Madison County resident recounts memories with Jerry Hayes
MADISON COUNTY, Ala. (WHNT) – Madison County resident Debra McKay says she’s been watching Channel 19 for years. Back in the 80s, she had no idea she would find herself featured in one of our shows.
During this time, McKay received a phone call from another TV station in the area…asking if they could speak with her children.
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“My boys were 18 months and three years old. I said, ‘I’m their mother, who is calling?’ It was a girl from another channel, and she said she’s doing a piece on Bear Bryant and his last days,” McKay said. “She said I wondered if you had received a letter from the athletic department.”
McKay had no idea what she was talking about, so she went outside to check her mailbox.
“I saw a large, white envelope addressed to me stating it was from the University of Alabama Athletic Department,” McKay stated.
A letter and two photos from Bear Bryant were inside that envelope. McKay had written the Bear a letter not too long before this, asking if she could bring her boys down to get a picture taken with him.
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“In his letter, he addressed the fact that he had received the pictures and that he didn’t feel that he could say when that would be but asked if these two photos that he had sent…if I would consider these two photos…which I did,” McKay said. I then got into the house, and not long after I got in…I got a phone call from Jerry Hayes. He identified himself, told me what the call was about, and he asked if he could come by to meet the boys, interview the family…but he also said he wanted to see what we had received.”
30 minutes later, News 19’s Jerry Hayes was inside her house.
“I can’t remember his exact words, but he said ‘This is really something. I hope those boys know that this is really something.’ I asked why and he said, ‘That is the last bit of business the Bear did before he went into the hospital,” McKay said.
Sadly, those letters were destroyed in a tornado. That storm destroyed her home. Mckay tells News 19’s Lynsey Smith that Jerry called and asked for an interview, but she declined.
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“I just remember saying to him, ‘I just don’t want to be this evening’s entertainment.’ He was so gracious, said he understood and that that was not a problem,” McKay stated. “He’s just always held a special place in my heart – he was so gracious, such a southern gentleman.”
To this day, McKay tells News 19 she regrets not welcoming Jerry into her home for a second time, but she’s never forgotten how he made an impact on her family.
“When I sit back and I look at the work, the body of work, that he did to put that together and when I look to see what all he did with the tornado…he has managed to memorialize some real important events that have occurred here in Huntsville as well as, in my case, a lot of events that’s happened in my life,” stated McKay. “It was his words that he used to put all of this together to connect the dots, to tell the story…I mean it takes a special person who can do that and do it well.”
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