A political stalwart in our state, George McMillan, passed away Easter weekend at 81 in Birmingham. George was born for politics in Alabama. He was a born leader. He had an exuberant, vivacious personality that people gravitated to and made it difficult not to like him. It was apropos that his funeral was really like a celebration.

It was an upbeat event that lasted most of the day on April 25. It began at the historic Southside Baptist Church, which is where a good many prominent Birmingham leaders have been memorialized over the past century. This majestic church was the worship place for all the titans of business, who founded Birmingham in the late 20th Century. The steel leaders and founder of Liberty National Life Insurance, Frank Samford, and all his top executives were pillars of the church. If you were a leader in Birmingham, you went there. It was the richest church in the state.

The Reverend John Buchanan, Sr. was the long-time pastor. His son, John Buchanan, Jr., followed him. John Buchanan, Jr. became one of the first Republican Congressman from Alabama. He was elected with five other Republicans in the 1964 Southern Goldwater Landslide. The Birmingham area had never had a Republican Congressman. Jefferson County was dominated by blue collar, Union Democratic steelworkers.

George’s funeral celebration continued with a large and almost joyous reception at The Club atop Red Mountain. The reception was like a reunion for old politicos from around the state.

One of the most prominent attendees was George McMillan’s friend of 60 years, Jimmy Rane. Jimmy Rane is the most significant person in Alabama and has been for the past three decades. He is reportedly the wealthiest person in Alabama and is also one of the most generous. He has been the most influential, individual benefactor for Auburn University in the landmark university’s history. He has been Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Auburn for over a decade.

Jimmy has not only been the state’s most successful businessman and philanthropist, but he has also been a behind-the-scenes friend and confidant to our most influential political leaders. He was, and still is, our iconic Senator Richard Shelby’s best friend and confidant. Shelby leaned on Rane for advice and support during his entire 36 years in the United States Senate.

Jimmy Rane is also one of Governor Kay Ivey’s closest friends and advisors. Governor Ivey keeps a small circle of close friends and confidants. In fact, Jimmy Rane and Supreme Court Justice Will Sellers and Will’s wife, Lee Grant Sellers, are about the only one in that circle.

Jimmy Rane and Kay Ivey go back 60 years as friends and political confidants. They forged a political bond at Auburn University in the mid-1960s, where they were student leaders. In fact, there was a triumvirate of leaders that was forged at Auburn that included Jimmy Rane, Kay Ivey, and George McMillan. Jimmy founded the Auburn Law Society, an exclusive political club of which he, Kay, and George were the founding members. Jimmy was President of the Law Society. Kay was Vice President of the SGA, and George was the President of the SGA.

Jimmy shared with me a photo of the original Law Society members, which included him, Kay and George, and several other prominent Alabamians, including Dr. Phil Hardee, Caroleene Dobson’s daddy, who is a successful orthodontist and cattle farmer. Also pictured is Jimmy Rane’s lifetime Wiregrass friend, Lester Killebrew, who went on to success as one of the state’s largest tractor dealers.

George McMillan epitomized the adage that I often use, “friends and neighbors politics.” He had the most positive, natural personality for politics. But he also had deep Alabama family roots. He was born into the large and respected Awtrey family of Greenville in Butler County.

His daddy was a legendary Auburn-based County Farm Agent that journeyed all over the state and allowed George to make lifetime friends all over Alabama. One of his stops with his daddy was as a high school student in Dothan. There, he first met Jimmy Rane. They would later reunite at Auburn.

One of the Wiregrass’ most beautiful ladies, Ann Holman, was a classmate of George’s at Dothan High School. Ann has been a successful businesswoman and civic and church leader in Dothan her entire life and I am sure, was a good student. However, she shared with me that George helped her pass Algebra.

George McMillan had a great career politically and civically in Alabama. However, his greatest accolade was that he married one of the most beautiful and gracious ladies in Alabama, Ann Roper Dial.

Alabama is one big front porch.

See you next week.