Community News
Potts Camp News
Dale Hollingsworth Reminder – Potts Camp School Reunion June 5 Several
Potts Camp School teachers visited a fifth-grade school teacher in her
home on Tuesday, who is recuperating from recent triple bypass heart
surgery. Pray for a speedy recovery! Also pray
for Joey Hale, who had recent surgery on his head in Memphis, Tenn. The
Potts Camp Fire Department is planning a benefit for him. On
Thursday night, the singers from Temperance Hill Baptist Church visited
the patients at Trinity Mission Home and sang for them. Tony and Tammie Fincher from Memphis visited his mother, Betty Fincher, over the weekend. Belated happy birthday to Brook Hale on April 28, to Tracy Pipkin (my granddaughter) on April 29 and Lela Hale on May 1. Many
Potts Camp graduates of the Class of 1955 met recently at the home of
Betty and Knowlton Shaw: Betty (the former Betty Smithwick), Lucy Dunn
Gaines, Margaret and Jimmy Hart, Walter Gurley, Joe McCallum, Shirley
and Tom Bready, Loretta Alderson-Houston, Jerry Day, Twilla
McCallum-Rutherford, former student Bradley. They had a wonderful time. I
was happy to see my niece, Karen and John Williams, of Andover, Kansas,
who visited me on Friday. Her mother was my late sister, Ann Potts
Hill of Becker. They flew to Memphis and rented a car to come to
Mississippi to visit her father, Herman Hill. They brought me a dozen
pretty red roses. Sympathy is sent to Joseph M.
Cupp and family of Barton in the death of his wife, Laverne Shaw Cupp.
Laverne was the daughter of the late Hilburn and Ruth Randolph Shaw and
the sister of Ralph and Lester Shaw of Potts Camp, Charles Shaw of
Holly Springs, and Shirley Coltharp of Myrtle. Services were held
Sunday in Collierville with burial in Butler Cemetery near Potts Camp. Sympathy
is also extended to John Nelson of Byhalia in the death of his wife,
Susan. John is the brother of the late Mary L. Gurley. While
visiting relatives in Potts Camp, Jack and Laverne Provost of Florida
also visited with her sister, Birtie Sue Seitz in Osceola, Ark., and
Hazel Ferrell in Munford, Tenn. Ann Boren
Armstrong called on Sunday to check on the weather situation in Potts
Camp and surrounding areas over the weekend. Residents stayed awake on
Saturday night due to the stormy conditions. We are saddened to hear
of the deaths in Benton County due to the weather. Reminder:
Potts Camp School Reunion will be held the first Saturday of June. Make
plans now to attend. Call Annie Ruth Stone to make reservations –
662-333-6350. Happy Birthday to Gale Goode on May
6; Susan Howell, May 7; Benjamin Rowland, May 7; Amanda Murphy, May 13;
Sawyer Goode, May 16; Leah Paige Goolsby, May 16; Kevin Poole, May 23;
April Stacks, May 25; Mike Muraco, May 26; Beverly Farr, May 26;
Madison Grace Stacks, May 30. A Smile for Mother If
you have a smile for Mother, give it now. If you have a friendly word,
speak it now. She’ll not need it when the angels greet her at the
Golden Gate. Give the smile while she is living. If you wait, ’twill be
too late. If you have a flower for Mother, pluck it now. Place it
gently on her bosom, plant a kiss upon her brow. What cares she when
life is over, for the flowers that bloom before. She will have share up
yonder at her feet forevermore. —Lindy’s Newsletter Thoughts 1. Have faith. God is always with you, though it may not seem so. 2. Have hope. God’s love surrounds you much more than you know. 3. Have peace. God has a special plan just for you. 4. Have joy. For always, come what may, God will help to see you through. 5. Have love. Without love, nothing else matters. Thoughts Be
careful what you do with Jesus! Somehow, despite all the forces men do
against Him, He still calls to the hearts of men. We can take Him out
of the history books, but we can’t take Him out of history. We can take
Him out of our homes, but we can’t take Him out of our hearts. Thomas
said, “My Lord and my God!” John 20:28 God’s Promise God
didn’t promise days without pain, laughter without sorrow, or sun
without rain. But God did promise strength for the day, comfort for the
tears, and a light for the way, and for all who believe in His Kingdom
above He answers their faith with everlasting love. Prayer
list: Marjorie Clifton, my special friend who lost her husband, Henry,
and a daughter, Wilma, four months later; Jean Newman, who is having
surgery; Henry Tutor, who is in VA hospital in Memphis; he hopes to
return home. Other friends, Ealine Jarrett, Charles Henderson, Mary
Frances Clayton, Sandy Byrd, Mary Jarrett, Diane Clayton, Gussie Davis,
Betty Fincher, Connie Work, L.D. and Thelma Ford, Pauline Hutchens,
Richard Erwin and Stanley Skelton. Pray for all who suffer and have
lost loved ones. Memories and History During the early days, the only home entertainment we had was the old Victrola in the hall. My
dad visited the Railroad Hospital in St. Louis every year for a
checkup. He would come home with several gold records of the famous
“singing brakeman” Jimmie Rodgers. For many
years, the people in Meridian have honored their favorite son by having
a “Hillbilly Music Day.” They also have a Jimmie Rogers Memorial Park
there. Even after he was dying with TB, he kept singing. His songs were so real, I felt like I was standing beside him, “just waiting for a train.” When
another larger radio was bought, my dad gave me the old one for my
bedroom. Later at night, I would listen to the big bands, Tommy Dorsey,
Glenn Miller and Bennie Goodman, broadcast from the rooftop of the
Peabody Hotel in Memphis. Several years ago, Betty and I met her daughter, Liesa and daughter Lilah, at the airport in Memphis. She treated us to a night’s stay at the Peabody Hotel in Memphis. When
we went up on the roof of the hotel to see the cute houses where the
ducks live, I suddenly remembered the big bands I had listened to on
that very same rooftop during my teenage years.
