By: Ali Elizabeth Turner
Because City Hall was going to be closed on President’s Day, two weeks ago we had planned on meeting on Wednesday the 19th. However, everything from yet another tornado followed by some snowfall and just a bit of COVID tossed in made actually getting a chance to do any interview at all a bit dicey. Thanks to Alexander Graham Bell’s wondrous invention patented in 1876, we prevailed. The following is our crazy quilt of topics, with sorrows mixed in with celebrations.
Mayor Ronnie had been conquering COVID, and after five days of being under the weather while the weather was under itself, he was finally back in the office.
With regard to the tornado, we sent utilities crews to Tuscumbia. “That’s what we do. They help us, we help them,” said the mayor. With regard to the snow, the mayor said, “Our guys got out early, and streets and roads are looking good. I have been out and about, and we are adjusting to the weather. It’s winter in Alabama,” he chuckled.
“I went out and put bird seed in the feeders, and the buttercups had come up,” said the mayor. I told him that they always cheer me up. The weather can be pitching a fit, and winter and spring seem to be locked in mortal combat, but the buttercups, (or daffodils, as they are known in some parts) quietly bring their cheer and hope that spring will once again triumph. “Check on your neighbors, and we hope and pray that everyone is all right,” he said. He also mentioned that he was really looking forward to getting his energy back.
There had been some sad passing of two of Ronnie’s dear friends, Dan Havely and Dr. Millie Caudle. Before Dan was ever Athens’s beloved band director, he and Ronnie had gone to UNA together when it was still known as Florence State College. This was before Ronnie went to Vietnam, and he used to listen to Dan play “gigs” all over. “He would play, and I would listen. He played horn, and somehow the horns of the ‘50s and ‘60s sounded so good. I am guessing in his career, at least a thousand kids passed through, and he was so well thought of by the kids and the parents. He was a good drill sergeant,” said Ronnie. “They named a practice field at the high school stadium after him,” he added. Dan Havely’s career as a musician spanned over a half century.
Dr. Millie Caudle arrived in Athens from Mississippi in 1946. As a sixteen-year-old, she attended Athens College, got her degree in history, and went on to get a Ph.D. from the University of Alabama. She taught “everywhere,” and became the head of the history department at Athens State University. She served with Mayor Ronnie on the City Council from 2006-2012. Millie was a lovely force to be reckoned with, and had a passion for history, libraries, historical trees and dwellings, and of course, learning. Ronnie said, “She was so bright and sharp, so well educated. She was really, really, a Southern lady… a Southern. Classic. Character.” He had inverted the order of our city slogan to describe his friend, and then he let me know that he needed to “get to gettin’.” So, we did what we always do, and that was to pray. And then it was time for Ronnie to roll.
By: Ali Elizabeth Turner
March 21, 2025
