By Emily Etheredge
When meeting Mack Gothard, it is easy to figure out he is a gourd guy.
The Jemison native raises different varieties of gourds on family property that he later turns into hand-painted works of art.
“My dad and grandfather had always planted gourds to make bird houses,” Gothard said. “I got some seeds and started planting, and now I just let the vines go wherever they want to go.”
Gothard, 62, majored in mathematics at the University of Montevallo but would always take art electives while in college.
“When it came time for me to graduate, I found out that I had enough credits to have a major in art so I graduated with a Bachelors of Science in art and mathematics,” Gothard said.
Gothard started teaching math in Georgia where he taught for more than 20 years. Within the last 10 years, he also taught art at Howard High School and Westside Middle School in Georgia, but a series of health problems prevented Gothard from teaching, and he moved back to Chilton County to be near family.
Although Gothard always considered himself to be a healthy person, he had kidney and liver failure in 2006 with a liver transplant in August 2006.
He was admitted to the hospital on July 15, 2006 and received a liver transplant Aug. 3, 2006.
“I had a 95-percent chance of dying if I did not receive the transplant,” Gothard said. “I was on leave of absence from school for one year which was tough. I didn’t drink or smoke, but my liver just failed.”
In 2007, Gothard returned to school to teach but started blacking out while teaching and later found out he had two brain aneurisms.
“I was told if they could not coil them off that the major artery would have to be clamped,” Gothard said. “If that was done, I would then lose my sight in the right eye and I would have a stroke where the right side of my body would be numb and I would have to stop teaching.”
Doctors clamped the artery but one week later, Gothard had a stroke and lost all of the feeling on his right side.
“Over time, everything came back to normal except the feeling in my right hand,” Gothard said. “It still feels asleep which is something I still deal with every day.”
A series of health problems continued for Gothard in October 2009 when he thought he was having a back spasm with severe pain.
After being taken to the hospital, doctors found out that his T-7 vertebrae had compressed into his spine resulting in him having a vertebroplasty so he would be able to walk again.
Due to the brain surgery Gothard went through, he has had several strokes and seizures.
When he lost the ability to talk, his neurologist told him he needed to stop teaching and enjoy life.
“Find something that makes you happy and do that,” Gothard said. “I took her advice, retired and moved back to Alabama.”
In December of 2012, Gothard had another medical setback when he lost his ability to raise his right arm.
Gothard had an MRI that determined his C4 and C5 vertebrae had compressed into his spinal cord.
“I had cervical decompression and fusion of my bones with a metal plate and four screws in my neck so I could raise my arm again,” Gothard said. “I had surgery in January 2013 and was in a neck brace for two months. In July, I started to have liver failure again and with change of medicines, I recovered in August.”
Now, Gothard carries a note in his wallet saying he “doesn’t believe in coincidences, but he believes in miracles” and carries a positive disposition despite the circumstances with his health.
Gothard spends a lot of his time in his art studio painting different things on gourds with acrylic paint.
Although Gothard has lost the ability to have any feeling in his right arm, he can still hold a paintbrush.
“I don’t know when something else will happen to me so I just enjoy working on these gourds,” Gothard said. “It helps keep my mind active and that is something I am thankful for.”
It takes one year for a gourd to dry out completely before Gothard cleans out the inside and makes it into an artistic creation.
Oftentimes, Gothard will take a look at the shape of the gourd before deciding he will paint on the exterior.
“The gourds often come to life when I look at their shape,” Gothard said.
Gothard said gourds come from the same family as a pumpkin but have a bitter taste and are not meant for consumption.
“These are typically for the lazy farmer because you plant them and just let the vines grow wherever they want to go,” Gothard said.
Gothard keeps the majority of his gourds in a former dog pen on his property but some of the gourds have started growing on a maple tree above the pen.
Gothard compares gourds to snowflakes in that no two are alike and he is sure to not make the same painted pattern twice.
Gothard sells his gourds ranging from $10-$30 but has a limited supply of dried gourds he can work on this year.
“Once I finish working on the last few that I have dried out I will have to wait until next year,” Gothard said. “In the meantime, I will just try keep living the gourd life.”
For more information about Gothard’s gourds, contact (706) 299-4596.