Bluffs and Bayous June 2012 by Bluffs & Bayous Magazine

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From Your Publisher . . .

orking on this month’s feature story, I have focused on various health issues I am having within our family—no really serious issues yet those that place us in the care of doctors and nurses. Through my contact with specialists in the medical field, I have a renewed appreciation for what they do day after day. I have realized that so much of their work depends on my participation and cooperation in becoming a healthy person. While I tend to think I am healthy, working on my pilates every day as well as my cardio by walking several times a week and staying active and eating healthy, I know that there is more I can do to work on preventing health problems. Mike and I work diligently to eat a more healthy diet of fresh fruits and vegetables and to

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get plenty of sleep. Sometimes our jobs prevent us from having a healthy day of exercise and no stress, but we strive for that goal. When we do have to seek medical attention, we are grateful for the professionals that assist us and give us directives and procedures that we take to heart and follow. We also try to take as little medication as we can, for we strongly believe that the right exercise regimen and the right diet are the keys to staying healthy. Our June issue focuses on nurses, those professionals who are trained to provide the most comprehensive caretaking. They are the folks who greet and comfort you in the doctor’s office, at the hospital, and in the emergency room along with their other preparations prior to the doctors’ arrival.

Our featured nurses, Dianne, Alice, Angie, and Walter all share their personal experiences of the early days when they entered nursing, some of the changes that have taken place, and their advice to young adults currently considering the nursing profession. These four professionals are caring individuals whose selfless hard work is a credit to the nursing field. This month we also take a look at the Mississippi Nurses Association’s centennial celebration; Pilates exercise, a low impact form of shaping, toning, and strengthening for life; Nurse FunShine…a whole new perspective in looking at life on the bright side; and, of course, our ever popular writers Alma, Mary, Ginny, Ross, and Gary. Also, we have an intriguing article by Ellis Nassour, recounting the saga of his mother’s childhood friend who “rubbed elbows” with the likes of Bob Hope, Dean Martin, and Frank Sinatra. Finally, our Up & Coming calendar of events along with some gardening tips and loads of social scenes will pique your interest throughout the month. Be sure to savor this first month of summer and enjoy all that life has to offer along and beyond the Mississippi.

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C o n t r i b u t o r s

Columnist Dr. Gary R. Bachman is an assistant extension professor of horticulture at Mississippi State University’s Coastal Research and Extension Center in Biloxi, Mississippi.

Columnist Ross McGehee, a lifelong resident of Natchez, Mississippi, owns a diversified and far-flung farm operation.

Columnist Mary Emrick is the owner of Turning Pages Books & More in Natchez, Mississippi.

Jennie Guido is a graduate of Delta State University with a Bachelor’s Degree in Arts and Master’s Degree in English Education. Having lived up Highway 61 in Cleveland, Mississippi, she recently has returned to Natchez, her hometown, to pursue her professional career.

Ellis Nassour, a Vicksburg native, is an arts journalist and veteran of The New York Times. He wrote the best-selling biography Honky Tonk Angel: The Intimate Story of Patsy Cline and hit revue Always, Patsy Cline. For Bravo TV, he co-anchored The Voice with k.d. lang. At MCA/Universal Studios, he helped introduce Elton John and Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Jesus Christ Superstar and worked closely with Neil Diamond, Bill Cosby, The Who, Loretta Lynn, Brenda Lee, and Conway Twitty. Ellis authored Rock Opera: The Creation of Jesus Christ Superstar. He worked with Jerry Herman and Stephen Sondheim. He was contributing editor of Oxford University Press’ American National Biography. Ellis donated the Mamie and Ellis Nassour Arts & Entertainment Collection, in memory of his parents, in the University of Mississippi’s J.D. Williams Library. Ellis is featured in the book Mississippians.

on the cover

Columnist Alma Womack lives on Smithland Plantation on Black River, south of Jonesville, Louisiana. In addition to her duties as maitresse des maison, she is the keeper of the lawn, the lane and the pecan orchard at Smithland.

This month’s feature on nurses, health care professionals who are focused on caring for individuals, families, and communities, is a salute to those individuals in the health care industry. Dianne Davis, RN, Southwest Regional Medical Center in McComb, Mississippi; Walter Bliss, RN, River Region Medical Center in Vicksburg, Mississipi; Angie Williamson, RN, King’s Daughters Medical Center in Brookhaven, Mississipi; and Alice Thorpe, RN, Natchez Regional Medical Center in Natchez, Mississippi, share with our readers thoughts about the nursing profession. Photograph by Van O’Gwin, Van’s Photography in Vidalia, Louisiana. See article pages 36 - 40.

publisher Cheryl Foggo Rinehart editors Jean Nosser Biglane Cheryl Foggo Rinehart graphic designers Jan Ratcliff Anita Schilling media coordinator Adam Blackwell staff photographers Van O’Gwin Elise D. Parker Cheryl Rinehart sales staff Jennifer Ratliff Cheryl Rinehart Donna Sessions JoAnna Sproles

Adam Blackwell

Jean Biglane

Van O’Gwin

Elise D. Parker

Jan Ratcliff

Cheryl Rinehart

Anita Schilling

Jennifer Ratliff

Donna Sessions

JoAnna Sproles

Bluffs & Bayous is published monthly to promote the greater Southern area of Louisiana and Mississippi in an informative and positive manner. We welcome contributions of articles and photos; however, they will be subject to editing and availability of space and subject matter. Photographs, comments, questions, subscription requests and ad placement inquiries are invited! Return envelopes and postage must accompany all materials submitted if a return is requested. No portion of this publication may be reproduced without written permission of the publisher. The opinions expressed in Bluffs & Bayous are those of the authors or columnists and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, nor do they constitute an endorsement of products or services herein. We reserve the right to refuse any advertisement. Bluffs & Bayous strives to insure the accuracy of our magazine’s contents. However, should inaccuracies or omissions occur, we do not assume responsibility.

office

423 Main Street, Suite 7 | Natchez, MS 39120 601-442-6847 | fax 601-442-6842 info@bluffsbayous.com | editor@bluffsbayous.com sales@bluffsbayous.com www.bluffsbayous.com

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June 2012 FEATURES Christine Newman—Nurse of the Year....................................................... 29 All in the Family........................................................................................... 31 Nurses: Caregivers of Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow....................... 36-40 Pilates: A Method of Exercise...................................................................... 42 Rosehill Cottage: An Oasis of Love........................................................ 45-46 Down Memory Lane with Natchez Native Edna Raphael Belle: Revisiting Her Exotic Glory Years...................................................... 58-65

FAVORITES

Nurses: Caregivers of Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow pages 36 - 40

All Outdoors Deliberations........................................................................................... 16-17

Events June Premier Events.............................................................................72 & 74 June Up & Coming!................................................................................. 76-82

From the Stacks Accolades, MNA, for a Century of Service!............................................ 10-11

In the Garden Coral Bells for Garden Color and Texture................................................... 23

Something Scrumptious Along Highway 61: Fat Mama’s Tamales, Natchez, Mississippi............ 20-21 Simple, Healthy Summer Fare................................................................ 26-27

Southern Sampler

Rosehill Cottage: An Oasis of Love pages 45 - 46

Sharing Pass-along Plants and Much-loved Movies.............................. 70-71

To Your Health Being Happy Inside Out............................................................................... 32

The SOCIAL Scene Pike County Azalea Court.............................................................................. 9 Junior Auxiliary of Brookhaven, Mississippi............................................... 12 Tanner’s Annual Easter Egg Hunt........................................................... 14-15 Southern Cultural Heritage Center Benefit........................................... 18-19 Magnolia Garden Club Flower Show.......................................................... 25 JA Crown Club Easter Egg Hunt.................................................................. 28 May & Company...................................................................................... 34-35 Annual Antique Car Show........................................................................... 43 Vicksburg Cotillion Club Party................................................................ 48-51 O’Berry and Sawyer Engagement Party................................................. 56-57 Vicksburg Junior Auxiliary...................................................................... 66-68 Party for Preservation............................................................................. 84-85 Brookhaven Lions Club Dinner............................................................... 86-87 Magnolia Evening in Lights.................................................................... 88-89

Down Memory Lane with Natchez Native Edna Raphael Belle: Revisiting Her Exotic Glory Years pages 58 - 65 Bluffs & Bayous { June 2012 { Page 7

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Pike County Azalea Court | McComb, MS | THE social SCENE

Pike County Azalea Court Azalea Court ladies lined up on the lawn of Brentwood in McComb, Mississippi, to greet well-wishers and wave at traffic recently, as a part of the Pike County Azalea Festival. A few nights later the king and queen were crownedâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;Anne Marie DeLee and Blass Watson. Photographs by Elise Parker

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Queen Anne Marie DeLee and King Blass Watson Anne Marie DeLee, Emily Alford, Shelby AbdulHadi, and Maggie Paulk Taylor Woodworth, Skye Williams, Elise Alexander, and Maria Beebe Heidi Ott, Hannah Ott, and Shelby Cook Lauren Little, Dakota Parks, and Claire McInnis Molly Adams, Charly Ott, Leslie Willis, Mary Linda Remley, and Olivia Haskins

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From the Stacks review by Mary Emrick

Accolades, MNA, for a Century of Service! A Way to Serve: The Mississippi Nurses’ Association, 1911-2011 by Seetha Srinivasan

une 7, 2012, marks 101 years of the existence of the Mississippi Nurses’ Association. Wish a happy birthday to the association that provides the backbone support of and credibility to health care given by nurses in Mississippi. Give nurses hugs this month, and tell them, “Thank you,” for the work that they do in our communities. Our health care depends on qualified nurses. .A Way to Serve: The Mississippi Nurses’ Association, 19112011 by Seetha Srinivasan, chronicles the association’s existence in our state

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and was published in 2011 for the association’s centennial celebration that was held in Natchez, Mississippi, at this time last year. The publisher writes the following overview of the book that I share with you: “101 years ago Jennie Quinn Cameron and Leola Steele met with a few nurses in the Natchez Charity Hospital to organize a state association of graduate nurses, the Mississippi Nurses’ Association (MNA). In 1911 there were no laws regulating the profession of nursing in Mississippi. Anyone could claim to be a nurse, and thus the urgency of their first meeting. A Way to Serve is an account of

how the action of these women resulted in the establishment of a professional organization that, from its very beginnings, has served with distinction in Mississippi. “A Way to Serve documents the activities of the association and presents its efforts to regulate the profession, to ensure that its members adhere to the highest standards of education and training, and to secure their well-being. The book makes evident how, throughout its distinguished history, the MNA sought ways to balance these objectives while delivering optimum health care. “The book delineates the growth of the association by focusing on pivotal moments in its history. It is a succinct recounting of the most significant achievements of the MNA, linking the historical context and the broader developments in the profession. About one hundred photographs supplement the text, and lengthy captions make connections between their subjects and pertinent larger circumstances. “Taken together, the text and the photographs in A Way to Serve: The Mississippi Nurses’ Association, 1911-2011 will make nurses proud of their leaders and of the rich history of the association. It is a book that should grace the shelves of every person connected with the nursing profession in Mississippi.” Seetha Srinivasan is director emerita of the University Press of Mississippi, whose staff she joined in 1979 as editor. She served as President of the Association of American University Presses and is a recipient of its Constituency Award. Srinivasan has lived in Jackson, Mississippi, for over forty years and is active in civic and community affairs.

ational Nurses Week was held last month May 6 through 12, 2012. The week focuses attention on the diverse ways America’s 3.1 million registered nurses work to save lives and to improve the health of millions of individuals. This year’s American Nurses Association theme is “Nurses: Advocating, Leading, Caring. Annually, National Nurses Week ends on the birthday of Florence Nightingale, founder of nursing as a modern profession. Florence Nightingale Pledge This modified “Hippocratic Oath” was composed in 1893 by Mrs. Lystra E. Gretter and a Committee for Farrand Training School for Nurses in Detroit, Michigan. It was called the Florence Nightingale Pledge as a token of esteem for the founder of modern nursing.

I solemnly pledge myself before God and in the presence of this assembly, to pass my life in purity and to practice my profession faithfully. I will abstain from whatever is deleterious and mischievous, and will not take or knowingly administer any harmful drug. I will do all in my power to maintain and elevate the standard of my profession, and will hold in confidence all personal matters committed to my keeping and all family affairs coming to my knowledge in the practice of my calling. With loyalty will I endeavor to aid the physician in his work, and devote myself to the welfare of those committed to my care. The Mississippi Nurses’ Association, having celebrated its Centennial Year in 2011, began in 1911 in Natchez, Mississippi. Nurse Jennie Quinn (later Cameron) came from Pennsylvania to Hattiesburg, Mississippi, in 1910. When she noted there were no laws regulating the practice of nursing, she set about addressing this situation she had encountered; and on June 7, 1911, she and Leola Steele, a 1907 graduate of the Natchez Charity Hospital, along with other nurses began to make plans for organizing a state association of graduate nurses. They held their first 3 convention in October 1911.

