Overheard, out and about, Mrs. Grundy sees all, tells all

Staff

Published Friday, January 2, 2009

Peeping through my Venetian blind, I fell to thinking of 2008 and its memories, happy and sad, and of 2009 with all its promises. I prayed silently in the Lord’s Name for God’s guidance and help for those I know and for me, especially salvation for the lost and healing for the ill. God, forgive us our sins; in Christ’s Name; amen.

New Year’s Eve my friends and I were over at Covington Hall to sit up and see the new year born. At midnight we stood for toasts to the old and new years, led by Colonel Covington, and to sing “Auld Lang Syne,” Robert Burns’s traditional song, accompanied by Miss Dora. Miss Cora and Miss Flora had prepared a buffet. There were fireworks, too!

New Year’s Day Mrs. Gotrocks of Greenville, Miss Priscilla Primme, her beau Mr. Propper, and Miss Purdie Birdie joined me for black-eyed peas and greens, fried bread, and ham. I grew up believing that the more peas and greens I ate on New Year’s Day, the more money I would make in the coming year. We had Mrs. Lane’s cake for dessert.

Seen at Off the Square Cafe were Mr. and Mrs. Jack Perry, Wesley Riley, and Tony Tucker. On Wednesday at the cafe dessert was included free of charge; I tried the mandarin-orange pie again, invented by the owner, Miss Debbie. Yummmmm!

I attended a delightful, little supper at Johnson Hall recently. Wayne, the “Sage of Johnson Hall,” and Lenora, “the Lass of the Wiregrass,” had as their guests their new neighbors, Tom and Martha (Eiland) Steele, the Johnsons’ son Ken and his wife MaryAnn (Rabren) Johnson, their cousin, the Portly Gentleman, and, most importantly, Campbell Raben Johnson, Ken and MaryAnn’s first born, only a matter of weeks old, and Wayne and Lenora’s first grandchild.

Johnson Hall, standing impressively on its knoll, was resplendent with lighted trees and gold-ribboned wreaths, looking like a page out of Southern Living.

At a beautifully appointed table Lenora served asparagus soup with Kennish crackers, garden salad with an assortment of dressings, Royal French casserole, pulled barbecue, hot yeast rolls, tea, coffee in elegant, double-fingered cups, and breaded pudding with whipped cream, worthy of Rules, the oldest restaurant in London, and famous, world-round.

Passing through Autaugaville after Christmas, I stopped to read an historical plaque about Albert Pickett. This early Alabamian lived on a plantation thereabouts. He was a scholar, planter, and the author of the first history of Alabama, which is still in print and should be in every Alabamian’s home.

Last Sunday, the Portly Gentleman tells me, he worshipped in St. John’s Episcopal Church in Montgomery to complete his year-long project of visiting places associated with Jefferson Davis, first and only president of the Confederate States of America, during the 2008 bicentennial of the birth of Davis. When the Davises lived in Montgomery, they attended services at St. John’s.

The Portly One sat in Pew No. ll5, used by the Davis family.

The service was one of nine lessons (scriptural passages) alternated with carols. The Portly Gentleman concluded that the Episcopalians were as bad as the Baptists because they stood for all eight carols and sang practically every verse.

“A fat man with weak legs hasn’t got a chance!” he complained; then added, “At least they didn’t have a big screen!”

St. John’s has expanded its facilities in its original English gothic style. The buildings with gardens between are beautiful, inside and out.

A small choir sang “Lo, How a Rose E’er Blooming” a cappella. Harald Rohlig, associated with Huntingdon College as a teacher, played the magnificent pipe organ. Our own organist, Juanita Turner, once took lessons from him, as did Louisa Mann and Jeanice Kirkland.

The interior of the sanctuary was beautified with stained glass, wooden pews, wall memorials, and a painted hammerbeam ceiling, decorated for Christmas with foliage and fruit. There is a lovely, little chapel, as well as many new classrooms.

The parish house was as grand as the dining hall at Harvard or those in Oxford, England.

St. John’s, organized in l834 and built in l855, is to Montgomery what St. Paul’s Episcopal is to Richmond, Virginia. The Davises worshipped in both.

The Portly One took notice that some of the men wore bowties, more common among Episcopalians than other Christian groups.

He ran into Jimmy McLemore, who attends St. John’s. Mr. McLemore is husband to Laura Patrick, the daughter of Bonner Patrick, who still lives in Montgomery. Jimmy and Laura have three sons, John Patrick, James, Jr., and William Bonner McLemore (the One Who Waddles met young “Willie Bonner,” a delightful boy). Jimmy’s parents also attend St. John’s. Bonner Patrick’s father, also Bonner Patrick, was one of the children of Laura (Bonner) Patrick, one of the grand, old ladies of Andalusia in the last century. Mrs. Patrick attended the First Methodist Church; one of her renters in her old Victorian home on South Three-Notch was none other than Curtis Hampton Thomasson, our local genealogical columnist for the Star-News. Curtis and his wife, Margie (Jacques), after their marriage, set up housekeeping in a suite of rooms in Mrs. Patrick’s house. Mrs. Patrick’s daughter, Elizabeth, single, was known for keeping on hand that wonderful, chocolate sheet cake, which Mrs. D. D. Chapman introduced into “the Dimple of Dixie.”

