Story by Jackie Romine Walburn Discover staff photos
St. Clair County medical practices are partnering with specialists from larger municipal area to bring specialty medicine – from cardiology to surgery to dermatology – closer to home.
“Having the specialists here in our office offers continuity of care for patients, plus convenience and familiarity,” says Pell City Internal and Family Medicine (PCIFM) office manager Terri Woods. “The response from patients is always positive.”
The specialists now seeing patients through PCIFM lease offices at the practice’s facility at 41 Emience Way in Pell City. When needed, the internal and family medicine physicians refer patients to specialists who bring staff and see patients in Pell City on a regular basis.
The medical specialties often needed by patients of Pell City’s internal and family medicine practices include cardiology, orthopedics, general surgery, gastroenterology, nephrology (kidney care), podiatry and dermatology.
Currently PCIFM has five medical specialists who see patients on referrals from the local practice. Each specialist’s offices schedule appointments and have medical staff who come to the Pell City offices.
Medical specialists now seeing patients in Pell City through PCIFM include:
Dr. Karl E. Hofammann III, an orthopedic surgeon who specializes in sports medicine, total joint replacement, hand and wrist surgery and general orthopedics. He practices at Orthosports Associates offices at Citizen’s Baptist Medical Center, St. Vincent’s East and Pell City Internal and Family Medicine.
Dr. Vinh Nyguyen, a general surgeon who focuses on areas and organs of the abdomen and related organs, specializes in invasive or minimally invasive surgical techniques with the latter reducing recovery time and stress on the patient’s body. He has offices in Birmingham, Oneonta and Pell City.
Dr. Raj Patel, a board-certified dermatologist trained in micrographic surgery and cutaneous oncology. A native of Shelby County, Dr. Patel is the only ACMS (American College of Mohs Surgery) fellowship trained in Mohs and reconstructive surgeon in Shelby and Chilton counties. Working with Truye Dermatology, Dr. Patel has offices in Alabaster, Birmingham, Clanton and in Pell City at the PCIFM.
Dr. Alvaro A. Aldana, a cardiologist with Grandview Medical Group. He specializes in intervention with coronary, renal and peripheral vascular disease and is board certified in internal medicine, cardiovascular disease and interventional cardiology. A native of Columbia, he earned his medical degree from Javeriana in Bogotá and completed a fellowship in general and interventional cardiology at St. Francis Hospital in Evanston, Ill. In addition to office hours at Pell City, he sees patients at Alabama Cardiovascular Group in Birmingham and Grandview Medical Group Primary Care and Cardiology Trussville.
Dr. Jay Long, a general surgeon specializing in bariatrics, who sees patients at Birmingham Minimally Invasive Surgery (BMI.com) in Birmingham. Associated with St. Vincent’s East and St. Vincent’s St. Clair, Grandview and PCIFM in Pell City, he provides a one-on-one consultation with all patients to begin their weight-loss journey. He and a multidisciplinary team offers support before and after any surgery with monthly support meetings, nutrition classes and customized high-protein diets.
At Northside Medical Associates, which becomes “Complete Health – Pell City” at the end of August, having specialists on site “helps ensure that the care patients need is convenient, even when being sick is not,” says Clay Barnett, corporate communications manager for Complete Health. It is a primary care medical group Northside joined in October of 2020.
“We strive for easy access and having these groups on our campus certainly makes that a simpler task, especially for our patients who might not be comfortable driving into metro-Birmingham to an intimidating hospital setting,” Barnett adds.
He noted that since Northside joined forces with Birmingham Internal Medicine Associates (BIMA) and Complete Health the group has become the Birmingham area’s leading primary care group. The addition of medical specialists, who lease office space at Northside’s 80,000-square-foot campus on Plaza Drive, complements Northside’s existing state-of-the-art imaging, on-site pharmacy and a 365-day-per-year Urgent Care center serving the people of St. Clair County. The Northside medical practice, founded in 2001 with three physicians, has grown to more than 150 care providers and staff in four medical offices, including Moody, Springville and Trussville.
Northside has more than 12 specialist physicians and practices seeing patients at Pell City offices, says Shelley Gallup, clinical services manager for the practice. The specialist groups lease space within the Pell City facility and respond to referrals from Northside’s 12 physicians and 16 nurse practitioners but are not directly affiliated with Complete Health.
Offering expertise in medical specialties including obstetrics and gynecology, ear, nose and throat, oncology, cardiology, ophthalmology, general surgery, gastroenterology, orthopedics, dermatology, nephrology and podiatry.
Northside Medical Home, which becomes Complete Health-Pell City at the end of August, hosts a multitude of specialties
Now seeing patients in Pell City via Northside and Complete Health are specialists:
Dr. Lewis Schulman, an OB/GYN physician with Grandview Medical Group, who specializes in obstetrical and gynecological care, urinary incontinence management, contraceptive options and hormone therapy.
Dr. Julie Taylor, a board-certified physician in obstetrics and gynecology with Ob-Gyn South and on staff at Brookwood Medical Center and St. Vincent’s St. Clair. Specialties include adolescent medicine, high-risk obstetrics and robotic surgery.
Dr. Justin Aldred, an obstetrician and gynecologist with Ob-Gyn South, has specialties including high-risk obstetrics, laparoscopic/robotic surgery and urinary incontinence.
Dr. Stephen Favrot, an otologist with ENT Associates, treats otologic and general otolaryngologic disorders. His areas of interest include treatment of hearing loss and balance disorders and of tumors of the skull base. He treats children and adults, including cochlear implantation and the bone anchored hearing aid (BAHA).
