Profile 2012: Generation US

PROFILE 2012

A special publication of The Natchez Democrat

Pride in our past and a vision for our future.

Treating Generations of Families.

For at least one Natchez family, Natchez Regional has cared for three generations of their family, through the births of children, mending broken bones, providing surgeries, physical therapy, relief from illnesses and employment.

For over 50 years, generations of families have relied on Natchez Regional Medical Center for excellent medical care, and just as families evolve and grow so have we. Today, we provide quality care that is in tune with your life, and we’ll serve the generations to come with the same trusted care.

JJ Rabb, Ultrasound Tech at NRMC for 10 years; Annette Rabb, Registered Nurse at NRMC for over 25 years; Colton Rabb, born at NRMC on 3/3/08; Bryan Rabb, Registered Nurse at NRMC for 10 years; and Reagan Rabb, born at NRMC on 2/18/06.

The skill to heal. The spirit to care. www.natchezregional.com

THE NATCHEZ DEMOCRAT

VIDALIA

Riverfront Landing

W

hat once was known as “The mat field” has become a viable, income-producing area for the City of Vidalia. Comfort Suites Hotel, Riverfront Royale Spa, Amphitheater, spray grounds, the Riverwalk, Vidalia Conference and Convention Center, Riverpark Medical Center, Promise Hospital and Riverview RV Park ... and the hopes of more to come soon, according to H.L. Irvin Director of the Vidalia Landing Riverfront and The Vidalia Conference and Convention Center.

Throughout the years many events, concerts, flea markets, walks for various groups, conventions, sightseers, churches and more come to the Vidalia Landing to use these wonderful facilities. It is such a widely known area now, all over the United States, as well as internationally. With the publicity received from the Flood of 2011, Vidalia has been visited through television broadcasts, newspaper and magazine articles, radio programs, websites, and Facebook. The Mighty Mississippi River helped to bring Vidalia to the forefront with her unpredicted and unprecedented watering of our grounds. “Though we may have lost business during that time; we have made up for it! Bookings are being taken well into 2013, and requests for beyond that with conventions,” says H.L. Irvin, Riverfront Director.

If you live in Natchez/Vidalia and surrounding areas, stop by and visit these properties. Keeping business in our area is one way to insure we will continue our economic growth on the Vidalia Riverfront.

102 Front Street • Vidalia • 318-336-9934 www.vidaliaconventioncenter.com

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I’m Lovin’ it

2011 McDonald’s

Thank you from all of us at your locally owned Natchez and Vidalia McDonald’s

Every time you purchase a Happy Meal® at participating McDonalds we contribute one cent of your purchase to help fund the Ronald McDonald House® and Ronald McDonald House Charities® of Mississippi. During the past year these pennies have added up, along with your contributions of spare change and the purchase of “Hands.” Together, more than $108,000 in contributions have been made in Mid-Mississippi. You are benefiting many, many children who are ill, their parents and others in the community. Giving back is our way of saying thank you.

Actually ... 108,000 THANK YOUS!

1600 MCHR Poster.indd 1

©

1/23/12 4:42:31 PM

Every time you purchase a Happy Meal® at participating McDonald’s® we contribute one cent of your purchase to help fund the Ronald McDonald House® and Ronald McDonald House Charities® of Mississippi. During the past year these pennies have added up, along with your contributions of spare change and the purchase of “Hands.” Together, more than $108,000 in contributions have been made in Mid-Mississippi. You are benefiting many, many children who are ill, their parents and others in the community. Giving back is our way of saying thank you.

RMHC® of Mississippi 2524 North State Street, Jackson, MS 39216 www.ronaldmcdonaldhousems.com

MiSSiSSippi

100,000 THANK YOUS ... AND MORE ®

4 PROFILE 2012

THE NATCHEZ DEMOCRAT

TABLE OF CONTENTS Editor’s note

6

In these walls

38

Land of giants

80

The Greatest Generation

8

Making mmmmemories

42

Back in the nest

88 95

Welcome to Profile 2012

Meet our nation’s heroes

Local house tells story of three generations

Malt Shop serves up food and more

Every generation leaves mark on gridiron

Boomers meet family challenges

Friends forever

10

Baby boomers

46

Lessons from the fire

Digital diagnosis

12

What do you know?

49

Generation Y

100

Plugged or unplugged

17

Can you sense it?

52

Sticking together

103

Destined for the same road

20

Glenda’s kids

58

Gutsy moves

110

The Silent Generation

24

Generation gap

62

Moving on up

116

Fading away

27

Generation X

70

Don’t worry, be happy

123

Fly girls

32

Preserved in patterns

72

Generation Z

128

Grandmothers discover Facebook

Nurse practitioner practices online

Families weigh pros & cons of technology

Mother, daughter study and work together

Get to know the quiet set

Friends, family struggle with Alzheimer’s

Flight attendants remember golden age

PROFILE 2012

A special publication of The Natchez Democrat

ON THE COVER: Sha’Reeba Wexler, front and center, represents the youngest living generation, Z. Read more about Wexler and members of each living generation, from left, Clevland Moore, Laurie Coffey, Marion Stewart, Joann Bennett and Scott Adams, inside.

Learn more about the masses

Local trivia buffs show what they know

Hospitals, schools, churches feel change

Grandmother takes care of grandson, more

Siblings born years apart form strong bonds

These latchkey kids changed the world

Kingston quilter stitches memories

Tragic fire spurred safety code changes

Was this generation too coddled?

Family reunions pull families together

Technology offers gore-free dissections

Older neighborhood used as transition

New generation never has enough

Hello tomorrow!

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6 PROFILE 2012

Editor’s note:

Y

oung Sha’Reeba Wexler, the cute girl sporting pre-teen personality and a beautiful smile on the front cover, is about as hip as they come.

She’s got all the latest gadgets, all the attitude and all the smarts.

And she’s also got a little bit of all of us in her.

Sha’Reeba is a member of America’s youngest generation — Generation Z. Though she’s vastly different from Marion Stewart and Joann Bennett — also featured on the front — it’s the life experiences of those elders that paved the way for the way Sha’Reeba will live in years to come.

Her parents — baby boomers — are raising Sha’Reeba based on a mold that created their way of thinking during America’s heyday.

But it was Gen X and Y that created the technology that’s making

Sha’Reeba smarter than all of us.

Today, she’s a busy pre-teen hooked on gadgets the older generations don’t understand. Tomorrow, she’s the standard upon which future generations will improve.

Generational studies are fascinating things. Work for this special section has given me an understanding for the way my co-workers likely think and act that I wish I’d known years ago. I’ve caught myself analyzing friends in town, local leaders and regular Joes in a whole new light.

So much of what happens during our formative years — 12 or 13 to 20 or 21 — defines us forever.

Today, there are six living American generations. The eldest remember life before Pearl Harbor, the youngest don’t remember life before the iPhone.

We’ll introduce you to the generation and one local member throughout the remaining pag-

es of this section. You’ll have to read all the way to the end to meet Sha’Reeba.

Each generation is remarkably different from the one before it, and, in many ways will never understand the others.

But there’s a common thread that ties all six generations together forever. We are all alive today, and that, in many ways, makes us all the same.

We all know who Barack Obama is, we all have access to cell phones, we’ve danced to Michael Jackson, worn Nikes and eaten at McDonald’s.

Grandchildren and grandparents are sharing the same lives.

College students and boomers are competing for the same jobs.

Many generations help to define Americans in the last century, but only one defines us today — this is Generation Us! — Julie Cooper

The welcome mat is out in Natchez • Open 24/7 • Ultralights to Boeing 727 • Air BP-100LL and Jet A trucks • Free tie downs • Hangar available • Car rentals • 28 volt power cart • Trained staff • Meeting room • Wireless internet service • Flight planning and weather radar • 6,500 ft. long runway handles corporate jets

“Hi, I’m Clint Pomeroy. My staff and I do our best to maintain the highest level of facilities, safety and service, and when a tour group requires a ‘Southern Welcome,’ we do that too!”

Natchez-Adams County Airport

Airport Phone Numbers: Operations 601-442-3142 • Director 601-442-5171 • Nashville AFSS 800-992-7433 • email: khez@bellsouth.net

THE NATCHEZ DEMOCRAT

We fix Sunday dinner seven days a week.

Colonel Sanders set out to give busy families “Sunday Dinner, Seven Days a Week.” Not just because he wanted to share his mouth-watering food - but because he knew the most important thing at the dinner table is family.

Every day, we work hard to continue his tradition of excellence. We take great pride in being a part of the world’s most popular chicken restaurant chain.

Since 1930 we’ve been providing families with quality food and service the way he would want it. We hope to continue his commitment for you and your family for generations to come. ®

24 Seargent S. Prentiss Dr. Natchez • 104 N. E. E. Wallace Blvd., Ferriday

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8 PROFILE 2012

The Greatest Generation born 1901-1926

Academy Awards Best Picture winners 1929 - All Quiet on the Western Front 1935 - Mutiny on the Bounty 1939 - Gone with the Wind

1942 - Mrs. Miniver 1943 - Casablanca

World War II poster

No. 1 songs 1928 - T for Texas - Jimmie Rodgers 1932 - Night & Day - Fred Astaire, Leo Reisman 1936 - Pennies from Heaven - Bing Crosby 1940 - I’ll Never Smile Again - Tommy Dorsey 1942 - Moonlight Cocktail - Glen Miller 1945 - Til The End of Time - Perry Como

M

embers of this oldest living generation have long been held up as the role models the rest of younger society should emulate.

Men and women of this generation who are alive today grew up and came of age during the difficult times of the Great Depression, happily lived without and quickly signed up to protect their country in World War II just because they thought it was the right thing to do.

Today, they remain humble about their service to our country yet proud of their generation, which gained its title of “greatest” from journalist Tom Brokaw in the 1990s.

Generation fun facts: This generation gained its wellearned fame for defeating Hitler, • Buddy Rogers, Bing Crosby, Artie sacrificing during the war and Shaw and Glen Miller were topping then building up the American the musical charts when this economy after the war ended. generation was coming of age.

They, Brokaw said in his book, • Most homes had radios used by “The Greatest Generation,” set up the entire family for entertainment. the country in away that afforded • TVs were introduced to the United all subsequent generations a betStates while this generation was ter life than their own. young, but most members didn’t “They have given the suchave their own TV until adulthood. ceeding generations the • Swing music began replacing jazz opportunity to accumulate as the popular form. great economic wealth, political • Joe Lewis, Dizzy Dean and Joe muscle, and the freedom from DiMaggio were becoming American foreign oppression to make heroes. whatever choices they like,” Bro• Floral prints and geometric shapes kaw wrote in his book. dominated fashion trends.

Now above the age of 85, this • Walter Cronkite and Ronald Reagan generation closely follows world were both a part of the Greatest and national news, is comfortGeneration. able in a suit and tie for nearly • The most popular baby names from any occasion and prefers to get 1900 to 1930 were John, Robert and along, not argue. They are glad Mary. their children and grandchildren have been raised in a thriving America, but won’t pretend to understand the younger generations.

The group is mostly well-educated and achieved financial stability in adulthood.

If physically able today they are likely involved in some sort of civic work, and, yes, many of them now have cell phones — but not smart phones.

Radio was far more popular than television, which was just coming onto the scene in the 1940s.

The Lincoln Continental was the bestselling car of the 1940s.

Glen Miller was one of the popular musicians of the 1940s and early 1950s.

THE NATCHEZ DEMOCRAT

Marion Stewart, 86 born March 1925

M

arion Stewart certainly considers himself a part of America’s Greatest Generation, but you wouldn’t call him proud.

Born in 1925, Stewart barely makes the cut for the generation generally agreed upon to end with those born sometime between 1924 and 1926. Yet Stewart’s life easily associates him with the generation known most notably for their willingness to serve their country because it was simply the right thing to do.

Two years after World War II started, when Stewart was still a teenager, he headed to the Eighth Naval District recruiting office in New Orleans to sign up for a Navy training program that only accepted those under 18. And on Feb. 12, 1943, during his senior year of high school, he was sworn into the Navy.

Navy Air Corps training took him from Millsaps College near Jackson to the Dallas area, to the University of Texas, to California, to Glenview, Ill., and finally to Pensacola, Fla. “I had just about completed my ground school courses when the war ended while I was at Pensacola,” Stewart said.

Stewart was never commissioned and didn’t see any WWII combat, but he does consider his life marked by the bombing of Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941, and the subsequent start of the war.

“I had gone to church; I was an acolyte at early church,” Stewart remembered. “I got home and Dad was glued to the radio. “It was incredible the absolute gall of the Japanese attacking the U.S. It was unbelievable, unheard of.

“Prior to Dec. 7, 1941, as well as I remember, we had almost as much dissension in government as we have now,” Stewart said. “After the 7th, there were lines of men volunteering for military service. That united this country in a way that we had not been since the Revolution.”

Marion’s memories:

• Stewart’s playground in the early 1930s was the Natchez bluff, the hill down to Learned’s Mill, stacks of lumber at the sawmill, Mississippi River sandbars and the river itself. Skinny-dipping in the muddy Mississippi and crossing it via raft or skiff were common ways to pass the time. He spent his summers barefoot, tanned and sporting a crew cut.

• Indoors, Stewart listened to the “Little Orphan Annie” radio show and decoded the secret messages.

• His favorite toys included cap pistols and rubber guns handcrafted from the inner tube of tires and fastened with a clothespin.

• In high school, Stewart danced the jitterbug and enjoyed the sounds of Glen Miller’s “Tuxedo Junction” and “String of Pearls.” He mostly listened to music on 45s and 78s.

• His first TV came after marriage and was a 6-inch by 4-inch black and white screen.

• His first car was a 1938 Plymouth handed down from his grandmother.

• Stewart got his first cell phone at approximately age 76. He has a newer model now. “I don’t know how to use it, and I don’t have the slightest idea what kind it is,” he said.

Marion Stewart, at top in Navy Air Corps training, signed up for military service in high school. Center, his class trained at the University of Texas, among other places.

Stewart met bandleader Tommy Dorsey and got his autograph, bottom, while in military training in the early 1940s.

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10 PROFILE 2012

FRIENDS forever Move over youngsters, grandma’s now on Facebook

Kathie Blankenstein, at top, checks her Facebook page from her computer at home. Blankenstein’s daughter Chesney Doyle, above left with her twins Alston and Archer, persuaded Kathie to start a Facebook page as a way to stay in touch with her children and grandchildren.

THE NATCHEZ DEMOCRAT

B

ritish grandmother Ivy Bean made him looking over her shoulder a few times when headlines and friends when she viewing photos of the kids.

On Williams’ personal Facebook account, she joined Facebook at the age of 102.

But being a grandma on has 652 friends, and the social networking website Facebook simply isn’t that unique is a little bit easier than the phone, she said.

She also has 55 photos posted, mostly of her anymore. And two Natchez grandmothers certainly aren’t grandchildren, but tagged with her name.

The Ja’Nel’s site provides a way to connect with after Bean’s record number of Facebook friends — the maximum allowed of 5,000 — they just want her customers, she said.

“For the store, I can notify customers if to check in on the grandkids every now and then.

Lifelong Natchez resident Kathie Blankenstein, something came in, or do delivery follow-ups,” 81, has been a Facebook user for three years, and Williams said. “I don’t use Facebook a lot for she checks the social networking site at least advertising, but I have posted a few times if we twice a day — once in the morning and once in got a new shipment in.”

Williams said she first posted photos of the evening.

Of her 196 Facebook friends, Blankenstein merchandise and flower arrangements on her mostly tracks the activities of her four children personal page, and then eventually made her own Ja’Nel’s page to keep life and work separate. The and five grandchildren.

Ja’Nel’s page has built up to 339 friends “For instance, I will go to my and counting. granddaughter Kate’s page,” One of the comments posted by a fan Blankenstein said. on a photo of a flower arrangement Kate is a high school senior asked Williams for a favor. in Brandon. She will be going to “Here’s a lady suggesting I send this Mississippi State in the fall, and picture to her husband,” Williams Blankenstein is already acquainted said. with her roommate, who is also on The business page has brought in Facebook. new customers, Williams said.

“It’s amazing what you can find “Sometimes I get a little bit confused, out about people,” Blankenstein but my niece Sarah is my go-to person,” said. “Not that you could draw Williams said. judgments.”

Sarah Williams, who works at Blankenstein said naturally, she Ja’Nel’s with her aunt, said she has checked out the Facebook page of helped Brenda upload new photos or Kate’s boyfriend, too. She said he figure out the new format whenever seems like an upstanding young it changes. man, from what she could tell “I just wait and let her show me,” online.

“Kate just kind of rolls her Kathie Blankenstein Williams said.

While Williams has the kind of eyes,” Blankenstein said, laughing.

Facebook user sunny disposition one would expect “But she has a million pics of her from a florist, she also had a few friends, well, actually 1,133 photos.”

Blankenstein said her daughter Chesney Doyle criticisms of the network.

“Sometimes I think people must be really bored first encouraged her to try Facebook. Chesney had twins in Atlanta, and in between visits, to post some things on Facebook,” Williams said.

Blankenstein would log on to see what the twins “I don’t like it when people show immaturity talking about things and people. were up to.

“But what I do enjoy is keeping up with old high “But the next thing I know, people were asking me to be their friend,” Blankenstein said. “I kept school friends. It’s wonderful to reconnect with people without a formal phone call. thinking, ‘I thought we were friends already.’”

“And I also enjoy keeping up with children Blankenstein said she wishes her mother, who was born in 1899, could have experienced in my church — their athletics and activities. I never find time to chat, and this is a way to make Facebook.

“She used to say how amazing it was — all she a connection with kids that I wouldn’t make lived to see,” Blankenstein said. “Of all the things otherwise.”

Williams acknowledged that the informal that could have come since then, I wonder what she would think. I guarantee she would have nature of the website is what makes is so useful.

“It’s been nice to write family and friends a gotten a computer, and she would have been all question in their inbox, and they don’t have to over Facebook.”

Brenda Williams, a former Natchez High School take care of it immediately,” Williams said. “It’s very user-friendly. When my twin grandsons were principal, is, you could say, all over Facebook.

Williams manages two Facebook accounts — a babies, I didn’t have to worry about calling and personal one and one for her business, Ja’Nel’s waking them up.”

Williams said she checks Facebook throughout Flowers.

The first thing Williams does in the morning is the day.

“But I’m not addicted,” Williams said. “I don’t check her accounts.

“My daughter-in-law, Carrie Williams, stay on it. I don’t post a lot, though my husband says I use it to keep up with everyone’s business. encouraged me to do it as an easy means of communication with my grandkids,” Williams I think of it more as they are sharing their life with me.” said. “They live in Cheyenne, Wyo.” Williams said her favorite aspect of Facebook Williams has a son stationed in Qatar with the might be the birthday reminders.

U.S. Air Force. He is on Facebook too.

“When I had a birthday, I was overwhelmed “It’s wonderful to see what’s going on with with comments,” Williams said. “It was a very him,” Williams said.

Williams can also check in with her twin heartwarming experience. It’s the same way with words of encouragement. It’s takes you 10 seconds, grandchildren in Madison.

“I get to see parties and Halloween costumes,” and you’re more apt to do it (on Facebook).

“Emily Post might stroke out — but it’s the Williams said. “I like to look at the photos.”

Williams said her husband, Lee, could really thought that counts. The smallest good deed is care less about Facebook, but she has caught better than the grandest good intention.”

Story By Nicole Zema Photos by Eric Shelton & Ben Hillyer

“The next thing I know, people were asking me to be their friend. I kept thinking, ‘I thought we were friends already.’”

Brenda Williams, at top, takes a look at a family member’s Facebook page at her business, Janel’s Flowers and Gifts.

Williams is a frequent Facebook user, at center, and likes to keep up with her grandchildren. Williams, at bottom, plays with her grandson Hayes Williams during the Christmas holiday at her home on Morgantown Road.

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12 PROFILE 2012

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Digital diagnosis THE NATCHEZ DEMOCRAT

Local nurse practitioner takes care of Oklahoma patients from Natchez

G

etting certified to practice nursing in Oklahoma was a long, arduous process for Sue Burkhalter.

But now that the process is complete, Burkhalter regularly sees patients in Oklahoma from the comfort of her home office in Natchez.

Burkhalter is a family nurse practitioner who has spent the last 10 years of her life caring for the needs of patients at the Wilkinson County Correctional Facility.

Corrections Corporation of America, which is based in Nashville, runs the prison, and CCA spent more than a year preparing Burkhalter to practice telemedicine with other prisons under CCA’s jurisdiction.

Burkhalter said she and two medical doctors have helped CCA jumpstart its telemedicine program, and Burkhalter is currently seeing inmates at Davis Correctional in Holdenville, Okla.

Burkhalter said the company has been doing telepsychiatry — patients see a psychiatrist from a computer screen — for at least three years, but the computer-based medical practice has existed for a lot longer, she added.

CCA adopted the practice of telemedicine very recently. “(The telemedicine planning) all started about a year and a half ago, when Dr. Bill Andrade, our chief medical officer at CCA, gave me a call and told me they were interested in launching this telehealth or telemedicine program, and they wanted one nurse practitioner and two physicians to kind of ramp it up.”

Burkhalter, the health services administrator for five years, jumped on the opportunity to be involved.

“I’m not afraid of technology,” Burkhalter

said. “I love technology. I love computers, and I like a challenge, so I thought it sounded good and just jumped in blind, really. It did turn out to be a lot more work in some respects than what I anticipated.”

CCA told Burkhalter they wanted to start the program in five states and gave her a list of states to get licensed in as a nurse.

“It turned out to be a whole lot more work (than anticipated),” Burkhalter said. “I knew going into it that it would be a lot of work, because as an RN, I’m licensed in about 20 states, but as an advanced practice nurse, that requires a separate licensure in each state.”

In total, Burkhalter spent nine months obtaining the correct paperwork to practice in Oklahoma.

In mid-October, CCA equipped Burkhalter’s home office to be able to start seeing patients.

The company set up a main computer and a laptop, along with numerous networking details, and topped it off with a direct line to the corporate office in Nashville. With the phone, Burkhalter said she can connect with corporate just by hitting an extension.

“I have what we call a VPN appliance, so that all required a lot of extra work here with AT&T,” Burkhalter said. “I had to have five static IP addresses, so I learned a lot of things I knew nothing about.”

But Burkhalter said the technology in her house is nothing compared to what Davis Correctional has at its disposal in Oklahoma.

“All the fascinating parts are on the other end,” Burkhalter said.

Burkhalter said CCA built towers inside the prisons that have cameras and monitors, as well as tools such as a stethoscope and otoscope — a device used to look into a patient’s ear — all of which are hooked up to the computers.

Story By Michael Kerekes

ILLUSTRATION by Eric Shelton

Local nurse practitioner Sue Burkhalter, at left, uses her computer in Natchez to see patients from Davis Correctional in Holdenville, Okla.

14 PROFILE 2012 “I think you’ll see more of what I’m doing, in both “They have something called an exam cam, which said.

“I’m kind of excited to kind of be on the ground rural areas and corrections, where there are staffing allows me to see an extremely detailed picture of whatever I’m examining,” Burkhalter said. “I can floor with it. I don’t know if I want it to completely issues,” Burkhalter said.

“I also think in the next decade that you’ll see see better with the exam cam than I can looking at take the place of what I do now, because I am a very hands-on practitioner, but I do see myself doing this nurse practitioners work more independently, due my own arm with my naked eye.”

Because of this technology, Burkhalter said she and possibly transitioning into more of a teaching to shortages in rural settings, especially when it comes to family practice MDs. Nurse practitioners can do things such as listen to heart and lung sounds role as we open this thing up.”

Which might be necessary, since CCA plans to have have kind of bridged the gap where there otherwise right at home, miles away from the patient.

20 facilities online by the end of this year, Burkhalter may be no coverage.”

“If an inmate comes in and he has a complaint of Dr. Kristi Henderson, director of Telehealth for an ear pain or ear infection, I can actually look into said.

Adams County Correctional, which is also a CCA University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson, the inmate’s ear with the assistance of a nurse on facility, is in the process of getting telemedicine said Burkhalter is correct. the other end,” Burkhalter said. “I would see all of equipment installed as well, Burkhalter said.

“We can no longer expect patients to travel for this on my screen in great detail.”

“Obviously, it’s going to take way more than one health care,” Henderson said. “Families are having Rob Gabbert, project manager for CCA, said there were plenty of practical reasons to pursue using nurse practitioner to be able to handle 20 facilities,” to leave their job to get specialty care, and that’s not Burkhalter said. only expensive but inconvenient. telemedicine in the company’s facilities.

“I think this will be utilized tremendously in “We can’t continue to deliver health care as we have “Most of our facilities are in pretty remote locations, and it’s hard to find the medical services prisons all over the country. It’s already being utilized at this point. We have to look at ways to bring it to patients. There are too many geographic necessary, ” Gabbert said. “This barriers and unnecessary duplication of technology allows us to bring work.” those people in to care for inmates Henderson said the key would be remotely. empowering rural communities to utilize “The whole country is running telemedicine. thin on nursing staff and “So many rural areas are plagued by providers. That doesn’t mean we the fact that it’s difficult to recruit or don’t have plenty of places with provide specialty care,” Henderson said. a strong rural staff, but there are “This would allow you to have access to also places where it’s hard to find both a (personal) doctor and a specialist enough staff to take care of a high (via telemedicine). Most people in rural number of inmates.” communities wouldn’t have that, and they Gabbert also said it makes sense could end up with poor outcomes.” to not have to send inmates outside The main savings would come simply their facility to receive needed because the quality of health care would care. improve, she said.

“It’s a better control of security, “Earlier recognition of disease and where fewer inmates are on treatment often means a better outcome,” the roads and fewer officers are Henderson said. “Healthier people cost outside the facilities,” Gabbert less money. For example, if you can said. “We want to keep our inmates control diabetes because you have all inside the perimeter as much as the resources you need, you end up with possible, and this allows us to do better health care. that better.”

“It prevents people from having to be Telemedicine has both admitted to the emergency room as a advantages and disadvantages, Burkhalter said, especially when Eric Shelton | The Natchez Democrat source of health care, because that was it comes to her personally.

Local nurse practitioner Sue Burkhalter uses her computer in Natchez to see pa- the only way they could get health care. It costs less money than it would to prevent “There are wonderful advantages tients from Davis Correctional in Holdenville, Okla. complications.” to it for certain things, especially it If there are any cons, Henderson said, being that I work in corrections,” (by other prisons), and we’re actually probably a little it’s that some people might be hesitant to submit to Burkhalter said.

“I’m in corrections, and I’m rural, so both of those behind on that trend. But it’s huge, and it’s going to the idea of telemedicine.

