Forty years ago, in 1979, an inmate from Fountain Corrections escaped while on a visit to see a local doctor. He was taken to Dr. William E. Thomas’s office on East Laurel. Upon arrival, there was another man waiting. He pulled a gun on the guard, and left him locked up in the sheriff’s van.

The Atmore City Council was thinking they should expand the city limits as they were the same as they had been for the past 30 years.

Atmore Public Library received a lot of books that the public could check out.

There was an article in The Atmore Advance about Drew’s Stop and Shop run by Lawrence and Peggy Drew. It looked as if it was probably a store that had a little of everything.

First National Bank celebrated its 64th birthday and gave away prizes.

B.C. Moore had a sale with an eight-piece cookware set for $29.87 that was made out of cast aluminum.

This reminded me of a set of Club Aluminum cookware that I received from my father when I married 60 years ago. That stuff was meant to last. In the past 60 years I have broken the handle off of one pot and warped the frying pan, but it still cooks just as good as it did all those years ago.

Occupants of a home in Robinsonville were lucky to escape injury when a fire gutted their home.

Booneville Baptist Church was giving away a handmade quilt to the highest bidder.

I noticed two or three ads in the newspaper for sewing materials. That certainly has changed over the past 40 years. Do people still buy patterns and make their own clothing? When I was a little girl, the first store-bought dress I had was when I was in the fourth grade. It was for the wedding of a cousin and I remember it well. It was a red and blue plaid dress. My mother always made my clothes, except for the ones that were handed down to me from my many cousins. I have told you the story of my dresses made out of cow feed sacks. Anytime Mama made me a dress, she always made me a pair of bloomers to match. The style back then was short dresses and those bloomers covered up what the dress didn’t.

A local salon was advertising that they cut and styled both men and women’s hair.

Winn-Dixie had Astor Coffee advertised for $1.79 a pound. The reason I mention it is because I thought about buying a pound of coffee last week. I thought my eyes were deceiving me when I found that all brands of coffee start at around $10 a pound. Fancy coffee is even more. Some of my co-workers were discussing the other day about the price of lettuce. It used to be that one could buy a head of lettuce for 20 cents. That head of lettuce will now sell for around $3. Where will it stop?

James B. Allen was named instruction dean at Jefferson Davis Junior College.

Fountain Prison was in financial distress and there was a possibility of it closing.

Selma was holding its fourth annual pilgrimage featuring beautiful homes, one of which was the Wash Smith Quarles Home. The lower floor was used as a hospital after the Battle of Selma in the Civil War.

I took a trip to Selma a couple of years back with the Escambia County Historical Society. We toured some of the old homes there and even ate lunch in one of them. We toured a huge cemetery there and made a stop at Cahaba, the site of Alabama’s first Capitol. Try it sometime. If you want to make another tour, try the Eufaula Tour of Homes. It’s a wonderful weekend trip.