1. Past Presidents: seated—Mary Stainton, Janet Harris, and Pam Farris; standing—Gayle Harrell, Kaye Binder, Faye Anderson, and Karen Utter 2. MS Nurses Association Board of Directors: seated—Jennifer Hitt, Amy Forsythe, Sandi Arnold, and Ann Barnes; standing—Jeffrey Hallman, Gayle Harrell, Juanita Graham, and Michelle Burns 3. Rosalyn Howard, Seetha Srinivasan, and Jay Watts 4. Audwin Fletcher and Virginia Lee Cora

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THE social SCENE | Brookhaven, MS | Junior Auxiliary of Brookhaven, Mississippi

Junior Auxiliary of Brookhaven, Mississippi Five active members and one life member of the Junior Auxiliary of Brookhaven attended the 71st Annual Education Conference in Little Rock, Arkansas, on May 4 and 5. The chapter was honored with an Efficiency Award and Outstanding Service Award for their Wish Tree project that services over 300 students in Brookhaven/Lincoln County. Cindy Galey, life member, was appointed as the National Junior Auxiliary Association Scholarship Chairman and now serves on the national board.

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Shannon Miller, Glenda Hux, and Valarie Oglesby Lisa Shann, Shannon Miller, Jennifer Adcock, Cindy Galey, Glenda Hux, and Valarie Oglesby Shannon Miller and Jennifer Adcock Glenda Hux, Shannon Miller, Jennifer Adcock, Lisa Shann, and Valarie Oglesby

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THE social SCENE | Vicksburg, MS | Tanners' Annual Easter Egg Hunt"

Tanners' Annual Easter Egg Hunt On Easter Sunday, April 8, 2012, Doug and Kathy Tanner of Vicksburg, Mississippi, hosted their Annual Easter Egg Hunt for their grandchildren. The Easter Bunny was played by their son-in-law, Chris Satcher.

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Canon Satcher Chase Wallace Grace Wallace Canon Satcher

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Tanners' Annual Easter Egg Hunt | Vicksburg, MS | THE social SCENE

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Easter Bunny Easter Bunny and Lilianna Satcher Canon, Lilianna, and Chris Satcher Chase and Grace Wallace Hallee and Jacob Hoffman

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All Outdoors by Ross McGehee

Deliberations

never thought about what negative connotations the word “deliberately” has. People who are described as being deliberate are usually focused and determined to complete a task. But when asked if something was done deliberately, it can take on another context, akin to “criminal,” “malicious,” or at least “mischievous.” And about the only alternative to “deliberately” is “accidentally” since “unintentionally” means that you weren’t paying attention in the first place. What prompted all this deliberation was the tone and tenor of a question posed to me by some random passerby while I was burning a field last winter. Smoke was as minimal as it could be, the wind was blowing it away from the four-lane highway, proper fire lanes had been made, and personnel was on hand to monitor the job. It was a textbook burn with everything going just right. Even the fire department, which had been summoned by a motorist with a cell phone, took a look and went back to the station. But when a car skidded to a stop

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next to the tractor and plow that was attending the fire and the frantic driver asked if the fire had been set “deliberately,” it was very difficult not to be sarcastic. California wildfires, Santa Anna winds, global warming, and Smokey Bear have too many people conditioned to be afraid of fire. And this is just one more time of year that fire is used to grow things. That’s right. Fire is used to grow things, not just burn stuff. And it’s pretty cheap, along with being darned effective, if done properly. So as much as there is reason to be aware when smoke is seen in the distance, there is more reason to understand that something positive is usually being accomplished in the process. Take a kid out on a cool night and start a small fire in the yard. Or take adults out into a field and light a bonfire. In either case, you can be assured that they will be entertained as long as the coals last and the

wind doesn’t keep shifting and blowing the smoke into their eyes. Something about fire stirs a primal instinct in humans, and they are drawn to it—especially if there are marshmallows handy. My friend Mike often says, “Build a fire in August and some fool will back up to it!” But on a larger scale, fire is often used to remove dead material from forests and fields so other plants can have room to grow. You don’t just run out one morning and pitch a match into some dead grass and leave, unless arson runs in your family tree. Effective fire management is a science and can be very interesting along with being pretty fun when it all goes just right. When you look at a stand of timber or a

field that got a “good burn” there are no live weeds, seeds, or sprouts left. Many insects and their host plants are gone too so no chemicals are needed to control pests. And even though some carbon is released into the atmosphere with the smoke, a lot of what you see is actually water vapor. Large columns of smoke in late May and early June usually mean that somebody is burning a wheat field after harvest. When the grain is gone, the remaining wheat stubble is in the way of machinery that plants the following crop, and it contains chemicals that are toxic to soybeans. Plowing the stubble to get rid of it consumes a tremendous amount of diesel fuel and leaves the land too dry to plant without rain. But run a fire across a field and the planter can often run literally before the smoke clears. Burning wheat fields can be a lot of fun! Before it became environmentally incorrect, we’d tie an old tire to the back of a pickup truck with a long chain. Light the tire and drive around the field and you’d have an inferno that the devil himself would back up from! Get someone in the truck with you that had never experienced a wheat field fire and let him or her think they were trapped inside the circle of fire. Or find a section of flame that was only a couple of feet high and drive through it. Of course, a reliable truck was imperative as was knowledge of all the muddy spots in the field. It’s a real scary feeling to be stuck ahead of advancing flame. Saw a kid do that one time in my truck, and it melted the grill out of it. On another occasion, the driver of the truck didn’t know about a gully that was hidden in the wheat straw; and as he lit the field at thirty miles an hour, he hit the rut and twisted the frame of the truck! He had fun up until that point. Nowadays, we just use a drip-torch or sometimes a regular cutting torch dangled out the door as we make our way around a field. Of course part of all this pyromania involves dealing with the powers-that-be. Controlled burns create lots of liability, and permits also have to be issued. Since there is a level of science or art and maybe a double measure of common sense required to incinerate the local flora, it is advisable to attend a burn school for certification. If you are not certified, that fire on your place will be “unintentional,” wink, wink. Still, a call to the Forestry Commission gets you a permit number if conditions are good for the fire you want to create. Everybody wants in on the act, though.

Years ago we wanted to burn a wheat field inside the city limits right ahead of a massive thunderstorm. The wind was blowing away from the highway, and fire lanes were plowed. We got a permit from the forestry folks (which is just a number assigned over the phone); and I sent a small boy across the field with a box of matches, lighting and dropping them on the ground. Man, we had us a fire! Flames were twenty-feet high and fifteen-milesan-hour. A truckload of employees stood by watching the flames in awe. Then we heard the sirens. I really don’t know what the fire department thought they were going to accomplish with a blaze like that, but the fire was no match for the hot air that the blow-hard, self-important police chief provided. Turns out he thought we should have had a city permit, too. And he asked, “Who set this fire?” “Well, Y’see that kid WAY across the field, going into the woods and escaping while you’re over here talking? He set it.” As Fidel said, “Man, I was just sitting here watching; but when the PO-lice showed up, I almost hit the bushes too!” We didn’t get arrested that day, but we did make the paper. It was mainly a story about

how vigilant the police chief was over public safety. Fire doesn’t always work according to the most carefully laid plans. I can recall a time when a pasture was being burned in the winter and the fence posts caught fire, burned to the ground, and let the cows out. There is also the incident where a neighbor set his harvested wheat field on fire and succeeded in burning a string of power line poles off at the ground. Or another time when the fire crossed his fire lanes and scorched several thousand trees that he’d planted for wildlife. Sounds unintentional to me. That’s just a big word for “ooops.” All things considered, fire is a handy tool for some of the things we do. It’s inexpensive and effective when done right and exciting when it goes wrong. Fire is not something to fear, in spite of what Smokey Bear says. Just make sure whatever fire you have is well planned and started deliberately.

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THE social SCENE | Vicksburg, MS | Southern Cultural Heritage Center Benefit

Southern Cultural Heritage Center Benefit

The Southern Cultural Heritage Center in Vicksburg, Mississippi, presented its Fourth Annual Chocolate Affair on May 3, 2012. This fundraiser for the center is supported and promoted by local restaurants and caterers that donate desserts and wine for the evening’s activities.

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Laura Mattews, Amber Smith, and Andrea Pettet Sharon Hanks with daughters Karen Hanks Biedenharn and Rhonda Hanks Brasseal Sara Ruth Andrews with mother Sharon Andrews Sara Ruth, Ronnie, and Sharon Andrews Courtney Tucker, Adrienne Eckstein, Dawn Farthing, Cathy Blanche, Jill Vessel, and Susan Jennings Wendy and Mike Kelly, Glenn Myrick, Marsha Ivy, Becky and Scott Towne, Jere Jabour, and Mike and Annette Kirklin Chesley Lambiotte, Jackie Ponder, Stacy Lambiotte, and Lauren Cappaert Front—Rebecca Flanagan, Ellen Amborn, and Jennifer Ratliff; back— Lindsey Gay, Laura Beth Lyons, Katrina Shirley, Jordan Amborn, Leslie Sadler, and Sarah Hayes

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Southern Cultural Heritage Center Benefit | Vicksburg, MS | THE social SCENE

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Stacy and Penny Walker, Dr. Rusty and Kim Barnes, Cynthia and Lyndsey Freeny, and Lori Jones Susan Howington, Rocki Sellers, Terri Melby, Grace Uihlein, and Libby Beard Amanda Paris, Dixon Stone, Sara Ruth Andrews

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Something Scrumptious story and photos by Jennie Guido

Along Highway 61

Fat Mama’s Tamales Natchez, Mississippi

fter six fabulous and fun-filled years in the Delta, I have finally made it back home to Natchez, Mississippi; and with the summer months quickly heating up, I thought that a trip to Fat Mama’s Tamales was in order to continue on our journey along Highway 61. In the Delta, the world-famous Tamale Trail was always something that helped keep homesickness at bay and allowed me to experience all kinds of this delicacy throughout the state. However, when it comes to hot tamales and icy margaritas, there is nothing quite like Fat Mama’s Tamales in downtown Natchez to quench that craving. When I talked with Fat Mama’s David Gammill, I was able to learn a little more about this place that I had frequented over the years. It was not until the local woman who had made and delivered homemade tamales for decades passed away that the Gammill family started to think about opening shop. One Saturday, Gammill explained, talking about his parents, “They bought large quantities of all the ingredients and spent all day making them. When they finished cooking them, they

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were not very good. So, my sister and I ended up with a tamale with every meal and school lunch until they were gone. The next Saturday my parents, friends, and family made another batch which weren’t very good and the process repeated.” After a year of trial and error with many tamale recipes, the Gammill family opened the doors of the iconic log cabin on Canal Street in June of 1989. Being a simple “to go” order-styled restaurant, Fat Mama’s slowly started to make additions to its menu over the years. “While at first we were planning on to-go business only, we had people who loved to sit at the counter and eat tamales. So, in addition to the tamales, we had cold drinks. People wanted something to put on the tamales, and homemade chili was added to the menu. Soon other menu items were added in addition to beer and wine. In the early ‘90s, my parents decided that a signature

Top—Always something interesting to ﬁnd at Fat Mama’s Left—Just for a little direction

margarita would be a great compliment to our menu and restaurant. After extensive research, my parents came up with a recipe for margaritas that were spectacular and decided to name them ‘Knock You Naked’ Margaritas,” Gammill recalled. After its move down Canal Street a block or so toward Main Street, Fat Mama’s has been able to add even more to the menu including poboys, taco salads, nachos, and the fabulous Fire and Ice Pickles. The new location adds to the unique atmosphere that you can’t find at just any restaurant. According to Gammill, “A hot tamale restaurant isn’t your everyday, run-of-themill restaurant. Most tamale shops are togo only, but we have been able to expand on that idea and create a restaurant that provides locals and tourists alike with a fun and different experience.” A few favorites from the menu would include the obvious order of hot tamales; but if you are looking for something different, the Gringo Pie is another choice that will not steer you wrong. Made of three tamales topped with chili, cheese, onions, and jalapeno peppers, “this is the quintessential Fat Mama’s dish if a customer hasn’t been into Fat Mama’s before or is from out of town,” Gammill added. Personally, I love the Natchez Nachos, which is a platter of chips covered in spicy cheese; bell peppers; jalapeno peppers; onions; and, my absolute favorite, black olives. During the summer months, there

is nothing I love more than heading down to Fat Mama’s, getting a frosty beer or a frozen margarita, sitting on the porch, and enjoying a Natchez sunset over the river. Sometimes, being back home has its perks, and the view and atmosphere are definitely the ones that brought me back. As for its name, Fat Mama’s is a little bit of an inside joke for the Gammill family. Gammill explained to me how it was decided before opening back in 1989: “We found our location, the log cabin on Canal Street, and figured out everything that was needed except a name. Well, my sister and I had a joke that if our mother kept messing up the tamale recipe, she was going to be a ‘Fat Mama’ from having to eat all of the tamales that weren’t right. We told my parents the joke; and immediately, ‘Fat Mama’s Tamales’ was born.”

Knock You Naked Pie

There’s nothing quite like the tamales from Fat Mama’s.

