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Bert and Christina Carson

As soon as she left the building my three salesmen came into my office.  One of them asked, "Did you just hire that girl?"  When I said, "Yes," he said, "Then we're going to have to quit."  I said, "Fine, you can pick up your checks Friday."  That was the last I ever saw of them.  Ethel was back in thirty minutes.  That afternoon she sold her first car and before the week was over she sold four more.  Three years later our dealership went bankrupt, as did 10,000 other Chrysler dealerships during that period of time.  Through the years since, I've been close to both Ethel, who became the sister that I never had and all her kids; Loretta, David, Larry and Lois. 

Three years later I fulfilled two lifelong ambitions - I moved to Mentone, Alabama, on Lookout Mountain, and I became a professional speaker.  Over the next eleven years, with my wife, Edwene Gaines, I traveled the U.S., Canada, the Caribbean, and did one speaking tour in Tahiti - well, someone had to do it.  In 1993, on a Canadian speaking tour, I met Christina Bell, in Vancouver, B.C.  We became pen pals - though I didn't see her again for four years, we filled seven journals so we got to know each other pretty well. 

When my marriage finally ground itself to a halt it was only natural for me to tell Christina.  A year and a half later we were married.  In 2001 we left Mentone and moved to Huntsville (75 miles northwest) and became the co-ministers of Unity Church on the Mountain.  Three years later we resigned our positions and began publishing The Daily Inspiration and conducting an occasional workshop in the area.  Jack and Adrienne Blasingame attended one of our workshops, in Sewanee, Tennessee.  They were so taken with the things we discussed there that they made the decision to leave Tallahassee, Florida, and move to Huntsville. 

We discontinued The Daily Inspiration in 2005 and began writing.  Late in the summer of 2006 Ethel called.  She was distraught.  She told me that she and Loretta had just started a portrait company they called United Portrait Studios.  She said the company had a fantastic photographer, Niki Cupp, of Memphis, Tennessee, who took photos of the children in day care centers, and that she and Loretta went back and sold them.  She said the business was a lot of fun because everyone liked the photos but then she started to cry when she said, "But we can't do it anymore."  Loretta had just been diagnosed with a serious illness and they weren't going to be able to continue the business. 

One thing led to another and we agreed to run the business while Ethel took care of Loretta.  A few months into operating the company Jack and Adrienne joined us.  They take the pictures in the North Alabama area and often present and sell them.  Niki opened her own business last spring and we struggled along without her until October when I called and asked if she'd like to come back.  She said yes and Christina and I cheered so loud, it's a wonder it didn't blow Niki's eardrum out.

Someday we might add another photographer, sales team or scheduler, but only if we know it will not take away any of the quality of the photos and the service we now offer, because when we say, "Everything Matters!", we mean it.

Thanks for your interest in out little company.  We all look forward to working with you.

Yours to count on,

Bert

This is what family is all about and this is what United Portrait Studios is all about!