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Potts Camp News
Dale Hollingsworth

Hill Country Picnic this weekend

This is the week for the exciting Hill Country Picnic on the 1,100-acre site of the rolling hills of Potts Camp. We wish them a big success! It will be held June 26-27. Flick’s Country Restaurant is one of the sponsors.

The family of Rodney and Betty Whaley spent several days last week on vacation in Florida. They are Amanda and Kent Smith and two boys; Stacy and Jonathan Morrison and son, and Lori Whaley, a law student. They returned home on Thursday.

Etoyle Ash had eye surgery last week. Get well wishes to her.

We were saddened by the recent death of Nadine Vest of Potts Camp. Funeral services were held in Olive Branch on Wednesday, June 17. We send our love and sympathy to her special family.

The Hollingsworth family were all saddened by the death of my late husband L.D.’s sister, Catherine H. Snare, age 86, of Shreveport, La. Her brother, Bob and Tula Hollingsworth of Aberdeen attended the funeral. We send sympathy and love to her three children, and her sister, Ann H. Nodd of Kennesaw, Ga.

Special friends of Gennie Work and Betty Fincher, the Greers from El Dorado, Ark., are visiting them a few days.

Thoughts

1. Everyone is looking for happiness, but many people don’t know how to find it. They expect fine cars, money, an expensive home or pretty clothes will make them happy. In Matthew 5, Jesus taught us that deep and lasting happiness is being right with God. We are blessed when we are peacemakers, pure in heart, meek, merciful, loving and kind, thirsty for righteousness, and willing to suffer for Jesus’s sake.

2. Remember, you are never alone; God is in control! He will guide and give you strength for whatever the day might bring. Allow Him to help you reach out to others with a smile, a word or a prayer. As you help others, you will find joy and peace. Pray for others, those who suffer, the homeless and hungry or lost loved ones. Our country needs more prayers, and it needs God’s blessing. Pray for peace.

New Hope

When everything seems hopeless and life is hard to bear, just find a quiet corner and say a special prayer. Ask God to give you strength to see you through the day. He alone can help you; He can pave the way. Believe in Him and trust Him, let Him be your guide. Miracles will happen when God is on your side. Once your cross is lifted and you find that you can cope, be sure to thank Almighty God for giving you new hope. (Lindy’s Newsletter)

Happy wedding anniversary to Jimmy and Martha Hollingsworth of Tupelo on June 24; to Floyd and Elinor Edwards on June 25.

Happy birthday to a granddaughter, Lilah Ward on June 24; to other great-grandchildren, Zach and Lindsey Winter of Nashville, Tenn., on June 29 and 30. Happy birthday to Annie Ruth Stone on June 30.

Prayer list: Diane Clayton, Henry Tutor, Sandy Byrd, Lina Mae Rhea, Charles Henderson, Fred Whaley, Virgie and Lloyd Kelly, Connie Work, Mary Jo McCallum, Betty Fincher. Pray for those who have lost loved ones.

Memories and History

When Dr. and Mrs. Vaughan, the first Potts Camp doctor, arrived by train to our town one stormy night, she said they thought they had come to the jumping-off place. They were among the first four families to come to Potts Camp after the depot was built in 1886.

People were holding a revival in an old board school house that night. They started shouting and the floor fell in. Dr. Vaughan was called to help the injured; they liked the new doctor. Dr. Vaughan owned the first phone; he also published a local newspaper for two years (with help). It was called the “Illuminator.” He also built the first drug store. Children of Dr. and Mrs. Vaughan were daughters Mattie Jones and Faye Peel. Mattie married Bernard Jones; she operated a “Library on Wheels,” so the people on the country roads could enjoy the books. They had three sons, Harry, B.G and Jack, also one daughter, Aileen (later Warren) of Holly Springs. (All are deceased.) Miss Faye Peel, as we called her, lost her husband after a few years. Mr. Peel brought the first car to town, a one-seater “turnabout.”

Later Miss Faye studied music and became a music teacher at Potts Camp School. She played the organ at the Potts Camp Methodist Church, and also taught an adult Sunday school class.

In the early days, while working in the Potts Camp Bank with Robert Greer, banker, two men robbed the bank and put Mr. Greer and Miss Faye in the vault. They pressed the alarm and George Boren in the drug store next door called the police. They unlocked the vault, then followed the men home and arrested them.

A trial was held at the Potts Camp School in the auditorium. I was a teenager at that time. I stayed all day at the first trial I had ever attended. The men were convicted and sent to prison.

In 1932, Miss Faye was appointed postmaster in Potts Camp post office. She was wonderful! Back then the post office was run by politics. Democratic President F.D. Roosevelt was elected president that year.

During World War II, Miss Faye sold many war bonds; she also helped people contact the men in service, when their family needed them, or had a death in the family.

