Christmas Tales of Alabama by Kelly Kazek

Author:Kelly Kazek
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: The History Press
Published: 2013-08-20T16:00:00+00:00

THE HOLIDAY CARD TO THE “SILLY LOOKING, LONG-LEGGED DOG”

In 1959, Tillman Eugene Wheeler, known to his friends as “Tim,” was stationed on the USS Eldorado in the Port of Japan. As Christmas season approached, the young graduate of the School of Architecture at Alabama Polytechnic Institute (API) in Auburn was feeling lonely. It would be his first Christmas away from home and his family. A Christmas tree had been set up in the officers’ quarters on the ship, but the holiday didn’t seem the same as it had in Homewood, Alabama. Sailors eagerly anticipated the days when they would receive care packages or letters from home.

To that end, sailors sent many letters home, craving a connection. A few weeks before Christmas, Tim sent a holiday card to Anne Kimbrough, his friend and former classmate at Shades Valley High School. Anne, a senior at API, was dating Fred Burkhalter, who had been Tim’s college roommate. The three had spent many happy times together. After Tim filled out the card, decorated with a Japanese design, with a friendly “Merry Christmas,” he faced a problem: he didn’t know Anne’s address. Being from the small community of Hollywood, which lay outside Homewood in the shadow of the bustling boomtown of Birmingham, Tim reasoned that the mail carrier should be able to find the Kimbrough home if he offered enough description.

On the envelope, he wrote: “Miss Anne Kimbrough, red brick house at top of hill somewhere in Hollywood…Postman: You’ll know the house by the silly looking little long-legged dog who lives there. Homewood, Alabama.” The return address said: “Somewhere in the Pacific.”

Back in the States, the mail carrier read the description on the card and wondered if it referred to a dog he’d seen at a home in Hollywood. The little dog would bark excitedly whenever the postman dropped mail in the front-door slot. The postman decided he’d look for the house while on his rounds. Finally, on December 16, when he approached a red brick house in Hollywood, he saw the dog. It was a toy Manchester terrier that had particularly long legs for its small body.

The Manchester, named Pepper, was the beloved pet of the Kimbroughs. Anne, however, was still in class at API when the card arrived. When she came home on the weekend, her mother gave her the card and told her of an unusual request from the postman. He asked if Anne would mind letting the United States Postal Service know the story of its delivery.

Anne kept the card but sent the envelope to Jefferson County postmaster Roy Moncus with her compliments on the detective work. Soon, the Birmingham News reported the tale of the card delivered to the house with the “silly looking little long-legged dog.”

A photo of Anne, posing with Pepper, ran with the story with the headline “‘Silly-Looking, Long-Legged’ Dog Good Enough Address for Post Office.” It was picked up by the Associated Press wire service and was published across the country under headlines such as “Postal

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