Monday, November 8, 2021
Mary Lib in the Community
Mary Lib loved Talladega. Did you know that she and Billy helped bring the Talladega 500 here? How many times did she & her family participate in “April in Talladega” & the Ritz Theatre? Everywhere she traveled in the world she would tell people about her family’s life in Talladega, Alabama.
Mary Lib and her family & faith
While working with Mary Lib, I learned real fast how much she loved her family. She loved her husband Billy, what a true Southern Gentleman! She was so PROUD of her children Bill, Turner, Meg and many grandchildren. She shared her love of travel with each one of them by NOT just showing them pictures of where she & Billy had traveled but taking them all over the world. She and Billy were active in their church. It was during my time in Talladega that they helped move Silver Run Chapel to its present spot. Mary Lib’s faith and integrity was very important to her. We were talking about a honeymoon couple one day that she was not happy about. When I asked her why, she quickly responded because the bride did not believe in Jesus.
Mary Lib at Cheaha Travel
I was 18 years old and had been in the travel business 2 years when I went to work for Mary Lib McGehee at Cheaha Travel Service in Talladega, Alabama. I quickly learned that this was no ordinary travel agency because of its owner Mary Lib. Sales Representatives from all over the world ALWAYS came to see Mary Lib because of her gift of hospitality. She often invited them to a meal at Idlewild while learning about what their tour company or cruise line had to offer to her clientele. She was an extraordinary woman.
Did you know that she…?
1) owned the first travel agency to bring SABRE (American Airlines) computers into Alabama (the largest computer system in the world outside the Pentagon)
2) was the first CTC Certified Travel Counselor in the state of Alabama
3) rode the Palace on Wheels train thru India culminating with riding an elephant
4) cruised the River Nile in Egypt and, she rode a camel to the Giza Pyramids
5) experienced an Abercrombie & Kent Safari & rode a hot air balloon over the Serengeti
6) Gorilla Trekking in Botswana
7) rode The Blue Train from Cape Town to Johannesburg & safari in Kruger National Park
8) rode The Orient Express in Europe
9) flew the Concorde over the Atlantic and returned on the Queen Mary
10) rode the Hiram Bingham Train in Peru then hiked Machu Picchu
11) swam with baby sea lions in the Galápagos’ & encountered the abundant wildlife—blue-footed boobies, flightless cormorants, Darwin’s finches, pink flamingos, giant tortoises.
12) cruised to Antarctica
13) cruised on the Yangtze River, walked on the Great Wall of China & visited the Terra Cotta Warriors
14) toured New Zealand’s Mt. Cook, cruised Milford Sound & Australia visiting the fairy penguins, hiking up Ayers Rock & snorkeling the Great Barrier Reef
This is just to name a few places she & her family traveled while I worked at Cheaha Travel Service. My mother had prayed that her children had incredible influences in their life. Mary Lib was one of mine. When my twin sister Robbie & I started talking about opening our own travel agency R&R Travel over 34 years ago, Mary Lib was right in the midst encouraging us the whole way. Mary Lib has always made herself available throughout the years whenever we called her for advice.
In over 40 years in the travel business, I have yet to meet a better Travel Agent than Mary Lib McGehee. Mary Lib was the Queen of Travel.I count it a privilege to have know her and called her my friend.
My final thought is because of her relationship with Jesus, Mary Lib took the most incredible flight of her life to Heaven.
I loved Mary Lib McGehee!!!!
Renee Rice