When Miss Faye retired in 1960, she was called by the Postmaster General Summerfield to come to Jackson to a postmasters convention. Preceded by a dinner at King Edward Hotel, a party was attended by postmasters throughout the state. Miss Faye was surprised when they began showing slides of her childhood and gave tributes to her for her wonderful years of services. We will never forget how wonderful Miss Faye was! We loved her.

Descendants of Dr. Vaughan and daughters of Harry and Rose Jones are friends Betty Rose Jones of Memphis, Tenn., Frances Fitts of Dallas, Tx., and Kathryn Scarbrough of Houston, Tx.

What happy memories!

North Marshall News
Richard Simmons

All in the name of freedom...

As we approach the day we celebrate our independence and ultimately our freedom, I thought I would tell a couple of stories that involved people that were willing to give who we might have that freedom.

On the local front, while I was loading some groceries into my car, an elderly gentleman was doing the same in the space next to mine. I noticed that the license tag said POW so I asked him if he was a prisoner of war. He said he was and I thanked him for his sacrifice. He said “I did my best.” I told him that he did very well and that he should be proud. Now here are a couple of other stories for you to be proud of their sacrifices.

He was called the “Pied Piper of Saipan” because of his unselfish, sometimes suicidal, undertakings during WW II when America stormed Saipan in the Marianna Islands. Marine private Guy Gabaldon would slip out of camp, on his own and use his knowledge of the Japanese language and persuade the enemy to surrender. On his first trip he returned with two prisoners. The next trip he brought back 50 prisoners. His strategy was to approach enemy- held caves or positions and call out that the Marines were nearby and if they would lay down their arms they would be treated with dignity. One day Gabaldon persuaded 800 Japanese soldiers to surrender and they followed him back to the American lines. This Marine private was credited with the capture of 1,500 prisoners. His bravery earned him the Navy Cross, and Hollywood made a movie, “Hell to Eternity,” about him. In all the rewards Gabaldon received he said; “saving American lives was the greatest.” All in the name of Freedom.

In 1768 John Witherspoon, a Presbyterian minister, emigrated from Scotland to take the post as president of the College of New Jersey (now Princeton University). Not long after he began the school, the Revolution began to take precedence. On June 22, 1776, Witherspoon was elected to represent New Jersey in the Continental Congress. Being a believer that the people should choose their own government, he was on the side of the Patriots.

He realized that the colonies would have to fight Britain. “If your cause is just, if your principles are pure, and if your conduct is prudent, you need not fear the multitude of opposing hosts,” he preached.

In the Continental Congress, some of the delegates felt that the country wasn’t ready for independence. “The country is not only ripe for the measure, but in danger of rotting for the want of it,” Witherspoon retorted. He was the only minister to sign the Declaration of Independence.

Witherspoon lost a son in the Revolution, which left the college in bad shape. After the war he began to rebuild the school. “Do not live useless and die contemptible,” he exhorted his students, who included nine future cabinet officers, 21 senators, 39 congressmen, 3 Supreme Court justices, 12 governors, a vice president, and a president-James Madison, who was also one of five Witherspoon students at the Constitutional Convention. All in the name of freedom.

Did You Know, In The Name of Freedom on

June 24, 1944 – U.S. Troops are engaged in a month long battle of Saipan.

June 25, 1788 – Virginia becomes the tenth state to ratify the Constitution.

June 26, 1948 – The Berlin airlifts begin delivering supplies to isolated West Berlin.

June 27, 1950 – President Truman orders the Air Force and Navy into the Korean War.

June 28, 1776 –In Charleston, South Carolina, Patriot troops manning a fort of sand and palmetto logs repulse a British sea attack.

June 29, 1778 – Molly Ludwig Hays received a warrant as a noncommissioned officer from George Washington for her bravery in battle. Molly became known as “Molly Pitcher” of the Continental Army.

June 30, 1950 – President Truman orders U.S. ground troops into Korea.

July 1, 1776 – Caesar Rodney made his 80-mile overnight ride from Dover, Delaware, to Philadelphia to break the tie vote for independence.

Lake Estates News

Jerry Shaw was reelected as president of the Holly Springs Lake Estates Association and Emil Careau was elected as vice president.

Amy Taylor was elected as secretary of the association.

The members of the board of directors are Danny Floyd, James Ledet, Teressa Potts, Mark Anthony, Donnie Stayton, and Bill Neilson.

“Our thanks to president Jerry Shaw and we welcome and thank all our members to join this year’s association activities,” said Careau.

This year’s collection of dues has been the highest we that have collected in several years.

“Thanks to all paid members who recognize the need of their participation as members of HSLE,” Careau said.

“Special recognition goes to James and Teressa Potts who won best yard of the month and to Buddy Smith for his lakeside view appearance and others who are trying to keep their homes and yards looking nice. Good job folks!

“We also thank president Jerry Shaw for his effort to enforce our lake regulations. Anyone who needs a copy of the HSLE laws and regulations booklet please ask for a copy from any of the members or call me at 662-278-2308.”

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