[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 92 (Friday, June 24, 2011)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1197]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




   REMEMBERING ALABAMA'S BELOVED STORYTELLER, KATHRYN TUCKER WINDHAM

                                 ______
                                 

                             HON. JO BONNER

                               of alabama

                    in the house of representatives

                         Friday, June 24, 2011

  Mr. BONNER. Mr. Speaker, I am saddened to inform the House that 
Alabama has lost one of its great writers and favorite citizens. Just a 
few days ago, our beloved Southern storyteller and gifted author, 
Kathryn Tucker Windham, passed away after a year-long illness at the 
age of 93.
  Life is a patchwork of trials, triumphs, joys, and sorrows, sown 
together through generations of experience. When it comes to colorfully 
interpreting the past, no one could artfully stitch the stories of our 
state and the Deep South like Kathryn Tucker Windham.
  Born in Selma in 1918 and raised in Thomasville, Kathryn Tucker 
Windham began her writing career early in life, penning movie reviews 
at the age of 12 for the Thomasville Times. A graduate of Huntington 
College, she took her first full-time reporting job in 1940, covering 
the police beat for the Alabama Journal in Montgomery--the first female 
reporter to earn that assignment for the paper. She soon gained a 
reputation in the Capital City as a solid reporter. By 1944, she was 
hired at the state's largest newspaper--The Birmingham News--where she 
met her husband to be, Amasa Benjamin Windham.
  After the death of her husband in 1956, Kathryn Tucker Windham began 
writing columns for the Selma Times Journal where she also gained 
attention as a skilled photographer. It wasn't until 1969, when she 
wrote 13 Alabama Ghosts and Jeffrey, that she began her more famous 
career as a prolific author and storyteller.
  From 1967 to 2009, she authored over 30 books on subjects ranging 
from southern cooking to legends of the supernatural. Her well-known 
``Jeffrey'' series of true ghost stories went on to include tales from 
Georgia, Mississippi, Tennessee and other Southern states. My personal 
favorite is her charming 1975 book, Alabama: One Big Front Porch.
  While her writing helped establish her bona fides as a storyteller, 
she did not stop with print. She established the Alabama Tale Tellin' 
Festival in Selma and was a sought-after speaker at storytelling 
festivals and gatherings across the country.
  Her Southern charm also captured the attention of National Public 
Radio's All Things Considered, which featured her as a regular Southern 
storyteller. She also took to the stage as the star of a one-woman play 
she authored, They Call Me Julia, based on the life of another famous 
Alabamian, Julia S. Tutwiler.
  In 2003, Kathryn Tucker Windham was inducted into the Alabama Academy 
of Honor at the recommendation of her friend, fellow Alabama author, 
Nelle Harper Lee. Today, Alabama Southern Community College in 
Thomasville houses the Kathryn Tucker Windham Museum.
  Mr. Speaker, we mourn the loss of Kathryn Tucker Windham, and we will 
always be grateful for her devotion to telling the most beautiful and 
entertaining stories about Alabama and the South. There was only one 
Kathryn Tucker Windham and we will surely miss her greatly. The 
thoughts and prayers of our entire state are with her family at this 
difficult time.

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