“Some generations might want to see a doctor issues make it difficult for CCA to recruit nurse get bigger and bigger.”

Burkhalter said she’s the only local person doing in person,” she said. “They might be scared of practitioners, what we call mid-level providers, or MDs in a lot of these prisons. That’s the situation at telemedicine for her company, and she’s the only technology, so that’s an obstacle to overcome.”

Henderson also said it takes time for any new Davis Correctional right now — they do not have a nurse practitioner in her company doing it. model to be accepted, and telemedicine is no nurse practitioner.”

Changing times Telemedicine is not perfect, she said, but it’s better When she started her nursing career, Burkhalter different, especially when it comes to getting the infrastructure in place. than having no one there at all. said things were much different.

“Funding has always been an issue, because a lot “The types of things I’ll be doing are what we call “We were just on the brink of laparoscopic chronic clinic visits,” Burkhalter said. procedures,” Burkhalter said. “The routine of rural areas don’t have access to broadband, so “These guys come in every 90 days to see me, procedure to remove a gall bladder, for example, was they haven’t been able to use telehealth,” Henderson said. “We’d have to look at a statewide initiative to whether they want to or not, and I basically assess to open the abdomen. them and review their labs, X-rays, medication “Nowadays, they insert the trocar, and it’s a port bring the technology across the state and connect management, so there’s not quite so much hands- for the instrument. The largest one goes in the navel, them.”

Even with the new possibilities that telemedicine on, unless they come in with other complaints, and and there are several others. All of the instruments often times, they will.” go through them. A camera goes through the large brings, Henderson said it will never completely But the computer does restrain her, Burkhalter one, and they watch what they’re doing on a monitor.” replace in-person health care.

“You still have some testing, operations and lab said.

Burkhalter hasn’t struggled to keep up with work that require in-person services,” Henderson “I can’t put my hands on anyone’s belly to palpate technology though. it,” Burkhalter said. “So when I get a situation like “My first computer came from RadioShack back said.

“Ten to 20 years from now, I do envision more that, I’ll say that this patient has to be referred to when everything was running on DOS,” she said. the on-site provider, because there is a part-time “I’ve always had to have the latest cutting-edge telehealth than in-person visits, where you’d only physician there.” technology. I never studied it in school and never come in for something you can’t get at home.

“Everyone wants things faster and more Still, Burkhalter thinks telemedicine is here to stay. read any of the instruction manuals. I just use it convenient, and health care is no different,” “I think it’s exciting. I definitely think it’s where until I figure it out.” we’re going, especially with it being ideal in a In the next generation of nurses, Burkhalter said Henderson said. “Everyone wants it when they want it.” correctional setting for safety reasons,” Burkhalter she expects technology to continue to progress.

THE NATCHEZ DEMOCRAT

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16 PROFILE 2012

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THE NATCHEZ DEMOCRAT

17

Plugged or unplugged?

Lindsay Devening, Will Devening, above, and their two children Catie Grey, right, and Conlee use smartphones, an iPad and other technology in their daily lives.

Ryan Wingfield, at right, checks the weather on his iPad before shutting off the device for the weekend.

Families weigh pros & cons of technology

C

rystal Shiele didn’t “like” Facebook or any of the latest technology at first.

Four years later, she’s connected at home, at work and on the go.

Schiele is typical in this era — the time dominated by the technology trends that define the Millennial generation.

But she’s aware of the downsides of life attached to the Internet and social media.

“It’s sad to say, but I don’t ever put it down.

I use my Facebook and iPhone pretty much all day. If I leave it at home, I go back home

on my lunch break to get it.”

Always “on”

Schiele and hundreds of other local residents hardly ever disconnect.

They have the latest world news at their fingertips, the silliest social saying just a thumb tap away and friends, family, bosses and co-workers only a call or text from their thoughts.

Those are all pros and cons of the smartphone era.

“If I forget to ask someone something, I can just call or text them. I don’t have to wait,” Schiele said.

But the flip side of that pro comes when we

Story bY Michael Kerekes Photos by Rod Guajardo

18 PROFILE 2012 all get too used to having what we want when we want it and become unable to entertain our brains through other means, said Natchez resident Mandy Wisner.

Everyone in her family is equipped with a smartphone.

“We were at dinner the other night, and all four of us were on our cell phones,” Wisner said. “Nobody was talking, it was some down time, and everyone was on their cell phone.

“It’s not a good thing,” she said.

“When you do have down time, that’s the only thing that’s entertaining. You feel like your brain has to be occupied 24/7 now. You can’t just sit and be.”

More pro than con?

Will Devening, branch manager at Regions Bank, credits technology with organizing his life and in turn saving him time.

“Me and my wife have an iPhone, and I have an iPad, and we sync our calendars,” Devening said. “If I have something, I just put it in my iPhone and put her as an attendee or an invite, and it pops up on her calendar. That way, not only do I remember, but she reminds me.”

Devening said the calendar is the main reason he finds having his iPhone around useful.

“Just the other day, I had so much stuff to do, there’s no way I was going to remember it,” Devening said.

Schiele finds the same convenience in her smartphone and said it’s like Will Devening syncs his calendar from his iPad with his computer, which, in turn, will sync with his wife’s calendar in her smartphone.

The Devenings rely on the calendars to keep their lives organized and everyone up to date.

having a scrapbook in her pocket.

“I use the camera (function) a lot. I have 642 pictures in my phone,” she said. “That’s another thing that’s so convenient — I don’t have to carry around another camera.”

Just for fun

Of course, most every smartphone, tablet or social media user admits a large portion of why they love their technology is simply for fun.

“They’re cool,” Wisner said. “It’s just new technology, staying up with it, because if you ever get behind, you can’t get caught back up.”

The iPad is also a useful tool for play, Devening said.

“I try to get the latest version of Zombie Gunship,” Devening said.

“This guy that’s in law enforcement, who’s in homeland security, sent it to me and said, ‘You’ve got to have this game.’ You fly around in a C-130 (aircraft) and shoot zombies. It’s pretty funny.”

The bigger screen on the tablet also serves as a great web browser around the house, he said.

“What’s nice about it is, we have a desktop and we have a laptop at the house, and they pretty much stay plugged in,” Devening said. “You can grab the iPad and surf the Internet while you’re sitting there in the den watching TV or something.”

Unplugging

Natchez resident Brittany Jackson gave herself a two-week break from

Facebook to avoid “useless drama” she said.

When she came back to the site, she evaluated her list of true friends and unplugged from the others.

The steps were necessary for Jackson, she said, since gossip had taken over her Facebook wall.

“Social networking means you socialize, not just rant, I think,” Jackson said. “I get on it because I have a lot of family out of town, and then some people get on there, and that’s where they vent.”

But Ryan Wingfield, a public accountant in Natchez, tries to take things even further.

Wingfield makes a conscious effort each week to avoid any electronics on certain days.

“I like to work hard and play hard, so on weekends, if it’s not tax season or audit season, I’m definitely off the Internet and off the computer,” Wingfield said.

“My friends can attest: I turn my cell phones off. I tell them, ‘Hey, I’ll see you next Monday,’ and I’ll turn it off and go ride around in the Jeep or ride around in the woods.”

Wingfield said disconnecting from the constant flow of information and flood of phone calls allows him to rest his mind.

“I feel like I’m constantly moving during the week,” Wingfield said. “I’m constantly thinking, constantly trying to get somewhere or do something,

work-wise, civic-wise or whatever.

“Weekends are my time. It’s special to have nothing else planned, and I will shut everything off and won’t turn the TV on — with the exception of football, of course.”

Wingfield said having a young son gives him extra motivation to simply turn everything else off.

As his son gets older, Wingfield needs to be able to slow down more.

“When I was younger, it seemed like I handled it a little bit better,” Wingfield said. “When I was in college, I could go 24 hours a day, seven days a week, but now I have to shut down and recharge.”

Wisner also said she tries to stay away from Facebook and her gadgets from time to time.

“For one thing, I live out in the country, so I don’t have good Internet, so it’s easy to do at home,” Wisner said. “At work, if you’re busy, you can’t (use them).

“I try (to keep away from them).

TV’s a good distraction.”

And even though Devening’s to-do list, fun and games and connection to everyone is inside his smartphone, even he doesn’t feel like he absolutely has to have it on him at all times.

“I went to the hunting camp the other day, and left my phone at the house, and it was wonderful,” Devening said. “It’s not really addictive as much as it is me using it because it’s there.”

THE NATCHEZ DEMOCRAT

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19

20 PROFILE 2012

Destined for

the same road

THE NATCHEZ DEMOCRAT

Mother, daughter learn to study, work together

N

ot only are mother and daughter Jerri and Melissa Cullen co-workers at the same hospital, but both of the respiratory therapists hear the same voice echo in their head when they stand over a patient.

“I can hear him in my head, ‘They’re dying, they’re turning blue,’” Melissa said.

“I can hear him saying, ‘What do you want to do?” Jerri added.

The dialogue running through the minds of the mother-daughter duo from Woodville isn’t of some higher spirit — it’s of their respiratory therapy program director, Walt Wilson, during one of his hypothetical flat-liner drills in the classroom.

Now in the beginning of their respiratory therapy careers at Southwest Mississippi Regional Hospital, the Cullen pair donned a cap in gown side-by-side in May 2011 as graduates of the two-year respiratory therapy program at Copiah-Lincoln Community College.

But as desk buddies and study buddies, the two were not always the most compatible match, both admitted.

“We couldn’t study together,” Jerri said. “I was more...”

“Nerdy,” Melissa interjected.

Melissa, 25, who was acclimated to academia, said she figured that she knew all the material from previous tests when exams rolled around.

But her mother was a little more, well, diligent, in Jerri’s words.

Jerri, 48, said since she hadn’t been in a classroom setting in decades, wasn’t working at the time and probably had less energy than the younger students in her class, she felt like she needed to make up the age gap by working to do the best she possibly could.

Jerri hadn’t been back to school since 1995, and only for a brief time then. As a high school graduate, who was married at 16, she had no interest in attending college at the traditional time.

She tried to go back to school at Louisiana State University, but balancing school, a job at a school in Tensas Parish and three children at home became too challenging.

She promised herself she would go back to school when her youngest child graduated from high school, Jerri said.

Around the time the youngest, Cullen, was a high school senior, older sibling Melissa — a new mother — was making plans to go to college.

Melissa enrolled at Alcorn State University on a track to study nursing but dropped out when she discovered it wasn’t for her, she said.

Melissa heard about the respiratory therapy program because Wilson was the brother of a

Submitted photo

Jerri Cullen, left, and Melissa Cullen graduated from the Copiah-Lincoln Community College respiratory therapy program. The Woodville mother-daughter team now works at Southwest Mississippi Regional Hospital in McComb. friend. She was a stay-at-home mom at the time.

“I just jumped on the bandwagon, and I’m so glad,” Jerri said.

Both enrolled in 2009, and neither has looked back.

While Melissa insists her mother was the class nerd, Jerri said she was proud of her studiousness and boy scout-like preparedness.

Jerri said everyone in class appreciated her messenger-bag style “book sack.”

“Her nerd pack,” Melissa clarified, laughing.

Jerri stubbornly described how her school supplies were color-coded. She was prepared with first-aid and highlighters for any scholastic emergency, she said.

Jerri and Melissa sat by each other every day.

Jerri said the other students would always joke with Melissa and Jerri, telling Melissa, “Quit being mean to your mom.”

And even though Melissa picked and Jerri controlled, they both felt lucky to be in school together, considering the circumstances at home.

Shortly after Melissa enrolled, she and her husband divorced, putting their plans up in the air.

Jerri said with both of them going to school, Jerri’s husband, Rhett, was the only one working. And since Melissa was getting a divorce, they now had to worry about babysitters for her daughter, Alexis Girlinghouse.

“I said, if I have to not go (to school), let her go.

I can take care of the baby,” Jerri said she told her husband.

But Rhett insisted they both go to school.

“We couldn’t have done it without his support,” Jerri said.

Thankfully, Melissa received a Pell Grant, which helped, Jerri said.

“God blessed us substantially in that two-year period; it boggles my mind,” Jerri said.

But in order to get through school and their home life — Melissa and her 3-year-old daughter live next door to her parents — without too much tension, Melissa laid some ground rules.

“She would irritate the fire out of me, and that’s when we instituted the rules,” Melissa said.

The rules were to reserve subject matter relating to respiratory therapy to school.

But laying off their common interest wasn’t always easy, Jerri said.

“I’m always her mother. She’ll say things like I’m running late, and I’m like, ‘mmmmm,’” Jerri said with her lips pressed and a disapproving shake of her head.

“They call it nagging, I don’t,” Jerri said, while Melissa smiled across the kitchen table.

“But I just express my opinion, and (children) are going to do what (they) are going to do.”

Jerri said it’s been interesting getting to know her daughter in a school and work setting, and she’s noticed qualities about Melissa that she admires.

Melissa is more sure of herself at times, whether it’s being prepared for a test or taking control at work. Jerri said she worries too much about what others will think of her, so she admires the opposite qualities about her daughter.

Melissa said her mother has a better understanding of pathology than she does.

“I love pathology,” Jerri said.

“I hate pathology,” Melissa countered.

But Jerri said Melissa is more comfortable with the ventilators.

Jerri said the touch-screen ventilator intimidates her, but Melissa loves it. Comfort with technology may be a sign of the generation gap, they admitted.

“Together we make one kick-(butt) ...” Jerri started.

“Super-therapist,” Melissa finished.

S tor y B y E mily L ane | P hotos b y B en H illy er

21

22 PROFILE 2012 Melissa does most of the keeping in touch with their former classmates, through Facebook.

“I don’t have all that — the tweet or whatever,” Jerri said.

Despite their varying study habits and occasional picking on each other, Jerri and Melissa both excelled at Co-Lin. They were members of the Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society, which requires a 3.5 GPA. And Jerri was also inducted into the National Technical Honor Society.

Melissa said being able to carpool with her mother to places like Baton Rouge, McComb and Vidalia for their clinicals is good company and helpful at the gas pump.

Even the doctors at the clinical sessions called Jerri “Mom,” they said, laughing.

And while the Cullens are used to commuting since everything is at least 45 minutes away from Woodville, the road trips grew long at the end of a long day.

“At end of day, I sometimes feel, ‘This road has stretched some here,’” Jerri said.

“It’s the longest hour of your life,” she said.

The tight-knit pair still functions like a team.

Melissa works mostly day shifts, and Jerri works mostly at night.

Whoever isn’t at work is watching Alexis.

“I never imagined I’d be (nearly) 50 years old (helping raise a child),” Jerri said. “It’s stressful, because she is just like her mom — real strongwilled and independent.

“But when she’s gone an hour from me, I miss her.”

Melissa said she appreciates all the help her mother gives her, and although they spend more time together than most mothers and daughters, they get along well and are very close. “(Melissa) wakes up and calls me, just like I wake up and call my mother,” Jerri said.

As they talked about getting future certifications and advancing their careers, both women’s paths seemed to be destined on the same road.

Melissa said she loves her job and appreciates the solid foundation she received at Co-Lin. Jerri said she’s learned in the working world just how great of a reputation Wilson’s program has.

“I’m happy where I am,” Jerri said.

And while they might be restricted

by Melissa’s “what happens at work, stay’s at work,” rules, both admit that, like any healthy mother-daughter, coworker or classmate pair of women, they can’t help but indulge in the occasional bit of gossip.

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24 PROFILE 2012

The Silent Generation

born 1927-1945

Academy Awards Best Picture winners 1941 - How Green Was My Valley 1948- Hamlet 1954- On the Waterfront 1957 - The Bridge Over River Kwai 1959 - Ben-Hur

Modern-day conveniences such as the automatic washer, above, became popular. So too did the television set, right, which nine out of every 10 houses in America had by 1960.

T

his smallest of all American generations consists of only approximately 47 million people — almost half the size of the soon-to-be baby boomers. Too young to be World War II heroes but too old to latch onto the 1960s social activism, this generation was notably quiet.

They were born during the Great Depression — when putting food on the table for a new mouth was feared and daddy was likely away at war. They came of age when dad was back home — hailed a hero — and working a good job. They didn’t question authority, share strong opinions or buck any trends.

The generation got its name when historian William Manchester described them.

“Never had American youth been so withdrawn, cautious, Generation fun facts: unimaginative, indifferent, unadventurous and silent,” he said.

• Hank Williams’ “I’m so Lonesome I But life as every younger Could Cry,” made country music a hit, generation knew it began but nothing could stop the craze of when the silents were children. rock and roll. Chuck Berry, Fats DomiAffordable automobiles no, Little Richard, Bo Diddley, Jerry Lee took to newly laid highways, Lewis, Big Joe Turner and Gene Vincent expanding the world for were still most commonly listened to young Americans. TVs became on the home record player. commonplace in the rural • The TV westerns — like the popular American home. Transistor “Lone Ranger” — were on brand new radios put music on the move.

TVs all across America.

And at-home conveniences such • Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin were as the automatic washing machine born. and avocado green refrigerator • Fashion began again in post-war were the norm.

America, with women’s clothing taking This generation, though, is on a fitted look and young men popuwhen the differences between larizing the preppy sweater. Poodlethe American races began to skirts also had their day. garner attention. True change • The most popular baby names from would begin among the boomers 1920 to 1950 were Robert, James and though, leaving silent generation Mary.

African-Americans living a different life from their white neighbors.

Black Southerners began leaving the region for Chicago, Detroit and Kansas City. Martin Luther King Jr. was born and began preaching during this time.

Today, this generation of recent or soon-to-be retirees is financially stable and happy. They’ve gained the voice and sense of adventure they stifled in youth.

They spend money freely — especially before the recent economic downturn — claiming they’ve earned the right to reward themselves, and they want close bonds with the grandchildren they’ve worked hard to spoil.

No. 1 songs

The Chevy Bel Air was the hottest selling car between 1949 and 1960.

Elvis Presley changed the face of popular music in the 1950s.

1935 - Cheek to Cheek Fred Astaire 1938 - Begin the Beguine - Artie Shaw 1943 - Paper Doll - The Mills Brothers 1948 - Buttons & Bows Dinah Shore 1952 - You Belong to Me - Jo Stafford 1954 - Mister Sandman The Chordettes 1956 - Hound Dog - Elvis Presley

THE NATCHEZ DEMOCRAT

Joann Bennett, 83 Born 1928

J

oann Bennett didn’t have a typical childhood, but she’s not one to complain about that.

She spent her formative years in Natchez and Jefferson County while her mother lived in Kansas City making parachutes for the U.S. Army. Bennett’s father died when she was young, and her mother sent Joann to Mississippi to live with a great uncle on his family farm.

Like any young farm girl, Bennett spent her childhood outside, often playing with the farm animals.

“I had a pet out of every herd,” she said.

“My chickens and ducks would follow me to Sunday School.”

Her uncle was strict, and fancy toys were hard to come by. Bennett didn’t mind though, since her favorite playmates — outside of the animals — were cloth dolls made by a neighbor. Santa brought store-bought dolls, but they were too nice for real play, she said.

In her teen years, Bennett spent weekends at the Ritz Theatre in Natchez or hanging out with friends under a great shade tree. She didn’t have records at home, and wasn’t a big fan of music, but she does remember watching Roy Rogers perform on the big screen.

Today, Bennett is an active retiree who frequently volunteers at the Natchez Senior Citizen Center helping seniors younger than her.

Her greatest life achievements are her two children and one grandchild, all, she says, who have a much better life than she did.

“They have more,” she said. “And my granddaughter gets more because I give her more.”

Growing up silent:

• Music wasn’t a big part of Bennett’s formative years, but that doesn’t mean she doesn’t remember gathering around a neighborhood radio. “When every there was a fight, everyone went to listen in the country,” she said.

• Bennett had a house and children of her own before she had her own TV. • Gingham was the cat’s meow in fashion.

• Bennett didn’t own her first car — a Chevy Bel Air — until 1966 when she went to work for Diamond International in Natchez.

• Bennett’s daughter gave her a cell phone three years ago, but the landline is still preferred.

Joann Bennett, top at far right, spends much of her time volunteering with friends at the Natchez Senior Citizen Center and her church, Zion African Methodist Episcopal Chapel. Center, Bennett poses with a projects she created for a local non-profit agency.

Bottom, Bennett is most proud of her two children, Andre and Hilda.

25

26 PROFILE 2012

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THE NATCHEZ DEMOCRAT

Alyson Bequette, right, helps her sister, Crythis “Kak” Couvillion, apply lipstick in the living room of her home.

Putting on makeup is part of the daily routine with which Bequette often helps.

Fading away

27

Local family, friends survive with Alzheimer’s disease

C

Sharon Rouse, left, hugs her friend Crythis “Kak” Couvillion, in the lobby of the Eola Hotel.

Couvillion was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease in her late 40s. Rouse met Couvillion the first night she arrived in Natchez and plays piano for her in the hotel lobby once a week.

rythis Couvillion is still the Marilyn Monroe type.

Big sunglasses, corsages from countless dances, a mouth made for red lipstick and friendships with the rich and famous — Couvillion has truly experienced life, even though the memories are fading away.

While she no longer brokers deals for multimillion dollar real estate sales or hobnobs with celebrities, she is still rich in friends, and especially when it comes to a sister who loves her.

Alyson Bequette is the keeper of the lifetime of family memories her big sister no longer has.

Couvillion was the first in her family diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. She was in her late 40s when she first started showing signs of the disease.

“We just thought they were eccentricities that developed,” Bequette said.

Couvillion has lived a bit of an exciting life, after all.

Eyes gravitate to the striking Texas native, pictured in an LSU commemorative book standing with the Tigers twirling squad in 1963.

“You could count on fun things happening when she was around,” Bequette said. “She always had an optimistic outlook. She was always blond and blue-eyed. I was more of the Olive Oyl type.”

Bequette said her sister was an avid diarist, keeping extensive logs of her experiences. She also collected art and was an accomplished photographer.

“She took zillions of photographs,” Bequette said. “Everything she has done in her career and financially has been 100 percent. If she did it — it was done with excellence.”

Story By Nicole Zema Photos by Rod Guajardo

Crythis “Kak” Couvillion’s dresser contains jewelry and some mementos, but nothing as priceless as her collection of sunglasses. She has dozens of pairs of sunglasses that she likes to wear day or night.

28 PROFILE 2012

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29

Crythis “Kak” Couvillion, right, and Hyram Burke share stories and laughs over coffee at Pearl Street Pasta on a Friday night. Couvillion was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease in her late 40s. Burke, who is her college friend, takes her out on the town a few nights a week.

Couvillion sports her favorite pair of sunglasses outside the house of her sister, Alyson Bequette. Couvillion has dozens of pairs of sunglasses that she likes to wear.

But a few years after the first “eccentricities,” developed, a visit to Couvillion’s house in Baton Rogue showed there was more going on than mid-life quirks.

“She had paintings stacked against the walls, not hanging,” Bequette said. “And in the kitchen, you might be able to find a glass — but you might not.”

Bequette said she thought the stack of dry cleaning piled on the bed was just a result of a busy lifestyle — until she looked at the receipts — which were months old. A cardboard box sat, randomly, in the shower. No soap could be found in the bathroom.

Couvillion is 61 now, and has been living with the Bequette family — Alyson, her husband and a teenage daughter — for two years.

A hired caretaker helps out, but Bequette is the primary care giver — a move that just makes sense, she said.

Bequette has immersed herself in resources. She turned to a blog written by a daughter who was caring for her mother with Alzheimer’s.

“She wrote about the irritating things her mom would do,” Bequette said. “Like putting rocks and leaves on the dinner table. But (eventually) she believed that was her mother’s only creative, expressive outlet.”

Bequette has found odd surprises around the house too — like wire clothing hangers twisted into spheres or a tube of toothpaste stuck on wooden scent diffusers. Bequette said one day she found her sister, all smiles, with red lipstick smeared under her eyes. Liners have also been removed from shoes around the house.

“You have to have a lot of patience and laugh at things,” Bequette said.

“I’ve learned not to ask questions because there isn’t an answer a lot of times. I validate — even if I don’t know what I’m validating.”

It is obvious that Couvillion wants to be involved in conversations happening around her. Topics catch her attention, but when it comes to verbalizing a contribution to the discussion, she cannot seem to find the words.

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Alzheimer’s has affected her mobility as well.

Couvillion shuffles and has a difficult time with dark-colored flooring and stairs. Bequette said Alzheimer’s affects depth perception, so to her sister, some steps look and feel like she is walking into a pit.

Bequette said in the evenings her sister wanders the house. Nighttime can be a little frightening, as she can hear Couvillion shouting at no one in the dark, saying things like, “This is not OK. This is not going to happen.”

A need for familiarity accompanies the disease, so Bequette thought it best for her sister to live with her. Bequette, the principal at Morgantown Elementary School, said Couvillion will stay in her house until she needs constant medical attention.

“My lifestyle allows me to do this,” Bequette said. “It has gone remarkably well. You have to be able to just accept.”

Bequette said she also has a personality type that is conducive to care giving. Bequette said she does not really care if things are moved or broken.

“It’s just stuff,” she said.

But some people don’t understand. Bequette said not too long ago they went to a grocery store in Natchez. After making the purchase, Couvillion, a chocolate lover, added a candy bar to the transaction. The cashier had to simply take a moment to ring up the candy bar, but the man behind the sisters in line became enraged.

Bequette said he swore at them, and told Couvillion to “stop smiling.”

While Bequette naturally defended her sister against an abusive stranger, she said it was the last time she took her to a place that is so public.

Bequette said while Couvillion’s agitation

comes and goes, her innate levity has held strong.

“She has an all-over happy attitude that has sustained her,” Bequette said. “It makes it easier on everyone.”

Couvillion’s college friend Hyram Burke happens to live in Natchez, and he sees to it that Couvillion has nights out.

“Hyram is our saint, not just for me, but for her too,” Bequette said. “It humbles me that this man had such a kind heart, caring for my sister.”

Bequette’s house in Natchez is also a meeting place for Couvillion’s gal pals too. Dozens of photos of women smiling together line the walls. She said they laugh, talk about fun memories and still joke about men.

“We’re rowdy girls,” Couvillion joked.

Bequette said there is no how-to manual when caring for a loved one with Alzheimer’s, but she has found support.

“Until you get used to it, you don’t know how to be,” Bequette said. “That’s why a group helps.”

Bequette attends the Alzheimer’s support group at Natchez Regional Medical Center. The group is a safe place to laugh and cry, share resources, experiences and just vent. They meet at 5:30 p.m. the second Thursday of every month.

Bequette said besides attending the group, reading as much as possible and understanding the stages of Alzheimer’s disease can ease the uncertainty.

For outsiders, awareness is important, especially when in the presence of a person who might be fumbling at a cash register or staying too long at a traffic signal that turned green.

