POWERGRAMS

30 said "he continually sought opportunities to bring their accomplishment to the notice of others" and he was "modest, almost to a fault, loyal in the fullest sense of the word, uncompromising in his interpretation of professional ethics and practice … characteristics that won him regard and admiration." Following his death, Helen took time to care for her family, including her first grandchild. For a few months before her death in 1956, she returned to work at Alabama Power in the Corporate Real Estate Department. C.B. and Helen Hawkins set a foundation that would span for over a century – linking their family with Alabama Power. "The power company has been great to me and my family, for three generations," said Mike Hawkins, grandson of C.B. and Helen, who retired in March with 40 years and 6 months of service. "My father, Joseph (Joe) B. Hawkins, started working at Alabama Power in March 1954 – overlapping six months with his father, C.B.," Mike said. Joe's journey mirrored that of his father. Moved by World War II, Joe enrolled in the Virginia Military Institute after graduating from high school. He earned a degree in civil engineering in 1950 and immediately joined the Air Force. "While stationed in Tripoli, Libya, he met my mother, Maria Piombo, an Italian working as a secretary on base," Mike said. "They were married in 1953 and returned home to Birmingham in 1954." When Maria had her first child, Joseph B. Hawkins Jr., in 1955, her mother-in-law Helen quit working to help raise the grandchild. After the birth of her second child, Mike, in 1958, Maria began working part time in the Public Affairs office of The Birmingham News and then later volunteered to assist Italian-speaking patients at UAB Medical Center. Joe began his career as a junior engineer at Alabama Power's general office in 1954, while also remaining in the Air Force Reserves. "He worked in the construction, in the liaison and planning department — mostly working on power plant specifications and design," Mike said. Both of Joe's sons, Joseph Jr. and Mike, worked at Alabama Power during summers while they were in college, at Miller and Gaston Steam plants. While Joseph Jr. went on to become a doctor, Mike's career with the company was just beginning. "I had always been good at math and thought I would go into accounting," Mike said. "But my dad said I should check out engineering. … He steered me toward electrical engineering because there would be more opportunities with the power company." In August 1980, Mike graduated from his grandfather's At top, Helen Hawkins holding her first child, Joseph Jr., in 1955. Powergrams in April 1920 listed Helen in charge of Personals.

• Cover