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Community News

Potts Camp News
Dale Hollingsworth

Church of Christ members deliver goodies to shut-ins

A large crowd attended the noon Thanksgiving lunch at the home of Kyle and Melanie Poole in Red Banks on Thursday. Several family members of the late Mary L. Gurley were there. Kyle is the son of Arthur and Doris (Gurley) Poole. They had a time of thanksgiving for all in attendance and enjoyed the abundance of food. The fall theme was carried out in the beautiful decorations throughout the home.

Jim Wales and son, Johnny, of Germantown, Tenn., visited Annie Ruth Stone and Pat Goode last week. Jim is the son of the late Lizzie Lou Holley Wales and her father was George Holley. George and his cousin, Lon Holley, came to Potts Camp and formed Holley Lumber Company in the late 1920s.

Annie Ruth Stone had all of her family for Thanksgiving dinner. They had a great time and the food was delicious.

We thank the members of Potts Camp Church of Christ for the delicious fruit and goodies they delivered to the sick and elderly for Thanksgiving. Mrs. Mitchell Gurley and her lovely daughter delivered one to me.

David and Janis Alderson hosted Thanksgiving dinner for a group of relatives and friends on Sunday.

Betty Fincher and family drove to Hernando where her son, Tony Fincher, owns a camper. They enjoyed Thanksgiving there.

Special friends, Jeanette and Emily Stone, visited me on Sunday. I always enjoy their visit. Emily teaches gifted art at Potts Camp and Galena Schools.

On Sunday afternoon many relatives and friends placed flowers on graves in Potts Camp Cemetery, including my sister-in-law Joann Potts, my daughter Betty Greer, and Bobby Price, who visited me later.

First Methodist Church in New Albany hosted a Christmas Sing-A-Long on Sunday evening. Mitch Stone was one of the many singers on the program. Several from our community attended the program.

A special granddaughter, Liesa G. Blond of Austin, Tx., a doctor there, brought her children to visit us Thanksgiving week. She is the daughter of Betty and David Greer Sr. They also enjoyed seeing David Greer Jr. and family at Cornersville.

We are thankful Annie Reid of Angel’s Corner was able to write her article in The South Reporter last week. She loves everybody and we love her.

Cheryl Rooker and a friend were injured in a recent car accident.

Please pray for Verla Mae Stanton, who is very ill in Tupelo Hospital.

The entire family of Joyce Clayton were her dinner guests on Thanksgiving.

Gift of God

1. By grace you have been saved, through faith and not of yourselves. It is a gift of God. Ephesians 2:8. For better or worse you and I are the only ones Jesus can depend on to tell the world how He lived and died on the cross to save us from our sins. Can He depend on us to strengthen the Kingdom of God just as He depended on those first disciples?

2. Weary and tired of life’s full day, silently now I kneel to pray, and after a moment of peace I arise, ready to meet life’s on-rushing tides. I face the world bravely as from a tall spire. So, friend, when you are tired at heart, kneel with your Master and get a new start.

Prayer list: Henry Tutor, Charles Henderson, Diane Clayton, Sank Owen, Joann Potts, Lena Faye Work, Doris Goode, Betty Rose Jones.

The Old Coal Chute

Many people today don’t remember Potts Camp’s famous landmark, the old coal chute on the Frisco Railroad. It was built in 1915 and demolished in 1977. In 1950, after the trains no longer used coal to pull the engines, it was no longer needed and became a landmark. We could see it from our school and homes. It was the largest one on the Frisco Railroad and the only one between Memphis and Amory. During the war in the 1940s, the depot and coal chute were very important. They were used night and day for troop trains. My dad was the depot agent in Potts Camp for over 40 years. He had to work double shifts during the war. Sometimes the soldiers got off the train and took pictures of the coal chute. People would meet them to encourage them.

We enjoyed riding the passenger trains. The roads were bad during the early days and the old T Model Ford cars would not crank, so people rode the trains and shipped supplies for the stores by rail. Now, since the Burlington Northern bought out the Frisco Railroad, they have no passenger trains and no depots.

My brother, James, and I climbed the ladder to the coal chute. It reached about halfway up to the top. It was fun seeing our town from there. Times have changed since I was a child.

Did you know?
Richard Simmons

A call to prayer –

It was February 2007, the morning of the 55th Annual Prayer Breakfast in Washington, D.C. Over 4,000 diplomats, politicians, journalist and foreign leaders were in attendance, with the usual back-biting, bickering and jabs on hold for the moment. The keynote speaker was Dr. Frances S. Collins, the director of the Human Genome Project. He and his colleagues have mapped out the 3 billion letters of the human genetic code imprinted into each of our cells.

Dr. Collins told of growing up on a Virginia farm and at an early age becoming fascinated with science and medicine.

“Choosing a profession where only 40 percent of my colleagues believed in God, I considered myself to be an atheist. It was one of my cancer patients that caused me to question my beliefs. She shared with me that she did not fear dying because she had a personal relationship with God through faith in Jesus Christ. She explained the good news that God loves us and has a wonderful plan for our lives, and offers us a way to eternal life through Jesus, and then she asked, ‘Doctor, what do you believe?’ I fled the room as fast as I could.

“I searched for but could not find an answer to her question. Then I began to consider the evidence by studying Jesus’ life and reading books by C.S. Lewis. Along the way I found Jesus a man unlike any other – humble, caring, willing to love His enemies, ready to forgive sinners of any race, creed, or color.

“Deciding that the evidence demanded a verdict, I bowed my head and prayed for God to forgive me and make me a fully devoted follower of Jesus, and He changed my life.”

Dr. Collins concluded his prayer breakfast remarks by playing his guitar and singing, “Praise the Source of Faith and Learning.” Just as the inventor Benjamin Franklin called for prayer during the Constitutional Convention in 1787, 220 years later, another scientist answered the call of faith in front of national leaders who had gathered to pray.

Did You Know On

Dec. 1, 1862 – Abraham Lincoln reminded the nation that America is the “last best hope on earth.”

Dec. 2, 1982 – Doctors at the University of Utah Medical Center performed the first permanent heart implant in a human; the patient, Barney Clark, lived 112 days.

Dec. 3, 1805 – Lewis & Clark Expedition reached the Pacific Coast.

Dec. 4, 1783 – The Revolutionary War ended and General George Washington bid farewell to his officers at the Frances Tavern in New York City.

Dec. 5, 1955 – Prompted by Rosa Parks’ arrest, the Montgomery bus boycott began.

Dec. 6, 1884 – Workers finished construction of the Washington Monument.

Dec. 7, 1941 – The Japanese Empire attacked the U.S. Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor.

This Week’s Quiz

Which is the highest peak in the lower 48 states?

Which is the highest peak in the Adirondacks?

Which is the world’s tallest mountain peak?

Which is the highest peak in the Great Smoky Mountains?

Which peak inspired Katharine Bates to pen “America the Beautiful?”

Ref: The American Patriot Almanac by William Bennett and John Cribb

Battlefields and Blessings by Jane Hampton Cook

Questions or comments, richardps@centurytel.net.

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