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Photos by Sarah Cook.
Nelldeane Price has lived in Homewood off Oxmoor Road since the 1970s. At 90 years old, she said she couldn’t fathom living anywhere else.
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Photo by Sarah Cook.
“This is a photo of me and a boy I was going with at the time,” Price said. The photo, she guessed, was taken somewhere in Gulf Shores.
Change is inevitable with the passage of time. This is something Nelldeane Price knows well.
She’s lived off Oxmoor Road in the same house since the ’70s and has seen countless homes torn down around her to make room for loftier abodes with bigger driveways and younger families. One thing in her neighborhood, however, has stayed mostly the same, she said.
“The people in Homewood, these are good people,” said Price, who will celebrate her 90th birthday in May. “I feel comfortable here.”
If you knock on Price’s door on any given day, chances are she’ll welcome you inside, and then offer you a cold Coca-Cola followed by a story or two. She’s a wealth of information when it comes to Homewood history, said her neighbor Angie Bagwell.
Bagwell and her husband met Price in 2011 when they moved in next door. Since then, the Bagwells have considered Price to be another member of the family. She has a permanent spot at their Christmas dinner table, Bagwell said.
“What’s so amazing to us is the memories she has and the stories she could tell that we don’t want to go untold,” Bagwell said. “She’s a world of knowledge and history. I just feel like she has seen this community evolve.”
‘Me and the dog’
Price first came to Birmingham to get a college education. She grew up in Montgomery, but said it didn’t take long for her to plant new roots in Homewood. Since moving into her house — which has walls lined with photos from her past — she’s lived on her own, with the exception of a furry friend.
“It’s always been me and the dog,” Price said, looking over at her dachshund named Ahnee.
Because she’s seen decades come and go from the same house, Price can recall almost all the names of those who have lived near her. She’s the fifth person to live in her house, which was built in 1947, she said.
“The original owners of this little house were the Forbes sisters — Ms. Daisy and Katie Forbes,” Price said.
Long before the Bagwells moved in next door, Price said she enjoyed her chats with “Mr. Lindsey,” who was the postmaster for Homewood years ago.
“Mr. Lindsey did more for this neighborhood than any person could have ever done,” Price said. “He took people to their doctor for appointments — he did so much.”
To this day, Price said she always thinks of her former neighbor when she has to step down into her basement. He would always show up with a helping hand to help her adjust the furnace, she said.
“One time I said to him, ‘Mr. Lindsey, you are always doing for others,’ and he said, ‘Ms. Price, at night when I go to bed, I can sleep a lot better if I have done something for somebody that day,’” Price recalled.
Bagwell would argue that Price’s character isn’t much different than Mr. Lindsey’s. When she first moved in, Bagwell said it was hard to find Price resting. Price would leave her house every morning, Bagwell said, and not return until later on in the day.
“At the time we moved in, we didn’t see a whole lot of her,” Bagwell said. “We learned really quickly how loyal she was to a dear friend who she had known for years. Her friend had turned ill, so she was there by her side for several years. Every day, she would leave her house consistently at the same time and return at the same time.”
Keeping close relationships, Price said, is what keeps her going these days — and she considers almost all of Homewood to be a friend.
“When I walk into the door at Piggly Wiggly, all the sackers — they know me,” Price said with a smile. “They’ll say, ‘The price is right!’”
Value of hospitality
Price guessed she inherited her friendliness from her parents. They were always looking for ways to help out a friend or stranger, Price said.
Specifically, Price said she can remember when her mother invited two British pilots over for Christmas dinner. World War II was going on, Price said, and her older brother was stationed in England.
“I rode with my father to pick them up and when they got in the car, of course they had a British accent,” Price said, noting that nothing is more charming than a British accent. “When they got in, they said to my mother, “Ms. Price, we certainly do appreciate this, but what made you do it?’ And she answered, ‘My son is in England, and maybe your mother did to my son what I am try to do to you all — making you feel welcome.’”
Several decades after that Christmas dinner, Price is still living out her family’s values of hospitality. And the Homewood community, she said, is gladly reciprocating.
“Thank goodness for good neighbors,” Price said, looking out the window with a smile.
