By Dr. Paul L. Baker

D.G. Martin’s column about kudzu told some reasons that the Soil Erosion Service so actively promoted the invasive species kudzu and then gave an entertaining review of Mimi Herman’s novel, “The Kudzu Queen.”

The column brought back childhood memories of growing up in Alabama. My family moved to Auburn, Alabama, in 1946 when I was three years old. My dad was a librarian at API (Alabama Polytechnic Institute) which was Auburn University’s official name until 1960.  

Martin said kudzu was promoted in the early 1940s. Maybe this was true in North Carolina, but in Alabama, kudzu was being pushed as the wonder plant much earlier during the Great Depression.  

I was born in Illinois, so in Auburn at age three, I was a “damnyankee” (one word). (Mother was shocked when I asked her what a damnyankee was.) About that time I heard about damnkudzu, so kudzu had lost its appeal by 1946. 

A cemetery was close to the university and a block away from our house. Probably because Auburn was a land-grant university, someone planted some kudzu at the cemetery. Despite obvious efforts, kudzu had pretty well smothered gravestones and killed a stand of pines. Pine trees in Alabama take a long time to kill so kudzu was entrenched by 1946. I vividly remember those trees because my sister and two older brothers told me about the giants that the kudzu killed and if I got close, the kudzu would grab me also. 

Twenty years ago, I attended a math conference at Auburn University. My wife and I had supper with Alice, the mother of my best friend in Auburn. During supper she reminisced about when she won the Alabama title of Miss Kudzu 1937. Turns out The Kudzu Queen wasn’t fiction! 

Paul L. Baker is professor emeritus of mathematics and computer science. He lives in Salisbury.