The One Who Waddles found on a bulletin board in St. John’s a little history of Hamner Hall, a name he had often heard while growing up in Montgomery. It seems the first Episcopal Bishop of Alabama, Nicholas Hamner Cobbs, opened a day-boarding school for girls in an old residence on Cottage Hill at Holt and Clayton near Five Points. He named it for his mother, Susannah Hamner; and it opened in l860. A police academy stands at the site today. If you, gentle reader, know anything more of Hamner Hall, please inform me because the subject interests the Portly Gentleman; and he wants me to find out what I can for him, poor, ol’ soul.

It was good to see Ron and Zoza Harman again. They attended First Baptist two Sundays ago from Leesburg, Florida, where they retired, to see their daughter and family. Ron lost his dad at 95 in March; his mother’s in a nursing home in Delaware. Zoza’s brother Pat died in June; that leaves six siblings.

Mark and Lesa (Merrell) Wiggins of Cordova, Tennessee, have a new grandson, Cohen Matthew Carreker, born November 20, to their daughter Lindsay and her husband Chris of Dallas, Texas. Their other daughter, Whitney, and her husband Ben Tolbert reside in Germantown, Tennessee.

Dr. Barton Starr, dean of arts and sciences at Palm Beach Atlantic University in West Palm Beach, Florida, and his wife, Rebekah, daughter of Ed and Elizabeth (Bozeman) Everage, write of their involvement in food and toy ministries where they live. Barton’s dad turned 90 in October. The older Mr. and Mrs. Starr still live independently. The family had a reunion in Pensacola at Thanksgiving. Barton and Rebekah’s son Lance and his wife Sarah live in Melbourne, Florida, and have a son, Joshua, two and a half. Lance’s brother Chris joined his family for a reunion of friends with whom the Starrs worked in Hong Kong, when they were missionaries there.

Ruth (Riley) Davis (Mrs. Bo Davis) writes that her son Rob is a senior this year. She impressed him by quoting the first eighteen lines of Chaucer’s “Prologue” to the Canterbury Tales. Said Ruthie, “I don’t remember what I’m supposed to do tomorrow, but have never forgotten that!”

Her other son is named, appropriately, Riley!

Fred and Barbara Rhinehart, living in Mary Esther, Florida, went to Italy in June with their daughter Jill, Doug, Addison, Chandler, and Wesley Anne. They rented two villas, one near Siena, one near Florence, as well as toured Rome and other sites. Wesley Anne suffered a ruptured appendix on the trip, but survived to continue the tour. The whole family gathered for their traditional Fourth of July Parade and “Peg Leg Pete’s treasure hunt.” The second daughter, Jann, Jack, Heyward, and Courtney saw Heyward’s graduation from Winthrop University in May and Courtney’s graduation December 2l from the College of Charleston. Courtney is engaged to be married. Eric and his Suzanne are busy with their three in Nashville. Chloe, 4, likes princesses, giant squids, and sperm whales. Larkin, 9, likes Cub Scouts and karate. India, l0, rides her pony, Diego.

Jerry and Teri Short of Montgomery send word that their son Gavin “finally graduated Auburn University in May, after cramming four years of college into seven!” Gavin works with the Preiss Company, which owns several condominium complexes throughout the Southeast.

The Shorts’ son Scott is currently working with the Alabama Department of Transportation, Sixth Division, as a surveyor. He attended his ten-year reunion of the Class of l998, Robert E. Lee High School, Montgomery.

Teri spent her 29th wedding anniversary in May at her favorite spot, Destin. She and Jerry attended a costume party in October as John McCain and Sarah Palin. Teri hosted Thanksgiving in her home for 20 family members.

Jerry earned his Certified Public Manager credential this year, attended a wild-game supper at Eastmont Baptist, acted in the Easter drama (Teri sang), and led a Sunday-morning, adult, Bible study at Eastmont. He attended a mini-reunion of the Class of l972 of the Andalusia High School. His class, his old teacher says, is the best organized class of any he knows.

Jerry is the only son of Mrs. Franklin Short of Andalusia, as fine a fellow as ever walked God’s earth.

Amy Green, mother to the twins, Russell and Andrew, writes me that Russell was graduated in May with a degree in biomechanical engineering summa cum laude! He has been accepted at Auburn to study his subject on the graduate level.

Andrew has completed his first year at Auburn in electrical engineering. The brothers are looking for an apartment to share.