The famous margarita that can knock you naked.

1 graham cracker crust 1 8-oz. can sweetened condensed milk 1 8-oz. tub Cool Whip (homemade whipped cream, if you are ambitious) ¼ cup lemon juice ½ cup Fat Mama’s Knock You Naked Margarita Mix Blend all ingredients with mixer. Pour in pie shell; refrigerate for 30 minutes before serving.

With such festive decor, Fat Mama’s makes a perfect place for a summer hang out.

Located on Canal Street, Fat Mama’s has been a staple in downtown Natchez for over 20 years.

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In the Garden story and photos by Dr. Gary R. Bachman

Coral Bells for Garden Color and Texture

oral bells are perpetual favorites, and their colorful foliage can add interest and texture to any garden. The first coral bells had green foliage; but these days, green foliage selections can be hard to find. New selections have purple, red, and white marbling and different colored venation. You will often see foliage colors of bright gold, orange, and brown. Still others have different colors on top and bottom, so the colors flash when the wind blows. Coral bells also put their texture on display. Some have ruffled margins, some have deep cuts in the foliage, and others have smooth margins. Typically, coral bells grow 1 to 3 feet tall and up to 2 feet wide. However, smaller, more compact selections are available. Coral bells can have some of the darkest foliage around, ranging from deep burgundy and dark purple to black. Many are seed propagated. Coral bells don’t have many pests. Perhaps the biggest problem they have is leaf scorching, especially if they are not planted in partial shade. Coral bells get their name from the nodding flower stems that are produced in the spring. Deadhead expired blooms to encourage repeat blooming through the summer. Because they are an evergreen perennial, coral bells have multi-season interest. Prune the foliage in early spring to clear the way for the new season’s growth. Pruning will help maintain the plant’s shape and keep the center tight. Divide your plants every three to four years, and you’ll have new plants to decorate with and share with friends. Coral bells are not hard to grow if you follow a few tips for maintaining healthy clumps. Plant your coral bells in a spot that gets a few hours of afternoon shade. Some shade is especially important for the foliage varieties. Selections with showy flowers benefit from more sun exposure and have stronger flowering stems. Well-drained soil with a lot of compost mixed in is a must. Plant the crown a little higher than the surrounding grade to increase drainage and help prevent the crown from rotting. Add compost or a general garden fertilizer once in the spring to meet the plant’s nutritional needs. Provide coral bells with 2 to 3 inches of mulch to help keep the soil cool. Although coral bells are evergreen, the winter months in Mississippi can leave the foliage looking raggedy. Prune away old foliage in the spring, being careful not to damage the crown. If you prune carefully, the new growth will come in strong. Later in the summer, remove spent flower stems to keep your coral bells looking neat and trim. When you are ready to divide the plant in either the spring or fall, carefully dig it up and break off the pieces where you see the small leaves coming out. Dip these pieces in rooting hormone and push them into the soil in new areas of the garden.

The leaves of some coral bells are different colors on top and bottom, creating flashes of color when the wind blows.

Coral bells can have some of the darkest foliage around, ranging from deep burgundy and dark purple to black.

Coral bells make a great partner in combination plantings. Combine coral bells, spiderwort, and veronica for good spring and summer flowering. Or for shade foliage, try coral bells, hosta, and Japanese painted fern. With the proper care and planting location, you can enjoy coral bells in your landscape for a long time.

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THE social SCENE | Magnolia, MS | Magnolia Garden Club Flower Show

Magnolia Garden Club Flower Show Magnolia Garden Club in Magnolia, Mississippi, held its annual flower show recently. Free and open to the public, the themed and judged flower show attracted locals and tourists alike. Members enjoyed socializing with guests and relaxing on the wrap-around porch of hostess Alice Mitchellâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s home.

Photographs by Elise Parker

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Evelyn Adams and Lisa Hammack Colleen Lally and Debbie Simmons Vicki Bryant, Brande Moak, and Maston Moak

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Something Scrumptious by Cheryl Rinehart

Simple, Healthy Summer Fare

hen the warm months approach us, I want to get out of the kitchen and be outdoors as much as possible. Mike and I love to cook outdoors on the grill and the smoker; in fact, some of our favorite meals come right from the grill. We also love to eat fresh vegetables and fruits after gathering fresh produce that is grown locally. Below, are some of the very simple, healthy foods that we enjoy—we hope you enjoy them, too!

Grilled Vegetables

Grilling veggies is a very simple process. What you need are some fresh vegetables...our favorites are yellow squash; zucchini; eggplant; asparagus; red onions; red, yellow, and green peppers; carrots; green beans; and broccoli. Slice vegetables lengthwise— easy for grilling—and spray with olive oil. Then, season with chopped fresh herbs, or dry and use sea salt and fresh cracked pepper. The carrots should be boiled prior to grilling for quick cooking. Grill 10 to 15 minutes; or if your fire is really hot, watch and just sear on both sides.

Grilled Fruit

We love grilled fruit as much as we love grilled vegetables. Marinate the fruit with a raspberry vinaigrette, and season with a little pepper.

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Slice lengthwise, place in a zip-lock bag, and marinate for about 15 minutes. Then, grill about the same time as for vegetables. Some of our favorite fruits to grill are pears, peaches (Slice each into halves and take seed out.) papaya, pineapple, and plums.

Special Tomatoes

For fresh tomatoes from the garden, just slice, sprinkle with a little sea salt and pepper, top them with fresh basil and mozzarella cheese, and place on the grill or run through the oven for a few minutesâ&#x20AC;&#x201D; or eat them cold.

Eggplant and Tomato with Mozzarella Cheese

One of our all time favorites is to slice eggplant, season with sea salt and fresh cracked pepper, layer with tomato, season again with sea salt and fresh cracked pepper, and top with mozzarella cheese. Run through the oven until the cheese melts. This is wonderful!

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THE social SCENE | Brookhaven, MS | JA Crown Club Easter Egg Hunt

JA Crown Club Easter Egg Hunt The Junior Auxiliary’s Crown Club of Brookhaven, Mississippi, hosted its first annual community-wide Easter Egg Hunt in Brookhaven’s City Park at the end of March. The Crown Club is a service organization for high school girls in tenth and eleventh grades.

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Regan Myers, Caroleah Brister, and Devin Tardo Jessie Henning, Carey Crozier, and Anna Gardner Lindsey Calcote, Emily Phillips, Alyson Barry (Easter Bunny), Leah Smith, Leigh Ann Martin, and Kelly Cruthirds Audrey Montalvo, Caroline Stewart, Anna Carollo, and Ashton Rials Alisia Williams, Aaliyah Williams, Sonia Kaur, and Monia Kaur Sunday Holmes, David Sones, Alyson Barry (Easter Bunny), Josh Holmes, Theresa Sones, Drew Sones, Bonnie Holmes, Will Green, John Sones, Sarah Sunday Holmes, and Chloe Green Breelyn Smith, M›Kynnley Hargro, Brooklyn Smith, Keshia Hargro, Zykerria Bojang, Kimberly Putman, Olivia Devovan, Christopher Putnam, Ty Moore, Valerie Moore, and Trey Moore

5 4

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Christine Newman—Nurse of the Year

oman’s Hospital is proud to announce Christine Newman as the Nurse of the Year. She has been an Operating Room nurse for three years and has quickly risen into a leadership role. Hired to coordinate our robotic program, Newman helped grow our program from one robot to three and turned a fledgling program into one that is becoming a model for other hospitals. Her organization skills and dedication to our program are clearly visible. She has great rapport with the surgeons and helps them manage their schedules to accommodate posting robotic procedures. Newman has focused on efficiency in our program and is constantly tweaking our processes. By offering busy surgeons efficient turnovers and smooth operations, we have been able to grow our volume; Woman’s Hospital currently leads the state in robotic procedures. Newman also

assisted with data collection and our application process for American Institute of Minimally Invasive Surgery Center of Excellence certification. Woman’s Hospital achieved this certification in late December and is the only hospital so certified in the state of Mississippi. Visiting surgery teams and surgeons praise Newman for her expertise and her helpfulness. She is willing to share the template of our program with others to shorten their learning curve, makes sure visiting teams feel welcome, and is available for any questions regarding posting concerns, or products. A hard worker, Christine Newman is a true asset to our facility and well represents Woman’s Hospital’s mission and vision. Open minded to new ideas, she is a facilitator to communication on many levels. Her positive attitude and smile are at the core of our robotic program and its success.

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All in the Family

atthew LeTard was recently pinned for having completed his studies with the Alcorn State University Nursing Program. His mother, Angela LeTard, Nurse Practitioner for Dr. Randall Tillman at Riverpark Medical Center in Vidalia, Louisiana, received recognition of her nursing degree with this same pin in 1987. Since he was 15 years old, Matthew has worked as an assistant with Dr. Tillman and had developed a serious interest in continuing his

work in the medical field, owing primarily to the influence of his mother and other family members in the health-care industry. Another possible influenceâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;perhaps a coincidental oneâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;is that years ago, when Angela took her boards one August, she was pregnant with Matthew; and with her doctorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s permission, she drove to New Orleans to take the test. Matthew was born following the boards. Matthew will take his boards this August, twenty-five years later.

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To Your Health

Being Happy Inside Out Sunny Side Up: Health and Happiness by the Dozen by Cheryl B. Fell, RN-BC, “Nurse FUNshine”

t all started with Cheryl Fell’s childhood, with her growing up and visiting her grandmother, Granny, who made breakfast each morning for her grandchildren. It was called the Breakfast of Champions, and Fell claims her Granny started a Breakfast Club: “While gathered together having breakfast, the grandchildren shared their dreams and goals with each other under Granny’s unconditional acceptance which in turn made all feel like real champions, ready to conquer the day.” During Fell’s early 30s, she and a group of friends who met each morning at their Breakfast Club discovered that their mere existence from day to day lacked a true happiness. Throughout their process of changing, they realized they needed to surrender and accept the fact that “inner soul work was required.” Fell takes her readers through the process of examining their own selfawareness and of learning how to change for a healthy lifestyle. Some of the goals to change from inside out are found on pages 4 to 5 of the Book: 1. Know that change will require you to think and act outside your “safe” daily routines. 2. Jump-start your attitude every morning with gratitude. 3. Be excited about your potential and the future. 4. Expect progress, not perfection. 5. Let go of the past. Forgiveness equals freedom. 6. Move beyond anger, shame, fear and guilt. 7. Think positive thoughts before going to sleep each night. 8. Practice responding instead of reacting. Fell’s twelve short chapters dealing with some of the goals end with her final summation of Living on the Sunny Side of the Street. It is well worth the read for the entire family, for those who think they are happy and those who struggle

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to find the inner peace we all need. Inside this book, readers will find dozens of practical, yet powerful ideas intended to increase awareness, encourage healthy choices, boost self-confidence, and multiply joy. Being happy inside out affects a person’s whole health. Visit Fell’s website www.sunnysideupbook.com for information or to order her book from Amazon. SIDE NOTE ABOUT THE AUTHOR: When Cheryl Fell was twelve years old, she knew she wanted to become a nurse. A compassionate heart mixed with purpose validated her ambition to fulfill her professional dreams. Balancing a full-time job with nursing school taught her the value of hard work, simple living, and perseverance. Within a year of college graduation, she became an RN, moved from Indiana to southwest Louisiana, married her high school sweetheart, and gave birth to a son. The number one lesson Fell learned is this: take care of yourself first so you can be of loving service to others. This wellness theme of practicing what you preach became a way of life for this young wife, mother, nurse, sister, and friend. After six years of medical nursing, she began working in the mental health field. Her gift of laughter was encouraged and appreciated by administration, coworkers, and patients. She earned her psychiatric/ mental health certification in 1995. In 1998, Fell created her signature character, Nurse FUNshine, to help promote joy and healing through laughter. Nurse FUNshine strives to be a positive role model for nurses and is a sought-after professional speaker. For the past thirteen years, Fell has been entertaining and educating people from all walks of life about the importance of genuine health and happiness. Nurse FUNshine’s no-nonsense approach to wellness is delightfully documented in her book, Sunny Side Up.

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THE social SCENE | Vicksburg, MS | May & Company

May & Company On April 19, 2012, the May & Company crew of Vicksburg, Mississippi, spent the morning with various United Way Day of Caring projects and then took the rest of the day off for a much needed, after-tax-season break. The group enjoyed a four-hour cruise on the Friendship boat on the Jackson, Mississippi, reservoirâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;lots of crawfish, sun, dancing, limbo competitions, and fun and fellowship!

