Look Back In Yalobusha History

• 5 years ago, Dec 18, 2008 – Yalobusha County Supervisors accepted a donation of three buildings and six acres of land valued at over $1.4 million from Carothers Construc-tion Company. The company pulled up stakes and moved their operation to Lafayette County.
Among the winners in the Chamber of Commerce Lighting Contest were the Tommy Turner Home on Robinson Street, The Lettie Lee Blackwood home on Dogwood Drive, the Christmas tree forest of Darnell and Pete Vaughn on CR 97 and (modestly) the Herald Office on Main Street.
• 10 years ago, Dec. 18, 2003 – Lannon Franklin was named a Paul Harris Fellow by the Water Valley Rotary Club.
Mary Sue Stevens, retiring Circuit Clerk, was pictured with her husband, Roy Bennett Stevens, at a reception held in her honor.
• 20 years ago, Dec. 16, 1993 – Yalobusha County’s unemployment rate hit a historic low of 5.6 percent.
Holley Automotive employees reached their goal of 1,000,000 hours worked without a lost time accident. They started in March and finished the goal on Oct. 29, according to plant officials.
Starr Bright Guest of Water Valley received the highest academic honor attainable at the University of Mississippi when she joined initiates for the Ole Miss chapter of Phi Kappa Phi national honor society.
• 30 years ago, Dec. 22, 1983 – Mount Liberty Church won first place in the religious category of the New Water Valley Jaycees Christmas Parade. Yalobusha General Hospital won first in originality and Yalobusha County Bank won first in theme. George Wells and his children, Jeremy and Hope, were dressed as clowns to participate in the parade.
Governor William Winter declared Yalobusha a disaster area after the severe storms and flooding earlier in the month.
• 40 years ago, Dec. 20, 1973 – Among the Blue Devils honored at the annual football banquet were Keith Marchbanks, most improved player; Paul Howell, scholarship; Michael Horan, team captain and sportsmanship award; Jimmy Green, leadership; Cliff Craven, most valuable player; Jim Hedges, scholarship; and Lewis Langdon, best blocker.
Attending the Mississippi Farm Bureau meeting in Jackson were Yalobushians Mr. and Mrs. Walter Moore, Mr. and Mrs. Ivan Covington, Mr. and Mrs. Bobby Pittman, Mrs. Elizabeth Pittman, Mr. W. Y. Parker, Mr. and Mrs. Doyle Varner and Vonda, Mr. John Ashford and Mr. and Mrs. J. L. Reid, Jr.
• 50 years ago, Dec. 19, 1963 – Patrons of the Water Valley School System approved a $150,000 bond to build new classrooms and renovate others by a four-to-one vote.
Water Department Manager Bill Hudson was pictured with a 12-point buck he killed. The deer was the biggest seen in the area in several years.
• 60 years ago, Dec. 17, 1953 – The WVHS boys lost their first game of the season to Coffeeville, 62-48, while the girls tied, 39-39.
Members of the cast of the WVHS senior class play, “Mother Is A Freshman,” included Pat Person, Elsie White, Alice Fay Vaughn, Ann Appleton, Ada Ann Baddley, Gay McVey, Donna Burk, Beverly Edwards, Mary Ona Whlhoit, Gaylon Booker, Dale Shaw, Kenneth Mathis, Sonny Redwine, Sonny Willingham and Don Brown.
WVHS seniors honored with a party at the home of Mrs. C. D. Murray included Ann Appleton, Ada Ann Baddley, Doris Jean Bynum, Gay McVey, Beverly Edwards, Mary Louise McCulley, Kate McMinn, Pat Person, Gaylon Booker, Alice Fay Vaughn, Don Brown, Elsie White, Gladys Walker, Robert Hill, Jack Clark, Don Holloway, Richard Hunt, Kenneth Mathis, Loy Gene Martin, Dale Shaw, Charles Sutton, Sonny Redwine, Lowell Willingham and Barbara Jo Keel.
• 70 years ago, Dec. 16, 1943 – W. R. Woods of Route 6, Water Valley, was visiting the Herald and mentioned to Editor Edward B. Shearer that his son was in the service, the eighth generation of his family to go to the defense of this country.
Second Lieutenant Bailey L. Baddley was in the Marine Air Corps stationed at Vero Beach, Fla.
Two doctors in the Army Medical Corps were brothers from Water Valley, Capt. Jack Atkinson and Capt. Robert Atkinson.
Jack Craven of the U. S. Navy spent two days in Water Valley the past week and told of seeing Melbourne Colson in Newfoundland and Bill Robinson in Scotland. While here, he was visited by his sister, Mary, a nurse at a hospital in Vicksburg.