Saying that Alabama-native Neal Wooten grew up dirt-poor might be unfair to dirt.
Wooten, a 59-year-old Ft. Payne, Alabama, resident, lives in an old classroom building near Interstate-59 that was formerly used for the anti-poverty program Head Start, something Wooten didn’t have when he was a child growing up on Sand Mountain.
Wooten is from Blake, a tiny DeKalb County community. He clawed his way out of mountain poverty by studying math at Auburn University. He comes from a family made infamous by a shotgun murder committed by his now-deceased grandfather, “who killed his son-in-law over a dispute about potatoes,” Wooten explains.
When he was a child, Wooten had a pit bull dog named Whitey that initiated his love of animals — especially the neediest ones. Now, he takes care of four stray dogs — Betty, Benny, Baby Girl and Baxter — who have become his kayaking companions.