POWERGRAMS

25 Getting to 50 years was a piece of cake: It's been a tougher nut to crack for Ullman Williamson to get down the road to 51 years working for Alabama Power. In January, Williamson's wife came down with COVID-19 and spent two weeks in UAB Hospital, where doctors later told him he, too, tested positive for the disease. Ginger was still recovering on March 14 when Ullman slipped 6 feet off a ladder at home, breaking teeth and his pelvis. UAB surgeons repaired the fracture and put him in traction with metal rods stabilizing the broken bones. Then came an infection that sent him back to UAB, where he nearly died before doctors pulled him through again. "When you lay in bed for three months, you think of a lot of things – things you need to do better," said Williamson. "I did a lot of soul- searching." Friends might wonder what the 71-year-old Williamson had in mind. He doesn't smoke or drink. He eats healthy foods and stays physically fit. The Power Supply Development Facility mechanic keeps his yard manicured and home in top shape, just like his toolroom at the National Carbon Capture Center in Wilsonville. Co-workers have known Williamson to be meticulously neat since he was hired on Feb. 8, 1971, as a laborer making $2.36 an hour at Southern Electric Generating Co., where he worked in Wilsonville. After 17 years, he moved to downtown Birmingham at the old Powell Avenue Steam Plant for about five years. He moved to a roving night shift crew that alternated between Barry, Chickasaw, Gorgas and Miller steam plants. He returned to Wilsonville after two years and has never left. When he started at Alabama Power, Williamson signed up with the Alabama National Guard while his brother Ron was fighting in Vietnam. Ullman served six years with a radio signal unit in Vincent. He still flies a POW/MIA flag among the U.S., Alabama and other flags lining the driveway to his house. After 50 years with company, setbacks won't stop mechanic

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