“Be aware this is everywhere,” Bequette said.

“It has certainly helped me learn to be more compassionate and patient.”

Crythis “Kak” Couvillion holds a commemorative Louisiana State University book turned to the page with a photo of her as a majorette. Couvillion was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease in her late 40s. She was on the Tigers twirling squad in 1963 and is pictured fourth from the left.

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32 PROFILE 2012

Former flight attendants, at top, from left, Marsha Colson, Maria Bowser, Edwidge Mead, Nancy Williams and Mary Ann Downs recall fondly the glamorous days of flying.

Bowser still has her uniform, at left, from her days at Eastern Airlines. Williams, above, shows her pins from American Airlines.

FLYGIRLS

THE NATCHEZ DEMOCRAT

Story By Emily LAne

Former flight attendants remember golden age of airlines

L

Trying to compare today’s grumpy passengers, ucky for Nancy Williams, at age 21 in 1944, she was just short enough — five-foot-five- vacuum-sealed pretzels and single-beverage service and-a-half-inches tall — had good vision and to the old days just isn’t possible, Williams said.

She remembers living in Hollywood in 1944-1945, was blessed with a fit little figure — between hanging up passengers’ coats, greeting them by name 105-125 pounds. and rolling her hair beneath the Williams, a Natchez resident, pillbox hat for every flight. kept turning down interviews “It’s just a whole different for teaching positions as her world,” Williams said. college graduation neared, and Back in those days, the eventually her college advisor passenger was always right, asked her what was up. everybody smoked and meals “In the good ole days, everyone weren’t served until the entire went to get a job right away,” cabin finished their first Williams said. alcoholic beverage.

While she earned a degree in Natchez resident Edwidge education, Williams said at that Mead flew for Pan American stage in her life, she yearned for World Airways in 1945 for six something a little more, well, months. glamorous, as it turned out.

Mead remembers a different So she asked for job leads in experience from today as well.

New York City, and her search “People used to dress up,” led her to American Airlines.

Mead said.

Out of 2,000 applicants, That trend lasted until the late Williams landed a job with the airline along with only 34 other Submitted Photo 1960s, when another Natchezian young women.

Edwidge Mead remembers when people took to the air as an attendant.

“It was looked at as a She survived a grueling dressed up to fly during her days as a glamorous thing to do,” said interview, for which she Pan Am stewardess.

Mary Ann Downs. borrowed her mother’s purse to Downs, who now lives next door to Williams on seem more sophisticated, only to spill all its contents.

She passed a current events test. And she completed South Union Street, also flew for American Airlines.

Downs said the work was more difficult than just a five-week training period and scored a minimum glorified waitresses — they served drinks, hors of 95 percent on the test. d’oeuvres and a full service meal during every flight.

And now she is able to claim that she was part of “Now they just throw a bag of peanuts at you,” one of the earliest generations of stewardesses — ahem, flight attendants — back in the days when she said.

The flight attendants said they have nostalgia for flying was fancy.

Photos by Eric Shelton the times when flying merited Sunday’s best attire, but they admit catering to passengers in sweat pants today comes with some benefits and few attendant rules.

The rules

At five-foot-five-and-a-half-inches, Williams said she applied to work for TWA, but was too tall. She was later accepted at American, where flight attendants had to be between five-foot-two-inches and five-footsix inches.

And the weight requirement was a sliding scale, Williams said.

“Nobody was five-foot-two and weighted 125 (pounds),” she said.

Also when Williams flew, you couldn’t be married.

“So there was lots of turnover,” Williams explained.

“Everybody was getting married in those days.”

Downs said many of the requirements were just starting to melt away when she hit the clouds.

American liked stewardess’ hair to be above the collar, so Williams and the other girls with longer hair had to roll their hair just below their chins.

Even in the 1960s, Downs cut her hair pixie length because that was the airline’s preferred style.

“We had to wear high heels,” Williams said.

“And these horrible lisle stockings.”

The lisle fabric was a substitution for nylon, since nylon was used during wartime to make parachutes in World War II, Williams said.

Marsha Colson was a flight attendant in the 1970s for Transinternational Airlines, which was later bought by Transamerican Airlines.

“I remember you had to be a certain weight and height, and I just barely met (the standards),” Colson said.

Weigh-ins before every flight confirmed if they were keeping within the weight limits.

33

34 PROFILE 2012 “I always thought it was really humiliating,” Colson said.

Maria Bowser, who was a flight attendant with Eastern Airlines in the late 1960s, said she remembers steaming up the shower to make it like a sauna in a last-ditch effort to lose weight before a flight.

Right around the time she flew, a rule against an age limit of 32 had expired, Bowser said.

Downs said in addition to being weighed once every two weeks, the airlines would check for girdles by snapping them or having the flight attendants’ snap their own girdles for proof.

“It was an era of sort of ‘Mad Men’ mentality as far a sexism, with feminism coming up (on the horizon),” Downs said.

Thinking back on the rules is funny now, Downs said, considering all the progress that’s been made.

“It just seems so strange,” she said.

“It’s almost like we were objectified. They wanted that apple pie, fresh scrubbed face look.”

Mead, on the other hand, said the rules on the new ABC show, “Pan Am” didn’t apply to her job at the same airline in 1945.

“They didn’t check our weight, we weren’t told to wear girdles and we didn’t wear gloves,” Mead said over a scrapbook of her world travels with Pan Am. There were also no rules at Pan Am about dating passengers, Mead said, as she flipped through photos of her 21-year-

attendants said it was an experience they won’t ever forget at an age in which they weren’t quite ready to settle down and were thirsty for something different.

“It was basically for an adventure that I did it,” Colson said.

And adventure is what they got.

Globe trotting

Submitted photo

Marsha Colson, left, with other stewardesses in Iran. old self seated and smiling across a table from her date, who she met on board.

“It’s (Mead’s) group that made us have rules for that,” Bowser said, laughing.

All former fly girls said one good memory that stuck out was the camaraderie they felt with the other crewmembers, often bunking together with other flight attendants to make rent on the low take-home pay they received.

“We did have a wonderful time,” Williams said. “We never stayed home.”

Despite the strict rules and oftenstrenuous work, all of the former flight

Colson said since her airline only had seven or eight planes, the crew often remained at the destination of the charter flights until the remainder of the passengers’ trip.

As a result, Colson spent a week in Fiji and Tahiti free of charge, inadvertently went on The Hajj, the Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca, was based in Kano, Nigeria for a month, roamed around Iran just before it became too dangerous for Americans and gazed across her favorite all-time site, Machu Picchu, in Peru.

“I got to see some really impressive, beautiful places I might not have gotten to see,” Colson said.

Colson said she intended to fly for two years but ended up staying on for six.

“I learned a lot of life.”

Mead, too, who was based in New Orleans, remembered the exotic places she saw like Brazil, Guatemala, Rio de Janeiro, and Buenos Aires.

Williams, who was based in Los Angeles, said Hollywood in 1940s was much more glamorous than it is now.

Williams and seven other flight attendants chipped in for rent.

“Hollywood in 1944 — the air was clean, and we chipped in for a $35 car,

a rumble seat, and six to eight of us fit doubled up,” she said.

She remembers seeing Norma Shearer, Lena Horne, Desi Arnaz and Bing Crosby on flights.

Bowser remembers her airline sneaked Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton on board through the food truck.

“There weren’t as many private planes, and airlines took pains to keep (their) privacy protected,” Bowser said.

Bowser was based in Atlanta when she flew in 1967-1969.

At age 24, Bowser and her two other teacher friends were the oldest ones in the group.

“It seemed like a great adventure,” Bowser said.

And though the hours were tough, the adventure part came through, she said.

“It really was fun to fly to New York in the morning, go see a matinee, have dinner and be home at 8 o’clock at night,” Bowser said.

Downs, who said she was a small-town girl from West Monroe, La., was based in Boston in 1969-1970. “(The airline) always put us in a first class hotel,” Downs said of the layovers.

She remembered a 72-hour layover in Santa Monica and also the interesting times to be living in Boston during the Vietnam War. “Boston was an activist city,” she said. “It was very inspiring to be in that milieu,” Downs said.

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36 PROFILE 2012 Williams said they used to take the passengers to the movies during delays.

“People accepted things like (delays),” Williams said.

Bowser said flying was a much more polite experience across the board back Sight for sore eyes “Probably the most memorable and then.

Now, with tight security checks and lasting experiences were some of the toughest ones, because I started working constant delays, “people are frustrated toward the end of Vietnam, and we before they get on the plane,” Bowser brought home boatloads of refugees,” said. “(Flying) was an adventure, and you Colson said.

Mead said soldiers were always can expect mishaps with adventures.”

Bowser said she’s glad to see that grateful to be on board.

“These servicemen were just starved women and men can make careers out to talk to anybody, just starved for of the profession these days, since there’s newspapers and magazines,” Mead said. no cap on the age.

And while some the rules do strike Williams remembers picking up passengers from a Japanese Prisoner many former flight attendants as sexist of War camp at the Bataan Peninsula in today, these women understand the purpose back the Philippines. then.

The passengers, “It was just because of the that time that conditions, we lived in, so looked like they we accepted it,” were between 90Downs said.

120 pounds.

Williams “They were thought back l i ke w a l k i n g to the old skeletons,” days and how Williams said. lovely it was Mead recalled to pass out real flying over the silverware and Panama Canal napkins.

Zone before “It was just the war ended a little more t o m a ke a n gracious emergency stop. existence,” she “The captain said. let me in the But Mead cockpit, and I saw a submarine,” Submitted Photo remembers the Mead said.

Maria Bowser, second from left, with her fellow hassle created when jam from She said she stewardesses from Eastern Airlines. a full service had to keep her breakfast hit head down and close all of the window shades in the the ceiling when the plane fell in an air pocket. cabin.

“It was one complete mess,” Mead “No one was allowed to take pictures,” laughed.

Mead said.

Colson said she can’t help but compare Colson said it was always flattering to fly with soldiers, especially a group the changes in air travel when she she transported from a military camp in whizzes around the world as a passenger.

And it’s difficult not to get nostalgic.

Diego Garcia.

“I think about (my years at “Wow, a woman,” Colson said they would say. “Wow, another woman,” she Transamerica) every time I fly,” she said.

“For years I kind of automatically got repeated.

“It was sort of a nice ego booster,” she pillows and blankets for people.”

And the job taught her more about the said.

Bowser said she could tell who had service industry and about people than been to Vietnam for the first time based she could have in any tourism job.

“That job made me completely and on what drinks they ordered.

“If they ordered scotch and Coke, you intuitively understand that people are know they were not real drinkers and really the same all over the world,” Colson said. were going to Vietnam,” Bowser said.

Bowser said no matter how many She could spot the ones returning from flights she takes, the glamour and war, too.

“They’d order bourbon and water or experience of flying will always be there for every generation, even if it’s hidden beer,” Bowser said.

Colson said flying is different beneath a pair of blue jeans.

“I guess flying still has been — since nowadays for many reasons, but Sept. the days of the Wright Brothers — this 11 changed flying forever.

“Since 9/11 I don’t look at flying the great big piece of equipment flying through the air, and no matter how many same,” she said. times you fly or get blasé about it, it’s still Looking back Bowser said flight attendants and fun for me,” Bowser said.

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For Downs, Bowser and Colson, it was Vietnam. For Williams and Mead, it was WWII.

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38 PROFILE 2012

In these walls

The house at 125 St. Catherine St., above, was built for Margaret Page, the grandmother of Thelma Williams. At left is a picture of Page, top row center, and her daughters, including Thelma Williams’ mother Margaret McGuire Wallace, bottom left.

T Story by Emily Lane | Photos by Eric Shelton

helma Wallace Williams is the only remaining voice left to tell the story of the house where she’s lived for a quarter of a century — the same house built for her grandmother in 1886.

But, for Williams, the walls do the talking.

Three generations of Williams’ family have lived at 125 St. Catherine St. The 87-year-old Williams now lives there alone.

“I feel I know more about them by living in the house,” Williams said. “So much of this belonged to (family).”

The closeness Williams feels to family came after moving to the family home in

Natchez in 1986, giving up a lifetime of traveling and living in New York City.

From age 8, Williams remembers listening to her cousin, Woodrick McGuire, play the violin as he walked up and down the pine floor hallway.

McGuire, her uncle’s son, played in the band at Brumfield School before he was killed with 206 of his peers in the Rhythm Night Club fire of 1940.

“I was told he was very good,” Williams recalled.

The hallway in which he practiced is in the same Italianate house in which her mother was born, the same house in which Williams spent summers as a child with her grandparents, aunts, uncle and cousin.

THE NATCHEZ DEMOCRAT

39

St. Catherine Street house tells story of three generations

Thelma Williams holds one of the many pieces of art that decorate the walls of her St. Catherine Street house, a house that has been in the family since 1886. Williams is the last of her family to live in the house. As a young girl, above right, Thelma visited Natchez until she left for New York City. She returned to the house to live in 1986.

Woodrick and his father once shared the bedroom where Williams now sleeps.

A handful of antique furniture, mostly large pieces that tower toward the high ceilings — too large to move easily — and two old clocks are all that remain of the original furnishings.

The audible ticking of both clocks is the same sound she heard as little girl.

When one clock struck 2 p.m. on a recent afternoon, she knew the other would follow in due time.

“They’re never agreeing,” she accepted.

But somehow, Williams’ vast and vivid collection of contemporary African

and Haitian art sets off the 100-plusyear-old walls.

“My junk seems to blend into the house,” she said of the eye-catching collection.

History inside the walls

Williams’ home, the Wheaton-McGuire House, was built in 1886-1887 for Williams’ grandmother, Margaret Page.

Albert Wheaton, a white man, could not legally marry Page, a black woman, but he built the house for her where they lived and had two daughters — her aunts Mattie and Lettie Wheaton — before Albert died in 1889.

Page then married Miller McGuire, a blacksmith, in the early 1890s, and the

couple had three children.

Williams remembered her grandfather with a smirk.

“He was a salty character, but I loved him,” she said.

She described a fresh memory of his balding head.

“He used to let me put liniment on his pate to keep the mosquitoes away.”

Williams’ mother, Margarette McGuire Wallace, was the oldest daughter, though her age was always somewhat disputed.

“My mother was accused of having stolen the family Bible to protect her age,” Williams said.

Williams grew up in Shreveport and

visited the Natchez house every year to get out of “the big city” starting at age 8 until she was a college sophomore.

She’s lived in the house since 1986, when she retired as a schoolteacher in New York City following her husband’s death.

“New York is really not a place to grow old unless you’re very rich or very poor, and I’m neither,” Williams explained.

Before Williams moved in, her aunt Lettie Wheaton and uncle William McGuire lived there until their deaths.

When Williams took over, the house looked nothing like it does today.

“I don’t think there was anything on the walls,” Williams said.

40 PROFILE 2012 A house-turned-canvas

Now the house that sheltered Williams’ mother as a child serves a backdrop for her own art collection and its bright blues, yellows, reds and greens.

Some of the collection was given to Williams, but much of it serves as souvenirs from her travels.

Williams got her first taste of travel on a trip to Mexico with her mother in 1950.

“And then I had the bug,” she said.

Williams became enthralled with her trips to Africa and annual visits to Haiti.

Starting in 1957, Williams visited Haiti nearly every year until the leader, “Baby-Doc” Duvalier, was expelled in the late 1980s.

“If could scrape air fare together, I would go,” Williams said.

Williams said she packed soft luggage on her journey over, and when she returned it would be filled with what she calls her post cards — paintings that act as mementoes of the scenes she absorbed daily.

A large painting in the living room shows a familiar scene of Haitians gathering sugarcane with a train in the distance.

It’s a scene she often saw while staying at a friend’s house in Haiti.

“I could stand on the flat roof and look at a scene like this. (The painting is) in lieu of buying postcards,” she said.

The large woven baskets used to cart her booty back to the states still line her front hallway.

Williams said the creativity and raw personalities of the Haitians captured her.

“We’re not face-to-face with the poverty we have right here (like in Haiti). But if you see through (the poverty) to their personalities, you’ll see the creativity of these people,” she said.

Williams said she often tells people that the cheapest way to visit Africa is to travel to Haiti.

“They’ve retained many African traditions,” she said.

Those traditions play out on the walls of the Wheaton-McGuire house too, but are not the only changes the house has seen over the generations.

The house has undergone many structural changes since different descendants have dwelled in its quarters. An awning Williams’ aunt installed hides some of the architec-

Thelma Williams’ house is filled with many items including, clockwise from left, an antique set of bookshelves that is one of the few pieces of furniture original to the house, one of two clocks that have been ticking for the 125-year history of the house, and an art collection of works from Africa and Haiti.

An extended family

tural detail on the front porch.

“You don’t see the trim, and it makes me unhappy,” Williams said.

She wanted to remove the awning but was told the roof would rot if she did so.

Some changes Williams made, including closing up the dogtrot style opening to create indoor closets, she did at her husband’s displeasure.

“He said some of the changes spoiled the character, and he’s right in some cases,” Williams said. “It was a strange space, you know the habit of not building closets; I needed storage.”

The house was originally a fourroom cottage, but now it houses two additional apartments. She added one apartment in the back of the house in 1982 before she moved in and a second one, which is housed in the attic, was added in 1986. A spiral outdoor staircase leads to the most recently built apartment and space for renters she’s grown to think of as family.

Williams said she likes hearing the footsteps of tenants living under the same roof.

“I have a sense of someone being in the house ... I feel like I’m not so isolated,” she said.

At other times, families rented out the entire house. One family — a couple and one child — lived there for 12 years.

Another family with four children lived in it for 10 years.

“They took better care of this house than I ever will,” she said.

Williams said she has been lucky to host great tenants in the old house.

“People have had disasters with renters, but these were glorious people.”

The house also served in 1986-1987 as the headquarters for the nonprofit, Southern Cross, which Williams helped start.

The house was the home base for the southern youth program for ninth and 10th graders until it moved across the street in a city-owned building.

The program later dissolved in 1995.

Williams also has visitors coming in and out of the house, being careful to share it with others.

“I love having visitors, as a matter

of fact, it sustains me.”

“It’s the house by the side of the road,” she said, likening her house’s welcoming tendencies to a poem by Sam Walter Foss.

The room where Williams spends most of her time, between a TV set and plethora of books, has also undergone a transformation.

Williams pointed to a wall that used to be the outside wall of the house but now opens up to an added on kitchen and dining area.

“I cut (the walls) to get more space and open things up,” she said.

The exterior has received some updates, as well.

“I am into porches, so there are porches everywhere,” she said.

The most recent renovation was construction of a deck in the backyard, which now houses various plants and statues.

“I had a pool, and I got too old for it, so I made a deck over it,” she said.

Williams admitted she was a bit shy of her deceased descendents upon contemporizing the nearly century-and-a-half old house.

“When I came with this stuff, I thought those ladies are not going to like this art collection,” she said.

But thankfully, the additions were welcomed and not shaken off the walls from beyond-the-grave powers.

“I probably frightened them most with my hair, I had an Afro like this,” she said, extending her arms straight out and up.

Now, with her Afro cropped close to her head, donning a floor-length African-inspired sheath dress, Williams said she finds her life in Natchez peaceful in the home of her family, even if she’s living on borrowed ground.

“I’m definitely connected (to the house), but it’s theirs; it’s not mine.”

Williams, her late cousin William and her late brother were the only grandchildren of Margaret Page McGuire, and she has no nieces, nephews or children, Williams said. “(Her family) wasn’t very productive),” Williams said.

So Williams said she pleased to learn a distant cousin — “maybe a ninth (cousin)” — Valerie Jackson Jones of Baton Rouge, wanted to take over the house as a fourth generation seed.

“Delighted because there’s been a line of (her family) since it was built,” Williams said.

And Williams hopes the next generation will see the house go through as many transformations as it has during her time, all while preserving the stories of its past that the two clocks have been measuring in uncoordinated tic-tocs for 125 years.

THE NATCHEZ DEMOCRAT

Callon’s Commitment to Community THE

65

th S

easo n

2012-13

Mississippi’s Oldest Community Theatre Natchez, #1 Tourist Attraction 319 Linton Avenue, Natchez 39120 601.442.2233 or 1.877.440.2233 natchez@bellsouth.net • www.natcheztheatre.org

10th Annual Standing Ovation Awards

Celebrating the Best of the 65th Season

Saturday, July 13, 2013

From our family to yours.

Callon Petroleum Company is one of only four Mississippi-headquartered companies listed on The New York Stock Exchange.

While that honor is certainly important to us, we are just as proud of our service to the Miss-Lou. Over the years, we have assisted, either through our employees’ personal time or with corporate nancial gifts, the American Cancer Society, American Heart Association, American Red Cross, Boys and Girls Club, Christmas Angel Tree Project, Church Hill Preservation Trust, Forks of the Road Project, Guardian Shelter, Habitat for Humanity, Junior Auxiliary, March of Dimes, Natchez Children’s Home, Natchez City Cemetery, Natchez Community Tennis Association’s Cancer Tennis Tournament, Natchez Fireghters’ Association, Natchez Literary and Cinema Festival, Natchez-Adams County Humane Society, Natchez Opera Festival, Natchez Trails Project, National Fire and Safety Council, Relay for Life, Salvation Army, United Blood Services, United Way, and local school projects.

Proud to call Natchez home for over six decades.

Photo by T.G. McCary

Since 1945

Wholesale to the Public. We Accept Visa, Mastercard, Discover and Debit Cards.

We Also Accept Mississippi EBT and Louisiana Purchase Cards

Callon Petroleum Company

1380 Martin Luther King, Jr. Rd. • Natchez, MS 39120 • 601-445-8140 Open to the Public Monday-Friday 5:00 am - 3:00 pm

(NYSE: CPE) 200 N. Canal Street, Natchez, MS 601-442-1601 www.callon.com

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42 PROFILE 2012

Making

mmmmemories Malt Shop has been making people hungry for 60 years

T

hey say you don’t know what you have until it’s gone, and in July Natchez natives saw their Malt Shop memories flash before their eyes.

But the damage from a vehicle that crashed into the small fast food restaurant wasn’t as bad as it looked, and a quick construction crew and persistent owner had the favorite local lunch spot up and running just a day later.

Still, the fear of loss prompted hundreds of local eaters to reminisce a bit as they headed for their favorite corndog as soon as they could.

Feeding the generations

A trip to the Malt Shop was a regular occurrence for Bill James when he was a police officer in the 1970s.

“Back then, I was really thin, believe it or not,” James said. “I ate lunch there basically every day. I ate there enough so that they knew my voice and what I was going to order.”

That order was always a yard of hot dogs, James said.

“Over the years, obviously, it (began to add up), and kind of stuck eventually,” James joked, making reference to his increase in weight after a while.

“The thing I liked about their hot dogs was that they were good cold, so if I was in the middle of a hot dog and had to go take a call, it was still good.”

James said the Malt Shop’s milkshakes were also Hot-fudge drizzles over a cool cup of ice cream for a customer at the Malt Shop. Once painted in bright colors, top right, the Malt Shop has been serving customers on Homochitto Street for approximately 60 years.

Story by MichaeL Kerekes Photos by Rod Guajardo

THE NATCHEZ DEMOCRAT

Bill James sips on a chocolate malt in front of the Malt Shop on Homochitto Street. When James was a Natchez police officer he would order a yard, or three foot-longs, of hot dogs several times a week. Hot french fries, at left, are always popular at the restaurant. fabulous. But he admitted that he had to watch what he ate after a while.

“I never ate anything there that wasn’t good,” James said. “But as I got older, I started getting wider and had to cut back on fast foods.”

Natchez native Linda Murray said, like James, the Malt Shop was an everyday thing in her younger years.

“I went to school at Cathedral, and we walked and got Cokes there every day,” Murray said. “I babysat for Bill Byrne down the road, and we walked down there every day.”

The item of choice for Murray is the corn dog, she said, and she described them as the best corn dogs in the world.

“They’re homemade, and you can call 15 minutes ahead of time, and their batter is homemade,” Murray said.

Murray said she’s been going to the Malt Shop for as long as she can remember, and the shop has a special place in the heart of the community.

“It’s history,” Murray said. “It’s as important as the antebellum homes.”

Paula Gaylor said the reason people keep going back to the Malt Shop is due to the familiarity of it, as well as getting to know the employees.

“Growing up as a child, that was the place everyone went to,” Gaylor said. “Way back then, my favorite thing to get was pork chops, and that’s still the case (today). It also saves me from having to cook sometimes.

“When you know the cooks, you have a tendency to go back, because you know you’re getting it just like mom would cook it.”

And even for those who weren’t raised on the Malt meals, the restaurant is still popular today.

Craig Barrows is from McHenry, Ill., but moved to Natchez in 1997. Barrows said he’s been going to the Malt Shop ever since he moved to the Miss-Lou. “When we drove by it, I said, ‘Hey, look at this, this place has to be good.’ And it was,” Barrows said.

“It’s an old-fashioned experience. It’s like the places I grew up around out in the Midwest. There aren’t many places like

that left, because they’re all replaced by fast food.”

And Barrows insists that the food the Malt Shop serves is not like typical fast food.

“Those ladies back there, they’re not just slamming it out of a freezer, they’re cooking with love,” Barrows said.

“They have love in their hearts, and that’s what it was like back then. It was way different.”

But Barrows said the Malt Shop fits right in with the rest of the city.

“We’re in Natchez, where time stands still, so it’s not surprising that we have a Malt Shop here,” Barrows joked.

The history

The current owner, Gloria Neames, bought the Malt Shop from James Ellis in 2004.

But the history starts long before that.

“I think there’s only been three owners, and I think (Ellis) had it the majority of the time,” Neames said. “I found the date it was supposedly built in a concrete stoop in the back that said November 1954. I think that (stoop) was added later, but it’s been around for about 60 years.”

Records on file at the Historic Natchez Foundation show that the Malt Shop was originally a Dairy Queen and was in operation as late as 1953 at 104 Homochitto St. By 1955, the Dairy Queen had moved to its current location of the Malt Shop, 4 Homochitto St. The Dairy Queen eventually became the Malt Shop as late as 1963, though the Historic Natchez Foundation doesn’t have the records on the business from 1961 or ’62.

Despite ownership changes, the restaurant’s menu and food has stayed mostly the same, customers said. And that’s something that keeps the crowds coming back.

“To keep the food that consistent for that long, that’s a very hard job,” Murray said.

One of the keys to consistency has been the cooks, Neames said. Some of the current cooks have been there for decades. Others have come in more recently and have picked up on things.

“The older cooks are good at teaching the

43

44 PROFILE 2012

Thank You Miss-Lou! With your help, we raised $175,000 to help our local agencies feed, shelter, counsel and guide our youth, seniors and neighbors in need.

