Working Women 2017

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Wednesday, October 25, 2017

Dispensing medicine and smiles

Christy Mahan

Regina Butler

Pontotoc Progress

Her smile greets you when you step into Montgomery Drug store and this mother of three knows the joy and the heartaches of raising children.

"My husband, James and I live in the Longview community and we have chickens, dogs, cats and horses," said Christy Mahan. "But I let them take care of the animals, I'm doing good to take care of my kids."

She smiled broadly. "But I do enjoy watching the animals and riding the horses now and then."

She has been working at Montgomery Drugs for 11 years, and before that you would have seen her sweet smile at the WalMart pharmacy. "I worked at WalMart for 13 years and when they went to the Supercenter, I decided to stay home, but Mr. Ken Clowers called me and asked me to come to work for him."

How could she say no to an old classmate? "Ken and I rode the school bus together, we both lived out in west Pontotoc.

"I chose pharmacy because I like math and science, but I didn't want to be a doctor. I had a student teacher to suggest I try pharmacy."

She went to Montgomery Drugs when it was located on the court square and interviewed, but her first impression of the job was NO. She grinned. "But God must have thought otherwise or I would have never finished pharmacy school."

But today, she is there to help others get well. "When I can help somebody it means something to me; sometimes it is just a shoulder to cry on or answer questions. It does my heart good to help others."

When she is not busy helping to dispense just the right medication to the right person, she enjoys reading.

"Right now I am reading Psalm

91 for Mothers [a book by Peggy Joyce Ruth]. My sister gave me this book, and now I am trying to memorize Psalm 91."

Mahan attends West Heights Baptist Church where she helps in the kitchen. She also volunteers with Habitat for Humanity Women's Build in May. "I like that because you learn new skills and you get to talk to other ladies. I'm impressed with all we get done in one day."

One reason Mahan has such an interest in helping others is because she had an example of that lived before her in the person of the late Joan Burk, who went to Turnpike Baptist Church. "She was my teacher through my younger years.

She had a love for God and she was always giving of herself, taking us places and she tried to teach us right from wrong."

In fact, Burk made such an impression on Mahan that she begins each new day thinking about scriptures. "My favorite are from Psalm 139. When I do my morning stretches I think of verse 14 that says 'I am fearfully and wonderfully made,' And then I go on to verses 23 and 24 that say 'search me, O God,'" [and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.] She paused thoughtfully. "But some days, I don't want Him to search my heart; or look at my thoughts."

The challenges of raising her Jeremiah, Jonah and Jennifer require her to spend that time before the Lord.

"I want whatever is best for them.

From my oldest son who isn't at home as much to my little girl, I want them to love God more than anything, and this is something you can't force on people [even your children] and sometimes life is busy and you lose sight of these things. If

the devil gets you isolated he can defeat you."

She said her dealing with her older son especially has made her depend on God. "When you travel hard paths with your children or

family, you should run to God. It sure is growing my faith because I see Him working in the small things.

"I just want my children to know God. I have given them all to Him

Leading for the good of students

because I know He knows what is best."

Mahan said she wants her legacy to be living with her forever. "I want everybody that I know to be in heaven with me."

Patricia Ellison Regina Butler

Pontotoc Progress

She has taught vocational classes in five different schools and when she landed at Pontotoc Career Center Patricia Ellison found her nichĂŠ as a leader.

She has also been well versed in the sports by coaching basketball, softball, track and cross country.

"In all but two of the schools, Houston and here in Pontotoc, the vocational classes were located in the high school buildings." Ellison said she became a teacher so she could impact the lives of others, "but I never actually wanted to be a teacher. I wanted to be a coach, but you had to be a teacher to be a coach." When she settled into the routine of being the one at the head of the classroom, "I fell in love with it."

Ellison believes her experience in the coaching area has helped her in this brand new role as the director of Pontotoc's Career and Technology Center.

"Through coaching I learned how to pull everybody together even in adversity. You talk with your team and your leaders."

