HANCEVILLE – One doesn’t have to look very far to find extraordinary people in Cullman County. For example, Hanceville’s Victorian Manor assisted living facility is chocked full of them. Gathered together at mealtimes or working diligently on a craft project, these ladies and gentlemen are full of good times and happy hearts. Mr. Quentin Nigg is just one of those special residents.
Charles Quentin Nigg was born on September 16, 1922 in Cullman County, Ala. He is the son of Charles M. Nigg and Ora Lee Shaver. He joined the Army Air Force on January 31, 1943 where he was trained to fly at Millikan University in Decatur, Ill.
After his flight training, he was sent to Santa Anna, Calif. for pre-flight training and later to Hemet, Calif. to primary flight training. It was during this time Mr. Nigg crashed his plane while flying solo and practicing his landings.
“I crawled out of it,” he said, smiling. “There was an irrigation pipe that grew up in the wrong place, and they didn’t have a flag on it. See the wheel laying here?” he said, pointing to an old snapshot of the plane, “I hung this wheel on the irrigation pipe and it flipped it. I was learning,” he chuckled.
Mr. Nigg was honorably discharged from the military service at Fort McPherson, Ga. on February 16, 1946 with the rank of Buck Sgt.
He received the Army Service Medal and World War II Victory Medal. He returned to Cullman and farmed for a while and later worked for the L&N Railroad.
While working for the railroad, he also worked for Hayes Air Craft, reworking C 119 Military Transport Aircraft.
In 1957, he married Miss Carolina Emily Klein, whose parents owned Cullman’s Klein Ice Cream factory. He finished out his working career as a rural mail carrier for the Hanceville Post Office.
Carolina had an incredible love for history and it was infectious.
Before long Quentin joined her in the quest to research and write down both of their family’s histories. Once that was finished, Carolina went on to publish many other families’ histories as well.
“My wife had the reputation of being the only kid in Cullman that wanted to read the old newspapers down at the Tribune shop,” he explained.
“Mrs. Arnold would always laugh at her because every time she was around, she was in the file papers back there, going through them and reading them and everything. She couldn’t imagine what it was like here, even after reading all the newspapers.”
Mr. Nigg knew people from the area from his days as a mail carrier. He was able to put Carolina in touch with others in the area that could satisfy her curiosity of the past.
“She couldn’t imagine how life was before she was born,” he explained to me. “Just as people your age can’t imagine how the country was like in the 1950s – I mean that was over 50 years ago,” he shook his head.
“You can’t imagine what the houses were like or what living was like or anything.”
Even though Carolina has passed away, Mr. Nigg continues to talk about the history of both the United States and Cullman County to everyone he sees.
This month Mr. Nigg will begin a series of meetings for his friends and neighbors at Victorian Manor. The theme of the meetings will be Local History Chats – My Life Story and the residents of the Manor are excited.
“My family goes back to the Mississippi Territory and there’s so many stories floating around about the county’s history that I know different,” he said happily.
Hanceville is lucky to have Mr. Quentin Nigg as one of its residents. The people that both live and work at Victorian Manor are just a part of what makes Cullman County extra special.
If you know of someone whom you think is one of the county’s many outstanding citizens, we’d like to know. E-mail me at sharon@cullmansense.com and help me showcase these wonderful individuals.
