CULLMAN — When Eugene Scruggs was a little boy, living on a farm outside Cullman, he dreamed of wider vistas, far pavilions, and new horizons.

His curiosity about the world outside what he had always known, the fields surrounding the farm, rural neighbors, the little country store, and the burgeoning 1940-50s agricultural community of Cullman took him on a journey far from the view of Brindley Mountain, where he began his journey.

He knew that he wanted to discover what lay beyond these familiar horizons, and pondered long hours on how to accomplish this feat, until he finally found his answer, an education.

Scruggs was a 1956 graduate of Cullman High School, who received a full scholarship to Transylvania University, in Lexington, Kentucky. “Transy”, as we affectionately called it, is the oldest university west of the Allegany’s,” said Scruggs.

As so often happens in life, a seemingly insignificant choice made on his first day there became a pivotal point for everything that was to follow.

“Looking for a Spanish class, I discovered that they were all filled, and after wandering around the room, finally came back to take one of the last slots opened for anything – French - in which I had no interest in at all,” he laughed. It eventually became his life’s work.

While there, he met his wife, LaDonna, a native of Cincinnati, Ohio.

Scruggs graduated from Transylvania in 1959, going on to teach high school French, and English, and was a tennis coach for a while.

“Later on, I went back to college, where I obtained my masters in French and Linguistics, which is the science of language,” he explained.

“Took my first teaching job at Appalachian State University, in Boone, North Carolina.”

In the early 60s, the United States Government created the National Defense Education Act, and Scruggs was awarded a fellowship to University of Kentucky, in Lexington, Kentucky.

After receiving his doctorate, he taught five years at Eastern Kentucky, in Richmond, Kentucky.

Then in 1972, he was offered the position of Professor of Foreign Languages at the University of South Florida, in Tampa.

He and LaDonna packed up and headed south. “She cried the whole trip,” he laughed. “She loves it now, though.”   

The Scruggs acclimated well to the Deep South, and began their lives of academia, fitting in well with their new surroundings; LaDonna later became the pastor of the Presbyterian Retirement Community in Lakeland, where they live now.

They have two daughters, Melana and Sabrina, who have blessed them with four grandchildren, and he went on to become the Director of Overseas Studies and Exchanges.

In this capacity, Scruggs took literally hundreds of students to France, where they studied the history, culture, art, and language of the place he now calls his second home. “I even traced some of my Creel relatives from this area, to France, and found cousins there with whom I have remained in close contact over the years.”

On May 22, 2002, Eugene Scruggs was appointed to the rank of Chevalier in the Ministerial Ordre des Palmes Academiques, which translates as Order of Academic Merit, by a decree of the Prime Minister of France, Lionel Jospin. The Order of Academic Merit was created by Napoleon in 1808.

In 2004, he was named President Emeritus of the Florida Consortium for International Education.

Scruggs also had the privilege of teaching at both the University of Paris, and at prestigious Cambridge University in England.

After retiring, Scruggs, who has always been a prodigious reader, picked up a copy of John Grisham’s, “A Painted House.”

“The story reminded me of the clapboard house where I grew up,” he recalled. “And when I finished it, it occurred to me that I could write a book. I have a story to tell that is equal to this one.” And so he did.

One of the books that Scruggs has written, The View From Brindley Mountain, tells of his youth, spent in the hills and valleys around Cullman, scenes which will be familiar to folks around here. 

“I wrote of things that most people will remember of that time, my memories of my father taking a wagon to town and hiring people to work the farm, paying them three cents a pound for picking cotton.”

“I recalled a time when West Town, here in Cullman, was wet, and the other half of town was dry,” he laughed. “I was pleasantly surprised when my 92-year-old aunt, Evelyn Rains who is normally very reticent, recently called me and said that she was thrilled by the book, and couldn’t put it down.”

Scruggs has also written another book, the saga of one of his ancestors who fought in the Civil War, called Tramping with the Legion: A Carolina Rebel’s Story, which follows the life of a rebel soldier through the turbulent War Between the States.

Scruggs gives lectures on French History, New Testament History, and Non-Canonical Gospels, which were written in the first and second century.

When asked about his life as a writer, he smiles and thinks about that for a second. “Well, I’m not a particularly disciplined person, so I don’t get up before dawn and write reams before daylight,” he laughed, heartily. “I have to have a couple of cups of coffee first, then I write for two or three hours a day.

“I seem to have an analogy for just about everything,” he smiled. “I just let the creative juices start to flow, my mind never really shuts off.”

Scruggs now lives with his wife in Lakeland, Florida, and is visiting Cullman this week. Thursday he signed copies of his book for fans and spoke to them about his newest book, The View from Brindley Mountain, which has already sold out three times at Deb’s Bookstore, where the signing was held.

“I started painting when I was five-years-old. When I was about 14, I spent the Christmas season painting winter scenes for the store windows here in town.”

Several of his paintings adorn the walls of the home of Norman and Judy Crider, of Hanceville. Judy is Scruggs cousin. “I wanted a painting showing a bit of France,” she said, pointing out the street scene he depicted, hanging in her kitchen. “This is one of my favorites.”

Not only is Scruggs an accomplished author and artist, he also writes poetry. “I think I probably enjoy writing poetry better than prose,” he commented.

The book also includes chapters with headings that are household names to many people here in Cullman, like the ones titled, “Big Jim Folsom,”   “Rotten Potato Johnson,” “Gum Pond and Fairview Clans,” and “Herman’s Store”.

“I’ve had in my mind for years that there was a book about this place, actually it was already written in my head,” he said. “And it turned out to be a memoir of a place and time here in Cullman, some of it humorous and some of it historical, that many people will relate to.”

 “I was inspired by the Grisham book, and also by Alabama author, Rick Bragg, who’s writing I greatly admire,” he said enthusiastically.

When asked if he still thinks of Cullman as home, he laughed.

“The world is my home.” And so it is.

Copies of the book, The View from Brindley Mountain, can be found locally at Deb’s Bookstore.

The Cullman County Public Library has copies of both books, and they can also be found online at Amazon.com