FRANKLIN LIVING JULY-AUGUST 2024

In his 80 trips around the sun, Rocky Stone, originally of Selma, has accumulated a varied assortment of interests, friends and memories, maintaining a strong curiosity and zest for life along the way. A longtime Russellville resident, the retired Russellville City Schools teacher and principal has a long history of local involvement; from connections with the Boy Scouts, to forays into astronomy and computers, hiking and camping, his interests have been varied and many.

The night before his 80th birthday, Rocky and his wife, Ginger Stone, were among those to witness the Northern Lights from the comfort of home. The next day, May 11, they and more than 200 friends celebrated Rocky’s four decades of life with a party at Elliott Branch campground on Little Bear Reservoir, part of the Bear Creek Lakes, in Hodges.

Three on a String, a band including his fraternity brother Andy Meginniss, played at the party, even writing a song for the occasion. “He’s a dear, dear friend,” Meginniss said. “He is a brother of mine, and I’ll always consider him that.”

The cake commemorated “Rocky Stone’s 80th Trip Around the Sun.” The bottom layer represented his garden, and the second layer was decorated like the Boundary Waters Canoe Area along the Canadian border – both big parts of his life. The top layer portrayed the night sky, a nod to Stone’s involvement with astronomy and the Shoals Astronomy Club. The pinnacle of the cake was the sun, in tribute to his love of experiencing solar eclipses.

Over the years, Stone has spent a lot of time camping, canoeing, pursuing astronomy and going on long hikes, both with friends and as a Scout leader for the Boy Scouts. Stone is a graduate of what was then called Alabama College, now known as the University of Montevallo. While a graduate assistant there, he spent a couple of summers teaching canoeing.

“It’s always just had an allure for me,” Stone explained of his love for outdoor adventures. “Just getting out and getting away from the hustle and bustle of things, back to a simpler way of doing things and appreciating the things that have been around for a long time … We need to preserve these types of things to make sure people can enjoy them in the future.”

The Boundary Waters Canoe Area, the wilderness land between the northernmost part of the United States and the southern part of Canada, has long been a favorite spot. Stone said he has explored as much as 150 miles into those areas.
“He was my Scoutmaster when I was a teenager,” recalled Joe Rushing, “and he was the leader of my youth group at Russellville United Methodist Church. He’s somebody all the youth looked up to because he led by example.” Rushing said one memory that especially stands out for him is when Stone took him, along with the rest of a group of Boy Scouts, for a 50-mile hike through the swamplands of Florida. “He was a great leader,” Rushing added. “He was also my principal when I was a student at West Elementary, and my mom worked as his secretary for many years.

“He’s always kind to others, a hard worker and somebody you can really depend on. He’s always been somebody that I’ve looked up to and somebody you can always depend on no matter the situation. He is still very active in the church and a verry good leader in the church and in the community. I can’t say enough positive things about him and the kind of effect he had on me growing up, having a strong role model like that in our community.”

Grant Atkins also went through the Boy Scout program in the ’70s and got to know Stone in his capacity as a Scoutmaster. “Usually about once a month, he’d carry us camping,” Atkins explained. “Spring, summer and fall, we’d go canoeing. He helped me earn my Eagle Scout. He was my math teacher at Russellville’s junior high.” Atkins described Stone as “a lifetime friend,” adding he’d say Stone “helped raise a whole lot of youth here in Russellville.”

TEACHING

Stone started teaching in Russellville in 1967 at the old junior high school. He was there seven or eight years, serving as assistant principal as well as teaching math.

“He was my seventh-grade math teacher,” said retired RCS music teacher Patti Kimbrough. “He just inspired all of us. I don’t know if he ever knew how much we appreciated him … I was weak in math, and he even inspired me so much that I wrote a song about him called the “Stony Rock Boogie” – when I improved to where I made a 100 on a test, that’s when I wrote the song.”

Kimbrough said later, after she was married, she and her husband went with Stone on a two-week trip to Canada. “We camped out in the wilderness, and he taught us about survival. Brad and Rebecca Reeves and another couple were there, too,” she added. “He was my principal and coworker when I was hired as an elementary music teacher, and I worked in that capacity with him until he retired. We’ve been lifetime friends. Our class loved him dearly, and he’s done a lot for so many young people.”

“He was very approachable,” added Rebecca Reeves, retired West Elementary School teacher, in talking about Stone’s approach as a principal. Reeves noted Stone’s love for nature and wildlife, including wildflowers and science in general, describing him as “a friend to all he meets,” adding it’s been “an honor” to call him a friend.