BUSINESSES & THEIR EMPLOYEES Atmos Energy • B & K Bank • Belk • Callon Petroleum • Catholic Charities City of Natchez • Co-Lin Natchez • Concordia Bank Concordia Parish Clerk of Court • Concordia Parish School District Corrections Corporation of America • Delta Bank • Entergy IBM, Corporation • Isle of Capri • JC Penney • Kimbrell’s Office Supply Louisiana Hydroelectric • Natchez Adams School District Natchez Community Hospital • Natchez Convention Center Natchez Regional Medical Center • Natchez Senior Center • Regions Bank Retired Education Personnel of Mississippi • The Gillon Group The Markets • United Mississippi Bank • UPS • Wal-Mart - Natchez First Natchez Radio Group • Natchez Democrat • Byron’s Drugs Natchez Ford Lincoln Mercury • Grace United Methodist Church

INDIVIDUAL DONATIONS Judith Richards • Frances L. Bailey • Mrs. Pat Beard • Leslie Bruning Elizabeth Chadwick • Dr. & Mrs. Hugh Harris • Duncan & Linda McFarlane Kent D. Knee • Dr. Bruce M. Kuehnle • Michael & Elaine Gemmell Norris & Lillian Edney • Joyce Washington Ivery • Betty & W.E. Stewart Charles & Betty Jennings • Mary P. Seni • Modie & Tiffany Mascagni Albert & Gay Metcalfe • C.H. Kaiser, Jr. • George & Tammy Prince Carlene G. Riley • Patricia White

OVER 1000 SPONSORS, PARTICIPANTS & VOLUNTEERS · · · · ·

Golf Tournament, June 2011 Jambalaya Cookoff/Campaign Kickoff, August 2011 Isle of Capri Balloon Race Parking, October 2011 Wal-Mart Holiday Fundraiser, December 2011 United Way Contributor’s Award Luncheon, 2011

BOARD OF DIRECTORS & COMMITTEES Scott Kimbrell • Frances Bailey • Dr. Vivek Bhargava • Pastor Ray Varnado Andrew Calvit • Patricia Bonds • Calvin Butler • Richard Walcott Joyce Washington Ivery • Rev. Darian Duckworth • Cassy Muscalino Phillip Zuccaro • Darrell White • Michael K. Gemmell • Darryl Grennell Sheri Rabb • Maria Bowser • Bradley G. Harrison • Everett T. Sanders Esther Mingee • Dr. Brenda Moore • Leon Hollis • Tony Scudiero • Alvin Shelby Darlene F. Jones • Deanne Tanksley • Alyson Bequette • Leroy Kelly Moe LeBlanc • Dr. Kevin Ingram • Zerline King Terry Trovato • Tom Taylor • Julie Wagoner

AGENCIES Adams County 4-H • Guardian Shelter for Battered Families • Adams County CASA Habitat for Humanity • American Red Cross Adams County Natchez-Adams County Council on Aging • Catholic Charities Cope & Emergency T. M. Jennings Little League Baseball • Catholic Charities Counseling Guardian Sexual Assault Center • Coming Out of the Dark Ministries

United Way of the Greater Miss-Lou P.O. Box 1466 • Natchez, MS 39121 601-442-1081 www.unitedwaymisslou.org The need is great! Donations are welcome all year!

THE NATCHEZ DEMOCRAT

Paula Gaylor eats a pork chop sandwich from the Malt Shop on Homochitto Street. The sandwich is Gaylor’s favorite meal, which she orders with mayonnaise and mustard only. Sometimes she orders the pork chop dinner to mix things up, but she said she’s been ordering the sandwich for longer than she can remember. At left, soft-serve ice cream cools a summer day. new ones all the recipes,” Neames said.

“There’s one cook that’s been there the longest that can run circles around the younger ones. She’s amazing; it’s just nonstop.”

Some of the Malt Shop’s bestsellers still include hamburgers, fried chicken wings, catfish and pork chops, in addition to the milk shakes. The recipes have managed to stay the same over the years thanks to excellent records of those recipes being kept and passed down.

“When I bought it, I made it a point to not change the menu or how the shop looked,” Neames said. “We cleaned it up, and we replaced a lot of old equipment inside, but we wanted to keep the historic feel that the shop had.

“We didn’t mess with the menu, because that’s what people remember. It’s been around so long, and it’s open seven days a week, so people know it. My motto has always been, ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.’”

And Neames said she thinks that consistency is what has kept people coming all these years.

“No. 1, the kids grew up with it, and people who come back for the holidays always want to stop by the Malt Shop, because they grew up with it,” Neames said.

“There used to be a school nearby, and the school kids would always come afterward.

We still get a school rush, mostly from Cathedral, since it’s right down the road.”

The wreck

When a 1996 Cadillac crashed into the restaurant — located at the intersection of Martin Luther King Jr. and Homochitto Street — in July a little bit of Malt history went away.

“It was such a terrible-looking scene,” Neames said. “I didn’t know if they could build it back, and I didn’t know how long we’d be out of business even if they could.

I figured we’d be out of business for a month and a half to two months.”

But Blanton Construction got to work immediately, Neames said, and the shop was back in business the next day.

“I called them up at daylight, and they said they’d be out there in 30 minutes,” Neames

said. “They brought a crew of eight guys, and they didn’t play. The next day, we had temporary plywood walls up and had it to where I could at least operate one of the windows.”

Eventually, the Malt Shop was pieced back together almost exactly as it was prior to the accident.

“The only change I did make was to give it a commercial drive-thru window, which it badly needed,” Neames said.

But the accident didn’t come without some permanent damages. The picnic table in front of the Malt Shop was destroyed, and many names that were etched into the tables were left without a permanent foundation.

“I salvaged some of the boards and sent some of them to the construction company, and they were able to save one plank and put it in the center of the new table,” Neames said.

But the rest of the planks were lost, Neames said.

“We stacked them on the side of the Malt Shop, and we wanted to keep them there and nail them to the shop or something,” Neames said. “Someone took them without permission, and we haven’t been able to get them back. We even offered a reward, but so far no one’s come forward.”

It was very disappointing to Neames, given the history surrounding all the names that were on those planks.

“It’s a part of the history (of the Malt Shop), and I wanted to keep them at the Malt Shop,” Neames said.

Still, Neames was just grateful the store was closed when the accident happened. “(The vehicle) went through the cinder block wall and hit it hard enough that my slush machine, which is stainless steel and weighs hundreds of pounds, went through the plate glass window and into the parking lot,” Neames said.

“Thankfully, we were closed, because my employees are in that area all the time, and I’m sure someone would have been hurt.”

With only cosmetic injuries to the structure, the restaurant promises to feed hot dogs and memories to the next generation as well.

45

46 PROFILE 2012

The Baby Boomers

born 1946-1964

Academy Awards Best Picture winners 1958 - Gigi 1961 - West Side Story 1962 - Lawrence of Arabia 1964 - My Fair Lady 1965 - The Sound of Music 1971 - The French Connection 1972 - The Godfather

Audrey Hepburn and “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” were a hit in 1961 and man walked on the moon in 1969.

T

his empowered, activist generation grew up thinking life would continue to get better, and, for them, it did.

Born after the end of World War II, baby boomers were raised with a very definite sense of right from wrong. They didn’t question parental rules very often, but as they grew older became more and more independent from Mom and Dad. They did, however, question government and community leaders giving way to Generation fun facts: the civil rights and feminist movements, the Vietnam War • This generation remembers when dad reprotest and even the sexual placed the black and white television with and drug revolutions. a snazzy color screen. Ninety-five percent of Black and white boomers homes had at least one color TV. worked together, striving to • Older boomers shiver when Elvis shakes; be friends in a way their paryounger boomers suffer from Beatle mania ents and grandparents had never and “remember” Woodstock. considered. Many from this gen• Movie theaters aren’t as cool as they were, eration are the first to feel that since every home had their own small there was no difference in the screen, but “Breakfast at Tiffany’s,” and “The races.

Birds” drew crowds.

The success of social move• John F. Kennedy is turning heads as the ments combined with previously new president of the United States, but his unimaginable American achieveassassination soon becomes a day this genments, such as men landing on eration remembers forever. the moon, taught the boomers • Teenagers have stereos in their own rooms that anything was possible. and play LPs. They also listen to radio hits As adults, boomers expected while driving the road. great careers, but acknowl• Bell bottoms, flower-prints and the Afro set edged that it takes hard work this generation’s fashion apart from all othand long hours to get there. ers.

What they didn’t work at, how• The most popular baby names venture ever, were their marriages. Many away from James, John, Robert and Mary for married as the result of an unthe first time since the turn of the century. planned pregnancy, not love, Lisa and Michael now fill the daycares. and soon divorced. Those who married for the right reasons struggled with drastic changes in the role of women, who, after the feminist movement, were often working outside the home.

Left with no manual for this new world, boomers focused on work, not family life.

Today, this generation is in no hurry to retire since their work has defined them for so long. The recent economic downturn has only delayed their forthcoming retirements longer.

No. 1 songs

The 8-track tape, at right, became popular in the 1960s and 1970s. The 1965 Chevrolet Impala, at left, was the bestselling car ever.

1955 - Rock Around the Clock - Bill Haley & the Comets 1957 - Jailhouse Rock Elvis Presley 1962 - Return to Sender - Elvis Presley 1964 - I Want to Hold Your Hand - The Beatles 1966 - Good Vibrations Beach Boys 1968 - Jumpin Jack Flash - Rolling Stones 1970 - Let it Be - The Beatles

THE NATCHEZ DEMOCRAT

Laurie Coffey, 50 Born March 1961

L

aurie Coffey remembers the hippies of the late 1960s and early 1970s; they scared her little brother.

“I can remember walking to school, and the hippies would hang out under the bridge,” she said.

Laurie was too young to be a hippie herself, which makes her part of the second wave of baby boomers. She wasn’t a part of the social protests that made her generation famous, but she does carry most of the ideals that make boomers who they are.

Those ideals manifest themselves most in Laurie today through the lessons she wants her three children to learn, lessons she thinks she’s taught them.

“I just want to make sure they love themselves and know who they are from the inside out,” she said. “I want them to be comfortable with (who they are) and able to stand up to anyone who wants to change that.”

Those are lessons she believes her own parents taught her in the midst of a thriving America that was blooming with social change and an attitude of optimism.

Laurie remembers growing up thinking women could do whatever men did, and she now has female friends who work as engineers and doctors. The first major news event that comes to mind isn’t about death and destruction or worldwide fear, instead, Laurie first remembers watching the Apollo space missions on TV. She won’t forget the fear and uncertainty of President Nixon’s resignation or the Vietnam War, but those times don’t dominate her memories.

Now, Laurie recognizes that being a part of the most populous American generation gives her power and likely better health care than her parents and grandparents had.

She’s as tech-savvy as her Generation Y and Z children and is taking advantage of the computer age by getting her master’s degree online to further her third major career move — just like a boomer.

Blooming boomer:

• Young Laurie spent her days twisting her hips to keep her Hula hoop aloft.

• Her family spent hot summer evenings together in front of the TV for two to three hours watching “The Wonderful World of Disney,” “The Dating Game,” “I Dream of Jeannie” and “Dallas.”

• Teenage Laurie rocked out to the Eagles and Journey.

• She remembers listening to 8-tracks in some vehicles.

• Her first car was a light olive green 1973 Chevy Impala.

• Calvin Klein straight-leg jeans and Keds were far out among her friends.

• Laurie got her first cell phone at approximately age 40.

She now has an iPhone and loves it.

Top, Laurie Coffey, second from left, poses with her husband Mark, sister Kathy Harmon Ott and mother Kay Harmon. Center, teen Laurie sports a Farrah Fawcett hairstyle popular in the 1970s. At bottom, Laurie poses with daughter Patsy and son Chesley in the early 1990s.

47

48 PROFILE 2012

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THE NATCHEZ DEMOCRAT

t a h w w o h s s f f u b a i v i t Local tr h g i n a i v i r t y l k e e w t a w o n k y e th

49

s ozen team ately a d ers each im x o r p p b E Awith up to e1r2ymTeumesday night hitmor W ev stin ely y by Ju compete Bowie’s has wis d tor S to th e t n e d e r n c tr A e l now. tiona he s ajardo of team d on a na ow games u e G z s s li a e od c it R c p y a u n c s ed hat-you-k Photos b of is d e fi n of show-w inds in a battle M is fi ts elf s ’t n ld r i u m o e c h it t u p o t y a y b . g is r th ng name. less facts for “T he thin t young people o often-use as kept growing deprecati s mmy e ju b o h T it to h w e r on, v e t s it a s k iz h o ju c n d a u a It o J g “ Y r n . is ’s Taver aid Chr r calling Te a m o ld people ung, medium s ie o w ,” t o e s B il ju a h fo a aw yo an — ponsible g Geogheg h t o r ig in a l w it h d diverse with ho is res tions and pickin w r ig o c n e ’s r ia ie e .” s c w e p n ld o e u a o tr iv e B q d d k t n e n e a a th le tt ct a out m Pe o p n was near-perfe a good trivia tea g gories. “ ttle eo ghe g a h t th a t tr iv ia li te G a n c w e o th ir e s ot t n ig ay ack in th — know le bit of everythin th e fi r s d , bu t h e d id n coming b just their Tuesd o tt e y la ’s p g needs a li ne.

It s . le a s p p w o u e o p r l g o e fu y g. Som f us,” o ay in and ever o g h e g a n’s c a r e y participate. d o s th e tw t n h d ly on nig o n We ts A n d G e misfits, who var r ere were I had another ay a h d d T s “ on Tue of th r ow nt en do trivia a th e r r e aid. “Th collection ely and re prese s w d , e n ts h a h nig up ly id rs in a g e w enerations, proud l fr ie n d s ta r t w from r membe nights.” a d o f g re g tu in le e k p ip r it lt e e younge p u ld ly p th m u -o f w r o o r lo a e g s e n -y is O dh cal is 23 d ts w fi o r is .” c has ear ne r ig h ts at th e lo e M r e e th of the a n d th James. b r a g g in g ole.

H is te a m a m s h a s g r ow n e Caroline h th g s . te in s a r r h r a e e ly y th b wate e a o e b r o f m pr e o the last th “This tea s, and we have th steadily in ie r . to id a ic s v e t ,” h mos row at six most in a Team Misfits, at top, huddle up to review their answers to a round of trivia at Bowie’s Tavern.

Chris Jackson, at far left, calls out questions for trivia at Bowie’s Tavern.

Members of Team Misfits Tommy Geoghegan and Will Godfrey, at left, discuss a question.

T

50 PROFILE 2012

stions,” ersity. rent que idea — div eek we ask dif fe ke suggestions “Every w mix it up and ta ow how much “We ild ke to sh he said.

People li d some pretty w s. ie r o g ly te a t a o h c h H e r ig ’s ’v n fo e n t tho trivia and w e the tes k a Monty Py T y know, uction to ile she was id e s d d n o th n io tr e st v in e e u r se q s. We id he k wh rn nswer the hez gories categorie James sa a Christmas brea s in Natc correctly a ight at Bowie’s Tave sics, cate phy, u s rk o g o y la w c in n r a e .” lt u C h u il d n s c a a Gr that came ual. nt trivia ry, geo g r m British ome a rit llege. Now from a rece ottom of page) Aside fro rent events, histo , many others. still in co ids, trivia has bec , it’s something b t a rs y r e n u c K ma (answ ard to it ek,” she said. include orts and

by Frosty at Kelly’s es history look forw we music, sp eare quotes, Beatl rds spoken ? s, o w k ie t v in o rs r fi m d “I always e middle of the e p ,a re th to life said. hakes in th ome food 1. What we an when he comes “We had S e Bible,” Jackson at the variety fun to do ward to having s m w th th o n id S id a r d e s e fo th they and w cipants erica” lt, but it “I look ivia parti the game difficu dge. g up.” ulars said aptain Am g tr in “C e t y r h rs n t tc fi a h a e c M ig le -n . es and ar was th ries mak the trivia little community ight dom know 2. What ye released? n of catego them to gain ran nd it will come Many of own ia k iv ir o e o tr b th t a s a e ic m ee com also allow n random things, sk you, ‘How did have beco re folks that I s t,” said Darian ? otball field fo L F “You lear nd someone will a rivia,’” James N “There a ee at trivia nigh stor at Grace n a wide is s u, a a w p o ly H s n . a 3 o e ou say, ‘T s I m e o t a b ck to yo tha you c t?’ And y ho serv n a e w th h , W w th “ o r . n o uenter, you k hurch es and D u ck w night freq t him . “You thodist C ach other’s nam hat’s id ia e a iv s M tr n . d a r e id e g h it a e s gh Un ne .T ell, anoth that caug you lear kid,” Geo the only not there Keith Futr ed a fact one night re gularly when someone’s I haven’t gotten playing sports as a everything, it’s e isn’t me he learn st ough recogniz winning o shocked e, even th , it’s great to at lea bar said rprise. w m o 5 2 r n $ k fo a t a weeks ag ts e ll .” u f e e s k o g w e y e le y b m p w ll a u been n a o te e to eir ing said. on a c thing.” nybody r om week the winn like to save up th a e part “A questi on the team,” he to know a ct and see them fr and the trivia ch week to s a id,’ and th n in s y E in K m u a e s g d ta n te th e a n r l e o ly n th a r tu r o il p r d t s e s o n ‘B a k v b a c e s h s a to a y make c w J ll w d s , s rea gory ulate week ntinue tab, an “The cate us was that he wa n in Missouri nd accum said.

Word co ues to grow each a s g s e in o n r g d bo ke win on ntin kson that shoc I assumed he was lly bor n in New ompetiti estivus t out, Jac family co . a named F f the free nigh Duckwor th the c rinks, she said. rk tu , o s c r Y a e s w . a m e o w id N c o sa e ome d ut he But for rst taste p of new to get on eal and s rizona, b come to One g rou of Us, had their fi d a free m st want to be able she said. or A ity.” n o y e t ontinue to cks, the b s c e s R C ju ,” a m I e g a rk s y th in o te a ll n Y r e a w fo ve . d bar bu and mor “Person e whole e regularly nt Dec. 20 n E ch o ls As more mpete for pride an nd Duckworth exciteme e a r-o ld B r a n d o e said his first question right th t teams that come so long o a c s, to h w n r -y , and owie’s ey are by gro back differe h othe T h ir ty ut all the ying against eac e points than B zz around the hob r regulars said th that team for him to come B f “ o r e b r la e u o h p g b th m u n o mem e o e v e n e a e of th have b on to h ay. ce was ,” she nd some experien e following Tuesd id. “We came in they have motivati long time ers at. agon a a w th r d a h n th fo s a it e e b it r r w .” s h o g u e u am e,” fin rio of o for m ep doin d the oth e other te g on the se as more a good tim ope we ke ch fun for me an h I “ “We had ut I think that w n’t know what thEchols was jumpin od so mu e, b o have go We did to said. “It is .” last plac eople wh nything. s expecting was p a . e n o a m m a to o th s te lt the find all I wa own fau ight on “We got to dge,” he said. honestly, ia have the r iv le ts tr w fi t o to expect, ia questions.” a is n th M k s e t th trivia iv ate wa greed tha answer tr ols did not anticip .

Jackson a e h v c ti E e t ti c a e h p W om er sin e pretty c titive, ev has becom ays been compe “I’ve alw

Members of Team Misfits, at top from left, Doug Wimberly, Nellie Wimberly, Sam Kirby, Tommy Geoghegan and Clara Wimberly review a question during a round of trivia at Bowie’s Tavern. The team has the most consecutive victories at six and is one of few original teams left. The team is made up of all age groups, a factor team organizer Tommy Geoghegan said is critical for victory.

At right, team members Will Godfrey and Nellie Wimberly review their written answers for a round of trivia at Bowie’s Tavern.

Answers to questions: 1. Happy Birthday, 2.

1941, 3. 160 feet.

THE NATCHEZ DEMOCRAT

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51

52 PROFILE 2012 Registered nurse Alice Thorpe, at right, prepares to see patients before leaving work at Natchez Regional Medical Center. First Baptist Church members, below, sing as a PowerPoint presentation is flashed on the screen during a Sunday service. At bottom, student Xavier Bradford uses one of the Promethean boards at Fallin Career and Technology Center to mark the parts of a computer’s motherboard.

CHANGE:

THE NATCHEZ DEMOCRAT

53

S tor y b y J u stin W hitmore | P hotos b y E ric S helton & Ben H illy er

E

very generation identifies change in the next generation, but oftentimes it’s the changes we smell, hear and feel that ruffle our old-school feathers the most.

Can you sense it?

That’s because human beings live through their senses, and the sounds and smells we lear n as children practically become definitions of what they represent, whether it’s in school, at home, in church or at the local hospital.

But the ring of a telephone, the clack of the type-written word and the sound of a computer dialing into the world wide web have varied greatly in recent decades.

Can you sense the changes?

At the hospital

The year was 1973, and Alice Thorpe was just starting out in the nursing profession in the coronary care unit at Natchez Regional Medical Center.

Each day she put on her heavily starched white nurse’s dress, her heavily polished and buffed white leather shoes and nursing cap and equipped herself with her glass, mercury thermometer and stethoscope and headed to the hospital.

The first thing that hit her nostrils when she walked in the hospital doors was alcohol, she said.

“Not the kind you drink but the rubbing stuff,” she said.

Once Thorpe reached her unit, she kept her eyes open for lights to come on outside the

patients’ rooms. Those lights signaled that the patient had pressed the nurse-call button.

“They pushed the button and the light would come on, and I would go down to see what they wanted,” she said. “You used to walk yourself to death. You would go see why they put the light on, and it was never anything in the room that they wanted, so you had to walk back down to get it.”

Sometimes patients would ask to have their bed adjusted, and in 1973 it was not as simple as a push of the button, Thorpe said.

“The beds used to be made of steel, so you would get the feeling of cold steel when you put one down,” she said. “And you would have to crank it up and crank it down (with a lever at the bottom of the bed).

“You would ask, ‘How’s that?’ they would say, ‘A little more,’ and you would go a little more, and they would say, ‘I believe you went too far.

You need to go down a little bit.’”

Thorpe’s days then consisted of standing by bedsides and counting the drops from the rolling IV bags the patients used, emptying bed pans, taking temperatures, checking blood pressures, taking notes and more. All of these tasks were accomplished by Thorpe’s thoroughly cleaned and clipped, bare hands.

“We never wore gloves,” she said. “Not even

to empty a bed pan. Now we wear gloves for everything. We just washed our hands with regular soap and water.”

Thorpe’s presence in the hospital has not changed since the early 1970s. She currently works in the behavioral health unit. But the sights, sounds and smells of the building have seen numerous changes since the early 1970s.

A machine or computer has replaced almost every tool that Thorpe used in her earliest days of nursing, she said. The beds are now plastic, covered with buttons that do a variety of things, including adjustments. The IV roller has been replaced by an IVAC machine, which no longer requires the nurse to stand and count the drops. The thermometers are now digital and blood pressure is taken using a machine.

The hospital has lost its scent of alcohol, and now is generally odorless. The only things that have stayed the same for Thorpe are the stethoscopes and the diligent notes.

The nurses themselves have changed as well.

They are no longer required to wear caps, the white leather shoes have been retired, gloves are worn at all times and dresses have been dropped for scrubs.

The outfit change was a big deal to many nurses, said Nancy Rodgers, who has been nursing since 1978 and works with Thorpe in

54 PROFILE 2012

Registered nurse Alice Thorpe, left, helps Kayla Rowlings with office work while unit secretary Leslie Stevens observes.

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the behavioral health unit. “(Nurses wearing pants) was revolutionary,” Rodgers said.

The life for hospital patients has changed as well. Patients’ rooms are now equipped with TVs and phones, which patients used to have to rent by the day.

“I don’t know what kept those people from jumping out the window,” Thorpe said.

Private rooms have replaced units that used to house half-a-dozen patients, and, in general, patients hear much more noise today than they did decades ago, Thorpe said.

“There is a lot more beeping and a lot more noise,” Thorpe said. “You used to walk in the hospital and see signs that said, ‘Quiet please.’”

Thorpe said patients themselves have changed as well.

“Back then whatever the doctor said was the law,” she said. “They didn’t have access to a computer for WebMD and they weren’t talking about every known disease on (television). Their knowledge has increased, and they ask more questions, which is a good thing. But sometimes a little knowledge is a dangerous thing.”

“They know just enough to be scared,” Rodgers added.

Thorpe said the relationship between nurse and patient has changed as well.

“I think we were closer to our patients (before),” she said.

Thorpe said that was partly because

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THE NATCHEZ DEMOCRAT in the coronary care unit patients generally stayed for long periods of time.

“The first three days all you could have was clear liquids (after a heart attack),” she said.

“We had to feed you, you were not allowed to feed yourself. It was intense nursing. We were there by the bedside constantly.”

Thorpe said generally hospital stays are shorter now.

“All the patients are in and out, and they want to be in and out,” she said.

Technology has changed the instruments used in more specialized aspects of the hospital as well, such as surgery and prenatal care, Thorpe said.

“I think they have a robot where you can sit at the thing and push buttons, and it actually does the surgery,” she said.

Rodgers said baby monitors are an innovation that have been introduced and changed dramatically since her nursing career began.

“I remember when the first fetal monitors came in the ’80s,” she said. “The doctors didn’t go to the classes, the nurses went to the classes. And I remember calling the doctor in the middle of the night, and saying, ‘Doctor so-and-so the baby is having (decelerations), and the blood and heart rate is this. I’m real concerned,’ and he’d say, ‘Nancy is that monitor making you nervous?’ and I said, ‘Yes, sir,’ and he said, ‘Take the (darn) thing off.’”

Thorpe said the new technology is great, but it has also caused nurses to lose some of their hands-on nursing abilities.

“I think we’ve lost a lot of our clinical skills because of technology,” she said. “There are a

“There is a lot more beeping and a lot more noise. You used to walk in the hospital and see signs that said, ‘Quiet please.’”

Alice Thorpe

Natchez Regional nurse

lot of clinical skills we are not using like we used to. We don’t need to I guess.”

In school

Technology has changed the look of American classrooms over the years as well.

In 1997 Shannon Doughty was teaching ninth-grade tech discovery at Natchez High School and her classroom was the only one in the school that had a computer connected to the Internet — through a dial-up connection.

Now her computer systems technology classroom has 20 computers with high-speed Internet access; three of the computers were built by her technology students, she said.

Each classroom at Natchez High has a computer, and students can even take online classes to get ahead or catch up.

Doughty said the influx of computer technology is great for student learning, but it has also made obsolete many of the things that high school students of the past were used to

55

seeing — things such as chalk boards in the classrooms and card catalogs in the libraries.

