Topper
Birney
District 4 ~
Elected 2002, 2006
After living the first 11 years of his life in a small town 17 miles southwest of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Topper Birney moved in 1947 to El Paso, Texas, where his father was working with a group of German rocket scientists. This stay lasted until 1950 when the rocket team was moved to Huntsville, thus changing Huntsville from the watercress capital of the world to Rocket City, USA.
Topper graduated from Huntsville High School and later from the University of Alabama with an engineering degree. After working a few years with the Department of the Army, he transferred to the Marshall Space Flight Center where he spent the rest of his working career.
In 1967, he met a young schoolteacher named Sherry Burnett whom he married the following year. They celebrated the birth of their son Toby in 1971 and the birth of their daughter Kelley in 1973. Both children graduated from the Huntsville City Schools and later from the colleges they attended. Both are married, Toby to a Lithuanian named Marija and Kelley to Tim Reischauer. On May 2, 2003, Kelley and Tim made Topper and Sherry the proud grandparents of a baby girl named Emma Claire. Toby and Marija gave Topper and Sherry their second granddaughter, Emilja Marguerite, on April 14, 2004. Their first grandson, Theodore Hoffman Reischauer, joined the family October 18, 2005. He is known as Theo.
Topper spent many of his years in Huntsville as a community volunteer serving various agencies such as Chi Ho, T.A.S.C., CASA, the Food Bank of North Alabama, and the HEALS Clinic. He has also driven the Mobile Soup Van each month since its inception and tutors as often as he can. He is a member of the South Huntsville Kiwanis Club, Madison County Emergency Food and Shelter Board, HEALS Board, CAJA Friends Board and First Christian Church (Disciples of Christ).
When Topper retired from NASA in 1993, he wanted to continue his volunteering in Huntsville by helping young children. He called Lincoln Elementary School and talked to Larry Rice, who convinced him that Lincoln was where he needed to be. Jim Black, the principal, made Topper’s volunteer service with Lincoln some of the most rewarding hours he has ever had. Later Jim convinced Topper to become a substitute teacher, which opened a new door for him. It helped make him aware of the problems teachers face in the classroom and what the schools need to prepare their students for the future.
Sometime during these years as a substitute teacher, the idea of running for the school board entered his mind. This dream became a reality in 2002 when the voters in District 4 elected him to the school board and re-elected him in 2006. He stills thanks his workers and the voters for these honors and hopes he will always live up to the trust they placed in him. He tries to visit each school in the city every year he is in office. He enjoys working with the other board members and meeting all the wonderful people employed by the Huntsville City Schools and looks forward to providing many years of dedicated service.
