Society

Mary Glen and Patrick Carlton and children, Mary Grace and William, of Birmingham, Ala., were the weekend guests of Vicki and Walter Webb. While here, they had a nice long visit with Kay Wheeler and her family, as well as with other friends. They went to the Children’s Museum in Memphis Saturday, where Mary Grace and William had a lot of hands-on time with the interactive exhibits they have there.

Everette Stubbs of Washington, D.C., is the guest of Linda and David Seale. He is also visiting with Lee Ann and Ellis Stubbs and infant son, Townsend, of Southaven. Townsend was christened Sunday.

Samuel Thomas Dickerson entered the world July 6, weighing eight pounds, six ounces and measuring 22” long. His proud parents are Mary and Bob Dickerson of Fairhope, Ala. No doubt he will be calling in the turkeys as soon as the season hits! Best wishes to this beautiful new family!

(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).

Paige Gholson to wed Chase Brewer July 28 in Key West, Fla.

Paige Gholson

Denise Davidson Gholson of Slayden and Harris Gholson II of Holly Springs are pleased to announce the engagement and forthcoming marriage of their daughter, Rebecca Paige Gholson of Greenville, to Chase Gibson Brewer, also of Greenville.

Paige is the granddaughter of Mr. and Mrs. Clyde Q. Davidson Jr. of Germantown, Tenn., and the late Mr. and Mrs. Henry Fort Gholson of Holly Springs.

She is a graduate of Marshall Academy in Holly Springs and Mississippi State University with a Bachelor of Science degree in Interdisciplinary Studies. She is employed as a marketer with Quality Medical Equipment in Greenville.

Chase is the son of Mr. and Mrs. Bill Brewer of East Prairie, Mo., and the grandson of Mrs. Frances Shelby Brewer and the late Mr. B.G. Brewer; and the late Mr. and Mrs. Glenn Ault of Charleston, Mo.

He is a graduate of East Prairie High School in East Prairie and of Mississippi State University with a Bachelor of Science degree in Agricultural Engineering Technology and Business. He is operations supervisor with Monsanto in Hollandale.

The wedding will be held on July 28, 2011, in Key West, Florida.

History is great and it repeats itself, over and over, and we are still making it everyday. We received this wonderful letter in the mail this morning about our history.

“Dear Miss Lois, My name is Keith “Chip” Allen and I hope I may take a few moments of your time with this email. May I first tell you a little about myself? I am from Raleigh, N.C., but have lived my last 16 years in Chicago. About two years ago, my wife became ill and I took time off to be with her during and after her illness.

I was working but not in my field when I got a call from an old boss, asking if I wanted to go to work in Mississippi and came to Tupelo in March and I must say I truly love being back in the South.

Though in the construction industry, my true love is history. Wherever I am, I research where I go, so I can enjoy it so much more.

There are two ways to visit. First as a visitor where you enjoy the beauty of what you see, or as a historian and not only get to enjoy the beauty, but to envision what took place. I am not sure how I stumbled on line to Hill Crest, but that led me to Holly Springs.

That trip has led to four straight Saturdays and this coming weekend will be my fifth straight. I have fallen in love with the town and all the history with it. A simple trip for some cemetery pictures has led me to a newfound love.

When I visited your museum, where I had to buy three books, I didn’t just see paint brushes, I saw a young lady using them. The plaster for the nuns, I saw them caring for the sick. At Airliewood, I saw Grant and a yard full of tents.

The sidewalk at Walter Place truly fascinated me. I could see the men marking the brick with their fingers as they made them. And what a wonderful job the Lynns have done with the house.

At the Davis House, I not only saw a restored home, but I saw the burnt-out shell the Davises tried to finish their life in. History is such a wonderful thing and how wonderful Holly Springs is.

You have done such a great job, not only in preserving Holly Springs’ history, but keeping those before us alive. My love of history and photographing will keep me coming there many more times.

This weekend I will be visiting the Clark gallery and make a return trip to your museum as well as some hiking at Strawberry Plains. I just wanted to write this and say I am having a wonderful time in Holly Springs, and though not from here, to thank you for keeping America’s history alive.

You have done a great job, you have one of the best jobs in the world. I look forward to a rainy day, for I would very much welcome the opportunity to meet you.

Should ever there be a need for volunteers in research, restoration, or any other type of help, I would very much like to volunteer my time to the history and community.

Again, thank you for your time reading this and much more for your and the citizens of Holly Springs’ time for keeping history alive. In four short weeks, I feel like I have lived there my whole life.”

So, locals, wake up, recognize, appreciate, and enjoy our incredible history. I, myself, have been having a love affair with this history since I was 14.

Keith Allen really gave us a shot in the arm with his encouraging letter. It makes all this work worthwhile when people appreciate your efforts.

I had another thrill this past week when some “new-old” history has been discovered in Marshall County. Two hundred years ago the world was in an uproar from the storms, floods, earthquakes and disasters happening all over the world. People thought the end of the world was happening. Even tsunamis were making the world’s rivers run backwards. Comets were in the skies. One of them landed in Marshall County.

On the computer topographical maps it shows as a big thumbprint that runs from Sardis Lake to Reelfoot Lake. This section of the world was scarcely populated as Mississippi wasn’t a state until 1817.

Marshall County was created in 1836 and Holly Springs in 1837. This meteorite came up from the southeast and zoomed in zipping and popping. Indians reported the popping and exploding which was from the change in atmospheric pressure hitting the earth’s surface and the geodes exploding.

Mississippi did not have any rocks at all until this happened and this left the sandstones that we do have. The sandstones are hollow because they were wrapped around the tree limbs and the limbs rotted leaving the sandstones hollow.

At the museum, we are planning a program on this August 8, at 6 in the evening. Please come.

Last week I attended a real Italian wedding in Boca Raton, Florida, where my handsome grandson, Adam Swaney, married a beautiful Italian girl. Her family came down from Massachusetts and Pennsylvania and brought the other grandmas and aunties and only one uncle.

The wedding was held in an Italian villa on the square with an inn wrapped around a courtyard. In the bottom of the square was a huge tiered fountain, lighted with lots of lights and cascading water.

Surrounding the courtyard were eight or 10 steps all the way up to a plaza. The wedding was held on the plaza between two enormous Banyan trees where folding chairs were set up for the ceremony.

The priest came and he looked like a movie star. He was about 60 years old, had suntanned bronze skin, shiny white teeth, a full head of snowy white curly hair, and a white collar. He was jovial and great until suddenly he mis-stepped backwards and nearly fell down those steps but the photographer caught him, fortunately, to everyone’s relief. He didn’t fall and we were thankful that he didn’t.

All it did was take out some of his zest and pomp. After the wedding we went into the dining hall that had a 40-foot ceiling over the dance floor and tables all surrounding.

The bride and groom started it by dancing together; they sat at a table by themselves, reigning over the whole party. Beside them was a bird cage where everybody was to slip their envelopes to pay for their honeymoon. The music had a heavy beat and the whole crowd danced in mass. It was a delightful experience.

Come to see us at the Marshall County Historical Museum. We are here six days a week and we are incredible.


Thursday, July 14, 2011
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