A Story Still Being Written

Joe and Shelley Graham provide a tour of their 6th Avenue home and a few details about its history.

Words by Terrell Manasco | Images by Blakeney Clouse and courtesy Shelley Graham

On an overcast April afternoon, Joe and Shelley Graham relax in the living room with their six-year-old Goldendoodle, Grits (“Goldendoodle Raised in the South”). The couple recalls the story of how a banker and a schoolteacher from Montgomery found themselves in the small town of Jasper, and how, through the years, they’ve built memories and preserved the legacy of their cozy home located on 6th Avenue in Jasper. 

After graduating from Auburn University, Joe worked in the banking business in Birmingham. Shelley, also an Auburn grad, taught school in Montgomery for ten years before teaching French at John Carroll High School. The Grahams then moved to Jasper in 1986. While settling in their new home, Joe began working with First National Bank (now Synovus Bank) while Shelley taught French at Parrish and Oakman High Schools. 

The house provides a rich history as well. According to the original deed, the structure was built around 1900 and first owned by James O’Rear. In 1902, it was purchased by Judge James Ray. “Judge Ray and his wife were both well-known ‘characters’ in town,” Shelley says with a faint grin. “I also heard he had the dining room set up like a lending library and people would come here and check books out.”

The house has undergone various renovations over the years. Originally, it was a shotgun house with a central hall. Shelley says an earnest search for old photos of the home has turned up void. 

But this historic home, like others, has many stories to tell. A woman named Mrs. Tutwiler, who was the grandmother of the previous owners, the Pribbenows, gave Latin lessons in the room that is now Joe’s study. Another story involves an incident that occurred when young Bert Pribbenow invited his friend Sam Walker Murphy to stay over one night.  

“Sam Walker Murphy and Bert Pribbenow were in that back bedroom,” Joe begins. “Bert was showing Sam his .22 rifle and pulled the trigger, not realizing it was loaded, and it went off—went right through the door jamb. You can still see the dent today.” 

After the home suffered major damage from a tornado in 2011, the Grahams added a garage and modified the courtyard area and kitchen. The house currently boasts 3,100 square feet of space (with an additional 800-square-foot attic), ample room for family gatherings. 

On display throughout the home are various examples of the Grahams’ individual interests. Shelley’s passion is collecting French and English antiques and artwork. “I started as a child going with my grandmother and antiquing in Montgomery, Selma, and Wetumpka,” she says. 

Taking a Vaseline glass sewing box from a nearby table, she explains her grandmother acquired it by making curtains for the lady who owned it. “My grandmother was a ‘wheeler and dealer’ of antiques,” she says. 

In the adjacent dining room, Shelley points out several more antique treasures, including a sterling silver tea service inherited from her grandmother. Her favorite item—a gold leaf mirror on wood and gesso—hangs on the opposite wall. 

Inside the study, not far from where the .22 round from Bert Pribbenow’s rifle punched a hole in the door jamb, Joe added a set of floor-to-ceiling bookshelves. Nestled among the dozens of books on World War II are at least four autobiographies on Winston Churchill and a painting of the former prime minister by the Grahams’ daughter, Susan Matthews. “He was my favorite guy,” Joe says. 

On one shelf is a small, red World War I biplane model emblazoned with the Texaco logo, a gift from Steve Hager. On a shelf below, a troop of Boy Scouts peers out from a framed faded black-and-white photo. The young lad on the back row, third from the right, is Joe. 

The house has many more stories to tell that surely would entertain, educate, or intrigue the listener. Even now, new stories are being written, tales to be told to future listeners about a banker who revered Winston Churchill, a schoolteacher who collected antiques, and the home they built—and rebuilt—together. 78