Ellison lives in Houston, "on the far end of the Chickasaw County line." She smiled. But the drive doesn't seem that far because of what she is going to every day.

"Everybody treated me like family when I first came to work here three years ago. This community is so welcoming. It is a bigger school district than Houston with a lot more to offer."

Ellison is married to Chris Ellison and they have two children, Cade and Haley.

"I like to hike or do anything outside like wake boarding in the river."

Ellison said she works hard these days because of the ethic her dad taught her.

"He was a hard worker, you never get complacent when you are continually working and doing what you do for others; and my dad did things not for his own glory, but for others."

And Ellison will always remember what her mama taught her, "Just because I'm your mama doesn't mean I am your slave. There are things you have to be responsible for."

Ellison and her family attend Arbor Grove Baptist Church in Houston where she is involved on the mission team. "My greatest joy is my salvation. I John 1:9 is my favorite verse because it says He is faithful to forgive me. My husband is also a great joy to me because he upholds the same values that I do and it makes it easier."

In her role as the new leader of the Career Center she is learning the difference between being a teacher and being a leader. "It is my job to be a support for my staff and students. Adjusting my mindset to my role is a challenge. When I was a teacher my main goal was my students. When I became the leader, my main job is to support all the classes and find out what can I do for each of the teachers to be successful, because we are preparing the students for a lifetime.

"The students have been building blocks for their future since kindergarten, and without our support they are going to fall off and we will lose much of what they have gained."

Now in addition to her role as a leader at school, she also has a role as a leader at home. "My kids are all active, we are in softball and baseball and gymnastics, so we are doing something together all the time."

But it's not her accomplishments she wants remembered, it's that "I had a servants heart. I loved my family and loved others."

Wednesday, October 25, 2017

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Her life is comfortable like a patchwork quilt

Olean Stutsy

Regina Butler

Pontotoc Progress

Olean Stutsy may not have been born in Pontotoc County, but she considers this home, especially since she has lived the better part of her 89 years here in the Gershorm community.

"I was born in Calhoun County beside Poplar Springs, when in 1937 or 38 we moved to Chickasaw County and after that moved to Pontotoc County across from what was the Beckham School house." And she has seen a lot of changes in her life. From having no running water or electricity to now having a microwave oven. "When I was little we went to bed with a piece of paste board for a fan."

Somewhere along the way, she met the love of her life, Charles Stutsy and "we married in 1947 and I moved into the house with his mom and dad. It was a great old big house so it was big enough for all of us to live in it. We were just poor farmers, so we lived here and worked the land."

She and her husband started their life and love for each other off on the right foot by professing their love for Jesus in 1948 and becoming members of Gershorm Baptist Church.

"We were baptized in Hewlett Johnson's pool; his brother and his wife were also baptized that day. My favorite Bible verse is John 3:16, "'For God so loved the world that He sent His Son ...' that is our hope."

She worked in the glove plant in Houlka during the years she did public work. "I sewed for awhile, then became supervisor. I started out at 65¢ an hour."

Her greatest desire is that her family can be "as proud of me as I was of my mother, Daisy Schwalenberg. She was a good example to me. I never heard my mama say an ugly word in all my life. She was easy to get along with and I had a good daddy, whose first name was Ledee."

Over the past twenty or so years Stutsy has been the community correspondent for the Gershorm community. She writes what is going on with those in the community and who is visiting who, the original Facebook, so to speak. She says she was sort of voted into it.

"We were talking one day and somebody said we need some news from Gershorm, 'and you'd make a good one,' they said to me." She smiled sweetly. "So I've been doing it ever

since."

Her favorite passtime is putting together material into works of art that can warm a body in the coldest winter time.

"I do enjoy quilting. When I was first married we had to quilt to have warm covers. Now if I see something I want in a quilt I come home and sew it." On her bed are several quilts she designed from a sunflower pattern to a cross pattern. "I wanted to do a cross quilt and coudn't find the pattern I wanted in the books so I came home and drew one."

