I have probably known Herb Griffin for most of my life. We attend the same church and I am around the same age as his children. If you have spent any time in Homewood you probably heard about his accident with a streetcar when he was in 8th grade. He was featured in the Birmingham News and the story even made the national news.
When it comes to Homewood history, there are not many better sources. His family settled in this area, and Herb still lives close to the original homestead in Edgewood.
Herb is also a 1948 graduate of Shades Cahaba High School. You can read about one of their class reunions in 2018. The story is written by Jake Collins, a Homewood graduate and co-author with Martha Wurtele of the book Homewood. They dedicated it to Herb Griffin, “who works tirelessly to preserve the history of Homewood.” You can pick up the book on Amazon.com and at local bookstores.
We sat down to talk about his time at Shades Cahaba High School as well as other stories about Homewood that I hope to release as special editions of this podcast in the future.
Since this podcast aired, Herb Griffin passed away on February 4, 2022.
Links
Shades Valley High School’s Alma Mater is sung to the tune of Joseph Haydn’s refrain from his String Quartet in C major, Opus 76,3, which is also used as Germany’s national anthem.
The music to the Shades Cahaba Alma Mater music is the same as the University of Alabama and Kellerman’s Theme Song from the movie “Dirty Dancing.”
Photo of coach Piggy Mitchell wearing a mounties/owl shirt.
