Finding Alabama in Oklahoma (2)

In May 2016 daughter Becca and husband Matt Leon moved to Edmond, Oklahoma, so he could start his new faculty position at the University of Central Oklahoma. Dianne and I went along for the move, and as a result of that trip I posted a blog entry on Creek names that had followed Native Americans on the Trail of Tears from Alabama to Oklahoma. 

Dianne and I recently made a trip through Edmond to Colorado Springs to visit her father. In this post and two more I'm sharing some of the photos I took in Oklahoma, Kansas and Colorado. Bear with me, and in the final post there are several Alabama-related payoffs!

I'm discussing these photos somewhat randomly, so here goes.

We drove to Edmond on a Friday. Here's the son-in-law and daughter as we dined alfresco for lunch the next day. Son Amos flew into Edmond Friday night from Baton Rouge so he could join Dianne and I for the drive to Colorado Springs. So except for Dianne we were all Alabama natives in Oklahoma!

That Saturday afternoon we all walked around downtown Oklahoma City in the area where Becca works for the Parks and Recreation Department. We spent some of that time at the Myriad Botanical Gardens which was well worth the visit! 

I'll be discussing some photos from Kansas and eastern Colorado in the next two posts. While Dianne, Amos and I were in Colorado Springs we visited Manitou Springs, a nearby hamlet nestled at the foot of the Rockies. In contrast to that warm day in Oklahoma, the Colorado Springs area presented us with five or more inches of snow a couple of days after we arrived. 

Manitou Springs is full of shops, art galleries, and restaurants to keep you busy when you're not looking at the mountains. 

One of our favorite landmarks in Manitou Springs is this Sinclair station and its dinosaur. 

For more than 50 years my mother, Carolyn Shores Wright, has been painting, mostly in watercolors. Many of her works have been licensed for prints and other objects. While in Manitou Springs we went into The Taos Maos shop and found one of several stained-glass sun catchers made by Amia from her work. Mom's an Alabama native too, so there you go. 

Over the years we've run across mom's work or items licensed from it at numerous places ranging from J.C. Penney to Cracker Barrel and Disney World. 

Her original watercolors, prints and other items are sold on ArtFire and Etsy. If you are ever in the Pelham, Alabama, area, her work is also available at Encore Resales and Vintage Interiors.  

Here are Dianne and Amos clowning around with a bear in Manitou Springs.

This sight greeted us outside our hotel on Wednesday morning.

And now for a taste of things to come. Here are a few of the many windmills we saw driving across Kansas and eastern Colorado along I-70. Did you know that part of the country is really flat???

Mom Makes the Front Page in 1949

Before she and dad married, my mother Carolyn Shores did some modelling for Avondale Mills. Along with other young women, she appeared at various fashion shows and in newspaper advertisements. The photo below shows her on the left along with others at a show in early June, 1949. She was 19 years old.

That particular show took place in the Continental Room, a lunch, dinner and event space in Birmingham's Tutwiler Hotel. Back in August, 1937 that same room was used for the wedding reception of famed Alabama actress Tallulah Bankhead and actor John Emery after the marriage took place at her father's home in Jasper.

As noted on the masthead, the Avondale Sun was a newspaper for employees of all Avondale Mills and their families. Mom was the youngest child of Methodist minister John Miller Shores, and family members turn up in the paper several times in various contexts. I found an item in a 1934 issue noting mom among other children who had perfect attendance at kindergarten for the month of September. I've also found a notice of a luncheon hosted at the parsonage in Sylacauga by my grandmother Tempe, and various notes about aunts Heth and Marjorie. 

The Comer family had expanded the company into Sylacauga with the giant Eva Jane mill in 1913. The plant was named after the wife of founder B.B. Comer. In addition to the plant itself, the company also supported schools, churches and stores for employees. Unable to compete with overseas competition, the company and all its operations closed in 2006. The empty Eva Jane building burned in 2011.

The entire run of the Avondale Sun from 1924 until 2006 is available in Birmingham Public Library's Digital Collections.

Mom's modelling career didn't last long. After marriage, she and dad raised my brother Richard and me. Some forty years ago she began painting, first in oils but soon changing to watercolors. She is still at it; her art can be found at her web site and for sale on ArtFire and Etsy. She's on Pinterest too!