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Society

City Personals
Mary Clay Brooks

Michael Ragsdale celebrates ninth birthday with sleep-over

Susie Murphy spent the weekend in Starkville visiting with daughter, Regan. While there, they attended the Mississippi State-Florida basketball game together.

Michael Ragsdale celebrated his ninth birthday Saturday. Grady Brooks and Tony Day had a wonderful time at the sleep-over with Michael and his family. Sunday, the boys had a Nerf war with Michael’s dad! Happy birthday, Michael!

Congratulations to Lea and Jason Farese on the birth of their third child, Layla Vivian, Friday night! She was welcomed home by big brother, Luke, and big sister, Alexa. Proud grandparents are Vivian and Eugene Smith.

(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).

Campbell-Carson vows said September 4

Mr. and Mrs. Howard Ray “Howie” Campbell II

Anna Kaitlyn Carson and Howard Ray “Howie” Campbell II were united in marriage on the evening of September 4, 2010, at West President Church of Christ in Greenwood.

The bride is the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Bill Carson of Winona. She is the granddaughter of Mr. and Mrs. Bill Cherry of Union City, Tenn., and Mr. and Mrs. Joe Carson of Winona.

The groom is the son of Mr. and Mrs. Doc Billingsly of Laws Hill, and Mr. and Mrs. Ray Campbell of Oxford. He is the grandson of Sara Cook and the late George Cook of Laws Hill and the late Mr. and Mrs. Howard “Gordy” Campbell of Holly Springs.

Dan Ratliff, youth minister at Southside Church of Christ, performed the ceremony. Vocalists were Suzann Watkins of Vaiden and Cody Hill of Grenada. The wedding was directed by Cherri Davidson of Union City, cousin of the bride.

Given in marriage by her father, the bride wore a strapless gown of ivory tissue taffeta featuring a sweetheart neckline with a ruched, dropped-waist bodice and billowing train, accented with beading and embroidery. The veil was made by the bride’s aunt, Ann Reed of Union City.

The bride carried a hand-tied bouquet of gerbera daisies.

Attending the bride as matron of honor was Suzann Carson Greco, cousin of the bride, of Greenwood. Bridesmaids were Leah Blaine Watkins of Vaiden, Abby Blaine and Jodi Brisendine of Winona, Kali Rowland of Waterford, Angela Campbell Knighton, sister of the groom, of Oxford, Jenny Campbell Shoffner, sister of the groom, of Red Banks, Britney Fair of Senatobia, Samantha Holden of Hernando and Gabby Mitchell of Marks. Junior bridesmaids were Katie Beth Ratliff of Grenada and Allie Watkins of Vaiden.

The bridesmaids wore designer strapless fushia gowns. They carried hand-tied gerbera daisies.

The flower girls were Marleigh Shoffner and Anna Lauren Shoffner, nieces of the groom.

As a gift to the bride, Memphis stylist Alison Greene Becksfort, the bride’s cousin, provided her services for the bride and wedding party.

Serving as best man was Ray Campbell, father of the groom. Groomsmen were Cole Baker of Hernando, Tyler Miller, Chris Carpenter, Max McNeil, and Blake Work of Holly Springs, Chris Huey of Bethlehem, Brett Shoffner and Steven Shoffner of Red Banks, Keith Knighton of Oxford, Cole Covington of Waterford, and Caleb Carson, brother of the bride, of Winona. Ring bearer was Kyle Reed of Clarksville, Tenn., cousin of the bride.

Ushers were Kevin Browning and Morgan Browning, cousins of the bride of Winona and T.J. Johnson of Ripley, Tenn.

Program attendants were Ciara Boyle of Holly Springs, Victoria Gurley and Savannah Gurley of Potts Camp. Cousins of the bride, Alan Cherry of Atlanta, Ga., and Jeff Greene of Union City, Tenn., were in charge of lighting and sound.

Following the ceremony, the bride’s parents hosted a reception at the Garden Club in Greenwood. The bride’s cake was a five-tier strawberry and vanilla cake covered in fushia scroll work and adorned with fresh flowers, made by the bride’s mother. The groom’s cake was a monogrammed, two-tier caramel cake garnished with fresh fruit, made by the bride’s mother.

The food for the reception was prepared by Winona Career and Technical Center’s Culinary Arts students, under the direction of Libby Carson, mother of the bride. The menu consisted of beef brisket, smoked pork loin, loaded mashed potatoes, sweet and sour green beans, pasta salad, corn salad, broccoli salad, rolls and an assortment of hors d’oeuvres. The guests were entertained by The Davide House Band of Holly Springs.

