The Right Path

Pell City native discovers his future along hiking trail

Story by Scottie Vickery
Photos courtesy of Bennett Fisher

When Bennett Fisher agreed to hike the Appalachian Trail with his father after his high school graduation, he thought the trip would buy him some time before making major life decisions. But somewhere along the 2,189-mile trek he took to avoid thinking about his future, the Pell City native discovered it instead.

Bennett Fisher, also known as Jolly, on Continental Divide Trail in Tetons

“I didn’t know where I wanted to go to college or what I wanted to do, and I figured it would allow me to put the decision off a bit,” said Bennett, a 2015 Pell City High School graduate. “But while we were backpacking, the people we met were really cool, the gear was really cool, and I started thinking it would be fun to be a designer.”

Seven years later, Bennett’s dream, which started taking shape on that trail, is a reality. Last October, he launched his online company, Jolly Gear (jollygearapparel.com), which offers the hybrid sun shirt he designed to meet a hiker’s every need.

It’s fast drying, offers sun and odor protection, and unlike most outdoor shirts available, it’s a vibrant, colorful creation that looks great in photos. He named the shirt the Triple Crown Button Down Sun Hoodie, a nod to the Triple Crown of Hiking: conquering the Appalachian Trail, the Pacific Crest Trail and the Continental Divide.

“It’s where fun meets functional,” said Bennett, quoting the tagline on the Jolly Gear logo. “I really enjoy the outdoors, and I like to problem-solve. I wanted to design something and make it different, better and special. People are buying them, and I’m just overjoyed.”

The first steps

The summer before Bennett’s senior year of high school, he was at the beach with his parents, Henry and Vicki Fisher, when they saw a father teaching his son to catch a wave. “I was joking around and said, ‘I wish my parents were cool enough to teach me to surf,’” he recalled. “My father said, ‘Well, if you want a cool dad, why don’t we hike the Appalachian Trail next summer?’”

Bennett agreed, and a few months later he posted about it on Instagram. “My dad texted me and said, ‘Oh, you’re serious. I guess we’re doing this,’” he said. “We’d never backpacked before. I grew up camping, and we’d take day hikes, but we’d never loaded up a backpack with four days of food and set out with no vehicle or anything. I knew nothing.”

His father researched gear and got what they needed, but Bennett didn’t give the trip a lot of thought in advance. “The day we left was the first time I’d fully loaded my pack,” he said. “My friends asked all these ‘what if’ questions – what if you get hurt, what if the weather is bad – but my plan was that I was just going to walk.”

The trek, which stretches from Georgia to Maine, took 5 ½ months, and Bennett was a different person when they finished in December. “I had some of the most real conversations I’d ever had with my dad,” he said. “He told me that he wanted to prove to himself that he could still do something that was epic.”

Bennett didn’t know it then, but each step he took brought him closer to his own epic adventure: designing a product, launching a brand and becoming a business owner at 24. “Right now, this is a side hustle, but I can see it becoming something much bigger,” he said.

The winding trail

Bennett, now 25, has always loved the outdoors, but he was surprised at how many other people seemed to, as well. Hikers were everywhere on the Appalachian Trail, and “I thought, ‘There are jobs here; people are doing this,’” he said, adding that the hiking community has grown tremendously since 2015.

He came home, enrolled at Jefferson State Community College and graduated in the spring of 2017. During his last semester, he began preparing to hike the Pacific Crest Trail with a friend while also researching options for the next phase of his education.

He stumbled across Utah State, which offered a major in outdoor product design and development. “I couldn’t believe it,” he said. “I’d had the idea to work for a brand like Osprey or Patagonia, and I thought I could get a degree in this and work for a company like that. Plus, I’d always wanted to go to Utah. It seemed like kind of a mystical place to me.”

To make it work, Bennett needed to save some money. He decided to take a gap year and enroll in the fall of 2018. In the meantime, he and a buddy set off to conquer the 2,650 miles of the Pacific Crest Trail, which starts at the Mexican border in southern California and winds through Oregon and Washington before ending at the Canadian border.

It was a lofty goal, and Bennett made it halfway before breaking his ankle. Although he was disappointed, he wasn’t giving up on his hiking goals or the dreams for his future. He found jobs at an outdoor apparel store and an indoor climbing facility, put some money aside and learned he’d earned a scholarship that made his Utah adventure possible.

“Before school started, I finally did the whole Pacific Crest Trail that summer,” Bennett said. In addition to marking the hike off his bucket list, he got the inspiration for the Triple Crown Button Down he would eventually design.

“You become pretty close to people pretty fast when you’re backpacking because you spend so much time together,” Bennett said. “You meet folks out there, and they become your trail family – the people you camp with, eat with, hike with.”

One hiker he met was a guy named Max. “He was wearing his mother’s gardening shirt, which had a hood, long sleeves, and buttons,” Bennett recalled. “At the time, everyone had to choose between a sun hoodie, which didn’t have buttons (allowing you to open the shirt to catch a breeze), or a fishing shirt. The rest of the trail, I kept thinking that I wanted to design something like that.”

Triple Crown design

The thought made him even more excited about school, but once in Utah, he grew discouraged. “All these people had been in art classes growing up, and they were all light-years ahead of me,” he said. Being several years older than his classmates didn’t help either, and “it was pretty intimidating to be around such talented folks.”

Despite his doubts, Bennett continued to do what he’s always done: he just kept going. Two sewing classes were required for his major, and that’s when everything started falling into place. In the first class, he had to make either a jacket or a shirt, and his Triple Crown Button Down first came to life. “It took me 72 hours to hand-sew that first prototype,” he said.

The shirt was a combination of a Performance Fishing Gear shirt and a sun hoodie. Thumb holes in the sleeves offered sun protection for the hands while the hood protected the neck. Two zipper pockets on the chest are perfect for holding a phone or wallet.

