Mary Nell Atherton, was born in Prattville, Al June 24, 1925 to Luther and Maude Atherton.

She graduated from Dale county High School, in Ozark, AL. in 1944 and went on to College at Huntingdon in Montgomery where she graduated in 1948.

Shortly afterward she and her widowed mom bought a home in Tallassee, AL and she worked with the state of Alabama welfare systems about one year, during which time she was seeking a teaching job.

She heard of an opening for a 3 rd and 4 th grade teacher in Red Hill, applied and got the job. She taught in Red Hill in the fall of 1949 and spring of 1950.

She recalls having eleven students in the third grade and seven in the fourth.

From Red Hill she was hired to teach 3rd grade in the East Tallassee Elementary School.

Ms. Atherton never married and went on to teach for 40 years.

She died on May 30, 2018, just before he 93rd birthday, in Tallassee, Alabama, and was brought back to her place of birth to be buried in West View Cemetery in Ozark, Alabama.

She had fond memories of her tenure at Red Hill School and could name at least four of her students.