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6 Nancy Wansley, Paula Shores, Katie Feibelman, and Maria Signa Patsy Counts and Riley Nelson Georgia King and Mari Stoudt Maria Signa and Nathan Cummins Josh McBride, Katie Feibelman, Alice Ellis, John Paris, J. R. Armstrong, Riley Nelson, Paula Shores, and Lindsay Jones Maria Signa, Nancy Wansley, Paula Shores, and Lindsay Jones Lindsay Jones Barbara and Garry Hickman

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Vicksburg, MS | THE social SCENE

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Barbara Hickman Lori Shelton and Teresa Fenn Chuck and Becky Thornton

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Nurses: Caregivers of

Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow

ach June, Bluffs & Bayous focuses on health and wellness issues. This year, our focus is on individuals who in the role of nurses care for others. We contacted area hospitals to select a nurse who has served their hospitals through outstanding practice in length of time, extent of services, patient care, or all of these areas. Our team traveled to visit each one of these outstanding healthcare nurses; and what we kept hearing is evidently their professionâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s mantraâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;treat each individual with kindness, be concerned and caring toward every person, and even just a smile can comfort a person. Nurses are health-care professionals who are focused on caring for individuals, families, and communities,

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ensuring that they acquire, maintain, or recover optimal health and functioning. Nurses are capable of assessing, planning, implementing, and evaluating care independently of physicians; and they provide support from basic triage to emergency surgery. Nurses may practice in hospitals, clinics, physician offices, private homes, schools, pharmaceutical companies (usually as researchers), industry (occupational health settings), schools, cruise ships, retirement homes, hospice facilities, long-term care facilities, military facilities, and even camps. Some nurses may also advise and work as consultants in health care, insurance, or legal environs. Nurses can work full time or part time, and many work on a per diem basis or as traveling nurses.

eet Alice Thorpe, a 1973 nurse graduate who has worked with Natchez Regional Hospital for the majority of her 39 nursing years. From being in cardiology for nineteen years and then moving into emergency care for many more years, Thorpe has worked in almost every area of the hospital except the kitchen and presently serves as Nurse Director over the Senior Behavioral Health Unit and the Rehabilitation Center. Bluffs & Bayous: When did you first become aware of wanting to be a nurse? Thorpe: “I had very protective parents; and at age 13, I was still at Tiffee Fore’s day care. She started paying me fifty cents to work there because I was too old to attend. I would watch her as she took care of her students. She knew how to apply medicine and put the band-aid on; and I thought to myself, ‘I want to do that one day.’ To have that kind of knowledge to help someone was awesome in my little eyes. She was my inspiration.” Bluffs & Bayous: Did you come from a medical background? Thorpe: “No, none of my family has ever worked in the medical profession. I didn’t even know what a stethoscope was when I first entered nursing school!” Bluffs & Bayous: What is one of the most memorable moments during your nursing career? Thorpe: “I’ve thought about this a lot. I remember a little lady who was very ill. We kept patients at that time for a much longer period. We had gotten so close to the family. The closeness we had with the families is one of my memorable memories. Another was a patient who was one of my former teachers in college. He came in with a heart attack and died. We had gone to the room to resuscitate him, and he recovered. Six months later, I ran into him. He said, ‘Alice, I want to tell you something I have not told anybody because they would think that it was the lack of oxygen in my brain or something, but I saw you guys working on me. I heard you telling me to hang on, that it was going to be all right. It was like I had floated up to the corner of the room. I could tell you everyone who was in that room. If I tell people that...they’ll think I’m luny!’ I was a new nurse at the time in the Coronary Care Unit.”

Bluffs & Bayous: What are some of the changes since you became a nurse? Thorpe: “Critical thinking was brand new when I became a nurse. We were probably one of the first groups to step out from the norm. By working as a team, we were able to make critical thinking decisions along with the doctors on day-to-day situations. We worked with doctors who welcomed us as a team. When I first came to Jeff Davis, now Natchez Regional Hospital, Dr. Clifford Tillman, for example, would come over to the hospital at noon every day to read EKGs. When he got through reading the EKGs, he would have a class of me and one other nurse for about an hour to teach us what we needed to know to work in the Coronary Care Unit. Dr. Charlie Martin, Dr. Thomas Howard Gandy, and Dr. Mal Morgan also did this. We were hand-trained by the best. Now where does that happen today...where a

doctor comes from his office each day and trains the hospital nurses? We had camaraderie.” Bluffs & Bayous: What are some of the advantages of being a nurse today, and what advice would you offer to someone interested in wanting to become a nurse? Thorpe: “Well, you make more money today than when I first started. I think I made $3.00 an hour. The demands of a nurse today are more. The ratio of patient to nurse today is one to three. The paper work is very different now. We are moving more toward electronic charting. For all new nurses—get as much experience as you can in a hospital setting. Go into the hardest department and stay three to four years. No matter how hard it is, the work will make you a better nurse.” Bluffs & Bayous { June 2012 { Page 37

Davis: “When I graduated from nursing school, it was a reality shock. Nurses then wore long-sleeved, three-quarterlength-sleeved, white uniforms. Starched. White hose and cap. We received a special cap for nursing with stripes on the cap to symbolize your school of nursing. Today we wear scrubs; and without our name badges, everyone who works in the hospital looks alike except for the name badges to identify your position. Another memorable moment came after fourteen years of nursing. I was working in ICU and studying to gain my certification for Post Anesthesia Care. I had fever blisters from the stress of obtaining that certificate!” Bluffs & Bayous: What are some of the most satisfying experiences during your career? Davis: “Getting to know the patients and their families. It is hard not to get attached and to maintain a position to make quality health-care decisions. I enjoy people, and I enjoy knowing that somehow I have made a difference in their hospital experience in a positive way even if it is with just a smile or a simple greeting. I learn something new every day.”

ust off I-55 in McComb, Mississippi, we met another nurse, Dianne Davis, who has served the nursing profession for 43 years at Southwest Regional Medical Center in McComb, Mississippi. We visited with Davis during her six-week leave from nursing; she had just had surgery and was recouping. She looked great to us! Davis began working weekends and night shifts in the emergency unit and then moved to being a shift nurse. She then became Supervisor Floor Nurse, then Head Nurse of Medical and Surgery Floor, and eventually landed in Recovery. Here, she has found her niche, a sense of control in her professional surroundings.

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Bluffs & Bayous: When did you first become aware of wanting to be a nurse? Davis: “After I graduated from high school, I was hospitalized. While in the hospital, I observed with wonderment what the nurses did. After that, I worked for a year as a nurse’s aide at King’s Daughters Hospital in Brookhaven, Mississippi. Following that year, I decided to be a nurse; and I began my pre-requisite classes at Southwest Mississippi Community College; and then, the following two years of nursing school were at Baptist Hospital in Jackson, Mississippi.” Bluffs & Bayous: What is one of your most memorable moments during your nursing career?

Bluffs & Bayous: What are some of the changes since you became a nurse? Davis: “There are dramatic changes today. When I first started, we counted pre-sterilized needles. Today nursing is geared toward patient safety. We use gloves now, no glass thermometers, and all medicines prescribed from the doctor come from the hospital pharmacy. These changes are for the better. Technology has made our profession better with the computerized charting.” Bluffs & Bayous: What are some of the advantages of being a nurse today, and what advice would you offer to someone interested in wanting to become a nurse? Davis: “Individual choices for specialization in nurse care today offer multiple areas to study for service. Today, there is a shortage of nurses; go into the profession with a caring attitude, not for the money, but to help someone. Kindness is my motto. Treat others as you want others to treat you. Be concerned, caring, and work toward achieving a high standard of nursing care for yourself.”

ngie Williamson is the Nurse Manager for the LDRP/NSY Department at King’s Daughters Medical Center (KDMC) in Brookhaven, Mississippi. She began her work during nursing school as a Nurse Technician, setting up sterile fields for C-Sections and assisting with vaginal deliveries. After graduation, she became a staff RN in the Maternity Department at Charity Hospital in New Orleans, Louisiana, for three years before they closed down, and worked part time as a Home Health Nurse for New Orleans’ Ochsner Medical Center for a year. She has been at KDMC since 1989. Bluffs & Bayous: When did you first become aware of wanting to be a nurse? Williamson: “I never really thought much about nursing until I graduated CoLin in Wesson, Mississippi, and still had not really settled on a career. My sister was an obstetrical nurse that always had these great stories and lots of enthusiasm for her job, so my father convinced me to try nursing, and it was obviously where I belonged.” Bluffs & Bayous: Do you come from a medical background? Williamson: “Yes, my mother was a registered nurse as well as my sister.” Bluffs & Bayous: What is one of your most memorable moments during your nursing career? Williamson: “Assisting in the birth of my life-long best friend’s delivery of her daughter.” Bluffs & Bayous: What are some of the advantages of being a nurse today, and how has nursing changed from when you first began in the profession? Williamson: “Financial stability, the ability to travel and still find employment as well as earning respect in the community for services of care. Technology has invaded! Everything is electronic! Electronic medical records, electronic medication administration, bedside monitoring capabilities with charting real-time. Nurses now enjoy more autonomy and have the ability to work in various hospital departments such as radiology and information technology as well as outside of the hospital environment in areas such as pharmaceutical companies, state and federal government health care agencies and travel nursing.”

Bluffs & Bayous: How are the demands greater today than before in nursing? Williamson: “Nursing is more specialized today than in the past. More certifications are required, and continuing education is a MUST! Health care as an industry is more business minded now; and as a result, the average Staff RN is expected to be the “CEO” of their department, providing quality patient care in a safe environment while being good stewards of their resources.”

Bluffs & Bayous: What advice would you offer young professionals entering the nursing profession? Williamson: “Even though nursing is a lucrative job, make sure that you are going into this field with an honest desire to help people. Long hours in sometimes very stressful situations can take a toll on people if they don’t enjoy what they do. A caring, compassionate nature is a must!”

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Bluffs & Bayous: When did you first become aware of wanting to be a nurse? Bliss: “Since high school graduation, I have always worked with my hands—in construction, as a welder, and in lawn care. I enjoy people. Several of my older friends began to encourage me to consider nursing school. I did not come from a medical background.” Bluffs & Bayous: What is one of your most memorable moments during your nursing career? Bliss: “I was working in the Emergency Room during one of my rotations, and I assisted with a patient who came in and was not breathing. I assisted with the administration of CPR, thus saving the patient’s life. It was an unbelievable experience to know that I was saving the life of the patient. I was available when they were at their sickest point, and I was able to help.” Bluffs & Bayous: Nursing began with females; and now, today, there are many male nurses. How do you feel working along with female nurses? Bliss: “In my department, I work with two other male nurses. Working with females or males does not really make a difference. The focus is on our work and working with others as a professional family. I have to complement all of the team I work with. The people I work with have an impact on the care I give.”

n Vicksburg, Mississippi, River Region Medical Center’s Patients’ Choice Award Winner for Nurse of the Year is Walter Bliss. A 2007 nurse graduate of Alcorn School of Nursing and Vicksburg native, Bliss has won the respect of his patients and co-workers alike. He began his career with River Region in 2010, working in the Emergency Room where he became the Charge Nurse and then moved to his current position in the Cardiovascular ICU Department.

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Bluffs & Bayous: How do you juggle your nursing shifts with family life? Bliss: “I have a set of twin boys, and I look to the future of spending quality time with them. My work sometimes can be hard with night shifts or working seven days on and seven days off or in an emergency such as the hurricane event following Katrina several years ago. I had to help out and worked 28 days out of 30 that month. While your job is core, it is important to have a restful break in order to come back and offer quality care to your patients.” Bluffs & Bayous: What advice would you offer young professionals entering the nursing profession? Bliss: “Enjoy working with people. Always remember to be respectful and courteous to others and remain professional in your caring role.”

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Pilates instruction photographs courtesy of Pur Pilates, Becky Junkin-Certified Pilates Trainer, Natchez, Mississippi, 601-807-3741

Pilates: A Method of Exercise

oday more and more people are learning a new way to tone, stretch, and exercise. Pilates is a form of exercise, developed by Joseph Pilates in 1926 with wife Clara in New York City. During his career, Joseph Pilates developed over 600 exercises for the various pieces of apparatus he invented. This form of exercise emphasizes the balanced development of the body through core strength, flexibility, and awareness in order to support efficient, graceful movement. One of the reasons that the Pilates method is so popular is that it works so well for a wide range of people. Dancers and athletes benefit from this method as do women rebounding from pregnancy and others at various stages of physical rehabilitation. Pilates is not just a woman’s method of exercise; after all, it was invented by a man. It works well with people of all shapes, sizes, and level of fitness. The benefit of this form of exercise is that the individual becomes stronger, longer, leaner, and more able to function with grace and ease. Core strength is the foundation of Pilates exercise. The core muscles are the deep, internal muscles of the abdomen and back. When the core muscles are strong and doing their job, they work in tandem with the more superficial muscles of the trunk to support the spine and movement. This benefit develops stability throughout the entire torso. The six Pilates principles are the main ingredients in the workout. They are centering, control, flow, breath, precision, and concentration. The emphasis is quality over quantity. This form of exercise does not include a lot of repetitions of each move; instead, it concentrates on performing each exercise fully, with precision. This unique method of exercise using core strength and torso stability along with the six Pilates principles sets this form of exercise above other types of exercise. Pilates exercises are done on a mat on the floor or with exercise equipment. The workout equipment involves pulleys, resistance from the participant’s own body weight on the machine, and various levels of springs. The reformer is the best-known equipment in a Pilates Studio. With the various approaches to the Pilates method, all instructors are certified following an intense period of study, achievement in all of the exercise techniques, and full understanding of the human anatomy. Proper instruction is important for the safety of each individual. When looking for the right approach for your fitness training, you should visit various studios and speak with the instructors. Request to observe a class and do a little research about the method of exercise. Instructors will have their own flair for instruction but make sure they are teaching the true core basics of Pilates. Check your area’s listings for classes held at gyms or private studios, and verify class schedules and tuition to find the right fit for you. Remember that modification is the key to Pilates exercise success; modifications can make a workout safe and challenging for participants at any level.

