By Kristin Finney
Greene Publishing, Inc.
Karla Hanners has been in Madison for the majority of her life. She came to Madison at the age of three from Perry. According to Hanners, growing up in Madison back then was very different than it is now. There were many more activities for the youth of the city back then.
Hanners attended elementary school at Madison Primary School then went to the Madison Middle School. She then went to Madison High School. Once the new high school opened, Hanners went to Madison County High School for one year also.
For fun, Hanners and her friends spent a lot of time at the walk-in theater. After the walk-in theatre closed, the building became a game room where Hanners spent a lot of time as well. Then the building finally became, and remains today, the Court House Annex. She also remembers when Winn Dixie was in the building that Farmer’s Furniture now resides in. After Winn Dixie moved from that building, it became a skating rink. “I enjoyed going there in my later teens,” said Hanners. After the skating rink closed, Farmers Furniture moved in and has remained there ever since.
Other memories that Hanners has include when Pic-n-Save was located where CVS currently sits. “My younger sister, Sherry, worked at Pic-n-Save as her first job,” she recalled. Hanners remembers when Pantry Pride was the only grocery store in town. She also recalls that before the pawn shop, that burned down a couple of years ago, was a pawn shop, it was an IGA.
“On of my favorite memories from growing up was lunch time in high school. When I was going to the old high school still, we got to leave for lunch. So a group of my friends and I would leave and walk to the Winn Dixie parking lot and one of us would go to the bakery next door and buy all sorts of bakery stuff, and another would go into Winn Dixie and buy a bag of Funyons. That was what we had for lunch every day. I miss that,” said Hanners. “Back then there were a lot of bakeries in Madison. I loved having all of those bakeries here. There was one next to Winn Dixie and one across from the First United Methodist Church.
Hanners stated, “When I was growing up here we had a lot of things for the youth to do. There were a lot of activities in town to keep them busy. Now there is nothing here for the youth to do. People wonder why kids keep getting into trouble, and that is why.”
Karla Hanners is married to Keith Hanners. They have two daughters, Felicia (Marc) McCrary and Chelsea Hanners. They also have two grandchildren, Haeden and Jacen McCrary.
Anyone interested in being interviewed for this article can call 973-4141 and make an appointment with Kristin Finney, or may drop by Greene Publishing, Inc. any day before noon. Those interviewed must have lived in Madison for a large portion of their life, and be able to recall a few things that have changed since that time.
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