She picked up the sunflower quilt, "I was inspired to do this by the pattern on a ladies dress."

And she enjoys sharing the fruits of her labors with others. "I enjoy crocheting too, and I've donated quilts and blankets to the LeBonher Children's Hospital as well as St. Jude's."

Her greatest heartache was the day the old homeplace burned, "On July 26,1990." But she remembers it like it was yesterday. "I was up in the garden and the grandbaby was here asleep."

The telephone ringing which she found out later was her daughter Sandra calling, caused her to go back toward the house and smoke was billowing out. "I ran to the house and told my granddaughter to go call the fire depart-

ment. I got my Bible and bed spread and pillows out of the house, but they wouldn't let me go back in." Once the fire got out, neighbors and friends came over. "People came to help; I've never seen so many folks in my life piling things out in the yard for us. People were so good to us, the churches made up donations for us."

And in the midst of it all, her favorite Bible verse came wafting it's way into her heart, "Romans 8:28, 'and we know that ALL things work together for good to them that love God,'" One of the things that touched her the most was when a man in the community named Herbert Walker came into their yard.

"He said, 'You've got a place to stay. I have a house that is not lived in, but is furnished and you can stay there as long as you need it.' And for as long as we stayed, he didn't charge us a penny's rent."

While they were staying in the Walker home, the Stutsy's looked at houses for their potential new home. "Many of them were right in town so I could be closer to Sandra.

But none of them felt like home. One day we were walking in the garden and Charles and I were talking and came to the decision that neither one of us wanted to leave this land where we were living. So we decided to re-build."

Just like an old timey house raising, the community came together again to build the Stutsy's another house. "We moved in and had Thanksgiving dinner here that year. We didn't have any counter tops in the kitchen, but we had a roof over our heads and four walls."

They spent the next months building counters and painting walls. And she has lived in the home that love built ever since.

But her help mate that has seen her through many of life's trials has gone on to Heaven's shores. "He died in May of 2001. It has been hard walking on without him." Her eyes misted.

But she looked to what she has today and smiled. "My greatest joy is being with my family. I cook for them most Sundays. My daughter, Sandra, comes over on Saturday morning with a sausage and biscuit and we enjoy that and a cup of coffee, then she helps me get things together for the dinner the next day."

And she continues to provide the warm continuity that stitches her family together in love.

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Wednesday, October 25, 2017

Lighting up the eyes of children around the world

Mary Ann Busby

Regina Butler

Pontotoc Progress

She spent 32 years teaching children and now she is sharing her love for children on a world-wide scale through Operation Christmas Child shoe box gifts.

Retired teacher Mary Ann Busby taught at North Pontotoc and in the Pontotoc City School system.

"I enjoyed teaching because I loved to see the children's eyes light up when they learn a new skill."

Today, she doesn't get to see with her physical eyes the children's faces light up when they get her box from Operation Christmas Child, but through the eyes of faith, she knows they are exuberant.

Busby is married to Johnny Busby and they have two sons, Robert and Charlie.

"My greatest joy is my two grandsons, Rock [Robert] and Win [Edwin]. They take joy to a whole new level. I love to see my grandsons eyes light up."

Her favorite role model in this world was her Aunt Robbie McDaniel. "She was the only girl and she was always there for us. She was a fine Christian woman. She saw to it that we had all we needed for our education. We went to live with her after my mama died on July 25 after my first birthday which was July 17."

Not only did her aunt help with her raising, her grandmother did as well.

"Grandmother instilled into me that I'd better be good to people. And she is the reason I've been volunteering at the Sanctuary Hospice House for the past two years. She was there during her final days."

But the deepest heartache Busby has suffered has been the death of her only brother, Mike, who died in May of 2004.

"I cried and grieved for my brother for seven years. You have to understand, my brother and I depended on each other, we were left to our grandmother and aunt after my mama died. I called him every day.

