By Anna Grace Moore
Photos Contributed
When Ralph and Marcia Sears spoke, Shelby County listened.
A WWII veteran, Ralph paused his college education to serve in the U.S. Army infantry during several military operations in The Philippines and New Caledonia. After the war ended in 1945, he came home to Nebraska to finish his studies during which time he met Marcia at a college party.
Both graduates of the University of Nebraska, Ralph and Marcia graduated together in May 1948 before getting married on June 19, 1948. The following September, they moved to Montevallo, Alabama, for Ralph’s career.
Ralph began teaching radio and public speaking at Alabama College, and Marcia started the Meadowlark Nursery School out of their home, helping to raise not only their three children, but also numerous other neighborhood kids, too. As her children grew, Marcia took on other roles such as working as a social worker for the state of Alabama and even teaching Spanish at Alabama College.
“As a hands-on mom, she would let us cook any crazy thing, supported our attempts at music and dance and loved spending time with us, discovering nature,” Randie Sears Rosenberg, one of Ralph and Marcia’s daughters, says. “She also excelled in themed parties for her Alabama College Spanish classes and generally loved entertaining throughout her life.”
At Alabama College, Ralph created a 30-minute-long radio show of organ music, which was broadcasted to troops in the U.S. Armed Forces all over the world throughout the 1950s. After Ralph’s parents’ passing in the mid-1950s, Ralph used his modest inheritance from them to purchase WBYE Radio in Calera, which offered a few daytime news programs as well as Western tunes and some ‘50s music.
Ralph also created a weekday morning news broadcast called “Between the Lines,” in which he recruited advertisers to do business in the Shelby Shopping Guide. From announcing university events, Montevallo High School football games and local news stories, Ralph’s voice became one of the most well-known and respected state-wide.
“Shelby County is completely different, in part because of the growth that the county saw in the ‘60s and ‘70s when mom and dad were running the paper, the radio station, surfing this great wave of growth,” Sally Sears Belcher says of her parents’ legacy.
In 1956, Ralph became elected to the Montevallo City Council. Ralph took his political efforts a step further when in 1967, he and Marcia purchased the Shelby County Reporter from Luther Fowler.
While Ralph oversaw the financial and publishing aspects of the business, Marcia became the newspaper’s editor, even running her own newsroom of reporters. In 1968, Alabama College became integrated, and the following year, the college officially changed its name to the University of Montevallo in 1969.
“Watching mom covering the crumbling one summer–the segregated schools system–was breathtaking to read because it happened fast when it happened,” Sally says. “It was political dynamite. It was something that was worth all of the ink that’s been spilled out over the Civil Rights Movement. Here it happened between June and September, and it was all on the front page of the Shelby County Reporter–every bit of it.”
While she made sure not to let her opinions seep into the editorial copy, Marcia made sure to cover every newsworthy event from George Wallace’s campaign for the presidency to county-wide sanitation efforts and more–even if the stories soiled some high-profile reputations.
“The newspaper gave her an opportunity to put into action a lot of the things that she had wanted to do,” Sally says. “Mom loved covering the workings of county government–the health department, the highway department. She had a warm heart for poor people and did not think that the county worked as well as it might. She had an opinion about how the county took care of people who were less fortunate. She, through her work, helped call attention to that.”
Ralph and Marcia became a beacon of truth during a politically polarizing era in the community. Over time, they acquired the Childersburg Star and the Coosa Press, expanding their editorial outreach across the state.
In 1972, Ralph became elected as the mayor of Montevallo. He served six terms in office, and over his 24-year-long mayoral career, Ralph’s support of the African American community and the American Village would be his most defining achievements.
During his time in office, Ralph ensured that every street in Montevallo’s predominantly African American neighborhoods was paved. He also strongly supported George Dailey, who in 1984 became the first African American individual to become elected to the Montevallo City Council.
When Tom Walker approached Ralph about creating the American Village in the early ‘90s, Ralph worked hard to get both city and federal funding as well as extend Montevallo’s city limits, in order to build the institution. Ralph believed in people such as George and Tom, crediting them for helping to build Shelby County into what it is today.
In 1981, Marcia became the first-ever female president of the Alabama Press Association (APA), receiving the APA’s highest honor, the Lifetime Achievement Award, later on in 2003. After selling their news entities in 1984, Ralph and Marcia did not retire as Ralph was still acting mayor, but they did travel the world as much as they could, focusing on family.
Ralph was called home to heaven on Feb. 14, 1996, at the age of 73. The Alabama Newspaper Hall of Honor inducted him posthumously on Nov. 7, 2009.
Marcia passed away at age 86 on April 13, 2014. Marcia was supposed to be inducted into the Alabama Newspaper Hall of Honor in April 2020, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic, all induction ceremonies were postponed.
Nonetheless, Ralph and Marcia served as good Samaritans who believed in uplifting those whose voices should be amplified, commanding attention to address the needs of their constituents. Although actions speak louder than words, they walked their talk, helping create Shelby County into what thousands of residents call home today.
The Searses proved that through good journalism, truth has the power to shape history, and what an incredible legacy that is to leave behind.
