Betty’s Week

 Last Monday night the Fall Yalobusha Baptist Association meeting was held at Tillatoba. Ed and Betty Hill and I are the messengers from Wood-land Hills. Also going with us, or rather us going with them, were our new pastor, Bro. Lynn Jones, and his wife, Danielle. Ed gave directions and Bro. Lynn made the trip with no problem.
  Over a hundred folks had gathered for the meeting. It’s always so good to see fellow Baptists from across the county, enjoy some great music, hear a good sermon, enjoy delicious refreshments, in addition to tending to the business of the Assoc-iation.
  Monday night the music was under the direction of Bro. Jimmy Hood from Oakland Baptist Church. Bro. Thad Moore, pastor of Coffeeville FBC, brought the message. Moderator for the Association is Bro. James Edwards, pastor of Bethel, and he always runs a smooth and entertaining program. Bro. Truman Scarbrough, Association Director, brought us up to date on the business of the Association, and secretary Linda Gholson provided statistics, with William McCullar, giving the financial report, and Jimmy Berry the memorial report.     Accompanist for the night was Mrs. Connie Cockerel. Bro. Rickey Harris, the host pastor, gave the welcome.
  Was my pleasure to sit with Jan and Jim Ward, Annis Gholson, Cindy Tate, and Kelly Alexander Pullen during the fellowship meal. Food was delicious.
  Coming on home Bro. Lynn says, “Well I’ve now been to Tillatoba and it was great.” Over the next few years, I’m sure he’ll get to visit many more of the churches in the county. Was interesting to learn that he and Bro. Moore knew each other from pastorates in Louisiana. Bro. Lynn is a native of our neighboring state, but he says Bro. Moore is a Mississippian. It was my first time to hear Bro. Moore preach and he delivered an excellent timely message.
  Bro.Jimmy Hood directed the congregational singing and brought the special music, one of my favorite hymns, “There’s Just Something About that Name.” He has a beautiful voice.
  Spring meeting will be in Water Valley FBC.
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  Marsha Catchings Harding, who lives in Oklahoma City, called to start a subscription. Was so glad she did because we had a most delightful visit.         We talked about the Catching, Vaughn and Harding families, the Shearer family, and most others who have lived in the Valley over the past 50 years. I was surprised to learn that she is as old as she is—I still think of her a a teenager. She is a nurse, actually a nurse practitioner. Her mom and dad are both dead and Ron is in a nursing home on the Mississippi coast. Of course she’s a cousin to the Vaughns here. She wants to come back to the Valley to retire and I’m looking forward to her getting back home.
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  Got another phone call later in the week from former Vallian Dr. Michael Rhyne, a dentist in Houston. Michael is the son of Donna and Dwight Rhyne, who also now live in Houston. He was a music student of Ed’s for many years and we just came to love him like he was our own child.
  Michael called to tell me one of his patients, Mrs. Mable Huffey of Manee, who will be 99 years old in December, asked if he knew the Shearers in Water Valley. Told her he knew all of them. So she asked about Dolly Ruth Shearer and Michael said I knew it had to be “Miss Dolly.” She was actually related to mother by marriage. Her husband was the late Otis Dalton “Pete” Huffey. After thinking about it I remembered that years ago we’d stopped by to visit with them.
  He said his copy of the Herald was on his desk and he gave it to her so she could read my column and a little about the Valley.
  We then started talking about his family. I only knew Dwight. Told him that I’d asked about his Uncle Ray when he died recently, and found he was a brother to Dwight. Michael related that there were actually seven Rhyne children and that he has an uncle, whom I’m sure I’ve seen, who lives out from Crowder and is a member of Enon Baptist Church, located on the Dummyline Road, toward Batesville. Uncle Albert is a retired riverboat captain and I have a cousin, now retired, who was a captain for over 40 years. We didn’t even get into this information.
  We also talked about Bro. Ferman Anderson, whom we both love. He says Bro. Ferman is preaching in Amory. Michael shared that they like to eat at Jakes, a restaurant in Okalona. When they were talking to the owners one night, Water Valley came up, and they discovered that the owner’s wife was a niece of Bro. Ferman. We both loved Ferman’s first wife, Peggy, but also love his second wife, Annie Gloe.
  Michael and his wife have two children.
  Another connection we have is that Ed has three cousins who live in Houston. One lives on the street that Michael’s office is located. Charley and Martha Smith live on Hill Crest Drive. Also there are Ginny and Travis Thornton and Jimmy (who was mayor of the city for a couple of terms) and Betty Smith.
 It’s a small world.
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  Enjoyed a fish fry, hosted by Brother Don on Thursday night. It was my birthday celebration. Don has to be out of town this week so it was either a week early or late. Told him I didn’t care, I’d eat fish anytime. Food was delicious and we had a great time.
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  Steve Ford and his plummer came over Friday morning and we worked on some plans for a new bathroom at Mom’s. Think that it’s going to be doable.
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    Betty Davis called Saturday afternoon to tell me she and Al were back home. Was glad to learn that they’d had a safe trip to Sarasota, Fla. They’d moved Betty’s cousin, Betty Brown, to her new home there. We’ll miss Betty, but hope she will be happy in Florida.
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  Only excitement at Moms over the weekend was the Friday flood. Bo recorded over six inches. It washed out the driveway and Bill had to rebuild it on Saturday so we could get in and out. He did a great job.
  I got to tend to Caroline for about an hour Saturday afternoon and she is a chunk. Arms ache after holding her for an hour or so, but we did have a good time. She is so cute.
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  Amber Izzard shared with us her summer mission trip to Thailand during the night service Sunday. It was an eye opening report. We now know that we need to support missions in foreign lands and also in the U.S.
  Following the service we enjoyed a birthday celebration for Amber, who’s birthday was actually Monday. It was a fun party and we told her we were just filling in as parents. It’s a joy to be able to do this.