Dear Editor,

Standing Rock, Alabama is one of my most favorite places and part of my roots.    Billie Pike and Pauline Pike lived on a quiet dirt road in Standing Rock, and they were my grandparents. Summers were filled with helping in the garden, shelling peas or snapping beans with my granny while watching “The Price is Right” on TV and having a mayonnaise sandwich for lunch, going with my granddaddy to the cattle sale in Roanoke, riding bikes with my sister and cousins, counting boxcars hooked to the mighty train as it roared by my grandparents’ house, and sometimes eating at the Lashleys’ Catfish Camp in Clacksville, Alabama.   

Near the Standing Rock Methodist Church is the current Standing Rock Community Center.  For 60 plus years, this community center has served as a gathering place for church functions, wedding and baby showers, Halloween cake walks, and other events. The community center also serves as the polling location for registered voters residing in the Standing Rock area.   

The community center, however, has now deteriorated beyond repair. In 2017, the Standing Rock Community Center Committee was formed to raise money to build a new community center in Standing Rock. During my granddaddy’s life, he shared stories with me of his friendships in Standing Rock with Bud & Emilie Hudson, Waymon & Audra Hudson, Mac & Martha Dodgen, Chappell & Jodie Bonner, Robert & Marjie Gay, James & Mary Johnson, George Wilder, Garvice & Sue Hudson, Mary Phillips Rowe, and many others. Being on the committee has given me the precious opportunity of forming friendships with my grandparents’ Standing Rock friends and the children of my grandparents’ Standing Rock friends.   

On behalf of the committee, I want to thank everyone who purchased tickets to the Standing Rock Fish Fry and came out to fellowship with us on Saturday, May 25.

We always enjoy having our local musicians entertain us at the fish fry.  Sheriff Sid Lockhart and the Chambers County Sheriff’s Department did another fine job cooking for us.

As always, the State Line Hunt Club helped tremendously. The homemade hush puppies are the best around.

Thank you to all those who donated cakes, cookies and pies for our bake sale. Thanks to Michael Givorns and Mr. Ice for providing the super awesome ice. It was great to have Chambers County Probate Judge Paul Story helping on the fish plate assembly line.

I’m continuously blown away by all the volunteers who come to the events and give of their time and talents.

To see photos from the May 25 Fish Fry & Bake Sale, join the Facebook group “Standing Rock Alabama Community Center Building Project.”   

Proceeds raised or donations made benefit the Standing Rock Community Building Project.

— Marie Leak