"Then one night I had this dream, I was in a wedding and he escorted me to my seat. And I realized he was in heaven and he was happy. And I've had peace since then. I have learned that I can deal with a

lot, but I have to learn Who is dealing with me. I can't fix it, but God can."

And God made a verse special to her heart to help her walk on. "This is the day that the Lord has made, I will rejoice and be glad in it." She looked thoughtful.

"Life has dealt a lot of hard hits, but you have to look up."

Her therapy today includes getting out and mowing her yard and taking care of her plants. She pointed to one of the ferns she has that is 75 years old. "It belonged to my grandmother when she was young.

I can remember moving it in an out of the house when the seasons changed when I was a kid," she said.

And today she is giving of her self in other ways from baking to packing those little boxes for the children. She smiled broadly.

"I like to bake cakes. I bake and put them in the freezer so if I need a cake to send to a friend I can pull it out and thaw it and send it on. I bake cakes for the Celebration Village, which raises monies for the Sanctuary Hospice House."

And the Operation Christmas Child boxes grew out of her love for children.

"I started packing the boxes when I went to Thaxton United Methodist Church. I thought about those who are less fortunate and don't have a lot. It is neat to think about the appreciation they show when they get the simple little gifts that are in a shoe box sized container."

Busby usually packs a dozen boxes, six for a girl and six for a boy.

These boxes contain school supplies, like composition books, pencils or pens, colors, hygiene items like soap and toothbrushes as well as stuffed animals or balls that bounce or jump ropes, calculators, anything that will fit in a small box. You can even pack balls that have been deflated and include a pump. They are distributed to countries across the globe through Samaritan's Purse.

"I have this big plastic container in my closet that I put things in year around as I pick them up from the store, then I pull it out and fill the little ones." She smiled. "I want my kids and grandkids to remember me as a loving mother and grandma, not just to them, but to children all over the world."

Wednesday, October 25, 2017

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Following God's leading in her life

Tamara Farr

Regina Butler

Pontotoc Progress

Psalm 23 - "The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures, He leadeth me beside the still waters."

When you call the Extension office and hear that friendly voice on the other end, chances are you will be talking to Tamara Farr who has been working there for five years.

"I couldn't be happier here. I interned for six months while holding down another part time job, then quit everything else for this job."

Her greatest joy is meeting folks.

"I love meeting new people and helping them with their questions or directing them to the right place to go when they come to the Extension Center."

The daughter of Terry and Mary Farr, she has one son, Gabriel who is in kindergarten, and she attends Beulah Grove United Methodist Church.

"He restoreth my soul. He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake."

The 26-year-old Farr looked back on the life she has had the joy to live. Her life had that continuity to it because of the love and care of her grandmother. "I was the baby of my family. The person who influenced me the greatest besides mom and dad was my grandmother Annie Pearl Farr. She wanted all her grandkids to know Psalm 23 by heart.

When I was young, us kids would bring our bikes to her house.

"She could do anything. She had a farm and horses. She would give us a bucket and send us to pick dew berries, now my sister would eat those berries straight from the bush without washing them." She paused and made a face. "I couldn't do that.

But when we got the berries back to the house grandmother would bake us a pie.

"In the hot summer time she would give us a popsicle and sit us down and tell us a story from when she was a child."

But what reverberates in her heart the most, even today, is the fact that her grandmother prayed. "She always sat on her back porch and prayed out loud."

Her dad is a great calming influence on her life. "I can panic but my dad comes in and calms me down and walks me through what I need to do."

Her mama is one that has taught her what tough love is about. "She is a strong independent woman. Once she starts something she is going to finish it. She will go to bat for all of her kids."

"Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me."

She faces life as a single mother, "I was 21 when I had my son, I was a rebel, but my mom and dad let me figure it out. My mama told me one time that I would need her before she actually needed me. I never knew what she meant until I had Gabriel. You never know how much love your parents have for you until you become a parent yourself."

In fact one day when she had to discipline her son, "Daddy said that now I know how they felt when they had to discipline me."