Dr. E. Scott Elledge, an otolaryngologist with ENT Associates, specializes in head and neck surgery, pediatric ENT, nasal and sinus disorders and allergies.
The campus of Ascension St. Vincent’s St. Clair
Cardiologists with Birmingham Heart Clinic in Birmingham specialize in treating coronary, carotid and peripheral disease with minimally invasive procedures to repair aortic aneurysms (PEVAR), replace aortic valves (TAVR) and transcarotid artery revascularization.
Surgeons from Eastern Surgical Associates of Birmingham specialize in minimally invasive laparoscopic and robotic surgery and operations in the areas of oncology, endocrinology, gastrointestinal disorders and vascular disorders.
Vision First Eye Center is a full-service eye care facility owned by Dr. Mark Bearman and Dr. Mark Mclintock. Vision First’s Pell City office at 74 Plaza Drive, specializes in laser cataract surgery and iDesign guided iLASIK surgery.
“Any person or persons who shall attempt to teach any free person of color, or slave, to spell, read, or write, shall upon conviction thereof of indictment be fined in a sum of two hundred and fifty dollars.”
This doleful Alabama law underscores the importance of education. Enacted in 1833, the law aligned with other Antebellum states’ laws which resulted from literate slave Nat Turner’s brief rebellion of 1831. Until then, slaves could be openly taught to read and write. Turner’s Rebellion ended in three days, and he was hanged.
Sometimes referred to as the “Black Moses,” Nat Turner was literate, preached from the Bible and influenced both races. From his rebellion, slave owners realized that educating slaves was dangerous. Therefore, soon after Turner’s execution, slave states began passing laws forbidding educating Blacks – slave or freedmen. Ex-slave Frederick Douglass would later write, “Knowledge makes a man unfit to be a slave.”
So, it’s no wonder that after the Civil War and toward the end of Reconstruction in Alabama (1874), freed slaves began organizing their own churches and schools. Established Dec. 17, 1868, the Alabama Black Baptist Convention urged their members to foster education through the local churches. In his history, Uplifting the People, Three Centuries of Black Baptist in Alabama, Wilson Fallin, Jr., records: “In 1870, the convention advised its churches ‘to build schoolhouses and churches in their own means, declining all union with others, unless absolutely necessary.’”
In St. Clair County, though, Ashville’s Black citizens had the “union” and support of White citizens in establishing the first school for children of former slaves. Old St. Clair County records show that on April 15, 1872, Pope Montgomery and wife deeded to the Methodist Episcopal Church a building to serve as a church and a school for “colored children.” That church was named St. Paul’s and continues today.
About 90 years later, this school evolved into Ashville Colored High School and in 1965 to Ruben High School.
According to Mrs. Bessie Byers’ valuable handwritten history of the school, the 1872 school began with two teachers who “were qualified to teach by having passed the teachers’ examination.” Attendance increased, and in a few years, more teachers were added, and both St. Paul’s Methodist Church and Mt. Zion Baptist Church served as classrooms for grades 1-7. Students sat on the church benches. Potbellied stoves supplied heat, and the men provided the wood and pine knots for starting the fires.
The school had no PTA, but parents and community came together to support education. Mrs. Byers writes, “The parents began having ‘Saturday Nights at the Hall.’ Admission was 25 cents, and every child who came was given 25 cents to spend on goodies, such as parched peanuts, cookies, and drinks. The money collected went to the teachers to purchase blackboards, chalk, erasers, and other necessities.”
These Saturday nights not only provided teachers with essentials but also brought the community together for fellowship. Those attending enjoyed spelling bees, poetry readings, games and singing. This community camaraderie has all but vanished in the whirlwind of today’s business.
As years progressed, music became part of the curriculum. Many of the students had natural musical gifts though they never had lessons. Mrs. Byers wrote of Ila and Eva Byers, “They could play any melody once they’d heard it, although they’d never taken piano lessons. Each day,” she recalled, “a time was set aside when lessons were put aside and every child sang, filling the building with the sound of beautiful old Spirituals.” She mentions that four graduates of Ashville Colored High School formed a quartet called The Happy Four and sang to groups as far away as Chattanooga. If they added a fifth member, they called themselves The Happy Five.
Margaret Bothwell LeFleur, class of 1963, recounted, “We had a little group of us girls called The Red Skirt Gang, and we used to sing the songs of the day – like Sincerely.” Gloria Williams, Gloria Woods, Pauline Mabry, Doris Turner and Margaret sang with the group.
By 1935, the school needed a new building. Mrs. Byers recorded that the County Board of Education, led by Superintendent of Education James Baswell purchased from Jim Beason three acres on the “hilltop known as Jim Beason’s pasture,” where the Board constructed a three-room frame building.
“It was a neat building,” she wrote, “painted white, with large classrooms and numerous windows. It was known as Ashville Colored High School, with grades one through 12.” The new school had running water but no lunchroom. Attendance grew quickly and the board added two more rooms. Five teachers gave instruction.
Earlier times
Let’s go back to1897 for a moment, for that year in Ashville was born to Wash and Sarah Yancy a baby boy they named Ruben. Sarah Yancy’s 1963 obituary lists Ruben’s siblings: Della Mostella, Gordan Yancy and Myrtis Noble. Ruben was the one destined to move Ashville’s Black school forward in the 1940s when he was known as “Professor Yancy,” principal of Ashville Colored High School.
