Renasant Art Display Features Talent From Citizens Of The Past

Renasant Art Display Features Talent From Citizens Of The Past

Special to Herald

By Lucia Holloway

Although Water Valley is considered an artists’ colony now, painting was a pastime interest of many citizens of the past. The Renasant Bank’s current two-month art show features nine people who left behind cherished paintings. Sara Nell  Champion, whose idea it was to assemble the exhibit, was assisted by Sarah Pullen, Emily Childs, J. C. Womble, Mary Sue Stevens, Larry Hart, and Frank Brooks – who supplied information or paintings.

Both trained and  primarily self-taught artists comprise the display and include Flem Love Buckley, Edwin Blackmur, Ruth Brooks, Louise Honey, Sue Cox, Sarah Ruth Sartor Hayles, Helen Marie Adams Leipstorff, Frances McDonald Sartain and Ivy Williams Moore.

Mrs. Flem Love Buckley and her husband, H. G., who was promoted to engineer in 1907 with the Illinois Central Railroad, relocated from Chicago to Water Valley. 

Earlier, Mrs. Buckley taught at The Art School of Chicago. In Water Valley, she taught private lessons in their home on Markette Street. Their home is now owned by Carrie McCor-mick. Active in First Baptist Church, she was president of her circle. The Buckleys had a son and a daughter.

At age 34, Edwin Blackmur (1884 – 1975) became the youngest bank president in the State of Mississippi when he was named president of The Mechanics Savings Bank. In addition to his hobby of painting, his business interests included the Blackmur Hotel, a farm and dairy. After his death, and later the death of his wife, Nell, their home was bequeathed to the City of Water Valley for use as a library—Blackmur Memorial Library.

A dedicated teacher for 52 years, Miss Ruth Brooks (1/18/16 – 5/21/99) began her career in Yalobusha  County at Long Branch School. She taught in Batesville Elementary School for 30 years and returned to Water Valley to teach remedial reading classes. At Sylva Rena Baptist Church, she taught a women’s Sunday School Class named the Ruth Class in her honor. Retiring to care for her mother, she continued her interest in painting.

Miss Ruth’s sister, Louise Honey, returned to Water Valley after her husband’s death. Her career journey was a circuitous trek, beginning in Honduras where she taught dependents of a fruit company. She married Richard Honey, an Englishman whose family owned a tractor distributorship in Central and South America. They had one son. In Nigeria she worked with the U.S. Embassy and then taught at the American School in Mexico City. Returning to Water Valley, she was a guidance counselor at Northwest Com-munity College for 10 years. Painting with her sister was one of her retirement hobbies.

At age 61, Sue Cox, a life-long Water Valley resident, began painting and was passionate about her art until she died at age 72. She and her husband of 52 years, Ray Cox, were the parents of  five children, J. C. Cox of Water Valley, Mary Sue Jackson of Oakland, Sarah Pullen of Coffeeville, Linda Smith of Tanner, Ala., and Steve Cox, a resident of Mississippi State Veterans Home in Oxford. Mrs. Cox was a member of First Assembly of God Church, where she was a Bible School teacher. At 65, she went to Tupelo to take Bob Ross painting lessons, and later she attended art classes in Batesville and Memphis. She made photos of items she planned to paint in the future.

Sarah Ruth Sartor Hayles (2/11/18 – 1/27/98) and her sister-in-law, Vi Sartor, took art and toile painting classes in Oxford. Because of local interest, the teacher came to Water Valley First Methodist Church and taught classes for 12 ladies. Sarah Ruth’s grandfather, Rev. Jim Woods, a Methodist minister, was a great influence on her life. Married to her husband, Tim, for over 57 years, they were the parents of one son. The Hayles were active members of First United Methodist Church, where she held several offices in the Berean Sunday School Class. The couple traveled on 12 church trips to Canada and throughout the United States. She was clerk of Water Valley Electric Department for over 30 years. 

Helen Marie Adams Leipstorff (1920-2002) was born in Calhoun County at Mt. Liberty. Mrs. Leipstorff was multi-talented. While living in Chicago, she was the 1967-68 Illinois State Archery Champion in her classification group. After moving to Memphis, she drove a Greyhound bus on a route from Memphis to Jackson, Tenn. 

In Memphis, she also drove a street railway car. She raised registered poodles and also made porcelain dolls, poured molds, fired in her kiln, fashioned their clothes, and sold them. Mrs. Leipstorff also collected antique dolls and painted canvases. When her husband retired, they moved to Water Valley and she opened a beauty shop in their home. Two of her three children, Rhonda Ostrander and Rev. Billy Childs, live in Water Valley.

Frances McDonald Sar-tain (6/30/28–4/11/12) grew up in Clarksdale, married “Pee Wee” Sartain and they operated Sartain’s Cafe’ from 1955 to 1980. Earlier she had been a telephone operator. The Sartains were active in Jaycees and other civic events. Frances was organist and pianist at First Presbyterian Church for many years. She enjoyed painting realistic scenes of local landscapes and Water Valley buildings. The Sartains were parents of  three daughters, Carol Shields of Horn Lake, Julie McCullar of Water Valley, and Linda Sartain of Memphis.

Ivy Williams Moore and her husband, John, retired from their careers in Memphis, bought the John McNamee place in the Sylva Rena Community, and moved to Water Valley.  Neither was from Water Valley, but both were avid fishermen and had vacationed in the area for years. They became active members of Sylva Rena Baptist Church and Ivy was secretary of Billy’s Creek Rural Water System for 20 years. She painted realistic scenes in her spare time. When Mrs. Moore died in 2004, she was buried in her hometown, Bruce.

Renasant Bank Art Shows began in September of 2009, when Bill Taylor, Com-munity Bank President, asked Bill Warren and Pati D’Amico to serve as volunteers to stage art shows at the bank. The couple had owned art galleries, both in Providence, Rhode Island, and New Orleans, and had presented their first  show in June, 1996, and their last show in May, 2008. Both galleries were named “Waiting Room Gallery.” 

In addition, Pati was the weekly announcer of art events at radio station WWOZ in New Orleans for seven years. This well qualified couple continues to  promote art in the Valley.