Senator Thad Cochran and Friends

I ran into Senator Cochran one day in the Hinds Community College Library, and someone snapped this picture. The librarian in the picture is Nancy Tenhet who is still on the staff at Hinds.

One of the buildings at Hinds is named for Thad's parents.

Mother and Carole

My mother and Carole at a table laden with Christmas stuff.

Fishing

Carly, darling granddaughter, went fishing for the first time this weekend, catching one fish Saturday at her other grandmother's in Kosciusko and two yesterday in our lake.

She loves catching them, but, as you can see, prefers not to get too close to them.

First Lady and Friends

Eloise Winter, wife of William, when she was first lady of the state with Cindy and Ed Conerly and Cam Kelly.

Cindy and Ed were twins. Ed was tragically killed in a motorcycle accident when he was a sophomore in college. I saw Cindy last week at Krogers. She has two daughters.

Carole and Mrs. Winter frequent the same hairdresser.

Carl Kingsley Update

My cousin, Carl Kingsley, was operated on Thursday at the Veteran's Hospital in Memphis. I spoke with one of his daughters last night and he was doing well with a possibility of coming home this weekend.

Some of you may know Carl's daughter, Sandra, who lives in Plantersville.

Mama and Children

From left: Grace Kelly Birmingham (before she started coloring her hair black), Morris Andrew Kelly, Sarchie Kelly, Johnnie Kelly Harris and Fielden Harris.

Robert and Joyce Rogers

Brother Robert and Mrs. Joyce are retired and living in Hattiesburg.

Their most recent service was in Rota, Spain.

Robert, as most of you know, is the son of Robert Rogers and the grandson of Mrs. Willie, long time postmistress.

As I've mentioned before, since we lived directly across the road from the post office and since the post office had no running water, I saw Mrs. Willie every day, and as also mentioned she gave me my first job, taking the mail sack to the railroad and bringing the new one back.

CID

One of the most popular programs on television, and one of the few networks shows I watch now, is NCIS.

The army equivalent of NCIS is the CID; I was a member of a CID unit at Ft. Bliss in El Paso, TX, in the early '60s. We had more investigators than they seem to have on NCIS, but we did not have a fancy lab, for that matter no lab at all.

That's me on the right with two civilian employees and three other members of our unit. There were about twenty or so in our unit including two FBI agents. Because we were an investigating unit, we could choose to wear civilian clothes. Some of us didn't have enough clothes so chose to wear our uniforms most of the time.

Norman and Clara Mae Kingsley

Norman Kingsley was my mother's oldest brother who married Clara Mae Lamb. Their only child, Charles with his wife Grace, lives in Tupelo not far from Elvis' birth place.

Norman and Clara Mae lived much of their lives together in Shannon but have a Plantersville connection or two other than me and my mother. Their grandson married Ellen Rooker and for several years lived next to the Rookers in Plantersville. And some of Clara Mae's Lamb kinfolks lived in the state park area, and one of them, I think, married one of my Kelly cousins.

Wakefields?

I have several pictures apparently taken on the same day and each has that streak across the middle, either a flaw in the film or in the camera.

That is me between the Wakefields; was his name Jack?

The house being built here is the one directly across from the Baptist Church; I think Bill Martin's parents bought the house from the Wakefields, and Martha Henricks' parents purchased it from the Martins.

I hope someone can elaborate on the Wakefields.

George and His Colleagues

A very young George (how about that beard) with his Hinds Community College English Department colleagues in 1982.

Sadly three of those pictured are deceased; four are still full time faculty members at Hinds, though one is retiring after this semester, and two are still teaching part-time.

There was little turnover in our department; one of those pictured left to go to work for the state archives and one left because football coach husband accepted a head coaching position in another state. All the rest are either still there or retired.
The young man on the extreme right in Jerry Carr from Tupelo; some of you may remember his father Gale Carr who among other things developed Carr-Vista Acres subdivision.

