Celebrating History
One of the many things that make Walker County, Alabama, great is our rich history. For example, how many other places our size in the United States can boast about having more than a century of continuous representation in Washington? That is thanks mainly to the Bankhead family. It is altogether fitting for us to have the Bankead House and Heritage Center in Jasper to showcase not only the Bankhead family, but also many of the dozens of notables who were born or raised here. It’s also great to have the first coast to coast highway in America run through our city… since it is the Bankhead Highway (US 78). We are also very fortunate to have had the husband of a Bankhead daughter, John Oliver, leading the First National Bank of Jasper into regional banking powerhouse.
However, of all the famous and successful people from here, I am sort of puzzled by our fascination with Tallulah Bankhead and all the recognition we are giving to her. While she was mostly raised in the Bankhead House, then known as Sunset, she was born in Huntsville, not Jasper. Her character and political leanings were anything but something for a conservative southern community to celebrate! She deservedly earned the respect and admiration of her piers on Broadway and in Hollywood where she fit in nicely, but her lifestyle was anything but acceptable here even by today’s more relaxed prevailing community standards.
However, I think we have another former resident of Jasper far more deserving of the attention than she. George Smith Lindsey was far more representative of this area’s values. He, too, was born outside Walker County, in Fairfield, but grew up here graduating from Walker High School. Unlike Tallulah, George considered Jasper his home and returned here to be buried in Oakhill Cemetery.
A fact not known by most is that as he aged “Goober” offered to the local Chamber, then the Jasper Chamber of Commerce, to donate all of his memorabilia to the City for historical and tourism purposes. He was told by the Chamber Exec. that he would have to build his own museum! So George promptly donated it all to the University of North Alabama (UNA) in Florence where they instantly understood the value of his gift. UNA and the Shoals Chamber of Commerce have since sponsored the George Lindsey UNA Film Festival for the last 19 years, bringing countless tourism dollars in to that area, dollars Jasper and Walker County might have had… but we gave it away.
I’m not saying we ought to shun Tallulah… although see shunned us. But I am saying there are others more worthy of our praise.
All of this is just one man’s opinion, and local leaders don’t need my approval to set their priorities. Boy, I bet they are glad of that!
- Lanny Capps