No one asked Joan Taylor of Pelham, Ala., to volunteer at the Crenshaw County Shrine Club's Peanut Boil this past weekend, but it was just something she has &#8220always wanted to do.”

&#8220I've wanted to do this for years,” Taylor said.

Her husband, Joel Taylor, is retired from the Alabama Department of Agriculture.

&#8220He's working out there right now,” she added. &#8220Whatever they need done, he's willing to do it.”

This is the second year the couple has participated in the peanut boil.

&#8220I couldn't do this while my children were growing up, obviously,” she said. &#8220We actually came down last week, and I'll go back home to Shelby County Sept. 5.”

Joel Taylor works in Goshen at Anderson Peanuts. His wife said that he would work there at least until Thanksgiving.

&#8220We do this just because we want to,” she said. &#8220We want to help.”

Joel Taylor is the son of Dixie Taylor and the late J.C. Taylor, formerly of Luverne. Mrs. Taylor, who is 97, presently resides in Old Town Assisted Living Facility in Linden, Ala.

While Taylor and her husband are new to the &#8220peanut boil” scene, there were plenty of people there who had been involved with it for years.

Mrs. Hazel J. Worthington of Luverne reminisced about her husband who had been a member of the Shrine Club since 1960.

Mr. Parker Worthington, who served as sheriff of Butler County from Jan. 20, 1979 until 1987, became a Mason in Butler County in 1952 when the couple first moved to Greenville. He then became a member of the Butler County Shrine Club in 1960.

&#8220Our major project for the Shrine Club in Butler County back then was selling stew,” Mrs. Worthington said.

The couple then moved to Luverne on Jan. 23, 1989. Worthington said that her husband had been involved with the Crenshaw County Shrine Club and the peanut boil from that year until his death July 18, 1998.

&#8220He used to get started around 4 a.m.,” she said. &#8220He would go get the saltŠ.just do whatever

was needed. Parker just loved it.”

Mrs. Worthington was also on hand to volunteer during those years.

&#8220I've been hanging out here ever since,” she said smiling.