Gabby Transitional, Eclectic and Antique Style Furniture and Lighting
Issue link: http://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/739626
199 Susan Gabriella Comer was born in Alabama on July 16, 1922, the first daughter of Gillian Goodall and Hugh Moss Comer. Her father was the youngest son of Braxton Bragg Comer who founded Avondale Mills in 1897, and served as Governor of Alabama from 1907-1911. Hugh and Gillian lived in Sylacauga where he worked as Vice President for Avondale Mills. Hugh's father, Governor Comer, founded Avondale Mills with the backing of several Birmingham bankers and other supporters, and moved the headquarters from Birmingham to Sylacauga. As the need for cotton grew, Avondale Mills expanded to other small cities in Birmingham. Mill towns grew up around these mills and Avondale provided housing, schools, doctors and company stores for their employees. Many families benefitted from life in these villages. When Gabriella began her education, her parents let her move to Birmingham to take advantage of the schools there. Her Grandmother, Susan Gabriella Goodall, whom she was named for, welcomed her to her home on Glen Iris Circle. Gabriella remembered these years fondly as she walked to school each morning with a close group of neighbors and friends. Glen Iris Circle and the surrounding neighborhood was filled with young families excited about the promise of Birmingham and the many opportunities that the Magic City offered. As the Great Depression settled in the U.S. Birmingham felt its effects strongly. Gabriella's son Bew White, III, founder of Summer Classics, Gabby's sister company, recalls a story about an impressionable moment in his mother's life. Bew says "Every day during the Great Depression, people would gather in a line at the back of my great grandmother's porch. She would give each person a nickel so they could buy enough food for the day. That kindness made a big impression on my mother- one that she would carry forward in her life." After she graduated from Ramsay High School, Gabriella decided to continue her education in New York City at Katherine Gibbs Secretarial School. This school was famous for insisting on a strict and professional curriculum and dress code. In her book, Katherine Gibbs -Beyond White Gloves, author Rose Dougherty says the school was" known for its graduates who overcame the seemingly impossible hurdle of being female." She finished her studies here and returned to Birmingham and attended Birmingham Southern College. She would later serve her alma mater as a board member. An Image of Avondale Mills