When the Vickrey and Wilson families travel to the College NAIA Girl’s Softball World Series this week to watch daughter/granddaughter Emily Vickrey perform, they will do so with much anticipation and pride. It will be quite a trip, as well, as the tournament is held in Sioux City, Iowa.

The skillfully athletic young lady will play a prominent leadership role for her University of Mobile Rams as they kick off tournament play Friday, May 22.
Emily’s timely hit in their final game propelled the Mobile team into the big series event and her on-field talents are expected to contribute to the team’s drive for winning it all.

Emily is the daughter of Danny and Faith Vickrey, and the granddaughter of Weldon Vickrey and Judy Vickrey and Danny and Cynthia Wilson.

Prior to receiving a scholarship at the Mobile college, she was coached by Sammy Day at Northview High School, where she achieved numerous on field honors. But her parents and grandparents were equally proud of her scholastic awards.

The accounting major had a batting average of .282 with 107 hits in 389 at-bats in 50 games in 2014.
Emily is also an avid cook and enjoys creating innovative meals in the kitchen. She says her dream job is “owning her own restaurant.”

Those family members and friends who will be following her to the World Series will bring home lasting memories.

Congratulations to Emily and we are wishing her and her team much success.

All of this reminds me of the trip Ouida and I made in 1989 to Lewiston, Idaho, to watch our son Bryan play in the NAIA Baseball World Series. It, too, was a memorable event.

His Auburn Montgomery (AUM) team fought to the very last of the ninth, only to drop the decision to the tournament winner. They won eight of those tournament games but were unable to capture the final game.

In other news, the curtain comes down Wednesday night for David Letterman.

As sure as you will never see a Fox News Channel in a McDonald’s dining area, you will never see a conservative given the royal treatment or spotlight in his late night show.

The front teeth-gapped TV host has enjoyed top ratings only since his NBC counterpart Jay Leno left the air early last year. Up until then, Leno was kingpin on late night TV. And, one of the reasons was that he allowed conservatives on his show.

Letterman was plagued by one well-aired unpopular episode in his life. In 2009, he admitted to having liaisons with staffers.

Channel 5 has been heavily promoting his departure the past few weeks. And, in each promotion, far-left liberals are there on the scene bidding him goodbye.

Say, did you know there are 10 Alabama counties where you are most likely to wed at a young age? Those counties are Cleburne, Cullman, DeKalb, Blount, Chilton, Winston, Marion, Lamar, Franklin and Fayette.
Couples in the most populous counties, including Mobile, Jefferson, Madison and Montgomery, seem to wait for an older age before tying the knot.

Have you noticed those new styles in men? The most popular one is hair pushed up in front with a heavy look of mousse and a petite chin beard that takes on a triangular appearance.

But the gloating things for women of all ages are body tattoos. These gals are wearing them nowadays from the neck to the ankles.

I wrote about the tattoo industry a couple of years ago. This is a very thriving business. Those talented tattoo artists rack up the big bucks with their creative efforts. It is not uncommon for a successful artist to generate over a hundred thousand dollars a year. I understand some institutes now teach one to become a tattoo specialist.

Let’s take a look at some news from days gone by.

Folks from New Orleans to Jacksonville are still waiting on Amtrak to repair the rail beds and come up with funding to get the trains back into operation. Hurricane Katrina played havoc with this area, knocking rails and beds out of commission.

The popular passenger train made its way through Atmore for several years, even making our town a key stop for passenger pickups and unloading.

The Senate, reportedly, wants a bill to study the feasibility of the train’s returning.

Many of you will remember the Hummingbird passenger train operated by L&N from 1946 to 1969.

I read an account by an online publisher recently who filled an article with a lot of incorrect information about this train. I, and many of you, were well versed on this railroad treasure. The train was extremely popular through our area and you could set your clock by its being on schedule and the sound of its whistle when it passed through Atmore. In a fast moving pace, the dining and sitting cars were well lighted as they soared by, emitting a Christmas-lighting impression.

And for us older onlookers, we remember those few occasions when it was pulled along by the old steam engines.

This is just one of the many nostalgic eras in our time.

More next week.

You can email Lowell McGill at exam@frontiernet.net.