the sun. She prefers
the reception to the ceremony because it’s less structured, and she gets to
interact with the people. “That’s part of what makes it fun,” she said.
One of her most memorable events was a Hindu wedding in
Indiana. The bride wanted her to paint the Seven Vows, but she didn’t know what
they were or where they occurred in the ceremony, which was four hours long.
She kept asking people, and no one seemed to know. Parts of the ceremony were
in English, parts in Hindi, and it turned out that the Seven Vows were at the
end. Tim found out and clued her in.
An outdoor wedding in Biloxi,Mississippi, was notable
because a storm came up and sent many guests inside. The bridal party remained
outside, and at the end of ceremony, the couple was framed by a rainbow.
There was one in Fort Deposit they’ll never forget, either,
but for a very different reason. “When we got out of the car there, we realized
we had left my paints at home,” Joy recalled. They carry an emergency set,
which has been upgraded as a result of that trip.
She hates having to tell people she is already booked for
their special date, and has painted two events in one day, as much as 90 miles
apart. One time, she got two separate bookings for the same wedding, at
Aldridge Gardens in Hoover. “The bride’s mother had contacted me and asked for
a painting of the couple’s first dance,” she said. “Then I got another request
for the same wedding. The bride wanted one of the father-daughter dance to give
to her parents. Neither knew about the other’s request.” She had two canvases
on her easel throughout the reception and kept swapping them back and forth so
neither party would know about the other. The backgrounds were the same. “The
bride’s mother began to catch on, but the dad never did,” Joy said. “I presented
both paintings at the end.”
Sometimes she finishes a painting on site but brings home
most of them so she can apply an art varnish as a protective sealer. Her studio
is a sunny 11’ x1 2’ room of her house, with a huge front-facing window. She
and Tim have lived in that house on a mountain top in Springville for 12 years,
surrounded by rock formations, trees and lots of wildlife. Deer and turkey
wander around the property, along with a family of foxes that they feed daily.
The house is filled with Joy’s still-life paintings, such as wine bottles so
real you want to grab one and pour a drink.
Jessica Silvers Posey of Maryland, who married Aaron Posey in
Laurel, Delaware, said Joy painted the most beautiful picture of the couple’s
first dance. “The details are phenomenal,” she said. “I relive that moment
every time I look at the painting. Everyone who walks past this painting in our
house can’t help but stop and stare.”
While mothers, parents, bridesmaids, co-workers and grooms
hire her to paint as a gift, most of the time it’s the brides who engage her
services.
She offers three standard sizes, 18” x 24”, 24” x 30” and 30”
x 36”. Clients may choose something larger but cannot choose whether the
finished product will be vertical or horizontal. “I decide that, depending upon
the venue and what I want to get in the painting,” Joy said. The largest one
she has done was 42” x 48”. Her prices start at $1,000, plus travel expenses if
she goes outside the Birmingham Metro area.
Although 99 percent of her business comes from weddings, she
has painted at Christmas parties, company anniversaries and fundraisers. One of
her corporate events was the opening of Nick Saban’s Mercedes-Benz dealership
on I-459. And yes, the coach was there.
Even though she doesn’t normally turn down an event unless
she is already booked, she did refuse to paint at one recent wedding. Her own
daughter was the bride, the wedding took place at Joy and Tim’s house, and Joy
wanted to relax as much as possible and enjoy it.
“I
will paint it later from photographs,” she said.
“This got bigger and bigger and just took
over, and I quit doing interior design,” she said. The transition from landscapes,
pet portraits and still life to painting people was a struggle at first, but
Joy has a knack for looking at something and being able to paint it. Soon, she
was painting weekdays and attending one or two weddings on the weekends. Now,
it’s a full-time
business. “I did 48
paintings in 2018,” said Joy, who
calls herself a “live-event
artist.”
Her modus operandi is to show up
about three hours before the event, usually wearing a black dress or pants, to
start painting the background. “The vendors usually dress in black, so I do, too,” she explained. The most popular
request is to capture the bride and groom’s first dance, so she usually
sets up at the reception. When the guests come in, she’s ready to paint them into the
scene. When the wedding couple appears, she adds them to the painting.
She tries to get a good likeness
of the bride and groom, but not the people in the background. Most of them can
be recognized by what they’re wearing. She uses the term, “most,” but brides and their mothers
are much more specific than that. “The details of the people in the
painting are amazing,” said Pamela Rhodes, mother of a bride who married in
Addis, Louisiana. “Joy painted my daughter and son-in-law’s first dance as husband and
wife (Peyton and Sean Forestier). We are able to identify every person painted,
even the guy singing on the stage (my brother-in-law).”
“The Creator of the Universe
certainly shines through Joy’s hand,” gushed Jurrita Williams Louie of Dallas, Texas, who got
married in Tuscaloosa, her and her husband’s hometown. “She captured our first dance as
Mr. and Mrs. Calvin Louie as if God came down from heaven to earth to do it. I
can’t
quite get over the detail and thoughtfulness with each stroke.”
Joy’s medium is acrylicsbecause
they have no odor and dry quickly. “I have to work very fast, so at
least the couple can see themselves before they leave,” she said. “People come up and say, ‘It looks just like them,’ as if they are surprised. Well,
that’s
the point.”
As for mistakes, she just paints over them.
