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Society

City Personals
Mary Clay Brooks

Birthday celebration for Holly Springs native

Le Bistro Restaurant on Hilton Head Island was the setting for a Saturday evening dinner on June 23, honoring the upcoming 80th birthday of Juanita Brown Furner.

The honoree wore a navy blue dress with tiered ruffles, a white shawl with beaded edging and a corsage of deep pink orchids. The room was decorated with balloons and each table had a centerpiece of pink and purple orchids.

A scrapbook full of greetings from friends across the United States was presented as a gift. Many of the greetings included memories about Mrs. Furner’s hometown, Holly Springs. Mrs. Furner was escorted to the party by her husband, Edward Greer Furner.

Members of the family at the party included her children: Eva Furner of Placida, Fla., Susan Furner Allen of Parker, Colo., and Chris Furner of Austin, Tx. Grandchildren are Sara Allen Gibbens of Aurora, Colo., Emily Allen of Golden, Colo. and great-grandchildren: Kathleen and Logan Greer Gibbens of Aurora, Colo.

Other out-of-town guests included Chris Allen of Parker, Colo., Gale Gibbens of Aurora., Pam Neer of Placida, Fla., and JoAnn Moran of Austin, Tx.

Hilton Head Island friends also joined the festivities.

Darcie Gibson, Hailey McMinn, Bailey Blaker, Wil Summerlin, Emilee Byard, Shelby Hangey, Will Allred, William Whisenant, Anna Summerlin, Wesleyann Ray, MC Hutchens, Amber Anglin, Jordan Ungren, Dylan Rowe, Ally Viger, Erin Williams, Devinne Davis, Madison Parker, Beth Byard, Matt Brown, Trey Johnson, Kaitlyn Elliot and Shawn Cook returned Friday night from a week in Orange Beach, Ala. The adults who escorted the group were Brittany and John Ross House, Tojo and Jennifer Ward, Ali Kriss, Calvert Johnson, Luann and Courtney Gibson and Tamara Hillmer. In the mornings, they went to celebration, then to the beach every day during their free time. Thursday, they went to the Wharf and then back to the beach. They enjoyed their worshipping while there. On the way home, they went to the outlet mall in Foley, Ala. They were representing the First Baptist Church in Holly Springs.

Operation Overboard was a raging success with the joint Vacation Bible School last week. It was held at the First Presbyterian Church and was in conjunction with the First United Methodist Church in Holly Springs, the United Methodist Church in Waterford and Christ Episcopal in Holly Springs. Brenda Taylor spearheaded the venture and made sure the children had a wonderful time all four nights. Carolyn Hewlett was in charge of arts and crafts and sent the children home with beautiful masterpieces! Jane Hubbard took charge of the recreation, having a great time with water guns, hula hoops and more. Lisa Shaw was the story leader and, in case you didn’t know, “Noah’s wife,” according to Meg Boatwright! Greg Campbell was everywhere snapping pictures for the entertaining slide show, which was masterfully designed by Prentis Boatwright and shown to everyone on the last night. With everyone’s help on volunteering, it was a blessed time for those who attended!

Holly Springs lost another fine canine member Sunday with the death of Lily Smith. She was a fine resident who rarely met a stranger. Her brown eyes were mesmerizing and there was never any doubt what she was thinking. She would greet everyone the same way, with a big smile and welcoming nod. She gave birth once to multiples. Junior stayed in the family and the others went to other fine homes. She was loyal, loving and had a big heart. She will be missed more than anyone knows by all of those who absolutely adored her. May she roam happily in heaven with those who left before her, including her son, Junior.

(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 southreporter@dixie-net.com).

Museuming
Lois Swaney Shipp
Museum Curator

The good ole summertime

The good ole summertime is when the living is easy. Summertime used to be my favorite time of year but sometimes we change and it isn’t my favorite anymore. Now it’s too hot. Kids don’t know it’s hot as heat doesn’t seem to bother them.

When I grew up, can you believe there was no such thing as air conditioning? It hadn’t been invented, I guess. We had fans, windows and doors that were opened to the breeze. At night we hooked the screen and went to bed and we were safe, sleeping with only a hook to keep the undesirables out.