“I combined a button down and sun hoodie into one; there’s no more compromise,” Bennett said. “At that point, I thought I had just made the shirt for myself, and I was pretty proud of it.” His confidence grew when he earned a perfect score, and the shirt was named runner-up in a vote by his classmates.

His final semester, he took a class on logo design and branding. “We had to create a fake company and a fake clothing line,” he said. The logo he designed was an outline of a man’s face with a long beard, which is actually an image of a pine cone. He landed on Jolly Gear for the name, in honor of the nickname he got on the Appalachian Trail.

“They called me Jolly because I was very positive and optimistic,” he said, adding that long-distance hikers go by nicknames. “Most of the time, people give you the name. My dad was Powerslide because he slipped on the rocks a lot but still managed not to fall.”

Continental Divide Trail, 2021. From left, Wildcard, Rocket, Turbo, Jesus, Poison, Jolly, Walkie Talkie, Mittens and Salty

Launching a dream

At the time, Bennett thought he was just completing a class project, but graduating in May 2020 in the middle of a pandemic made him rethink things. “I graduated when no one was hiring, and everyone was getting laid off,” he said. “All of these outdoor companies were letting people go. How was I, a guy with no experience, going to get a job over people who had been doing this for 10 years?”

He found a job as a software tester and decided to launch Jolly Gear on the side. He offers hats and T-shirts, as well, but the star is the Triple Crown Button Down, which features all of Bennett’s must-haves. The four-way stretch fabric is extremely lightweight, odor-resistant and offers UPF-50 sun protection.

In addition to thumb holes, there’s a hair hole and cinch cord in the hood, and most importantly, it’s bright and colorful. “I wanted to have fun patterns” so it would stand out from the typical solid khaki, gray, light blue or yellow options. Long-distance hikers typically wear one shirt for weeks or months at a time, and “I wanted to create something you’d be proud to show in every single picture on the trail,” he said.

In an effort to earn his own Triple Crown, Bennett was hiking the Continental Divide, which spans some 3,100 miles through New Mexico, Colorado, Wyoming, Idaho and Montana, when the first samples were finished last summer. He had some shipped to himself, and he and a few members of his trail family picked them up together. “We literally ripped our shirts off in the post office and tried them on,” he said.

“I had never seen the print in person, and the size of the flowers was exactly what I had imagined,” he said. “Eight of us wore them on the trail and out to dinner. They got a lot of attention, and everybody loved them. People have told me it’s the fastest-drying shirt they’ve ever had.”

While Bennett hoped to earn his Triple Crown while wearing his Triple Crown Button Down, he fractured his left foot 1,650 miles into the trip. He plans to pick up the trail where he left off and finish the hike this summer, but he’s thrilled that one of his seven friends who wore the shirt finished and earned his Triple Crown in style.

Despite having been worn for thousands of sweaty miles, the shirt “still looks beautiful,” Bennett said. “He actually wore it on a date a few days later. I was so excited – it’s everything I hoped for and more.” 

Southeast Regional Slingshot Tournament

Competition finds home at Horse Pens 40

Story by Paul South
Photos by Mackenzie Free

There’s something on target about one of the newer events, the Southeast Regional Slingshot Tournament, to come to Horse Pens 40.

The park, an ancient ground settled by native peoples – including the Creek and Cherokee – centuries ago has been transformed through the years through war and new settlers, but its ancient trees and boulders remain largely unchanged.

Admed Alfrookh demonstrates for his father, Mohammed

While owned today by the Schultz family, the park has a simple mission, driven by the presence of more than 60 rare, threatened, protected or endangered species, as well as the other flora and fauna in the park: “Leave No Trace” of human hands.

By the 1950s, Horse Pens was home to craft fairs. By the 1960s, the new phenomenon of outdoor music festivals drew bluegrass and Americana roots music legends like Bill Monroe, Ralph Stanley, Lester Flatt, Ricky Skaggs, Alison Krauss and Birmingham’s own Emmylou Harris, delighting audiences hungry for the high lonesome sound.

Music still rings, and artisans and craftspeople still show their wares there, but now, there is even more to what has become a global destination point

The park is known as one of the best bouldering courses in the world with its massive rocks beckoning climbers from near and far. Horse Pens is home to the Triple Crown championship of bouldering, raising its profile much higher than the allure of its boulders that draw competitors from around the world.

Sling shooting thriving atop Chandler Mountain

Add to its already established bouldering reputation the competitive slingshot tournaments, one of only a handful in the United States, and Horse Pens is becoming a sports destination point all over again. A one-time weapon of war older than the Scriptures became a kid’s toy in the 1940s and is now part of a small but growing sport. The roots of the slingshot can be traced back 2,500 years.

Competitively speaking, what once meant knocking a Campbell’s soup can off a fencepost with a rock is now nailing tiny targets from more than 30 feet away.

 In late September, Dan Ambrosius of Steele won the most recent Southeast Regional tournament at Horse Pens, one of five such tournament titles he’s captured nationwide.

Growing up in the jungles of the Philippines as the son of American missionaries, he began shooting slingshots as a toddler. But make no mistake, Ambrosius’ first slingshot was no toy, but a survival tool.

“As jungle missionaries, when I was a small child, all the tribal people had slingshots. I was introduced to a slingshot at three or four years old.

“Over there, we ate whatever we shot – birds, small animals, all kinds of stuff. So, coming to this country, I’d always had a slingshot and always been interested in it. About seven or eight years ago, I found out through social media that tournaments existed. For all I knew, I was the only one in this country who was good with a slingshot, period, because I’d never met anyone that could shoot as well as me, ever,” he says.

When he entered his first competition, the prestigious East Coast Slingshot Tournament in Alverton, Pa., he learned quickly that there were indeed others who could shoot as well, if not better. Ambrosius finished in the top 10, but competitive sling shooting had won his heart.