Gabriel's presence in her life has increased her faith and taught her to depend on God. "Gabriel has taught me patience and to try something new. He has helped me draw closer to Christ and my parents, so he has saved me in more than one way. I'd prayed that God would give me a job that I could go to work and take care of him and God answered it through this one. I will always be grateful to Mr. Ricky Ferguson and Mrs. Sherry Thompson and all the people who work here for opening their hearts to me and giving me a chance."

Her desire is to bring up that little treasure of a boy in God's ways.

"God gives you gifts, and I don't know what his future will be when he grows up, so I have to do right by him."

"Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over."

When she is dealing with people, whether it is her family or those who come to her office, Farr loves to make people smile.

"I love to laugh and I want people to laugh with me. I want to be remembered as someone who had great joy."

She enjoys reading books that make her think. "I've been reading 'Peace from Broken Pieces' by Iyanla Vanzant. She encourages you to work and makes you think.

However, a lot of my reading today is to my son."

"Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord

forever."

While she is waiting on God to prepare that house for her forever, she is now working to get into a house of her own and she is excited about what the future holds there.

"I love decorating during the different seasons and I'm looking forward to putting up fall things and Christmas at my new house."

And mama and daddy are there to help her take those steps into the new path that God is leading her down.

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Wednesday, October 25, 2017

Walking through life's trials with family support

Teresa Bagwell

Regina Butler

Pontotoc Progress

She has spent her entire life in Pontotoc county, from one end to the other. Teresa Bagwell grew up in the Shady Grove community in the northern part of the county, and when she married, her late husband transplanted her in the heart of South Pontotoc.

She smiled. “I’ve been living down there 36 years now,” said the mother of two children and three grandchildren.

But her face is no stranger to people from all over Pontotoc County.

She coordinated the programs for the Pontotoc City Park and Recreation department from October 1998 until September 2011.

She and her late husband, Ricky Bagwell also ran the South Pontotoc Grocery store for three years, and then in 2014 they established Your Golden Transportation, which is a business that transports people with non-emergency illnesses that are potentially life threatening, such as cancer and kidney patients, to and from doctors appointments.

“We saw a need for the transportation business for several years before we started it because of family members health issues,” she said.

However, there was no real urgency to step out into it. “But one day, out of the blue, someone walked into our store at South Pontotoc and offered to buy it. We couldn’t pass it up. We felt like that was the Lord telling us to take this next step.”

The couple sold the store and over the next months began to explore and get the paper work together to establish their new business.

“Ricky was building our sons house, so while he did that, I worked on getting everything in line for this.”

They started with two vehicles and now they run 12 Monday through Friday, "and we only do

dialysis patients on Saturday."

Although it is still a fledgeling business Bagwell said you do get attached to the patients and begin to share their joys and struggles. They almost become like family. "You don't talk to them without they say 'I love you,' when they hang up. You see these people who are on dialysis and they get a kidney transplant, so life gets better for them; or you take a patient to cancer treatment and they go into remission." Tears gathered in her eyes. "That's what you do this for."

She travels far and wide to pick up her patients, so far they have gone into Pontotoc, Lee, Union, Chickasaw and Calhoun counties.

Long before this business started, Bagwell's life was grounded in her family. "That is our most important asset. My mama [the late Jean McDonald] was strong and happy.

She would always say, 'Put your mind in motion before you put your mouth in gear.' Family was her everything." Tears gathered in her eyes. "Especially those grand babies, they were her life. And now that I'm a grandmother, I understand that. Once you have children, you are no longer important." She chuckled through her tears. "Our family is extremely close. I've enjoyed watching all my brothers and sisters children grow up and now there are grandchildren. What more could you want than having them around?"

Back to her mom, Bagwell said it amazes her, to this day, the things that her mama did in a single day.

"She would work in the factory all day, then sit down and make clothes for us. She followed us to ball games. There's no way I could do what she did. But she was organized, everything had a place and you had to put it back in that place when you were through."

