Museum of Pell City readies for annual salute to soldiers
When Museum of Pell City opened its doors in March 2023, its first major project focused on paying tribute to veterans, a tradition that has continued each November since.
That first year, the museum built a major military exhibit and culminated a months-long oral history project with a video featuring veterans of World War II, including D-Day, Korean War and Vietnam War called War and Remembrance.
Interviews of veterans from Pell City’s Col. Robert L. Howard State Veterans Home as well as other local veterans recounted their experiences in military service and the grim realities of war.
On Nov. 6, the museum will present its annual Salute to Veterans with a focus on coming home and the difficult transition from battlefield to homefront. A reception will be held in the banquet room of the Pell City Municipal Complex at 10 a.m., followed by keynote speaker, Jason Nunley, a special operations veteran with deployments including Iraq, Afghanistan and Africa. After military retirement, he rose through his family’s pipeline supplier business and is now its president and chief executive officer.
The museum will premier the latest video in its veteran series: A Soldier’s Return, A Mother’s Battle. The video features an intimate interview with Michelle Tumlin, mother of a returning soldier who took his own life after struggling through the transition of coming home.
She has turned the tragedy into her own battle to help veterans, founding a nonprofit to assist returning veterans. She created a shop in downtown Pell City called Houston Project in honor of her son, Houston Tumlin. The shop sells military-themed apparel and products with all proceeds going to vets.
In addition, she joined another mother, Sharon McDaniel, in lobbying successfully for a law in Alabama that provides gun safes at gun stores for veterans who may be contemplating suicide or other harm. It’s a voluntary, temporary firearm surrender program for veterans – no questions asked.
The Houston Hunter Act, is actually named for those two mothers’ sons, who were lost to suicide – Houston Tumlin and Hunter Whitley.
“We talk often about service and sacrifice in war, but in growing instances, we see that the battlefield is not the only struggle soldiers face,” said Museum President Carol Pappas. “Michelle’s story gives us a better understanding of a battle of a different kind – coming home.”
The museum’s military exhibit is being redesigned and expanded and will be open for tours following the program. l
Editor’s Note: Museum of Pell City is located in a 4,000-square-foot suite on the second floor of the Pell City Municipal Complex. It is open to the public free of charge on Thursdays and Fridays, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., and Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