Decorations at the wedding and reception were created by Christye Stanton of Carrollton and Melanie McCrary of McCarley. Helping with the reception’s logistics were Sherri Stanton, Sally Bennett and Terri McCrary, all of Winona.

On the eve of the wedding, the groom’s parents hosted a rehearsal dinner at the church catered by Carroll County Market.

After a honeymoon trip to Gatlinburg, Tenn., the couple resides in Oxford.

Births

DeBerry

Kedra Cowan and Raheed DeBerry, of Holly Springs, announce the arrival of a son, Kylan Jamal DeBerry, born December 28, 2010 at the Baptist Memorial Hospital in Oxford. He weighed nine pounds, 10 ounces and was 21 inches long.

Maternal grandparents are Michael and Sherry Cowan of Holly Springs. Great-grandparents are Olar Mae Turner and Bessie Cowan of Holly Springs.

Paternal grandparents are Andre and Beautye DeBerry of Holly Springs. Great-grandparents are Mary Brown and Willie Mae DeBerry of Holly Springs.

Palmer

Mr. and Mrs. Daryl Palmer of Memphis, Tenn., are the proud parents of a baby girl, Martha Kate Palmer, born on Jan. 24, 2011 at Methodist North Hospital in Germantown, Tenn.

She weighed seven pounds, 14 ounces and was 19-1/2 inches long.

Maternal grandparents are Jerry and Martha Kizer of Jackson, Tenn.

Paternal grandparents are Jimmy and Sonia Palmer of Holly Springs.

Great-grandparents are Irwin Crais of Monteagle, Tenn., and Olivia Colston of Holly Springs.

Museuming
Lois Swaney Shipp
Museum Curator

Museum may host Yankee book signing

Last week there were tourists in from Michigan following their grandfather’s trek through here with the Michigan Regiment during the Civil War.

He was stationed at Hudsonville, so we sold him the book “Dear Darling Loulie” that were letters from Delia Scales who wrote to her friend in Batesville during the war.

The friend saved the letters and we published them a 120 years later and we are selling them at the museum. They are fascinating.

Delia was a little Mississippi belle with hundreds of Yankee soldiers camped in her yard. She tells what she eats, and what she wears (one thing she wore was her garibaldi, which was a loose waist shirt, maybe red).

Her brother, Henry, came home from the war to take care of the farm. He went to the barn to tend to the livestock and a mule kicked him in the head and he died.

From this landlocked place, her older brother Dabney was a sailor in the Confederacy stationed on board the “Shenandoah,” which never surrendered to the Union. They didn’t know the war had ended until seven months after it was over and they surrendered to England.

I’m sure that this modern Yankee’s grandfather from Michigan was one of those soldiers who met and talked to Delia so long ago.

This little book also tells of the train falling through the trestle right in their field on December 11, 1896. Later on, Delia marries her neighbor, Ben Cottrell Gray, and she was John Gray’s grandmother. (John Gray was Martha Fitch’s father.)

We hope to have a write-up in the Mississippi Magazine and also the State by State Garden Magazine very soon.

A man called today about his newly written book about the Civil War. He used his great-grandfather’s diary as a base. The man wanted to launch his book from here and have a book signing here at the museum. The only thing is that he is writing from the Northern perspective.

Would you all come to his Yankee book signing? Let me know.

We have received some “new” exhibits of clothing and accessories. Soon we will plan to start having “mini” history tours on Saturday or Sunday afternoons and they will be more fun. Anyone interested in the fabulous history of this place will be welcomed.

We are open six days a week now. We have a four- star rating with the Triple AAA and they send people from all over the world. The tourists are like the birds, they come in the spring and leave in the fall.

We are ambassadors for Holly Springs and Marshall County.

We are being given a wild boar head as we don’t have one. Mississippi didn’t have wild boar for years.

When they built the Natchez Trace in the early 1930s, they imported wild boar from Russia to inhabit the Mississippi forests along the Trace. Pit bull dogs are used in the hunt. They grab the boar by the ear and bring the hog down.

The other morning, I went by Larry McAlexander’s house and he was cooking breakfast. There was a strong wild smell coming from the kitchen. Larry was so glad I was there to help him with the boar breakfast.

Groundhog Day has been celebrated for 125 years and he’s never yet missed a prediction. He is always right. He gets his longevity from drinking the “Elixir of Life,” a secret recipe. He takes one sip every summer at the Groundhog Picnic and it magically gives him seven more years of life.

The legend goes that this weather forecast is for where you are and the rest of the world. If he saw his shadow on Groundhog Day (February 2) his prediction is that there will be six more weeks of winter and he returns to his hole. If he didn’t see his shadow, there will be an early spring.

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