Unsung Heroes

A salute to our neighbors who are quietly making a difference

Brenda Manning

Brenda Manning grew up a few blocks from the Carver Branch of the Anniston Public Library. She considers it luck and a blessing that she was able to come home and get a job that lets her work in the neighborhood she loves.

As the chief librarian at Carver for 18 years, Manning has watched hundreds of children come through the library's reading and enrichment programs. Her story-time sessions are the stuff of legend around the Cooper Homes area, where the library serves as a solid companion to the community center as a place children can go to learn and, Manning hopes, thrive.

Right now, she's working with the Jacksonville State University drama department to set up a program for area Head Starts and day cares that use the library's programs.

"I enjoyed being a part of this setting when I was a child," she says. "I love reaching out to the children. It's like coming back to your roots and replenishing what you had been given."

Helen Henley

Trying to run Helen Henley to ground is like trying to keep a wave on the beach.

She spends six days a week at Regional Medical Center, and in between sandwiches in time to play choir practice at NHC on Thursdays, then back on Friday for a sing-a-long. Every second Tuesday, she's at Autumn Cove. On same-day surgery days, she visits patients. When others can't come to visit, she fills in for them.

"I don't get tired. I love the work," says Henley, 81. "It's the Lord's work, and I feel as though he's doing what he wants me to do."

Anything RMC Chaplain Jim Wilson needs that's remotely musical falls into Henley's realm.

Henley, who's retired from the Army after 24 years of active duty and another nine after that, says staying busy is part and parcel in a life of service.

"Anything I can do to make people comfortable, and help people, that's what I do."

Jackie Howle

If there's a group of folks who can tell how a community fares, it's the people who run social service agencies. In Cleburne County, that's Jackie Howle, the founder and chief executive officer of HEARTS, Helping Every Area Resident To Succeed. The agency serves as a clearing house for food, medicine needs, clothing ’Äî any hole that might need to be filled.

Howle's program started as an offshoot of her Sunday school class. "It must set me on fire when I saw some of the needs in the community," she recalls.

This time of year is especially busy for HEARTS ’Äî probably second only in activity to the Back to School time of July and August, when needs are felt so keenly.

Her list of admirers is long in Cleburne County. The number of names on it is probably exceeded only by the variety of roles that her agency serves.

Keith Owens

He didn't know exactly who needed a kidney, but Keith Owens did feel he had one to spare.

It's been just over a year since Owens met Janice Johnson, the church member who received one of his kidneys in a transplant on Dec. 4, 2006.

"Someone at church said there was a member who needed a kidney," Owens recalled. "I didn't know who it was, but I thought about it. It was something that I really believe God told me I should do.

"It's that simple."

His wife and two children, ages 15 and 12, weren't surprised by his decision ’Äî when he told them what he planned to do. Johnson says Owens's generosity continues to amaze.

"I really think children learn by their parents' example," says Owens, an Eastaboga resident who works at Burford's tree service. "Maybe they learned that there's good in doing something for someone else."

Martha and Dean Morrison

Just this past week, Martha and Dan Morrison marked more than 30 years of teaching Sunday school. Though they've grown older, their spirit of service to their church and friends remains as vibrant as it ever was. The Morrisons, in addition to teaching each of their classes, shepherd the Joy Bunch — the senior citizens activity group at Oxford's Meadowbrook Baptist Church.

When he's not working with church and serving as a deacon, Dan is president of the Ostomy Support Group at Regional Medical Center and is in charge of maintenance at Faith Christian High School. At RMC, Martha visits with patients and brings a little cheer into their days.

"Sometimes it gets hectic," says Martha, who first got a taste of teaching as a substitute at Oxford High School. "It seems that one event sometimes runs into another, but we enjoy it."

Melvin Walker

Good citizens don't just create themselves. They're taught. They're mentored.

Somewhere along the line, they have someone to teach them the difference between right and wrong.

For members of Haven United Methodist Church, Melvin Walker has filled that role for years now. Walker, Scout leader at the church on Anniston's west side, adds mentoring boys from age 8 to 17 as part of his civic duty and privilege.

The elements of citizenship are simple: get along with others, learn how you can contribute to your community, educate yourself, read some books — and then act upon what you've learned.

"You've got to give something back," Walker says. "We try to teach them that it's not all about themselves. Teach how to share, how to contribute. You can't go through life that way. And a lot of people think that: It's all for me."

Petey Sojka

So many students see school as drudgery. Therefore, faculty and staff members at Alexandria High School say they take heart when they see the dedication shown by Petey Sojka.

Petey, a senior at Alexandria, has Morquio syndrome, a disease that causes abnormal growth of his tissues and cells. Despite his illness, which he was diagnosed with in childhood, Petey is pursuing a standard diploma at Alexandria and will graduate on time with his class. There have been hospital stays, a host of medical problems, but his goal remains fixed. He's progressed through school with little or no assistance.

"Petey's strength of character and spirit is an inspiration to all who know him," says Dr. Banyon Allison, assistant principal at the high school.

Among his plans: attending college and getting a degree.

Shaw Williams

There are basically two full-time jobs that absorb Shaw Williams's time, if not his energy. One — the one he gets paid for — takes place at Lowe's Home Improvement in Oxford. The other job — the one that takes him and his truck all over Oxford — is the one that wins him a place in people's hearts.

"I have opportunities most every day to help folks," says Williams, who around town is known as a guy with a truck and big heart. "Errands, things people can't do for themselves. Pretty much anything. Of course, I can't do plumbing and electrical work."

Williams has never lived more than 10 miles from his workplace. For the children who have older parents, and who have moved away, Williams is a support line, a surrogate son or daughter who can pitch in when needed and does, asking nothing in return.

Denise Johnson

The folks on East 22nd Street are known for some good conversation and a cup of coffee. They've also got a neighbor with a capable set of hands in Denise Johnson.

Originally from New Jersey, Johnson was at Fort McClellan when her hitch in the U.S. Army was up.

"It's just a person helping another. When someone needs help, you give it."

Flat tires — she had a hoist in the back of her truck.

Need grass cutting? Fine with her. Need some insulation in the house you've lived in for 40-some years? She can put that in, too.

The Desert Storm veteran says, simply, that service is part of a well-rounded person.

"It's just little things you do to help out. And it comes back to you."

Myrtle Miller

A 76-year-old woman who insists her job is helping "the elderly" is an interesting juxtaposition. It's almost as though someone has to remind Myrtle Miller that all of her years of volunteering and helping in Anniston have spanned more than two generations.

"It keeps me young at heart," says Miller, who counts the Community Enabler and Snow Creek Baptist Association as her main organizations. "My mother was that way, you know."

Anyone who's met Miller more than once knows she's always got clothes in her car to give to children who need them. They know that, if she takes them to their doctor's appointment, she'll stay with them the whole time, just in case they finish early.

Stretch back father, and there are countless families who've gotten her soup, cakes or pies to brighten their home during an illness or a trying time.

"Oh, I love to see people, the youth, that I've worked with and see them now and see what they've accomplished."