He quickly learned others were better, and the pressure of competition was far different than tracking animals in steamy Filipino jungles.

“I didn’t realize how accurate you had to be,” he says. “My slingshotting up until tournaments was always designed to kill things. It was about the biggest ammo as fast as you can shoot it and kill the game. In tournament, it’s either you hit the target, or you don’t.”

Tourney winner Dan Ambrosius, center, poses with other competitors

While the Pennsylvania tournament is highly regarded in slingshot circles, the Southeast Regional at Horse Pens is perhaps the sport’s fastest-growing competition in the United States because of a growing number of shooters in Alabama, Tennessee, Georgia and the Carolinas. About 60 shooters competed in the 2021 event, renewed after COVID-19 forced cancellation of the 2020 event.

Horse Pens 40 Park Manager Ashley Ensign said that bouldering remains the biggest draw at the park, which makes it a big economic driver for St. Clair and neighboring counties.

“The largest rock-climbing competition in the world is the Triple Crown Bouldering Series and Horse Pens is part of that,” Ensign says. “Even with the current situation we have now (the pandemic), we had over 300 competitors and roughly 400 spectators, and all from out of state.”

Horse Pens also hosts an annual Songwriters’ Festival, Ensign says. But she gives high marks to the slingshot event. “It’s not something you see every day, so it’s always fun,” she says.

While sling shooting is growing slowly in the United States, it’s wildly popular in other countries, particularly in Europe and Asia. As of now, China is the world’s superpower in the sport. Asked to compare the sport’s popularity overseas to the United States, Ambrosius doesn’t mince words.

“It’s not even close,” he says. “In the United States, there are 10 to 15 of us that would be considered world-class shooters – that could go overseas and compete in a tournament. I’ve been invited to China, Italy, Spain, England, all expenses paid, because they want Americans to come over and participate.”

 He adds, “There are only a few of us (in the States), whereas in China, there are millions and millions of competitive shooters. Gymnasiums are full of shooters all over the country every weekend in China with competitive slingshot shooting. It’s a huge, huge business.”

 The reason slingshots are so popular? More restrictive gun laws.

 “They don’t have the freedom with firearms that we do in this country,” Ambrosius says.

There’s a push to make it an Olympic sport. Once that happens, Ambrosius believes the sport will take off in popularity.

Companies are banking on that. The internet features a variety of sites, where shoppers can find slingshots ranging in price from $5 to high-tech versions up to $1,000 or more. The iconic American toy company Wham-O first marketed the slingshot after World War II.

And unlike other competitive sports where the competition is sometimes cutthroat and money pulls the strings, the slingshot – a sport propelled by an elastic band – is not about money, but about camaraderie. Trophies for the winners – not cash – are the only tangible rewards.

But there’s another reward to the slingshot, Ambrosius says. Taking aim with this childhood toy seems to melt away the years like ice on an August Alabama sidewalk.

“It just takes you to a different place,” Ambrosius says. “You become younger and more playful. It takes you to a place that’s not so much in the present. You’re a kid again, and you’re doing something that’s really, really fun. It’s just so fun to hit a can with a slingshot. It’s just fun.”

Iron Bowl Tradition

Bell family love of game becomes national story of Auburn-Alabama rivalry

Story and photos by Carol Pappas
Photos courtesy of Bell family

Alabamians know there’s only two answers to this question: “Who’re you for?” As one old sports editor once wrote, “It needs no further explanation.”

“Auburn,” says one. “Alabama,” says the other. The replies come quickly and easily. Which answer depends on which way you lean. But make no mistake, you lean one way or the other. Have to. After all, this is Alabama.

From left, Mack and Brenda Bell, Yvonne and Jimmy Bell sport their colors

No one knows that much better than the Bell family of Pell City. Around here, they would call it a mixed marriage of allegiances. Part of the family roots for the orange and blue of Auburn. Other parts pull for the red and white of the Crimson Tide.

Their passion for their teams runs as deeply as their roots in the family. So, it’s no small wonder that when CBS was looking for the perfect story to illustrate the intense rivalry known as the Iron Bowl, they uncovered a treasured tradition – just like the Bells did nearly four decades ago.

“In the late summer of 1982, my dad was a contractor, and he was digging footing for a home in Skyline,” a Logan Martin Lake subdivision, recalled Mack Bell. At the time, it was one of the first homes being built there. When his father’s backhoe dug its first scoop, they heard a loud metallic clank. “It was an old iron pot full of dirt,” he said. “It had been there for years,” estimated at 140 to 150 years old.

“Mom cleaned it up,” Bell said, and it eventually led to a decades-old tradition for this family split by alliances. What better way to commemorate the Iron Bowl than with, well, an iron bowl?

Every year, the Bell family has a Christmas party, and talk naturally leads to ‘the game.’ Mack’s side of the family is Alabama. Cousin Jimmy’s side is Auburn. That year, 1982, Bo (Jackson) went over the top and Auburn won the title of Iron Bowl champion for the first time in 10 years.

Mack told his father, Bill, “This Christmas, let’s give the iron bowl to Jimmy.” Bill did indeed present the bowl to his nephew but with a playful nod to their opposite allegiance, he told him, “Here’s your bowl, and you know where to put it.”

And thus began the tradition.

CBS enters the picture

The national network, CBS, aired the game in 2021. Producers wanted to put together a five-minute story as part of its pregame coverage to show viewers across the nation just how divided the rivalry is in Alabama.

Mack and Brenda Bell on camera

Through research, they found an old newspaper story about the Bells’ iron bowl trophy, and they started trying to contact Jimmy. When he saw the New Jersey number coming up, he thought it was a scam. Voicemails to the contrary still didn’t convince him so he didn’t return the call.

Finally, CBS staff contacted the local newspaper that ran the original story and got in touch with Jimmy, saying, “Call this guy. He’s for real.”

