That Was Tomorrow

By Mary Lois Timbes

Sibley Oak Press, 243 pp., $8.99

Kindle Edition (2012)

As a recent, two years and counting, permanent resident of Fairhope, Alabama, I found this novel by Ms. Timbes to be a very relevant and interesting read, a good way station on my own journey toward understanding this remarkable community. The range of interviews that underpin the book serves to bring to life the Fairhope founders and earlier settlers of the immediate post-World War I period.  That the community even existed as the vibrant entity depicted is somewhat remarkable: a hurricane in 1916 had destroyed the long pier and many of the earlier dwellings. Rebuilding was doubtless still underway when the fictional Amelia King stepped ashore at that pier leading to the Fairhope colony.

The path of tracing King’s childhood and early adulthood, however, is not developed as well as the remarkable scenes of Fairhope that follow. King is pictured well into the book as a young child in an overly strict and cold home with a waspish governess given to conjuring up visions to scare a child for reasons not entirely clear. She prevails on her father, a remote but caring man in what appears to be a stunted marriage, to allow her to live with a lively set of cousins in booming Philadelphia from whence she then matriculates at Mount Holyoke College, even then one of the “Seven Sisters” female Ivy League colleges. Most women who became teachers in this period went to two-year teacher colleges and then into the classroom.

In what might be expected to be a lively period of development for a young woman in the onset of the Roaring Twenties, we find very little information as to her awakening pre Fairhope. In fact, no details are given as to her experiences atHolyokebeyond the telling of a feeble attempt by a divinity student to enter into a relationship.

Graduation is followed by a year of teaching at what is presumably a very expensive (exclusive?) girl’s school which leaves King cold and in search of some deeper meaning in education.  Apparently, at that point she attends a lecture by the famous Marietta Johnson, founder of the Fairhope Organic School and a leading light in educational reform heralded by no less than John Dewey, the leading educational reformer of his day. Fired up by the lecture, she secures a job interview with Johnson and passes muster at which point the voyage to Fairhope to start her teaching career begins.

The hustle and bustle of the beginning of a new school year for a young girl of privilege in what is a foreign land of sorts is fun to read.

With the advantage of a trust fund bequeathed her by a doting grandfather, King might well have drifted into a pattern of squandering money, pursuing a more vigorous social life. Instead she chooses what might be termed a model life path aimed at educational reform. But, on the basis of one lecture, could this really happen or are other factors at play here? Possible, but it does stretch the reader a bit to accept such an outcome. Having said that, the King arrival in Fairhope goes well and the story picks up steam very quickly and delightedly. Having made a female friend (Avery) of similar background and a male who becomes a romantic interest in short order, she goes into the school and finds it even more fulfilling than she had hoped. Maybe it all happened that smoothly for the young lady on whom Amelia is modeled in part, but I yearned for some more details of how a young teacher might deal with disruptive children, helicopter parents, and other longstanding pitfalls with which educators have to deal.

The character depictions in Fairhope, some fictional and others not, are the highlights of this book together with the details of the activities such as folk dancing and singing that occupied such a central place in the Fairhope school. Having written on Fairhope before (“A Fair Hope of Heaven” and “Meet Me at the Butterfly Tree”), Timbes hits her stride in the telling of these tales.  Verbal portraits of some of the Fairhope founders offset some of the photos taken of the people from this period who are, due to camera limitations, shown in celluloid collars and overly extravagant millinery despite the obvious heat. Faces appear to be stern and unyielding giving little clue as to the underlying gaiety and spontaneity that Timbes brings out using interviews to give a true face to some of the more familiar founders.

There is a good deal of coverage of Marietta Johnson’s (often referred to as “Mettie”) educational philosophies and the esteem in which she was held in the Fairhope community. Perhaps a bit less of the quoted philosophy might have been an improvement, but this is a matter of personal preference. I did wonder, given that education in the public sector in Alabama in that period was not considered at all progressive, what the reaction might have been to Johnson and her organic methods which did not give grades, did not rank students, etc. Was it just live and let live or did Johnson have to do battle with the education establishment?  It would also appear that Johnson was not trying to prepare students for higher education, which must have been beyond the financial reach of most of her students but there were some students who must have made the move to the college level and some insights as to how they fared would have been interesting. Johnson did not die until well into the ‘30’s when the Depression was raging; I wonder if there were any tales as to how the organic graduates made out in comparison to others in these times and if Johnson commented at all on this period.

But, let me sum up the book thusly: it is a very good read, well-written, nicely laid out and gives just enough coverage to the somewhat raffish character of the colony in those early days to underline the point that, in a very unprogressive state, a flower grew and flourished. I am admittedly a rather odd reviewer of a book that deals in part with the evolution of a young lady’s sense of herself, but I do find great enjoyment in reading of a young lady who made a good life choice and succeeded as I appreciate that the model for Amelia is one who made such a journey. Thanks for a good book, Ms. Timbes.   

Fairhope resident Ralph E. Thayer is professor emeritus of Urban Planning and Public Administration at the University of New Orleans.