1932-33 Jr. Class, Saltillo High School

Mother wrote the names of these students on the back of the picture; however, she wrote them in pencil which has faded with the years. Here is the best I can decipher:

Standing from left: Birdie Turner; __ Young; Garfield Bailey; Vera Kingsley; Annette Stanley; Bessie Stanley;Murdice Cole; ___ Waldrup.

Seated in chairs: Melvin Bentley; Marie Bailey; Murrell Easterling; Annie Faye Long; Murt Langston.
On the ground: Howard Lummus; Money Bolen.

If anyone has any information or corrections on any of these students, I would appreciate the assistance.

Kitty and Darryl

I published this picture of Kitty and Darryl on the blog some time ago. I know this is a tough time for Darryl and David and the children.

Kitty's grandson, David Alan, has done much research on his family and on Richmond and Unity Church. The Unity Web site linked on my site was created by David.

To all the family, you are in our thoughts and prayers.

Kitty Morgan

Sympathy to the family of Kitty Morgan. Plantersville has suffered another great loss.

I saw Kitty frequently at Estes Steak House in recent years, and, of course, saw her often growing up. As many of you know, her husband, Roy, was Raymon Stovall's nephew, and they lived close to Raymon's sister, Anna. Raymon was very close to Mrs. Anna, and we visited her every Sunday. Roy and Kitty were almost always there.

When we moved to the Jackson area in 1975, Mother often came to Jackson with Kitty when Kitty was attending to Farm Bureau business.

She was a special person and will be missed.

Kitty (center) is pictued here at the homecoming a couple of years ago with Jean Jutman and Martha Underhill.

Small World Stories

As do most people, I love small-world stories. Mavis Critz married my first cousin on the Kelly side Tom Stennis over 55 years ago, and Marjorie Pollard married my first cousin on the Kingsley side over forty years ago.

I posted a sympathy notice about Mavis's mother death last week which Marjorie read on this blog. She asked me at Sis' funeral how I knew Mavis as years ago she babysat Mavis and Tom's oldest daughter, Ginger. Marjorie lived across the street from them in West Point.

That's Ginger Stennis in the picture with her brother Lamar.

After all these years, I find out two of my cousins-in-law knew each other.

The Duke Family

Another picture of Sis and her family taken a few years later than the prior one.

From left in swing: Kellie, Nicholas, Vera, Sis holding, I think, Angela, though it could be Andrew. I'm not certain which one is the baby, someone help me out.

Standing in back: Sulema Duke, Richard Duke and Cecil Duke.

Sis, Mother and Sis' grandson

Juanita "Sis" Duke's funeral was Monday at Steve Holland's funeral home in Tupelo.

In the picture from left: Vera Stovall, Nicholas Duke, his father, Richard, and Sis.

Nicholas is now about eleven and has two sisters and one brother. Nicholas always enjoyed visiting Dick, which is what they called Mother, in Plantersville and especially enjoyed her porch swing.

Sis' daughter Lisa has three children for a total of seven grandchildren for Sis and Cecil.

Happy Easter

Happy Easter everyone.

Today is doubly special at our house as it is also my wonderful wife's birthday.

Happy Birthday Carole.

Juanita "Sis" McKinney Duke

My dear cousin, Sis Duke, died yesterday. Please place her husband, Cecil, and her children, Richard, Cindy and Lisa as well as her daughter-in-law and son-in-law and her grandchildren in your thoughts and prayers.

As I mentioned in my post last week, Sis was like a daughter to my mother and she and Cecil were always willing to help out. When mother had her spell in 1997, I called Sis and Cecil and they were there in a few minutes and got mother to the hospital.

Sis suffered a stroke a few years ago; she was able to attend mother's funeral in June, but it was one of the last times she was able to get out. I saw her in the nursing home last week, but shortly after my visit, she was moved to a hospice.

Visitation is from 3 to 5 Easter Sunday at Harris-Holland; the funeral is Monday afternoon at 4:30.