Jimmy obliged but warned CBS not to come if they were going to portray the family as a bunch of rednecks from Alabama. Assurances satisfied the Bells, and a CBS crew arrived a couple of weeks before the game.

They spent hours filming, interviewing and re-enacting the awarding of the trophy and condensed it into a five-minute segment viewed across the nation. They even provided a Thanksgiving dinner with all the trimmings to recreate the meal. Bright lights, moving furniture and placing everything just so turned Bell’s house in Pell City’s Hunting Ridge into a real set for a television show.

“Three big cameras, lighting, monitors” – and the stage was set, but not before they changed all the light bulbs and took out the TVs to cut reflection. A drone flew over the house, capturing even more footage. “Obviously, it’s an experience we won’t ever have again,” Jimmy said.

Tradition continues

The experience they will have – over and over again, they hope, is the passing of the trophy from family member to family member.

In the beginning, they passed it around for three years with just the score noted. “Uncle Dick,” Mack’s uncle and Jimmy’s father, Dick Bell, presented a new version when it was his turn – a base with plaques commemorating the member of the family who received it along with year and score. The deceased have their plaques inside the base, which is open to the back to read in remembrance. The trophy tradition is now on its second base, ready for a third.

Dick Bell had saved wood from an old barn on the Scott farm, which had been built of heart pine, pegs and square nails. He had the first base made and saved the wood to continue the tradition after he was gone. Small brass plaques affixed to the base were for the names.

As for the potential for towering bases underneath that old iron bowl, Jimmy said, “I hope it looks like the Indy 500 trophy,” which is over five feet tall.

Whoever receives it each year has the honor of choosing the next recipient. “It’s a reason for us to get together,” said Mack. “It’s a secret until they get it.”

More family are coming to the party because of the interest in the trophy, Jimmy said. As for the recipient, “They’re happy until they realize they have to give the next party.” The family gets together a week or two after the ballgame for a gathering full of family, fellowship, fun … and football.

“It was a tradition we thought would last a year or two, but Dad and Uncle Dick spurred it on,” said Mack.

And, of course, talk naturally turns to the game. “Obviously, the subject of the ballgame comes up,” Jimmy said, calling the 2021 version “a heartbreaker,” when Auburn lost in quadruple overtime. “It works both ways,” he added, noting the Bell version of the series is even. He counted the plaques this year – 18 on each side.

They can rattle off memorable moments in those 36 games, just like ‘Who’re you for,’ they need no further explanation to fans around these parts. “Bo over the top,” Kick Six, 1989 – the first time it was played in Auburn and Tiffin’s kick.

Mack and Jimmy talk of their earliest memories, going to Legion Field without a ticket but getting in anyway. Jimmy remembers his grandfather stopping at the old Golden Rule in Irondale on the way to pick up a bagful of barbecue and Cokes. “As a young kid, that was a highlight.”

His wife, Yvonne, adds a biblical reference for the lifetime of traditions. “Train up a child, and he won’t depart from it.”

Mack’s wife, Mary, agreed. “We’ve got to keep the younger generation involved and continuing the tradition. “It’s third generation now, and the fourth is coming.”

Mack, now retired and many years removed from his days at the University of Alabama, has a simple analogy for whether it means more to beat Auburn or win the national championship. To him, you can’t have one without the other. “The road to the national championship – you’ve got to go through Auburn and the Iron Bowl. It’s the first round of the playoffs.”

Looking back on years and generations that have gone into this family tradition, Mack said, “It’s been a helluva ride. I never thought it would grow to this.”

He and Jimmy and the entire Bell family hope it never ends.

Toomer’s tree finds home, tradition in Pell City

Story by Carol Pappas

There’s another tradition surrounding Auburn and part of the Bell family. This time it involves a tree, but not just any tree. It’s a direct descendant of the famed oak trees at Toomer’s Corner in Auburn.

Toomer oak descendant in Pell City

Following an Auburn victory, thousands of fans converge on the corner of College Street and Magnolia Avenue at what is known as Toomer’s Corner, across from the iconic Toomer’s Drugs, and they roll the trees with toilet paper to celebrate. The decades-old tradition becomes a sea of white waves dangling from the treetops – jubilant fans down below taking part in their creation.

In 2005, acorns from the stately trees were planted and nurtured by Forestry and Wildlife Sciences students, and a limited number of their seedlings were sold to raise funds for student scholarships. Jimmy bought three – one for his sister, Vicki Bell Merrymon, one for a friend and one for himself.

Jimmy’s tree died after being planted to close to his house and had to be moved. But Vicki’s tree thrived, now standing 30 feet tall in a field in front of her Hardwick Road home. The Merrymons may not be in Auburn for the traditional rolling, but when Auburn wins a big game, their tree gets rolled just the same.

“If we beat Alabama, we go out and roll it,” said Vicki. “We’ve rolled it some for basketball. You know, it’s Auburn.”

Grandson Owen has helped roll the tree when he was visiting. When he can’t be there, he and his family keep the tradition alive by rolling a tree in Chattanooga, Tenn., where they live.

Vicki and husband Dana’s most memorable rolling of the tree? When Auburn won the national championship in 2010. Playing in the Rose Bowl out west, it was late at night back in Alabama when Auburn was crowned champion. That night, Vicki said, “We rolled it in the dark with flashlights.”

Also check out our story Eric Bell: Auburn’s No. 1 Fan here!

All the Dolls

Moody collector amazes with her ‘finds’

Story by Leigh Pritchett
Photos by Kelsey Bain

Kathy Haynes’ house is full of babies … about a thousand of them actually.

She is not like the Old Woman Who Lived in a Shoe and “had so many children, she didn’t know what to do.” Quite the contrary, Mrs. Haynes knows exactly how to treat each one of hers. And there is always room for one more.

“I am one of those crazy doll ladies,” said Mrs. Haynes, who lives in Moody. “This is what I do. It is my hobby.”

