Alma Catherine Thomas Stradford Remembered

Celebrating the 105th year A.D. of Alma Catherine Stradford
Reprinted for social media with permission from the authors
© 2001 Eric and Stephanie Stradford, all rights reserved from
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Her children stand and bless her. Her husband praised her all his life. There are many virtuous and capable women in the world, but you surpass them all. Charm is deceptive, and beauty does not last. But a woman who fears the LORD will be greatly praised. Reward her for all she has done.   Let her deeds publicly declare her praise.

Walter and Ida Thomas frequently migrated to and from blue-collar communities near   Birmingham, Alabama.  Poppa Thomas is remembered for his craftsmanship.  In early years, he made furniture. In later years, he would carve off a chunk of chewing tobacco with an old pocketknife that had carved its niche in American history.  Momma Thomas was a seamstress whose patched quilts would later comfort an army of grand and great grandchildren.

In 1917, the Thomas' journeyed through Chambers County and paused in Lafayette, Alabama.  On April 16 of that year, Ida gave birth to Alma Catherine, a half-sister of Walter's first born, Mattie Mae Green of Birmingham.  After Alma Catherine, Walter and Ida saw the birth of four sons.   Of the four brothers, only Willie Gene, born in 1919, survived.  Willie Gene was a gifted child who learned things quickly.  He was seen by his older sister as an over achiever.  During their childhood in Lafayette, Alma remembered, "I picked a handful or two of cotton when I wanted to."   But, both her parents picked more cotton than they wanted to during the years leading to America's Great Depression.

By age five, Willie Gene and his older sister, Alma Catherine, had moved with their parents to Gorgus, Alabama. There, Willie Gene's five years of an exceptional childhood became his legacy. The seven-year-old Alma Catherine had lost another brother. She would live her life as the sole heir to the Walter and Ida Thomas legacy.

During her brief childhood, Alma Catherine recalled living with her mother's brother, Uncle Johnny in Sipsey, Alabama. Her father found work in a wire mill, in a coal mine, on a farm or any place that enabled him to feed his family during troubled economic times.  Early on, Alma attended school in Fairfield, Alabama. By the time she reached a mature thirteen years of age, the family anchored for just a spell in Mosses, Alabama, the coal mining community from which the Moss McCormick Company operated.