Chapter 9: 1982-1984, Alabama beckons

A year after his sons graduated, Wayne finally decided to give marriage another try. He had been dating a nurse from Amherst with four children of her own. He introduced Sandi to Clayton, Doodle, Lonnie and Steven and then proposed a few weeks later.

2 They were married without fanfare at the Salvation Army in Elyria. “It’s about damn time!” was Clayton’s only comment.

3 “Would you mind if we stayed in the cabin down by the creek?” Wayne asked. “We’d like to save up some money to get a place of our own,” he explained. “We don’t mind at all,” Doodle said. “I don’t care,” Clayton agreed.

4 Lonnie helped to get the place ready for them, but he was beginning to wonder about his own future. He didn’t want to leave Spicebush, but it didn’t look like he was ever going to find gainful employment in Lorain County.

5 “Nanny and Poppa have sacrificed enough for me,” he thought. They had seen him through two years of college, and his brother Steven was currently enrolled in a broadcasting school in Nashville, Tennessee. “It’s time for me to stand on my own two feet and make my own way in the world,” he decided.

6 Thus, with the economy in the tank and no job prospects in sight, Lonnie decided to look for employment in Alabama. Clayton’s sister (Ruby) lived in Huntsville, and Lonnie called her and asked if he could stay with her while he looked for work. “Well, honey, you know you don’t even have to ask Aunt Ruby – I’d love to have you,” she had responded.

7 “Maybe the economy will begin to turn around this summer, and I’ll be able to come home this fall,” he thought as he headed down Interstate 65 toward Alabama. “I hope the traffic won’t be bad in Louisville,” he thought. It would take about eleven hours of hard driving, but he would be at Ruby’s house by nightfall if he didn’t make too many stops along the way.

8 As he came into Nashville, Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Sweet Home Alabama” came on the radio, and Lonnie got his second wind. He was, after all, aware of his family’s deep roots in the “Heart of Dixie,” and had visited there many times over the years with his grandparents. Hence, Alabama may not have been home, but it certainly wasn’t an alien wasteland either.

9 In two more hours, he had just passed the turn off to “the world famous” Boobie Bungalow and had taken the Ardmore exit off of the interstate. The little city straddled the state line and allowed him to take Highway 53 directly into Huntsville. He couldn’t quite put his finger on it, but there was something comforting about the pine trees and red dirt that lined that road.

10 Inside the city limits, the highway turned into Jordan Lane (pronounced Jurdan Lane) and intersected Governor’s Drive. That was his destination. Governor’s Drive would take him to West Huntsville and the side streets which led to Aunt Ruby’s house.

11 She lived on Cypress Avenue in a small, plain white house that bordered the same playground where he and his brother had played on their visits to Granddaddy’s house when they were children. When he walked in the front door, Ruby was sitting in her rocking chair and sipping on a large glass of sweet iced tea. She quickly set her tea down, jumped up and hugged his neck.

12 “I was beginnin to wonder if you were ever gonna get here!” she exclaimed. “Are you hungry?” she asked. “No thank you, Aunt Ruby – I’m just tired,” he told her.

13 Unfortunately, the job situation wasn’t much better in Alabama than it had been in Ohio – especially for a young man with a degree in Environmental Health. He worked part-time that summer at a nearby K-Mart, and his prospects for something better did not look good.

14 After a few months of that, he was persuaded to try his hand at selling life insurance in nearby Guntersville. “I’m not much of a salesman,” Lonnie admitted to himself. “But, at least, this will get me out of doors and meeting new people,” he reasoned.

15 He parked on the side of one of the many hills that were an integral part of the city and approached a freshly painted house with a well-kept yard and knocked on the door. The Black family who lived there were clients, but they did not appear to be home. Across the street, there was a shabby looking house with knee-high weeds growing in the front yard. Nevertheless, he could see an older woman surrounded by three small children standing in the yard and looking in his direction.

16 He waved at them and started walking toward them. However, as he approached the woman, he noticed a strong urine smell that seemed to be emanating from the house before them. As he got closer, he noticed that the woman’s and children’s clothing was filthy, and flies were buzzing around them.

17 “Hello, I was wondering if you might know when your neighbors are going to be home?” he began. The woman immediately drew herself up into the most indignant stance she could muster and said, “Them’s niggers, we don’t associate with them!” Lonnie was so stunned that he didn’t know what to say. He quickly turned around and left.

18 Shortly thereafter, Lonnie decided that selling insurance wasn’t much better than stocking shelves at K-Mart. He began looking for something else. He also scanned the want ads and government bulletin boards for positions with water and waste treatment facilities and checked with local manufacturing concerns to see if anyone was hiring industrial hygienists.

19 In the current economy and under the current administration in Washington D.C., it was clear that environmental issues were not a priority. By that fall, he was thinking that he had made a serious mistake in his degree choice and was beginning to think that it might be best to go back to school and try something in a different field.

20 In the meantime, Doodle and Clayton were beginning to feel isolated and alone on Spicebush. “We can’t take care of the place on our own,” Doodle told him. “This house is too big for us, and you’re not going to be able to cut the grass and firewood and take care of the garden by yourself,” she continued.