Her collection of dolls encompasses more than 160 years. Every doll has a unique story, and Mrs. Haynes can easily recount the fine details of each.

Kathy Haynes’ doll collection is about 1,000 strong.

One – an Effanbee Rosebud – spent much of its life in England, but somehow ended up in a Huffman antique shop where Mrs. Haynes bought her. She found some of her other dolls in thrift stores, garage sales, estate or doll sales and websites.

At a thrift store, she discovered a 1970s, red-haired Blythe doll that still worked and wore original clothes. “She was perfect, missing a shoe. I paid 59 cents for her and turned around that night and sold her for $1,000,” Mrs. Haynes said.

She found a Madame Alexander portrait doll in an Irondale thrift store. “I got her for $12.”

A 1950s Miss Revlon came from yet another thrift store. Miss Revlon cost Mrs. Haynes about $15. “Isn’t that unreal? But you have to know what you’re looking for,” Mrs. Haynes said.

The oldest of her brood is a flat-top, China-head doll Mrs. Haynes got for $15 at an antique store in Crestline. That treasure, dating to the 1860s, required a week of work to get all the cat hair off the dress.

The next oldest would be from the late 1800s, a Martha Chase doll and a papier mache doll with original clothes and, from around 1915, an Armand Marseille doll and two Kestner 171 dolls. The papier mache doll was a $10, thrift-store find.

Her collection fills several curios in her living room and dining room. Additionally, hundreds of dolls are on display in a designated room. A select few grace a guest room.

Her treasure trove also includes an Armand Marseille Queen Louise (circa 1915); Bye-Lo dolls with bisque or composite heads; Nancy Ann Storybook Dolls (1930s and ‘40s); Skookum Indian doll with papoose (1940s); Betsy McCall and large Mary Jane Effanbee dolls (1950s); Annalee soft-sculpture dolls; Barbies and more Barbies (1950s and across the decades); Little Miss Echo (1960s), and modern American Girl dolls, among others.

“I have a wide variety,” Mrs. Haynes said.

A love of teaching, history

For 30 years, Mrs. Haynes taught language and history to preteens in Trussville. She used an interactive method of teaching that, for example, encouraged students to “be” Egyptians for a day as they learned about the country. Mrs. Haynes would dress that day as Cleopatra.

Her whole family, in fact, is dedicated to conveying and preserving history. Husband Bob taught advance placement history to 10th and 11th graders in Trussville. Their son, Josh, has assumed that helm, along with coaching scholars’ bowl.

Mrs. Haynes cherishes things reminiscent of her childhood and items with a story, such as antique pieces handed down in the family. She collects cookie jars, Hummels, green and pink Depression Era glass, Byers Carolers, Raggedy Ann and Andy and stuffed bears. One of the bears was created by Trussville doll artist Jan Shackelford.

Even the family pets have their stories. Chance, for instance, is a rescue dog. Mrs. Haynes said her husband gave the dog that name because “we were giving him a chance, and he was giving us a chance.”

Because of her love for history, Mrs. Haynes said the intriguing background of Alabama Baby dolls would make them the dearest in her collection.

An Armand Marseille Queen Louise doll dates to about 1915. An American Character Toodles with “follow me” eyes is in the background.

According to the Library of Congress and The American Folklife Center, Alabama Baby dolls were made in Roanoke, Ala., by Ella Gauntt Smith. In 1897, a neighborhood girl brought her broken bisque doll to Smith to repair. Smith was a seamstress, whose hymn-singing parrot would sit on her shoulder while she worked.

Smith experimented two years before finding the right method to repair the doll. From that, her doll-making business was born. In 1901, Smith received her first patent (albeit in her husband’s name). At the height of her business, about a dozen women worked with her, helping to create the plaster-headed dolls with fabric bodies. She was the first southern doll maker to produce Black dolls.

“These dolls are very special,” said Mrs. Haynes, who has four Alabama Baby dolls. One is a rare, barefoot Alabama Baby.

Though Alabama Baby dolls are Mrs. Haynes’ favorite, Chatty Cathy dolls would be a close second.

She has more than 100 Chatty Cathy dolls. She pulled the cord on one doll to demonstrate that its talk box still functions like new. “Tell me a story,” the doll proclaimed; with a subsequent pull, the doll asked, “Will you play with me?”

Smiling, Mrs. Haynes said, “I think she is a doll. Well, she is a doll!”

The different family groupings of Chatty Cathy dolls that Mrs. Haynes has assembled constitute a collection within a collection. She has Charmin’ Chatty, Chatty Baby, Tiny Chatty Baby, Chatty Brother and Singin’ Chatty dolls.

They feature varying styles and colors of hair, but almost all are wearing original outfits. Mrs. Haynes noted that Barbie and Chatty Cathy dolls shared the same fashion designer.

Holding a Black Tiny Chatty Baby doll, Mrs. Haynes remarked that very few of them were made. “Isn’t she cute?” Mrs. Haynes asked.

Mrs. Haynes also has rare Canadian Chatty Cathy dolls, which, unlike their American cousins, have glass eyes and pinker skin tones.

“I think I have about 10 Canadian ones in all,” she said.

When Mrs. Haynes was a child, her beloved Chatty Cathy doll was accidentally left in a park one day. She and her mother returned quickly to look for it, but the doll was gone.

Decades later, when Mrs. Haynes was in her 30s, her husband bought a blonde Chatty Cathy to replace the one she had lost.

“I just have a very sweet husband, … a blessing from the Lord, … a good Christian man,” Mrs. Haynes said.

Bob’s gift sparked 30 years of doll collecting, which has become an activity the couple enjoys together.

“He has always supported me,” Mrs. Haynes said. “… Bob just got into (doll collecting) with me. He went to doll shows with me. Now, he can tell you as much about Chatty Cathy as I can.”

