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Community News

Potts Camp News
Dale Hollingsworth

Betty Fincher surprised with early birthday guests

A homecoming was held on Sunday, Aug. 29, at Bethany Baptist Church at 11 a.m. with a special speaker, Doug Rakestraw. It was followed by a song service. Rev. Donald Worsham is a pastor of the church.

Tony and Tammy Fincher of Memphis, Tenn., visited his mother, Betty Fincher, on Sunday. They were her supper guests. They also visited Tony’s sister, Connie and Andy Work, nearby. Betty will celebrate her birthday on Aug. 30; she was surprised by early birthday gifts by Polly Churchill, her friend. We wish her a happy birthday.

This year, our Potts Camp School has a football team, the first one since 1934, when I attended Potts Camp School. Our team has pretty red suits. They are called the Potts Camp Cardinals, the same as our basketball team.

Mr. and Mrs. Andy Work drove their small granddaughter, daughter Anna, and a friend, Kathy McCallum, to Gatlinburg for a few days vacation last week.

Lessons I’ve Learned

1. If you depend on others to make you happy, you will always be disappointed.

2. Love is a great investment. No matter who you give it to, it returns great dividends.

3. “Those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles.” Isaiah 40:31.

Poem

Peace on earth cannot be found until we meet on common ground and every man becomes a brother who worships God and loves each other.

Thoughts

It Shows In Your Face

You don’t have to tell how you live each day. You don’t have to tell if you work or you play. A tried true barometer serves in its place. However you live, it will show in your face. The faults, the deceit that you bear in your heart will not stay inside when it first gets its start. For sinew and blood are a thin veil of lace. What you wear on your heart will show in your face. If your life is unselfish, and for others you live, and not how much you get, but how much you give, if you live close to God in His infinite grace, you don’t have to tell it; it shows in your face.

Friendship is a precious treasure and a gift from God! Proverbs 17:17, “A friend loves at all times.”

There is something that is more healing than miracle drugs and more valuable than all the money in the world. It is friendship, of course. What is the magic formula one can use to get rich with friends?

The secret is to be friendly yourself! It requires sacrifice, appreciation and love. Christ is our greatest friend! He loves us, trusts in us and believes in us. Christ did not give up on us, even when man did his worse at the cross.

Happy birthday to a friend, Inez Jarrett, on Sept. 1; to Vickie Winter of Nashville, Tenn., (my granddaughter) on Sept. 3; to Alan Potts, a radio announcer and my nephew of Tupelo, on Sept. 12.

Happy wedding anniversary to Dean and Don Randolph on Sept. 15. Happy birthday to Jean Gurley on Sept. 15 and to Mable Day on Sept. 19; they are friends.

Special prayers are extended to Claudell For, who had recent surgery at the New Albany Hospital. Special prayers to two of my friends, Sank Owen of Amory and Betty Rose Jones of Memphis.

Pray for all the sick people and those who have lost loved ones.

Prayer list: Henry Tutor, former neighbor, in Ripley nursing home; Diane Clayton; Mary Jarrett; Charles Henderson; Connie Work; Betty Fincher; Doris Goode; Joann Potts; Steve Price, surgery; Gussie Davis, a friend from Hickory Flat, who is very ill. She is home from the hospital.

Memories and History

I remember the wonderful football team at Potts Camp School back in 1934 under coach Lloyd Thomas.

We wrote a song:

“There’s no team like our team, no captain like Marrett, no center like Steele is. He’s just the best yet.”

One day, the boys were playing football after school when someone yelled, “The depot is on fire!”

I ran there as fast as I could. My dad, Bennie Potts, was the depot agent. The football team also rushed there and hooked up the only fire equipment we had, two big wheels with a large hose on it.

I looked for my dad and finally spotted him with two football players coming out of the burning depot with his desk and records. The football players wet all the stores on Front Street; the depot was too far gone.

Two box cars near the depot had explosives in them. The crowd rushed back as flames shot into the air. The football team was our hero; they saved our town. For about six weeks, my dad had to set up two box cars on the tracks to work in until a new depot could be built. They used telegraphy.

At that time, everything was shipped by trains to the depot for merchants to pick up; the roads were too bad. We are thankful for our fire department today. It reaches across the railroad tracks to where a fire truck is located. At one time, trains would block the road and houses would burn before the fire trucks could get there.

The Frisco Railroad had passenger trains; we had a pass and rode free to Memphis and Plantersville often, where our relatives lived.

