Hill Country Living
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.
Hill Country Living
By Coulter Fussell
I was so sorry to hear of the passing of Mary Lou Williams. What a blast of pure enthusiasm and wide-eyed happiness she emitted into any space she entered. And, in turn, all that joy shone upon others which, I’m sure, was entirely her reason for shining in the first place. Her zest for life was contagious and you couldn’t help but catch the wave!
I was Mary Lou’s next-door neighbor for my first years in Water Valley. I fondly recall one afternoon when Snooky’s dog, Pedro, caught some sort of mysterious wild rodent and Mary Lou called my boys over to help determine what kind of animal it was. While the creature was lying on Snooky’s tailgate waiting to be classified, Mary Lou went inside her house and returned to the yard with a World Book Encyclopedia Britannica volume “G” and flipped it open to the page for “Groundhogs.”
I hadn’t seen an encyclopedia since I graduated from the elementary classroom in the late 1980s. It was such an old school moment and good for my kids (and myself) to see someone look something up in an actual book!
The number of photos I have of Mary Lou driving my kids around on that golf cart rivals the number of funny stories I have about her. I even have other people’s stories about her! My musician little brother used to be the band leader for Thacker Mountain Radio Show out of Oxford, a much beloved weekly production for Snooky and Mary Lou. When my little brother broke the news to Mary Lou that they were moving to a new state and therefor my brother could no longer play in the Thacker band, Mary Lou replied “Oh, we will really miss y’all! But you gotta go, If you don’t go, you’ll always wonder.”
But she said “wonder” in that thick Texas/Mississippi accent so it came out as “wuuun-duh.” My brother and his girlfriend still say that phrase many years later when they’re contemplating a decision big or small – “We gotta do it! If we don’t then we’ll always wuuun-dah!”
Any one of us who knew Mary Lou even a little bit could tell, at the very least, a couple of good stories about her. I mean, the woman was once pictured dancing at the Neshoba County Fair in National Geographic Magazine! She was so fun and adventurous that it had to be globally documented! I think we all share the same sentiment that she and Snooky were legendary characters who live on in the fun, participation and care they showed to all of their friends, neighbors, strangers and family. Big lives like hers don’t really go away as they leave a fullness in their wake. So, as Snooky would say, “See ya later….,” Mary Lou!
Lastly, I enjoyed the “I’m So Water Valley” event on Main Street! The festival had a good variety of booths and I even bought myself a little handmade needlepoint Kleenex box that said OLE MISS which my oldest child promptly claimed for himself. I appreciate the organizers for their efforts. I also appreciate the Main Street businesses who so enthusiastically embraced the opportunity to celebrate Water Vallians being downtown and having a good time in our business district! I hope this event continues and grows.