Information about Professor Yancy remains scant. Where he attended college seems a mystery, although 91-year-old Boone Turner recalls that Professor had several college degrees and “When school was out for the summer, he would take off to Chicago and take up classes.”
He probably started at Millers Ferry, Wilcox County. He was teaching there when at age 21, he enlisted in the U.S. Army on Sept. 28, 1918. Teachers were exempt from registering, but he patriotically enlisted. However, the war ended less than two months later, and he received an honorable discharge on Dec. 26, 1918.
Just where he taught after the war and what year he arrived in Ashville to teach is elusive. By 1947, Professor Yancy had been appointed principal of Ashville Colored High School. Some local senior citizens recall him well. Joe Lee Bothwell recalled, “When he told you to do something, he meant it. He was all about you learning.” Boone Turner said, “I can tell you he was a good man. He was the principal of the school and taught classes.” His influence was on both Black and White communities, Boone said. When White parents whose children needed tutoring in math, they sent them to him for tutoring. Jay Richey, whose dad, J.W. “Shag” Richey, principal of Ashville High School and later St. Clair superintendent of education, recalls hearing stories of the math tutoring and how “extremely intelligent” Professor Yancy was.
As a well-educated, hometown man, Professor Yancy was respected throughout Ashville. Mrs. Byers observed that he “commanded the respect” of both students and parents. He also knew his students deserved a better school building with a lunchroom and library, and he set to work to bring that dream to fruition. “White citizens of Ashville,” Mrs. Byers wrote, “helped Mr. Yancy plan the new building,” which took several years.
When Professor Yancy’s health forced him to retire, Lloyd Newton took over as Principal. On Feb. 26, 1958, Professor Yancy died, never seeing the fruit of his labor.
The community’s love for him moved them to successfully petition the board of education to rename the school for him. Therefore, at the dedication of the new building, Dec. 15, 1965, they changed the name from Ashville Colored High School to Ruben Yancy High School.
Eloise Williams recalled that after integration there was a move to change the school’s name, but Brother Clifford Thomas led the way in gathering petition signatures to present to the board of education to keep the name Ruben Yancy. The board approved. The school served the middle school for some years and now serves alternative education students.
Under Professor Yancy’s photograph in the dedication day program appears these words: “The school is being renamed in honor of the late Prof. Ruben Yancy who was a native of Ashville and principal of Ashville Colored High School from 1947 to 1956. Because of his humanitarian efforts, the community has grown and become a better place to live. His life was an exemplification of all that is embodied in ‘The Teacher’s Creed.’”
Another legend
Professor Lloyd Newton’s education career in St. Clair County made him a legend not only in Ruben Yancy High School but also in the integrated Ashville Elementary School.
Lloyd’s father was a cotton farmer in Sumter County, according to a retirement article in The Anniston Star, Aug. 11, 1985. His mother died when he was three and his father married again.
Professor Lloyd Newton
Erroll Newton, Lloyd’s son, recalled that after his dad graduated from high school, he lived with relatives in Fairfield, where several other relatives lived and worked. One of his aunts recognized Lloyd’s scholastic aptitude and introduced him to the president of Miles College. He enrolled in Miles, lived with his aunt and worked his way through college.
The United States had entered World War II, and Lloyd joined the Navy where he was a first class motor machinist mate for four years. Erroll Newton says of his dad, “During WWII, the military was beginning to integrate all branches of service, and it was in the Navy that he developed his skill as an instructor.” According to the Anniston Star, “After working for Seaboard Railroad, the Navy, and (attending) Wayne State University in Michigan, he landed back in Alabama.” “It was after being discharged after WWII that he began his odyssey to further his career,” Erroll said. “He worked as railroad porter in the Ford Foundry and the Fairfield Foundry, and continuing college in Michigan.”
“Back in Alabama,” Erroll continued, “He ran a nightclub in Fairfield a while before Dr. Bell, president of Miles College, gave him a reference to teach veterans in St. Clair County. A St. Clair News-Aegis article of Nov. 14, 1991, states that Professor Newton returned to his home state in 1947 and that he spent 37 years in St. Clair County education.
Teaching veterans seems to be the beginning of his education career in St. Clair County, but at some point, he began teaching for Professor Yancy and taught until he became principal and was known as “Professor Newton.”
Thousands of children profited from his teaching and mentoring, and each has a memory, as does his son, Erroll, who spoke for himself and his deceased brothers Lloyd, Jr., and Paul when he said, “To me he was just ‘Dad.’ With me not having a mom, he played both roles, and he did a good job. When we came along, he kind of took the reins off, so to speak. It was like, ‘If you want to advance, I’m setting an example for you. You choose your own way, though.’ He was Dad; that was him to me.” And later he was Granddad to Terrell, Chery, Shawn (deceased) and Ryan and several great-grandchildren.
Margaret Bothwell LeFleur credits her teachers and Professor Lloyd Newton at Ashville Colored High School for much of her own success in teaching.
Margaret LeFleur at 75th birthday
“All of our teachers were dedicated,” Margaret recalled. “Mrs. Marcelline Bell taught seventh- through 12th-grade English. We had textbooks, but we didn’t have a library. But she taught us the Dewey Decimal System even though we had no library to use that knowledge in. However, when I went to Bethune Cookman College, I knew how to use that system in a real library! Our teachers knew what we needed, and they did their best to compensate for the deficiencies.”
Margaret’s dad drove her to Attalla twice a week for piano lessons for there was no Black piano teacher in Ashville. She progressed quickly, and as a seventh-grader played for high school graduation. She accompanied the school choir, which Professor Newton directed. In college she majored in music, which led to her career of teaching music in the schools of St. Paul, Minn.
