Issue link: https://alabamapower.uberflip.com/i/194907
Atkins, born in Birmingham in 1935, has come a long way since her father bought a "red-stained dogtrot cabin" on the Black Warrior River, where she learned to swim and ride his eyes to the power of history, and who has become "a great ambassador" for Alabama Power. The qualities that made Atkins such a brilliant water skier also had something to do with her notable academic career, a surfboard when she was 4. according to Wayne Flynt, professor emeritus of history at Auburn who has known Atkins for four decades. "I would say the most important part of any profession is the character and the preparation and work ethic and the discipline and focus," Flynt says. "Those are the things I say made her a world champion. She had skill, yes, but it was all the other stuff." "All the other stuff " helped Atkins earn a doctorate at Auburn, while raising a family; become founding director of Samford's London Study Center, a studyabroad program in England; write well-received history books, such as "The Valley and the Hills," which traces the development of Birmingham and Jefferson County; Today, she is a common site in the corridors of Alabama and direct Auburn's Center for the Arts and Humanities, Power's Corporate Headquarters in Birmingham. After which brought cultural and educational programs to a distinguished career as a history teacher and author at smaller cities and towns across Alabama. UAB, Samford and Auburn, Atkins began writing corporate histories, including "Developed for the Service of Alabama," the history of Alabama Power. That doorstop of a book was published in the company's centennial year of 2006 and won the James F. Sulzby Award the next year for the best book on Alabama history. Atkins' significance to Alabama Power goes far beyond "She was just a gritty competitor. She always has been. Don't let that sweet Southern belle exterior fool you." — Charles Lloyd, who grew up skiing with Le ah R awl s Atkins documenting its history, according to CEO and President Charles McCrary. "When I think of Leah, I don't think about that big, thick "Somewhere in America I am certain someone book," he says. Instead, McCrary thinks of someone who inspires him because of the way she goes at projects nonstop, who opened matched Leah for energy, insight and inspiration," Flynt writes in "Keeping the Faith," his 2011 memoir. "But Above: Photo by Bernard Troncale — One of Atkins' skis from her competitive skiing days. 16 S hor el i ne s | 2013 Vol:3