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 you a password reset link.
Sean Horan, young son of Mr. and Mrs. Ben Horan, found the Queen’s Nest to win the giant Easter basket, the grand prize given by the Jaycees and Jaycettes at their Annual Egg Hunt in April 1974. Over 200 boys and girls ages 1-12 were looking for the nest Sean found.
• 15 years ago, April 16, 2009 – A grand opening was held at the North Mississippi Fish Hatchery and Visitor Center adjacent to Enid Lake.
At the Chamber Banquet, Binnie Turnage received the 2009 Braswell Hatcher Award.
Betty Ruth Swearengen attended her first city board meeting after being appointed to fill the remainder of the term of her husband, Thomas S. Swearengen, who died Feb. 11.
• 20 years ago, April 15, 2004 – Dr. Joe Walker received the Braswell Hatcher Award at the annual Chamber of Commerce Banquet.
Coffeeville Courier owner/publisher James Hamilton “Jimmy” Denley died April 12 in Memphis as the result of complications from a rare from of leukemia.
Senior members of the Water Valley Blue Devils baseball team were Matthew Stevens, Charlie Edwards, Cory Williamson and Tim Hamm.
• 30 years ago, April 14, 1994 – Mark Nicholas was STAR Student and he selected Chryl Goodwin as his STAR Teacher.
Water Valley Manufacturing, Inc. purchased Big Yank’s Water Valley jean plant and was planning to produce stone washed jeans, a hot product at the time.
• 40 years ago, April 19, 1984 – Three Water Valley school buildings were vandalized overnight Sunday with damages and other losses estimated to exceed $500. Hit was the old elementary school building where textbooks were damaged, desks overturned and four dozen eggs for a science project were smashed and about $100 stolen from the principal’s office. At WVHS, the concession stand in the gym and the business office taking money and candy. At the junior high school, the door to principal John Herrod’s office was heavily damaged and a $10 calculator stolen.
Coaches for the Tri-Lake Conference selected all-conference teams which included from WVHS Krisite Bost and Darrell Phillips. Honorable mentions went to Lance Clement and Janet Luster.
The charred remains of David Wilson, age unknown, were found inside Brown’s Body Shop just off Martin Street. Wilson often slept in the shop on an old car seat near a wood-burning heater. The provisional autopsy revealed that he died of congestive heart failure. Police Chief J. D. Watson said that there were no signs of foul play or arson.
• 50 years ago, April 18, 1974 – Eight of Yalobusha General Hospital’s rooms had been furnished by people from the area at a cost of $500 each. The program was sponsored by the Chamber of Commerce under President B. C. McCullar.
Chryl Goodwin was the new president of the Water Valley Junior Auxiliary taking over from outgoing president Mim Carpenter.
Among the top egg-hunters at the Jaycee-Jaycette Egg Hunt were (1-5 age group) Clay Vaughn, Benji Massie, Paige Williams, (6-9 age group) Joey Joyner, Casey Dickey, Linda Livingston, (9-12 age group) Billy Ricks, Jennifer Jones, Buster Quinn and Kevin Surrette. Little Master Sean Horan found the Queen’s Nest and was pictured with his giant basket (see page 5).
• 60 years ago, April 16, 1964 – Yalobusha County Supervisors were proposing a bond issue in the amount of $120,000 for the purpose of building and equipping a new county jail. It would have to be passed by county voters at a special bond issue election May 9.
Gary Cox, freshman at Mississippi College, turned in a brilliant 8-2 singles record on the Choctaw tennis team.
T. J. Wright, Raymond Ferguson and Eldridge Coleman, all of Coffeeville, took top honors in the Northwest Mississippi Fiddlers Contest .
John Hunsicker, owner of Hunsicker Manufacturing Company, was the subject of a feature story by Lucia Holloway. Hunsicker was making ornamental garden sculpture, decorator products and art objects from Florestone, an imitation stone that uses plaster of paris mixed with epoxy as a hardener.
• 70 years ago, April 15, 1954 – Jeff Davis 4-H Club was judged as the best over- all club in the county at the county-wide rally at City Auditorium.
Gladys Walker, a senior at WVHS, was winner of a $25 prize in the Lion Oil Scholarship Fund essay con- test. Her essay was “How My Favorite School Subject Can Influence My Future.”
A3C Benny R. Moore had completed basic training at Lackland AFB, Texas.
• 80 years ago, April 13, 1944 – Tech Sgt. I. S. Rogers Jr. was reported missing over Burma. Sgt. Rogers was stationed in India and was about to return home.
The WVHS senior class play was almost interrupted as the action began when two members of the cast got into an altercation over a third member. It was all part of the production and the fight began in the audience before the curtain went up. Prof. Bell wasn’t informed of the action and he thought they were actually having a fight. Fortunately, for the sake of the play’s progress, someone informed him before he tossed out the antagonists.
• 110 years ago, April 16, 1914, The City Itemizer – In the want ads: For Sale Cheap – Our 16-foot Becker soda fountain, Easy terms, big bargain. Turnage-Atkinson Drug Company.
