‘If You Seek Kip’s Monument, Look Around': Tuscaloosa Remembers Kip Tyner
Two pieces of Alberta will carry Kip Tyner's name.
Mayor Walt Maddox announced at a memorial service for the late city council president Monday evening that the council will move in the coming weeks to rename 26th Avenue East, next to the Alberta School of Performing Arts, as Kip Tyner Parkway. Alberta Plaza, where hundreds gathered for the service, will become Kip Tyner Plaza.
"Kip's story is a story worth telling," Maddox said.
Tyner died Sept. 18 after representing District 5 for nearly 29 years. He was council president at the time of his death.
The service filled the plaza Tyner helped build, and the city closed University Boulevard during rush hour to hold it. That detail was not lost on Maddox.
"I know that right now he is smiling down from heaven," he said. "I know it because we just closed University Boulevard for Kip Tyner during rush hour. If there is Facebook in heaven, Kip just posted it."
Speaker after speaker returned to April 27, 2011, the day an EF-4 tornado destroyed much of Tyner's district.
Ellen Potts of Habitat for Humanity of Tuscaloosa said the storm damaged Tyner's home, destroyed his mother's business and killed nine of his friends.
"I have always thought that the words of Mordecai to Queen Esther in the book that bears her name were particularly appropriate for our city officials at the time, and no more so than with Kip," Potts said. "Who knows that you were brought to your position of authority for such a time as this."
"For such a time as this, Kip became a tireless advocate for the Alberta community, and especially for those who had lost loved ones, property, and possessions, because he truly was one of them."
Potts said Tyner's advocacy helped Habitat build 54 homes in Alberta over 15 years, most for storm survivors. The organization has since completed 126 homes in the area and repaired 756 more.
She ran through what Alberta has now: a new bridge, a streetscape, homes, businesses, high-speed internet, infrastructure, a police precinct, a fire station, a school, the Gateway, the fountain.
"I want all of you to close your eyes for a minute. Picture the devastation of April 27th, 2011. And now open your eyes to the new Alberta," Potts said.
She closed with the inscription at the tomb of Sir Christopher Wren, the architect of St. Paul's Cathedral: "If you seek his monument, look around."
"Oh, my beloved fellow Tuscaloosans, if you seek Kip's monument, look around you. He was loaned to us for such a time as this."
Raevan Howard said Tyner's response to the storm showed what he was made of.
"From day one in 2011, he automatically showed us that leadership is resilient and it's persistent," Howard said. "And if you are willing to overcome all of your challenges, you can accomplish greatness."
Howard said Tyner never let a Tuesday pass without something on a committee agenda.
"Whether it was finance, projects, or properties, Councilmember Tyner always had something going on for his district," she said. "He was determined to revitalize District 5, and up until his last days, he was fighting for projects that would make his community better for all of Tuscaloosa."
Michelle Coley, who co-hosted Great Day Tuscaloosa with Tyner for three decades, said he called her Michelle Miller until the end, the name she used on the radio at 92.9 WTUG before she married 32 years ago.
Coley said Tyner appointed her to the Framework Steering Committee, the Zoning Board of Adjustments and the Personnel Board.
"He saw a place for me before I fully saw it for myself," she said. "That is what I heard again and again as people came on Great Day Tuscaloosa to share their memories of him. People called Kip a mentor."
She said a woman came into her insurance office that morning asking whether the service had happened yet, not knowing Coley would be speaking.
"She told me, 'I live in Moundville. I would see him at Mr. G's and around town and we would laugh, talk, and cut up.' How many of you laughed, talked, and cut up with Kip?" Coley asked, with nearly all in attendance raising their hands. "To her, Kip wasn't simply someone she recognized. He was someone she felt she knew."
"Kip wasn't perfect, none of us are. But every day he tried to do some good. He tried to help somebody. He showed up for his friends. He gave his time to his community. That's a servant's heart, and that's what he'll be remembered for."
Whitney Neal of the Where the News Matter Facebook group built her remarks around the letters in Tyner's name: kindness, intelligent, proud, trustworthy, young at heart, neighborly, endearing, remarkable.
"Kip was always down for a good laugh," Neal said. "And surprisingly to me, he did tell good jokes, even if they were about his cats, I still laughed."
Maddox opened his remarks with a line from the closing song of the musical Hamilton: "When you're gone, who remembers your name? When you're gone, who keeps your flame?"
"Kip's eternal flame was Alberta," he said. "He was born here, lived right over there, built a life, built a career, from Durrett Grove to Windsor Drive to Colonial Hills. Along the way, as both a celebrity and a leader, Kip emerged beyond Alberta, taking an even bigger stage serving as our council president. However, he never forgot his roots. He never forgot where he came from. And most importantly, he never forgot the people that he served."
Maddox said the two spoke most Friday evenings on his drive home, a 15 or 20 minute call that started as city business and turned lately toward life and faith.
He said Tyner was proudest of rebuilding Alberta and keeping Alberta Elementary in the neighborhood, and of the plaza itself, down to the palm trees the two of them never agreed on.
"Kip, you won," Maddox said. "You're going to get to keep them now."
"Rest easy, my friend. We will tell your story of extraordinary public service. We will keep the flame of Alberta burning bright, and we will always remember that you made Tuscaloosa a better place."
The service ended with "Take Me Home, Country Roads," the song Tyner sang at the end of his mother's funeral, leaving few dry eyes in the crowd of hundreds of current and former elected and appointed officials, community leaders and friends of the council president.
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