Since 2015 I have begun each year with a post outlining some of the pieces I'd like to write in the coming year. These posts have become a history of futility on this blog. I list some topics I'd like to cover, and in the coming year I might get one or two of them done. So many topics, so little time, so many new topics popping up all the time. If you have the inclination, you can read all about it: 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024.
For instance, last year's listing included the item, "Five Points South in Birmingham in 1987"; I have a neat map to use with it. I also had on my dance card "Louisa Shepard, MD". She was the first southern woman to be awarded a medical degree from a southern institution. She graduated from the Graefenberg Medical Institute operated in Dadeville by her father, Dr. Philip Madison Shepard, from 1852 until 1861. Then there were R.G. Armstrong and Henry Walthall, two Alabama natives who became incredibly busy actors. You might recognize Armstrong, who was born in Pleasant Grove; he appeared in so many films and tv shows before his death in 2012. Walthall never appeared on television; he died in 1936. Born on a cotton plantation in Shelby County, he made dozens of silent and sound films from 1909 until his death. Finally, one topic I mentioned for the 2024 list was Livingston Press, an independent publisher based at the University of West Alabama that since the 1970s has issued numerous works of fiction and other genres.
Perhaps in 2025 I'll get to one or all of these posts. What others would I like to write? Well, there's part 2 of "Alabama on the Hollywood Walk of Fame". I only managed the first half of the alphabet in part 1. Speaking of women doctors in the state, there's the sad tale of Laura Burton and Irene Bullard, two physicians who established a joint practice in Birmingham before World War I. Unfortunately, Burton was murdered by her second husband and Bullard left the state. It's quite a tale.
Earlier this year I wrote about a portion of my ticket stubs collection, the ones for concerts. Next I'd like to do one on the stubs I have for sporting events. Finally, I hope to get around to a post on the visit son Amos and I made in January 2023 to the Paul W. Bryant Museum in Tuscaloosa. I've already completed one on another place we visited on that trip, the Capitol and Old Tavern.
I thought about doing an inventory from all these "What's Coming" posts of ideas I listed but have yet to write about. That thought quickly gave me a headache. Well, I guess I'll be back in January 2026 to see how all this speculation for 2025 turned out.
I've written posts about Wilson here, here and here. She's one of many with state connections who will be featured in part 2.
Laura Evelyn Compton and first husband Captain Chesley Thomas Bartee on their wedding day 25 November 1893, Nanafalia, Alabama.
Compton later divorced her steamship captain husband, went to medical school and married fellow student Allen Burton. They moved to Birmingham, and Laura set up a practice with Irene Bullard. They had an office in the original Watts building. Laura was later murdered by her husband, and Irene left the state to practice elsewhere. See this site for more information.
Some Birmingham Barons ticket stubs in my collection. My son and I attended a Barons game this past August, and the only "stub" I have is a printout of the confirmation email I received. Pathetic. I ask you, what kind of world is it without colorful, meaningful ticket stubs?
I'm an Auburn fan, but I will try to do justice to this topic. War Eagle!
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