Bank of Holly Springs

City Personals

Beautiful memories of Big Ben

I am having a hard time coming up with the right words to even try and describe the loss of sweet Big Ben Seale. He was not just any man, far from it. He impacted the lives of almost everyone in our community in his younger years with his pharmacy, Seale Drug Company, on the square.

There was not one time you could walk in there that he would not lift his head from filling prescriptions to speak. It did not matter if it was the first of the month (busiest of all days) and he had folks lined up through the store; he was speaking to you.

He had a brilliant cough syrup he probably should have gotten a patent on and sold. It would rid you of any cough, no matter the severity, and it really did not taste all that horrible, either! If ever you had an ailment, Big Ben would know exactly what to use to fix it or to at least limp you along until you could get to the doctor.

Men like him are very few and far between, ones who truly care about your well-being as well as that of your entire clan.

His laugh was a deep one that reverberated wherever he was, whether at the pharmacy, in Walmart, the square for the blues nights or even in the emergency room. After having the stroke, he did not lose that laugh. Hamilton and I tried to lighten the gravity of the situation by keeping up his spirit. He cracked smiles and had that deep, infectious laugh even then. He always saw the sunny side of things.

There are so, so many beautiful memories of Big Ben I will carry with me for my lifetime. Thankfully, my children also knew and loved him as much as I, so they will have their memories, too. He was like an uncle who always had great stories of adventures to tell, each one different from the next and never repeating the same one twice. A true gem of a human for sure.

If you were lucky enough to have had the hands of Big Ben touch your life, well, you were lucky enough.

(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 Personals news to ljones@southreporter.com).

Holly Springs South Reporter

P.O. Box 278
Holly Springs, MS 38635
PH: (662) 252-4261
FAX: (662) 252-3388
www.southreporter.com