In May of 1995, Container Corporation was hit by a large fire that took 12 hours to control. Several stacks of paper rolls caught on fire just as the mill was reopening after a shutdown.
This was a very unusual event. The mill has been there many years and had very few problems such as that.
Relay for Life was very active that year and they raised about $40,000 at the annual event. Many survivors joined in for the Survivor Walk.
Relay for life has been sort of quiet for the past few years. I am sure there are those who are working on raising funds, but I just don’t hear about them as often. It’s a shame.
There was a large article written in the newspaper about local artist, Clarence Stewart. His work is really good.
Mayor Terry Clark presented the key to the city to James W. Carroll, recognizing the part Carroll played in a village in Europe during World War II.
This was an amazing story. Carroll was the first to enter the small village and the local residents treated him like a hero. They thought that Carroll had been killed later and only found out many years later that he was still alive. There were several years that Carroll went back to the small village for annual visits and a couple of times the villagers came to Brewton for a celebration. Mr. Carrolll has passed away, but he was very proud of his “family” overseas.
It was during the early days of May that D. W. McMillian Hospital joined the Baptist network. It has since dropped the affiliation.
Earnest A. Johnson helped dedicate a memorial honoring those from this area who fought and died during World War II.
This was a time soon after the Oklahoma bombing and people were still reeling from the madness of it all.
Stormy weather came into our area bringing lots of rain and warnings of tornados. School students in the Brewton City Systen were all taken from their classrooms during the storm although no funnel clouds were seen. However, there was one on Travis Road that destroyed a mobile home. A tree fell on the home and cut it in half. You could tell it was getting close to the end of the school year. Most of the schools were having field days and that is a sure sign of summer vacation being just around the corner.
It is now getting close to the time we all have to watch out for tornados and hurricanes. You can never start too early making plans of what to do in case of bad weather.
Mother’s Day was a special event for Rheutelia Andrews, She was celebrating he adoption of her son, Brandon.