Society

Happy birthday to Dawn Simpson Larson, who flipped a magic number. Numerous friends from Holly Springs attended a large party for her in Oxford Saturday night. A fun time was had by all in celebrating this momentous birthday.

Friday, there was something that came through here like a tornado. It was spooky, as the lights went out and all of a sudden, things started whipping through the air in all sorts of directions. Taking the first course of action, I ran to the closet - after making sure the animals were safe and sound. A few minutes afterwards, Laura (my sister) called and said there was something wrong because all of the power on the south side of town was off. I told her something strange had happened.

Not 10 minutes later, Laura appeared at my door. She said we must have had a tornado - there were trees and power lines down everywhere. I jumped in her car and we rode down by Holly High - trees everywhere, debris laying in the streets and all of the power lines down in the street. A massive tree fell which almost covered the back lot.

Next door at Montrose, there was a flurry of hysteria, as there was going to be a wedding held there Saturday. No one had power and, from what I understood, it was going to be a day or two at best when the power would be restored. All I could think about was the poor bride and what a catastrophe this was for her.

I loaded up the children and we spent the night with my Momma. We were due in New Albany Saturday morning for a tournament. Gene stayed home and the plan was to pick him up on our way out of town. We did not have power at around 10 a.m. when we got him - also did not have access to the street, as there was a tree blocking it.

Gene ran into George Humphreys, who was diligently working on getting the power back up and running in the neighborhood. He was in the trenches right alongside the rest of his crew with the Holly Springs Utility Department. Saturday, there were crews all down Spring Street and over by Holly High.

Needless to say, because of the tireless efforts of the utility department crews, power was brought back to our house around noon Saturday.

Thinking again of the bride, this will be a wedding that I am sure her guests will not forget! As the years go by, she will be able to look back and laugh at the whole situation - I hope! Thank you again to the Holly Springs Utility Department for working so hard to get us going again!! It is comforting to know when we have a state of emergency that they are there to help.

(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).

Miss Shalonda Rucker to wed Martez Walker October 17

Shalonda Rucker and Martez Walker

Shalonda Artesha Rucker and Martez DeShawn Walker will exchange wedding vows. Shalonda is the daughter of Dwight and Rosie Rucker of Michigan City. Martez is the son of Dorthy Marie Collins of Rossville, Tenn., and Rickey Walker of Collierville, Tenn. Shalonda is a graduate of Ashland High School and holds a bachelor of applied science degree from the University of Mississippi. Shalonda is employed with the United States Postal Service. Martez is a graduate of Collierville High School and is employed with Norfolk Southern Railroad Company. The couple will exchange vows on Saturday, Oct. 17 at 4 p.m. at The Desoto Civic Center in Southaven.

R.D. Ferguson III and Ashley West of Byhalia are proud to announce the birth of their son, R.D. Ferguson IV. He was born Aug. 28 at 5:25 a.m. He weighed seven pounds, four ounces, and was 20 inches long.

Proud grandparents are R.D. and Mechelle Ferguson of Byhalia, Liz West of Byhalia and Ron Milligan of Horn Lake. Little Dee is welcomed home by his big sister, Gracie.

Bobby and Angie Clayton of Byhalia welcomed home their new daughter, Charlie Nell Clayton, who was born at 5:56 a.m. on Aug. 20 at Germantown Methodist Hospital. She weighed six pounds, 11 ounces and was 20 inches long. Charlie was also welcomed home by her big brother, Jake.

Her parents are Charles and Emma Milliorn of Barton, Butch and Dale Alsup of Como, Ann Clayton and the late Lonnie Clayton of Holly Springs. Her great-grandparents are Rivers Catledge of Hollandale; Dorothy Milliorn of Barton and George and Leona Alsup of Bartlett, Tenn.

I am still thrilled as the museum work is nearing an end. It would not have been possible without the Lord’s help. He sent geniuses to unfold their brains into tangible results. Our spacey building is our setting. Our fantastic artifacts are all from Marshall County, except one, a carpet bag I bought at the flea market. This is the culmination of thousands of hours of hard labor.

It began 40 years ago with a love for our incredible history that we have been given. Not every place is so fortunate, and parents and teachers, you need to teach the future generation about their past because they are our future. History has a way of repeating itself. At the museum we are trying to reiterate enchanting tales of what happened here, and this part you can visualize, (but not touch as the oil from the human hand destroys exhibits.)

The Lord carried us through the whole thing. The very first day, I was sitting in the office by myself and I prayed to the Lord, “please send me some help” and looked out the window and seven burly angels were walking up the walk.

