From Jimmy Wyatt

Jimmy (now known as Jim) Stringer and I go “way back”. We were born days apart at Citizens Hospital in Talladega but did not know each other until he moved to Tuscaloosa in the summer before our sophomore year in high school (1959) and we began fall football practice. We were both a lot slimmer back then.

Stringer was a big time guy when he got a Chevy convertible the following spring and could take us places. It was a beauty, a 1952 or 1953 model that was guaranteed to lock up nine out of ten times when he shifted from first to second gear. The privilege of riding with him meant that you had to get out and pull up the gear levers under the hood to unlock them. He eventually got pretty good at starting off in third gear most of the time. I don’t remember his keeping the car that long and I have always wondered why. Probably his most reliable vehicle was the VW bus that served as the Sherwin Williams delivery vehicle.

Jimmy worked at Sherwin Williams on weekends and during the summer and he was the chief paint formulator and mixer. Probably many customers never knew why their paint never was quite the color that they thought it would be. Not until Jimmy took his physical for ROTC did he know that he was color blind and not just a little color blind – the “blindness” was BIG time. I’m sure that this is why he turned to computers and did not pursue taking over the paint industry.
Jimmy and I would double date on occasion and he was always up for adventure. Once when he was dating Lulu, Robin (now my wife – obviously he found someone better than Lulu) and I drove to Birmingham with them to a basketball game at Shades Valley High. Jimmy wanted us to see a phenomenal thing, a dancing Christmas tree in Lynn Park in downtown Birmingham. We went downtown and the tree was dead asleep without a light on and definitely not dancing. Since we were so disappointed he promised to make up for it by showing us a shortcut from downtown Birmingham (before Interstates existed) to US 11 outside of Bessemer. We drove and drove and drove and drove. Then the road starting getting narrower and houses starting to get further and further apart and despite repeatedly telling us he knew where we were, we came literally to the end of the road with a pig trail going off into the woods. At that point he said “I think I missed a turn somewhere”. We backed up a mile or two so that we could turn around and finally saw a house with lights on and he asked how we could get to US 11. The nice people said “you can’t get there from here”. We can say that we have been to Birmingport and if you go to Hueytown you can get to Bessemer and US 11. We can also say that we have actually been on a road that ended in a pig trail!

Jimmy and Mary Helen married and Jimmy entered the Army. He was stationed at Fort Eustis, VA. When my father had a heart attack while visiting my sister in Greenville, NC, Robin and I went to see him and decided to go see Jimmy and Mary Helen. We were amazed at all of their appliances and it turns out being in the Quartermaster Corp qualified you to know about government property that isn’t on the books --- freezers, air conditioners, washing machines, etc., that could be used but that could never leave the base. He was a master of several warehouses full of this stuff and controlled the base by loaning items to very influential people cycling through Fort Eustis. I understand that he offered free delivery and pick up service. Furthermore, they started Robin and I on a life of ruin by introducing us to wine by serving us a Liefraumilch, a “light, white, Rhine Wine”. We thought it was delicious, but now wouldn’t touch it!!! Our palates have matured along with our bodies, I guess!