I must pay homage to the D W Moody Hardware Store. Moody hardware stores have been important fixtures in Montgomery as long as I have lived here. Soon after he returned home from WW II, Dempsey Moody opened this store, and despite numerous setbacks, he refused to surrender. DW did not quit when the Interstate came thru a block away and moved out half his customers. He refused to sell out when the Housing Authority surrounded him with a “Project”. Nor did he close up when the City made Decatur one-way, a crushing blow. The big box store competition could not drive him away. The current financial crises and building bust caused the demise of DW’s Gay Meadows outlet (I cried over that), but DW Moody’s on South Decatur preserved up to a couple years ago.

-Charles Humphries