“He’s open to learning all the time,” she added, “and he’s just an interesting person to be around. My husband, Brad Reeves, has known him for more than 55 years and said he’s seen him ‘wear many hats’ during this time, including as a Scout leader, youth church leader and as a devoted family man and principal.”

Retired West Elementary teacher Dianne Pace shared her appreciation for Stone’s love of science and nature. “I was fortunate to work with him to obtain outside grant funding to assist in building an outdoor nature trail and pond adjacent to West Elementary’s playground,” Pace said. “He has a wonderful sense of humor and loves working with young children … He’s very supportive and appreciative of the teachers that worked under him, giving them credit for the expertise they had in their respective fields.”

REACHING FOR THE STARS

Stone taught more than 20 years at Russellville High School in the areas of math and science, including astronomy, stopping in 2020 as COVID modifications to teaching started coming into the picture.

While principal at West Elementary, he set up a special telescope outside so the students could go out and take turns viewing an eclipse safely. “I’ve seen the last two solar eclipses,” he added, “the one in 2017 and the one earlier this year.”

“Solar eclipses are rare,” he added, “but if you are in the path of totality – where it completely covers the surface of the sun – it’s a really special thing, almost spiritual. The sunlight just kind of fades quickly, to almost twilight. Things start chirping, and birds go to roost. The temperature drops about 20 degrees. You’ve got four or five minutes of that.”

He also cited a love for the images sent back by the Webb space telescope. “We get phenomenal pictures back of stuff that’s way off, and it boggles the mind.”

He is active with the Shoals Astronomy Club.

“I credit him with getting me interested in space,” said RHS teacher Gabe Willis. “At West Elementary, he was the principal when I was there, and I remember him setting up a special telescope so we could all go out and see the eclipse. That had a big impact on me, and it’s something I’ll never forget. I’ve been fascinated with eclipses and other astronomical events ever since.”

Willis said Stone has also inspired him as a teacher. “He has so much wisdom,” Willis said. “He knows so much, including about geology and other related areas. He just has a wealth of knowledge, and I have a tremendous amount of respect for his opinion. He’s always been incredibly supportive of me in general, and he’s one of the biggest supporters of our rocketry program … He’s been over the top helpful with rocketry and just anytime I’ve needed him for anything as a teacher or a friend.”

OTHER PASSIONS

Stone said he used to do “a little woodworking,” but he’s left that behind for other pursuits. Another of his activities is being involved with the Emmaus movement, a religious service group.

He said he and his wife Ginger enjoy gardening together. They grow a lot of vegetables – among them, 72 tomato plants. “We give a lot of vegetables away,” he explained. “We just enjoy gardening.” Other vegetables they grow include onions, beans, squash and cucumbers. “We probably put up about 400 jars of food a year,” added Ginger, who handles the canning. “We have a huge pantry, and we love eating and sharing from it.”

When the couple were dating, they enjoyed watching meteor showers sitting on the hood of a car at 4 a.m. at the Bear Creek Lakes. They dated for five years and have been married for 24. “There’s not anybody else I want to spend my life with other than her,” he said. “We have a wonderful life.”

Together, the Stones have traveled broadly, visiting Alaska, Ireland, Maine and Florida. They are getting ready to go to Costa Rica soon. “Maine is wonderful,” Stone said. “It’s just beautiful up there. He said he doesn’t have a favorite of the places they’ve traveled. “Wherever we go, we like it.”

Stone said he enjoys the many friendships he has made over the years. Among them is Kelley Riley. “My wife (Judy) and I moved in next door to Rocky Stone 50 years ago,” Riley said, “and Rocky quickly became my best friend and has been so ever since. He has been there for us through thick and thin.

“You’ve heard the saying ‘jack of all trades, but master of none,” Riley continued, “but Rocky is indeed a jack of all trades but also a master of many. He is the only person I know who built a working laser, who can paddle a canoe as straight as that laser beam and who can sit around a campfire under a billion stars and quote, from memory, page after page of Robert Service poetry. He can also point out and tell you the names of many of the stars and planets.”

Riley said Stone was there for them through the birth of all three of their daughters and was a second father to them. “The same is true for all six of our grandsons, and they refer to him as Papa Rocky,” Riley added. “Rocky is the most selfless person I know. He’s a kind, loving and caring man, and there could be no better friend.”

ENJOYING LIFE

“It’s just a good place to live,” Stone said of his love for his community. “People here are good, solid people, and it’s just a good place to live. I like the geography of this area, and the people here, by and large, are very kind.”