R.I.P. Alabama storyteller Kathryn Tucker Windham, 93
Lenona
One obit begins:
Written by Alvin Benn
SELMA — Kathryn Tucker Windham, a trailblazing female police reporter
who became known later for her books, storytelling abilities, radio
commentaries, photography and one-woman play about an Alabama legend,
died Sunday.
Windham, who died at 5 p.m. at her home in Selma at the age of 93, had
been ill for some time, and her relatives were by her side at the end.
Her family will announce a memorial service at a later time.
Honored around the world for her stories about life in America’s
South, Windham refused to accept discriminatory treatment by her first
newspaper editors and proved that she could cover assignments as well
as any of the male reporters at the Alabama Journal in 1940.
Windham’s dream as a young girl was to become a newspaper reporter and
she began writing movie reviews for her uncle’s weekly paper in
Thomasville, where she grew up............
(snip)
Here's what I posted on her 90th birthday:
"My desire is to preserve our Southern ghost tales--the true ones--
before they are lost. I use a newspaper reporter's training to check
the stories, verify dates, names, places, etc. The sites of all the
stories can be visited--but I make no promise that the ghosts can be
seen! Jeffrey is the `something' that lives in our house."
She's a former police reporter and news photographer, as well as a
former member of board of directors of the National Association for
the Preservation and Perpetuation of Storytelling.
http://www.auburn.edu/~willik5/selmaktwbday90.html
("Hundreds mark storyteller's 90th")
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kathryn_Tucker_Windham
"On August 18, 2003, she was inducted into the Alabama Academy of
Honor, having been nominated by fellow Alabamian, novelist Harper Lee.
The 2004 documentary film, Kathryn: The Story of a Teller, directed by
Norton Dill, chronicles Windham's life and varied careers."
http://www.publicbroadcasting.net/wual/.jukebox?action=viewPodcast&podcastId=174
(Podcasts of Windham's radio storytellings - she's been on NPR's "All
Things Considered" thirty-three times)
http://www.mcclellan-jpa.com/index/news/kathryn_tucker_windham
(about her storytelling workshop)
http://taletellin.selmaalabama.com/KathrynTuckerWindham.htm
(biography, photos, articles)
http://www.current.org/rad/rad901a.html
(1999 interview)
http://www.clarkecountyal.com/kathryn_tucker.htm
(Kathryn Tucker Windham Museum)
http://www.auburn.edu/~willik5/selmavisit.html
("Spending the Day with Kathryn Tucker Windham" - lots of photos,
mostly)
WRITINGS BY THE AUTHOR:
Treasured Alabama Recipes, Strode, 1964.
(With Margaret Gillis Figh) Thirteen Alabama Ghosts and Jeffrey,
Strode, 1969.
Exploring Alabama, Strode, 1969.
Jeffrey Introduces Thirteen More Southern Ghosts, Strode, 1971.
Treasured Tennessee Recipes, Strode, 1972.
Thirteen Georgia Ghosts and Jeffrey, Strode, 1973.
Treasured Georgia Recipes, Strode, 1973.
Thirteen Mississippi Ghosts and Jeffrey, Strode, 1974.
Alabama: One Big Front Porch, Strode, 1975.
Thirteen Tennessee Ghosts and Jeffrey, Strode, 1976.
Southern Cooking to Remember, Strode, 1978.
Count Those Buzzards! Stamp Those Grey Mules, Strode, 1979.
Jeffrey's Latest Thirteen: More Alabama Ghosts, Strode, 1982.
A Serigamy of Stories, University Press of Mississippi (Jackson, MS),
1988.
Odd-Egg Editor, University Press of Mississippi (Jackson, MS), 1990.
My Name Is Julia, Birmingham Public Library Press (Birmingham, AL),
1991.
(And photographer) Twice Blessed, Black Belt Press (Montgomery, AL),
1996.
Encounters, Black Belt Press (Montgomery, AL), 1997.
The Bridal Wreath Bush, Black Belt Press (Montgomery, AL), 1999.
Common Threads: Photographs and Stories from the South, CKM Press
(Tuscaloosa, AL), 2000.
It's Christmas!, River City Press (September 2002)
Jeffrey's Favorite 13 Ghost Stories: From Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee,
and Mississippi, 2004.
Twice Blessed, River City Publishing (June 7, 2007),
Alabama, One Big Front Porch, NewSouth Books (August 2007),
Lenona.