
Thursday, December 18, 2008
Community \| Obits \| Editorial & Columnists \| Society \| Sports \| Education \| Classified Ads \| Calendar of Events \| Features \| Newsbriefs \| Legals \| Archives \| Subscriptions \| Photo Gallery

Society

City Personals
Mary Clay Brooks

Locals attend fashion show and luncheon

Sara Brigance and Susan Crell attended a fashion show and lunch at the University Club in Oxford last week. They were the guests of Pat Smith. All had a wonderful time.

The time has come for Santa to be loading his sleigh with all sorts of fabulous goodies! This time next week, hopefully, all of your Christmas shopping will be finished!

Looking for that unique and special gift? Try checking out your local merchants. There are plenty of wonderful stores right here in Holly Springs that carry anything from jewelry, purses, clothes; and if you need that hard to find gift for the man in your life, hunting apparel and accessories!

Our economy has taken a nose dive recently. We need to keep our money local, to the best of our ability. We have such a great variety of stores to shop and when you do shop locally, you save tax (if shopping in Tennessee) and you save gas. It does not get any closer than home!

Be sure to wear a smile when shopping locally this holiday season. Know that you are helping to keep our economy going - not to mention giving a wonderful gift that could possibly not be found elsewhere!

(To put your news in City Personals, please e-mail maryclayb@yahoo.com; mail to City Personals, The South Reporter, P.O. Box 278, Holly Springs, MS 38635 or call 662-252-4261. You may also e-mail your City Personal news to south@dixie-net.com).

Birth

Clark

Billy and Amy Clark are proud to announce the birth of their first child, Zoe Elizabeth, born Dec. 8, 2008 at 6:42 p.m. She weighed seven pounds, and was 19 inches long.

Sharing the joy of this birth are grandparents Danny and Billie Mills, Billy Zane and Rose Clark, all of Potts Camp, Loretta and David Blansett of Pheba.

Great-grandparents are Helen Garner and the late Bill Garner of Blue Mountain, Mary Mills and the late Billy Mills, Sue Clark and the late Billy Clark Sr. and Ollie Mansel and the late W.G. (Tag) Mansel, all of Potts Camp, James and Frances Shumaker, Neal and Barbara Blansett, all of Pheba.

Zoe was welcomed home by many family and friends.

Museuming
Lois Swanee Shipp
Museum Curator

There’s no place like home in Holly Springs

Holly Springs, my hometown, is a place I love. We don’t choose where we are born but it is where I would have chosen had I had a choice. I have lived from South Carolina to California, from Minnesota to the Gulf of Mexico and wanted to select the best place in the United States to rear my children.

The Baptist Church here was so influential on my life; I knew if my children could have the same training I did, it would make life better and easier. My daddy was a deacon and my mother was a teacher there and every time the church doors opened, I was there.

I remember when I was tiny, the influence being a “Sunbeam” radiated throughout my life. Also, the teen program, Girls’ Auxiliary (G.A.’s) taught me the importance of doing things for others. B.Y.P.U. held every Sunday night was where we received extensive Biblical training. We would have “sword drills” where we all could find a Scripture in a few seconds.

Along with all this and my training at home, I was set for life (but didn’t know it at the time.)

One of the things I remember was our cook Julie Ann Glover, who was always there to cook breakfast, which was early! Breakfast was a major meal with pork chops, fried chicken, or gravy and grits. During bird season when quail were plentiful, it was quail for breakfast, which was my favorite. Roast beef was saved for Sunday dinner, every Sunday dinner. Julie Ann worked for my mother for 56 years. She lived on Compress Street, two blocks from my house. She had a son named Harry L. who should have been named Hercules, as he was the strongest man in town. He could lift cotton bales and they weighed at least 500 pounds. Whew!

There was another super strong man in town named Reuben Mann. He even made “Ripley’s Believe It or Not” because on his daddy’s farm they had a new calf and he would lift the calf every day. When the calf was grown, Reuben could still lift the cow. When Reuben’s little brother, B.F. (stands for Benjamin Franklin) weighed in at only 250 pounds they called him “Puny.” All of you remember Puny, as he was unforgettable.

Their mother, Mrs. Mann, drove the school bus. Her husband died and two weeks later, she got married again, so Mr. Mann was exhumed and examined to see if he had died of natural causes. He had.

I think in the early 1950s in the aftermath of World War II, we had an influx of immigrants from Latvia, which was something new for us in our century but it wasn’t new to Holly Springs. These people lived in a colony in Holly Springs and were artisans and some were very accomplished. They had been through the fiery furnace to get here.

One night in the summertime, a few miles east of town, there was a huge gas line explosion and the whole sky lit up like an atom bomb had gone off. It scared all of us but the Latvians thought that World War III had begun. The explosion was in a remote rural spot so nobody was hurt but it was a shell-shocking experience.

On a happy note, the circus coming to town in 1962, and having the animals parade around the square and to the fairgrounds on West Street right before the railroad tunnel, was an exhilarating experience. The elephants, camels, tigers and clowns left indelible memories to those of us who were there.

In the 1870s, Tom Thumb and his business partner, P.T. Barnum came to this progressive little town. They rented a “show room” on the square on the second floor of the building over Craft & Wynne and everybody who could pay 25 cents each could see him. Tom Thumb was the world’s smallest man, standing 33 inches tall. He was a midget.

Midgets are small people that were perfectly proportioned, just tiny. A dwarf is different from a midget. When I was little, my mother took me to hear a band of midgets when we were visiting in California. In the 20th century, midgets and dwarves migrated to Hollywood to be in the movie industry where they could get steadfast employment.

Another celebrity of the 19th century was John Phillip Sousa, who came here and gave at least one band concert. The concert was given on the third floor of the Masonic building which burned February 7, 1951. The third floor was a concert hall, or a dance floor, or could be used as a political forum. We used it when I was in high school and I, like Ed Crump, remember dancing across it.

One of the most wonderful memories of Holly Springs is living in grandiose Grey Gables where my wonderful children grew up. The banquet table in the dining room could seat 18. The Lord sent me a cook to cook dinner every night when everybody was home. Dinner at six, together, was a rule, as was the blessing. Company could be invited but it was nice to know ahead of time. My hometown is so special and indelible in my memories of days gone by.

Come and see us soon, our days are numbered on the Square. Marshall County Museum, 111 Van Dorn Ave. Holly Springs, MS. (662) 252-3669, marshallcomuseum@bellsouth.net.

Report News: (662) 252-4261 or south@dixie-net.com
Questions, comments, corrections: south@dixie-net.com
©2004, The South Reporter, All Rights Reserved.
No part of this site may be reproduced in any way without permission.
The South Reporter is a member of the Mississippi Press Association.

Web Site managed and maintained by
South Reporter webmasters Linda Jones, Kristian Jones
Web Site Design - The South Reporter

Back | Top of Page