09/05/2021
We miss you so much dad. We were blessed with such a good one. We love you.
This week we said goodbye to our Dad “Poppie” - Rodney Thursby. This photo is from 2018, the week after we had moved into the Depot on Morris Avenue assuring that the tradition of peanuts in Birmingham would live on. HE WAS SO PROUD! Dad loved unconditionally and he believed in everyone’s ability to succeed. A few years prior I had left a career, stumbled around trying to find my way, and moved back to Birmingham with absolutely nothing. Scary times in your 40’s. Dad did what he does best. He (and Mom) believed in me “Your going to run On A Shoestring” my parents antique business in Bluff Park. I think I was paid $140 a week and got more if I scored junk (old windows, end tables etc.) off the side of the road to resell. This was a very humbling time but Dad believed in me and I quickly learned that antiques weren’t going to be my thing. This is when we had the idea to start doing a Maker’s Market in the shops parking lot on Sunday’s or “tent sale” as Dad would call it. This quickly lead to us boiling our own peanuts and doing pop-ups around town. Dad was the biggest saver of money and would tell all of us (and anybody that would listen) to save save save. 15 months later in June of 2018 we had saved enough money to put a down payment on a Birmingham landmark. The rest is peanut history. Dad was self made. Born in Deland, Florida he graduated second to last of his high school class. After graduation he opened a gas station, joined the Navy, married my Mom, graduated from Florida State, scored a job at USSteel, purchased a home, had four kids, coached baseball, collected antiques (decades before Pickers), got laid off from USS, purchased another house with Mom in Bluff Park converting it to On A Shoestring Antiques (awarded Best of Birmingham several times), he was then rehired at USS, put three kids through college, moved a REAL caboose to Bluff Park (I still have questions on this one), gardened, pickled, mulched, refurbished furniture, collected coins, bird watched, fed the squirrels peanuts, mastered the stock market, loved on his cats, loved Alabama Football (even though two kids went to Auburn) and was the best Grand Dad ever. He taught us to work hard, save your money, be kind to all, root for the underdog, tip well (especially at the Waffle House), and most of all to believe in yourself. We love you so much Dad and we’re going to miss the heck out of you but until we meet again we have some peanut making to do. Alabama Peanut Co. will be closed Labor Day.
