9/9/2009 6:00:00 PM
JUST AMONG FRIENDS
| |
|
By RACHEL EVANS
Summer cannot come to a close without Lillian Killen's family's trip to the Smokies. It would not be summer to Matthew Killen without the ice-cold watermelons chilled in the cold waters of the Little Pigeon River. They have only missed one summer since 1968. They met on Monday in Townsend, Tenn. and spent the night in the Tally-Ho Motel. The next day the moved to the Elkmont Campground and set up camp, two travel-trailers and four tents. "We cook all our meals together," Lillian told me. "We have a late morning breakfast, around 10:00. After our evening meal, we sit around the campfire, playing cards and dominoes, or just talking and roasting marshmallows and making s'mores. We usually go to bed around 11:30 p.m."
Afternoons were spent tubing the cold water of the Little Pigeon River which runs through Elkmont Campground. Part of the group spent one night and day at Dollywood enjoying the rides and shows. They made two trips down the mountain to Gatlinburg to eat at "Texas Roadhouse". They shopped in Pigeon Forge and stocked up on taffy, jelly beans and all the other goodies to be found at The Candy Kitchen. They traveled up Glader Road where the mountain residents sell their handmade items. "I really enjoy going to Baxter's Stained Glass Shop," Lillian told me. "Here the same old couple has been handmaking stained glass for many, many years.
"We have so much fun," Lillian concluded, "but before you know it, the week is gone and we head back to our busy worlds." Those making the trip this year were Barry and Cheri Hucks and Morgan and Presleigh Hucks, all of Meridian; Gary, Kitty, Morgan Leigh and Matthew Killen of Picayune; Dianne and Mark Heard of Anderson, S.C.; and Lillian Killen of Philadelphia. Sorely missed was Brian Hucks who is serving in Iraq, and they have all missed Hubert since he passed away in 2001. He would be happy to know that a tradition he helped start in 1968 still holds the family together - closely, when you are sleeping in a travel trailer!
School bells brought to an end an exciting summer for the Mike Donald household. Mike, Kim, Olivia, Andrea and Erin vacationed at Disney World and returned home by way of Orange Beach to rest up. And then, of course, there was the Neshoba County Fair! Olivia, who is 3, will enroll in three-year preschool at First Methodist on Sept. 14. Andrew, 8, is in the third grade at Philadelphia Elementary where his teachers are Diane Johnson and Andrea Stribling. Erin is in the fourth grade at Philadelphia Elementary. Her teachers are Lee Anna Williams, Michelle Sessums and Priscilla Sanders. Kim taught preschool at First Methodist for a number of years. She is now teaching high school English at Philadelphia. Having learned his lessons well, Mike is a CPA in the firm with Max Loper.
I talked with Mallory Madison, our reigning Junior Miss 2010, and WOW! I was as impressed as the judges must have been when she won the local honor in March 2009. Competing with 43 girls from over the state of Mississippi, "I learned so much about myself, my state and the other girls." Entering Neshoba Central for her senior year, Mallory
encourages girls enrolled in their junior year to enter the local Junior Miss pageant. "It has been the most exciting experience of my life," she told me.
With dual enrollment at Neshoba Central and East Central Community College for the past two years, Mallory is facing life head-on. "I want to go straight to Mississippi State from high school. In preparation, I am taking a bio-medical engineering course at East Central which is a math-based medical program to prepare me for medical school." Mallory plans to be an obstetrician. Watch out world! I located Mallory through her great-grandmother, Johnnie Madison, who told me, "She is a precious girl. I kept her until she started first grade." Mallory, the daughter of Barry and Janet Madison and Don and Christy Barrett, told me, "I'm all about family." How proud they must be!
For an interview with a college student, I went to Northwest Mississippi Junior College in Senatobia and talked with Ben Duncan, son of Joni and Mark Duncan. Ben is a business major among a student enrollment of 7,000. I know Ben best as the grandson of one of my dearest friends, Clara Jo (Norman) Duncan who passed away a number of years ago. Too, I have watched Ben grow up in the First United Methodist Church, and was not surprised to learn that he attends an international nondenominational campus ministry on the Ole Miss campus in Oxford once a week. When Ben is home, you will find him in the TV control room at First Methodist.
Sue Lewis is retired after having taught public school music, school choir and piano after 25 years. She only has 21 piano students who come to her home each week for lessons. And that's retired! Yes, considering the fact that she has had as many as 75 home students! After attending Mississippi Southern and leaving before she attained her degree, she was teaching at Beulah Hubbard. Her superintendent, Leo Salter, encouraged her to continue her quest for a degree in music with an emphasis on piano. "I give Mr. Salter all the credit for my having commuted to Mississippi State to earn my degree, making me eligible to teach public school music. I did not have much luck teaching his son, Sid, to play piano. I chased him all over the playground when it was time for his lesson," Sue laughed.
She taught public school music, school choir and piano at Neshoba Central for 23 years, starting out with one record player which she pushed from one classroom to another in a grocery cart. "I cried when I moved into the 'big room' built especially for public school music, complete with new books and instruments and more than one record player," she told me. She has served as music minister at Presley Street Baptist Church in Atmore, Ala., Beacon Street Baptist, Philadelphia, First Baptist Church, Union, and Neshoba Baptist Church and Beat Line Baptist Church in Philadelphia.
"Music has always been a part of me," Sue told me. "It is who I am. I express myself in my music. When I'm upset, I play really loud," she laughed. To the hundreds of students whose lives Sue has touched with her love for music, she is more than a teacher. She is their mentor, confidante and friend.
A preview of coming attractions!
All around the world and just across town, Habitat for Humanity works with families to build, renovate and repair houses. You can help open new doors on a house by attending a bridge benefit to be held Thursday evening, Oct. 8, at the Holy Cross Catholic Church located on Byrd Avenue here in Philadelphia. Tickets are $25 and are tax-deductible. The door opens at 6:30 p.m. and refreshments will be served. The evening will include an auction on larger items, and a silent auction on smaller, affordable items which are being donated by persons and businesses in our community. They, too, are tax-deductible. Everyone who loves to play bridge is invited. You do not have to make reservations, nor do you have to bring your own partner. Please come out and join us, and let's open the doors on another Habitat house.
For further information call Billie Latting at 601-656-2268 and Marianne Enochs at 601-656-5288.
Rehearsals are under way for the dinner theater production of "Casseroles and Mistletoe" to be presented by the Philadelphia-Neshoba County Arts Council. The show is scheduled for sometime in November and will be staged at The Magnolia. It is under the direction of playwright Laura Cole Thrash. Can't wait to see what's going on in Possum Creek!
|
Article Comment Submission Form
|
|