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Annual Antique Car Show | Vicksburg, MS | THE social SCENE

Annual Antique Car Show The Vicksburg Cruisers and the Southern Car Cruisers staged their Annual Antique Car Show in Vicksburg, Mississippi, on April 28, 2012. The event was sponsored by Blackburn Motors in Vicksburg and benefitted the Haven House Women’s Shelter.

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Amanda Harvey and her 1933 Chevrolet Sedan Callie and Rance Sapen Larry and Audrey Estes Jimmy and Kathy Garrett Big River Classics 55, 56, 57 Chevy Club: Tay and Dot Everett, Carolyn and Newton Mason, and Jessie and Bobby Buckley Jeb Blackburn, Terry Sweeney, and Brother Blackburn Pete Dionne, Gene Shaw, Tony Brooks, and Shaw’s 1934 Ford Three-window Coupe

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Rosehill Cottage: An Oasis of Love

Rosehill Cottage, located on Auburn Avenue in Natchez, Mississippi, is a charming 1950s brick house that was transformed into “home” by Colleen Wilkins and husband Rusty Lewis along with three family pups. Four years before she married her husband, Wilkins bought the home and renovated it by removing walls, changing rooms around, and creating an additional kitchen/living space. After painting the interior and then the exterior windows and doors and doing some serious green-thumb landscape gardening, the house was transformed into a charming, cozy, two-story, nine-room cottage. The front of the house is framed with a white picket fence, knockout roses, loads of flowering plants, and a fig vine growing on the brick of the house. The curb-appeal landscaping offers those who pass by a warm, welcoming feeling. To the right of the home is a framed, white curved archway leading into the side patio. This area is surrounded by lush green plants that bloom throughout the year and invite Wilkins’ guests for outdoor relaxation and dining. The patio can be entered from the guest bedroom and kitchen/living area as well. Page 44 { June 2012 { Bluffs & Bayous

The patio continues to wind around the back of the house where it hosts a fire pit surrounded by white impatiens in full bloom and other shade-loving plants. Outside the back patio on the side of the house are vegetable, herb, and fruit gardens. Beyond the picket fence of the fire-pit patio are garden paths that lead into shaded woods offering refuge from the sun. Wilkins’ philosophy is that, no matter how big or small one’s home is, everyone can create his or her personal oasis. Wilkins and Lewis have done just that through their love of laboring in the yard; their intriguing landscape is the fruit of that labor. Wilkins enjoys puttering around for hours in her garden oasis, pampering and protecting her collage of plantings that have come from various family members and friends as well as through purchases. She finds herself watering in the early morning for several hours and then preparing for her day of work by nine o’clock. Wilkins, an interior decorator for fifteen years, has created her living space with French furniture, her personal taste, and with

beloved collections of art and antiques. She loves lots of things around her, loves lots of color to surround her home outside. She enjoys working with all styles and tastes with her clients; but for herself, she leans towards the French influence. Husband Rusty works with her on the construction side of the business assisting with any zoning or technical issues along with other phases of her job. Wilkins sees herself as one who helps others get where they want to be in their personal and professional living spaces. “Most people know what they want but do not always know how to get there,” states Wilkins. “My job is to help one get to that point.” Finding something a client loves, though it does not have to “match,” is one of the most exciting challenges for Wilkins. Her talent is pulling items together that make her clients’ homes their very own, unique reflections of their interests and tastes. This talent certainly shows from her Rosehill Cottage where she bought a small unassuming brick house and transformed it into her oasis.

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THE social SCENE | Vicksburg, MS | Vicksburg Cotillion Club Party

Vicksburg Cotillion Club Party The annual springtime Vicksburg Cotillion Club’s Las Vegas Night party was held March 3, 2012, at Roca Restaurant at the Vicksburg Country Club in Vicksburg, Mississippi. Several of the fathers of the girls volunteered to be the “dealers” for the games. Active for 25 years, the club recognizes young ladies from Vicksburg high schools who have been selected for membership by a vote of their peers.

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Emily Fuller and Tyler Comans Steven Cialone and Ashleigh Piazza Mary McCaa and Barrett Teller Helen Fordice and Winston Hayes Jordan Dorbeck and Heather Hayes Clara Grace Turner and Carlton Campbell John Duett and Blake Teller Hallie Hoxie, Wyly Paris, and Lauren Nosser Katie Humphries, Emily Fuller, and Eden Smith Sponsors Margie Heltzel and Jennifer Ratliff with Noel Butler

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Vicksburg Cotillion Club Party | Vicksburg, MS | THE social SCENE

11 12 13 14 15 16 11

18 19 20

Skyler Hearn and Heather Hayes Staci English and Ashley Fitzgerald Julie Mabry and Mary Hannah Campbell Amanda Paris and Patrick Coccaro Greg Hayes, Jamie Howington, and Brett Hayes Skyler Hearn, Noel Butler, and Eve Ferracci Brittany Turner, Ashleigh Piazza, and Haley Heggins Garrett Grey and McMillan Crevitt Hannah Stuckey, Ellie Welp, and Blakele Palmertree Jean Marie Mabry, Max Loving, and Morgan Teller

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THE social SCENE | Vicksburg, MS | Vicksburg Cotillion Club Party

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John Austin Jones and Mary Hannah Campbell Julie Mabry, Ellie Welp, Mary McCaa, Heather Hayes, Sam Stanton, and Barrett Teller Claire Mims, Ann Garrison Thomas, Katie Locke, and Mary Hannah Campbell Emily Fuller, Baylee Wallace, Lindsey Barfield, and Eden Smith

25 Dobie, Lauren, and Julie Nosser 26 Steve Mabry and daughter Jean Marie Mabry

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Vicksburg Cotillion Club Party | Vicksburg, MS | THE social SCENE

27 Clara Grace Turner and Katie Humphries

28 Morgan Teller, Clara Grace Turner, 29 30

Jean Marie Mabry, Ashleigh Piazza, Haley Heggins, Heather Hayes, Brittany Turner, and Riley Griffith Jean Marie Mabry and Alex Fagan Morgan Joseph, Hannah Stuckey, Katie Locke, and Claire Mims

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On the River k On the River k On the River k On the River

Natchez k vidalia k Ferriday k Natchez k vidalia k Ferriday k Page 52 { {June June2012 2012{{ Bluffs Bluffs && Bayous Bayous

On the River k On the River k On the River k On the River

Natchez k vidalia k Ferriday k Natchez k vidalia k Ferriday k Bluffs Bluffs && Bayous Bayous{{June June2012 2012{ { Page 53

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THE social SCENE | Vidalia, LA | O' B erry and Sawyer Engagement Party

O' B erry and Sawyer Engagement Party Crystal Oâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Berry and David Sawyer were honored recently with an engagement party at the home of his grandparents Dick and Elizabeth Power in Vidalia, Louisiana. Hosts for the evening included his mother, Betsy Sawyer; Kyle and Jane Greer; and Anne Power as well as his grandparents.

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Crystal Oâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Berry and David Sawyer Allan and Adrienne Parr Ann Paradise and Leon Atkins Mary Edit and Beverly Ratcliffe Frank and Linda Heard Shanna Pollard, Heather Burget, Nancy Laird, Suzan Hogue, Betsy Sawyer, and Tanna Davis Beverly Ratcliffe, Betsy Sawyer, Tanna Davis, Shanna Pollard, and Kathy Graning

O' B erry and Sawyer Engagement Party | Vidalia, LA | THE social SCENE

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Betsy Sawyer, Jane Greer, and Anne Power Dick Power, Crystal Oâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Berry, and Elizabeth Power Gwen, Kristen, and Shane Guillot Kristy Atkins, Mary Flach, and Terri Johnson Bryant Read, David Eidt, and John Williams Terri Johnson and Marshall Hawkins Mary Flach and Elizabeth Power

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Edna Raphael Belle, once also known as Sandra Lydell, at her home in Mays Landing, New Jersey, with memories of being Knights of Babylon’s 1953 New Orleans Mardi Gras queen Photo by Ellis Nassour

Down Memory Lane with Natchez Native Edna Raphael Belle: Revisiting Her Exotic Glory Years

dna Raphael Belle, at 98, is as feisty and colorful as she was in the 50s and 60s when she was queen of a New Orleans Mardi Gras krewe; headlining in Las Vegas and New York as an alluring and sultry dancer on the bill with Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin; appearing with Bob Hope and Johnny Carson and on The Ed Sullivan Show; befriended by Dolores Hope and Barbara Eden; and appearing in a 3-D, color documentary. It was obvious from her Natchez youth and segue into adulthood that she had a plan to make something of herself and be somebody. “I had dreams,” Mrs. Belle says. “Big dreams, but don’t we all at that age?” But, coming from a small Mississippi city, she never imagined her dreams would come true. “Truth be told,” she adds, “I had dreams of being one thing and ended up being something totally different.”

Reminiscing recently, Mrs. Belle observed, “Time does take its toll on you, but I still have all my teeth and hair. I don’t have any hearing problems. I swim at least a half hour several times a week. I never drank or smoked. I don’t get sick because I don’t go to doctors. If I go, they’ll tell me I’ve got this and that and prescribe medicine that’ll kill me!” It is obvious she’s lost height and weight with age and walks more slowly and with the assistance of a cane. Equally obvious is that, even as she approaches 100, her memory isn’t the least bit diminished. Mrs. Belle is still wildly active, often driving 40 miles roundtrip from her part-time home in Mays Landing, New Jersey, several times a week to the Atlantic City casinos where playing the slots has become an obsessive hobby. Until late 2010, she shared the home and hobby with husband Gene Belle of Lincoln, Massachusetts, who passed away that October.

By Ellis Nassour Page 58 { June 2012 { Bluffs & Bayous

Natchez native and still part-time resident Edna Rapahel, under the stage name Sandra Lydell, became a sensation in niteries across the country as an interpreter of exotic dances. Circa 1962Â

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he’s quite a speed demon and boastful of the fact that she’s never gotten a ticket. Mrs. Belle, who can barely be seen behind the wheel, announces proudly that she’s never been in an accident: “I drove cross country many times—North, South, East, and West—and have never had a fender bender, even here on Black Horse Pike [outside Atlantic City], one of the most dangerous highways in the United States where accidents are a dime a dozen. More people get killed on this highway than anywhere else.” The 1953 Knights of Babylon Mardi Gras queen still maintains her Natchez family home, sadly in need of repair but filled with memorabilia of her glory years. It was built at its current location on State Street in the mid-1770s and has gone through several renovations, but it’s thought to be one of the country’s oldest homes. Mrs. Belle is fond of saying: “Five flags have flown there: Spanish, Colonial, Mississippi, Confederate, and U.S.” She visits once or twice annually. You don’t have to go there, however, to share the adventures of her years in the spotlight. They are still vividly alive and swirling in her sharp-as-a-tack mind.

books [including his autobiography, My Natchez Years (1917-1938)], “My sister was endowed with great imagination and energy.” She was also endowed physically. Edna was stunning, statuesque, and had a magnificent and full shock of black hair, which later would prove to be a huge asset. She never had a problem getting noticed. She knew exactly all the things to do. The Natchez site of antebellum Ashburn, which burned [and today is a residential neighborhood] became a popular place for picnics. A sizable pond there was created from a deep well. With the addition of a high diving board and concrete steps leading into the water, it was transformed into a swimming pool. On a Saturday afternoon, there was a beauty contest. Edna was one of the contestants. She had the perfect swimsuit and had practiced her walk for a week. According to Morris, “She made a good showing and got a lot of wolf whistles.” Mrs. Belle stated that her father, Charles, Americanized from Khalil, was a good man but strict in the ways of the “old country.” Most recently, she observed, “What I should do and what I’m gonna do are two different things.” Not surprisingly, they often butted heads.

which her older sister [now deceased] Helen had also played. Edna led them to several victories. Strutting her prowess as a swimmer, she entered a race on the Mississippi River and came in second. Edna, already considered an excellent dancer from parties at the Eola Hotel, was captivated by the music of Bud Scott, a black singer weighing some 300 pounds, who had a huge regional following. Saturday afternoons, Scott and his band played from the balcony of the Rendezvous Drug and Confectionery overlooking Main Street. His melodic bass belt could be heard several blocks and there was often dancing in the street. While a senior, Edna asked St. Joseph’s principal if she could put on a show for the dramatic club named in honor of the diocese’s beloved Bishop R. O. Gerow. She wrote and directed a revue, “Celebrities on Parade,” in which students from St. Joseph’s and Cathedral High School impersonated stars of radio and screen. They sang and