Sharon Kirby of Vestavia Hills, who is president of The Birmingham Doll Club of Alabama, noted Mrs. Haynes’ extensive knowledge about Chatty Cathy dolls. She said Mrs. Haynes, who is first vice president, gave a presentation on Chatty Cathy to the club, which is the oldest United Federation of Doll Clubs (UDFC) group in the state. Kirby was so impressed with the presentation that she has encouraged Mrs. Haynes to give it at other UDFC groups.

“She just did a really wonderful job. … You could tell she was a teacher. … Everyone learned a lot,” Kirby said.

Kirby mentioned the interesting bit of trivia that Chatty Cathy and “Rocky” of the cartoon “Rocky and Bullwinkle” were voiced by the same person, June Foray.

Both Kirby and Mrs. Haynes said dolls not only offer a look into the past, but also preserve snippets of yesteryear.

“Dolls are a form of art,” Mrs. Haynes said. “They are also a part of our history.”

Kirby added, “Dolls kind of represent a snapshot of history at the moment – the fashion, the trends, I guess even the materials available.” They exemplify technology from their particular era, such as the mechanism that allowed Chatty Cathy to speak.

Through the generations, dolls have helped to teach children to use zippers and buttons, to nurture and “even to cut hair,” Kirby said, with a chuckle. “… If you like dolls, you see the beauty and value in them.”

Barbara Eiland of Trussville said she likes to see Mrs. Haynes’ “amazing” assortment of dolls. “They’re very interesting.”

Eiland, a long-time friend, described Mrs. Haynes as a caring person who diligently and lovingly attends to the needs of family, relatives, friends and neighbors. Mrs. Haynes is thoughtful, too, she said. After learning that Eiland, as a girl, loved Penny Brite dolls, Mrs. Haynes got her one.

“I thought that was so sweet of her to do that,” Eiland said. “… That meant a lot to me.” l

Santa Has Come to Town

Story by Eryn Ellard
Photos by Kelsey Bain

Every year, millions of bright-eyed, mystified children are tucked into their beds on Christmas Eve, too excited to sleep, for it is the night that unites children across the globe.

It’s the night Santa Claus takes flight, his sleigh guided by nine reindeer who will be visiting their homes, bringing toys and treats, and on Christmas morning, children across the world rush to see what St. Nick has brought them.

Santa Claus is pure magic, and his visits create memories that last well into adulthood.

Santa and his helpers reenact Beatles’ Abbey Road cover in downtown Pell City.

For St. Clair County native Michael Gaither, his heart for St. Nick never left him after childhood, and he finds passion, purpose and joy each year embodying Santa for St. Clair County and the region.

Gaither will put on his red suit, black boots, belt complete with intricate embellishments for the third year this Christmas season and will be quite busy visiting children and adults alike – making his list and checking it twice.

Gaither is not only jolly St. Nick during the holidays, but a registered nurse for over 26 years, a paramedic and firefighter starting with the Lincoln Fire Department, and his desire to serve others as a paramedic and firefighter has spanned many stops over 34 years, including the Talladega Paramedic Department. He was a pioneer in opening the first ambulance service in St. Clair County. He is still a volunteer firefighter the New London Fire Department today.

When asked how the idea to become Santa first crossed his mind, he said it was from an old friend from his fire department days who also had experienced playing Santa. “Why do you look like Santa?” Gaither asked. The friend simply replied, “Because I am.” On that day, a spark ignited in Gaither’s heart. “The more and more I thought about it and after listening to how much (the friend) loved it, and all the joy it created, I was sold,” Gaither explained. “There was no turning back.”

The preparations that go into becoming Santa each year are no easy feat. “Growing a Santa beard happens during the hottest months of the year, and I have to add Santa pounds which is a perk I enjoy, putting on my Santa body,” Gather jokingly explained.

Gaither also expounded on the intricacies of creating and caring for his iconic Santa suit. He recalled that the benchmark Santa suit is the Coca-Cola Suit. The suit comes with an upwards of $4,000 price tag.

He explained that becoming Santa is an expensive endeavor if it is to be done correctly. A good, professional-grade suit costs in the neighborhood of $1,000. “That’s just the suit,” he explained. “When you add real boots, glasses, gloves and belt trim and accessories, the total cost is well over $2,000,” Gaither noted. He also said most people do not realize that it takes more than one suit to make it through a holiday season. In addition, the suits have to be specially dry-cleaned.

Santa goes ‘toonin’

Reminiscing over fond memories of his own childhood and experiences with St. Nick, joy quickly took over his face as he recalled those emotions and fond memories of Christmases past. “The excited feeling of rushing to bed on Christmas Eve is one that a child cherishes for a lifetime, and I vividly remember we always read Twas The Night Before Christmas, and the fun of setting up the cookies and milk,” Gaither recalled. “I also remember standing in line to see Santa and thinking hard about what I was going to say and what I wanted. Visiting Santa is serious business when you’re a kid,” Gaither said.

Gaither recalled some of the funniest and quirkiest requests he has received from children over the years. These range from stop signs, ice cream trucks, cheese fries and a bag of concrete and chicken wire. “Once I had a young boy ask me to get his Dad out of jail because all he was doing was growing plants in the backyard,” Gaither recalled, laughing. “That was a good one – definitely caught me off guard.” 

Children are full of imagination and should be completely innocent to the bad things that go on in the world. Unfortunately, that is not always the case. Gaither said he has also had some heart wrenching requests. “Once a little girl asked me if I could make her sister be able to see the presents I brought her because her eyes don’t work. I also have many, many requests to make a parent come home from a deployment.”

Santa also admitted that out of all nine reindeer, all of whom he loves dearly loves – he does, in fact, have a favorite. “Rudolph takes the crown, hands down,” he said. “He is quite clearly the captain of the ship and the rest of the crew would be dysfunctional without his leadership. He loves traveling, he is a little shy, he loves to help others, and he is most definitely a natural born leader,” Gaither said.

