Society

Hank Wheeler of Newnan, Ga., was the guest of Mary Clay and Gene Brooks and children, Caitlyn and Grady, this week. He also visited with Laura Wheeler. While here, he attended the Lady Patriots softball games Monday and Tuesday.

Rives and Shelley Pringle of Gulfport, and daughters, Cecilia and Elizabeth, visited with their family and friends Saturday. Alex McCrosky and Ann Yager Hamlin of Danville, Ken., met up with Bea and Drew Tolsdorf of Jackson, for the weekend. They all had a wonderful time visiting with their cousins from the coast.

Get well wishes go out to Drew Rappa on a recent collarbone injury. Also to Taylor Maury, who had a minor mishap under the Friday night lights in Senatobia. Jake Jones has also suffered a football injury, donning a camo cast from fingers to above his elbow. Get well, boys, and back on the field soon!

What a wonderful thing it is that Sam Gholson has donated his life’s work to the Marshall County Historical Museum! I was lucky enough to visit with Sam when I lived in Dallas. His paintings were simply amazing! Holly Springs is lucky to be able to acquire such magnificent artwork from a truly talented artist! His works come to life - including his nudes, which are breathtakingly gorgeous! Once the shipment arrives, everyone must flock to the museum to see what fine pieces Sam has so generously donated!

(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 or email to south@dixie-net.com).

Melissa McPherson and Bryan Hobbs to wed September 18 in Alabama

Bryan Adam Hobbs and Melissa Lynn McPherson

Tony and Betty Taggart of Carrollton, Ala., and Sandy and Sandra McPherson of Richmond Hill, Ga., announce the engagement of their daughter, Melissa Lynn McPherson, to Bryan Adam Hobbs, son of Robert Hobbs of Holly Springs and Patty Armour of Olive Branch.

Melissa is a graduate of MSU where she earned a bachelor’s of science in kinesiology. She is currently a development representative for the American Cancer Society in Tuscaloosa, Ala.

Bryan is a graduate of UOP with a bachelor’s of science in business management. He is employed by Sylvania Lighting Services in Bartlett, Tenn., as an area manager.

The wedding will take place on September 18, 2010 at 6 p.m. at Two Carets in Fort Morgan, Ala.

Friends and family are invited to attend.

Yulondria Wilson and Jermarcus LeSure will be married at 3 p.m. on Saturday, September 4, 2010 at Mt. Newell MB Church, 1861 N. Red Banks Road in Red Banks.

A reception will immediately follow the ceremony at Pryme Tyme (Annie’s) in Holly Springs.

Yulondria is the daughter of Brenda Rogers and Mr. and Mrs. Wayne Jefferson of Holly Springs. She is the granddaughter of the late Reggie Wilson Sr. and Mandie Wilson of Laws Hill and Louise E. Jefferson of Red Banks.

Jermarcus is the son of Sharon LeSure and Mr. and Mrs. Benjamin Norman Sr. of Holly Springs. He is the grandson of Mr. and Mrs. Earnest LeSure Jr. of Holly Springs and Mr. and Mrs. Clinton “Doc” Norman Sr. of Red Banks.

All family and friends, along with the 1994 and 1995 classes of Potts Camp High School and the 2005 Holly Springs High School class are welcomed to attend.

Long ago during World War II on the home front, everything was rationed. All rubber went for the war effort and your old tires had to do by patching and re-patching. Gas was rationed too, so we didn’t go far away from home. I remember our blue gas rationing book. My family (my father, mother and I) received a “B” ration book and we were allotted ten gallons a month.

Tokens and coins were issued and gas sold for about eleven cents per gallon and we thought that was high, as during the Depression, it had been cheaper.

There weren’t many cars and there were no new cars at all because all the steel went for making tanks and guns. Everybody was devoutly patriotic.

To show you how times change, last night we had company and both couples had brand new cars run by batteries and gasoline made by the Japanese. They get 50 miles to the gallon. These cars are perfectly silent when running. In Japan where they have lots of pedestrians, a fan had to be installed in the cars under the front seats to be noisy so folks wouldn’t get run over.

In one of Martha’s clippings, dated July 16, 1942, The South Reporter tells of Charlie Miller, whom we all knew, riding his new “safety bicycle” nonchalantly around town to save the tires on his car. The first bicycle in Holly Springs was a high wheel kind with a small wheel behind and was owned by Walter Jackson. The second bike was owned by Wiley Athey and had a small wheel in front of the large wheel. (He was also connected to the armory where the first guns for the Confederacy were made.)

Jackson and Athey paid $235 each for their bikes. Then came the new “safety” models on the order of the ones made later and the first of these was owned by Charlie Miller fifty years ago.

He learned to ride then and when the tires of the automobiles cannot be used much he rode back and forth to his pressing shop as easily and gracefully as the 16-year-old boys of his day and time.

Mr. Miller owned B.J.’s Cleaners and was the first to have a cleaning establishment there. Sometimes when history is all around you, you don’t recognize it. At this time (in 1942) the twice winner of the World’s Six Day Bike race in Madison Square Garden lived at the north end of Market Street. He was Bennie Munroe who was born in 1878 and reared in Hudsonville.

He conquered the world on a bicycle. Bicycle riding was a leisure that turned into a business for him. His partner was Bobby Walthour of Memphis and they won the prestigious race in 1907 and again in 1908. In the race, they raced constantly for six days and won. They covered 2300 miles in those six days round and round Madison Square Garden. It was the first indoor bike race in the world. The group behind them had won the France race earlier and since then France has won the race thirty-six times, Spain 12 times and the United States 10 times, but Bennie was first.

Bennie turned professional in 1897 and was a “money” rider for 14 years. He was in several spills that helped cut short his racing career. In 1899 he crossed the finish line a full wheel ahead of the defending champion.

In 1903 he established what he claimed as a record at the time, he rode fifty miles and 335 yards in one hour at Cambridge, Mass.

In 1905 he won a relay race in Madison Square Garden in New York City. Bennie Munroe and his wife lived in a house trailer at the north end of Market Street. His business there was repairing bicycles. I knew the Munroes and used to take them food at holiday time. My father helped them out during the Depression, as he did many. Bennie had his championship bicycle there on North Market Street and if I had just asked for it, I know he would have given that bicycle to me.

I knew the Munroes during the 1950s. After that, he and his wife were moved into the “County Home” with their meager belongings (including his bike) and I’m sure it saw the way of a lot of old things, and was thrown into the trash bin.

I wish we had it now in the museum. His wife sent me his beautiful oval portrait with conclave glass of him on his bike which we have at the museum.

Something exciting happened last Friday at the museum. Michael Feldman of Osh Kosh, Wis., called and asked me to be on his national public radio show on Saturday morning and I was! I talked about how great our museum is. He also asked me to be on again on September 12.

We are preparing a great history for October 9. We are inviting all history lovers to come. We need to make arrangements; so call as soon as possible. The tour will be from 9 a.m.-5 p.m.; lunch will be provided; and the cost is $35. The tour will be delightful. Call the musuem.


Thursday, September 2, 2010
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