WaLLi members enjoy visit with meteorologist James Spann

HANCEVILLE, Ala. — Members of WaLLi (Wallace State Lifelong Learning Institute) were treated to a visit with ABC 33/40 Meteorologist James Spann this week as part of its October potluck Lunch and Learn program.

Rather than discuss the weather, Spann spoke to the audience about his life and discovering the reason we’re here – to help others. Born in Greeneville in rural south Alabama and growing up in the 1960s, he said times were strange.

He was in the first grade during the time of the Cuban Missile Crisis and a little bit older during the Vietnam era. “Between the Cuban Missile Crisis and that , we never thought we’d live to be 20 years old. So, this is bonus for me.”id="attachment_18233" align="alignright" width="300" A cake was made for ABC 33/40 meteorologist James Spann commemorating his visit to the Wallace State campus to meet with members of the Wallace State Lifelong Learning Institute (WaLLi).He encouraged everyone to offer small, simple gestures of support and encouragement that will benefit not only the recipient but the giver as well.

“I just mainly came to encourage somebody,” he said. “That’s what I like to do - to use words that build others up instead of tearing them down.”

He experienced the power of encouraging words in the fifth grade after he and his mother moved to Tuscaloosa. “We moved into an apartment about the size of a bathroom,” he said. “We didn’t know anybody; we had no money, and we had no hope.”

Spann said his principal at Verner Elementary School changed his life with encouraging words. “That man would seek me out; he knew my back story and he would say things like, ‘Hey, you look good today.’ And I knew I didn’t, but I started to believe this guy. He would say things like, ‘I believe in you’ and I started to believe that guy believed in me.

“The tongue has the power of life and death,” Spann added. “And that’s not a quote from me; that’s from a higher source. But that man used his tongue to say simple, encouraging words to this fifth-grade kid that was dying inside and it changed my life. I will always be thankful for Archie Hitson.”

Weather-wise, Spann did remind the audience that tornado season starts next month (November-May) in Alabama and discussed how important it is to prepare for severe weather by using weather radios and wearing helmets to protect yourself during a storm.

“I thought he was just such a blessing,” said WaLLi member Linda Pearson. “Helping others and how important it is to encourage others, we really fall down on that, especially with our young people. So many young people are starving for the love of others.”

“I loved it,” said WaLLi member Mary Coward. “He’s so kindhearted and so very nice.”

The group gave Spann a WaLLi shirt and a cake depicting Spann in front of a weather map showing radar images from the April 27, 2011, tornado outbreak, one of which struck the Wallace State campus.

The WaLLi program is open to area residents 50 and older, with membership fees of $40 for each fall and spring semester and $30 for the summer semester. An annual fee of $99 is offered at the beginning of the fall semester. For more information, visit www.wallacestate.edu/walli, call 256.352.7803 or email walli@wallacestate.edu.