Shoals Woman of the Year

If you had the idea that retired people sit on their front porches, rocking gently and sipping iced tea as the world passes by, then you have not met Dr. Felice Green.

Green, who retired in 2003 from the University of North Alabama, has a long list of agencies she helps, which is why she has been chosen as the 2009 Shoals Woman of the Year.

First and foremost in her heart is children.

“I love interacting with children,” Green said. “They are my passion.”

Green often dons a costume and reads to children throughout the Shoals. She reads to children at schools, hospitals, nursing homes and churches.

“I always said in order to be an effective teacher one has to be a ham,” Green said. “I love acting. I just love children. I just get a thrill when I see those eyes brighten up. Maybe they will go read this same book or another book because of that.”

Green taught reading at UNA and said she taught her students that reading aloud is an important way to interact with their students.

“I told (my students) I was modeling for them what they should do (as teachers),” she said. “You don’t just read books in a monotone. One has to be animated.”

Costumes help catch children’s attention, too. Green has arrived as Dr. Seuss’ Cat in the Hat, the Easter Bunny and Mrs. Santa Claus. Her costumes also grab the attention of passersby if Green has to run an errand on the way to a reading.

“I get more strange looks if I happen to go some place other than where I am reading in my rabbit suit,” she said.

She also is on the board of the Alabama Reading Association, which promotes reading to teachers statewide.

Green is a member of the Poza Dance Troupe, which performs African dance at schools and nursing homes in the area, as well as at some local festivals.

“It started out as an exercise class,” she said. “We would just exercise with African dance. Then we thought, ‘Oh, we’re good enough to perform. We enjoy entertaining. It’s fun for us, but for the children, it’s educational.’”

Green also is the immediate past president of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority and has been chairwoman of the committee that organizes the sorority’s sole fundraiser, the Ebony Fashion Fair, for the past 20 years.

“I came here after school and found there was no chapter here,” Green said. “I got a chapter chartered here and at UNA. Delta Sigma Theta was the first predominately black sorority at UNA.”

Though she is retired from UNA, she still serves as the adviser for Xi Phi, the sorority’s UNA chapter, a position she has held since the sorority was chartered in 1980.

Green also is a member of the Music Preservation Society, which is responsible for the W.C. Handy Music Festival.

“I have been involved since the very first one,” she said. She said she chairs the ABCs of Blues & Jazz & Beyond, which is a one-hour program for children.

“It’s a free event that is something to take the children to see,” she said.

As a member of the Salvation Army Auxiliary, Green helps with the Angel Tree and the Empty Bowl luncheon, but the Angel Tree is closest to her heart.

“I like the Angel tree because I am still a child at heart, and I’m excited at Christmas and I’m excited because we are doing something for the children,” Green said. “It’s important to feed people (through the Empty Bowl Luncheon), but Christmas is an exciting time for me because we are doing something for the children.”

Green volunteers at Our Lady of the Shoals Catholic Church in Tuscumbia and the church’s St. Vincent DePaul Society. She works at the thrift store and buys and bags groceries for clients.

She is the cantor, or song leader, at the church and on occasion acts as the substitute organist.

She volunteers with the Tennessee Valley Museum of Art, Helen Keller Hospital and is a member of the Colbert County Homeland Security RSVP Program, which means she will be

able to help the county in case of a disaster.

She and her husband, Alex C. Green, celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary in June. They have three children, Sheryl Green-Barner, Alex Gershon Green and Cameron D. Green. They have one grandchild, Natalya Green, 17, who lives in Florida and who Green said she wishes she could spend more time with.

If she had time. She said her husband teases her that she is busier now than when she was working.

“I like staying busy,” she said.