“We did a research project this first nine weeks, and the only thing they could use was books out of the library,” Doughty said. “They were frustrated at first, and didn’t know what to do.”

Business and computer technology teacher Ginger Cowart said she used to teach science and computers have replaced much of the slicing and dicing of biology class and the mixing and exploding of chemistry.

“In chemistry you pretend the mixing of chemicals, and it will show what will happen.

If it will go boom, it goes boom.”

One positive change for the teachers, they said, is that they no longer leave work feeling covered in chalk dust.

“We moved to the big white boards, and that was exciting because you didn’t have the chalk dust all over you when you left,” Doughty said. “But now we’ve progressed to interaction where students can go up to the screen and manipulate it with their hands or a pen.”

Another major change at Natchez High came in December 1997 when the school adopted its uniform policy.

“In January 1998 I was teaching sixth grade at Morgantown and that Christmas they started the uniform policy,” Doughty said.

Each classroom now has TVs, which teachers use for educational purposes, and which parents were very skeptical of when they were introduced, Doughty said.

“The TV was terrible when we got it,” Doughty said. “The public was shocked, and

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56 PROFILE 2012 it’s the same way with the Internet and cell phones.”

Doughty said that cell phones are a problem from time to time at Natchez High.

“They text, so they are looking down,” she said. “And they think we are stupid, and we don’t know what they’re doing because, you know, we’re old.”

But Doughty and Cowart said cell phones, the Internet and Facebook can be used as tools as well as distractions.

“I tell them to get their phones out and set up their calendars with their test dates, and whatever they have to do,” Cowart said.

Visitors to the Natchez High campus will notice some sights that would not have been seen a few years ago, such as surveillance cameras and a security guard at the entrance of the school.

“Times have changed, security has been beefed up, and that’s across the nation,” Doughty said. “It has changed as society has changed.”

And the students, they’ve changed too.

“They are lazier,” Doughty said. “They are still the same in a lot of ways, but they are lazier and sometimes you can’t blame them for all of that because they sit in front of technology all the time, and that is the nation as a whole.”

At church

Dr. Doug Broome, the senior pastor at First Baptist Church in Natchez, recently discov-

“The TV was terrible when we got it. The public was shocked, and it’s the same way with the Internet and cell phones.”

Shannon Doughty

Fallin Career and Technology Center teacher

ered that his congregation extended further than he could imagine.

“There was a lady in Florence who told me I was her mother’s pastor,” he said. “Her mother is homebound and every Sunday she gets on the computer and watches my worship service. I met her last Friday. Her name is Jennifer.”

Broome said his Sunday services are streamed live on the church’s website, and that is where Jennifer found him.

“It enlarges the scope of our ministry,” he said. “It’s no longer local. It can become international.”

Broome said many aspects of traditional church services have changed since he became a senior pastor 30 years ago.

Broome said First Baptist uses PowerPoint

to deliver Bible study lessons, text messaging to extend the arm of its communications and television and Internet to broadcast the sermons.

“The use of technology is more attractive to teens and young adults,” he said. “We communicate typically with young adults through text messages and e-mail.”

A few years ago, Broome said he had a problem with the occasional cell-phone ring in church, but now people are savvy enough with cell-phone operation that it rarely happens.

“A year-or-so ago we had to tell people to turn cell phones off but not so much anymore,” he said.

Broome said churchgoers will notice a more relaxed congregation these days as well.

“The way people dress is not quite as formal, and worship is more laid back and interactive,” he said.

Broome said as times have changed, his methods have changed too.

“My preaching goal is to deliver sermons that people can apply in their daily lives,” he said. “If I fail to connect with the congregation, I wasted their time.

“People are very time conscious today and as long as their needs are being met, they tend to not tune out.”

Broome said the way people choose a church has even shifted course.

“Thirty years ago people selected church-

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THE NATCHEZ DEMOCRAT

es based on denominational background. They no longer do that. That is no longer the primary factor. Now decisions on a local church are based on where friends attend or the type of ministries the church provides.”

A familiar site in today’s congregations is people that have replaced the book version of the Bible with an electronic version, Broome said.

“More and more people bring iPads to church,” he said. “There are Bible apps. I think it’s fine.”

Broome said the Bible applications allow users to take notes and interact throughout the sermon.

Broome said many old-school church members are slow to adapt to these new changes, but more and more people are beginning to embrace the shifts.

“We want to be relevant,” he said.

“My father-in-law has a sign in his (auto) shop that reads, ‘You can’t repair today’s cars with yesterday’s parts if you want to be in business tomorrow.’

“I think that sign is applicable to churches as well.

“We must maintain the message but change the method to appeal to the next generation.”

57

Fallin information technology students Crystal Martin and Adrian Madison use the Wii game system during Fitness Friday. The fitness program uses the dance programs and other software to promote exercise and cardiovascular fitness. Students participate in the program every Friday.

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58 PROFILE 2012

GLENDA’S KIDS

THE NATCHEZ DEMOCRAT

Glenda Mitchell’s weekdays are consumed by the lives of her children — one grandson, Carson, and 11 others who attend her daycare on Terry Street near Vidalia. Mitchell, on facing page, attends to the smaller children as the school-age children play in her backyard and on the swing set. At top, Carson Mitchell jumps down from the last step on the school bus on his way to a snack at his grandmother’s house. Glenda Mitchell, below, helps Nemmet Taunton, Caid Malone and Emma Robin on the slides.

Grandmother takes care of grandson, 11 other children

A

t 3:15 p.m. sharp on a school day, the routine rumble of a school bus halted in front of Glenda Mitchell’s Terry Circle house and lightened its load by six elementary school students.

Clumsily barreling toward the doorframe, the uniformed children entered the house simultaneously, dropped their school bags by the door and marched straight to the kitchen after nearly knocking over two or three toddlers. The 1and 2-year-olds’ hands reached out and their eyes lit up with excitement of the familiar scene.

Round two of Mitchell’s day had just begun.

“Ms. Glenda, you forgot to pour my drink,” Matthew Butler reminded Mitchell.

Mitchell smiled — amused at their predictability — got up and poured juice into a cup for him.

The others’ Cheese Nips and drinks were sitting on the kitchen table, waiting to be devoured.

Mitchell never knows who might not show up, so she usually leaves out at least one cup to prepare for their arrival, she explained.

One child, though, skipped the snack fest and slipped into the hallway. He re-entered the living room less than a minute later wearing a Louisiana State University jersey and track pants.

For the other children, Ms. Glenda’s is a home away from home until their parents get off work. But for Carson, in his LSU jersey and socks, he had just arrived home to Gram’s house.

Mitchell, 56, has been babysitting children at “Glen-

da’s Day Care” for 27 years. And while she keeps up with the children — each one who she refers to as “one of mine ” — she only lets Carson and his two cousins in Jackson call her “Gram.”

“It’s fun,” said Carson, 7, of living part-time at the day care.

And despite the 11 other children talking at once, the cartoons on the TV and the 2-year-old on her lap, Mitchell was as calm as ever.

“I like it this way,” she said.

Mitchell started the day care when she was 30 years old, serving two families or four children.

Now, she babysits for seven children after school and six all day long, including one baby.

Mitchell said she relates to children because she listens to them.

“I listen. If they have a problem, you have to have patience,” she said.

She even has her own way of listening to the toddlers, who can’t talk.

“I know their needs, their likes and dislikes, and I’ve always enjoyed it,” she said.

Caid Malone, not yet 2, walked up to Mitchell, held out his arms and squinted his face uncomfortably.

Mitchell immediately rolled a cuff of one of Malone’s long, red sleeves.

“Is that bothering you?” she asked gently.

With his face still squinted, she rolled up the other sleeve, and he happily hopped in her lap satisfied, next to one of the 2-year-old twins.

“I enjoy their company,” she said.

Young women come and go in the field, Mitchell said, and often ask her for recommendations.

But Mitchell recognizes the importance of what she

does and is in it for the long haul.

“People depend on you. You’ve got to be dedicated,” she said.

Mitchell said she got into babysitting after quitting her job in retail to spend time with her children.

“I wanted to do something but still be able to take them to ball games, dance and piano,” she said.

And now, her son remains best friends with some of her earliest “customers,” Byron and Jason Meng.

Nearly three decades later and a grandmother, herself, Mitchell said she doesn’t think her attitude toward children has changed.

But she has noticed some differences between the children she watched in the 1980s and today’s generation of youngsters.

While parents today don’t seem to stress respectful phrases like, “no, ma’am” and “yes, ma’am,” that’s something Mitchell won’t give up.

She said some of the parents might be surprised when their own children respond with “ma’am” and “sir,” after spending time at Ms. Glenda’s.

“Some of them look at me like think I’m crazy,” she said.

But Mitchell thinks discipline is something that is a little lost on the current generation of children, although she said she’s not afraid to discipline them herself.

While she doesn’t spank or yell, she will put children in time out.

Rules are prominent but not prevalent at Ms. Glenda’s, since she seems to always have everything under control.

“No wrestling,” she told some of the older boys.

That’s one of the few rules she has, she said.

“This group likes to wrestle.”

She also said the children she babysat when her children were little seemed to only need their imaginations to keep them entertained.

Mitchell said now, when she tells children to play outside, they respond with, “What do you want us to do?”

Her yard is equipped for all ages, with tricycles, twowheelers, slides, a sandbox and plenty of green grass.

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THE NATCHEZ DEMOCRAT

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Children run and play in the backyard as Glenda Mitchell watches from a picnic bench on her patio. Mason Fife, below, dives head first through the window of Mitchell’s playhouse.

Mitchell says the children she keeps at her daycare keep her young.

One child told Mitchell a list of his friends he planned to have spend the night for his birthday.

“You’re making plans for June?

That’s like Carson.”

Of course, she already knew Carson’s plans for his big day in May — spend the day at the Fun House at the mall and blow out the candles on an LSU cake.

And what likely makes it work — what children and the grandmother likely have in common — is their knack for routine.

Just like the children rush for their snack in the kitchen, Mitchell knows to expect them and has it ready.

The young children eat at 11 a.m., and they nap from noon until 2 p.m.

They watch Mickey Mouse every day right after the big kids get home from school, but the TV goes off shorty after that.

When Carson sleeps over — when his father works early in the morning — Gram has him in bed by 8:30 p.m., and he’s gone on the school bus in the morning at 7 a.m., 15 minutes before her first guest for the day arrives.

And when it’s time to have lunch, take a nap or watch a show, the children are ready to go.

“I’m a planner,” she said.

She even shares a competitive side with the children. She and Carson enjoy playing “Gone Fishing,” a board game they bought together for 25 cents at a garage sale

in Winnsboro, La. “He finally beat me last time,” she said. “I’m competitive.”

Mitchell said unlike some other grandmothers, she doesn’t let the children win, making for a more interesting game, especially since Carson is competitive like her son.

“He was alright with Gram winning,” she said.

Mitchell said her husband of seven years, Pete, never had any children of his own, but he adjusted pretty well to the atmosphere around the house.

But when Pete’s away every other two-week period working in the oil industry, and when Carson and the rest of the children are gone, Mitchell misses the craziness.

“I get bored.”

Mitchell admitted she couldn’t see herself doing any other job.

But when a child recently laid a picture he’d colored on Mitchell’s lap, her grandmotherly sentimentality showed through as she smiled.

“I keep everything,” she said.

During the Mississippi River flood last summer, Mitchell went through every decoration, ornament and drawing that the children she’s babysat made for her.

Even though the pictures and trinkets brought up memories of more than 300 children over a span of 27 years, Mitchell said the children are the reason she’ll be able to keep it up for years to come.

“They keep me young,” Mitchell said.

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“There was many-a-baseball game played in that backyard,” she said.

She remembered how children years ago used to love to play circus.

They would stay outside all day, put on performances and Mitchell and the toddlers would act as audience members and watch the show while eating popcorn.

“They would get so dirty, and play make-believe,” she remembered.

Fake weddings were also a popular game, she said.

“This (current) group doesn’t like to play outside, they don’t like to sweat,” Mitchell said.

Mitchell said many of the children bring their Nintendo DS handheld games to her house, but she doesn’t allow them to play with them outside.

“I believe children need to be outside,” she said.

But despite the differences, Mitchell loves the job and the children.

Mitchell is able to identify the age and birth month of every child she pointed to in her living room.

And she still keeps up with children who’ve grown up today.

Mitchell said one of her day care children, Colby Gray, still comes to visit her every time the college sophomore is home from LSU. “Well he’s a young man now,” she said.

“He’ll be 20 in April,” she said, recalling her rote memorization of the birthday months and years.

Mitchell said she loves any excuse to celebrate with the children.

And since she’s a planner, she’s already bought them Mardi Gras presents and has a plan for Easter.

At each party, every child gets his or her own gift bag and a gift.

“I like Halloween and Easter the best,” said Celeste Emfinger, a third grader at Ms. Glenda’s who has attended Mitchell’s day care since she was a baby.

Similarly, the children like to plan ahead for parties, too.

61

62 PROFILE 2012

Living in the generation

GAP

Siblings born years apart form strong bonds Story by Lindsey Shelton

Ward and Susan Graning and Bill and Camella Richardson followed similar paths, adding baby daughters in their 40s after their other children were nearly grown. The Richardson family, above, includes, from left, Juliet Wesberry, Joseph, Camella, Bill and Gabrielle Richardson. The Graning family, at top, includes from left, Ward, Hunter Hope, Susan and Baylee Graning and Shaye Hope McAdory.

Photos by Eric Shelton & Ben Hillyer

Bridging the gap

For the Graning and the Richardson siblings, bonding was a bit like a race against time.

Since the older siblings were already headed out of the house and toward lives with their own families before their little sisters were born, childhood traditions simply couldn’t be left to cultivate themselves.

Parents and older siblings had to make a conscious effort to form family bonds.

Joseph Richardson was a senior in high school and his older sister Juliet was living in Cleveland attending Delta State University when Gabrielle was born.

But after college, Juliet chose to come home and get

Shaye Hope and Hunter Hope, at top, pose for a picture with their sister Baylee Graning when she was a toddler.

Joseph Richardson and Juliet Richardson, at bottom, hold their sister Gabrielle Richardson shortly after she was born.

63

Natchez Adams School District 10 Homochitto Street • (601) 445-2800 natchez.k12.ms.us

We are opening eyes to a world of knowledge.

to know her newest sibling. Doing so, she said, allowed her to form a “motherly-sister” bond with Gabrielle.

“I knew I would eventually be leaving home again, and I wanted to establish a relationship that would last through the years.”

She was old enough at the time to know bonding with someone 21 years her junior would be difficult, so she tackled the woes head on.

“I did things that I thought we would do if we were both children and things she didn’t get to do because there weren’t any other small children around when she was growing up,” Juliet said.

Juliet served as Gabrielle’s playmate, encouraging imaginative play by telling made-up stories of bushy-tailed bandits and reading “The Baby-sitter’s Club” books.

Juliet lived at home until she married. Gabrielle was 7.

Joseph, who left for the University of Southern Mississippi shortly after Gabrielle was born, said it was more difficult for him to form a bond with Gabrielle because he spent less time with her than the rest of his family.

“It was hard,” he said. “I was just leaving, earning my freedom and developing a whole new life. We didn’t have a whole lot of time together.”

Joseph, however, still found time when he would come home on weekends to indulge Gabrielle in the things he enjoyed.

“I would take her fishing, and I took her on her first successful deer hunt when she was 15,” he said.

Baylee Graning is 11 now, and the efforts the elder Richardsons made to get to know Gabrielle are on the current to-do lists for Shaye and Hunter.

Hunter, who recently moved back to Natchez, helps Baylee with her math homework, plays basketball with her and gives her tips for softball that he learned while playing baseball when he was younger.

“He played catcher, just like me,” Baylee said.

And even though she never got to play catch with the 11-yearold Hunter, Baylee said she thinks it’s neat that he played the same position she does now.

Bonding is more difficult for Baylee and Shaye, since Shaye lives in New Orleans.

Still, a phone call allows Baylee to ask her big sister for advice on “girly stuff” that many female siblings simply dished on the pink canopy bed.

“I hardly ever see her, but we still get along great,” Shaye said.

Hunter and Shaye both said they do their best to share their favorite family stories with Baylee so she

Dream

W

ard Graning had just three words for his wife, Susan, when she surprised him with the news that, at 41, she was pregnant with their third child.

“He just said, ‘I love you,’” Susan said.

“There wasn’t much else I could say,” Ward said.

The realization that the Granings would soon be parents to children from entirely different generations likely didn’t set in for a while.

Susan already had two children, Hunter, who was 18, and Shaye, who was 21.

The couple had, for the most part, completed their child rearing duties.

Bill and Camella Richardson thought they, too, were done when they began their walk down nearly the exact same path in 1990.

Camella was 40 when she became pregnant with her third child. The couple also had two nearly adult children.

“When she told me, all I said was ‘Give me three days, three days to let this sink in, and I’ll be fine,’” Bill said. “And I was.”

The Richardsons’ oldest children Juliet and Joseph were 21 and 17 respectively.

Both local families worried first about the impact of the news on their older children.

Susan Graning found out she was pregnant two months before her son graduated from high school.

So as not to steal his thunder, Susan kept word of her pregnancy quiet until after Hunter’s graduation.

“That was his time, so I kind of kept it a secret,” she said. “That night (after graduation) I sat down on the porch with him and told him. His first reaction was, ‘Well, it can’t have my room.’”

The family laughs at that memory now, but Susan admits she was initially worried about the significant age gap among her children.

Worries faded, though.

“Now they’re very close, very close,” she said.

Camella Richardson saw the same fears melt away when Gabrielle was born.

“She is one of the biggest blessings I could ask for,” Camella said.

THE NATCHEZ DEMOCRAT

64 PROFILE 2012

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THE NATCHEZ DEMOCRAT

Children — no matter how old — adapt quickly. It’s parents who may be slow to adjust.

Susan Graning said she had to reThe best for last? ally muster up the energy to keep up Though no older sibling is likely to with a young child as an older parent. admit it without an apparent tinge of “People will tell you that when you good-natured jealousy in their voice, have a young child that it keeps you being the much younger child of oldyoung; that’s a lie,” she said. “It wears er, experienced parents has its advanyou out on a daily basis.” tages.

Susan said she is still constantly It’s almost like being an only child running around making sure Baywith all the pros of siblings. lee, now a fifth grader at Cathedral “I was able to mold myself into my Elementary, gets to dance, gymnasown person,” said Gabrielle, now 21 tics and all the events for the various and a student at Millsaps College on sports Baylee plays. a scholarship to study music.

“I always said God should have “All my different interests were able known she had old parents and given to be cultivated in a no-pressure enus a calm, docile child,” she said with vironment, and that really gave me a a smile. “But she’s into everything.” strong foundation to stand on.”

The Richardsons quickly learned And she thinks having older sibthey needed extra help with their litlings made her more mature faster.

Bill Richardson tle one too.

Gabrielle has always had an adult Natchez father They had moved in with Bill’s mothbest friend who loved her uncondier, Freda Piazza in Rodney in 1987. tionally.

“It was supposed to be only for a “The dynamic changed from (my year, but they never left,” joked Piazza, now 90. siblings) being my playmates to people I would Grandmother became an integral part of rais- seek advice from and they would even ask me for ing Gabrielle. advice, too,” she said.

Piazza helped teach Gabrielle music and encourGabrielle said she and Juliet are practically inaged her to pursue her vocal and piano talents, for separable at heart. which Gabrielle has now won numerous awards.

“We are absolute best friends,” she said. We don’t “There are times when you wonder if you have a treat each other as I’m 21 and she is 41. We don’t purpose and what it is,” Piazza said. “She put the treat each other as if there’s an age gap at all.” life back into me.”

For Baylee Graning, having older siblings has A trophy case in the Richardsons’ living room expanded her world. showcases Gabrielle’s awards for music and equesHunter has lived in a variety of cities and Shaye trian accomplishments. and husband Johnathon McAdory, live in New OrCamella Richardson homeschooled Gabrielle leans. through high school.

Age and distance have prompted the family to And Bill entertained, spoiled and shared a love create new traditions specifically for Baylee. of horses with his youngest daughter.

An annual trip to see Shaye for Mardi Gras and Bill said the family was more financially stable a summer beach trip bring everyone together. when Gabrielle was growing up than when Juliet Christmas traditions changed as well as the famand Joseph were children, so he was able to spoil ily set aside Christmas Eve for each other.

Gabrielle more.

“Now they’re our traditions together,” Susan “When you’re young, you don’t have a clue how said. to raise children,” he said. “I would recommend Ward and Susan had raised two children before to all families to wait until they have a little sense Baylee came along, and as they approach her teento have children.” age years, Baylee might just be able to get away with more than Shaye and Hunter ever did.

Parents-in-training “I always say that the good thing about our For the elder siblings, life with a new baby at home quickly became the perfect training ground situation is that by the time Baylee gets to her for their own parenthood — which, it turned out, teenage years and teenagers do the things they do, I’ll be too old to know or remember,” Susan was only a few years away.

Juliet and her husband Jason Wesberry now joked. “And (Hunter and Shaye will) be there to take care of it.” have two children, Leia, 8, and Jasin, 9.

“When you’re young, you don’t have a clue how to raise children.

I would recommend to all families to wait until they have a little sense to have children.”

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Parents all over again

Juliet said by the time Jasin came along, she had learned a lot about what it took to be a parent from Gabrielle.

“I knew more about what to expect when you had kids,” she said.

Her brother Joseph experienced the same parenting trial period.

“As an adult, you see things your parents do, and you understand why they do them,” he said. “You understand your parents more when you see from an older perspective them raising a child.”

Helping raise Gabrielle was a transition, Joseph said, into having more responsibility.

“I was given a new opportunity to teach, nurture and, of course, pick on her,” he said.

In the Graning household, Hunter was learning from Baylee too. Hunter is now raising his own little girl, 2-year-old Luci Reese. “(Baylee) has absolutely prepared me to be a dad,” he said.

And Baylee’s age makes her a special aunt as well, Hunter said.

“Being so young, she’s closer to (Reese’s) age group, and she has helped me stay connected,” he said.

Achieve

can have a connection the family history that occurred before she was born.

Hunter said he even tries to keep Baylee out of trouble with mom and dad through lessons he learned as a child.

“When she gets in trouble for some stuff, I just tell her, ‘Baylee, don’t do that. I did the same thing, so just learn from me and don’t do it,’” he said.

Hunter enjoys teasing and joking with Baylee, just as any big brother does.

“We’re years apart, but equally mature,” he joked. “(Hunter) used to complain about all the torture he got from me when we were kids, well he has returned the swirly times 10,” Shaye added.

To Baylee, nothing is abnormal.

Although she has much older siblings than any of her friends, Baylee said it is not something that she gives a lot of thought.

“It’s normal to me,” she said. “I don’t really think about it a lot.”

65

66 PROFILE 2012

THE NATCHEZ DEMOCRAT

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68 PROFILE 2012

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70 PROFILE 2012

Generation X Academy Awards Best Picture winners 1974 - The Godfather Part II 1976 - Rocky 1980 - Ordinary People 1982 - Ghandi 1985 - Out of Africa 1988 - Rain Man 1990 - Dances with Wolves 1992 - Unforgiven

“Star Wars” begins its seven-episode space saga with “Episode IV: A New Hope” in 1977. At right, the Sony Walkman took the world by storm and put music on the go in 1979.

born 1965-1981

M

isunderstood by the generations that created them, Xers lived a very different life than all those who came before them.

In a class of 20 elementary students, eight children were likely to be from a divorced family, studies say, teaching all 20 children that love might not be permanent after all. Fathers and mothers worked, therefore increasing the family’s income to higher-than-ever levels but in turn leaving children home alone after school.

Gen Xers embraced the Generation fun facts: isolated feeling, becoming independent and less • Gen X teens found it hip to disassemble their connected to their parents.

Commodore 64 personal computer.

Accessibility to electronic • Atari was totally bunk when Nintendo video technology and a growing gaming systems came out. media furthered the X iso• Rad dad Cliff Huxtable showed young black lation. Most homes had two Xers just how successful a black man could be. to three televisions, and netHis family and the comedy of “The Cosby Show” works catering exclusively to appealed to both races equally. children were created. This • Groovy bell-bottoms gave way to jelly shoes, meant children watched TV in Reeboks, jean jackets and parachute pants. one room while their parents • “Star Wars” introduced a generation to true watched the news in another. special effects — and the light saber.

The generation was the first • Stairway to Heaven, Marvin Gaye’s croonto have access to personal ing, Michael Jackson and the big hair bands computers, but the comboomed from large, portable stereo systems, puters weren’t yet linked to busted eardrums through Sony’s Walkman and the Internet and therefore had lay littered on the Xers bedroom floor in the to tie to another person. form of cassette tapes.

Video games allowed • Every Xer grew up with a classmate named working parents to feel that Jennifer. The name propelled to the top of the their children were happy, yet female baby name list in 1970 and didn’t give safe alone inside the house. up its reign until 1984. Jessica came in a close The joystick was king. second for girls. Michael dominated for boys.

Parents feeling guilty over their recent divorce or long hours at the office did what they could to make it up to their children, often showering them with gifts. Gen Xers had more “stuff” than their elders ever had, at least until the hard economic times of the 1980s hit.

As adults, these grungy slackers became the independent-thinking geeks who brought us Google, YouTube and Amazon.com. They are well educated, but view their careers as work that lacks sufficient playtime. Xers prefer a relaxed workplace and aren’t necessarily loyal to their employers.

No. 1 songs

Chevrolet redesigned its Corvette for the first time in 15 years in 1984.

1974 - Kung Fu Fighting - Carl Douglas 1977 - Hotel California Eagles 1980 - Another Brick in the Wall - Pink Floyd 1983 - Beat It - Michael Jackson 1986 - Kiss - Prince 1989 - Like a Prayer Madonna 1992 - Smells Like Teen Spirit - Nirvana Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” was the No. 1 one album for every week of 1983.

THE NATCHEZ DEMOCRAT

Cleveland Moore, 38 Born July 1973

C

leveland Moore sees himself as a bit stuck in the middle.

On one hand, he grew up respecting and appreciating his parents’ way of doing things. On the other, growing up during the start of the technology age pulled him forward, into the new world his parents didn’t know.

Today, he prefers to send and receive snail mail, but he communicates often via e-mail on his iPad. Moore, the principal at Natchez High who spends his days surrounded by Generation Z, had a blessed childhood for an X. His parents were not divorced, and they didn’t leave him home alone for hours. He did have video games, but was often outside learning horticulture from his father.

Moore’s parents, it seems, worked hard to be different that the stereotypical parent of an Xer. “Things were kind of structured,” Moore said. “My parents made sure I came home and went to bed early. Telephones didn’t ring after a certain time. And we had outside time.”

