Former teacher Truman Parrott made history come alive

Truman Parrott, a former history teacher at Homewood Junior High School for more than 30 years, leaves behind a legacy of bringing history to life.

Parrott died in April after a lifetime in Homewood. He was born Oct. 21, 1940, and his childhood home was where SOHO Square is now, said his cousin, Nancy Onorato. According to the Homewood book written by Martha Wurtele and Jake Collins, the Parrotts were one of the last families to vacate downtown Homewood after the city’s postwar commercial boom.

He moved to Forest Drive and lived there for 49 years. When he asked his cousin to help him find a place to downsize 5-10 years ago, he said he could not live outside of the 35209 zip code. He found the perfect fit at Brookdale Senior Living — across the street from his alma mater, Samford University.

“He was Homewood all the way,” Onorato said. “Mr. Homewood is what we called him.”

Parrott was tall and resembled Abraham Lincoln, so Parrott would play the part and make history “so it was real,” Onorato said. As he got older, he started having trouble remembering things about the present. But it didn’t affect his expansive knowledge of Homewood and of history.

One of his former students, Jennifer Ayers, graduated from Homewood High School in 1991 and then became a teacher herself. She now teaches dance at Homewood High School, and she said watching Parrott teach history influenced her in her path to become a teacher.

“As a middle school student, I think this is crazy, but I just remember we would sit there and take notes after notes after notes because he was just so engaging with everything,” she said. “He made us feel like we were in the moment of whatever he was talking about.”

There was a funny story he told every class, Ayers said. One class, while studying Paul Revere and the legendary phrase, “The British are coming!” Parrott began to discuss what some of the townspeople must have thought about all of Revere’s shouting.

Parrott told his class that day, “I can just imagine people waking up, going to the window, and saying —”

Just then, the intercom turned on, meaning the front office could hear Parrott’s class.

“—Shut up you old fool! We’re sleeping in here!”

He told all of his students this story for years, Ayers said. It has been 34 years since Ayers heard the story, and she said it still makes her laugh. She said it’s funny how she can still remember him telling that story so clearly.

“Everybody was so interested in everything he had to say that he just had complete control of the class all the time,” she said. “It was always a joy to go in and learn from him. He was that engaging teacher that drew you in.”

After Parrott’s passing, his friend, Susan Johnson, made a post in the What’s Happening in Homewood group on Facebook. Dozens of former students, neighbors and friends commented and told stories about how Parrott impacted their lives.