One was my grandson, Joe Christman and Zane McAlexander and five other gentlemen - artists. They built the first set-up. Then newcomer Tom Phillips (who is really Tom Terrific) came with seven of his friends and they started unloading the trailers -- all of this out of the goodness of their hearts and without pay.

At the beginning of our maintaining ride with history, the Lord sent us Bill Kivelle. I call him the Lion King, because he reminds me of the Lion King. He is a super person. He had a hand in creating what we are. He works for the county and has a flair for what’s right. Then He sent us Genius Joe Hurdle, an artist who works in wood, metal, glass, or whatever medium there is. Also from the courthouse came Mighty Matt and Genius John.

When Joe went on vacation, he sent us his friend, Daniel Hall, who is almost as good as he is at creating. Also, in there was Victor Baker, Gloria’s son, grown up. All I had to do was point at something or draw an invisible picture in the air, snap my fingers, and wham-o, there it was!

Ed Bounds, the quiet and efficient boss-boy, as he looks like a kid but isn’t, brought in his brawny helpers, Chester, Jerry, Oscar and Seth. All of them were so polite and patient with me. One of them joked about wanting to ride the first tricycles ever and it was funny as he looked like an NFL’er. He also looked at the sealed Coke exhibit and jokingly exclaimed how thirsty he was and would I let him have a drink.

Then there is Arty Ann Jones, whom the Lord sent to paint the beautiful mural in the wildlife room and to create other exhibits with her talent. My mainstay through all this move, and since six years ago, when we moved out of the building, has been Jennifer Bone. I call her Jennifer Whiz, because she is a whiz at the computer and running the office. (She was Cybil Shepard’s runner-up in her past history) Also helping were Wonderful Wanda Boyd and Sweet Ann Hedderick Reed. Ann was my 87-year-old door guard.

None of this could have been done without our volunteers. One of them was our jewel, Jewel Stover, who was faithful for months every day and another was Cindy Keown who was like Super Woman and could do anything. ReQuity Jones worked with us for weeks and we could depend on her (she teaches Chinese at Rust.) She brought her daughters and granddaughters to help, too (teaching them to help).

Many days we had lunch together, always after the blessing. One day a volunteer, Liz Stratman, brought the most delicious chicken salad I ever tasted. Food helped as we needed it for strength. Lillie Teel brought brownies she baked one day. Nita Gilstrap and others volunteered and we thank them all!

Without the help and assistance of my daughter, Jorja and her husband, Michael, I couldn’t have made it. Jorja makes fabulous displays also. My daughter Melody and her husband, Steve Golding have been indispensable. Farrah and Larry McAlexander are responsible for a whole room of exhibits (the Indian Room). My sons, Walker and Randall helped also. Scott prayed for me. He’s too far away, as he lives in California, but I needed the prayers.

Next we used prisoners, who came with an armed deputy, to unload the trailers. They were all polite and very helpful. We also used workers from the Welfare Dept. who helped do many jobs and they did it well with a good attitude. We feel sorry for the garbage people who never quite got over how much garbage and trash we produced.

The children of the local Church of Christ and their visitors from another town came in and worked for hours unloading and moving. It was really refreshing and encouraging to realize that our future will one day be in their hands.

When we were preparing to have a booth at the Hummingbird Festival, the Baptist young people came in and helped us load and unload, carrying all the weight. Some of their parents came, too, teaching them to help when someone needs it.

My fantastic husband, Ira Shipp, opened and closed for me every day. He and I were working on the sports exhibit and he says, “There is no mention of fishing or hunting,” so he created a fishing exhibit, complete with fish. He also was responsible for me and the others not starving day after day.

From road-kill, we got the new little opossum and we are still taking names for him until next week. Send your suggestions to: Museum, P.O. Box 806, Holly Springs, MS 38635. We can’t take anymore articles as we have no more room but we appreciate all you have sent. Thank you for helping us. However, we are in dire need of funds, as it costs a lot to move. We are tax deductible and all this effort is for you and your children for the future to make your community a better place to live.

It was a wonderful ride, a summer I’ll never forget. I made new friends and learned a lot that I’ll never forget. Thanks for this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity of serving the community and doing something worthwhile that will last a long time. Thank you, too, for the support of all of you who helped in any way and especially those who prayed for us and who helped in a monetary way.

Please support us for the museum in the dazzling Christmas in Holly Springs tour on December 5 and 6, showing five houses dressed in holiday splendor, plus two concerts and more. Advance tickets are cheaper. Our television show on Punch 99 is great too. It is every Thursday and Monday at 6 p.m.

What we did was a miracle and the Lord is the reason we got it done. Without Him, it wouldn’t have been possible.


Thursday, October 15, 2009
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