And her daddy [Clydie McDonald] taught her that "A little work don't kill nobody. Both my

parents worked hard. We canned everything we ate for the winter and picked it fresh from the garden in the summer. The only groceries they bought was what we couldn't raise like flour, sugar, meal, coffee and tea.

"We had to help hoe the garden, feed the cows and hogs and chickens. What was put on the table was what you ate."

These parents of hers have also taught her that she is her own person. "They have told me that I'm

me and no one else but me, and I should be myself and who God made me."

Through the years of her life she has suffered the loss of her mom and a brother, but she was not prepared for the valley she would have to begin walking on a misty morning in April of 2015. Her husband, Ricky, was in a car accident that claimed his life.

"He went to get somebody, and never made it to their house. When I got a call that he hadn't arrived, I started looking for him." She enlisted the help of law enforcement officials, not knowing they were on the scene of his accident.

It was at the sheriff's department that she and her family were told that her husband died in the accident. Tears filled her eyes.

"Ricky and I were married for 34 years. He was my rock. We were always the 'divide and conquer' type. He did one thing and I did another and it all got done.

"We didn't make any decision without talking to each other. I didn't realize how much he did until I've had to walk these days without him.

"The hardest thing was helping the grandchildren make sense of it."

But it is not just the grandchildren that have walked through the rugged path. "Your core is missing.

You don't know who you are, you don't know how to buy groceries any more. You just exist for awhile, and there are days now, when I just get through the day."

Today she relies on that family that has surrounded her since she was a child and on the God of her childhood that her mama taught her about. "Scripture says, 'I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me.' Nothing but God can help me get through. My extremely supportive family and friends continue to pick me up and carry me through, and for that I'm extremely grateful."

Wednesday, October 25, 2017

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Creativity runs in her blood

Chelsea Williams Regina Butler

Pontotoc Progress

She was born to create. Chelsea Williams came to work full time as the ad designer for the Pontotoc Progress this past March. However, she never dreamed she would be a graphic designer.

"I've always been creative. When I went to Itawamba Community College I took a computer arts class and I learned that graphic design was more broad. I found out I was good at it and really liked it."

And her love of graphic design landed her a job right after college. She attended ICC for two years and graduated from Ole Miss the summer of 2012. She started out as a freelance graphic designer before landing a position as the Creative Director at hottytoddy.com based in Oxford.

Her journey onto the Progress staff started with designing the Welcome Home to Pontotoc magazine in 2014. She went to work in the news department as a Copy Editor of the Daily Journal in 2015 and when the opportunity opened up for her to come to the Progress in 2017 after Shelia Taylor retired, she jumped at the chance.

"I've always wanted to come back to the Pontotoc Progress," she said.

She is the daughter of Melanie Williams and lives here in Pontotoc with their dog, Dora.

Williams grinned. "Dora is a Shih Tzu-dachund mix."

Along with her mother, Williams's family is rounded out by her sister Amanda, brother-inlaw Jacob Burch and little niece Sydney.

It is no surprise that she enjoys crafts and "baking and cake decorating when I am away from the office."

And she finds herself leaning on her best friend that she has had since she was a 12. "Her name is Arvy Kidd Allen. We met at Bible School. We are a lot alike. We've been told we could be twins. She can take anything I say to her. She says I'm blunt but loyal and I say that it's only because I care."

She and her sister share a strong bond, "I look up to my older sister because we have gone through rough times. My parents are divorced and we have always had each other to confide in through that.

"I talk to her every day. She has always been there for me. I admire her leadership quality and I've always been able to depend on her."

During her years at Ole Miss, Williams spent time at the Wesley Foundation which helped her relationship with God grow stronger.

"It was hard to get through certain struggles in my life and they helped me to realize that God would help me through it all.

"My favorite verse is 'I can do all things through Christ, which strengthens me.' I know a lot of people may say that verse but it is true.

My favorite thing to remind myself of is what's meant to happen will happen, God has a plan for everybody whether you understand it or not."