21 “And I’m worried about Lonnie – if he goes back to school, he’s going to need a place to stay.” “Well, is it time to go back to Alabama?” Clayton asked.

22 The following year, Clayton found a place on the Elk River (not far from the place where Daniel Miller had crossed eighty-four years before). It had been the summer home of one of the German scientists who had worked with Dr. Wernher von Braun on the space program in Huntsville.

23 “I can catch me a fish and have it fryin in a skillet before it stops floppin,” he had told everyone. Doodle thought it was too far away from the Huntsville family and doctors on which she would have to rely, but she wanted Clayton to be content, so she gave her approval to the deal.

24 For his part, Lonnie was delighted to have his grandparents back and promptly pitched in to help them fix up the house and move there from Ohio. Once they were settled, he began to explore their surroundings and investigate educational opportunities in the area.

25 “The Millers and the Favors were from Rogersville,” his grandmother had told him. As a consequence, Lonnie decided to have a look at the cemetery that was situated about a mile down the road from them. He had noticed the small white sign posted by the road on their first trip to see the new house. “Miller Cemetery – there has to be some connection,” he thought.

26 As he walked around the cemetery, he noticed a tombstone for a Charlie Cunningham. “Could that be Nanny’s Aunt Clara’s first husband?” he wondered. Next, he found Thomas and David Miller. “Those are Daniel’s sons by his first wife,” Lonnie thought. “Nanny will be so excited!”

27 In the meantime, an older gentleman had pulled up in a pickup truck and unloaded a push lawnmower. Lonnie walked over and introduced himself and told him what he had found there.

28 “I’m Marvin Miller, and I guess that makes us cousins,” the man smiled. “Thomas Miller was my granddaddy, and I’ve taken care of this cemetery for over forty years,” he continued. They talked without interruption for the next thirty minutes. “Well, I guess I’d better get to cuttin this grass or it isn’t goin to get cut!” Marvin exclaimed.

29 “If you get a chance, my grandmother would love to meet you,” Lonnie told him. “Maybe I’ll stop in and say hello a little later on this week,” he smiled again. They shook hands, and Lonnie hurried home to tell his grandmother about what he had discovered at the cemetery.

30 Sure enough, later that week, Marvin showed up at their front door. Doodle and Clayton invited him into the house, and they talked for the next hour and a half. “There are plenty of Favors who still live around here too,” Marvin told them.

31 “Curtis and Mary Favors are two of the finest people I’ve ever known,” he continued. “Oh, I’d love to meet them too,” Doodle volunteered. “I can give them your phone number and let them get in touch with you?” Marvin offered. “That would be wonderful!” She beamed. “I’m beginning to feel like I’ve really come home!”

32 In the months that followed, Doodle met Curtis and Mary and became good friends with them. And, despite her worsening rheumatoid arthritis, she made a point of getting reacquainted with her long-lost kinfolk (cousins, aunts and uncles).

33 Chief among these were two of her father’s remaining siblings who still lived in Athens: Tollie and Pansy. They both seemed delighted to get reacquainted with their niece and her family, and an outside observer would have never guessed that almost thirty years had elapsed since their last contact with her.

34 The renewed relationship was further strengthened by Lonnie’s decision to begin attending Athens State College that year. They had an excellent teacher education program, and it was only thirty minutes away from their home in Rogersville.

35 It was now 1984, and Ronald Reagan was running for reelection. The economy, however, was still in the doldrums, and his triumph did not seem certain.

36 In fact, the Democratic field of candidates who were vying for the opportunity to replace him was crowded. Among them, Lonnie was particularly interested in the senator from his home state of Ohio. Hence, when it was announced that John Glenn (the former Mercury astronaut) would appear at the courthouse in Athens, Lonnie jumped at the chance to meet him.

37 “Senator Glenn, I’m an Ohio boy – like yourself,” Lonnie told him as he shook his hand. “Oh, what part of Ohio?” the senator asked him. “Elyria, in Lorain County.” “Oh, yes, I know where that is,” Glenn smiled. “Thank you for your service to our country,” Lonnie told him. “Thank you for coming out today – I hope you’ll consider voting for me in the upcoming primary.”

38 Later that year, on the fourth of July, Ronald Reagan came to Decatur, Alabama. “The President’s going to be at Point Mallard, and I’m going to see him,” Lonnie announced. One of Leslie’s and Dorothy’s daughters consented to go with him.

39 He had been to the popular water park on numerous occasions before, but he had never seen a crowd like this one. Thousands of people were crowded into the field, and many more were streaming into the open space through the metal detectors that had been erected to protect the president.

40 When Reagan finally took the podium, the crowd went wild. After congratulating them on continuing to be patriotic when it had fallen out of fashion in the rest of the country, the president quickly turned his attention to the folks standing before him.

41 He said: “People who aren’t from the South tend to talk about the moonlight and Magnolias. Well, the South is a lovely place; but I’m one of those who feel a special affection for its people. I admire the values that took root here, and the pride that’s such an integral part of your character. I’m drawn to your good sense, decent traditions and your faithfulness to God and this land. And we share a love for this country of ours.”

42 The applause was deafening, and Lonnie couldn’t help but like the man standing before him. That fall, a majority of the country agreed with Lonnie, and Ronald Reagan was easily reelected to a second term as president.