Now the Burlington Northern Railroad has no passenger trains or depots. We enjoyed riding the trains many times over the years.

Did you know?
Richard Simmons

American victory at Boston

General Howe of the British Army looked at Dorchester Heights and the enormous accomplishment by the Americans with feelings of awe and amazement. The British engineers established it took 15,000 to 20,000 men to do the work in one night.

Later in the spring, one of the London papers quoted a British officer saying; “this morning at daybreak we discovered two redoubts on the Heights of Dorchester Point and two smaller works on their flanks. They were raised during the night, with an expedition equal to that of the genie belonging to Aladdin’s wonderful lamp. From these hills they command the whole town, so that we must drive them from their post, or desert the place.”

General Howe had vowed to attack the Americans if they ever took Dorchester. He ordered 2,000 troops to prepare for the removal of the Americans. American John Trumbull wrote, “We saw the preparations the enemy was undertaking to dislodge us. We saw the embarkation of the troops from various wharves…we were in high spirits, well prepared to receive the threatened attack.” American Dr. Thacher wrote of the swarms of spectators covering the nearby hills, waiting to see a bloody battle.

His excellency, General Washington, was present animating and encouraging the soldiers. At the end of a short speech charging the troops, Washington prayed, “Gracious God! If it be determined in thy Providence that thousands of our fellow creatures shall this day be slain, let thy wrath be appeased, and in mercy grant that victory be on the side of our suffering, bleeding country.”

The British embarked about noon. The warm pleasant day changed to strong headwinds and by night a storm raged. Hail, snow and sleet fell. Almost hurricane winds blew. The next morning the winds continued and then changed to driving rain. General Howe called off the attack, stating “I could see little or no success in attacking them, wherefore I judged it most advisable to prepare for the evacuation of Boston. Agreement was made if allowed to depart peacefully; the British would spare the town. Agreeing, the American guns remained silent.

A great deal of confusion engulfed the people in Boston. Most prepared to leave with the British as most were loyalists. Imagine for a moment the task of moving thousands of troops, the comforts of the officers, (they often brought the comforts of home with them) such things as a favorite chair or tea cups. General Howe agreed to take the loyalists who wished to leave Boston. People of distinction and worth were among the 1,100 loyalists who went aboard the ships.

According to one study 382 heads of families were farmers, mechanics, and tradesmen. Among the women listed as heads of families was Hannah Flucker, the mother of Henry Knox’s wife Lucy, with a household of six. The wealthy shared cabins with 30 to 40 women and children, “pigging together” until they left harbor. On March 17, 120 ships began departing with 11,000 people and 8902 troops. Packed on board were 667 women, 553 children, plus 1100 loyalists. People on shore were cheering and weeping. “Surely it is the Lord’s doing and it is marvelous in our eyes” wrote Abigail Adams.

Did You Know On

Sept. 1, 1821 – William Becknell began his journey from Arrow Rock, Missouri, to Santa Fe, New Mexico, in a wagon train, opening the Santa Fe Trail.

Sept. 2, 1945 – Japan formerly surrendered aboard the USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay, ending World War II.

Sept. 3, 1783 – The Treaty of Paris officially ended the Revolutionary War.

Sept. 4, 1886 – Apache leader Geronimo surrendered to U.S. troops in Arizona.

Sept. 5, 1975 – President Gerald Ford escaped an assassination attempt by Lynette “Squeaky” Fromme when Secret Service agents grabbed her pistol.

Sept. 6, 1781 – British troops under traitor Benedict Arnold burned New London, Connecticut.

Sept. 7, 1927 – Philo T. Farnsworth transmitted the first image sent by electronic television.

This Week’s Quiz

Who broke Lou Gehrig’s record for playing in the most consecutive baseball games?

What foreign navy helped the Continental Army defeat the British at Yorktown, Virginia?

On June 14, 1777, Congress adopted the Stars and Stripes as the national standard. When did the Stars and Stripes first fly in battle?

Who patented the Kodak camera?

Who wrote the American’s Creed?

Answers to Last Quiz

The largest shopping mall in the United States is in Bloomington, Minn.

When Henry Knox reached Westfield, he changed from oxen to horses.

Daniel K. Inouye was the first Japanese-American to serve in the House of Representatives.

John F. Kennedy was the first president to hold a live televised press conference.

Rutherford B. Hayes was the first president to have a telephone in the White House.

Ref: 1776 by David McCollough, The Real George Washington by Perry Allison Skouson, The American Patriots Almanac by William Bennett and John T.E. Gribb

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