Passing of Our National Treasure

It's a sad night in Selma, Alabama with the passing of our National Treasure, Kathryn Tucker Windham. She died today at age 93. The "Ghost Lady," as she was affectionately known, brought our town into the national spotlight for reasons other than Civil War and Civil Rights.

She weaved the stories of our ghosts and legends and folk remedies and religion and charmed the whole world. Beginning as a  pioneering female police reporter in Montgomery, her writing later graced the lifestyle pages of The Selma Times-Journal, and she freelanced and authored books about ghosts all across the South. Other books featured southern and Alabama Black Belt culture, including "Alabama: One Big Front Porch" and "Twice Blessed."

I could list her many honors and other accomplishments, but she probably would want to be remembered most as a storyteller. Years ago, at a social occasion for business women, someone who didn't know her asked, "And what do you do?"

"I tell stories," she replied succinctly.

And she told her stories magically. I first heard her at the Calico Fort festival in Fort Deposit, way back when I was a college student. The children who surrounded her on the ground were, well, spellbound! She eventually became famous at the National Storytelling Festival up in Tennessee and was mistress of ceremonies at the Alabama Tale-Tellin' Festival here every October. Oh, how we'll miss her!

But, we will also miss her neighborliness and humble, humorous and generous spirit. Within two days of my husband and I moving to Selma more than three decades ago, Kathryn, who lived across the street, welcomed us with a home-baked cake. Even after her fame spread far and wide and after she was well along in years, she sometimes volunteered at the Visitor Information Center, and there were many times that I saw her out picking up litter on residential streets. Then every New Year's Day, she invited everybody to her home for black-eyed peas and cornbread for good luck. She stayed mostly in the kitchen, cooking cornbread and stirring peas all day long. 

In the preface of "Twice Blessed," Kathryn reflects on her "greatest blessings" as being her "loving family and stimulating friends" and says that through her life, "happiness, like a cloud of applauding angels, has accompanied me and urged me on."

And I imagine that Heaven's angels are applauding her arrival tonight.  

(Photo is from June 3, 2008 at Kathryn Windham's 90th birthday party)

   

Happy Birthday, Kathryn Windham!

Happy Birthday to Selma's most famous tale teller!

Kathryn Tucker Windham is 92 today.

I took this picture of her two years ago when the whole town celebrated her 90th at the library. Kathryn started her writing career as a reporter and later became famous for her ghost stories. She's authored many other books about Selma and the South, as well as publishing beautiful photographs and delectable recipes. But she may be best known as a nationally acclaimed tale teller. And at 92, she still writes and speaks!

Cornbread and Blackeye Peas

Cornbread and blackeye peas are a New Year's tradition down South, and nobody serves them better than Selma's Kathryn Tucker Windham. A renowned storyteller, author and keeper of southern tradition and folklore, Mrs. Windham, now in her 90s, annually invites friends from far and near to her home on New Year's Day. From morning til evening, she cooks and serves the foods that are said to bring luck throughout the year...if you eat them.

Notice the china. No paper plates here! Volunteers wash and dry the real dishes so that guests are served in proper fashion.

Dinner with Jeffrey

The table in the window of Butler-Truax Jewelers is set for dinner with the "spirits" of Selma. Guests include Jeffrey, the ghost that resides at the home of Kathryn Tucker Windham, noted storyteller and author.

Good Reading

If you're into reading true tales of the South, check out the book corner at Carter Drug Co. in downtown Selma. Here are just two of many shelves stocked with good books. There's a whole section filled with local and regional books, including the new edition of Alabama: One Big Front Porch by Selma author and storyteller Kathryn Tucker Windham. (I showed you my original, worn copy recently.)

Then, imagine my surprise when Smilnsigh of Saratoga Springs, N.Y., informed me that she recently ordered "Miss Kathryn's" book from Amazon after reading about it on this blog, and on Tuesday, she posted a picture of it on her blog. (Hope you are enjoying it, Smilnsigh!)

You can listen to "Miss Kathryn" tell her stories in person at the Alabama Tale Tellin' Festival Oct. 10 and 11. That's the same weekend as Riverfront Market Day and the unveiling of the butterfly sculptures.