Did you know?
Richard Simmons Celebrating Mother’s life Her
name was Velma Pearl Gaugh Johnson, born on January 30, 1908, and
married her sweetheart 15 years later. She and her husband raised six
children, scraping out a living, both working in a textile mill and
growing some food needs in the family garden. In
the fall she would pick cotton after working the first shift in the
textile mill. Her husband would hunt rabbit, squirrel, raccoon and
possum. When he brought his kill home he would clean and the wife would
prepare the wild game for the family. I have sat at their table and
enjoyed all of the game mentioned and some that I won’t mention. Now
I want to concentrate more on the wife and mother of this family. This
is the life she chose for herself and did it faithfully and with pride.
Monday through Friday and during the war years through Saturday she
would get up at 4:30 a.m., make a full breakfast for her husband and
herself and be at the textile mill at 5:45 a.m. She got there by foot
power in all weather conditions. Her shift ended at 2 p.m. and then on
to other duties waiting at home. On a particular
day she may sew a dress for one of her daughters or a shirt for one of
the sons. Meanwhile she would, with assistance from the children, be
preparing dinner for the family (the children learned to cook and do
housework very early). When I came into the family (I married her
youngest daughter) she would also do things for me as she did her own.
Clothes had to be washed (by hand) and hung outside to dry. This mother
did all these things or managed the process. On
Sunday she would be up with a full breakfast, make her way to Sunday
school and church services. She also made it to Sunday night and
Wednesday night church services. Saturday was spent mending at the
sewing machine or preparing some of Sunday dinner (lunch). Now Sunday
dinner was a real treat. I don’t know how she managed to always have
just the right amount of food prepared. You never knew how many of the
children and grandchildren would be present. I have seen on many
occasions the chairs at the kitchen table full, the living room and
bedrooms filled with family or guests and there was enough food for all. Through
all this she was a fun-filled gentle soul. She was faithful to her
Lord, her husband and her children. She helped provide their needs as
only a loving mother can do. Mom knew happiness and the pain of losing
children. She loved doing for others. She changed from my mother-in-law
to my mother. She said she was tired and died at the age of 92. We miss
you, Mom, and just to let you know your daughter is just like you. We
celebrate your life. Happy Mother’s Day, Mom. Did You Know On May 5, 1988 – The first Thursday in May is designated the National Day of Prayer. May 6, 1941 – In Riverside, California, Bob Hope performed his first show for U.S. troops. May 7, 1945 –≠Germany surrendered its forces ending WW II in Europe. May 8, 1914 – Congress established the second Sunday in May as Mother’s Day. May 9, 1865 – Richard Gatling received a patent for the Gatling gun, an early machine gun. May 10, 1865 – Union troops captured Confederate president Jefferson Davis at Irwinville, Ga. May 11, 1947 – B.F. Goodrich announced the development of the tubeless tire. This Week’s Quiz How many men served on the committee to draw up the draft for the Declaration of Independence? How many colonies were there when the Declaration of Independence was drafted? What was the value of goods traded to the Indians for Manhattan Island? Where was the first U.S. presidential mansion located? After graduation from Harvard College, what did John Adams do as a profession? Answers to Last Week’s Quiz John Adams defended the British soldiers at the Boston Massacre trial. Thomas Jefferson served as vice president under John Adams. John Adam’s wife was Abigail. The St. Lawrence connects the Atlantic Ocean and the Great Lakes. John and Abigail Adams had five children.
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