Relay For Life

Cancer. It is a word that is scary to anyone who hears it come from their Doctors mouth. My family has had it's share of Cancer. My Grandfather (Dad's Dad) passed away from Cancer in 1988. My Mom's Dad ("Paw Paw") was diagnosed with cancer of the brain in 2005. With the help of the Good Lord above, and modern medicine, he has been cancer free for 6 years. I had heard of the Relay For Life for several years, and seen the large crowd it drew to Oxford High School Stadium. It wasn't until my Junior year of High School, that I ever attended the event. That year, I was a member of the Key Club. Me and several other members/friends help to set it up. You know, from just attending the event, you wouldn't think too much work goes into it. But that year, I learned different.  We arrived around 3:00, and begin helping pour oil into the Torch Luminaries. But when we got done, I believe we  had more on our hands then went into the torch bottles. lol Then we rode on the back of a small truck, sitting bag lumanaries around the football stadium. We then begin placing the bags in the stands on the guest side, and later helped to form the HOPE CURE you see in the Picture above. The fun part came when we begin lighting the luminaries. I believe I only set one bag on fire. But, I can't say that for my friends. lol I do beleive it was after this year, they begin using Light Sticks. After all the hard work was over, we got to sit around and chat, and one friend even drove over to Taco Bell and some of us ate Taco's. I got to meet some new people that year. However, we lost contact soon afterward.. This was also the first year my Paw Paw Roy (Dad's Dad) had an "In Memory Of" Luminarie, and my Paw Paw had an "In Honor Of" Luminarie. The Relay For Life has out growed the Oxford High School stadium, and is now held at the Soccer Fields on the old Ft. McClellan  Base. 

Oxford, Alabama. (Gregersons-FoodMax)

I have grown up in Anniston, and Oxford, Alabama. I have many memories from this area. In my first post I am gonna share my memories of shopping in Oxford Alabama. Their is a small strip mall located just behind Oxford High School. From as far back as I can remember, the strip mall has housed a Wal * Mart (moved), Martins, Books A Million, and a Gregerson's that turned into a FoodMax. In this post, I will be talking about Gregersons/Foodmax. The store is currently empty, because FoodMax, which was owned by Bruno's, closed due to financial problems. But as far as back as I can remember, my family shopped at this location quite often both while it was Gregersons's and FoodMax. The thing that caught my eye inside the store when I was younger was not the great selection of Candy, but was a singing Pig. Yes, an amatronic Pig that sit on a bail of hay, picked a guitar and sung several great classic country songs. Being young, my Mom and Dad told me the first time we were shopping there and walked past the statue, and it begin singing, I was scared to death of it. But as I got older, I remember going to hear it sing alot. As my parents and grandparents shopped in eye view, I would stand and listen to him sing. Some of the songs I am sure he sung was, "Living on Refried Dreams" (Made famous by Tim McGraw. and  "Skip To My Lou My Darling". I remember around the time I was 7 years old, one day I was shopping with my Nanny. The pig was not working right. It was strating and stopping in the middle of songs, as if it had a shortage in the wires. The next week, I was sad to see it had been removed from the stand. Several weeks later, though, a new Singing Animatronic Animal was in it's place. A hound dog. It closely resembled Jasper T Jowls of the Chuck E Cheese band. In fact, it might have been an old Jasper T Jowls dog.  He wore a Confederate Union sutit, strummed a guitar and patted his feet to such Classic Country songs as "Crying My Heart Out Over You" (Made famous by Ricky Skaggs), "Highway 40 Blues" (Made famous by Ricky Skaggs) "Trialers For Sale" (Made famous by Roger Miller) "Tie A Yellow Ribbon Around The Old Oak Tree", "Hard Rock Candy Mountain" and a version of "Gonna Get Along Without You Now" that I can't seem to find anywhere else. I remember the songs he played better, because I was older, plus we shopped there every Saturday Night, and I would stand and listen to him while my Parents and Grandparents shopped. He never seemed to be working right, though. Several times I would have to ask an employee to go in the booth and start the tape, or plug in the wall outlet. Soon after Gregerson's changed to FoodMax, they remolded the store some and he was permanently removed. Their was another Gregerson's a few miles down the road, in Anniston. They also had a Animatronic Banjo Picking Dog. I plan to start doing Posts on Anniston soon, and will include memories of that loacation then. But it makes me wonder if all Gregerson's featured an Animatronic Singing Animal? If anyone can answer that, I would like to know. I was sad to see this store close as part of our poor Economy. My last memories of this store is from about 2008. I was shopping and seen a friend of mine from High School. She had moved to Oxford the beginning of her Senior Year. This store was just full of childhood memories, especially with my Maw Maw, who had passed away several years before it shut down. This was one of her favorite stores to shop at. Also, I can't seem to find much information on Gregerson's. Does anyone know if it is just a locally owned chain, or was it once a nation wide chain? There is still one location in operation, to my knowledge.

Picture courtesy of Google Maps.