Last year, Santa’s visits and getting to see children in hospital, nursing home and other settings looked quite different. “I did get to be Santa, of course, but it was hard last year,” Gaither said. “Santa had a mask just like you do, and I did visit a lot of healthcare facilities to say ‘Thank You.’”

Over the course of his career, Gaither said it has been one of the greatest blessings of his life. He has delivered babies, held the hands of people as they took their last breath. “Sometimes it’s as simple as offering a smile to someone in their darkest hours,” Gaither said. “To do healthcare you must have a servant’s heart, and it is not for the faint of heart.”

When asked about working on the front lines during the age of COVID, Gaither took a moment before humbly stating, “COVID really took some of the personal touch out of healthcare. In some cases, families could not be together in their darkest and last moments. This is something I would have never would have dreamed of happening,” Gaither said.

He has served as the director of Emergency Services for Grandview Medical Center. “Not many people get to say they have opened and moved a hospital,” Gaither joked. The year Grandview opened, Gaither was awarded Clinical Manager of the Year for his role in opening the Emergency Department and along with moving all the patients from the hospital at Montclair to Grandview.

Today, Gaither works for Brookwood Baptist Medical Center,  the Tenet Corporation, as a patient safety officer and risk manager. He also holds a juris doctor from the Birmingham School of Law.

From health care to Santa care

Stepping out of his scrubs and into his Santa suit is one of Gaither’s greatest joys. “You can empower kids to spread love, joy and peace – and the true meaning of Santa by simply telling them ‘Santa is love and magic and hope and happiness.’” Santa Claus, he explained, is a symbol of the true meaning of Christmas – the reason for the season. His names come from the source of Christmas – Christ himself. Jesus Christ was a man who gave freely and represents the best that there is in mankind. “Santa is a symbol of the greatest gifts of Heaven and Earth,” Gaither said.

Although his schedule is quickly filling up, Santa is offering “new traditions” this year. These include in-home Christmas “tuck in” service – complete with story time, photos and cookie making.

He is also available for live video chats in addition to traditional holiday parties, photo sessions and retail events.

Editor’s Note: To find out more about these services, Gaither may be reached at (205) 329-3570 or via email, SantaMG@mail.com.

The Act of Creation

Artist turns old Ragland bank building, own creations into works of art

Story by Scottie Vickery
Photos by Meghan Frondorf

Ragland artist Mary Ann Sampson is perhaps best known as a book artist whose handmade creations “are a personal stage and a memory stick for a life lived.” Dig a little deeper, and you soon discover that her portfolio, much like her life, is diverse, rich and ever-changing.

In addition to creating hundreds of one-of-a-kind books that are featured in national and international collections, she counts sculptures, drawings, paintings, etchings and photographs among her work. A former nurse, Sampson changed course and followed her passion for art after she married and had a child.

Samples of compelling work and photos of stories that inspire her to create more

Today, at 80 years old, Sampson is still finding new ways to express herself, whether through new art mediums, singing or most recently, tap dancing. “I’ll try almost anything,” she said. “I’ve been real fortunate to have lots of ways to self-express.”

Many of those forms of self-expression were on display this past spring at the Gadsden Museum of Art, which hosted a retrospective exhibit of Sampson’s work. “I put together a lot of things I’d never shown before – drawings, etchings, as well as books,” she said. “My studio is filled with stuff now that I don’t know what to do with.”

Ray Wetzel, director of the art museum and curator of the collection, praised her unique works. “Her artwork is full of complicated simplicity in the way of the labor and craftsmanship of these delicate paper constructions that oftentimes look machine made,” he said. “It is the same passion that goes into her work that gives me a sense of calm that within the chaos hidden in her work she is also telling the viewer everything will be all right.”

Childhood influences

Born in a small town in North Carolina, young Mary Ann spent a lot of time on her grandparents’ farm, which laid the foundation for her love for rural life. “I loved the freedom of barefoot days and playing until sunset with my cousins,” she said.

She also remembers creating masterpieces at the kitchen table with her two sisters. The young artists were inspired by their mother’s cousin, Ruth Faison Shaw, the originator of finger painting. A teacher in Rome during World War II, Shaw was inspired when she saw a child with a cut finger smearing iodine on the walls. She later developed finger paints and had them patented in 1931.

“We would just get in the kitchen and paint that way, and I loved playing in the paint,” Sampson said, adding that she enjoyed smearing the different colors together on the paper to see what took shape. She also loved drawing and making scrapbooks, and she remembers being encouraged by her first-grade teacher, Mrs. Woodard. “I always loved my teachers who had artwork plastered all around the walls,” she said. “She was very instrumental in instilling a love of art in me.”

Sampson’s father worked at a hardware store, and her mother later became a seamstress to bring in some extra money. “She had a treadle sewing machine,” which was powered by a foot pedal, Sampson said. “Mom taught us to sew long before we took it in high school.”

Today, Sampson has two sewing machines, including her mother’s, and she uses the skills she learned as a child to bind many of the books she creates. “She was very methodical, and I think I get a lot of that pickiness and attention to detail from her,” Sampson said. “Of course, I can be very messy in my painting, too.”

Despite a lifelong love of art and the desire to pursue it in college, Sampson took the more practical route and went to nursing school at Wake Forest University. A nurse for 10 years, she fell in love with a medical student she met at the hospital. She and Larry Sampson were married in 1964, just before he joined the Army and was stationed in Texas and Vietnam. 

Upon his return in 1966, they moved to Birmingham where he did his residency at UAB, and she was a cardiac nurse at St. Vincent’s Hospital. He later opened his dermatology practice in Birmingham’s eastern area and practiced medicine for more than 30 years.

Through it all, Sampson’s passion for art never wavered, and when daughter Anna was 2, she returned to school to study art. She attended both Birmingham-Southern College and Samford University, eventually earning a double major in art and Spanish. “It took a long time because I was married and had a family, but I finally graduated in 1982,” she said.