After Margaret’s mom bought her a typewriter and instruction book, Professor Newton helped her learn typing, and she became an office assistant to him during her high school years.
Eloise Williams remembers Professor Newton as one who “set examples for the kids, and he and the teachers did a good job educating us.” She recalled that he disciplined when misbehavior called for it.
She also knew him as the principal of Ashville Elementary School where her son attended the integrated school. “When the law passed,” she said, “the school had to integrate. Our kids had a hard time. The Whites weren’t used to the Blacks, and the Blacks weren’t used to the Whites. It was new thing for all of them. It didn’t work for a while, but then it smoothed out, and they began to get along with each other.” Mrs. Williams is lovingly known as “Sister Ella” in Ashville today.
Most folk from the 1960s years agree that Professor Newton’s respect by both races, his professional demeanor, and his calm guidance helped ease tensions of integration in Ashville.
When Ruben Yancy ceased being a Black school in 1969, the County Board placed Professor Newton over the elementary grades at Ashville High School (grades K-12) where J. W. “Shag” Richey served as principal. When he moved to the central office of the county board, Mr. Keener became principal of Ashville High School and Professor Newton, principal of Ashville Elementary School, where he served until he retired in 1985.
Jay Richey said of Professor Newton, “He was first class, and a loyal school man to my daddy, and I loved him dearly. Whatever job needed to be done, Mr. Newton did it well.”
Recalling his father’s career, Erroll added that his “Dad considered Superintendent D.O. Langston a great asset to him” during his administration, and his “faculty members assisted him over the years.” He also mentioned the love of his “endless number of students.”
Professor Newton’s students and teachers hold his memory dear. Maurice Crim started teaching for Professor Newton in 1957 and described him as “a man of integrity who was very supportive of his teachers. There were no problems for we all got along well there.”
“He had a deep booming voice that made you automatically respect him,” student Joy Walker Raysaid. Others, too, recalled his voice and his love of singing.
Glorine Williams became his daughter-in-law when she married Erroll Newton. “Growing up, I remember Mr. Newton coming to my home, and he always talked about the importance of education, attending school and doing your best no matter what. He believed in helping students, and he didn’t show favoritism with anyone. Everyone was treated equal.”
His teachers at Ashville Elementary speak fondly of him. “Mr. J.W. Richey hired me,” recalls Beth Jones, “but Mr. Newton was my first principal. I remember ‘the Professor,’ as Mr. Richey affectionately called him, as a strict father to his teachers. He also had a firm but kind rapport with his students.
“My first year, I had 43 fourth-graders. That year, Mr. Newton reminded me of something very important. The two of us were standing in the hallway at dismissal time, trying to find ways to get poster projects home. There was one last poster with no way to get it home,” she said.
Margaret Jane Williams Bothwell
“As a new teacher and taking this lighter than I should, Mr. Newton chided me; for that last poster, even though not the best, demanded the same respect as any other. That poster was his work and important to the child. The child who made it was important. As a young, impressionable teacher, I never forgot Mr. Newton’s words to me, words that colored my entire career.”
Susan Kell also has memories of the professor. “When Mr. Newton came to Ashville elementary, I was teaching first grade. I later became librarian and worked with him until his retirement.
“Mr. Newton cared deeply for the Ashville community, especially the young children of Ashville Elementary. The 1970s were before school nurses, so he took care of the sick and all the playground ‘boo-boos.’ He once removed a tick from a child’s ear.
“This, however, is one of my favorite Mr. Newton stories. There was a disturbance in the lunchroom, so I walked to the table to investigate. I heard, ‘Is too.’ ‘Is not.’ ‘We do.’ ‘Do not.’ I asked, ‘What is the problem?’ and a child replied, ‘We do have a school doctor, and there he is,’ as Mr. Newton walked into the lunchroom.”
“He wore many hats other than principal – teacher, friend, counselor, singer, and yes, medical doctor!”
Professor Newton retired in 1986 and continued his influence in St. Clair County through the Alabama Retired Teachers Association, serving on the Committee for Protective Services, and in service to his church.
As a man of Christian faith, Professor Newton served as deacon and Sunday school teacher at Mt. Zion Baptist in Ashville. Well known for his basso profundo voice, he sang in the church choir and often sang solo.
Combining his love of singing with his love of children, one wonders if when he arrived at the empty school some mornings, he may have voiced the old children’s gospel refrain:
Jesus loves the little children,
All the children of the world,
Red and yellow, black and white
They are precious in His sight,
Jesus loves the children of the world.
“Children are the greatest thing in my life,” Professor Newton told Viveca Novak of The Anniston Star, and his loving influence continues in the multitude of lives that he touched in his lifetime.
Springville author pulls back curtain on untold stories of Civil Rights Movement
Story by Scottie Vickery Photos by Graham Hadley Submitted photos
Author T.K. Thorne was just a baby when her mother and grandmother attended secret meetings of White residents who were willing to drive Blacks to work during the bus boycott in Montgomery. It was a bold move – and a dangerous one – during a time when the Ku Klux Klan ruled with threats and violence.
“After one meeting, a cross was burned in my grandparents’ yard,” Thorne said. “My grandfather, who was a very gentle man, borrowed a shotgun and sat up all night. It was not until years later that I learned of my grandmother and mother’s courageous stance for civil rights.”