And Moore obeyed.

“We came up in a time when I respected my father, but I also feared my father. Today, they don’t fear anything.”

As an adult himself, Moore has sought out career paths — yes, plural — that he finds challenging and, in his own interpretation, fun.

He began a career in the funeral business as a teenager and continues in the field part-time today. Few would describe funerals as fun, but to Moore the interpersonal skills needed to comfort grieving families make the job fulfilling in a fun way. His full-time job in education keeps him constantly challenged, he said, and always focused on new educational trends and studies.

He’s climbed nearly to the top of his chosen profession at a young age, but he’s not thinking about the next step. No, he’s focused on improving his impact for today.

X-tra busy:

• Moore didn’t spend much time sitting around as a child. Between kickball, cruising the neighborhood on his moped and trying the latest video game, Moore was a busy child.

• He listened to his favorite tunes — New Edition, Soul II Soul and Boyz II Men — on cassette tapes.

• Moore’s first car was a 1972 Galaxie 500 that he bought for $600 from a friend of his father. It had AM radio, an air conditioner and leather seats.

• Moore was most often seen wearing an oversized Coke sweatshirt and Jordache jeans. He didn’t get his first pair of Air Jordans until college.

• “The Incredible Hulk” filled his TV time.

• Moore was 30 when he got his first cell phone.

At top, Cleveland Moore and some of his closest friends from Natchez prepare for a wedding in the late 1990s.

Pictured, from right, are Gene Allen Jones, Carlos Lewis, William Doss, Moore, Ed Reed and Cordell White. Center, Moore spent his teen years videoing on the sidelines of Natchez High games. At bottom, Moore graduated from Natchez High.

71

72 PROFILE 2012

Preserved in patterns

Memories stitched in work by Kingston quilter

THE NATCHEZ DEMOCRAT

A

nn Wooten’s life can be traced back through stitches in time — each dive of the needle contributing to one-of-a-kind patterns on the fabric that makes up Wooten’s history.

The Kingston resident said quilting used to be more of a necessity than an art form. She started sewing at age 10 with scraps her mother gave her. The scraps weren’t very big.

“She wanted to use the big scraps for bigger quilts,” Wooten said. “She had nine children, so she had a lot to make. All women back then quilted just to survive.”

Wooten said many of the family quilts were made from clothing that had been outgrown, or from the clothing of relatives who died. Some were made with lace from lingerie, fabric from fertilizer sacks and even blocks of corduroy and denim.

Wedding quilts by the dozens have also been fashioned for new couples in the family. The quilts are often sewn with a specific design, called a double wedding ring.

“If you have a dream the first night you sleep under the wedding quilt, it’s supposed to come true,” Wooten said. “We also say the couple is, ‘Covered with love.’”

Wooten said quilting became a passion when she made one for her first baby.

“It’s a thing I started, and I can’t quit now,” Wooten said.

Wooten and her daughter Betty Brown worked this fall to sew a quilt on a frame in Brown’s living room for her granddaughter, Arya Harrington, who was born in October. The quilt was a Christmas gift for the baby.

“We do it because it shows love,” Wooten said. “It’s building heirlooms. It’s a treasure. Most of the time we have one ready when a baby is born.”

Brown said she did learn quilting from her mother, but she didn’t pursue it like her sister, Wandra, who has made a career of quilting.

“This will be a keepsake,” Brown said of the purple nine-patch and hourglass style quilt. “Because quilting is becoming a lost art, it will be really special for her to have it.”

The squares for the quilt also come from a familial place.

“The squares were a gift from my daughter (Rachel’s) other grandmother, so Rachel could make something with them,” Brown said. “She didn’t use them, and I still had them. My daughter said she wanted to use purple in Arya’s room, so this worked out.”

Brown said quilting can also be frustrating, but she did finally master use of the thimble.

story by Nicole Zema

Photos by Eric Shelton

Above, Betty Brown puts the finishing touches on a quilt in her Kingston home.

At left are examples of the many quilts created by Brown and her mother Ann Wooten. The two quilters, on facing page, say quilting is a way of showing love and preserving family memories.

73

74 PROFILE 2012

NATCHEZ SENIOR CENTER

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Ann Wooten, right, and her daughter Betty Brown share a laugh while spending their afternoon quilting at their Kingston residence.

Besides watching her mother quilt, her grandmother and greatgrandmother quilted as well.

“It’s been passed down,” Brown said. “A lot of times when kids are growing up, they think, ‘Well, I will not be like my mom and dad, not like the things they do.’ But in the end, they do end up doing what their parents do.”

Both sides of the family come from a rich heritage of quilting and sewing.

The family still has a tulip quilt her mother-in-law, Ada Posey Wooten, made for her son, Wooten’s husband George, when he was an infant.

Ada plowed fields and planted cotton to save up for her own sewing machine.

“Besides the machine, she bought fabric and made her own wedding dress,” Wooten said. “I guess she knew if she didn’t have a machine, she didn’t have a dress.”

Wooten, who has made more than 100 quilts, has issues with her vision, but she has found ways to work around the obstacle.

“It’s just harder to thread that needle,” Wooten said. “But at least

quilting thread is stiffer than others.

I will just keep making one at a time, like I have through the years.”

To preserve those hand-sewn memories, Sandra Stokes, owner of San-Jay Creations in Natchez, advised keeping antique quilts in plastic.

“That will keep it from getting dirty,” Stokes said. “But don’t wash them either. Put them outside, not in the sun, because that can fade it, but just outside for a little while.”

Stokes said to truly appreciate the art form of quilting, you have to really look closely. Wooten agreed.

“Everyone stitches differently,” Wooten said.

Stokes uses her quilts to preserve special memories and events — like the Great Mississippi Balloon Race.

She took old balloon race T-shirt designs and affixed them to a small quilt.

And maybe that is why quilts are so special, because they are a renewable art form. Old clothing and fabric is made into something new — a quilt — which ages too, but is never worthy of the trash.

THE NATCHEZ DEMOCRAT

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75

FUN WATER FACTS FOR KIDS

READ, LEARN AND KNOW ABOUT WATER Water is made up of two elements, hydrogen and oxygen. Its chemical formula is H2O. The existence of water is essential for life on earth.

Water has three different stages, liquid, solid, and gas.

Water covers around 70% of the Earth’s Surface.

Pure water has no smell and no taste; it also has a pH level around 7.

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Drinking water is needed to avoid dehydration, the amount you need each day depends on the temperature, how much activity you are involved in and other factors.

An important use for water is in agricultural irrigation, this is when water is artificially added to soil in order to assist the growth of crops.

Water is used frequently by firefighters to extinguish fires. Helicopters sometimes drop large amounts of water on wildfires and bushfires to stop fires from spreading.

Electricity can be created from hydropower, a process that uses water to drive water turbines connected to generators.

Water also plays a role in cooking. Steaming and boiling food are well known cooking methods.

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76 PROFILE 2012

the

apparel

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Business

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automotive parts

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Scotty McCommons Sales Representative

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appliance sales & repair

automotive sales

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Jimmy Hibbs Sales Representative

automotive repair automotive sales

atv sales and service

Great River Honda

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We do all types of mechanic work.

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Buster Jamison, General Manager

Business Hours: 8 a.m.-5 p.m.

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Lakeside Ford

6074 Highway 84 East P. O. Box 1484, Ferriday, LA

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Rayne Wilson Sales Representative

automotive sales

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Lakeside Ford

Lakeside Ford

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McDonald Collision, LLC

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automotive sales

Josh McDonald

automotive painting

automotive painting

6074 Highway 84 East P. O. Box 1484, Ferriday, LA

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William Pugh Built to last!

Randy Brumfield Sales Representative

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automotive sales

River City Painting, Inc. Lakeside Complete auto body repairs

Insurance claims welcome

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Ford

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Alex Williams Sales Representative

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THE NATCHEZ DEMOCRAT

automotive sales Lakeside Ford

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Roger Allen Sales Representative

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6074 Highway 84 East P. O. Box 1484, Ferriday, LA

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Cody Wagoner Sales Representative

Dennis Senac

automotive sales Lakeside Ford

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chimney sweep New & Used Wood Heaters Appalachian Stoves • Gas Logs

HINTON’S

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Scott Slover Sales Representative

CHIMNEY-SWEEP

“The Chimney Doctor”

Gary Hinton • 318-757-6746 • 601-653-6746 “A Clean Chimney Is A Safe Chimney”

collection agency

able Solution ceiv422 s Main Street ReP.O. Box 669 • Natchez, MS 39121

Bruce W. Brice, Jr. Phone (601)442-0487 President & CEO Fax (601)442-9134 recspecialistinc@aol.com Toll Free 1-877-442-0488 bbricejr@recspecinc.com www.recspecinc.com Debt Collection Professionals

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Kenny Wagoner Sales Representative

1619 Carter Street Vidalia, LA 71373 318-336-8808

6074 Highway 84 East P. O. Box 1484, Ferriday, LA

Bob Dossett Sales Representative

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with purchase of $15 or more

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Mike Lathan Sales Representative

6074 Highway 84 East P. O. Box 1484, Ferriday, LA

Lawerence Vaughn General Manager

77

285 John R. Junkin Dr. (601) 442-8436

equipment sales

COOK

LAWN & TRACTOR, LLC 114 Northgate Rd. • Natchez • 601-445-0718

78 PROFILE 2012

finance & loans

home health

We Care Home Care, inc

CASH INC. A CASH ADVANCE COMPANY Angela Patterson 507 B John R. Junkin Drive Natchez • 601-446-5000

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Personal Care Attendant • Respite Care Private Sitting • Supervised Independent Living NOW ACCEPTING NEW PATIENTS 2009 4TH Street • Jonesville, LA 318-339-4875 • 1-800-290-8930

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paint Porter Paint & Floor Covering

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insurance Bill Mayer Insurance Agency 1-800-738-4221

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home health

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pet grooming Patsy Towles, Owner/Groomer Cathy Allen, Groomer

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THE NATCHEZ DEMOCRAT

real estate agent Barbara Winkworth

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79

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LANDof 80 PROFILE 2012

GIANTS Every generation leaves mark on football field

THE NATCHEZ DEMOCRAT

Story by Justin Whitmore | Photos By Rod Guajardo

Historic Jefferson College

F

“Back in the day if you screwed up on the field the coach met you halfway

The first educational institution of higher learning in Mississippi

HISTORIC BUILDINGS • NATURE TRAIL GIFT SHOP • MUSEUM MISSISSIPPI DEPARTMENT OF ARCHIVES & HISTORY Hwy 61 North of Natchez, Washington, MS 39190 601-442-2901 www.mdahstate.ms.us Building Hours: Monday-Saturday 9am-5pm • Sunday 1pm-5pm Grounds Daily Sun Up-Sun Down tttttttttttttttt

or run plays.”

Stephens said he has a lot of great memories from his playing days, but his most common flashback involves a missed opportunity.

“The thing I remember most is our last home game of the season my senior year,” he said. “We were playing Jackson-Murrah, and it had rained all night and all day. There was like six inches of mud on the field, and it was sloppy as could be.”

Stephens said the match up between the two top-five teams ended in a 3-3 tie, but he had a chance late in the contest to give the Colonels the win.

“There was a minute and a half to go, and I had a pass to me,” he said.

“I see the ball coming to me, and it missed t h e d e f e n s ive back by (an inch). It hit my hands, slipped through, hit my chest and fell out.

“I just think, Wade Stephens, South ‘God, if I would Natchez High School, have just caught 1974 that pass.’ I The class of 1974 don’t shoot left South Natche z myself over it High School with a or blame mythree-year record of self. But I don’t 28-4-1. One member Wade Stephens know why I alof that senior class former South Natchez tight end ways remember was Wade Stephens, that.” who played tight end Stephens said and linebacker for he rarely gets the Colonels.

Stephens said during his the chance to keep up with the playing days he did not fully local high school teams now understand how special those but when he does he notices many changes — both good times were.

“I didn’t realize it at the and bad.

“The game has changed,” he time, but I ran into a guy that played in the band about 15 said. “Players are a lot bigger years ago and he said, ‘Man, and faster. Our offensive line y’all owned South Natchez,’” averaged about 190 pounds.

Stephens said. “I said, ‘If we In high school now they have did we certainly didn’t know 280-300 pound averages. And the speed, good God, when we it.’

“But those were the easiest played there were teams that times we had. We had no kids had a fast guy, but we didn’t and no jobs and no worries. play teams where everybody We went to practice and after ran a 4.4-40 (yard dash).”

Stephens said he also sees would stay and throw the ball or you, the fan, football season is over for six more months.

But for hundreds of high school football stars that have made your fall shine for decades, football season is over for life.

That de pressing thought doesn’t wipe away the memories, the lessons or the emotions that still bubble up for these gridiron giants, though.

It just gives them new perspective.

Ye a r s d ow n t h e road these players will look back and remember some of the highlights that fans recall, but more than any one play, the players will rememb e r re l at i o n s h i p s, friendships and family bonds that make prep football special.

Over the years the game of football has changed in the MissLou. But one thing that remains constant is that each season a new group of seniors leaves their mark on their school a n d l e ave s s ch o o l with memories of their glory days.

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off and grabbed your facemask and was yanking you around. You don’t see that.”

Former high school standouts, facing page from left, Wade Stevens, who played football at South Natchez High in the 1970s, Kent King, who played football at Trinity in 2011, and Eddie Ray Jackson, who played football at Vidalia High School in the 1980s, represent the changes in Miss-Lou high school football over the years.

81

er of t b m e m A Proud

he A

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unty

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82 PROFILE 2012

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Former Vidalia High School running back Eddie Ray Jackson takes the ball down the field during his senior season. behavior from today’s players casion at practice where the ofthat would have driven his high fense was struggling with a goal line play in practice. school coach, Ed Reed, nuts.

“We messed up, and he took “They act like it’s OK if they screw up, and they come off the everybody off the sidelines that wasn’t playing and field grinning,” he put them on desaid. “Back in the fense and said, ‘Y’all day if you screwed score.’ up on the field the “I look up and I’m coach met you halfsupposed to block way off and grabbed one guy, and I have your facemask and four standing in was yanking you front of me.” around. You don’t Stephens said he see that.” also cherishes the Stephens said he time he spent with thinks that attitude his teammates. hurts the players in “The more I think the long run. about it I realize I “They let kids do played football with everything and if a lot of good guys,” they screw up it’s he said. “It was defiOK,” he said. “Footnitely an experience ball teaches you disI wouldn’t trade for cipline, or it used anything in the to. And they have world.” to learn. I still don’t run to this day beEddie Ray Jackson, cause I associate it Vidalia High School with being punished 1985 (at practice).”

Eddie Ray JackStephens said deson was a standout spite Reed’s occarunning back for sional tough love, he the Vikings from looks back fondly on 1982-1985 and led his old coach. the team to three “I enjoyed playing playoff appearancEddie Ray Jackson for him more than I es. But one loss his realized at the time,” former Vidalia Vikings running back senior season still Stephens said. “The bothers him 25 years older I get the more later.

I look back. He had “We made it to the one thing on his mind, and that quarterfinals and played against was making sure we grew up to Homer (High School),” he said. be good, decent people.”

“I only played one snap, because Stephens said he recalls one oc- I pulled my hamstring.”

“Back then we had a good following. We had a lot that supported us and even had a small band back in the day that performed. To me it was kind of electric.”

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THE NATCHEZ DEMOCRAT Jackson said the Vikings lessons he lear ned on the would go on to lose that game. high school football field have “ I t re a l ly b o t h e re d m e, carried over to his coaching because if I had been healthy on the track.

“It kind of took hold of me. and played, and we beat Homer we probably would have made I stress hard work to a lot of kids I work with in track and it to the Dome.”

Ja ck s o n a l s o h a d s o m e field.”

Two of Jackson’s pupils are additional motivation from Homer’s head coach at the his sons, Bradley Sylve and Ramonte Jackson. Sylve is time. “ T h e i r c o a c h , C o a c h currently a freshman football (Wayne) Volentine, said I was p l aye r a t t h e U n ive r s i t y overrated, and I was not the of Alabama, and Ramonte best running back he’d seen J a c k s o n i s a 1 3 - ye a r- o l d all year,” Jackson said. “He budding track star.

“The main thing I stress to knew I wasn’t playing, and I really wanted to. I would have them is I felt within my heart I was a competitor, given up all my a n d I wo u l d n’ t other g ames for go out and not that particular practice hard, game.” because in a game Jackson was I expect to go out named Class 2A and be the best I O f f e n s ive M o s t could be,” Jackson Va l u abl e P l aye r said. “I want to that season after see that kind of rushing for more attitude with my than 1,900 yards kids.” and approximately Jackson works 30 touchdowns. as a director for Jackson said he the Macon Ridge could always feel Community the excitement Development a r o u n d Vi d a l i a Cor poration in High School for Ferriday. football games in He coaches the mid-1980s. a summer “Back then t r a ck t e a m a n d we h a d a g o o d also enjoys following,” he photography. said. “We had a That busy lot that supported schedule prevents us and even had a him from watching small band back his for mer high in the day that school team play, p e r f o r m e d . To he said. me it was kind of Kent King Still, he roots electric. former Trinity football player fo r t h e Vi k i n g s “We had a closeand current knit group of head coach Gary guys.”

Par nham, who Jackson credits was one of his his coach Dee teammates.

Faircloth for much “I love him and of the team’s success during his playing want him to keep motivated a n d ke e p wo rk i n g h a rd , ” days.

“He taught me that hard Jackson said. “Eventually work pays off,” he said. “You good things are going to have to give him credit, he did happen.” a lot of research on teams. Kent King, Trinity Episcopal Day He gave us scouting reports School 2010 before each game. Coach was Not many high school very dedicated. I don’t know if football players competed with he ever went home.” the amount of hardware that F a i r c l o t h ’s l e s s o n s a n d Trinity Episcopal standout Jackson’s talent led Jackson to Ke n t K i n g e a r n e d i n h i s Hattiesburg after high school career that spanned from 2006where he played r unning 2010 and included three state back for the Golden Eagles championships. alongside Souther n Miss But despite all the wins, quarterback Brett Favre.

King said when he thinks Jackson, who now serves as back on his career at Trinity, a track coach for many youth it’s the smaller aspects of prep in the Miss-Lou, said those football that pop into his mind,

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the things that not many fans get to see.

“I miss just being at practice and being around all my friends and all the people I grew up with,” King said.

Although King was a firstteam All-District player, he said one of the special aspects of high school sports is being a part of something bigger than individual achievements.

“I miss when we were all cheering people (on),” he said.

“Like when kids were struggling, we would say something to get them up. (I miss) getting fired up for that guy and having that brotherhood.”

King, who played running back and linebacker for the Saints, said once the lights went out on his final high school game he realized there were feelings that he would never get back, like the lights of “The Pit” and the roar of the crowd as he found his way into the end zone.

“The main thing I miss is the rush you get when making a big touchdown or a big tackle,” he said. “That feeling you get you can never get again in your life.

“But my last home game was probably my most memorable moment, because it was my last game on the field that I played on since I was in the fourth grade,” he said. “And playing there one last time is something I will never forget.”

King had some added pressure being the son of a local football legend, who also hap-

pened to be his coach at Trinity.

Saints head coach David King was a successful player at Adams County Christian School, and Kent said he wanted to live up to the accomplishments of his role model.

“All I heard my whole life was how great an athlete he was at everything and that he was one of the fastest boys to come out of town, and I wanted to live up to that.”

Kent said playing for his father brought with it additional challenges. “(Playing for my dad) had its ups and downs for sure,” Kent said. “He was tough on me and maybe it was unfair at times, but at the same time it made me the player I was.

That’s why I was as successful as I was.”

King, who started his collegiate work at Southern Mississippi but recently transferred to Northwestern State to give college football a try, said he still enjoys returning home to watch his alma mater play.

“I want to support my dad, because he’s my hero, and I love him,” Kent said. “I love watching him coach. He’s one of the best in the business. I also like seeing my teammates in the grades below me. They are like brothers.”

King is studying physical therapy, but he is also wrestling with the idea of once ag ain following in his father’s footsteps and becoming a coach.

File Photo

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Trinity’s Kent King plays against a Central Private football player in his senior season.

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88 PROFILE 2012

Back in the nest

Boomers meet challenges of living with adult children, aging parents

At age 84, Nickie Read Hicks enjoys spending her time with her angels. Hicks lives with her daughter Eileen Ball and her son-in-law John Ball. In her wing of the house, she keeps a curio cabinet filled with a collection of Seraphim angels directly in view from her rocking chair.

THE NATCHEZ DEMOCRAT

S tor y b y J u stin W hitmore | P hotos b y Ben H ill y er & R o D G u ajardo

F

irst comes love, then comes marriage, the baby carriage, nearly two decades of child rearing and, finally, freedom and again, love.

Right?

It is the traditional American story, after all, but maybe that book has a few more chapters these days.

With more and more young adults leaving high school or college jobless, moneyless and in need of shelter, many of today’s baby boomers are finding their nests full once again.

Other boomers are filling their halls not with their children, but with their own aging parents instead.

That special time traditionally reserved for rekindling old flames suddenly becomes shared time, yet again.

But local families know that — despite challenges — sharing their houses with family simply means there’s more about life to love.

John and Eileen Ball

Nickie Read Hicks is the queen of her own castle.

She passes her time sitting on her rocking throne gazing at her collection of Seraphim angels until the four-wheeled chariot picks her up for a rendezvous at another palace — the Castle restaurant — for a game of bridge. And she finishes her day relaxing in the queen’s seat of the family living room, watching Wheel of Fortune.

Nickie, 84, is a resident in the home of her daughter, Eileen Ball, and her son-in-law, John Ball. But with her own wing of the house and the loving support provided to her by her family, Nickie is able to live like royalty.

“I call her the queen, and she calls me the boss,” John said about his mother-in-law.

“And I’m the servant,” Eileen jokingly replied.

Nickie has been living in the Ball residence for four years, and both Nickie and the Balls are enjoying her stay.

“I love it. I mean look at this house,” Nickie said as she scanned the family sitting room full of family mementos. “They’re so good to me.”

Eileen said she treasures the company of her mother.

“I have no regrets, I love what I’m doing,” she said.

“I love having her here, but I don’t know that everybody could do it.

“It’s because of John. I don’t know how many husbands would be as understanding and patient as (he is).”

“She treats me like one of her sons,” John added.

Nickie’s health problems, including cardiomyopathy, caused John and Eileen to decide that it was time for them make a change four years ago.

“We knew something had to be done,” Eileen said.

“It got to the point where mother had to move in with somebody, and we wanted her to move in with us.”

The move caused some adjustments to be made in the Ball household.

“As crazy as it sounds, climate was one of my hardest issues at first,” Eileen said.

“We were all back in (one) wing (of the house),” John said. “And she would be too hot or too cold.

That was an issue, and we ended up adding an addition to the house. So it gave her one wing and we had the other one. Now she can keep her temperature level like she wants.”

Eileen added that her mother’s wing has all the accommodations that she needs, including an adjustable seat in the bathtub, her oxygen and her personal belongings — including her angels.

Beside the new additions to the house, the Balls said not a whole lot has changed with their day-to-

When Alex Foster, above, had to sit out a semester before returning to her nursing school classes, she returned home from Copiah-Lincoln Community College in Wesson to live with her parents Forrest and Debbie Foster. The time has allowed Alex to do many thing with her parents, including coaching softball and playing guitar. At left, Nickie Read Hicks lives with her daughter Eileen Ball and her son-inlaw John Ball.

day lives.

“John will get up at like 5 a.m., that’s his time,” Eileen said. “I get up around 6, and mom gets up at 7:30. And you have to get her coffee, her insulin, her breakfast and then her (news)paper. That’s our time to visit with her.

“Normally we have a sitter come and be with her during the day, and at night at 6:30 we all watch ‘Wheel of Fortune.’”

John added that Nickie also enjoys marathons of “Criminal Minds.”

Nickie said she enjoys the time she spends at the house while John and Eileen are at work. It gives her the time to relax and sit down with one — or

more — of her favorite romance novels. “(I read those) constantly,” she said. “I love those.

I can read two or three in a day.”

Nickie raised eight children, and she said it’s nice to be away from the hustle and bustle of busy family life.

“I can’t drive, so I’m kind of stuck here and a lot of times it’s just me,” she said. “That’s why I read so much. When I could drive I was going all the time and taking the kids here, there and yonder all my life. It’s nice to have some peace and quiet and do what I want. I can put my slippers on and leave my pajamas on or whatever.”

Nickie was married to Dr. Allen Read before he died at the age of 55. She then remarried Harold Hicks and was married to him for 20 years until his death. Her eight children have given her 16 grandchildren and three great-grandchildren, with one more on the way. Nickie said she frequently gets visits from her grandchildren and their children.

“It’s nice, really nice,” she said. “They are all so good to me. They call me ‘Nanny.’ They love me, and I love them. That’s about it.”

Nickie said Thanksgiving and Christmas are special times for the family.

“I love holidays,” she said. “Here we do a lot of gift giving.”

Nickie is originally from Greenville. Her father was from Lebanon and her mother was born in Natchez before she moved to Greenville. Nickie’s mother and father had an arranged marriage, and they were separated by 40 years.

“He died in his 80s, and she was in her early 40s,”

89

90 PROFILE 2012 Eileen said.

One thing Nickie got from her parents was the ability to cook, Eileen said.

“Mother was a great cook,” Eileen said. “All the children grew up learning how to roll grape leaves and make kibbe. This Thanksgiving we had a Lebanese-American Thanksgiving with grape leaves, kibbe and tabouli.”

The Balls said although they have settled in to their new lifestyle, there are occasional hiccups.

“There is nothing we can do spontaneous anymore,” Eileen said. “We have to make sure someone is here with her, and she’s taken care of.”

John works as an attorney, and Eileen works with him. Eileen said often Nickie will call her several times a day.

“She has her cell phone with everybody’s number, so whatever child she wants to call she just has to push a button,” John said.

“And I’m No. 1, so whenever she needs me she just pushes 1,” Eileen added. “She feels like she has crises (with her) health.”

The Balls said it is also sometimes difficult to travel, which is something they enjoy doing.

“It’s just something John and I have learned to do,” Eileen said. “We take breaks. It’s important for us to have time together. We travel.”

The Balls recently traveled out west to Los Angeles, Arizona and the Grand Canyon. Each time they arranged a sitter to come stay with Nickie.

John said that his job is more of a helping role for Eileen.

“I’m more of a support,” he said. “Eileen is the one that really is the caretaker.”

But despite the few problems, the family says they are happy with their living situation.

“I think it’s really the greatest gift you can give to a parent,” John said. “It’s kind of in return for what they did for us at an early age.”

