re: 50 years ago (April 3, 1974)

Back last year I spent more money than I want to admit on a little book about the recovery effort in north Alabama. It follows the organized efforts of Amish and Mennonite volunteers from OH, PA, MI, etc. who came south by the busloads to help in the cleanup and rebuilding. They were under the direction of the Red Cross and Mennonite Disaster Service. Men, women, and children all came down to help. This book recounts their efforts, but also tells the stories of the people impacted that day.







I like that they had the same issue a lot of folks have today......they had no idea all the small towns on the map and how to pronounce them, or really even what they were called. "Chalybeate School at Springs, Alabama" would have likely been the the school in the town of Chalybeate Springs. There's no town around there called Springs. "Hillbore school house" was likely Hillsboro school. There was definitely a language barrier.....hahaha, or an accent issue.

Many of these same areas would come under fire in very similar fashion almost forty years later. Some of the same towns written about in this book would take considerable damage on April 27, 2011.

Before seeing this book mentioned by a friend, and then finding a copy for myself, I had no idea that the Mennonite community played such a role. It was interesting to read about.