Betty’s Week

By Betty Shearer

  Was so good to visit with friend Doyle Goodwin of Brandon last Wednesday. He was up visiting his mother and sisters, and stopped by the office for a few minutes. Doyle was the maintenance person at the Mississippi Ag Museum for many years, retiring last year. We do miss him when we go down and I encouraged him to come back and help us.

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  I’m amazed at the number of folks who don’t know about this museum. Over the past couple of weeks I’d had occasion to tell several people about what’s there. Melissa Hernandez (niece of Mae Bell), who was visiting in church last week, is from the area. She lives only a short distance from the museum and promised she was going to check it out. If you don’t know about this wonderful Mississippi asset, call me—I’ll be glad to tell you all about it. I just believe that everyone will enjoy a visit there—it has so many exhibits, that there’s something of interest for everyone.

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  Coffeeville subscriber James C. Tillman called a couple of weeks ago to tell us he did not receive his Herald. Jim has been in the office many times and it’s always a treat to visit with him. His wit is superb and his knowledge on many subjects is most interesting. We were sorry that he failed to receive his paper, but it was good to talk with him. He called last Wednesday to tell me he’d again not received his paper. Told him he’d have to wait another day—was teasing—I often don’t know what day of the week it is. Apparently he did receive last week’s paper, because he didn’d call me back on Thursday.

  Oh by the way, Jim I do have the missed copy in the out-going mail basket and you’ll get it soon. I bagged it, but left it open thinking I might have to include last week’s edition. Discovered it a few minutes ago, so I’ll get it out in the morning’s (Tuesday) mail. This is being written after post office closing time.

  Over the past few weeks, we have had reports of missed papers in Coffeeville, Oxford, Batesville, and Water Valley. Sometimes I think they just disappear. Usually it’s a one time occurence, because many subscribers call to tell me that it only happened the one time.

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  A note from Sue McNamee Brasel of Itta Bena came with her subscription renewal. It was addressed, “Hello Ed” . Well, I read his mail—still do a lot of that. Even after five years, many people do not know that Ed is dead. Sue wrote, “Just to let you know I enjoy my paper every Thursday or Friday. Hello to your family. Take care of yourself, you’re getting old “Ha.” I will be 77 in March (Ed would have been 74 March 15th.) Hello to everyone. Your old friend, Sue McNamee Brasel”.

  Thanks for writing Sue. Ed would have loved hearing from you, as do I.

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  This cute little tidbit came from friend Roland Buppert. It’s from the March 2, 2009 edition of Forbes Magazine.

  “If you can count up to 13, you can play a game that’s more exciting competitive than golf or the Super Bowl every thought of being. Twelve million Americans can. And do. In fact, it used to be the most popular game in America. If it begins to receive the sort of coverage extended to the aforementioned two, it could be again—unless we aging enthusiasts die off before the young get the word about what a ball they are missing by not taking it up. It’s bridge that I’m talking about. Here’s a game you can play virtually from the time you can count fingers and toes, until the day you can no longer see or sit up.” (Malcolm Forbes-1987)

  Thanks for sharing this Roland, I certainly enjoyed the article and I’m sure many bridge players will also. I don’t claim to be a bridge player—I’m just one step above the dummy, in that I can hold cards.

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  Thursday night a group of men came over from Pontotoc to pick up 150 of our (Woodland Hills) theatre seats. They were members of the Pontotoc Community Theatre and are going to use the seats in their new building, which they hope to have ready by May. The only name I remember is Donnie Sellers, whom I’d dealt with through the entire transaction. With him was the theatre director, probably the youngest of the three, and an older man (older yea! younger than me I’m sure.)     Bro. Ken was there to help and Keith Miller was in the right place at the wrong time—he got drafted. The five of them loaded the seats in about an hour and fifteen minutes—I was the tally girl and it was fun. I had not had the privilege of keeping five handsome men in line in a long time. The younger men were carrying three or four pieces at a time, the older of the group says, each time he passed me, “Two, I’ll make more trips, don’t intend to break anything.” I was with him. The youngest of the group from Pontotoc (Bro. Ken and Keith were actually the youngsters I’m sure) had a bad back. They put him in the trailer, stacking, so he did not have to step up and down or bend. He said he made it fine, that the worst pain was getting into and out of the trailer. We did make some great friends and we’re glad that the seats are going to be put to good use.

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  Traveling the roads this past weekend, I found yet other blooms added to the landscape. The forsythia is now in full bloom, joining the jonquils, pears, and hawthorne. On my hill the cold nights do not seem to have damaged the blooms. However, several folks with fruit trees tell me that they are afraid that these have been damaged. Hope not because we did not get pears, apples, peaches, or grapes last season.

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Many Vallians attended a concert by the Washington, D.C. Navy Band, presented in the Ford Center at Ole Miss on Saturday night. One of my “older sons”, Bobby Suratt, was gracious enough to take me. It was a wonderful evening of music and I do appreciate getting to attend. The solo performances were tailored to me. First was by MUCM Roger Behrend, euphonium (Jim played baritone prior to converting to tuba), then this excellent musician was joined by the other euphonium and the two tubas for a tuba/euphonium quartet. Next solo was by MUCS Timothy Rogers, alto saxophone, who was phenominal. He was joined by the rest of the sax section, with him switching to soprano, the second alto, the tenor and the baritone  forming a great quartet. For you who don’t know, Ed’s major instrument was saxophone and he could play all four—usually playing alto or tenor. Then came the final solo and it was a vocal by the announcer, who had the most amazing speaking voice. It was exceeded only by his singing voice. Both Jim and Ed have fine voices—maybe not quite as good as MU1 Courtney Williams. The band was under the direction of Captain George N. Thompson and this was the spring section of the 2009 National Tour. The band also presented a concert in Grenada on Sunday—Oxford and Grenada were the only two stops in Mississippi. It is exciting to have musicians of this caliper come into our area and to actually get to hear them perform.

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  Spring is only a month away and Cathy Odom and I are ready for it—from statements by many other office visitors, I think much of the Valley is eagerly awaiting its arrival.