Forrest and Debbie Foster

Twenty-three-year-old Alex Foster has to wrestle herself out of her bed in Natchez most mornings to get ready for her daily trek to Copiah-Lincoln Community College in Wesson.

“Mornings are hard getting up at 6:30 a.m.,” she said.

She spends an hour getting ready, and she then departs and spends the hour-plus drive preparing for the reward she hopes she will get upon graduating from nursing school.

“I bought an Italian (learning program) at Dirt Cheap, and it teaches me Italian,” she said. “I want to go to Italy for my graduation present.”

Alex attends class from 9 a.m. to noon and then returns home to run a few errands, study and do it all again the next day.

Alex has become used to her daily commute, but it does bother one of her roommates.

“I worry about her getting up and going to school,” said Alex’s mother, Debbie Foster. “I worry about her traveling.”

A couple of years ago, when Alex was attending Co-Lin as and undergraduate student, Debbie did not have those worries. Alex lived on campus and played softball for the Lady Wolves from 2007-2009.

“When she was at college I slept with both eyes closed,” Debbie said. “Once she had gone to college, I could finally exhale and not worry about when she came in or where she was. Now that she’s back, I find I still worry about her. She’s an adult, but she’s still my child, and I feel like I still have to take care of her.”

Alex grew up a softball player. She started playing slow-pitch softball when she was 4 years old, and graduated from Adams County Christian School as one of the team’s standout players. After high school, she wrestled with the idea of playing college softball at Co-Lin or just focusing on her education, but a

Alex Foster is studying nursing at Copiah-Lincoln Community College in Wesson. She lives at home and commutes back and forth to school. slight push from mom and dad made the difference.

“It was the fact of how many kids get the opportunity to play college softball?” her father Forrest Foster said. “I felt like it was something that, if she hadn’t done it, she would always look back and say, ‘what if ?’”

Alex had never played fast-pitch softball before beginning play with the Lady Wolves, but she caught on quickly and had a pretty successful career, she said.

“I think I did well,” she said. “It ended up being one of the best experiences I ever had. After Co-Lin I was like, ‘Is that it? I don’t get to play anymore?’”

While playing outfield for the Lady Wolves, Alex started focusing on her goal of becoming a nurse by taking all the pre-requisite courses.

“I think I always (wanted to be a nurse),” she said.

“I like taking care of people, but honestly the money (was a reason I wanted to do nursing) as well.”

While Alex, the youngest of the Fosters’ three children, attended undergraduate school at Co-Lin, the Fosters had the house all to themselves, which was both good and bad.

“Well, it would have been difficult for me if I wasn’t coaching fast-pitch at ACCS,” said Forrest, who still is the head softball coach for the Lady Rebels. “It was like I had a whole lot of other daughters on the softball field. So, it wasn’t too bad of an empty-nest syndrome. The girls at the school kind of filled in for her as much as possible.”

But it was difficult for his wife, he said.

“It was pretty tough for her, because there wasn’t anybody home,” he said. “Alex was gone, and I was fooling with softball all the time, so it was more of a transition for her.”

Debbie said she found that her schedule became pretty empty.

“It was very lonesome,” she said. “You spend your entire life chasing activities, and all of a sudden it comes to a screeching halt, and you say, ‘what am I supposed to do?’”

Debbie said one of the good aspects was that the extra time allowed her to do some things she wanted to do and spend more time with her husband.

“It was good because there was time for Forrest and I to enjoy being with each other,” she said.

Alex got used to living away from home as well.

“It was great,” she said. “I didn’t have a curfew.

I guess I liked being in a dorm because you are in there with everybody, not just by yourself, and there was always something to do.”

Alex finished undergraduate school in May 2009.

She returned home to work a few odd jobs before she could start nursing school at Co-Lin in August 2010. When she started class she got an apartment in Hazlehurst and attended nursing-school classes from August 2010 to May 2011.

In May, Alex found out that she fell one point shy of passing her nursing school courses and was forced to sit out a semester before starting classes again.

During that time, from May 2011 to January 2012, Alex was home helping her dad coach the Lady Rebels softball team. Now she is back attending class at Co-Lin, but this time doing so from home for a variety of reasons.

“It was more of a time issue than anything,” Forrest said. “She had so much time on her hands, and there was no sense in staying and spending that money (for an apartment,) when she could just come home and study.”

Alex said her first try at nursing school taught her a lot about the value of living at home during school.

“I learned I just need to stop goofing off and stop running to Jackson every night,” she said.

“She learned that it’s probably better academically to stay home,” Forrest added.

With Alex’s comings and goings, both she and her parents found out that although many things had stayed the same while she was away, some things had changed.

“You get used to your kids being gone, you and your wife finally get to spend that deserved time together that you’ve been waiting on for all those years,” Forrest said. “Now all of a sudden she’s back home, which is great, we love her to death. We love our kids to death and wish the best for them, but my wife and I do enjoy the time we have by ourselves.”

One thing Alex noticed was that her mother had transformed her room.

“I made my mom switch everything back to my room,” Alex said. “She had done it up to where it looks nice. It was more of a guest room after high school.”

Alex also had to get used to having a curfew again.

“Even at her age she still has a curfew,” Forrest said. “Mom and dad work, and they have to get up in the morning. You have to show a little respect.

“She doesn’t like it.”

Alex said she has a better understanding of her parents now, and that her relationship with them has changed some as well.

“Our relationship is a lot better,” she said. “We goof off a lot and have a lot more fun.”

“She and her mom are like best buds too,” Forrest said.

Alex and her mother like to hit the garage sales some weekends, and Alex looks for vinyl albums to add to her collection.

Alex’s spring semester of nursing school will last until April. She plans on helping her dad coach the Lady Rebels again this summer before starting classes again in August. She plans on finishing nursing school in May 2013, and after that nobody knows where she will end up, she said.

“I’m going to leave home for sure,” she said.

“That’s the first thing. I don’t know where I’m going to though. I’ve been jumping around — either Florida, Baton Rouge or Jackson. We’ll see.”

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91

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Let’s Be Upfront About Having A Hip Replacement.

Our New Direct Anterior Approach To Hip Replacement Is The Way To Go. For too long the trauma of a conventional hip replacement procedure has been a painful reality. But those days are over.

With the new, minimally invasive Direct Anterior Approach, our surgeons utilize a special table that positions the patient in a manner that allows the new hip ball-joint to be implanted from the front.

This breakthrough means less pain, faster recovery and improved mobility.

To learn more about the Direct Anterior Approach and our skilled team of orthopedic surgeons, call 601.249.4282.

Southwest Mississippi Regional Medical Center. Going further, so you don’t have to.

Hip Replacement Procedure Comparison Anterior Approach Conventional Average Hospital Stay

2 to 4 days

3 to 10 days

Incision Size

4 to 5 inches

10 to 12 inches

Muscle Trauma No muscle or Muscle cut from tendon detachment bone Recovery Time 2 to 8 weeks

2 to 4 months

Our Orthopedic Surgeons are: Ted Jordan, M.D., Eric Thomas, M.D., Robert Van Uden, M.D.

Southwest Mississippi Regional Medical Center 215 Marion Ave. • McComb, MS 39648 • 601.249.4282 • www.southwesthealthsystem.org © 2011-2012 Southwest Mississippi Regional Medical Center. All rights reserved.

Phon Toll Fre Fax

92 PROFILE 2012

COLVIN’S PHARMACY

HERITAGE Family Dentistry MANOR Health and Rehab Center Steven J. Worley D.D.S. Meeting Health Care Needs of Our Community!

Our unwavering commitment has made us the area’s most respected and trusted providers of skilled nursing, comprehensive rehabilitation and quality long-term elder care services.

114 Serio Blvd • Ferriday, LA

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Open Monday - Thursday 9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.

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A Nursing Home Alternative Specializing in Home Health Care Licensed in MS & LA

Outpatient Therapy Services also available at Promise Hospital 209 FRONT STREET, VIDALIA, LA. www.promise-misslou.com

P.O. Box 181 • Tunica, LA 70782

225.655.4800 / Fax: 225.655.4882 servingangelsllc.com

Riverland Pediatric Clinic

104 Louisiana Ave. Ferriday, LA 71334 Phone 318-757-3006 Carrie Bonomo, M.D.

Serving 11 Parishes in Louisiana Professional Staff Available 24 Hours Medicaid and Medicare Certified 1633 CARTER STREET • VIDALIA, LOUISIANA

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• Dr. D.M. Carlton, Jr. • Dr. P.S. Arnold, Jr. • Dr. R.B. Marks

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Your single resource for all your home health needs.

3 locations serving Concordia, Catahoula, LaSalle and Tensas

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Claiborne County Family Health Center SERVING THE SOUTHWEST RIVER REGION www.CaringRiver.com Roderick C. Givens, M.D. Radiation Oncologist

133 Jefferson Davis Blvd.

Natchez, MS 39120 601-442-1285 • 1-800-493-2901 24 Hour Answering Service fax 601-446-9683

Offering medical and dental services Office Hours: Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday 8:00am-6:00pm; Wednesday and Friday 8:00am-5:00pm

F E R R I D AY | J O N E S V I L L E |

Physical, Occupational & Speech Therapy 601-445-0005 Phone 601-445-0370 Fax

The mission of the Claiborne County Family Health Center is to provide quality, accessible, available, affordable, managed primary and preventive health care services, to the residents of Claiborne County and surrounding areas in Mississippi.

Tanya Savage Anderson, Medical Director Deidra Jones, DMD

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Diabetic Foot center Office Hours: Mon, Wed, Fri-9 a.m.-5 p.m. by appointment.

56 Sgt. Prentiss Dr. • P.O. Box 18195 • Natchez, MS 39120

601-446-9850

24 HOUR SERVICE • FREE DELIVER 24 HOUR SERVICE • FREE DELIVERY & SETUP

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2045 Highway 61 North Port Gibson, MS 39150 601-437-3050 601-437-3051 (fax)

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THE NATCHEZ DEMOCRAT

FAMILY & GENERAL DENTISTRY Brennan O’Brien, D.M.D. Family Dentistry 306 Highland Blvd., Natchez 601-445-8904

2012

Medical Directory A Comprehensive Guide to Physicians and Healthcare Providers serving the Miss-Lou area.

CARDIOLOGY

FAMILY MEDICAL PRACTICE Huey Moak, M.D. 112 Serio Blvd., Ferriday 318-757-3696

FAMILY & GENERAL DENTISTRY

HOME HEALTH

Michael Puddister, D.M.D.

Louisiana HomeCare

13 Homochitto St., Natchez 601-442-0006

Vidalia: 318-336-2333 Ferriday: 318-757-6153 Jonesville: 318-336-1280

FAMILY MEDICAL PRACTICE

INTERNAL MEDICINE/NEPHROLOGY

William Coney, M.D.

John P. O’Brien

904 1st Street, Jonesville 318-339-8387

131 Jeff Davis Blvd., Natchez 601-442-9117

FAMILY MEDICAL PRACTICE Benita Cushingberry-Turner, M.D. Natchez Medical Foundation - Family 46 Sgt. S. Prentiss Dr., Ste. 201 - A, Natchez 601-445-2248

FAMILY MEDICAL PRACTICE

NEUROLOGY Anubha Jati, M.D. Natchez Neurology Clinic 46 Sgt. Prentiss Dr., 2nd Floor, Natchez 601-445-2248

OBSTETRICS & GYNECOLOGY

Herman Gibson, M.D.

William Godfrey, M.D.

204 Serio Blvd., Ferriday 318-757-4145

Natchez Regional Clinic - OB - GYN 46 Sgt. Prentiss Dr., Ste 103, Natchez 601-442-3701

FAMILY MEDICAL PRACTICE

OBSTETRICS & GYNECOLOGY

Brad LeMay, M.D.

M.J. Gremillion, M.D.

Beverly Love, M.D.

Jackson Heart Clinic of Natchez 46 Sgt. Prentiss Dr., Ste. 200 Natchez 601-442-0011

200 Serio Blvd., Ferriday 318-757-2000

Natchez Regional Clinic - OB - GYN 46 Sgt. Prentiss Dr., Ste 103, Natchez 601-442-3701

FAMILY & GENERAL DENTISTRY

FAMILY MEDICAL PRACTICE

OBSTETRICS & GYNECOLOGY

John B. Carlton, D.M.D.

J. Kevin Ingram, M.D.

Thomas Purvis, M.D.

Carlton Family Dentistry, PLLC 500 Hwy. 61 N., Natchez 601-653-0003

1806 Carter St. Vidalia, LA 318-336-8166

Natchez Regional Clinic - OB - GYN 46 Sgt. Prentiss Dr., Ste. 103, Natchez 601-442-3701

FAMILY & GENERAL DENTISTRY

FAMILY MEDICAL PRACTICE

William P. Dickey, III D.M.D.

Michael Lauer, M.D.

142 Jefferson Davis Blvd., Natchez 601-442-6204

204 Serio Blvd. Ferriday 318-757-0210

FAMILY & GENERAL DENTISTRY

93

FAMILY MEDICAL PRACTICE

OBSTETRICS & GYNECOLOGY Bernadette Sherman, M.D., MBA

Jefferson County Comprehensive Health Center 225 Community Dr., Fayette 601-786-3475

OBSTETRICS & GYNECOLOGY

W. Jarrod Gregg, D.D.S.

Sarah Lee, M.D.

LaToya Walker, M.D.

Gregg Dental Center 1148 Logan Sewell Dr., Vidalia 318-336-5711

100 Lincoln Ave., Ferriday 318-757-0000

Natchez Regional Clinic - OB - GYN 46 Sgt. Prentiss Dr., Ste. 103, Natchez 601-442-3701

94 PROFILE 2012

A Comprehensive Guide to Physicians and Healthcare Providers serving the Miss-Lou area.

ORTHOPEDICS Robert Haimson, M.D. Passman-Haimson Orthopedic Sports & Rehab 46 Sgt. Prentiss Dr., Natchez 601-442-9654

ORTHOPEDICS Daniel McCallum, M.D., Locum Tenen

Passman-Haimson Orthopedic Sports & Rehab 46 Sgt. Prentiss Dr., Natchez 601-442-9654

ORTHOPEDICS

J.C. Passman, M.D. Passman-Haimson Orthopedic Sports & Rehab 46 Sgt. Prentiss Dr., Natchez 601-442-9654

PEDIATRICS

PODIATRY

Carrie Bonomo, M.D.

Natchez Podiatry

1810 EE Wallace Blvd., Ferriday 318-757-3006

304 Highland Blvd., Natchez 601-446-9850

PHYSICAL THERAPY

SURGERY-GENERAL & LAPROSCOPIC

Jessica Clayton, Physical Therapist

Geoffrey J. Flattmann, M.D., F.A.C.S., P.L.L.C.

Passman-Haimson Orthopedic Sports & Rehab 46 Sgt. Prentiss Dr., Natchez 601-442-9654

PHYSICAL THERAPY

SURGERY-GENERAL & LAPROSCOPIC

Michelle Kaiser, Physical Therapist

Ronnie Gregg, M.D.

Passman-Haimson Orthopedic Sports & Rehab 46 Sgt. Prentiss Dr., Natchez 601-442-9654

PHYSICAL THERAPY Marcia Passman, Physical Therapist

142-A Jefferson Davis Blvd., Natchez 601-445-8667

206 Serio Blvd., Ferriday 318-757-3612

SURGERY-GENERAL & LAPROSCOPIC Hendrick Kuiper, M.D., FRACS, FICS

Passman-Haimson Orthopedic Sports & Rehab 46 Sgt. Prentiss Dr., Natchez 601-442-9654

Natchez Regional Clinic - Surgery 46 Sgt. Prentiss Dr., Ste 100, Natchez 601-442-5388

Giving them something to shout about!

The Natchez Democrat and McLaurin Elementary School – Partners in Education

The Natchez Democrat and McLaurin Elementary School hosted an Accelerated Reader kickoff.

The newspaper and the school have teamed up to focus on improving reading levels and encourage third graders to read more. Each week the newspaper features an Acclerated Reader of the week.

THE NATCHEZ DEMOCRAT

95

L.J. Britt, a retired Natchez firefighter, opens a wood-burning heater that belonged to his father. Britt recovered the heater from his sister’s backyard after it was left there to be forgotten. He said it holds fond memories of his father, but also reminds him of how many fires the primitive heater caused in the past.

Lessons from the

FIRE Tragedy spurred saftey, code changes for generations

Story by Michale Kerekes | Photos by Rod Guajardo

L.J. Britt started working for the Nat- that fateful evening of April 23, 1940, were chez Fire Department in March 1968, al- not in place.

“Back then, you were allowed to board most 28 years after the Rhythm Night the door up where you couldn’t get in or Club fire. out,” Britt said. “Now, city As Britt observed fire codes are a lot stricter than safety throughout the they used to be. You also years, though, he said have better equipment and there were definitely better training standards. signs of how that tragBack when I started, you edy impacted fire safety didn’t go to fire schools, in Natchez. you just showed up and “The majority of learned (on the job).” buildings now have a The Rhythm Night Club building capacity numfire started because the ber,” said Britt, who is social club bar ricaded now retired. “You can the exits so gatecrashers only have so many peocouldn’t get in, said Mimi ple per square footage Miller, executive director of the building. I think I of the Historic Natchez saw a sign the other day L.J. Britt Foundation. The club was (in a building) that said hosting Walter Barnes and it could only house 350 Former Natchez firefighter His Royal Creolians from or 500 people.”

Chicago, and more than Fire safety and prevention in Natchez has a unique context 700 people were in attendance.

“They boarded everything up to make because of the Rhythm Night Club Fire, when fire codes that could have prevented sure people couldn’t get in, so the only

“I imagine the fallout from it was the same as those planes hitting the World Trade Center in New York — it woke a lot of people up, in more ways than just fire protection.”

96 PROFILE 2012

Westminster Presbyterian Church 33 Fatherland Road Natchez 601-442-2254 Pastor: The Reverend Dr. Richard A. Wood

Pastors John & Vickie Collard

Abundant Life Church A place to experience the Living Jesus

607 1/2 Madison Street • Natchez, MS 39120 Kenneth E. Stanton Sr., Pastor

147 Lower Woodville Rd. P.O. Box 19102 Natchez, MS 39122 (601)442-0097

Sunday School First Sunday • 11am Sunday School all other Sundays • 9:30am Worship Service First Sunday • 12:30pm Covenant Service Second Sunday • 11am Communion Service Fourth Sunday • 11am Prayer Service Wednesday • 5:30pm Bible Study Wednesday • 6pm Baptist Orientation Alternating Tuesday • 5:30pm

Sunday Service: 10:30am Wednesday Night Youth: 7:00pm Weekly Cell Group Meetings Weekend Mass Sunday 8:30am

8:15 Worship in Stratton Chapel 9:15 Sunday School 10:10 Fellowship Coffee 10:30 Worship in the Sanctuary

First Presbyterian Church of Natchez Home of Natchez in Historic Photographs and Presbyterian Playschool 117 S. Pearl St., 601-442-2581 in downtown Natchez www.fpcnatchez.org

Rose Hill Missionary Baptist Church

Services: Sunday 10:00am/6:30pm, Wednesday 7:30pm 606 Hwy 61 N., Natchez, MS Church Office: 601-442-1411 natchezpentecostals.org

Pastor James Johnson

Assumption Catholic Church GREATER NEW JERUSALEM APOSTOLIC HEALING TEMPLE

w w w. p o m l . n e t

Fayette, Mississippi • 601-786-6226

Celebrating our 25th Silver Anniversary!

(1987-2012)

Our Lady of Lourdes 503 Texas Ave., Vidalia, LA

318 - 336 - 5450 Masses:

Sunday: 10am & 6pm Wednesday: 7pm

Saturday 4:00pm Sunday 9:30am Monday & Thursday 8:00am Wednesday & Friday 5:30pm

Reconciliation:

Saturday

3:45pm

Join Us March 13-18, 2012 as we celebrate 25 years of serving God and God’s People...

RHEMA 2012!

Bishop & Queen Jackson, Senior Pastors

YOUR SEARCH ENDS HERE! Tune in to 97.7 FM WTYJ or 1240 AM WMIS Power of Pentecost Broadcast Every Sunday 8:15-9am Queen’s Chambers - Wednesday 10:30-11am “Tune into the Power”

EXECUTIVE OFFICE AND PRAYER CENTER 164 E. Franklin Street, Natchez, MS 601-445-5683 “We are a full time ministry”

God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.

THE NATCHEZ DEMOCRAT

Christ Life Church @ the River Pastor: David and Nita Hale Sunday Night Service: 6:00pm Thursday: 6:30pm Find us on

Services held at Vidalia Conference and Convention Center

601-870-4662

100 North Hickory St. Vidalia, LA 71373 318-336-7111

Pastor: Bill McCullin

Worship: 9:00am, Traditional Service Sunday School: 9:15am Worship: 10:30am, Contemporary Service Sunday School: 10:30am, Wednesday: 6:30pm

St. Mary Basilica 105 South Union Street Natchez, MS 445-5616 Rev. David O’Connor Pastor

WEEKEND MASSES Saturdays, 4:00pm • Sundays, 10:00am

DAILY Monday-Saturday, 8am RECONCILIATION Saturdays 3:30pm

stmarybasilica@cableone.net

We invite you to come and grow with us 305 S. Commerce Street at Washington The Rev. Walton Jones, Rector SUNDAY

Holy Eucharist Rite I ........................... 8am Christian Education ....................... 9:30am Holy Eucharist Rite II ................... 10:30am

WEDNESDAY Holy Eucharist/Holy Unction .................5:30pm Supper ......................................................6:30pm

THURSDAY Men’s Breakfast .............7:15am at Parish Hall

Trinity Episcopal Church

For seasonal service time changes call 601-445-8432

Jefferson Street United Methodist Church 511 Jefferson Street In Downtown Natchez

Sunday Schedule Breakfast ............................. 8:30am Sunday School All Ages ............................... 9:15am Worship(Sanctuary) ............... 10:30am Children’s Message and Children’s Church, too!

Youth Activities ..................... 5:30pm (Christian Life Center)

Childcare Provided For All Services For more information call 601-442-3795

Anchored to the pAst.... ........Focused on the Future! *Downtown Natchez since 1807

EDWIN TEMPLE, SENIOR PASTOR

Courtesy Historic Natchez Foundation

The Natchez Sanitorium on Franklin was one of many buildings in Natchez that had fire escape chutes installed on the building for quick escape from the second or third story in case of fire. way out was the same way as in, which was the front door,” Miller said.

Miller said the inside of the building was decorated with Spanish moss, which had been sprayed with “Flit,” a petroleumbased insecticide that was highly flammable.

“Somebody hit it with a cigarette probably, and it just blazed up,” Miller said.

“They had ceiling fans in the building, and those were going, so they fanned (the fire) and spread it, and there was no way out,” Miller said most of the 209 deaths that resulted came from smoke inhalation. Other causes of death included trampling and the building being turned into what Miller called a steam bath after firefighters sprayed water on it.

Because of the number of major fires in the country at the time, Miller said cases such as the Rhythm Night Club fire sparked changes in fire safety codes.

“There were many big fires that brought the attention of firefighters, and still do,” Miller said. “It’s why our doors open out now, if you have a gathering of so many people, instead of in,” Miller said. “Had the doors opened out, it might have made a big difference.

“Did that one fire cause all the changes, no, but it certainly contributed to making people more sensitive and changed the way things were done in Natchez, I think.”

Natchez Fire Department Fire Marshal Aaron Wesley said several other changes

resulted because of cases like the Rhythm Night Club fire.

“Exit lights stemmed from it — emergency lights with exit signs,” Wesley said.

“That door probably wasn’t wide enough, and in a commercial business, you now have to have 36-inch doors.

“You can’t block doors now; you have to be able to get out. Also, if you have a building longer than 50-feet long, and you have 1-500 people inside, you have to have two exits.”

Britt also said he thinks the Rhythm Night Club fire played a major role in the community adopting better fire standards.

“That’s a lot of lives to lose at one time,” Britt said. “I imagine the fallout from it was the same as those planes hitting the World Trade Center in New York — it woke a lot of people up, in more ways than just fire protection.”

“Back then, they just did everything by the seat of their pants,” he said. “There were no real standards. It was kind of like that fire in Chicago (Iroquois Theatre, Dec. 30, 1903). After it happened, I imagine a lot of new rules came out. You can’t smoke in a lot of buildings anymore; that was a big change.”

Britt said it was probably around 1970 when local firefighters first started going to schools and businesses to discuss fire safety.

“We’d try to talk to young kids, and we had inspection programs at the schools.

97

98 PROFILE 2012

L.J. Britt, a retired Natchez firefighter, triggers an old fire extinguisher he keeps in his garage. Britt said that model extinguisher was popular on school buses and any large vehicle that needed quick assistance from a blazing fire.

That particular model used carbon tetrachloride to extinguish flames, a chemical Britt said was very difficult to remove after sprayed.

MORE THAN HEALTHCARE

We made sure fire extinguishers were upto-date and well marked. In restaurants, we made sure the kitchens had the right equipment in order. Evacuation plans in the 1970s had to be well-marked.”

Britt said monthly inspections into businesses were normal as early as the ’70s.

“City codes would tell you how many exits you’d have to have, and we’d inspect businesses every month to make sure everything was being done for maximum protection,” Britt said.

“You also had to inspect the fire extinguishers, because they eventually deteriorate. The dry powder will eventually settle in the bottom, so they wouldn’t be effective if you tried to spray them. They need to be inspected at least once a year.”

In addition to devastating fires forcing new fire standards, Britt also said insurance companies played a part in creating many modern-day safety regulations.

“As time went by, insurance companies started giving incentives for things like having fire extinguishers every 50 feet,” Britt said. “I think if you had all the standards met, you’d get lower rates.”

Britt said even though there weren’t fire academies around when he started, he thinks academies do a good job training modern-day firefighters to handle blazes.

He also said he’s been impressed with modern fire suits.

“We had turnout suits when we started, but not as good as the ones we have now.

They have enough self-contained breathing

Riverland Medical Center is staffed with well trained nurses who believe quality care is the top priority.

L to R: Ruby Lollis, CNA, Alberta Johnson, Ward Clerk,Vickie Zuccaro, RN, Donna Crawford, LPN, Geraldine Jefferson, CNA

1700 E.E. Wallace Blvd. Ferriday, LA • 318-757-6551

THE NATCHEZ DEMOCRAT apparatuses for every fireman on the vehicle.

Back in my day, they only had one, so try to imagine what that was like,” Britt joked.

Britt also said the helmets have improved since his time.

“Ours had a long bib down the back,” Britt said. “When you went in, you’d use it for heat protection by turning it around to protect your face. When you were outside, it would keep hot water from going down your back when the hot water would come off the house after spraying it.

