Kathryn Tucker Windham, A Southern Treasure

In my newswriting class this year, I had the amazing opportunity to meet Kathryn Tucker Windham, a true gem of the South. Her talent and her story are phenomenal. I wanted to show you guys my article about the whole experience so you can get to know a truly amazing writer.

SELMA-- "Have you priced a coffin lately?"

     Kathryn Tucker Windham knows how to draw your attention.

      A reporter since age 12, author of 24 books, photographer,and an established storyteller, Windham knows how to turn anything into a captivating tale.

The coffin in her backyard shed is definitely no exception.

Windham, 91, had the simple pine box built for her 21

years ago and keeps it locked away behind her humble Selma home.

Some may think it morbid but Windham is anything

but. Her life has been nothing short of an incredible journalistic journey that any aspiring writer can learn from.

"Listen and remember," she advised up-and-coming

writers. "We need to cultivate the art of listening."

Her mind is sharp and bursting with knowledge of

the world of journalism as well as folktales, history and anecdotes

that are complemented by her amazing story-telling abilities and

thick, elegant Alabama drawl.

Her bright blue eyes twinkle when she's

deep in a story and she speaks with an enthusiasm that has the

ability to make every detail come to life.

What does Windham like most about story telling?

"Instant gratification," she said.

She doesn't get to see a person's reaction when they're

reading one of her articles or books but when she is telling a story she knows immediately how they feel about it.

"I like to make people laugh," she said, "especially at ourselves. We are funny."

Windham said that she didn't even know she was a

story teller until late in life.

She had gotten a call from Jimmy Neil Smith from

Tennessee asking her to attend the National Storytelling Festival in Jonesborough.

"I thought it was some of my friends playing a joke on

me," she said about receiving the call and a travel ticket, "but if they

were fool enough to send the thing I’m fool enough to go!"

Windham, a Huntington College graduate, began her career during the time when women weren’t so prevalent on the journalistic scene.

She worked diligently to prove herself a worthy colleague among men.

Her successful reporting earned her respect and eventually she became one of the first female reporters in the South to cover a police beat for a major daily newspaper.

Windham said the newsroom was a louder place back then with substantial differences to the modern ones.

Visitors didn’t need passes to allow them into the newsroom then. People all over town would bring her every oddball piece of news they could find.

Windham later held the title “Odd-egg editor” and was responsible for reporting all that was unconventional.

“It makes me very sad,” Windham said of the vast differences between newswriting of the past and present. “I think the day of newspaper is fading away.”

Windham worked as a reporter for The Selma Times-Journal during the turbulent time for civil rights in Alabama, including the day that made the Edmund Pettus Bridge a symbol of Selma – Bloody Sunday - the day marchers supporting voting rights were violently attacked by Selma’s law officers.

“It was a strange time,” Windham said. “I had friends on both sides.”

As a journalist Windham had to be prepared for anything.

“I’d be standing on the corner with my camera in case something happened,” she said. “When marchers would come by they’d stop singing and say ‘Good mornin’ Mrs. Windham!’”

She describes her experiences during those years in her book “Odd-egg Editor” which is an in-depth account of her time as a writer in Alabama.

This autobiography is just one of the many books Windham has written.

She is known to take a liking to ghost stories. In 1969 Windham teamed up with fellow ghost story enthusiast Margaret Gillis Figh and their book “13 Alabama Ghosts and Jeffrey” was published.

The book contains 13 ghost stories known about the state of Alabama and was the first in a series about Jeffrey, Windham’s very own ghost.

That’s right, Windham’s home is believed to harbor a spirit that walks around slamming doors, hiding car keys in the fridge and causing random mischief around the house.

“He comes and he goes,” Windham said.

She recalled the first time she became aware of her friendly ghost.

“I was reading and I heard steps down the hall,” she said. “My son’s door slammed so I thought he was home.”

Windham called for her son and didn’t get a response. He wasn’t there at all.

The same thing happened the next day. The door slammed again. Footsteps were heard. Only this time the ghost to be named Jeffrey scared the cat who was curled up in a rocking chair asleep.

“That cat leapt up out of that sound sleep,” Windham said with master-storytelling excitement, “leapt off that rocking chair, arched his back and ran from the room.”

Thus Jeffrey, a name given the ghost by one of Windham’s kids, was born.

Windham said that years later a reporter interviewed her son, Ben, asking him if he really believed in Jeffrey and the ghosts that his mother writes about.

“Well, they sent three of us to college,” Ben said.

Windham has three children: Amasa Benjamin “Ben” Windham jr., named after Windham’s late husband, Kathryn Tabb “Kitti” Windham and Helen Ann “Dilcy” Windham Hilley.

Windham’s house is filled with objects showing her fascination of ghost stories – stained-glass window with flying ghosts, paintings, a pillow that reads “Jeffrey Lives Here” in her living room, a wristwatch with a small ghost on the face and even a personalized “Jeffrey” license plate on her car.

Her home also contains numerous original works of her neighbor Charlie “Tin Man” Lucas, one of Alabama’s finest out-of-the-box artists.

Lucas takes scrap metal and other similar items that may appear to be junk and turns them into fascinating works of art.

Windham displays one that she calls the “Little Soldier” right in front of her fireplace. It can be seen directly inside the front door.

Twists of metal come together with a light “so he can always find his way,” and a windshield wiper “to wipe away his tears when times get hard,” to form this remarkable little man.

Windham’s house is filled with the remarkable.

Lucas’s sculptures and paintings coincide with other odds and ends like decorated gourds, one with Windham’s face wearing a Santa hat painted on it. There’s also something else.

A bloody, severed leg.

A rubber severed leg stays propped up in the corner of Windham’s living room looking gruesome in contrast with her cozy home.

When Windham was a little girl her brother, 13 years her senior, would tell her, “If you don’t do what I told ya, I’ll jerk your leg off and beat you with the bloody end!”

“I just adored him,” Windham said. “I believed every word he told me.”

Eventually the story was passed down through the family, and one Christmas her grandson, Ben, decided that the leg would be the perfect gift for her.

“People would say to him, ‘you’re not really giving that to your grandmother for Christmas are you?’” Windham said.

“Of course I am, she’ll love it,” Ben would reply.

“And she does,” Windham said.

That is only one of the stories one can expect to hear when spending time with Windham.

This Alabama classic is like a walking book – story, history and cook.

She will share her stories with anyone who lends an ear and those that do will not be disappointed.