Her career is over, but love for music persists

PHIL CAMPBELL — More than 20 years after meeting her husband, Hudon Franklin at Mountain Valley Hee Haw, Katie Franklin still takes part in the music and dancing there.

Franklin sings and plays keyboard, while Hudon plays lead guitar. The couple will celebrate 21 years of marriage in October 2025.

Franklin later moved to Phil Campbell after they married.

Franklin began learning to play keyboard before the April 27, 2011, tornado. She previously played guitar, and both her guitar and Hudon’s were destroyed when the tornado hit their home.

Both Franklin and her husband sing. She said they primarily perform older country music, including songs associated with Merle Haggard and George Jones. Among the songs Franklin enjoys singing are Vern Gosdin’s “Baby, That’s Cold” and “I Can’t Stop Loving You.”

She also enjoys line dancingatMountainValley Hee Haw while Hudon plays guitar. Franklin said she enjoys the music and spending time with the people who gather there.

“We all joke and cut up and have fun,” she said.

Her career

Franklin retired from the U.S. Postal Service in November 2013 after a career that began Dec. 17, 1977.

She got into the profession through Marilyn Weaver, who needed a substitute carrier in Sheffield. Franklin started on an auxiliary route and later transferred to Tuscumbia. After taking the rural carrier exam, she became a regular rural carrier in 1990.

Franklin said many people underestimate the demands of delivering mail.

“Delivery of mail is not easy,” she said. “It is mentally, it is physically and it is also dangerous.”

By the time she retired, Franklin’s route covered about 70 to 72 miles each day, not including the drive between her home and the post office.

Her day began by sorting and organizing letters, magazines, and other mail for delivery. She also had to keep track of packages, certified mail, and other items requiring special handling.

The physical demand could be substantial. Franklin recalled once picking up a package from a customer’s porch that was so heavy she needed help getting it out of her vehicle when she returned to the post office.

Driving the route presented its own challenges. Rural carriers used their own vehicles, Franklin said, and she learned to drive from the passenger side so she could reach mailboxes without leaving the vehicle.

Early in her career, she tried delivering mail from an AMC Gremlin with manual transmission and bucket seats. At each mailbox, she had to stop, take the vehicle out of gear, deliver the mail, move over to operate the clutch, and then repeat the process at the next mailbox.

She soon found a more practical vehicle for the job.

Ice and snow were among the most difficult conditions she encountered. Franklin recalled delivering during winter weather when road graders pushed piles of ice and snow in front of mailboxes, sometimes making them impossible to reach from her vehicle.

Franklin spent about 21 years on the same route and came to know many of the people she served. Customers sometimes came to their mailboxes to talk with her. She occasionally stopped at yard sales during her break, and even shared meals with some of the families along the route.

Knowing her customers also helped Franklin recognize when mail had been sent to the correct address but was intended for someone who no longer lived there.

On one occasion, Franklin arrived at a house on Rodeo Drive and found two people stranded on the roof of a two-story home after their ladder had fallen. When they saw her, they called for help. Franklin put the ladder back in place so they could climb down.

Franklin also trained substitute carriers. Before GPS, she kept a notebook containing streets, turns, addresses, landmarks and other details that helped her navigate unfamiliar routes.

When learning a route, she would first ride it with the regular carrier, then drive it again on her own while the directions were fresh in her mind.

Franklin described rural mail delivery as a job with considerable responsibility. Looking back on her career, she said she was proud of the work she did and of getting to know her customers.

The tornado

Franklin was still working for the Postal Service when the April 27, 2011, tornado destroyed the mobile home she and Hudon shared on McKeag Road.

Severe weather had already moved through the area early that morning, and the couple sought shelter before returning home.

Hudon later went to work, but Franklin continued watching the weather and decided not to deliver mail that day.

Later that morning, she stepped outside and became concerned about the appearance of the sky. She left the mobile home and went to a storm shelter at the home of her sister, Eva Mansell.

Afterthetornadopassed, Franklin began hearing reports about the destruction in Phil Campbell.

Hudon met her at Mansell’s home after leaving work, and the couple headed toward their property. Fallen trees blocked the road, forcing Hudon to leave the vehicle and walk the rest of the way.

Their home was destroyed. Franklin said the tornado twisted the large steel beams beneath the mobile home until they resembled a roller coaster.

Furniture and many other possessions were destroyed, and pieces of her blue and gold carnival glass collection were scattered across the ground.

Members of the couple’s congregation helped them search through the debris during the following days. Some smaller possessions, including rings, were recovered.

“We lost just about everything we had, but we didn’t have to bury anybody,” Franklin said.

The couple temporarily stayed in a furnished house owned by Mike Jones before eventually moving into their present home across from Phil Campbell School.

Her memories

Franklin grew up in the Mountain Star community, the daughter of Clarence and Helen Isbell Mitchell. Her father worked at a sawmill while her mother stayed home.

She remembers spending Sundays visiting cousins for family dinners and playing outside, including in barns and hay.

Franklin especially enjoyed being around animals and loved horses. She remembers a pony named Trigger that belonged to Buddy Bradford. After Trigger got loose and came to the family’s home, Bradford saw how much Franklin cared for him and allowed the pony to stay with the family for a while.

Franklin later lived in Russellville and Tuscumbia before moving to Phil Campbell after marrying Hudon. Hudon enjoys gardening, and Franklin cans and preserves some of what he grows. This year, she said she had canned 31 quarts and three pints of green beans. The garden has also produced tomatoes, corn, cabbage, okra, and squash. Franklin has one son, Kevin, and a 7-year-old granddaughter, Caitlin, who attends Phil Campbell School and spends much of the school year with her.

After spending nearly 36 years driving for work, Franklin said she has little interest in traveling extensively in retirement. She and Hudon go out to eat, spend time at home and practice songs together.

On Saturday nights, they return to Mountain Valley Hee Haw, where they met more than 20 years ago and where music remains part of the life they have built together.