By Marla Ballard

Reporter

bamabell62@gmail.com

COLLINSVILLE, ALA. --- Brenda Bartley fondly recalls what life was like in DeKalb County back in the 1950s and 60s. She lives in the Shady Grove Community on Lookout Mountain, where she first lived as a child. Her family roots go back seven generations in the mountain top community. Although she has lived in several different states throughout her life, she says this will always be home to her. 

At age 79, Bartley remembers boarding the train in Collinsville to travel to Fort Payne to visit the dentist or family. As she drives through the streets of Collinsville, she reminiscences about her family using mules and a wagon to come down Hall Gap, which was a dirt road back then. “I can remember when there was no Interstate 59 and when we went to church the only car there was the preachers,” said Bartley.

She said the sidewalks of Collinsville were once very crowded with people and the town had three banks and a Hall’s Department Store. “Hall’s had everything from men’s suits to coffins for sale,” said Bartley. “Back in those days there were no cashier stations located throughout the store like now. A clerk would pull a string and a little box would come down from the upper floor and they would put your money in it and send it back upstairs, then the little box would come back down holding your change.”

Bartley said the Collinsville Water Department is located at the site where Hall’s store use to be and the police station is near where the two-story school was. “I can remember when Trade Day was at a different place in town,” said Bartley.

The school she attended in Collinsville took her on a field trip to the movie theatre where 10 cents bought a seat. “I was glad to see the historical society restore the old theatre in Collinsville,” said Bartley. Another field trip consisted of the children being taken to her teacher’s home to see Eisenhower inaugurated on television.

At age 68, when most people are retiring, Bartley became a Real Estate Broker and opened her own office in Centre, where six agents work under her as Broker. “I call real estate my third career,” said Bartley. “Before real estate I worked at two manufacturing companies. I started both at entry level and reached department head at one and became a trainer at the other.”

Bartley was in her thirties before she was able to finish her high school education, acquiring a G.E.D. certificate. Over the years she has taken University courses and still plans on continuing her education, she is currently at junior level status in college. She says she has a fourth career planned; she wants to be a writer.

She has faced the death of loved ones and her own health issues, but says she’s happy for the road she’s traveled through life.  She’s a mother of a police officer and wants parents to know that principals are “caught more than taught.” She hopes her “stick-with-it attitude” for employment and education will inspire someone.