Cheryl (Mrs. Denny Reed), who once taught in the Andalusia City Schools, and moved with her family to Winnfield, Louisiana, l7 years ago, writes that she and Denny celebrated their 30th honeymoon in Barbados last July. Cheryl has been teaching 3l years now and hopes to retire after three more, Lord willing. Her current subject is fourth-grade language, writing, reading, spelling, social studies, and standardized tests preparation; and she writes benchmark assessments for parish (county) tests. She has been named Teacher of the Year twice in the last five years. Their daughter Tambry earned two undergraduate degrees from LSU in 2006 and an MBA from LSU in 2008. Tambry is active as a member of the America’s Junior Miss Council and judges in Junior Miss programs. Tambry is public-relations manager for Zehnder Communications in New Orleans.

The Reeds own a basset hound named O’Reilly after Bill O’Reilly from FOX news.

They still travel to Tannehill Historical National Park near Bessemer each Thanksgiving and enjoy the company of fellow campers, Rhett and Lynn Butler, Mike and Debbie Daughtery, and Doyce and Diane Colvin. They have done this for 23 years. They also keep up with Roger and Judy McLain of Opp.

The Reeds have traveled to Hawaii three times, Ireland once (their favorite), Canada and Europe on occasion, and Mexico.

Cheryl has had seven poems published and is working on short stories for children.

Sue (Bass) Wilson (Miss Sue – she runs this town; she do!) has provided me with her notes on a trip to Branson, Missouri, taken by area adults this fall.

Led by Herb and Sue Carlisle of First Baptist, Andalusia, the group saw in the “Live Music Show Capital of the World” the following: the World Famous Platters, the Jim Stafford Show, the Tillises’ Family Reunion Show with Pam and Mel Tillis, the Elvis Show, the Yakov Smirnoff Show, and the Dalena Ditton Show.

They also enjoyed a dinner cruise on Table Rock Lake aboard the showboat Branson Belle. This cruise included a Broadway extravaganza.

Included, too, were shopping time in a new 95-acre complex, Branson Landing, and in the Grand Country Square, with lunch in historic downtown Branson.

Their last night was a once-in-a-lifetime experience when they attended Noah, the Musical, which was performed on a 300-foot-long stage that wrapped around the audience and featured over 50 live animals, hundreds of costumes, and an ark that towered 40-feet high. “It was high-tech and unbelieveable,” one spectator declared. “The new stone theatre high on the hill, which resembled Israeli architecture in Jerusalem, was a sight to behold.”

Tour buses seemed to motor in people from all over the Union.

Miss Sue listed special memories of the trip: the picturesque countryside of five states through which the bus passed, the Mississippi rest stop, homemade lemon pie with three-inch-high meringue in Branson, the harmonica playing of old songs like “Dixie,” “She’ll Be Comin’ ‘Round the Mountain,” “I’ll Fly Away,” “When the Roll Is Called Up Yonder,” “Polly, Wolly, Doodle,” and “Oh, Susanna,” and patriotic tributes to veterans at all of the shows.

Branson, Miss Sue reports, has attracted tourists since l907 when Harold Bell Wright published his novel, The Shepherd of the Hills. Only 8,000 live in Branson year-round, but eight million visit yearly. Miss Sue says that dozens of television programs and eight movies have been made about the Ozark area. Locals work to preserve the country atmosphere and small-town feeling.

Those listed as attending were Betty Mitchell, Patsy Bennett, Mary Wilson, Cupie Jacobs, Betty Reynolds, Juanita Windham, Doris Palmer, Joyce Whittle, Neal and Kittye Wyatt, Irene (Davis) Butler, Syble Hall, Bradie Hudson, Loretta Myers, Josephine Green, Harry and Joyce Greene, Martha McSwain, Hazel Marie “Gus” Smith, Roy and Sybil Weaver, Norma Jean Gavras, Wallace and Frances Smith, Carmia Cannon, Rebecca Barton, Pat Amstead, Jean Jones, Dorothy Waldrop, Winoma K. Martin, Gerald and Garlene Brown, Betty Bass, Hazel Griffin, Amy Bullock, Thelma Glisson, Wanda Davis, Nancy Edwards, Gordon and Martha Helms, Betty Sheffield, and Herb and Sue Carlisle.

John and Sheila Holley of Moulton and their sons Will and Wes, students at Auburn, have been spending the Christmas holidays with John’s mother, Bernice (Stokes) Holley, and his brother Robert Lee Holley, at Holley Hill, the old family home in Andalusia.

Well, gentle reader, today is Cicero’s birthday; he was a Roman Senator, known as the greatest orator of his day. He left us many of his writings. Fathers and grandfathers, he’s a man your sons should know. Ah, Cicero, your enemies murdered you; but your thoughts live on gloriously while their mean lives are despised.

Next week brings the birthday of Jacob Grimm, who, with his brother, Wilhelm, wrote Grimms’ Fairy Tales. The Twelfth Night (also called Little Christmas) comes January 6. That’s the famous Twelfth Day of Christmas, too. Shakespeare wrote a play about Twelfth Night. In Europe Christmas trees are stacked and burned in a bonfire on Twelfth Night. This is where we get the song about the twelve days, too.

I heard from Roy Parker this week, all the way from Auburn; he said Lynn was retired and home, full-time, now. They’ve invited me up for milk and cookies, bless ‘em!