Although her family’s story didn’t make the pages of her newly released book, Behind the Magic Curtain: Secrets, Spies, and Unsung White Allies of Birmingham’s Civil Rights Days
(NewSouth Books), Thorne shares many little-known or untold stories of White citizens who quietly or boldly influenced social change.
“Much of the truth of Birmingham in the civil rights era is ugly, plain and simple. This book is not an attempt to revise that truth,” Thorne wrote in the book’s introduction. “The darkness, however, is always what allows the light. And in Birmingham’s darkness, individual lights grew – some from shades of gray that bloomed into sparks, some lanterns of courage.”
Thorne, who lives with her husband, Roger, on 40 acres on Straight Mountain just above Springville, said she was first approached via email by four Birmingham men – Bill Thomason, Karl Friedman, Doug Carpenter and former Birmingham News reporter and photographer Tom Lankford – about writing the book. They wanted to tell the stories “of those who worked for peace and racial progress under extraordinary circumstances in extraordinary times,” she wrote in the book’s preface.
That led to eight years of intense research, during which she interviewed 50 people, read numerous books, combed the archives of several newspapers and watched many video interviews in the Birmingham Civil Rights Museum’s collection. The process seemed overwhelming at times, and the book includes 682 footnotes, which, along with the bibliography, take up 32 pages.
“The research and writing were interwoven,” she said. “One would make me have to do the other. The biggest challenge was the time frame. I had all these vignettes, but I felt it was my responsibility to use them in a chronological way that made sense.”
During the writing process, Thorne said she realized just how much we can learn from history. “There were some power players who made a huge difference, and there were other players, like women who were not in powerful business positions, who found ways to make an impact,” she said. “The lesson to me is that it doesn’t matter who you are, you can make a real difference.”
Finding her voice
The path to author was a winding one for Thorne, who grew up as Teresa Katz in Montgomery. Her father, Warren Katz, taught her to question everything, and her mother, Jane Katz, was the state chairperson for the League of Women Voters. Her mother exemplified, among other things, the principle that “one’s primary responsibility in life is to make the world a better place,” according to Thorne.
T.K. Thorne, far left, at 4 years old playing in a swimming pool made out of an old tire and tarp in 1958 at the home of Civil Rights leaders Bob and Jean Graetz. Bob Graetz was a White minister of a Black congregation and joked that this was “the first integrated swimming pool in Montgomery,” Thorne said.
After abandoning her childhood dream of becoming an astronaut in order to meet aliens, Thorne briefly considered a career as a writer after her grandmother, Dorothy Merz Lobman, helped her fall in love with books and stories. “By the time I was 15, I knew that was where my heart was, but I also knew making a living at that was a longshot,” she said.
Thorne, 67, eventually earned a master’s degree in social work from the University of Alabama, and after landing a job as a grant writer for the Birmingham Police Department in 1996, she was tasked with applying for funding for a computer-aided dispatch program. In order to better understand the need, she rode along with police officers. The grant was awarded, the department got its first computer, and Thorne applied for the police academy.
“I enjoyed not knowing what was going to happen next,” she said. “I just wanted to try it. I had no idea it would turn into a career.” She served more than 20 years with the department, working as a patrol officer and detective and climbing the ranks before retiring as captain of the North Precinct and becoming executive director of Birmingham’s City Action Partnership, a position she held for 17 years.
Through it all, she never stopped writing. Her first three books were published while she was still juggling the demands of a full-time career, which she left in 2016. She’s published two award-winning historical novels, Noah’s Wife and Angels at the Gate, and the first two books in a trilogy (House of Rose and House of Stone) are set in Birmingham and feature heroine Rose Brighton, a police detective who discovers she is a witch.
Her first nonfiction endeavor, Last Chance for Justice, focuses on the investigation of the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing in 1963. Thorne said she thought that book was the reason she was approached by the four men – three of whom died before the book was published – about writing Behind the Magic Curtain.
“I asked them if they were making the mistake to think that I was a civil rights expert because I wrote that book, because that wasn’t true,” she said. Instead, Bill Thomason told her it was her Noah’s Wife that convinced him she was author for the job. “He said, ‘Anybody who could write about a woman who has been dead for thousands of years and make me believe that’s how it happened can write this book,’” Thorne said with a laugh.
Pulling back the curtain
She wasn’t convinced she’d take on the project until she read some of the notes Lankford had written during his time covering the Civil Rights Movement. Lankford, who passed away in late 2020, was a controversial journalist who was embedded with law enforcement and worked with local police and FBI agents in secret wiretapping and intelligence operations.
In addition to his detailed notes and journals, he had an amazing memory, Thorne said, adding that the first notes he shared made the decision to write the book much easier. “I was hooked,” she said. “I was just so intrigued, and I realized this man was on the in-inside. That began the journey of researching this book.”
As captivated as she was, Thorne was also a little wary. “That I relied extensively on (Lankford’s) memories and notes does not mean that I endorse all his methods or actions,” she wrote in the book’s preface. Despite the controversy surrounding his methods, Thorne said Lankford’s unique perspective gave him the ability to document the events of the time in a way no one else could.
“I think the closest thing I could say about what motivated him is that he was driven by wanting to tell the truth,” Thorne said. “He admitted to me that he crossed the line as a journalist; he was too close to his subject matter. But he said, ‘I wouldn’t take a bit of it back.’”
While researching the book, Thorne relied on the skills she learned in the police department. “The job of a detective is to discover what the truth is and trying to tell it without bias,” she said. Many of the truths she discovered involved White leaders of the Jewish, Christian, business and education communities; others were just White citizens who followed their hearts. Regardless of their standing in the community, they all “quietly and moderately or openly and boldly” worked for change.
