ATHENS — At a recent Christmas gathering of The John Wade Keyes DAR in Founders Hall at Athens State University, Regent Doris Estes, asked the members to say what they hoped to receive for Christmas this year. First to answer was my friend, Ann Wood Crutcher. Having an interest in American history, genealogy and patriotism, Ann has been a member of the local DAR since the 1960’s. She stated that she hoped for true ‘Peace On Earth’ this Christmas, “We have so many conflicts in this world and our country has fought for 9 years in Iraq. I have a grandson who is a helicopter pilot in the Army, and he has served on four tours of duty in the wars in Bosnia, Iraq, and Afghanistan. My hope is that we can learn from our past and protect our future by resolving some of these conflicts in our world.”

After the meeting, Ann reluctantly made an appointment with me to be interviewed for this article. She assured me there were many in Athens who were far more interesting than she.  After we discussed that ‘stories’ are the fiber from which American ideals are woven, Ann agreed to be interviewed. Humility is just one characteristic that flows comfortably from this petite, sweet Southern lady with deep roots in Athens and North Alabama. Ann Crutcher’s Great Great Grandfather was Andrew Legg and the home he lived in remains intact today in a community in Limestone County known as Leggtown. In Ann’s living room, a plantation desk made by Andrew Legg holds Christmas cards and flanks one of the walls in the room. A watercolor rendering of the Legg home hangs above the plantation desk. Ann says that stories were told of the family sitting in stillness on the porch of that home listening to the Civil War battle at Sulpher Springs, a few miles away. Ann’s Grandfather, George Wood, owned a jewelry store in downtown Athens near the current location of the Rogers Center. Her father, Carlos Wood, was an optometrist in town. She remembers times when her father and grandfather would travel in the one car the family owned to deliver jewelry or pick jewelry samples up from locations near and far.

Today, Ann and her husband, retired City Councilman, Johnny Crutcher, live happily in the home on Beaty Street where Ann’s mother, Evelyn McWilliams was born and raised. 

Ann told me about her earliest memories in Athens and one distinct impression she had was that of shoes. Ann conducts tours at the Athens’ Veterans Museum and when she asks young girls how many pairs of shoes they have, she is often amazed at the ten to twenty pair answers she gets.  Ann remembers having two pairs of shoes a year.  One pair was brown oxford shoes for school and the other was a pair of white sandals in the summer. Ann also remembers children less fortunate than she who ran barefoot all summer long and never felt the less for it. “I was a very young girl during the last years of World War ll and our entire community and country were deeply involved in the War effort. Everything was rationed. Cooking grease, leather, nylon, rubber, sugar, aluminum, and certain foods were on the list of rationed items. It was unheard of to be selfish and prevent our troops from having the equipment or food they needed to fight for our freedom. We felt we were part of victory and the war America was involved in didn’t seem so far removed from our everyday life.”

She remembers a German- American man in the Athens’ community who planted a Victory Garden and shared all the vegetables with his neighbors. Victory Gardens were conceived and planted by First Lady, Eleanor Roosevelt, in order to encourage others to plant them to assist in providing food to people who might find shortages in their local communities. Many young farming men were fighting overseas. The gardens were seen as a way to reduce the demand on local food supplies because the troops came first and the troops had to eat. This Victory Garden effort was also considered a civilian morale booster and over 20 million of these gardens were planted in America in small backyards and on rooftops in big cities. Everyone everywhere was deeply concerned about American freedoms. Human decency and democracy were at stake.

Ann told of going to downtown Athens to the Ben Jaffee Department Store so that her mother could buy one pair of stockings with her ration coupon. The Bailey Brothers Grocery was in the heart of downtown near the current location of Martin & Hubbs on Market Street. Walter Bailey would bring Ann and her sister bubble gum from the grocery and they would chew it, wrap it up at bedtime, and chew it again the next day. Nothing was wasted. Ann later knew Mr. John Conlon who was part owner of the Bailey Grocery and she knew he fought in WWII. That made him a local hero in her mind and she never forgot that. 

Ann states that she was not rewarded with money for making good grades or doing her best. She believed in doing her best because her parents believed and lived those qualities. They loved and provided for their family and they lent a helping hand because it was right to do that. She never felt entitled or better than the children who didn’t have shoes in the summer. Faith in God was part of life. It wasn’t a dilemma to debate or take to court.

At Christmas, Ann says her memories are of the way Christmas smelled in those days. Local men and boys who knew they could make a little money would go into the forests and chop down big cedar trees and drag them to town or deliver them to a customer’s home. The cedar would fill the room with what Ann describes as ‘a Christmas fragrance.’ Hopefully, if there were a good citrus crop in Florida or Texas, the smells of fresh oranges would fill the house too. Corn was popped and strung with cranberries in order to make pretty garlands. A few glass ornaments, paper cutouts, tinsel, and colored lights completed the all ‘made in America’ tree. Christmas was about Jesus’ birth and the thrill of family getting together. Ann remembers her Christmas morning as a stocking each, for she and her sister. They were stuffed with apples, a little candy, one orange, lots of love, and a house filled with the smells of cedar, baked cookies, and oranges.

So as I think about the people and stories that weave Americans together this Christmas, I will think of the obvious statistical qualities of ladies like Ann Wood Crutcher. She retired from the Red Cross, is married, has three sons, grandchildren, and extended family too. She spent a few years as a substitute teacher in Athens. She is on the board of the Veteran’s Museum, conducts tours there, volunteers with the Red Cross at Athens Limestone Hospital, and is an active member in the John Wade Keyes DAR. But mostly, when I remember Ann Wood Crutcher, I will think of her as a beautiful sweet Southern lady, expressing her story of faith, history, country, family, and service to others; and I will remember her Christmas story filled with the smells of cedar, baked cookies and oranges.