Ron Atchley graduated from Bibb County High School in 1964. He has lived in New Mexico since 1972 but he has never forgotten Bibb County, Centreville, and his love for the Cahaba River. He may have had more than one affection for the Centreville area because he was motivated to compose a song about one of his memories and he named it “Cahaba Lily“. If you listen to the words of the song it may not be referring to the traditional flower but may be referring to one of Ron’s long lost old flames that he remembers as his “Lily”. Ron penned the words to the song and worked with a professional song writer, Bodine Jones, to prepare the words for recording. Now Ron has a demo record that he hopes will catch on. The demo is recorded by Joel Racheff and can be found at https://soundcloud.com/bodine-jones/cahaba-lily-joel-racheff. Ron still has relatives in the Centreville and Bibb County area. He lived here with his sister Juanice and her husband J.L. Smith. J.L. was train master for the GM&O RR when Ron lived here; they now reside in Northport. Ron has a nephew Charles Smith who also graduated from BCHS. For this article I was able to talk to Ron but he was silent about the identity of the “Cahaba Lily“. You can search and find Ron on Facebook in Albuquerque, New Mexico under Ron Atchley Sr.