At the time she started, she
found only four artists doing what she does. Three were in California, one in
New York. There are many more now, but she believes the examples on her
website, joyvarnellart.com, and her willingness to travel make her stand out. Her new business
has taken her to California, New York, Indiana, Florida, Louisiana and along
the Gulf Coast, Georgia and up and down the East Coast as well.
“I average about 12-15 weddings
around the New Orleans area and south Louisiana each year,” she said. One such event took place at the restored
art deco Lakefront Airport terminal in New Orleans. “It was my daughter, Celeste’s, wedding to Don Jude,” said Claudine Hope’Perret. “It was their first dance, and
the painting shows amazing work and detail, even down to their lit-up tennis
shoes.”
No one has ever expressed a
dislike of her paintings, though she did have a girl ask her to re-do the groom’s hair once. “I strive very hard to get what
they want,” she said.
Tim, who is retired from the
Norfolk Southern Railroad, goes to the weddings with Joy and does most of the
driving. Anything over 500 miles, they fly. He packs up her paints and tools at
home, unpacks and sets up at the venue, then repacks. “He calls himself my roadie,” she said. “He’s my public relations man, too. He mingles.”
Some of the brides are nervous,
and others just very excited and enjoying their day. The grooms are always
nervous, and usually say, “Where do you want me?” Kids just stand and stare.
The most common request she gets
while painting is, “Will you take 10 (or 20) pounds
off me?” That often comes from the
mother of the bride. “Sometimes a woman will come up
and talk to me because she’s afraid to talk to Joy,” Tim said. “One woman asked if Joy would
take off her stomach and give her some boobs.” A man might ask her to cover a
bald spot.
Sometimes Joy adds details that
represent something meaningful to the couple. Once, she painted a map rolled
out to represent a treasure hunt, because that’s how the groom led the bride to
her ring and his proposal. She has painted favorite dogs, relatives who couldn’t attend, even dead relatives into the paintings. She
has put cats in, too. “Very often the venue will have
one, and I’ll paint it peeping through a
window,” she said. Occasionally she’ll give the bride a brush and let her paint a few
strokes of her own.
She has painted outdoors in all
types of weather, from 35-degree temperatures on New Year’s Eve to 95-degrees in the sun. She prefers the
reception to the ceremony because it’s less structured, and she gets
to interact with the people. “That’s part of what makes it fun,” she said.
One of her most memorable events
was a Hindu wedding in Indiana. The bride wanted her to paint the Seven Vows,
but she didn’t know what they were or where
they occurred in the ceremony, which was four hours long. She kept asking
people, and no one seemed to know. Parts of the ceremony were in English, parts
in Hindi, and it turned out that the Seven Vows were at the end. Tim found out
and clued her in.
An outdoor wedding in Biloxi,Mississippi, was notable because a storm came up and sent many guests
inside. The bridal party remained outside, and at the end of ceremony, the
couple was framed by a rainbow.
There was one in Fort Deposit
they’ll never forget, either, but for
a very different reason. “When we got out of the car
there, we realized we had left my paints at home,” Joy recalled. They carry an emergency set, which has
been upgraded as a result of that trip.
She hates having to tell people
she is already booked for their special date, and has painted two events in one
day, as much as 90 miles apart. One time, she got two separate bookings for the
same wedding, at Aldridge Gardens in Hoover. “The bride’s mother had contacted me and asked for a painting of
the couple’s first dance,” she said. “Then I got another request for
the same wedding. The bride wanted one of the father-daughter dance to give to
her parents. Neither knew about the other’s request.” She had two canvases on her easel throughout the
reception and kept swapping them back and forth so neither party would know
about the other. The backgrounds were the same. “The bride’s mother began to catch on, but the dad never did,” Joy said. “I presented both paintings at
the end.”
Sometimes she finishes a
painting on site but brings home most of them so she can apply an art varnish
as a protective sealer. Her studio is a sunny 11’ x1 2’ room of her house, with a huge front-facing window.
She and Tim have lived in that house on a mountain top in Springville for 12
years, surrounded by rock formations, trees and lots of wildlife. Deer and
turkey wander around the property, along with a family of foxes that they feed
daily. The house is filled with Joy’s still-life paintings, such as
wine bottles so real you want to grab one and pour a drink.
Jessica Silvers Posey of Maryland,
who married Aaron Posey in Laurel, Delaware, said Joy painted the most
beautiful picture of the couple’s first dance. “The details are phenomenal,” she said. “I relive that moment every time
I look at the painting. Everyone who walks past this painting in our house can’t help but stop and stare.”
While mothers, parents,
bridesmaids, co-workers and grooms hire her to paint as a gift, most of the
time it’s the brides who engage her
services.
She offers three standard sizes,
18” x 24”, 24” x 30” and 30” x 36”. Clients may choose something larger but cannot
choose whether the finished product will be vertical or horizontal. “I decide that, depending upon the venue and what I
want to get in the painting,” Joy said. The largest one she
has done was 42” x 48”. Her prices start at $1,000, plus travel expenses if
she goes outside the Birmingham Metro area.
Although 99 percent of her
business comes from weddings, she has painted at Christmas parties, company
anniversaries and fundraisers. One of her corporate events was the opening of
Nick Saban’s Mercedes-Benz dealership on
I-459. And yes, the coach was there.
Even though she doesn’t normally turn down an event unless she is already
booked, she did refuse to paint at one recent wedding. Her own daughter was the
bride, the wedding took place at Joy and Tim’s house, and Joy wanted to relax
as much as possible and enjoy it.
“I will paint it later from photographs,” she said.
