Look Back In Yalobusha History
PROTECTED CONTENT
If you’re a current subscriber, log in below. If you would like to subscribe, please click the subscribe tab above.
Username and Password Help
Please enter your email and we will send your username and password to you.
The 1946-1947 football team at Water Valley High School was the first to take the field in about four years after seasons were canceled during World War II. The new coach was T.S. (Tommy) Gunn and the team name was changed from the Yellow Jackets to the Blue Devils. Former Blue Devil head coach Brad Embry shared this copy of the picture that came from Curtis Berry.
• 15 years ago, Aug. 28, 2008 – Windsor Foods was beginning the process to hire 200 people for their Oakland plant.
Alderman-at-large Lance Clement presided over a special-called meeting of the board of aldermen to approve publication of the proposed city budget for the coming fiscal year. Mayor Bill Norris was absent from the meeting after having been admitted to Baptist Hospital in Oxford with an apparent heart attack.
Two Water Valley students, Nelly McMahen and Sequareah Sayles, joined 200 other academically talented high school juniors and seniors at the Mississippi School for Mathematics and Science.
• 20 years ago, Aug. 28, 2003 – The First Baptist Church Softball Team won the 2003 Mississippi Baptist Class AAA State Championship.
Daryl Burney won the Democratic nomination for Yalobusha County Circuit Clerk in which a near record turnout was reported for the second primary. Tommy Vaughn won the Beat One Supervisor’s race, George Suggs won Beat Four and Gary Tippit won the District One Justice Court Judge position.
Rick Parsons was named Mississippi Farmer of the Year in the Lancaster/Sunbelt Expo competition.
• 30 years ago, Aug. 26, 1993 – Margaret Keith was one of 153 gifted students attending the Governor’s School at Mississippi University for Women.
Ethel Morgan was named as new Home Economist for Panola County after serving 22 years as a home economics teacher at WVHS.
Chris Riley attended the 1993 National Boy Scout Jamboree held at Fort A. P. Hill in Virginia.
Amanda Langdon of Water Valley and Laliah Bruce of Oakland were blue ribbon winners at the 4-H Junior Achievement Day held at Mississippi Delta Junior College.
• 40 years ago, Sept. 1, 1983 – The Devils were set to face Charleston in the season opener there on Sept. 2.
Ron Browning of Browning Funeral Home was elected president of the Mississippi Funeral Directors Association.
Deshaun Willingham, Mike Cory and Mike Smith were winners in the Pack 250 Cub Scout Bicycle Derby.
A softball tournament sponsored by First Baptist Church raised $780.59 for the Mississippi Baptist Children’s Village.
Boy Scouts Ronnie Stark and John Scott Spence from Throop 250 were nominated to attend the Brownsea Double Training Conference at Camp Seminole.
National Guardsmen pictured at summer training were SP4 J. B. Simms, SGT Barry Henry, SP5 Willie Pegues, SP4 James L. Benson, SP4 Kevin Surrette, SSG Jack Hughes, SGT Hugh Riley, 2LT Mark Nail, SP5 James Tidwell, SSG John Hairston, SSG Chuck Schwinn, SSG William Holmes, SP4 Kenny Ford, SP4 Troy Stark and SGT Howard Harmon.
• 50 years ago, Aug. 30, 1973 – Majorettes for the WVHS Band for the upcoming year were Suzanne Davis, Malinda Hill (head majorette), Jacquie Nemecek, Cindi Pittman and Bea Bryan.
A petition was being circulated for the widening and overlaying of Hwy. 7 for approximately two miles south of the city to help traffic at the Holley plant and the hospital.
Van Hedges of Water Valley was among the Ole Miss students helping plan the Welcome Rebels celebration on the Oxford Square.
City officials were trying to regulate dogs in the city limits by enforcing an ordinance passed in September 1967 that was to be in effect and enforced after September 1972.
Earnest Worsham of near Oakland was pictured with a 75 pound watermelon that could have easily taken honors as the biggest of those entered in the first few years of the Watermelon Carnival.
• 60 years ago, Aug. 29, 1963 – Winners in the Water Valley Swimming Team meet were Girl’s Freestyle, Nell Edwards, 1st; Paula Bratton, 2nd; Boy’s Freestyle, Tom Dorris, 1st; Robbie Parsons, 2nd. Other winners included Laura Parsons, Paula Knight, Becky Fair, Kathy McMillan, Andy Cox and Donnie Loflin.
The Yalobusha Saddle Club was organized with officers: Rodney Childress, president; Dr. M. S. McMillan, VP; Dorris Massie, secretary-treasurer; J. B. Massie, Frank Tucker and Harold Cook, directors.
Buck Brown had the first bale of cotton in the 1963 crop. It weighed 480 pounds and was bought by Valley Gin for 40 cents per pound.
Wade Doolin and Charlie Bratton were celebrating the opening of the Water Valley Barber Shop on the east side of Main Street just up from the WV Bank with free Coca-Colas all day.
John Cox and Bill Gafford returned from the 48th Anniversary National Conference of the Order of the Arrow at the University of Illinois in Urbana, Ill.
• 70 years ago, Sept. 3, 1953 – The first Tri-Lake Fair opened Tuesday night and drew about 2000 visitors. The upcoming weekend was expected to be even better and would be featured in the next week’s paper.
Beth Bell (center), daughter of Prof. and Mrs. J. N. Bell, was chosen to reign as Miss Water Valley during a contest held Aug. 27, 1953 in City Auditorium. Ann Gafford (left), daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Louis Gafford, was first alternate and Clara Rose Mays, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Ed Mays, was 2nd alternate. – Photo by Ed Shearer III
New officers for Farm Bureau included W. V. Moore, Jr. of Oakland, president; S. I. Pittman of Coffeeville, J. V. Wright of Water Valley and W. V. Moore, Sr. of Oakland, vice-presidents; and John Ashford of Water Valley, secretary and treasurer.
The Farmers Gin, located east of the I. C. Railroad track on Hwy. 32 began operations the past week. The first bale was ginned for Bill Hall and weighed 452 pounds.
Federal officers arraigned three Yalobusha County residents in federal court on charges of sale and possession of whiskey. They were Doyle Redwine of Water Valley, Russell Hitt of Oakland and Glenn Peeples of Velma. Mrs. Redwine and Mrs. Hitt were arraigned on the same charges and released on their own recognizance.
George Surrette’s Jitney-Jungle self-service food store had just been remodeled and was “as modern as tomorrow,” according to the full page ad.
The new Cold Storage and Marketing Center has just opened and was offering local producers a place to have their hogs, beef, sheep and goats slaughtered and processed.
• 80 years ago, Aug. 26, 1942 – The first woman to ever hold office in Yalobusha County, Miss Carolyn Kennedy, defeated Ed Ray Perkins for the office of Circuit Clerk. She had been a deputy clerk at Coffeeville for 12 years.
C. B. Busby was elected Sheriff to succeed Frank Hyde, who did not run for office.
The state highway department began work on a new bridge on Main Street in front of McLarty’s store to cross Town Creek. The bridge had been delayed because the government would not release the required steel. The new structure would be level with the rest of the street instead of having a hump like the old bridge.
Among the servicemen pictured in the Herald were Private Leroy C. Sutherland, who was in England and Corporal Oscar Parsons, who was in San Diego for advanced radio training.
