A sense of community

Over many years, the city of Mountain Brook has collected thousands, if not millions, of memories from families that have traversed its villages. The Tanner quadruplets — Anne Rain Tanner Brown, Christopher Tanner, Emily Wilde Coe and Griffin Tanner — have their own memories of the city that took their family in and how their experience carried over into their adult lives.

The quadruplets grew up in Chelsea, about a 30-minute drive from Mountain Brook, before moving to the city when they were about 10 years old. 

“We all hung out together for the first 10 years of our lives,” said Brown, although they had friends from all over Birmingham because they attended the Advent Episcopal School downtown.

Upon moving to Crestline, all four siblings were at Mountain Brook schools for their junior high years.

“Crestline was an amazing neighborhood to grow up in,” Griffin Tanner said. Coe said that while being a quadruplet wasn’t necessarily different for her, it occasionally did come with some notoriety. “Or infamy, depending on the situation,” she said. “‘Oh, you’re one of the Tanner quads,’ is a phrase I heard plenty of times growing up (and still do, today).”

“I’m sure many folks remember us being pulled on skateboards down Country Club Road by our huge Labrador (who was well fed at every restaurant in Crestline),” Christopher Tanner agreed. “We were certainly famous, particularly after we became licensed drivers.” 

They all share fond memories of the city, from competing in track and field and cross country together to spending time a local shops in Crestline to borrowing books from Emmet O’Neal Library.

When it came time for high school, Brown and Christopher Tanner opted to attend Lawrenceville School, a boarding school in Princeton, New Jersey while Griffin Tanner and Coe continued in the Mountain Brook system. 

“It was a new opportunity [to go to school in New Jersey],” Brown said.

From there, they attended their respective colleges: Brown went to Rhodes and then UNC Chapel Hill to earn her doctorate in pharmacy; Christopher Tanner continued to the Military Academy at West Point; Coe ran for Auburn; and Griffin Tanner went to the University of Mississippi, where he ran track and pole vaulted. Their younger brother, David, recently graduated from UM as well. 

But even though they ventured far outside the confines of Mountain Brook, they still attribute who they are to the values that were instilled in them from a young age.

“Mountain Brook is really lucky to have such an amazing core of teachers and coaches and I owe a lot to those individuals,” Coe said. “They provided guidance and direction that seems to align with the guidance and direction of my parents — promoting setting goals, figuring out ways to achieve those goals, etc.”

Christopher Tanner agreed, citing the sense of values and “community in the form of service,” that helped him become who he is today. 

“I think watching my parents support Advent Cathedral or the local garden club and how they interacted with the other families gave me a desire to want to do the same, which is why I chose to go to the United States Military Academy and serve as an officer in the U.S. Army,” he said. He would go on to serve in both Afghanistan and Iraq.

Griffin Tanner said that it was the work ethic shared by many families, as well as the leadership and integrity of the school’s sports programs that carried over for him, and Brown said for her, it was being able to build the sense of community and create long-lasting relationships with everyone. 

“I think there’s just something about being able to relate to the way we grew up and the values that were instilled that make for long-lasting friends for sure,” she said.

Since the time they grew up in Mountain Brook, they all agreed that it may not have changed much, but more evolved “with ‘the times,’” Coe said. And as the project architect for the new City Hall in Crestline, Coe was part of the evolution of the community.

“It’s amazing [to see it now]. It is such a beautiful structure that I believe adds to the sense of community in Crestline,” she said. 

“I’ve been really proud of my sister Emily’s work on [Mountain Brook] City Hall,” Christopher Tanner said. “It and the new Emmet O’Neal Library have really made it the brains of [Mountain Brook], while all the new restaurants … are very much its heart.”

Now, the quads have gone on to make their own mark elsewhere with families and spouses of their own. 

“I’ve loved seeing my siblings become parents,” Brown said. “We all have spouses now, so it just feels like we went from having four siblings to having nine siblings with our significant others.”

Brown is a critical care clinical specialist at MD Anderson in Houston, Christopher Tanner works with Southern Research in Birmingham and lives in Mountain Brook, Coe is an architect at Nequette living in Vestavia Hills and Griffin Tanner is a partner in four, soon to be five, restaurants and bars in Oxford, Mississippi, where he resides.

Griffin Tanner said he fell in love with Oxford for the same reasons a lot of people love Mountain Brook — the small town, community oriented vibe with a downtown area with shops and dining. “Now that I have children, I see how important the good school system and close knit community is to raising your children,” he said.