Hello, everyone.  It is hard to believe that schools are getting ready to begin for the year.  My, how time flies.  My mother would tell us children that the older you get, the faster time goes by.  I have realized this to be truer as years have passed.  Where has the time gone?

Birthday wishes go out to B.J. Baswell, Mary Capps, Charlene DeShazer and Essie Gissendander.

Get well wishes to all of those who are sick and condolences to the families of Carvis Welch, Emma Mae Wallace Ledford, Jerry B. Barnett, Lester Edgeworth and Betty Ann Golden Castleberry.

Good news:  Cook Springs will keep their post office.

Pell City High School Class of 1976 will hold their 35 year reunion on August 13th at 6:30 PM at Sammie’s Touch and Go.  The cost will be $35.00 per person and will be casual dress.  If you are a member of that class, come out and enjoy fellowshipping with classmates that you may not have seen for a while.

This week, a story of “Living in the Mill Village” as told by Kathy Turner Patterson.  

I have so many memories of Avondale Mills.  I am a child of parents that worked there for many years.  I also had brothers, aunts and uncles that worked in the mill.  My mother went to work there when she was very young and boarded in a house in town.  Soon after she came, my aunts began to come and work there.  

They all had grown up on a farm in Easonville with only my grandmother to raise them (my grandfather had died).  They were all looking for a better life and the mill offered that opportunity.  After my mother and dad married, she continued to work in the mill.  My dad was a school teacher, which in those days did not pay very much, so he worked a second job in the mill.  My mom quit working not long after I was born (the youngest of four children) but, my dad continued to work there.  

When school was out for the summer, I would go everyday to the mill and take my dad’s lunch to him.  Mom would fix the lunch and a quart jar of tea and I would put it in the basket on my bicycle and ride down there.  She also put an extra sandwich in for me and dad and I would either eat in the carpenter shop or sitting on the steps of the paint shop, which was underground.  Those days of being able to spend time with my dad are some of my fondest memories.  

My dad used to do guard duty on the weekends when the mill was closed.  He was not supposed to, but he would let me go with him.  The mill was quiet and dark and the floors would creak under our feet.  He had to punch a clock in every   department to show that he had checked out the area.  

Out neighborhood was a close-knit community.  Almost every house had families with children about the same age.  We all went to school together, played together and had our usual growing up battles.  The houses and yards were always kept clean and neat, which was a requirement if you wanted stay in that house and work in the mill, because the houses were part of the mill property.  

We had homes, a school and even a hospital.  There were very few cars, so most peopled walked where ever they needed to go.  I can still remember that old whistle blowing at 6 a.m., 2 p.m. and 10 p.m. every day.  The whistle was also blown every year at midnight on New Year’s Eve.  

The whistle not only sounded for shifts beginning or ending, it was also used if there was a problem in the neighborhood, such as a fire.  There would be long and short whistles and my dad could tell just about where the problem was.  

When there was a fire, the fire hose had to be pulled from a little firehouse somewhere in the neighborhood to the closest fire plug.   All this had to done by hand since there were no fire trucks.  This was neighbors helping neighbors at its best.  

I always disliked the words, “Mill Village.”  We were a community, a caring neighborhood where every body knew each other and help each other when and where ever help was needed.  My husband and I live in the same house I was raised in, but our neighborhood is not the same.  Most of the people have either died or moved away, and the closeness is gone.  

I remember each year around the first of May, the Comers would come to our mill for what they called “Inspection Day” and it was an all-day affair.  The band would play in the park while the Comers and their group of dignitaries would tour the mill and school.  Before inspection, the men who were part of the “outside crew” would white-wash the pasture fences where some of the workers kept their cows.  And on the first block of the street, they would white-wash the tree trunks all the way to the first corner, then turn the corner and white-wash those trees.  It was like a marked route to the mill.  

If you were a senior in high school, you got to tour the mill on “Inspection Day.” After several years, homes on Avondale Mill property could be bought by the workers.  I think my dad paid less than $1,500 for our house, but it probably took him a long time to pay it off.  Also, people who did not work in the mill could purchase the property in the Mill Village.  

Growing up in Avondale Mill neighborhood, I learned a lot about life.  I was taught to respect people—something that seems hard for some folks to do today.  I learned that my parents worked hard to provide for me and my brothers.  

On Sundays we were in church.  There was no choice in the matter, we were going to church.  I learned sportsmanship by playing on the ball fields provided by the mill.  We didn’t have a lot when we were growing up, but no one else did either so we didn’t know any different.  

Just a few years back when the mill (what was left of it) burned, all I had left were my memories.  When the last brick was laid and the first worker walked through the front gate, Avondale Mills gave Pell City a spark, and I guess it was only fitting that it should go out in a “blaze of glory”.  That was not the last memory I wanted, but another memory none the less.

Kathy, thank you for your memories and I hope you will plan a follow-up.

Last week, my oldest daughter Annette, her two children, Kayla and Michael, and I traveled to Milton, Florida to visit my youngest daughter, Lisa, her husband Hugh and son, Quinton.  While there we got to see their granddaughter, Ava who will be 1 this month.  We also spent a couple of nights at Navarre Beach.  

Michael will tell you his greatest experience while in Milton was playing with Uncle Hugh and dog “PD” and while in Navarre, the “fire dancer” on the beach.  While Kayla and my favorite time was fighting over who would feed little Ava.  Kayla enjoyed sliding down the 42 foot water slide.  Michael went down once and decided it was not for him.  But we all enjoyed the beautiful Gulf water, white sand beaches and most of all, family.

Joyce Bell and I attended the Squire Parsons singing on Saturday night and the Mt. Moriah dinner and singing on Sunday night.  Both were very enjoyable and we plan to attend again.

Did you know August is Women’s Small Business Month; Admit You’re Happy Month; National Psoriasis Awareness Month; National Sandwich Month; National Catfish Month; Black Business Month; Panini Month; Happiness Happens Month and Inventor’s Month?

A walk through history.

August 1st –

1936 – The first Olympic games opened in Berlin, Germany

1944 – Anne Frank’s last diary entry

1966 – The University of Texas tower massacre occurred

August 2, 1990 – The Persian Gulf War began

August 3, 1981 – Federal air Traffic Controllers’ illegal strike occurred

And today, August 4, 1944 – During WWII, Gestapo captured Anne Frank, her family and others in Holland.

Household problem solvers:

Use an onion to remove rust.  Cut a raw onion in half, insert the rusty metal (tools, scissors, etc.) and twist it around.  Let sit for approximately 1 hour.  The onion’s enzymes act as a rust remover, leaving the metal gleaming.

We all know bananas are healthy for us and provide plenty of potassium for our bodies, but did you know you can use it to heal a rash?  Rub the irritated skin with the inside of a banana peel.  The soothing potassium and anti-inflammatory properties reduce pain and promote healing.

Need to reduce stress?  Go barefoot.  Studies show that standing barefoot on a soft, cool surface, such as grass, stimulates reflex points along the arches of the feet that signal the nervous system to release endorphins, which promote feelings of happiness.

When one door of happiness closes, another opens; but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one that has been opened for us.

Helen Keller

Call me at 338-7746 with summer news and gatherings.  I’d love to hear from you.   Have a blessed week.