Hidden treasures can be found at Peterman's monthly 'big sale'

The Peterman Historical Society customarily holds its “big sale” on the first Saturday of each month, but because of the Fourth of July holidays, they held it last Saturday instead. For those of you unfamiliar with the “big sale,” it’s basically a giant yard sale with items on display in six buildings throughout downtown Peterman. My wife and I hadn’t been to the sale in several months, so we ventured to Peterman on Saturday morning to see what was new.

Anytime I go to something like this, I find myself drawn to the old books. I’m always on the look out for anything rare and unusual, especially anything connected to local history or local authors. As chance would have it, I found one such book Saturday in Peterman.

While going through the books in one of Peterman’s old store buildings, I found a copy of Riley Kelly’s 1969 book, “In Search of Light.” Published by Exposition Press of Jericho, New York, this slim, 48-page hardback book contains 35 of Kelly’s award-winning poems. The original 1969 purchase price of the book was $3, but I only paid 50 cents for it on Saturday.

Those of you who remember Riley Kelly will remember that he was born and raised in Excel. During World War II, he served three years as an enlisted man in the Navy and took part in the invasion of Okinawa. After the war, he went on to earn an English degree from Emory University in Atlanta.

For 10 years – from 1951 to 1961 – Kelly served as a regional correspondent for The Birmingham News, The Mobile Press-Register and The Montgomery Advertiser-Journal. Many of his feature stories were published in the Sunday supplements of those newspapers, and he also published many stories as a freelance writer in various publications throughout the south.

Riley Nicholas Kelly

Kelly also served a number of years as the editor of The Monroe Journal. His popular column, “From the Horse’s Mouth,” was published each week on the front page of The Journal. During his time as editor, The Journal won the Alabama Press Association’s statewide award for general excellence a number of times, and the paper also received the Herrick Editorial Award from the National Editorial Association.

Kelly was not the editor of The Journal when the popular Centennial editions were published in the 1960s, but he was responsible for much of the content in those two publications. Many of the stories in those editions were previously published in earlier editions of The Journal under Kelly’s byline. My favorite was his story about the wreck of the steamboat Henderson at Claiborne, which supposedly sank in the early 1800s with a cargo hold full of “barrels of fine whiskey, brandy and wines.”

“In Search of Light” was Kelly’s first book, but he went on to publish three others. His poetry book, “Patterns,” was published in 1970. His last two books, “The Human Way” and “Prize Cache,” were both published in 1974.

In the end, Riley Kelly passed away in December 2014 at the age of 88. He was buried in the Baas Memorial Cemetery, just outside of Frisco City. His home, The Kelly House, now serves as an event venue in downtown Excel.