Oakland Day Is On The Way
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.
The Oakland News didn’t get done last week because of Labor Day and the fact that all my siblings and I plus all our spouses, children and grandchildren decided to go all out to honor Mother (Margaret Jean Ross) for her 94th birthday celebration. Forty of 41 of us were able to be there. Most of us are still in Mississippi, but we had Florida, Illinois,and Michigan represented as well.
She wanted us all to show up for church at Oakland Baptist, lunch at Charleston Country Club and birthday cake created by Sue Donohue Smith along with family pictures. And that’s what we did. Kelly Paris did a great job on the photos plus wrangling us into groups for various photos. After all of that, Mother’s grandchildren and great-grands left to go swimming and allowed her a bit of a rest! We also learned we have one more baby on the way! Baby girl Smith of Florida will be joining us in March.
Her actual birthday was this past Monday, the 14th. She has loved all the cards and letters that started coming in around the first of September and are continuing to show up.
Our cousin Frank, who is more like one of our nephews, and his wife Lauren and their three children visited with Mother on their way back home to DeSoto County after a wedding in Grenada last weekend.
Mary Ann Johnson called to share that Pilgrim’s Rest Church of God in Christ at 12077 Highway 51 in Oakland is having a large rummage sale on Sat., Sept. 19, from 9 a.m. until noon. The sale is there on the church grounds.
The Oakland Area Chamber of Commerce and the Oakland Area Lions Club recently donated school supplies to Coffeeville High School. Pictured are, left to right, Lion A.J. Parker and Ms. LeRhonda Warren, principal of Coffeeville High School, and Chamber Executive Director Sue Donohue Smith.
Emily-Jo Wiggins has been named a finalist in the Wild Heart Gallery’s 5th Annual Wild Art Open, International Juried Art Exhibition. The piece she submitted was an owl and it was called “Watching.” She photographed the owl at a wildlife rehabilitation program. Due to his injury, he could not be released into the wild, so she “created” a habitat on canvas and released him in the painting.
The painting is acrylic and the feathers are layers of thousands of tiny brushstrokes, one layered upon the other. She also submitted a painting to the USA Mural Mosaic project, which was selected to hang in an exhibit in Eden, North Carolina. This one was done while she tried to stay warm in her car during Winter Storm Fern!
Not to be outdone, her sister Erin Roach, who is engaged to and co-author with Bertron Hammil, received word recently that a reader of their book The Sea Tales of Felae, Descent has recommended it for a Pulitzer Prize! That’s pretty exciting! Anyone can recommend, and that is not considered an actual nomination, but it is the first step in the process. Erin said just having a reader recommend them is amazing.
Be sure you have Oakland Day, Oct. 17, on your calendar. The organizers say this will be the biggest and best yet. It is billed as “a day to celebrate our past, inspire our present, and build our future.” There will be live music, food trucks, and kids’ activities all in downtown Oakland. Activities are from 10 to 10. Singer, songwriter and performer Obi Matthews is the special guest.
I was very honored to be included recently as a “Culture Bearer” in a series that the online publication Magnolia Tribune is doing. The focus was on Oakland and the efforts we have going on. When I retired from “paying work” several years ago, I knew I needed a project to keep me active and I also knew I wanted to do something to give back to my hometown, so I found some wonderful friends already at work and jumped into the pool with them. The most important thing is that it always, always takes a team that pulls together in the same direction! It’s been fun and rewarding, sometimes frustrating, but we just keep plodding along.
I am not a naturally patient person, but this community work is definitely teaching me patience! It is also teaching me that you can learn new skills even after you retire!
The Oakland Area Chamber of Commerce and the Oakland Area Lions Club recently donated school supplies left from our Back to School Celebration to Coffeeville High School. Lion A.J. Parker and Chamber Executive Director Sue Donohue Smith met with LeRhonda Warren, principal of Coffeeville High School, to make the donation.
Text or leave a message with your news at 601-853-3942. Email me at oaklandareachamber @gmail.com. The text/message machine has a stern warning to scammers, but don’t let that stop you from leaving me a message!