The following vignettes are among those she shared:
Karl Friedman, an attorney and one of the men who approached her about writing the book, “had many deep friendships across the color line,” Thorne said. One of those friends was J. Mason Davis, a young Black civil rights attorney. Friedman and attorney Jack Held often ate lunch out of the courthouse’s vending machine with Davis, who wasn’t allowed in a downtown restaurant. Later, all three became partners at Sirote & Permutt, of which Friedman was a founding partner. Friedman hosted many meetings of Black leaders at his home, and a bullet was shot through the front window as a result.
Eileen Walbert knocked on doors in the Black Rosedale community of Homewood to encourage the residents to help integrate the White schools. She picked the children up and took them to school and often brought them home with her so they could swim in her backyard pool. Having a cross burned in her yard and receiving threatening calls from KKK members did not deter her. “I was learning how to be brave,” she said in a 2014 interview with the Homewood Star. “A bully, if you let them know you’re not scared, they’ll back off.”
Paul Couch, a detective with the Mountain Brook Police Department, was moved to action on his day off when he heard about the murder of 13-year-old Virgil Ware, who was killed the afternoon of the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing that killed four young girls. Virgil was riding on the handlebars of his brother’s bicycle when two 16-year-old White boys on a red motorcycle shot him with a .22 pistol. Couch followed a hunch and drove around the Fultondale area to look for the shooters, Thorne said. After he copied down the motorcycle’s tag number, the case was solved in two days. The shooters received probation.
White people in a green car came to the aid of James Ware after his brother was shot. After seeing James on the road with Virgil’s body, they asked the teenager if there was anything they could do to help. James asked them to go find his mother and bring her to the scene, which they did. More than three decades later, James still remembered the act and said, “I would like to thank the White people in the green car – whoever they are, for helping me and my family that night.”
A quiet home
Thorne wrote the book from her mountaintop home, a beautiful place that reminds her of her childhood visits to Virginia and Clifford Durr’s farm at “Pea Level” on Corn Creek in Wetumpka. The Durrs were longtime family friends, and she has many special memories of the cabin there, including the time she sat on the front porch with Rosa Parks, whose refusal to give up her seat on the bus sparked the Montgomery bus boycott. Clifford Durr, an attorney, was one of the men who bailed Parks out of jail and later served as her counsel.
For the most part, though, Thorne remembers the fun she had playing in the creek and climbing on the nearby boulders. “That was my favorite place in the world,” she said. That’s why, when a real estate agent showed them the land and the nearby Locust Fork of the Black Warrior River, Thorne was sold. “We’re going to live here,” she told her husband.
It proved to be the perfect spot to quarantine, finish the book and reflect on the lessons she’s learned and the impact she hopes it will make.
“The main thing I learned is it’s complicated,” she said. “We are wired as human beings to want the simple story. We want heroes and bad guys. That simplified version of history is an illusion, though, and that is true of all history. We need to learn from that because if we can understand our history, we can better determine our present and our future.”
When Randy and Wendy Ryals built their cabin home high atop a bluff above historic Springville, overlooking a picturesque valley below, they counted themselves lucky. When their oldest daughter wanted to get married there, they already knew it was a blessing, not realizing it would spark a brand new business for the couple and their family.
But once the daughter posted her wedding photos on social media, the response was immediate. “Where is that venue?,” people asked. The answer soon turned from “Mom and Dad’s home” to an idea that grew into Weddings at Cabin Bluff.
When the next daughter was to be married, she wanted a barn wedding. So, they built a red barn in October 2016, and it and the field overlooking the valley have been the setting for dozens upon dozens of weddings and events ever since.
“It just took off,” Wendy Ryals said.
With 30 years of experience in the medical meetings industry, the couple translated their experience as meeting planners to planning weddings. “We transitioned from doctors to brides,” she said.
From all-inclusive packages to a-la-carte services, Weddings at Cabin Bluff caters to the makings of an unforgettable day for wedding celebrations, larger corporate and “milestone” events with stunning, panoramic views from the Red Barn to the expansive field with room for hundreds of guests. From the bluff, you can see for 50 miles.
While the business has grown exponentially, family remains as its centerpiece. “We still treat it like our family. It’s basically our daughters and their husbands. It’s very much a family affair,” and their clients get that sense as well. “They get to know us,” she said.
The barn at Cabin Bluff
Along the way, these Springville natives have many a story to tell about memorable events held there. One was a couple who lived in London, who came to Springville to say ‘I do,’ bringing 50-60 Londoners with her. The wedding party and guests were staying in Birmingham, and it was noted that in London, they don’t have school buses.
For a slice of Americana, the guests arrived by big yellow school bus. British traditions were incorporated as well, the U.S. flag and the flag of Great Britain flying high out front. “It felt like a royal wedding,” Wendy said.
There have been carriage rides, conventional arrivals and departures and even a performance with fire since this venture began, she said, and the memories made there have been special. “We’ve met so many great families through this process and look forward to meeting many more in the future.”
And she looks forward to the comment she hears most often: ‘This wedding is the most beautiful wedding I have ever attended.’
Her reply is always the same, “I know, it really is.” Until the next weekend, of course.
Springville’s historic venue becomes site for new memories
Story by Leigh Pritchett Submitted Photos
Ryanne Noss of Trussville walked past a building in Springville and was instantly smitten with its history, character and ambiance.
So captivated, she was, that she bought it.