In the ’30s the depression was going full blast and the temperatures were also going blast around the century mark and there was a terrible drought going full blast. It didn’t rain for weeks and the dust outside was a foot deep. I heard my mother intensely praying on her knees for rain. I listened to Mama’s petition. In a few days it came a flood. Even the Lord listened to Mama.

I felt the community owed Mama a debt of gratitude for helping break the drought but I suspect others were praying for it too. The swimming pool was a great ally to fight the heat. It was located at the north end of Center Street on the west hill edge of Spring Hollow. The swimming pool was open every day except Sunday, as that was the Lord’s day, and we didn’t break that fourth commandant. It also wasn’t open on Wednesday, as they drained the pool and changed the water. On Thursdays the water was frigid, too cold to swim in.

On the way to the pool we would stop at the ice house for ice to chew on. The ice house was the last thing on north Center Street. The ice house was a foreboding looking building with no windows and no paint.

Summer is about reunions and picnics. When I was little, we had picnics all the time. Family picnics included sometimes my 54 first cousins. There were so many second cousins that I couldn’t count them.

I remember when gas was fifteen cents a gallon, a loaf of bread was a nickel, hamburgers were a nickel and Cokes were a nickel. There wasn’t much money going around as nobody had any money.

The time was before refrigerators but everybody had an icebox. On the front of the house, people would hang a sign for the iceman to tell how much ice was needed, ten pounds, or 25 pounds or 50 pounds. Then the iceman cut the ice, picked it up with tongs, carried it around to the unlocked back door and put it in the icebox himself.

Our neighborhood iceman was named Jesse and we used to catch rides on his ice wagon until playmate Dolly’s little toe got run over by the steel rimmed wheel of the ice wagon. Blood was shooting everywhere and Jesse said, “No more rides.”

In today’s world, my daughter Melody showed me a video of her horse playing ball. The ball was a big ball and the frisky horse was nosing, kicking, and side stepping, and waltzing with the ball. All it needed was music. It was the cutest thing I ever saw.

My daughter Farrah has the world’s smallest horse and it is the cutest thing playing in the pen. It’s just a colt and it runs like a rocky horse. Remember, in a previous column I named the tiny filly “Rocky DellaRue.” Her father, the little stallion, is the Barn Ruler. He goes up to the 17-hand-high horses, gives a snort and wheels around threatening a kick if his command isn’t heeded. The big horses always obey the little boss.

My mountain climbing son, Scott, from California came home and we’ve been having feasts, having pallet parties and reunions all week. He doesn’t come often.

At the Marshall County Historical Museum recently, we had an older couple from England come in. They had just gotten married in St. Paul’s Cathedral where Queen Elizabeth was commemorated last week. This special privilege was because this lady’s mother had been honored by the queen as a British heroine for her good deeds! We Americans should acknowledge and appreciate good deeds also! This lady in here today lives in a 1750 house and her new husband is from Bathe which the Romans built 2,000 years ago.

Tourists are always exciting regardless of where in the world they come from.

Also exciting is our upcoming history tour of southwest Marshall County, tentatively planned for July 14. It will be a whiz-bang tour beginning at 1 p.m. and lasting until 4:30 or maybe 5 p.m. There will be no food on this tour and no rest stops. We plan to see old Wyatt’s Landing where there was a terrific Civil War battle and the Confederate parapets and also we will see a 200-year-old dog-trot log cabin which is inhabited and will be the grand finale. The Revolutionary War ancestor of the cabin’s inhabitants is buried down the road, but we can’t see his grave, as I am allergic to snakes in July in this ancient old cemetery.

Reservations for this tour must be made in advance as seating is limited. Entry fee is $10 per person. Call 662-252-3669 or come by the museum at 220 East College Avenue and let us know you want an adventure.

Here at the museum we plan to memorialize the late Helene Doxey and the late Jack Beck with inscribed bricks in concrete. If you care to add your name to either of these, the memorials cost $50 each and it’s to last forever. We are planning this soon. Let us know if you care to participate.

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The South Reporter
P.O. Box 278
Holly Springs, MS 38635
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