John Brock is the pastor of the First Presbyterian church of Fort Payne. He also serves as the AP US History teacher at Asbury High School.
He and his wife, Ruth, have four children: Cody, 18 years; Jack, 12 years; Teddy, 9 years; and Wesley, 7 months.
David Gilbreath attended Fort Payne City School as a child. He was active with the Boy Scouts of America in Pack 64 and Troop 63 and earned the Eagle Scout Rank. He graduated from Fort Payne High School in 1965 and from Auburn University in 1969.
David served a total of 50 years with the Boy Scouts of America on the local, district and council levels and is currently Scoutmaster of Troop 106 in Mentone, a position he has held since 1993. He is a member of the First Baptist Church in Fort Payne and is married to his high school sweetheart, Dianne Pertree Gilbreath. They have two sons and two grand daughters.
He retired from V.I. Prewett & Son / Gildan and now enjoys spending time with family, hiking, camping and antique automobiles.
Randy Owen’s passion for helping others is evident through the types of causes he has chosen to support. Randy has helped raise millions of dollars for schools, public service organizations, hospitals, youth ranches and scholarships in his home state of Alabama. He is very proud to call Fort Payne, Alabama home. Randy was born and raised on Lookout Mountain, and he is looking forward to working to preserve the rich history of Dekalb County, Alabama...the place where he was born, raised, and still lives today.
Randy Owen is the front man and lead vocalist of ALABAMA, one of the most prolific groups in the history of music. The band signed a recording contract with RCA Records in 1980, launching a career that to date has resulted in 21 gold, platinum and multi—platinum albums, 43 number one singles and, again, over 73 million albums sold. In November 2005, Randy and his Alabama band mates received Country Music’s highest honor, being inducted into The Country Music Hall of Fame. When not on the road playing music, Randy can usually be found on his cattle ranch where he raises award—winning, registered Angus and Hereford cattle. The ranch is aptly named “Tennessee River Music,” and much of the ranch property sits on the grounds of his Lookout Mountain boyhood family farm. Randy and his family host a registered Angus sale each November as well as a registered Hereford sale every May.
Larry Sanders was born June 21, 1950 in Fort Payne, Alabama. At the age of five his family moved to Rainsville where he attended grade school and three years of high school at Plainview. Relocating back to Fort Payne in 1961, Larry entered the educational system and graduated in 1968. He completed his education at Alabama Tech College, graduating in 1971, majoring in architectural and mechanical drafting.
It should be noted that Larry learned the value of hard work as a youngster and was one of the last paper boys in Fort Payne, delivering The Gadsden Times and The Birmingham News while he attended school. In 1964 he was chosen outstanding newspaper boy in Fort Payne, winning an all expenses paid trip to Washington D.C. As one of the forty boys from all over the State to receive this honor, Larry traveled via the Seaboard Railroad for the memorable trip, which included visiting all of the monuments and historical displays of our nation’s capital.
Larry has been very active in civic organizations in DeKalb County, serving as vice president of the Fort Payne Jaycees in 1987 and president in 1988. Elected to the Fort Payne City Council in 1988, he served on that body for four years. As an active member of First United Methodist Church in Fort Payne, he has served his church on varied committees.
While working in the steel business for 35 years, over a four year period he traveled to every state in the union as engineering department manager for Gametime, supervising the erection of playground equipment manufactured by that company for daycare centers and military bases in major cities.
His talents have been used by the City to perfect and draw plans for an outdoor pavilion, and improvements in the Opera Block, concentrating on the “boom day” Coal and Iron Building, being restored as a cultural center for Fort Payne.
Since 1999 Larry and his wife Barbara have made their home in Mentone. There he has served as a city councilman for three terms.