This is unbelievable. Met with Alice this afternoon at the
Majestic.
A very nice lady that has lived in the Poncy Highlands area
off and on for 50 years.
She said that the structure had been nothing more than a
curiosity to most folks for the last 40 years.
A lady named Louise Taylor from Alabama had built it in the
spring of 1968 as a memorial to her friend, Mel Mann. Mel was hit by a car
while crossing Ponce de Leon Avenue and died at Grady Hospital.
She didn’t know that much about Louise but said that Mel was
a local poet, civil rights activist, musician and all around mover and shaker
with an infectious energy that attracted both women and men. A varied cast of characters.
I told her I had moved here in 1980 and knew nothing of
either of them. She said she was not
surprised as the whole event had been downplayed over the years. ..now I was
really interested. She told me there were many variations on this story but she
really wanted me to talk to one of Mel’s closest friends, Betty Jean Butler, that
was now living in a home for the elderly here in Atlanta. It would take a little time…but once she
contacted “B. J.” that she would let me
know.
I thanked her for her time.
Walking back to my apartment through the crowds of people here for the Little Five Points Halloween Parade, I called my good friend Richard
Crowe and asked him if he had anything to do tomorrow morning that I needed
help with something around 8 am. He
said, “Fine”.