“Truth be told, I had dreams of being one thing and ended up being something totally different.” Growing up in Natchez, Edna, whose name was Americanized from Odma, with her older sister Helen and brothers Morris and Bill, came from a hard-working Lebanese family who established several businesses, ranging from small grocery to large department store. They quickly integrated into the ethnic patch quilt that made up Natchez and became quite successful. Those less fortunate also knew them for their generosity. While sister Helen, a bit introverted, was more serious [later becoming a nurse], Edna seemed always to be the belle of the ball. According to Morris, who passed away in New Iberia at 93 in 2011 and who was a journalist, Corps engineer, and a prolific writer of nine novels and two non-fiction Page 60 { June 2012 { Bluffs & Bayous

Curfew was curfew. Everyone had to abide. It was set between 9 P.M. and 10 P.M., depending on the age of the child. One winter, after Mr. Raphael called several times for Edna to come in from the snow and she ignored him, he locked her out. On another occasion, his wife Rose, returning late from Bingo, suffered the same fate. Both times, there was a lot of banging on the door. After Mr. Raphael felt they’d learned their lesson, he let them in. Regular school wasn’t enough for Edna. She enjoyed pushing herself. She attended and later graduated from the Elizabeth Dunbar Murray School of Expression. While a sophomore at St. Joseph High School, Miss Raphael was the star forward on the Hilltoppers basketball team on

Copacabana night club, New York, 1963

imitated Kate Smith, Joan Crawford, Clara Bow, Miriam Hopkins, the comedienne Zasu Pitts, Eddie Cantor, and Gary Cooper. Duos and quartets sang songs of long-forgotten recording artists. Edna didn’t forget her brothers. Morris was cast as Charlie Chaplin; brother Bill [later football coach of Jackson’s St. Joseph High School and a Mississippi Athletic Commissioner], who was in the first grade, became part of Our Gang. There had to be a star, and it was Edna. She had the nuns on edge. In an omen of things to come, she sang and danced, imitating famed sex symbol Lupe Velez. The revue sold out and was such a success that Edna restaged it for an encore SRO performance at Natchez’s Baker Grand Theatre. The show began a tradition of annual musical productions but not with Edna at the helm. She was on her way to be somebody. “I escaped Natchez!” recalls Mrs. Belle. “Dominican College [in New Orleans] was an exhilarating experience.” She majored in journalism and so excelled in English that she was chosen by the nuns to teach a class for a year. “I had plans to write the great American novel and I didn’t like my name. From the time I was a child, I used to write Sandra Lydell over and over. I decided that was going to be my nom de plume.” Summers, at Natchez’s Treeby Poole’s dance studio, she studied ballet and tap. After college and very much against her father’s will, Edna, now rechristened Sandra Lydell and lured by the siren call of show business, joined a repertory company in Kenosha, Wisconsin. “There was a horrible row,” exclaims Mrs. Belle. “They wouldn’t have it. They wanted me to stay and marry a nice Lebanese man, settle down, and have children. I told them, ‘That’s all I need!’” n Wisconsin, she learned the ropes doing everything from painting and building sets to playing small roles that soon segued into larger ones. She also excelled as a dancer. Building on her success there, naturally she felt she was ready for Broadway. She may have had talent, but she also had the body to go with it. And she had an idea that might put her on the map in New York nightclubs: spectacularly-choreographed solo dances—Arabic, gypsy, Spanish with castanets, Flamenco, and the rumba. She quickly became an in-demand sensation. “There was a time when all the men were after me,” she states. “They’d be waiting at the stage doors.” Early on, she revealed she had a strong admirer, Eddie Rickenbacker, the World War I ace fighter pilot and Medal of Honor recipient [and auto manufacturer and a longtime head of Eastern Airlines]. “I was invited into society circles quite a bit,” she recalls. “I lived the high life and was treated like royalty. For a time, I had an apartment at the Waldorf. I met Eddie when I was at Longwood Gardens [the DuPont estate, in Kenneth Square, Pennsylvania] for a weekend. He was quite dashing. His nickname was ‘Fast Eddie,’ and he was. He wanted to marry me. I wasn’t ready. I’m not saying I didn’t date, but I never went to bed with any man. I was too careeroriented and always practicing and creating new routines. When I married, I was a virgin.” Reminded that she worked for one of the biggest womanizers in show business, Bob Hope, she immediately snaps, “He never touched me. He never even tried. Maybe it was because I was friends with his wife.” Sandra Lydell didn’t land roles in Broadway musicals, but she gained notoriety on the vaudeville circuit. At one engagement, where she was the featured dancer, Redd Foxx was the emcee. “I told the stage manager that he couldn’t introduce me. Though my

“From the time I was a child, I used to write Sandra Lydell over and over. I decided that was going to be my nom de plume.” Bluffs & Bayous { June 2012 { Page 61

Sandra Lydell poses for a “glamour shot” at the pool of the Sands Casino in Las Vegas.

The industry trade magazine Billboard reported that Sandra Lydell brought charges against a Camden, New Jersey, man who found her too irresistible. “The nitery dancer claims,” read the item, “Robert McCorkle offered to drive her home from the club where she was appearing. On the way, she testified, he stopped the car, ripped off all her clothes, beat her on the head with her own slippers, and left her standing on the street in shreds of garments.” Happily, her audiences reacted differently. “One of my most popular routines,” she recalls, “and the one I loved the most, was ‘The Mexican Hat Dance.’ I stomped the floor to the mariachi rhythms of the fiddles and horns. At the climax, I turned my back to the audience, ripped off this huge sombrero and let my hair cascade down below my shoulders. The audience would go wild. You could hear gasps and ooohs. I had it all at one time!” n the summer of 1952, while she was appearing in the stage show at Radio City Music Hall, Edna was approached by the captain of the Knights of Babylon Mardi Gras krewe and invited to be their 1953 queen. “It was a great honor,” says Mrs. Belle, “one that was hard to reject since I was told I’d be the first non-resident of New Orleans to be a queen since Mardi Gras celebrations began in the early 1800s.” She returned South as Edna Raphael. She was 39, but no one knew it. “My age was a secret. I always chopped off at least ten years.” The memories of that gala occasion linger on. Mrs. Belle recalls, “For a week, I was feted at numerous cocktail parties, luncheons, and teas and having a ton of costume fittings.” For her debut in the Canal Street reviewing stand for the February 12 glittering Knights of Babylon krewe parade, she wore a huge jeweled tiara and held a jeweled scepter. Her white slipper satin Princess gown sparkled with flower patterns of silver thread and sequins. Accompanied by her mother, she was toasted by Mayor DeLesseps Story “Chep” Morrison and watched side-by-side with Babylon King, M. C. Lake, magnificently costumed on his royal throne. That night, surrounded by young maids and pages and serenaded by a band of costumed musicians, Edna was presented at a lavish ball, themed Fabulous Festivals, at the Municipal Auditorium. The red velvet mantle she

I “There was a time when all the men were after me.” parents never taught me that way, I thought long and hard about how they might disapprove. My Southern upbringing got in the way.” It was arranged for a musician to do the intro. “Redd was upset and wanted to know why. I couldn’t say.” Some time later, she ran into the raunchy comic on the Las Vegas Strip and apologized. Photos of her in exotic costumes appeared in the newspapers and industry trades. She was often the opening act at Lou Walters’ Latin Quarter in Times Square. Walters thought highly enough of her to introduce her to his daughter Barbara, who was fascinated with the way “Sandra” danced. Often word of her “sensational dances with fire and colorful smoke” drifted back home with photos featured in The Natchez Democrat or Natchez Times. For a while, she’d be the talk of the town. When she played the famous Copacabana as an opening act for Frank Sinatra, she was featured in Look Page 62 { June 2012 { Bluffs & Bayous

magazine and described as “the exotic, dark, dynamic beauty of scintillating South American allure who rhythmically sways into her sensational peppery rumba dance routines. The Lydell interpretation has been witnessed by many nightclub fans and the gal is classified as torridly terrific!” Mrs. Belle, today, makes it clear she wasn’t that kind of dancer. “Everyone told me I was sexy, but I didn’t know that. Word would eventually get back to my parents. They were concerned, but I never did anything risqué. My father never saw me dance. I believe mother saw me once. There was nothing lascivious about what I did! I was always fully clothed.” Some years later, when a photo of her in a somewhat revealing costume appeared in The Natchez Democrat, the caption was slugged “Siren.” Mrs. Belle laughs at that description, but doesn’t deny she wowed men. In March 1943, when Edna was 29, she found just how much.

Left—Cinderella at the ball: Natchez and New Orleans newspapers captioned this February 1953 photo: “Miss Raphael is being escorted onto the ballroom floor by Walter McGennis, a former Mardi Gras Rex king.” Above—A theatre lobby card for the 1953 3-D color documentary that featured segments of the ball and the regally-robed Miss Raphael

wore was embroidered with rhinestones and trimmed with beads and ermine and had a fanned peacock collar with a train extending several yards across the floor. [Some older residents of Natchez may remember that the outfit was on display in a window of Famous and Price Department Store after Mardi Gras.] Escorting her was former Rex king Walter McGennis, masked and wearing a gold costume and opera cape with a towering headdress of white plumes. Not to be outdone, Babylon’s captain made an entrance in a bright red convertible with bursting fireworks and a trumpet fanfare. Following the ball, Mr. Lake complimented his queen with a dinner party. That Mardi Gras was forever immortalized by RKO Pictures and the French film company Pathe in an hourlong feature documentary in color and 3-D, Louisiana Territory, made in observance of the 150th anniversary of the Louisiana Purchase from France. After a short narrative showing U.S. Ambassador Robert Livingston, played by actor Val Winter, negotiating the purchase with Napoleon and Tallyrand, the film visited the Territory’s former outposts, tracking progress right up to 1953. Sensing history wouldn’t get folks away from their TVs and into movie theatres, the studio went in the opposite direction. When

the film opened in October, the ads were headlined: Glamorous New Orleans in its Gayest Mood!..and in Glorious Color. The poster tagline reads: SEE ROMANTIC, EXOTIC NEW ORLEANS AT THE HEIGHT OF ITS WORLD FAMOUS MARDI GRAS GAIETY! The film was shot in the blazing hues of Pathe Color, a forerunner to Eastman Color that gave the three-strip Technicolor a run for its money. Most of the footage showed festive New Orleans and its Vieux Carre and ended with the Knights of Babylon parade and their gala ball. This was quite a coup for the krewe and Edna since their parade and ball were the only ones filmed. ollowing the excitement of Mardi Gras, Edna returned to being Sandra and became a regular on the club circuit of New York, Chicago, major cities, and the showrooms of Las Vegas casinos where her name appeared on those giant marquees. She opened for, among others, Sinatra and Dean Martin. “Frank, Dean, and Sammy Davis, Jr., were members of what was known as the Rat Pack,” recalls Mrs. Belle. “They were a wild and hard-drinking bunch. Dean was nothing like his image, though. He had great style and such a smooth voice. I first met him, when he was appearing with Jerry Lewis when I worked at Paul “Skinny” D’Amato’s 500 Club in Atlantic

City. [The site is now the Trump Plaza; D’Amato was an infamous organized crime figure whose club was a front for illegal gambling]. He was very protective of me, like my bodyguard.” She had a different feeling about the dangerously obese royal playboy, exiled former King Farouk of Egypt. In his early 40s, between his first and second marriages, he was wildly attracted to Sandra. The fact that he still hadn’t bestowed the pearshaped, 94-carat Star of the East Diamond on any woman may have made him more attractive. “He did have an eye for me,” recalls Mrs. Belle, “but it never amounted to anything.” Regarding Sinatra, Mrs. Belle states, “I liked his voice, but didn’t like him.” She worked with Johnny Carson when he was a magician “before he became a big thing.” She had looked forward to meeting Mario Lanza, but when they met “I couldn’t stand looking at him because he was so unkempt.” A life of celebrity, even if it’s B-List, can make life difficult to traverse once the spotlight goes dark. In a bittersweet moment, Mrs. Belle notes she realized that years earlier and prepared for it: “I had my fortune told once and thought it was a lot of bunk. I knew my future would be what I made it. Still, I wish I knew then what I know now.” Bluffs & Bayous { June 2012 { Page 63