Since 2019, she and Scott Farris of Trussville – who actually spotted the structure first – have been co-owners of the Woodall Building, Inc. and have turned it into a venue for intimate weddings and parties.
The building is nearly as old as Springville, which was incorporated in late 1880.
Aaron Woodall constructed the building in 1881, Noss said. Originally, it housed a carriage assembly plant. Through the years, it has been a hardware store, arcade, gym, venue and restaurant.
Outdoor space is also an option
On St. Clair County’s website, the Woodall Building is listed among Springville’s historical structures and is described as “one of the oldest hardware stores.”
An event planner for years, Noss decided she wanted to do that full time and have her own venue for the events.
Six months of work went into readying the building to be a venue. Care was taken to maintain period style and colors. “We wanted to preserve history, … keep history alive,” Noss said.
Mackenzie Free, half of the photography duo, Mac & Meg Collective in Steele, said the historical nature and architecture of the building make it an ideal backdrop for pictures.
The building’s 1,500 square feet include a first-level reception area with dark, vintage wood flooring. Chandeliers hang from organza-draped rafters. Noss said the draped ceiling is reminiscent of the elegance in a Victorian hotel lobby. “I really think that makes it.”
The mezzanine between the first and second levels is the bridal suite, furnished with period pieces. The mezzanine has actually held as many as 14 bridesmaids at one time, Noss said.
On the second level is the groom’s suite, featuring a brick accent wall and leather furnishings. Noss has chosen an “old English hunting lodge theme” for that room.
Beyond that suite is the chapel area set off with classic iron railing. The chapel’s metal ceiling and string lights – coupled with vintage flooring and painted brick – create what Noss calls an “industrial and antique” atmosphere. The bricks, holding 140 years of history, were handmade in Springville.
Billows of natural light pour into the chapel through seven large windows, much to the delight of photographers.
“I think it is a great place for a wedding,” Free said.
The three windows at the front of the chapel are framed in distressed turquoise blue. Brides sometimes incorporate those windows as art elements in their wedding decor, Noss said.
To the rear of the building is a private, outdoor courtyard with stringed lights and a stage. The building and courtyard can accommodate 100-125 people. Noss said one event at a time is held at the Woodall Building so that she can devote to it her undivided attention.
The building opened for events on March 5, 2020. Ten days later, the global pandemic closed it for a time.
The first wedding was held in May 2020 and, by that August, Noss was seeing a definite uptick in business.
To reassure prospective brides, Noss guaranteed the return of deposits if pandemic measures required that the building be closed.
She also worked with brides whose original venues canceled because of the pandemic.
The interior of the historic building is perfect for weddings.
Two months before her wedding on April 24, 2021, Paige Windham of Trussville lost her wedding venue for a different reason – storm and water damage. Because the caterer was part of the rental package, she lost that, too.
She found the Woodall Building through an internet search. With Noss’ help and Noss’ contacts, Windham was able to get her wedding replanned in less than two days.
What attracted Windham to the Woodall Building was “… everything. The exterior is gorgeous. I love the flooring. The flooring was perfect,” Windham said on April 23 when she and husband-to-be Trent Furlow came to leave some wedding items.
The character and amenities of the Woodall Building were a perfect fit for the small wedding with family and friends Windham said she wanted from the beginning.
Windham added that she felt more like Noss’ friend than a client because Noss has an accommodating spirit and goes “above and beyond.”
From May 2020 to June 1, 2021, the Woodall Building was the site for 10 weddings, five sweet-16 parties, numerous other birthday parties, baby showers, after-rehearsal dinners and sundry events.
“Total, we had 36 events last year,” Noss said. “… I was proud of 36.”
As of late April this year, Noss already had another 36 booked for 2021.
She works to make certain weddings are “affordable, yet elegant.” Setup and cleanup are included in the venue’s rental fee.
She said the brides who rent the venue are not confined to just a couple of visits. Rather, they are welcome to come sit, think and visualize what they want for their day.
When a bride chooses the Woodall Building, she not only secures a venue, but also a wedding coordinator. After the bride selects the florist, caterer and other vendors and makes her wishes known to them, Noss takes over from there. Noss assumes the work of advance preparations and serves as the wedding day coordinator.
Brides, she explained, want to depend on someone who will make their wedding dreams come true, and Noss tries to be that person.
“I just love my brides. I just do! … I try to make it as stress-free as possible. … So far, we’ve had drama-free weddings. That’s what I like!”
Noss has been delighted with the reception her business has received locally. People who have held events at the building are so excited about it that they volunteer to help her with other events, she said.
“Springville has been absolutely fabulous,” Noss said.
Story by Linda Long Submitted photos and information from Griffins Jewelers, Weddings at Cabin Bluff and Pell City Flowers
Weddings look a little different these days as couples and wedding planners work around the challenges of COVID-19 to plan their special day.
To borrow a phrase from the Marines, couples are improvising, adapting and overcoming whatever the pandemic throws at them, seizing their special day.
No longer are we seeing the 200-plus wedding guests and oversized receptions with bands and sit-down dinners. Today, couples are embracing the idea of what is sometimes called the micro wedding. Guest lists number 30 to 50 people, generally family and close friends.
Technology is playing its part in 2021 weddings. Wedding photography and videography are more important than ever before. Couples are livestreaming their wedding ceremonies to folks who can’t attend due to space restrictions.
No one can say when weddings as we’ve always known them will return, but there’s one thing we know for sure – the bride will be beautiful, the groom handsome and at least one mom, maybe both, will shed happy tears.
