Kathryn Tucker Windham’s Birthday

One of the eternal mysteries of life is how Kathryn Tucker Windham can reach 90 years of age with the verve, energy and mental acuity she has. Every one of her faculties is still intact. She has started to use a cane in the past few months. She says one of her knees has found out how old she is and she hopes it doesn’t tell the other knee. She still lives alone and takes care of herself. She still travels on airplanes and drives herself on short car trips.

On June 2, she turned 90. The whole town of Selma and friends from as far away as California turned out to help her celebrate on Sunday June 1. She had two bands participating. One played at the church service in her honor at her home church, Church Street United Methodist, the Dill Pickers led by her friend Norton Dill who produced an award winning documentary about her. The other, led by her dentist Mike Mahan, was a jazz band that paraded down the street at her birthday party at the Selma Public Library.

The church service featured hymns of her childhood selected by Kathryn. The rafters rang with renditions of “Standing on the Promises” and I’ll Fly Away”. All of the ministers who served the church since Kathryn had joined in 1951 were there (at least those who were still alive). Kathryn sat on the second row and tapped her feet in time to the music. Afterwards the church honored her in their fellowship hall, the old A&P grocery store. They named the fellowship hall in her honor that day. They served an old fashioned fried chicken dinner to hundreds of people.

The birthday part itself was held on the lawn of the Selma Public Library – one of Kathryn’s favorite places. Kathryn was positioned on the balcony waving out to the crowd of a thousand who were in attendance. She looked like the Pope bestowing blessings on those gathered. The event was a comb concert. Kathryn has made a mission out of teaching people to play combs as musical instruments. The way it is done is to take a comb with a small sheet of waxed paper wrapped around it, with the ends loose. The comb is placed in from of the player’s mouth. The player hums the tune of the song which vibrates the paper causing the comb to act like a musical instrument. People who otherwise have no musical ability can learn to play the comb. Kathryn says the way she came to appreciate comb playing was when she ended up teaching a class of 30 junior high school aged boys in Sunday school. She said the only way she could keep them entertained was by teaching them to play the comb. She said they played the entire Methodist Hymnal during that year.

The party started with Dr. Mahan’s band marching down the street playing “When the Saints Go Marching In”. I don’t know how old the men were but the musicians looked like a group of Kathryn’s peers. They played then the combs were played then everybody sang. After about an hour of playing and parching in the sun, the participants marched down the street to the Performing Arts Center where they were served cake and refreshments. It’s hard to say exactly how many people there were, but Kathryn had ordered a thousand combs and they ran out. She also had ordered a thousand Moon Pies, which are a particular favorite of hers. She said when she found out the bakery in Chattanooga where the Moon Pies are made, she talked to the owner who said his father used to preach in the Selma area. He turned out to be the preacher who married Kathryn and her husband Amasa. Talk about a small world! I asked her if he donated the Moon Pies free when he found out the connection. He did not. Commerce triumphed over sentimentality once more.

Kathryn’s birthday party was another example of her ability to inspire people to come together. Her stories have a way of bringing us back to our roots and a celebration of who we are here in rural Southwest Alabama. They touch a cord of southerness in people everywhere. A painter who now lives in upstate New York once heard Kathryn on National Public Radio and called her. He said “Hearing you made me homesick. Can I come see you?” She agreed so he did and came to spend two days with her. He had such a good time he came back later, bringing his family. He stayed two weeks and painted her portrait which hangs proudly in her dining room. Kathryn has that effect on people. You meet her and before you know it you’re adopted into her extended family. She has a way of creating a celebration out of living, bringing everyone along with her.