She missed the applause and adulation, but continued to trudge on. Her extensive dance training and celebrity as Sandra Lydell enabled her to be a dance instructor and choreographer of shows, including several at Montreal’s 1967 Expo. In the late 80s, in the Greater Boston area, she attended a branch of the Connecticut School of Broadcasting with plans to become a copywriter for an ad agency or do media programming. She felt her Southern accent might also be a perfect path to doing lucrative commercial voiceovers. However, her broadcast training wasn’t put to much use. inally, at 70 with so many of her career goals accomplished, suddenly her life radically changed. Edna Raphael/Sandra Lydell fell in love. Looking back on her life, Mrs. Belle states, “I can say with complete candor that I never met the man I wanted to share my life with until Gene came along.” Gene Belle, of Lincoln, Massachusetts, was born in Italy and was two years younger than Edna. Over 35 years with General Electric, he worked his way from tool and die maker during World War II to manufacturing engineer for the company’s Jet Propulsion Division. He was the corecipient of several patents. One of the most important came after several years of research and experiments for a high-proficiency, cost-effective technique for the manufacture of fine gas turbine blades and vanes for GE’s Small Aircraft Engine Division’s T58 engine. It revolutionized how air was compressed before it was mixed with aircraft fuel. In 1989, Mr. Belle lost his wife Irene to congestive heart failure. After a year of mourning, he began to socialize. One evening, he and Edna/Sandra were at the same reception. Their eyes met across the crowded room, and they exchanged hellos. He was too shy to go further; however, Edna concocted a plan. She “accidentally” misplaced her coat and began looking for it. “Can I help you,” came a voice from behind her. She turned and was immediately struck by Mr. Belle’s distinguished height and handsomeness. She explained her dilemma. The coat found, he asked, “What about a cocktail?” Edna replied, “I don’t drink.” “Well,” he said, “how about coffee?” Before they parted that night, Mr. Belle asked her to dinner. “I told him it would be very nice,” states Mrs. Belle. “He made excuses about his car not being very nice and apologized for having some trouble with it; but it was quite a nice car, as was dinner, as was he.” She says he thought she was famous but explains, “I felt he was more famous.” They began seeing a lot of each other. It wasn’t too long before Mr. Belle introduced her to his son, Eugene, daughter, Eileen, and his sister. “She must have really wowed Dad,” says the son, “because he fell head over heels.” In the summer of 1990, Gene proposed. They were engaged about a year before marrying in September 1991. “I never met anyone like Gene,” Mrs. Belle admits. “He was handsome, well mannered, caring, and polite. He was my world—the sun, moon, and stars.” They shared a love of dance and, eventually, casinos. The couple commuted between Massachusetts and Mississippi, always driving. “It gave us the opportunity to be together and have fun,” Mrs. Belle recalls. On a drive South, “we passed through Atlantic City and decided to gamble a little. We were shown a home in Mays Landing, liked it, and decided to stay there.” They were inseparable 24/7. His passing in October 2010 left a vast void in Mrs. Belle’s life. “Gene was my only love,” she says with great emotion, “my heart and soul. You think with time, the pain would subside but it doesn’t. It gets worse. I think of him every day.”

Top—An exotic dancer deserves an exotic costume, such as the one Sandra Lydell wore during an engagement at New York’s famed Latin Quarter Middle—A newspaper ad for a 1951 appearance in Reading, Pennsylvania, two years before Edna was chosen to be queen of the Knights of Babylon Mardi Gras krewe Bottom—The signage at the long-gone home of the famed Rat Pack, the Sands Casino, Las Vegas, where Sandra Lydell was an opening act for Dean Martin

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His possessions are in place as if he’s still in the New Jersey home. In fact, unless pressed, she refuses to admit that he’s gone. In the living room, there’s an oversized Barcalounger with a gigantic Teddy bear. That was Mr. Belle’s chair and it’s become a sort of shrine. No one’s allowed to sit in it. As you might deduce, Mrs. Belle’s age and fascination with her previous celebrity status, and her rather isolated current life, almost totally devoid of family and real friends, often make her caustic. She can be amazingly tactless and manipulative even with those devoted to her. When she tramples on a friend’s feelings and he or she has had enough and heads for the door, she screams, “You’re all I have left in the world!” Immediately, you know why. Even for a survivor approaching her centennial birthday, even for a former Mardi Gras queen, even for someone who did a fantastic Mexican hat dance, even for someone who knew Dino, some things are hard to overlook. Many close to Mrs. Belle, or who were close, recall the many times that she’d say, “I traveled all over the world searching, searching—searching for something I found only when I came back home to Natchez: love, peace, happiness, and contentment. Now, she’s searching again, on her aimless daily treks along Black Horse Pike. So, Edna, close your eyes, tap your heels together three times, and you’ll be there. There’s no place like home.

Mr. and Mrs. Gene Belle, Massachusetts, 1993 Acknowledgements: Jean N. Biglane, co-editor, Bluffs & Bayous; Jan Ratcliff, Bluffs & Bayous graphic designer; John Nassour; Arthur Hardy, publisher, Mardi Gras Guide; Mimi Miller, the Historic Natchez Foundation; Jenn Lotz, New Orleans Convention and Visitors Bureau; the Historic New Orleans Collection; and the office of Mayor “Mitch” Landrieu, City of New Orleans.

A Recollection of the Past

y mother, Mamie Webber, was the second youngest born into a family of six in Jackson, Mississippi. Four of the surviving daughters, including Mother, and one son were placed in Catholic-sponsored orphanages in Natchez, Mississippi: the girls at St. Mary’s, run by the Daughters of Charity; and the boy at Devereux Hall with the Brothers of the Sacred Heart. The children’s mother, a Lebanese immigrant, and father of Lebanese/German descent were alive, just financially disadvantaged. She cooked and washed to make ends meet; he was a carpenter part of the year and then traveled as a musician with carnivals and a side show featuring the exotic dancer Little Egypt. Edna Raphael, who was four years older than my Mother, befriended her in school in Natchez; and they became such close friends that her parents, Rose and Charles Raphael, would have Mother to their home on State Street on weekends and holidays. They often gifted her with clothing or a pair of Mary Janes from their Franklin Street department store and candy for herself and her sisters. It appears, from correspondence I found upon Mother’s death, that she and Edna never lost touch. There were stacks of greeting cards and post cards from New York, Las Vegas, and Edna’s travels. “We were like sisters,” says Mrs. Belle. “My family was crazy about Mamie. We loved having her with us. Our home was her home. She was the best friend I ever had.” As a child, I recall Mother’s excitement when she took my brother, sister, and me to the Saenger Opera House in Vicksburg

Mamie Webber [later Nassour] with beloved friend Edna Raphael, 1933

to see her friend Edna in Louisiana Territory. We were happy because we were seeing a movie in 3-D! When Edna came on the screen, Mother beamed with great pride. She never spoke of what Edna did, only that she was in show business. Many years later, during Christmas holidays when I was home, the Belles came up from Natchez and spent the day. Edna was impressed that I was a journalist at The New York Times. I was impressed hearing her stories of the famous stars she worked with. Several times, when I’d ask about the orphanage years, Mother was never too keen speaking about them. On one of the annual visits of Mary Ethel, a friend from the orphanage who never left there [later becoming an aide], I got them talking. Mother said that she and her siblings didn’t want to leave St. Mary’s. Back in Jackson, they had to work very hard and sometimes were punished severely. “The nuns were strict,” she said. “We had classes and chores, but the nuns cared. We got to do outings, such as going to the movies. They never laid a hand on us.” Bluffs & Bayous { June 2012 { Page 65

THE social SCENE | Vicksburg, MS | Vicksburg Junior Auxiliary

Vicksburg Junior Auxiliary Ladies of the Junior Auxiliary of Vicksburg (JAV) held their annual Birdie, Bogey, and Boogie for Kids Golf Tournament and Calcutta at the Vicksburg Country Club in Vicksburg, Mississippi, on March 30, 2012. The event’s proceeds fund JAV projects including Camp Silvercloud, Children’s Shelter, Community Outreach, Family Development, Helping Hands, INK (Inspirational Notes for Kids), LEAP (Learn to Eat and Play), JAV Cares, and PAWS/Literacy.

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Blake Nasif, John Duett, Will Hood, Chris Nasif, Rich Feibelman, and Blake Teller David Coulon, Dan Luke, Josh Martin, and Wally Cummins Kristi Liggett, Ashley Smith, Stacey Lambiotte, Chesley Lambiotte, and Lauren Cappaert Carolyn and Will Bradley

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Vicksburg Junior Auxiliary | Vicksburg, MS | THE social SCENE

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Louis and Stacy Lambiotte, with Laura Dowe and Jay Madison, Ann Roberson, Lauren Cappaert, and Leslie Sadler Ashley Smith, Whitney Simons, and Katie Feibelman Melissa Blackburn, Ginny Abraham, and Kristi Pantin Smith Molly Procell, Kristy Cole, and Alainna O’Bannon Lauren Coulon and Alainna O’Bannon

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THE social SCENE | Vicksburg, MS | Vicksburg Junior Auxiliary

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16 Patrick Smith, Jay Martin, and Christin Matthews Rich Feibelman, William Bradley, and David Coulon Speler Montgomery, Laura Dowe Madison, and Gareth Lampkin Stacy Lambiotte, Jennifer Grey, and Katie Ferrell LTC Greg Raimondo, Mike Renacher, Sam Stacy, Matt Mallard, Sam Porter, and Will Mendrop Lauren Coulon and Maggie Nasif John Scott, Alainna Oâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Bannon, Kacy Presely, and Geoff Henderson

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Southern Sampler by Alma M. Womack

Sharing Pass-along Plants and Much-loved Movies

he wheat is getting ready to cut; so, naturally, the showers have come this week. The young cotton, soybeans, and milo are thankful for these showers; for it had gotten pretty dry since the last real rain. The flowers have perked up, too; and greenery is all around. It has been hot, but not too hot yet. We all know that July and August will be here before we know it, so we enjoy these cool early mornings for as long as they last. The handful of daylily “babies” that I got from my friend Loretta Taylor a few years back have multiplied so much that I have patches of golden lilies all over the yard. These are evergreen daylilies, so they add a little extra to the garden year round—a lovely reminder of a very special person, a flower lover, and a good friend. My friend of forever Jan White McLain of Pineville, Louisiana, emailed me in late April to see if I wanted a few pass-along plants from her yard. One plant was a vine that she called “Jessie Blue” after her mom, one of the kindest and best friends that I ever had. Of course, I had to have

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some of the Jessie Blue for my yard; in fact, I left with a truckload of plants. Along with the vine, I also had some daisies, more daylilies, cannas, and pink petunias. Those were added to some variegated grass that another lifelong friend Francis Spinks Pugh had dropped off the same week, so I was in planting heaven for a while. All the plants have settled in nicely and have been encouraged to flourish by the showers we’ve been having. More to care for and more to enjoy. Woodrow went with me to the garden last week to get some lettuce. At least, I was told that it was lettuce because it looked nothing like any lettuce I have ever seen growing on Black River. Woodrow put his gardening gloves on when we got there, and I thought that he was following me down the row to the lettuce. I looked back, and there he stood with a handful of something, but it wasn’t lettuce. Close examination showed that he had pulled up Buster’s bell pepper plants and was proudly presenting them to me. I quickly replanted them, since they were small and the soil

was moist, but it didn’t work. They wilted down, and the gardeners wondered what in the world had happened to plants that had been healthy that morning. Nothing to do but ‘fess up, but the damage was done. Next time, I will watch my helper a little more closely. Besides writing this story for Bluffs & Bayous every month, I also write an article for my Trinity Presbyterian Church newsletter. Both publications frown on my excessive zeal when it comes to spreading the right information on the political problems in our country, so I really have to grasp for ideas some months. Since I am writing this in May, I will add a little from my church newsletter to this article, for it is about the joys of spring and May. There is a song in the musical Camelot called “The Lusty Month of May.” The words may not be just right for a family magazine; but it is a happy song, celebrating the return of life in the spring to the lords and ladies of the Camelot of King Arthur, Guinevere, and Lancelot. Ah, Camelot...the first time I saw the musical

starring Vanessa Redgrave, Richard Harris, and Franco Nero was in the spring of my junior year at LSU. I have been a fan ever since and have watched the movie countless times through the years. As fate would have it, a movie came out in 2010 or 2011, titled Letters from Juliet, and Vanessa Redgrave and Franco Nero (husband and wife for a few decades since Camelot) had starring roles. It is a sweet story, what I believe the movie watching folk call a “chick flick”—a happy-ever-after, boy-gets-the-good-girl, old-loves-reunited kind of story; you know, sappy stuff. My resident teen, Ms. Liza Purvis, watched Letters from Juliet with me at my insistence on one of her recent visits. Such rolling of eyes I had not seen in years, but she stuck it out. Then, to top it off, I insisted that she watch a few of the scenes from Camelot so that she could see what the characters in Juliet looked like when they were young. Of course, the changes were dramatic in their physical appearances, since it has been forty years since Camelot was made. Four decades have changed a lot of us when you get down to it. When Claire asked her why she was watching the old show, Liza informed us all that she was being tortured by her Emma, being made to watch a perfectly wretched modern show and an equally horrible old fossil movie. She was a little impressed that Richard Harris, who played King Arthur in Camelot, became Dumbledore in the Harry Potter movies; but that was it. I suppose she is just too young to be able to appreciate the graceful aging of two beautiful people from 1969 into two, still attractive senior citizens of 2012. It is all, after all, perspective. Let us continue to pray for our country as we struggle to maintain the freedoms that made America the beacon of hope for a troubled world. As we fight for our freedom and dignity at home, please remember to pray for those young soldiers, who are put in harm’s way, often by the insane regulations of our own government. Pray for their safety; pray for their success against the people who hate us for being Christian and free.