Engagement and Wedding Rings
As the world emerges from COVID, couples realize just how important relationships are, said Michael Abernathy, vice president of Marketing and Sales for Griffins Jewelers in Pell City and Talladega.
“Couples are cherishing their special moments together more than ever before. They are marking these moments with quality diamond engagement rings that will become heirlooms for future generations. These diamond rings symbolize the heart and commitment of the relationship.”
Trusted jewelers like Abernathy play a critical role in helping make those moments in time last a lifetime. Ring selection traditionally follows trends, but the round brilliant cut diamond is timeless and always the most popular.
Diamonds are still the standard for engagement rings.
Round diamonds or fancy cut, like oval or pear, make beautiful solitaires or can be complemented nicely with diamond accents or halos. “Solitaires are very popular,” Abernathy said. “And composite clusters can often give the ring a bigger look for the money,” but some brides are trending toward vintage styles with colored gemstones like sapphire or ruby. Many Couples choose to design their own custom ring with the aid of (CAD) design. “Every piece of jewelry has a story,” he said. “Let us help you create yours.”
White gold is out. Yellow gold is in. That’s the word from Alisa Hutto at Agnew Jewelers in Trussville. “A year ago, we were selling completely all white. Now I’d say it’s 75 percent gold. That’s what the young people are trending toward, and they’re leaning more toward a solitaire as opposed to a halo style ring,” she said.
“I always say stick with a classic instead of following the trends when it comes to engagement rings because that’s something you’re going to have forever.
“I remember when I was trying to choose between an oval and a round stone. I loved both, but I chose round because it is the all-time classic. When I’m 80 years old, I want to look down at my hand and be just as happy with my stone as I was the day I got it.”
Hutto says there are those people who prefer gold no matter what and others who prefer white.
Ann Mitchell at Elite Jewelers in Trussville is also seeing yellow gold making “a strong comeback.”
Popular diamond shapes, she said, “are round, asscher and cushion but ovals, pear and marquis are beginning to trend. Styles range from a simple solitaire to lots of accent diamonds forming a halo around the center diamond to elaborate mountings with diamonds everywhere and even two stone engagement rings. Custom to heirloom, it’s an individual choice for each couple,” said Mitchell.
Looking at other wedding trends in 2021, Hutto said it seems that the groom is more often picking out the stone by himself, resulting in a choice of smaller, but more perfect stones.
“For a while, there was a tendency for the bride to come in with the groom and pick out her own stone. They would choose the larger stones, like two carats, but the boy, couldn’t afford that in a quality stone, so they had to settle for lesser quality in a larger stone.”
Hutto, who has been in the business of helping brides and grooms make this all-important purchase for 42 years said she works because she loves her job.
“And what woman wouldn’t love being surrounded by diamonds all day,” she laughed.
Diamonds are not trending in men’s wedding bands and gone are the days when men only had two choices – gold or silver.
Elite’s Mitchell said some grooms still prefer the traditional gold, platinum and silver bands, “but a more popular choice these days is an alternate design. There’s titanium, cobalt, meteorite and steel as well as ceramic and silicone and wood. I’ve even seen one carved from deer antlers,” she said.
Explaining that while some of these materials, like silicone, won’t last forever, “they still will withstand things like working on a car or going to the lake. Practicality wins out over sentiment.”
Flowers
Interesting is one word that describes wedding flower choices in 2021. Florists are seeing more of a demand for color, foliage, unusual blooms and even grasses. Bohemian or (boho), a style that’s been called a free-spirited mix of fun and unpredictability, is another way of describing this year’s bridal bouquets.
Cindy Luby at Pell City Flower & Gift shop says she’s seeing a lot of brides choosing bohemian for their wedding theme this year. “It’s the natural look with a lot of greenery and succulents,” she explained. “We’re also seeing blush pink make a big comeback.”
Hydrangeas and eucalyptus are also big this year, she said. “One thing we are seeing that is very different is a sand-colored rose. It’s very pretty in an odd way. But when we mix the sand rose with the blush pink, we have a very beautiful bouquet.”
Destination Weddings & Honeymoons
Due to COVID’s mandated crowd restrictions, many couples are keeping their weddings smaller. That observation came from Kathy Richards at Ash Travel in Springville.
“Because it’s just real difficult to plan a traditional wedding with a huge guest list, many couples are opting for a destination wedding,” she said. “Typically, the couple goes. The bridesmaids go and the parents. Maybe some siblings. So, what we have is about 20 people. The guests have their long weekend at a resort, and the couple stays on for the honeymoon.”
Richards added that many resorts now offer a videographer so they can livestream the wedding. “This way, everybody at home can be together and watch the ceremony. Later, the couple might plan the reception and have all the family and friends there.”
She is booking weddings only for Mexico, Jamaica and St. Lucia. “They are big enough to handle travelers in this pandemic situation, so I’m not sending people to the smaller islands. They’re just not as equipped to take care of it. And I want to absolutely be sure that I have contact with the tourism board and the government to make sure that everything I need taken care of with my people and my families – that they can handle it all.
One bonus to the destination wedding is easier planning and less work, Richards said. “It’s much easier to have a wedding at one of the resorts rather than at home. The bride gets on the phone with the resort’s wedding department. She tells them everything she wants – from flowers to candles to music to food. The resort takes care of it all.”
Some of the higher-priced properties offer these services free of charge. “You must limit your guests to 10 and book your reservation for seven nights. Also, you must pay extra if you’ve chosen music as part of the service.”
Closer to home, Richards said, the beach is always a favorite destination.