Plantersville Girls' Basketball Team

The Lee County Courier ran this picture last week and asked for identification; I recognize Betty Sue Conlee as well as Ann and Sue Ellis, but can't help with any of the others.

I've seen this picture somewhere or one similar to it, maybe even posted it on this blog a couple of years ago.

Please help identify these girls.
Sherrilyn Helms Brown with the assistance of her mom, Frances Helms and Betty Sue Conlee Peters: "Standing left to right: Norma Jean Ellis, Sue Ellis, Joyce McWhorter, Ann Ellis, Merlene Whitehead, Betty Sue Conlee, Jean West, Helen Presley, Yvonne Raper, Jean Lann, Puddie Eason Ruff. Bottom row: Laura Sue McCaskill, Pat Rogers, Patsy Partlow, Shirley Kelly, Annie Mae Boyd. 1948-1949."

A Visit to Plantersville and Beyond

Carole and I just returned from a quick trip to Tupelo and Plantersville. I have a couple of cousins who are facing health issues and spent time with them. My cousin, Carl Kingsley, whose daughter Sandra lives in Plantersville, will be having surgery at the Veteran's Hospital in Memphis soon. And my cousin, Juanita "Sis" Duke, is in the nursing home after suffering several strokes. Her condition is not good so please add both Carl and Sis to your prayer lists.

Sis was a frequent visitor to Plantersville as she was like a daughter to my mother. She and her husband, Cecil, were invaluable to me in helping with my mother.

And speaking of assisting my mother, I visited today with Frances Helms; Aaron was off shopping. Frances has severe back problems.

Without Aaron and Frances, cousins and neighbors, and Cecil and Sis, my mother would not have been able to stay by herself as long as she did.

While in Plantersville, I noticed there is a large house under construction in those woods that were behind and beside the old Blackwell place. Butch and I played often in those woods. The area next to where the roads cross has been cleared and someone told me the house there is the old Earl Kelly house that was moved from behind the Baptist Church; can anyone confirm this?

Also, Butch's old house, the one across from Sherry's old house, has been damaged by a fire. I don't know when that occurred.

Fred Morgan's old house, I think I am correct, and Brother Johnson's old house are both for sale.

Carole Makes A Stormy Comment for April 5:
Plantersville must have been south of the awesome path of the Sunday, April 5, 1936, tornado that is such a vivid part of Tupelo history. My mother Altha J. Tackett has recalled what her Jeffreys family went through that awful night and in the weeks that followed. I have asked residents of Saltillo, Verona, Pontotoc, and other towns nearby about their hearing the news; I can't remember comments from our Plantersville Connections . . .Mother mentioned the other day that the day falls on a Sunday again. It has been quite a stormy year already with our area hearing much about Magee's destruction. Any memories?

Remembering Mamie Lou

Plantersville lost one of her very, very special people this week with the death of Mamie Lou Partlow Ruff.

I went by the funeral home on Monday and visited briefly with Dorothy Jean and her husband, but due to a conflict was not able to attend her funeral Tuesday.

No one who ever met Mamie Lou is likely to forget her; she was in many ways larger than life with that wonderful smile and infectious laugh. As most of you know, she was Doris's younger sister and therefore a part of my life from the moment of my birth; unfortunately, we all become so busy with our lives that we neglect old friends, and while I had talked to her on the telephone a couple of years ago, it had been several years since we visited. I had not known that she had battled cancer for the past year.

Carole and I use several of her recipes and talk of her often.

I would love to post memories of her on this blog. Please make comments on the blog or e-mail them to me.

From Carole: Mamie Lou was such a special lady, and we mourn her loss. As George said, we often speak of her. The "Plantersville Cookbook" from the '60s included Mamie Lou recipes that we still use, and I treasure the memory of her giving me cooking tips for foods like sweet potatoes, tips that I really needed since I could barely boil water and my gravy was sliceable . . .What joys, what special persons Mamie Lou and Doris were. They will always be a part of our lives.