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JUNE up

& coming! Premier Events

June 9 33rd New York Mississippi Central Park Picnic Central Park/Bandstand New York, New York For the past thirty-two years, The New York Society for the Preservation of Mississippi Heritage has sponsored the Mississippi Picnic in New York Cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Central Park. This historical event takes place each summer in early June. Over 5,000 individuals and groups who are invited to attend the annual event enjoy a plethora of food, competitions, and performances of varied musical guests as they celebrate Mississippiâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s heritage with all the trimmings. The New York Society for the Preservation of Mississippi Heritage accepts donations to assist with the costs of expenses of entertainment, insurance, tents, supplies, permits, and other items needed for the successful event. Contact Rachel McPherson at 718-7882988 or mail your contribution to The New York Society for the Preservation of Mississippi Heritage, 607 Sixth Street, Brooklyn, NY 11215. For more information or to view images online from previous picnics visit www. nymspicnic.com.

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JUNE up

& coming! Premier Events

June 28 Hometown Huddle with Stevan Ridley and Howard Jones Natchez Community Center Natchez, MS Join hometown pro-football player Stevan Ridley, running back for the New England Patriots, in a benefit for the Guardian Shelter, a charitable outreach of Catholic Charities. This notable evening with Ridley along with former Trinity High School Sports Commentator Howard Jones will be held on June 28, 2012, at the Natchez Community Center in Natchez, Mississippi. From 5:30 p.m. until 6:30 p.m. there will be an autograph session, limited to two items. Beginning at 7:00 p.m., Jones will host â&#x20AC;&#x153;Life in the NFL,â&#x20AC;? a live interview with Ridley. Discussion will cover his 2012 Rookie Season, the 2012 Super Bowl, the 2012 Training Camp, and the upcoming 2012- 2013 NFL season, followed by a question and answer breakout session. Ridley played high school football for the Trinity Saints in Natchez, Mississippi, and college football for LSU. Tickets are $25 for the event and $20 for the autograph session and may be purchased at Heritage Chrysler Dodge Jeep, 201 Sgt. Prentiss Drive or by calling 601-304-1383.

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JUNE up

& coming!

Through July 22 MS Museum of Art Curious George Saves the Day Jackson, MS 601-960-1515 www.msmuseumart.org Throughout June Masur Museum Summer Art Camps For Children Monroe, Louisiana www.mansurmuseum.org Throughout June Southern Cultural Heritage Center Classes, Workshops & Events Vicksburg, MS 1302 Adams Street www.southernculture.org

Through July 27 Vicksburg Farmers Market Washington St. Vicksburg, MS Every Sat. 7:00 am - 11:00 am Every Wed. 4:00 am - 7:00 pm 601-634-4527 www.vicksburgfarmersmarket.org Through June 24 Pieces of the Past: Women of Influence Old Capitol Museum Jackson, MS 100 State Street 601-576-6920 www.mdah.state.ms.s/oldcap Fridays in June Live After Five A. Z. Young Park Baton, Rouge, LA 5:00 - 8:00 pm / Free 225-937-9736 www.liveafterfiveonline.com

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up & coming! JUNE June 1 - 2 Miss Mississippi Outstanding Teen Pageant Vicksburg City Auditorium Vicksburg, MS 7:00 pm www.mississippipageant.com June 1 - 2 Cookinâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; On The Cane Front Street Natchitoches, LA 800-259-1714 www.natchitochesjaycees.com

June 2 - 3 New Orleans Oyster Festival Decatur Street New Orleans, LA neworleansoysterfestival.org June 3 Dexter Allen & Band Blues Concert Ameristar Bottleneck Blues Bar Vicksburg, MS 801 Clay Street 4:00 pm - 7:00 pm No cover charge $20 Cash Bar 601-638-1000 June 4 - 5 Natchez Junior Cotillion Summer Program Registration Natchez, MS 64 Homochitto Natchez Ballet Academy 5:00 pm - 8:00 pm June 18 - 22 and 25 - 29 601-870-8920 www.natchezjuniorcotillion.com

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& coming!

June 4 - 10 Red Stick International Animation Festival Downtown Baton Rouge Baton Rouge, LA All Day 225-389-7182 www.redstickfestival.org June 5 - 8 Pioneer Camp I Historic Jefferson College Washington, MS 9:00 - Noon / Ages 7 - 9 / $25 601-442-2901 www.mdah.ms.us June 5 - Nov 24 Trailer McQuilkin: An Uncommon Beauty Ohr-O’Keefe Museum of Art Biloxi, MS Tues. - Sat. / 10:00 am - 5:00 pm www.georgeohr.org 228-374-5547 June 5 - Dec. 1 The Art of Eugene Martin Ohr-O’Keefe Museum of Art Biloxi, MS Tues. - Sat. / 10:00 am - 5:00 pm www.georgeohr.org 228-374-5547 June 6 - 8 Frontier Survival Camp Historic Jefferson College Washington, MS 1:00 pm - 4:00 pm / $25 / Ages 6 - 8 601-442-2901 www.mdah.ms.us June 7 LSU Musical Theatre Group Concordia Bank Lobby Vidalia, Louisiana 7:00 pm Free June 7 - 8 MS Market Wholesale Show MS Trade Mart Jackson, MS 1200 Mississippi Street www.mississippimarket.org

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up & coming! JUNE June 7 - 10 The Rivals Natchez Little Theatre Natchez, MS 319 Linton Avenue 7:30 pm / Sun. 2:00 pm 601-442-2233 www.natchezlittletheatre.org June 9 The Cave Singers with Liver Mousse Duling Hall Jackson, MS 7:30 pm Cocktails / 9:00 pm Show $8 Advance / $12 Door www.ardenland.net/shows 601-292-7121

June 9 Rolland Golden Gallery French Travels â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Encore Natchez, MS 419 Main Street 5:00 pm - 8:00 pm www.rollandgoldengallery June 11 Kids Outdoor Adventure Camp Everyday Adventure Natchez, MS 334 Main Street 9:00 am - 3:30 pm $275 week / 8-15 years 601-392-3079 or 386-529-8337 www.everydayadventure.net June 11 - 15 Junior Ranger Cap Melrose Natchez, MS 1 Melrose-Montebello Pkwy. 9:00 am - 2:00 pm www.nps.gov/natc/index

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JUNE up

& coming!

June 12 - 15 Pioneer Camp II Historic Jefferson College Washington, MS June 12 - Nov. 24 Geoff Mitchell: Chaos at the Confessional Ohr-O’Keefe Museum of Art Biloxi, MS Tues. - Sat. / 10:00 am - 5:00 pm www.georgeohr.org 228-374-5547 June 13 History is Lunch With Author Jim Barnett Mississippi’s American Indians Old Capitol Museum Jackson, MS Noon / Free www.mdah.state.ms.us/oldcap June 15 - 16 America’s Miss & Mr. USA Pageant Vicksburg City Auditorium Vicksburg, MS 901 Monroe Street www.americaSUSpageant.com June 15 - 24 Pippi Longstocking Reilly Theatre LSU Campus Baton Rouge, LA 225-578-6996 www.theatre.lsu.ed/prod_venues

June 17 Terry Evans Blues Concert Ameristar Bottleneck Blues Bar Vicksburg, MS 4:00 - 7:00 pm No cover charge $20 Cash Bar www.vicksburgheritage.com Page 80 { June 2012 { Bluffs & Bayous

up & coming! JUNE June 21 Lost In The Trees with Daytona Duling Hall Jackson, MS 6:00 pm Cocktails / 7:30 pm Show $10 Advance / $12 Door www.ardenland.net/shows 601-292-7121 June 21 Vicksburg National Military Park Fee Free Day Vicksburg, MS 601-636-0583 www.nps.gov/vic

June 21 - 24 Fairy Tale Theatre Vicksburg Theatre Guild Vicksburg, MS 101 Iowa Avenue 601-636-0471 www.vicksburgtheatreguild.com June 21 - 24 Teen Production of Aladdin Brookhaven Little Theater Brookhaven, MS Thurs., Fri., Sat. 7:30 pm Sunday 2:00 pm Tickets sold at door www.haventheater.org

June 22 7th Annual Bishopâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Ball The Country Club of Jackson, Jackson, MS $75 person 601-326-3758 June 23 Mitt Hinton Memorial Concert & Jazz Festival Coral Room Vicksburg, MS 7:00 pm www.vicksburgheritage.com

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& coming!

June 27 - 30 Miss Mississippi Pageant Vicksburg Convention Center Vicksburg, MS 601-638-6746 www.missmississippipageant.com June 28 Hometown Huddle with Stevan Ridley and Howard Jones Natchez Community Center Natchez, MS 5:30 pm Autograph Session / $20 7:00 pm Interview / $25 601-304-1383 June 28 Red, White & Jackson Old Capital Green Jackson, MS Food, Music & Fireworks 601-948-7575 www.visitjackson.com June 29 - July 4 Independence Weekend Honoring Willie Dixon Annual Red White & Blues Throughout Vicksburg, MS www.vicksburgheritage.com shirleywaring@vicksburgheritage.com

July 4 Independence Day Fireworks Celebration Downtown Vicksburg, MS 7:00 pm www.downtownvicksburg.org Be sure to confirm details of the events should changes have occurred since events were submitted. Page 82 { June 2012 { Bluffs & Bayous

Bluffs & Bayous { June 2012 { Page 83

THE social SCENE | Natchez, MS | Party for Preservation

Party for Preservation The Natchez Garden Club/Preservation Society of Ellicott Hill held its annual Party for Preservation, a cocktail benefit celebration, at The Cedars, home of Betty and David Paradise in Church Hill, Mississippi, on April 28, 2012. Alvin Shelby and The Divas furnished the eveningâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s lively entertainment. Throughout the event, guests enjoyed tours of The Cedars and basked in the elegant ambiance of the antebellum homeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s extensive, manicured grounds.

Photographs by Darlene Ball

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Ellen Mosby and Richard Hess John and Eileen Ball Debbie and Henry Foggo Sandy Taylor and Mary Ruth Caldwell Marsha Colson, Keith Carlson, Charles Davenport, and Dianne Bunch The Divas Randy Johnson with Leah and Billy Ulmer Phyllis Feiser and Bill Herrington Carol LeMay with Mary and Ed Edit

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Party for Preservation | Natchez, MS | THE social SCENE

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Buddy Tanner, Karen and Pat Biglane, and Lynette Tanner Nancy and Julia Rachel Kuehnle with Ann Paradise Ron Garber, David Paradise, and Kathy Garber Diane and Peter Burns with Charlotte and Marlon Copeland Cheryl Rinehart, Melissa Morrison, and Keith Benoist Deborah Martin and Missy Brown Karen Callon and Faye Weatherly

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THE social SCENE | Brookhaven, MS | Brookhaven Lions Club Dinner

Brookhaven Lions Club Dinner The Brookhaven Lions Club celebrated the organization’s charter date, March 16, 1936, with their 76th Founders’ Night Dinner held at Mitchell’s Restaurant in Brookhaven, Mississippi, on April 30.

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Patty Perkins with Betty Ann and Bill Perkins Jim Hickman and Letha Presley Allen and Becky Morgan Betty Ann Perkins and Jerry Rein Celine Craig and Melanie Dixon Clell King and Christine Davis Debbie and Mark Stietenroth

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Jim McKennon, Lil Ann Pace, and Mignon McKennon Rebecca Bates, Celine Craig, and Bill Perkins

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Brookhaven Lions Club Dinner | Brookhaven, MS | THE social SCENE

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Travis Tadlock, Karen Clements, and Mary Smith Front—Mary Smith, David Holland, and Melanie Dixon; back—Karen Walley, Mark Stietenroth, and Eddie Dixon Drew and Rebecca Bates Front—Dan Richards and Becky Morgan; back—Millard Smith, Joe Davis, Rebecca Bates, and Jim Hickman Lynn and Homer Richardson

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Melanie Dixon and Bill Perkins Millard and Winnie Smith Rebecca Bates and Bill Perkins Winnie Smith & Johanna Blair Pamela and Dan Richards

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THE social SCENE | Magnolia, MS | Magnolia in Lights

Magnolia Evening in Lights Magnolia Evening in Lights in Magnolia, Mississippi, was one of the culminating activities for the 2012 Pike County Azalea Festival. Smithie Bouie Catering fried fish on site, and Pat Cornacchioneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s band provided live music. It was held in the newly renovated historic train depot, which is now City Hall.

Photographs by Elise Parker

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Joe and Janellyn Cornacchione, Cheryl Cornacchione, and Wesley Nolan James and Vicki Bryant with daughter Brande Moak and granddaughter Maston Moak Charles and Carolyn Ray, Joe and Kay Clark, and Norma and Dayle Perdeye Amos and Colleen Parker Nancy Soyars, Ann Baxter with Jim and Betty Oâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Rourke

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Magnolia in Lights | Magnolia, MS | THE social SCENE

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Sherry Gaudin, Carole Gaudin, and Michael Gaudin Donna and Dalton Williams George and Virginia Goza, Courtney Thompson, and Lynn Leggett Lem and Alice Mitchell

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