And she has learned to walk in the strength of Christ in some of the saddest times in her life.

"Losing my granddad was the hardest thing I've had to face. I was close to him because he was there for me. I learned a lot from him just by watching him interact with people. We would be in the store and he could have a 30 minute conversation with a perfect stranger."

She grinned. "And now I can do that same thing."

Williams has lived in no less than eight towns growing up, even living in some places twice.

She began rattling off the towns she lived in while her daddy was pastoring churches, "Maben, Columbus, Eupora, New Hope, Grenada, Fulton, Oxford, Pontotoc and Hamilton, Alabama."

"I came to Pontotoc when I was 12 and left when I was 17. I went to South Pontotoc and had to transfer to Grenada my senior year.

Living here was a good chunk of my growing up. This was the only place that felt like home."

So she came back and chose Pontotoc as the place to put down her roots. "My sister lives here, but I would choose this town even if she didn't live here."

She is happy to be working on the staff at the Progress because "When people enjoy reading the paper because of the way it is designed, or when they appreciate how good it looks, my hard work pays off. I really enjoy doing the magazines."

She said she also enjoys working with the staff. "It's different. It is like a family here, not just at the Progress but in the community as a whole. You are part of a family and that is what I like about Pontotoc."

Keeping life's work and play in perspective

Angie Quarles Regina Butler

Pontotoc Progress

She was born to sell. That's what you gather pretty quickly when you chat with Angie Quarles, Pontotoc Progress advertising sales consultant since 2009.

A resident of the Randolph community her life is more than just selling advertising. She teaches a youth Sunday School class at Carey Springs Baptist Church, and she and her husband, Tim, have something of a small farm down on their place. She laughed.

"I have two miniature horses Sunny D and Anna Belle, we also have turkeys, ducks and chickens. I enjoy watching the animals and taking care of them. But we can’t forget the three Weenie dogs, Zoey, Bandit, And Bella.

“She smiled broadly, I love to be outside, Most people hate yard work, but I love to be in my yard working.”

They have a son, Hunter Fooshee who is a junior in college at Ole Miss and a daughter and son in law Kelsey and Dusty Phillips, who live in Alabama. On Saturdays in the Fall you will find Angie and Tim in Oxford rooting for their Ole Miss Rebels.

But life hasn't been all fun and games for Quarles, "my mother died in the spring of 2008 of a sudden heart attack one morning. It was a shock. You don't think it's real until months have passed.

"My mother’s sister, Marilyn Tutor has been been a role model for me, all my life, She and my uncle Jerry have always treated and done for me like I was theirs even though they had two children of their own. She is a wonderful Christian Lady and she is like a second mother to me."

And added to her sorrow of her own mom, Quarles has come through a couple of major

health issues in the past year that has turned her heart to God in a whole new and deeper way.

"I made it through because of God and a lot of Prayers that were sent up.” I John 4:4 says, “Greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world.”

Quarles came to work at the Progress because of an ad that was in the newspaper. "I came in to pay for my husband to run for office that year, and I thought this would be a change. I wanted to explore new opportunities."

And she hasn't looked back. "I love working and visiting with all my customers and helping make their businesses thrive. I've made a lot of new friends with this job, and gained a new family. The people here at the Pontotoc Progress surround and support me like family and have stood with me and beside me."

And with all the work that she does, she wants to make sure life stays in balance. "My greatest challenge is making the time to enjoy the things that matter the most. Some day I don't want to look back on my life and say “I wish I'd spent Saturday with my family.”

Her involvement in her home church gives her a deeper perspective on life in general. "It is hard for me to see children growing up in this world that aren't getting that strong guidance and encouragement, children are the future they need a stable home life.”

As for her own life she doesn't want there to be any doubt. "My favorite Bible verse is John 10:28, 'I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.' I want people to be able to see plainly that I am a Christian. I want to be remembered as someone who loved everyone, laughed a lot, and lived life.

Thank you To All The Women of Pontotoc For Your hard work