Now, look closely at the book on the left side of the top shelf...House of Abraham. That's a book about Abe Lincoln's (both the president and the Brookville, Ohio, blogger) Confederate kin...or rather his wife's kin. Some of the Todds lived in Selma during the "War of Northern Aggression, and they sure weren't Yankees! This book tells the story of Lincoln's "House Divided."

Alabama: One Big Front Porch

"Alabama, they say, is like one big front porch where folks gather on summer nights to tell tales and to talk family."

That's how the intro begins to Selma author Kathryn Tucker Windham's book, "Alabama: One Big Front Porch," and boy, does my well-worn copy bring back memories!

I miss my old front porch...the one I grew up on...a wrap-around with gingerbread trim, a swing beneath a cupola and a hammock on the side screen porch. We even had electric lights and fans out there, and it was where we gathered at night to cool off, play dominoes, drink lemonade, eat homemade ice cream and tell tales.

On hot days, I would spend the afternoon in the hammock reading "Nancy Drew" or sitting on the porch shelling butterbeans with my brothers as we told jokes. During summers of the 60s, we could sit on the porch behind the giant azaleas and not be noticed as we watched Civil Rights demonstrations across the street at the courthouse. It's where we sat on election night waiting results of the vote and where we watched hometown parades and state campaign rallies.

Oh, the stories I could write from my front porch education!
Did you grow up on a porch?

Moonpies 'n Sunflowers

Tables for the 90th birthday party of Selmian Kathryn Tucker Windham were arranged with sunflowers and baskets of Moonpies. I think these colorful tablecloths really add to the summertime celebration!

Mrs. Windham's birthday was celebrated with a "Comb Concert" June 1, followed by a New Orleans' style parade to the Performing Arts Center.

I finally got my homemade video of the event edited.
You can view the party set to the tunes of Mike Mahan and his Dixieland Band from Shelby County, Ala., in the Kathryn Tucker Windham Day Video Part 1 and KTW Day Video Part 2.

Oh, Mahan happens to be a dentist in a cabin in Brierfield who also plays in the Birmingham Symphony Orchestra. That's an interesting combination!

Another Quiet Place

It's summer, and Selma's courtyards draw me like a magnet. This one is at the Performing Arts Center, and I briefly enjoyed its calm and quiet last Sunday during the big birthday party for Kathryn Tucker Windham. I don't think many people who came from outside Selma were even aware of this neat little retreat. Naturally, I took pictures!

All That Jazz!

Selma sounded like New Orleans Sunday afternoon as this Dixieland jazz band strolled through the street playing "When the Saints Go Marching In." It was part of the grand intro to Kathryn Tucker Windham's birthday party which I posted about on Monday. I think the banjo player's and the drummer's faces really capture the mood of the day...one of joyful celebration! Kathryn is a Selma icon and is known far and wide. Read more about her HERE.
More info is on the Alabama Tale Tellin' site.

Kathryn Tucker Windham Day

I'm making an exception and posting two photos today in honor of the 90th birthday of a very exceptional lady, Kathryn Tucker Windham.
On Sunday, Selma celebrated our National Treasure: our "Ghost Lady," nationally renowned author, storyteller, photographer and one-woman drama performer.

Her party was one for the record books, the cameras, the TV stations and the newspapers...held on the library lawn, complete with a Dixieland jazz band and New Orleans-style street parade, a comb concert and family, fans and friends who came from all over Alabama and some from around the USA.

Above, Kathryn enjoys the street parade from the library balcony, and at right, she proudly wears a birthday hat for her cake and moonpie reception at the Performing Arts Centre.
To view the slideshow, click HERE.
To read news articles about her, click HERE
and HERE.

Alabama Tale Tellin' Festival

The brochures are out for this year's Alabama Tale Tellin' Festival. The 29th annual festival is October 12 and 13 and held the same weekend as Riverfront Market Day. Selma's "Ghost Lady," Kathryn Tucker Windham, emcees Tale Tellin.' She is well known for her ghost-story, photography and southern-cooking books and has told stories across the nation. She is featured each year at the National Storytelling Festival in Jonesborough, Tenn. This year's festival features Wanda Johnson, who tells about growing up in Alabama; Bill Lepp, five-time winner of the West Virginia Liars contest; and The Dill Pickers, a string band from Birmingham. If you have your own tale to tell, then meet at the Swappin' Ground at 5:30 p.m.!