After graduation, she rented studio space in Birmingham from an artist friend who owned a printing press, which intrigued Sampson. “I loved printmaking,” she said. “I love the surprises you get when you run something through the ink. You’re never quite sure how the etching and scratching will turn out.”

A simpler life

After a few years of renting a space, Sampson knew it was time to find a permanent home for her studio. “I had looked in Birmingham, but I couldn’t find anything I could afford,” she said. “Mostly lawyers could afford what I was looking at, and I knew my income wasn’t going to be anything like that.”

Ragland Bank, built in 1910

She and her husband owned a tract of land in St. Clair County, and she realized a return to the rural lifestyle she loved as a child was beckoning. She eventually bought the old two-story Ragland Bank, built in 1910, and renovated it for her studio.

“We were driving through Ragland one day, and I saw this turn-of-the-century building,” she said. “The roof had fallen in, it was boarded up in places, and there was a big faded ‘For Sale’ sign on it. It was just the kind of structure I was in the market for. I said, ‘Larry, stop! That’s it, that’s it!’”

Just as she does with her art, Sampson poured her heart into renovating the building. “It didn’t cost a lot of money to buy it, but it took a pile of it to get it up to snuff,” she said. After calling in a friend who had helped restore Sloss Furnaces, she replaced the roof – twice – during the renovation process. Since the mortar between the bricks had literally turned to sand, workers had to remove each brick by hand and rebuild and mortar the entire structure. “I was working in there throughout all of this,” Sampson said.

By the book

After participating in a book arts workshop at the University of Alabama, Sampson’s interest was piqued. When she attended a show of artists’ books in Richmond, Va., her future path was set. “I fell in love with them,” she said, of the handmade books. “I just loved the way you could express yourself in an artistic way through books.”

She began to experiment with using books as an art form and was intrigued by the possibilities. “If you’re a painter, you use a brush and paint. In book arts, you don’t have the canvas. You take the quality or essence of what a book is and make it into a place where you put your art,” she said.

She took workshops with some of the greats in the book arts world, including Keith Smith and Tim Ely, and she began creating and showing some of her own works of art. She bought a letterpress for her studio, and she also began experimenting with binding techniques. Inspired to learn all she could, she eventually earned a master’s in book arts at the University of Alabama.

“When I started doing books, I just stuck with it and kept going until I had enough to do a show. When the first piece sold, it just happened,” Sampson said, seemingly still amazed by the good fortune. “I just kept exploring, and it just happened.”

Sampson said she has always been interested in the human form, and much of her work reflects that. “My subject matter is usually puppets, string people and articulated figures,” she said. “I have a real interest in how the human figure wiggles about.”

Many of Sampson’s books are letterpress, one of the oldest forms of printing, and she painstakingly creates them letter-by-letter in her studio using a variety of beautiful papers. Letterpress “has this beautiful history that dates back hundreds of years. I can get excited about different kinds of type, but I’m sure the world couldn’t care less,” she said with a laugh.

In addition to painting covers, printing the words – many of the books feature poetry – and illustrating with pencils or paints, Sampson uses a variety of materials, including cloth and leather. She binds her own books, sewing some and using paste, linen thread or wire for others. “I just love to explore new mediums.”

Inspired by the Mona Lisa, she has a wall filled with references to her – even a modern day obituary with Mona Lisa listed as a survivor.

As one show led to another and then another, Sampson began making a name for herself. She met Bill and Vicky Stewart, owners of Vamp & Tramp, Booksellers, who traveled the country selling artwork and books. “They carried some of my first books with them and sold every book I had,” she said. “It’s wonderful to have someone take the time and their good, hard-earned money to invest in what you’ve done.”

Sampson named her studio the One-Eye Opera Company, a nod to some of her early book creations that focused on music themes. She founded the OEOCO Press (using the initials of her studio’s name) with the mission of creating limited-edition, letterpress and one-of-a-kind books. In addition to creating her own, she has collaborated with other artists and poets on unique art pieces. 

Although she has some individual book collectors who own her work, “the public doesn’t know what to do with artists’ books, by and large,” she said. Many of her pieces, which range from hundreds of dollars to thousands, are in library collections, and Vanderbilt University boasts one of the largest collections of her works. Her books have found homes and been exhibited all over the world – from Tennessee, North Carolina and New York City to Canada, Mexico City and Germany.

A quieter life

Although she is still creating, Sampson, who has macular degeneration in one eye, is no longer setting the type for her books. Her artwork temporarily took a backseat for about six years after their Shoal Creek Valley home was destroyed by a tornado in 2011 and while her husband, who passed away in 2017, battled Parkinson’s disease. She now lives just next door to their original home in an old house made from lumber from the Moundville train depot. “Everyone calls it Railroad House,” she said. “It’s an interesting home. It’s small, but it’s all I need.”

She spends her days enjoying the quiet and visiting with friends and family, including her daughter, son-in-law and grandsons, who live nearby. She also enjoys gardening and discovering new talents. For the past year, she’s been taking voice lessons and learning to tap dance. “I sing in the choir, and I’d been wanting to take voice lessons to learn more about singing and projecting,” she said.

After enrolling in a voice class at Shalita Clark’s studio in Springville, Sampson was persuaded to take a tap class, as well. “I’m learning a lot, and I got to dance onstage at the Birmingham-Jefferson Civic Center,” Sampson said. “I’m having a lot of fun.”

She’s also enjoying being back in the studio and playing around with new techniques. Most recently, she experimented with a painting technique that uses oils and cold wax, relying on YouTube videos for instruction. “I don’t have much hope for this, but I still enjoy experimenting with new mediums,” she said.

That’s because, as an artist, she can’t stop creating. “It’s a passion,” she said. “You just love it and are so grateful that you can do it.”