Stories we loved in 2013
Published 12:05 am Tuesday, December 31, 2013
- Andalusia became Alabama’s top city when retired geography teacher Charles Anderson created his “In Search of Eden” list of the top small cities in America. At present, Andalusia is ranked No. 49. Anderson spendt more than 50 years researching his list.
- Caleb Davidson started with a vision of raising money to help a cancer patient, and has several years later grown his event, Cancer Freeze, into a focus for a whole community. Literally hundreds of people turned out to help him and this year’s beneficiaries last February, and they raised almost $40,000 for the cause in a very tough economy. Tragically, Davidson lost his father to cancer this year, but has determination continues. He has identified nine families to help in 2014.
- Andalusians started the year by saying goodbye to Durrell “Duke” Smith, who died as 2012 was waning. Smith, 53, who passed away suddenly from a heart attack, worked for more than 16 years for the City of Andalusia’s department of leisure services. Who also drove a school bus, and was beloved by the youth of this city. More than 1,000 people attended his funeral, held at the Kiwanis Community Center.
- Call us the community that COULD. Covington County dedicated its Miracle League field and playground at Johnson Park after the local community raised more than $600,000 for the project. Johnny Franklin of the national Miracle League Association was on hand for the dedication in May and said there are more than 275 Miracle League facilities that have been developed in the past 13 years. But he said he’s never seen one come together as quickly as Covington County’s did. Here, Ashlyn Stacey takes her turn at bag during tryouts.
- The ‘Bama nation has always loved Mal Moore, but the world learned just how many lives the UA athletic director had touched when Moore passed away in March. The Dozier native never forgot his roots, and was laid to rest there after public and private ceremonies in Tuscaloosa. It was heartwarming to hear the stories, and we join his Andalusia family in mourning his loss.
- A donkey named Clementine became the darling of tourists after the newest Gitty-Up-N-Go station opened on Hwy. 29. Clementine and a horse named Beauty reside in a nearby field. Lea Harrod, a cashier at Gitty-Up-N-Go, said the animals provide a much-needed – and sometimes comedic – relief for weary travelers who stop at the store for gas and snacks. “Mostly people are amazed at how friendly they are,” Harrod said of the animals. “Maybe they don’t have donkeys and horses where they’re from? I don’t know. People are amazed at how cute and friendly Clementine is. Everybody loves to watch him chase his tale.”
- Southerners love company. Company loves peanuts. In August, we had lots of company as Covington County hosted a soggy Babe Ruth World Series. Among the foods many visiting baseball players tried for the first time was boiled peanuts, and they were a hit. In the space of 30 minutes on a Friday afternoon at Wages Market in River Falls, Callene Corkan bagged warm boiled peanuts for World Series visitors from California, Missouri, and Wisconsin. Here, the group from Wisconsin samples goobers.
- POIGNANT QUEENS: Andalusia and Straughn high schools both held homecoming on Fri., Sept. 13. And both crowned homecoming queens for whom the circumstances were extra special. Andalusia’s queen, Megan Kelley (left) was hospitalized in Birmingham that Friday morning, where she had just finished a treatment for the rare form of cancer called Ewing’s Sarcoma, when she learned she would reign over festivities. She managed to get home and dressed up in time for the homecoming parade. At Straughn, Jordan Wood (right) was escorted by her uncle because her father, Barry Wood, had just been deployed with the Navy Seabees to Afghanistan, where he will remain until April. Her mom, Jan Wood, watched from the sidelines as friends streamed the coronation to her husband on the other side of the earth.
- The world also said farewell to Shelby Searcy, a beloved former Andalusia High School teacher, coach and administrator. Searcy, who went on to serve as superintendent of Butler County Schools and later of Union City Schools in Mississippi, was this year named one of Andalusia High School’s Outstanding Graduates. Previously, he was inducted in the AHS Football Hall of Fame. Searcy was a 1947 graduate of AHS who returned to his alma mater following college and military service. He was an assistant coach of Andalusia’s 1958 state championship football team, and served as head coach from 1960-1964. Decades after he left Andalusia, he was still close to the students he taught and mentored.
- We love AES fourth grader Bailey Lewis’s story because her resilience is so inspiring. Lewis lost part of her arm in an ATV wreck this fall. Undaunted, she returned to school in November, weeks before doctors said she’d be able to. She is shown here with her best pals, Mary Beth Alexander and Brayden Garner. So what do the rest of us have to complain about?
- Here’s a happy story if ever there was one! Andalusia native Julie Taylor Allen had been looking for an opportunity to illustrate a children’s book for a long time. This year, her wish came true in a big way when more than five million copies of a book she illustrated were “prizes” in McDonalds happy meals. The 28-page “Doddi the Dodo Goes to Orlando,” was distributed in Andalusia happy meals earlier in November. Allen, who has studied art for years, said it was her favorite subject at Andalusia High School.
- The grinch did not steal Christmas, but he stole the show, time and again. Roger Powell as the Grinch was among the highlights of Andalusia’s Whoville Christmas.
There are the top news stories, and the top sports stories, and then there are the stories that we just loved from the whirlwind that was 2013. Some made us laugh, some made us cry, some are included because they are inspirational. All of them are part of the year that was 2013.