City Personals
July 23, 2025, Sylvia Hampton Nowell made her way into this world. She weighed 7 pounds and 7 ounces and is 21” tall. Her proud parents are Lauralee and Taylor Nowell. She was welcomed by her beautiful and enthusiastic older siblings, Lola and Warner. Sylvia, as she will affectionately be called, is named after her incredible late maternal great-grandmother, Sylvia Tucker Fant. She is the granddaughter of Dianene and David Fant and Linda and Jim Nowell of Pearl.
If you have social media, this week has been inundated with back to school pictures. It has been a true joy seeing all of the precious faces entering another year of learning. Two of my favorite Patriots also began another year - walking the halls for one (Delilah) and teaching the minds of tomorrow as well as coaching the varsity cheerleaders (Caitlyn).
With the beginning of school comes football season. This summer, Coach Chris Bunio and his coaching staff at Marshall Academy have worked tirelessly getting both their junior high and high school teams prepared. Not only have they had training filled practices, they have also had successful 7 on 7 games. This Friday night at 6:30 p.m., Heath Barnett field at Marshall Academy will be lit up welcoming fans, parents and students alike for the annual Meet the Patriots. Both football teams, both cheerleading squads and the softball players will be introduced. This year looks a little differently in that the West Memphis Christian Knights (junior high and high school) will be coming for scrimmage games against the Patriots. The night will be packed full of fun, football and shopping, too, as several local vendors are setting up shop to peddle their wares. The concession stand will be slinging barbecue pork and chicken plates and hot dogs as well as freshly squeezed lemonade, sno cones and ice cream. Be sure to come out to support these players and local businesses. Grab supper while you are there because, let’s be honest, who can rely on the power to stay on consistently enough to fix any meal? Go Patriots Go.
Maddie, Aaron, Ollie and Mason Bennett took and end of summer jaunt up to Pigeon Forge, Tenn. The quartet enjoyed Dollywood and soaked in every bit of fun they could all muster before school started.
Little Larry Shaw recently celebrated his first birthday. If you are unfamiliar with Larry, his tale is one of bovine dreams. He was born a twin and, sadly, his mama rejected him. Could you even imagine picking one child over the other? He was just a scrawny, wobbly little thing when Lori Shaw got her healing hands on him. She pumped Larry full of a colostrum supplement and poured all of her love into him with pets and words of encouragement. Even by the end of that first day, Larry had improved enough to stand on his own and even gave a little kick up with his back hooves. It has been a family affair getting Larry to where he is today, just passing being a Shaw for a solid year. He brings smiles to the faces of all who love him and any stranger lucky enough to catch a gander. Happy, happy birthday Larry.