By: Krys Kromer

Anna Comer in her kitchen and dining room area.

Anna Comer’s brick house stands tall and proud on one of the highest hills in Sylacauga, AL. It’s old but in good condition. Stepping inside takes you to a different time. 

Comer opens the door with a smile, and a warm greeting like talking to an old friend. She’s proud to show off her home as she walks to the kitchen. It’s lit only by the windows spanning from one wall, to the other. She sits down. 

Born and raised in Sylacauga, Comer recounts memories from her childhood. “When I was a child, things were a lot different. A lot of industry, and executives. At the top of the list, we were a very close community.”

Comer enjoyed growing up in a small town. She states that at one point, she gave a horse show in her yard. “I liked to go roller-skating, and to the bowling alley. But primarily, as a child, I loved riding horses, exploring, and playing touch-football.” 

“It was idyllic,” Comer says as she speaks about her family. The youngest of three, she would sit in a cherry tree and “hook a light on a limb, so my daddy and I could talk to each other while he worked.” 

Comer in her living room.

Comer loved to use her voice ever since she was a child. When she was in the seventh grade, Comer sang her first solo at Pinecrest School. “I was with Mr. Mayes, and I sang an old spiritual. Everybody loved it.”

Although she loved to sing, Comer’s mother didn’t allow her to take voice lessons until she was 16 years old. She then began training in Birmingham until she graduated high school. 

“By the time I graduated, I thought I wanted to be a veterinarian. But when I finally got to college, I decided it was music.” Comer said. She was able to develop her top voice at Birmingham Southern and learn how to teach others to develop theirs. 

Comer achieved her Masters’ Degree at the University of Texas. She stayed there for three years, where she performed in four operas before returning to Sylacauga and starting a family. After a while, she learned about a summer music camp in North Carolina that the Musicians Club of America put on. 

“Many wonderful teachers, coaches and performers from the Metropolitan Opera came, and it was a six week thing, and it was wonderful,” Comer said, “it was unbelievable. So unbelievable that I went back for three summers.” 

Comer sits in front of the piano where she teaches her lessons.

Comer’s musical career advanced, and she was able to move to New York in the late 80s. “I lived in a sublet, and Nico Castel lived across the street, as well as many other great performers.” Comer’s voice led her to new heights, and she traveled to many places in Europe to perform, before retiring and returning home to Sylacauga to stay. 

Comer says she lived a full life raising her family and watching her children grow up, after returning to Sylacauga. It wasn’t until later that her life would be changed forever. 

“In 2016, I became very sick,” Comer said, “and a good friend of mine took me to the emergency room, and then my son took me to UAB. We found out that I had end stage kidney and liver disease.” 

While she was there, Comer said that her sodium levels were ignored, and she developed central pontine myelinolysis, a destruction of the layer covering nerve cells in the brainstem. This affected her spinal cord and left her paralyzed for several months. 

“My son saved my life. There was a certain treatment, a plasma transfer that he read about, and no doctor would do it. So, he went to the head of UAB, and they did it. Two weeks later, I moved my hand.” 

After her surgery, Comer regained the ability to move. She began to learn how to walk, and talk, again. “I’m not telling you this because of me, I’m saying it because it’s a miracle.” 

Comer states that the most mystifying moment of her recovery was when she went for a check-up scan on her kidneys and liver. “I had no scars on my kidneys, and liver. The doctor came in with tears in his eyes, and said that that had never happened before.” 

“I was in the end-stage, please understand the severity. This doesn’t happen often.” 

Comer lives her day-to-day life giving voice lessons to her young students and sharing her story “with anyone who will listen.” She says that, above all else, “be kind.”