“Today, the helmets are more compact, the bill doesn’t come out as far and there a plastic visor on the front. The bib stays in the back.”

Britt’s memories of fire safety go back even before he became a fireman. Growing up in Adams County, Britt attended Carpenter School No. 2.

One of the most distinguishable features of a school was a long tube that started on the top floor and was used as a fire escape during drills.

“If there was a fire, you’d just slide down,” Britt said. “Just a tube is all it was. We loved to play in them when the teacher would turn her head, but if we got caught, we got in trouble. You’d use them during a fire drill, but other than that, they didn’t want you playing in them.”

Britt said the tubes were used in the late 1940s but probably started getting replaced in the ’50s.

“They were just big and wide enough to let crowds of people out,” Britt said. “We could climb up them only so far (from the bottom),

“Fire safety is ever-changing.

People have gotten a lot wiser, and more research is being put in. I’ve been doing this for almost nine years, and I’ve seen a lot of changes — good changes.”

Aaron Wesley Natchez fire marshal

but if we got caught, we got a paddling.”

Although the school kept the top entrance to the tube locked down unless it was needed, the other end of the tube outside the school was always accessible, Britt said.

“They were just a plaything to us,” he said.

“We didn’t think much about them, but they always stayed open (at the bottom). We were allowed to play around the bottom.”

Britt’s friend, the late Josie Foster, grew up in Meadville and said before she died that she remembers the tubes back when she was growing up.

“Most of the classrooms were on the second story,” Foster said. “It was just a huge, round tube that went down the side of the building and out toward the football field.”

And Foster admitted that she and her fellow students looked forward to sliding down it.

“It was fun,” she said. “We used to hope we’d have a fire drill, because we couldn’t play on them (otherwise).”

Today, Wesley urged all residents to have a

99

plan for their house or business in case of fire.

“We call it the exit drill in the home, or EDITH,” Wesley said. “You should have an annual inspection, a working smoke alarm and practice that drill in your home twice a year.”

Wesley said if he had to guess, at least 50 percent of fires could be prevented if people would simply take the necessary steps.

“You can prepare,” Wesley said. “There are accidental fires, like something electrical or something you can’t see, but I’d say over half of them can be prevented if you follow the necessary safety precautions.

“Most people don’t know that fire can be friendly or an enemy. It depends on how you use it. Some people don’t know safety, period.

It’s very important.”

But Wesley said he’s been impressed with the advances in fire safety he’s seen since he began working at the fire department more than eight years ago.

“In the hotels, you have fireproof curtains, bedspreads and even carpet,” Wesley said.

“With the elevators, you can’t get on them if the fire alarm goes off. They just go to the bottom and stop. The exit signs are lower so people in a wheelchair can see them. There’s just been so many changes.”

And Wesley said the changes have come because of better research and development.

“Fire safety is ever-changing,” he said.

“People have gotten a lot wiser, and more research is being put in. I’ve been doing this for almost nine years, and I’ve seen a lot of changes — good changes.”

Quality child care for a better

TOMORROW! Preschool year around, Monday through Friday Language and Social Skills • Fine and Gross Motor Skills Phonics • Reading Readiness • Art Activities & Playtime staff includes Preschool Instructor Lacie Johnson, Master’s Degree Educational programs for infants to age 9 years Summer programs with an onsite swimming pool and planned summer activities

Hansel and Gretel does not discriminate against anyone on the basis of race, sex, creed or national origin.

Established in 1974 Open Monday - Friday 6:30 a.m. - 6:00 p.m.

Sue Harvey, Owner/Director Judy Green/Director Cathy King, Designee/Director MiSSiSSippi State UniverSity anD HanSel anD Gretel partnerS FOr QUality CHilDCare SinCe 2004

180 B. S e a r g e n t S . p r e n t i S S d r i v e • 601 - 442 - 7774

100 PROFILE 2012

Generation Y Academy Awards Best Picture winners 1991 - The Silence of the Lambs 1994 - Forrest Gump 1996 - The English Patient 1997 - Titanic 1998 - Shakespeare in Love 2003 - The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King

Harry Potter entered the world of reading in 1998.

Computers of all shapes and sizes, far right, were commonplace in the home.

The Apple iPod transformed the way people bought and listened to music.

born 1982-1993

I

n contrast to the generation that came before it, Gen Y children were, on the whole, overparented, experts say.

Moms and Dads were doting figures in the lives of these children, always there, always ready to swoop in and help in case of a problem. And the children, teens and young adults of this generation appreciate the efforts of their parents. They are closer to Mom and Dad than previous generations and think of them friends and close confidants.

MillenNials — as they are often called — are the first generation to grow up with the Internet in the home. They used Generation fun facts: e-mail and instant messaging from a young age and had cell phones before they • This generation prefers to commuleft home for college. They don’t undernicate through text or e-mail, not facestand life without a direct, easy connection to-face. to the World Wide Web, and they can’t un• Gen Y members don’t remember life derstand why their elders sometimes take without a color TV, and most don’t rea long, technology-free route to complete member their house without a personal a project. computer.

Gen Y children grew up working and • VH1 became cooler than MTV. playing in teams, making them most • Teens bought hip-hop, alternative comfortable in a group setting as adults. rock and teen pop CDs for not only their They will work to pull up the weakest membedroom stereos, but their vehicles. Latber of the team, and expect a trophy simply er on, waves of teens downloaded free for participation. mp3s from Napster and other music fileThis generation is obsessed with celebrisharing sites before it became illegal. ties and instant access to information and • Pixar movies gained popularity at other people. Facebook, Twitter and other the theater — though many teens preforms of social media are informationferred to rent DVDs and watch them gathering tools for them that are a routine at home in front of big screen TVs. “Arpart of daily life. mageddon” and “Saving Private Ryan” As adults — and the oldest member of thrilled other audiences.

Generation Y is still considered a young • Body piercings and tattoos were all adult today — this generation continues that. to show a strong connection and loyalty to • Hoodies, skinny jeans, flip-flops and their parents, often moving back home aftank tops stormed the early 2000s fashter college. They are apt to put off entering ion world. the working world for trips and projects.

And those who do go to work after school approach their looming careers like a buffet — they’ll sample jobs for a while, trying new career paths multiple times before age 30.

Those who join a workplace environment expect to climb to the top almost instantly and don’t exactly digest that years of toiling in entry-level positions may better prepare them for management when it comes.

Despite being achievement oriented, Gen Yers still prefer free time to work. They expect high salaries with flexible hours and a good life/work balance.

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Scott Adams, 27 Born November 1984

W

hen Scott Adams looks around at his elder bosses at Silas Simmons accounting firm he wonders how he can get to their level. But putting in 40, 30 or even 20 years of work to reach the level of firm partner isn’t even an option that enters his mind.

“I say, ‘I can do that, how can I get there in half the time,’” he said.

To Adams, it simply makes sense that since he’s starting his accounting career during a time when numbers are merely plugged into a computer — not calculated long hand — that he should be able to reach a higher level faster than his predecessors did.

He doesn’t shortchange the decades of experience some of his bosses have, but he doesn’t think a lack of experience should limit him either.

“We have the tools now to do the job of someone older,” he said.

It’s the hands-on tools that Adams uses to learn daily, he said, since he’s a much quicker learner when he’s doing, not reading.

Though Adams childhood was spent mostly outdoors and with the Boy Scouts, his formative years weren’t free of the technology that marks his generation. He had a Super Nintendo, Gameboy and Sega Genesis.

“I’d get a Nintendo game, and for six months it would be the best time, then I’d get bored with it,” he said.

His first cell phone came at age 16, and he could plug it into his Dodge Dakota Sport and use it hands free.

Today, he’s well versed in all technology at work or at home. But his time away from work is for family — he has a 5-month-old son — and relaxing with his wife.

Y we were fun:

• Adams’ favorite video games were Zelda and World Class Track Meet.

• He tricked out his Dodge Dakota Sport with fluorescent lights that blinked in rhythm with the speakers.

• Most often blaring from his portable CD player were rappers Juvenile and Dr. Dre. • The most popular styles among Adams’ friends at Trinity Episcopal were Abercrombie and Fitch, Hollister and Polo shirts.

• The news events that Adams most remembers are the Y2K scare of 1999-2000 and Sept. 11, 2001.

Scott Adams spent his boyhood days in the late 1980s and early 1990s outdoors doing projects with the Boy Scouts, at top, or at his grandfather’s house, center, riding threewheelers — which are now largely considered unsafe. He enjoyed sports, including soccer, at bottom, and baseball.

101

102 PROFILE 2012

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103

STICKING Story by Michael Kerekes Photos by Ben Hillyer

TOGETHER

Reunions keep focus on family traditions, values

On the first weekend in August members of the Chatman family will gather “on the hill” to celebrate their 33rd family reunion.

Each year the family wears a T-shirt to commemorate the occasion. One shirt from each year is framed and displayed in the recently built recreation building on the family’s property.

104 PROFILE 2012

Submitted photo

The children of Roosevelt and Rosetta Chatman were determined in 1979 not to let the death of one of their relatives be the only reason the family got together each year. Since then the family has met on the first weekend of August each year. Above is a picture of the first family reunion in 1979.

W

hen Roosevelt and Rosetta Chatman’s aunt Laura Higginbotham died in 1979, the siblings — and the rest of the family — were determined not to let a tragedy be the only reason the family got together in the future.

“We hadn’t planned anything when everyone got here (for the funeral),” Roosevelt said. “We all got together, and we decided that we didn’t want this to be the last time we got together, and we started having family reunions.”

Every year since, the Chatman generations have come together for a reunion on the first weekend of August.

This August will mark the 33rd year the family meets on top of the hill on Chatman Road in Natchez, where both Roosevelt and Rosetta live.

On average, the reunion hosts approximately 125 to 150 people — ranging in age from newborns to

“It’s important because everyone needs to know who

their family members are. That’s something that I think is important, knowing your ancestors and grandparents.”

Rosetta Chatman Chatman family matriarch

people in their 70s.

“A lot of people don’t know how we do it, but we do it every year, no problem,” Roosevelt said. “We stick together.”

Rosetta added, “It isn’t easy.”

But it’s worth it, she said.

“It’s important because everyone needs to know who their fam-

ily members are,” Rosetta said.

“That’s something that I think is important, knowing your ancestors and grandparents.”

The Chatman clan uses the annual reunion to pass down family stories, memories and values through everyday traditions — including the reunion site.

“My dad requested before he died that we’d always have it here, and we honored his request,” Roosevelt said.

Except one year, Rosetta said, when the reunion wasn’t on the hill.

“We didn’t like it,” she said.

“This is home for everybody. It was just so awkward not being up here on the hill with everyone. We’re just so used to it being here.”

Roosevelt said each sibling in the family has a year to plan the reunion, from the youngest to the oldest, and then it rotates back to the youngest.

“When we first started out, everyone was pitching in, and we all

still pitch in, but it wasn’t like this one sibling was in charge,” Rosetta said. “Right now, it’s one sibling in charge, and we rotate each year.

We’ll make a list of people that we want to be in charge (of certain things), and everyone has a dish that they have to fix, which is a huge amount.”

And when it comes time for everyone to get together, Rosetta said people travel from all over the country.

“In Natchez, I have four brothers (including Roosevelt) and two sisters,” Rosetta said. “In St. Louis, we have one brother, and another one that just recently died. In Kenosha, Wisconsin, we have two sisters and one brother.”

The reunion starts out with a fish fry on Friday night. On Saturday is the annual family picnic, at which everyone pitches in with the dishes they’re assigned to prepare. Having a large barbecue grill comes in handy with all of the cooking, Roosevelt said.

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THE NATCHEZ DEMOCRAT

“You can put two or three cases of chicken on there at one time,” Roosevelt said.

Rosetta also said the family rents a moon walk for the children on Saturday, and every year there’s a talent show for anyone who wants to participate. There’s also a dance on Saturday night, and on Sunday, the family attends Grove African Methodist Episcopal — the church the Chatman family grew up attending, Rosetta said.

Following the church service, there’s a Sunday afternoon meal, then at 5 p.m., the family has a meeting to start planning ahead for next year’s reunion.

Most of the planning materials are kept in a master book, Rosetta said.

One of the more recent additions to the Chatmans’ reunion was the addition of a recreational building, which Roosevelt said he began construction on in 2008.

“We had been talking about it for years, but never did get started,” Roosevelt said. “One summer after the family reunion, I just came in and started working on it.”

Roosevelt worked alone at first, but other family members began to catch on after a while, Roosevelt said.

“Once we got started, everyone came and pitched in, but I got it kicked off, because I wanted it so

Submitted Photo

The Brengettsy family took a trip to Chicago in 2005 as part of their annual family reunion. bad,” Roosevelt said.

Roosevelt said the main purpose of the building was to combat the summer weather.

“The building’s been a big blessing for us, where we can be inside when it’s hot or it’s raining,” Roosevelt said.

The building also has a wall that frames T-shirts commemorating

each family reunion, and features shirts from every year, 1979 through 2011.

“Things have changed a lot down through the years,” Rosetta said. “I remember when we first did our Tshirts, we put the letters on there ourselves.”

The family has changed with the times, she said, often at the prompt-

ing of the younger generations who want to try new things. But the traditions that matter — namely simple family togetherness — will always stay the same.

“They do try to keep up with the family traditions,” Rosetta’s husband Kelvin Myles said of the younger generations. “Although they are younger, they still stick together.

Whenever the nieces and nephews get together, they love to be around each other, which is something the older generation did. Ever since I’ve been in the family since 2000, I have seen that from the younger generation, that they keep on sticking together.”

Other families have created different traditions for the annual reunion, though, including a family road trip.

The Brengettsy family of Woodville has made a point to travel somewhere the family wants to go each year since 2000.

Steve Brengettsy said the idea came when his niece was getting married in Chicago, and everyone didn’t want to drive at first.

“We just said, let’s just get together and make it a family reunion,” Brengettsy said.

In addition to the wedding, Brengettsy said he went to Six Flags, a casino, a club and had a family picnic.

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Submitted photo

Barbara Ann Brengettsy, Sherry Kelly and Cynthia Ward prepare food at the Brengettsy family reunion in Pigeon Forge, Tenn., in 2009.

Some or all of those activities stuck, and are now the center of the annual family reunion, regardless of the location.

“We basically go to theme parks, we go to the mall and stuff like that,” Brengettsy said. “We always have a picnic every year on the final day.”

The family has been all over the United States, and there are some places they’ve visited more than once.

“We’ve been to Florida two different times, Atlanta two different times, Dallas, Oklahoma City and Missouri (among other places),” Brengettsy said. “When we do our picnic, we get together and sit down, and we name some places where we want to go (next). We charter buses, so we get the prices on how much it’ll be, and then we’ll come back and vote.”

Brengettsy has family members in Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, Illinois and Georgia, so some of the places they’ve visited are close by to where some of the family members live.

The family picnic is always on the last day of the trip, and Brengettsy said they either have the picnic at the hotel at which the family is staying, or go to a park if the hotel won’t allow a picnic.

“We have at least 60 or 70 people (on average),” Brengettsy said.

“Sometimes it’s more than that, because when we go to Chicago, there are more people that participate. Some people can’t come. If

you go to a city where a lot of the relatives are at, you have a good crowd.”

Although being at the locations themselves are a lot of fun, Brengettsy said some of the more interesting things have happened on the way.

“I like to try and schedule the vacation to where we ride at least 11 hours,” Brengettsy said. “It’s just fun to talk, and you have people saying, ‘I’m going to stay up.

I ain’t going to sleep tonight.’ We even have bets on who’s going to stay up the longest.”

And then there are the surprises.

“In 2010, somebody went into labor,” Brengettsy said. “So his nickname is ‘Surprise.’”

Latoya Noble, mom-to-be, tried to play things close to the vest at first.

“She kept saying she wasn’t pregnant, but I knew she was pregnant, and everybody else knew except for my wife. Then, all of a sudden, we had to stop, and she had a baby.”

Bets, babies and bragging rights have united the family for a decade now, and Brengettsy values the entire experience.

“When I was growing up, we didn’t get to go to these places like this,” Brengettsy said. “I didn’t get to go out of state; I stayed in Mississippi all the time. It’s (also) special for the kids, because they’ll be able to tell people they’ve been to so-andso and done so-and-so.”

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110 PROFILE 2012

GUTSY MOVES

Technology allows students to dissect without the gore

D

enise Thibodeaux has been teaching biology for two decades, and she’s dissected her share of frogs, fetal pigs, voles and owl droppings. It’s always been key to be careful, because one wrong cut, one slip of the shears, can turn a dissection into a dismemberment. Lately, however, a misdirected slice doesn’t mean she has to trash a specimen — all she has to do is press “redo.”

story by Vershal Hogan Photos by Rod Guajardo Thibodeaux has embraced the changes technology has brought in the classroom, and one of those ways is that she doesn’t have to get wrist-deep in frog or pig guts to demonstrate to students proper dissection methods. She just has to use Froguts,

an interactive dissection software that works on both laptop computers and the Promethean smartboard she has in her classroom at Cathedral High School.

“The students can go through the whole dissection without having access to the pigs,” she said.

Thibodeaux demonstrates a virtual dissection in the front of the classroom while her students follow along on a computer at their desks. They’re taught everything, from what instruments they

Ikeccia Colenberg uses a Promethean smartboard to dissect a fetal pig in Denise Thibodeaux’s biomedical research class at Cathedral High School.

THE NATCHEZ DEMOCRAT

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112 PROFILE 2012 should use to what each organ looks like.

Once the students have gotten the hang of the virtual dissection, they move out of the digital world and into one of formaldehyde, scissors, hearts and lungs. If they’re unsure of what to do next, they can reference the computers.

“Thinking back to 1988, I wonder how I accomplished anything without the technology,” Thibodeaux said. “It allows the kids to go further instead of blindly chopping along, and it helps us better budget our use of the specimens.”

But while Thibodeaux is enthusiastic about how technology has made a fundamental change in the classroom, for Vidalia High School teacher Ollie King it’s a double-edged sword. She said technology has to be incorporated into the classrooms because students are used to it — they think in terms of touch screens, e-readers and interactive digital media.

King has been teaching for 32 years, the last five in Vidalia. She taught at Robert Lewis Middle School and South Natchez High School before that. She’s seen a sea change in what students have access to since she started teaching, and King said it shows in the classroom.

“Thirty years ago, (students) didn’t have all of the same kinds of things outside of the educational environment,” she said.

“Every kid now has a smart phone, and if they don’t have a smart phone they have a phone that is smart enough. They are accus-

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Kandice Bailey works through a computer module dissection program on a laptop in Denise Thibodeaux’s biomedical research class at Cathedral High School. The students use computer programs to learn about the biology of animals before an actual dissection.

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Caleb Upton, left, and Ikeccia Colenberg examine a sheep brain in Denise Thibodeaux’s biomedical research class at Cathedral High School. The students use computer programs on laptops to help in their dissections.

tomed to interacting with technology in some sort of way — they all have Kindles, iPads.”

Because of this, students have more kinetic minds, and they prefer for their learning experience to be more tactile — more contact with the physical world, more moving around.

“They love to interact,” King said.

“They are interactive in that they can get up and manipulate the smartboards; they can touch it, write on it — they love to use it.”

Educators don’t just need to change their methods to incorporate technology, they have to, Vidalia Upper Elementary Principal Darla Johnston said. Students who have spent their whole lives plugged into the wired matrix think differently than they did a generation ago.

“Their whole thinking process has changed,” Johnston said. “They want instant gratification, instant answers — they want to know immediately how they are doing, if they are playing a game they want to know if they are winning, if they are taking a quiz they want to know if they got it right.”

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sion about technology that some adults do, Johnston said, but that also means that when the technology breaks down teachers may have a brief moment of panic.

“We have to make sure we are on their level now — we could do things in the past that didn’t really involve technology, and it would still grab their attention,” Johnston said.

“Now it is more what are we going to do to make the kids engaged in learning. We hardly ever just do the lecture anymore because the kids want to be engaged in — involved in — the learning.”

And the students learn better when they work in teams, not alone, teachers said.

“They like to bounce ideas off of each other,” King said.

Johnston said she has seen classroom technology jump forward from Ditto machines to overhead projectors to desktop computers to increasingly interactive touch screen devices for teachers and students alike. The key to incorporating technology into the classroom is making sure it is doing its intended purpose.

And when it is, Johnston said, it’s very effective.

“The students are interested, they are engaged and they want to use it,” she said.

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Moving on up Families use older neighborhoods as step up

H

ouses tell stories in Natchez, we all know that, but the modern-day tales aren’t at Longwood and Stanton Hall; instead, it’s the houses in neighborhoods such as Montebello and Roselawn that talk today.

And not all stories have happy endings.

Jamie and Amy Welch don’t dislike their 1951 house in Montebello, but they do plan to leave the neighborhood when they can.

Shawanda Washington is already dreaming of a new house as well — one outside of Roselawn, where she currently lives with her children.

Both families seek to leave behind neighborhoods that they say are too quickly filling with neighbors that don’t properly maintain their properties. And both sets of residents want to move out before more crime moves in.

Built for a different time

Montebello, Roselawn and many of Natchez’s other older neighborhoods sprang up decades ago to accommodate the flood of people coming into the city on the promise of a job at one of the city’s industrial plants.

When Armstrong Tire and Rubber Company opened its doors Natchez in 1939, Johns Manville in 1947 and International Paper Company in 1950, they brought with them many people who relocated for a job and the chance to move up in the world.

Historic Natchez Foundation Director Mimi Miller said neighborhoods such as Montebello and Roselawn were not

Jamie Welch, right, Amy Welch, left, and Amy’s daughter Ali live on Kenwood Lane in Montebello, a Natchez subdivision built to accommodate people who came to the city as a result of new industries that came to Natchez from 1939 to 1950.

Story by Lindsey Shelton | Photos by Rod guajardo

THE NATCHEZ DEMOCRAT

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118 PROFILE 2012

built for existing residents in Natchez but to accommodate people moving from Franklin, Jefferson, Amite and other surrounding counties to fill Natchez’s need for an industrial workforce.

IP began buying and developing land for the Montebello subdivision in 1949. Retired architect Charles Moroney’s father built several houses around town while neighborhoods such as Montebello and Roselawn were being developed. Moroney said Montebello was home for several of IP’s upper executives and employees.

Roselawn and other subdivisions in town were popular places for World War II veterans to live because loans from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs opened the door to home ownership for veterans, many of whom got jobs at the city’s plants when they returned home from war, Moroney said.

But the more people got jobs, promotions and higher incomes, they more they moved up and out of their neighborhoods and into nicer ones.

“As people acquire means, they move into nicer places and people with little or no means move in wherever they can,” Moron-

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ey said.

Today, the plants are gone and the nicer subdivisions are on the outskirts of town.

The Welches and Washington hope to be there soon, too.

Temporary homes?

Jamie Welch, 28, bought his house in Montebello three years ago and recently renovated the inside thanks to a generous wedding present from the parents of his wife, Amy. Jamie and Amy, 21, married last September, and she and Jamie’s daughter, Ali, 4, live at their house on Kenwood Lane.

Welch bought his house in August of 2008, a truck in November 2008 and was laid off six months later in April of 2009.

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“It’s just one of those things that happens,” he said. “You think you are doing good, then something like that happens.”

Welch now owns C&M Auto Detailing in Vidalia and plays lead guitar in the alternative rock band Framing The Red. He makes enough at his business and playing with the band in venues from Florida to Texas to cover necessary expenses at home.

During the colder and rainy months, the auto detailing business slows down tremendously, and Welch said he is currently making just enough to cover his bills and supplies at the shop.

“Fortunately, it hasn’t gotten really difficult here at home,” he said. “There are days when I worry if I’m going to make enough at the shop to keep the lights on there.”

Amy is a full-time nursing student at Louisiana Tech University and leaves at 4:30 a.m. several days a week to drive to Ruston for her classes. Amy’s parents pay her tuition, which helps her and Jamie stay on top of their bills, she said. Unfortunately, Amy’s busy class schedule and heavy nursing school workload doesn’t leave much time for her to work.

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only work a couple of days a week,” she said.

“So we try to make it work.”

And they dream of better days.

Jamie hopes the band will soon gain national attention, and Amy knows a nursing job will pay well.

When that occurs, the couple will start looking for a new home.

“Some people that have moved in are not taking as good of care of their houses as they should,” Jamie said. “And now houses all around here have ‘for rent’ signs in their yards. When I moved in, there were ‘for sale’ signs everywhere. I guess people just can’t afford to buy houses now.”

Jamie said he remembers Montebello being a nicer neighborhood when he was a child.

“It was the neighborhood, the place you definitely wanted to go trick-or-treating with your friends,” Welch said. “Now you can tell it’s gone downhill, anyone can tell that by driving through here.”

Some houses in Montebello now, Jamie said, have high grass or several parked cars and debris in the yard. Jamie said he believed tougher city ordinances would make people take better care of their houses.

Montebello is still a nice neighborhood, Jamie said, but he believes that if the neighborhood stays on the track it’s on now, it could end up having crime and other problems that residents in other neighborhoods, such as Roselawn, have endured.

“We plan to eventually sell our house,” Jamie said. “We hope to be moved away from here before that happens, if it does happen.”

Shawanda Washington, 38, has lived in Roselawn for two years.

She is a single mother and has three children ages 17, 10 and 9.

Washington bought a house on Marquette Street in 1999 in anticipation of a steady and higher income when her husband’s carpeting business opened. But the business didn’t open, mortgage payments weren’t met and the house was foreclosed on.

Washington and her husband have since separated, she moved to Roselawn and she now works packaging plastic goods for LCI Industries. She also receives Social Security disability because she is blind in her right eye.

With her monthly disability check and her steady paycheck at her job, Washington said she manages to pay her bills, but money is

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scarce at her house.

“My children always need something,” she said. “Clothes, shoes, supplies for school, I manage, but just barely,” she said.

Washington said she likes living in Roselawn and said she has, fortunately, not been the victim of any of crime. Washington said she depends on a home security system to keep her peace of mind about her and the children’s safety.

Washington said, though, she is trying to move out of Roselawn. The floors in her house have been damaged since she moved in, and Washington said she has her heart set on a nice house outside of Roselawn.

The money is not there for a new house right now, Washington said, but she wants to own her own home again someday.

For now, Washington said she will continue to save for her children’s future and for a new home.

“We have hard times now, and I tell my children there will be more hard times but if we can save money now for later, better times will come,” Washington said.

Not the end of the story?

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120 PROFILE 2012

said. But the neighborhoods so important to the story of modern Natchez history need intervention.

Better times for neighborhoods such as Roselawn and Montebello and any future subdivisions will require careful planning by the City of Natchez, Miller said.

Miller said there is a cyclical effect in housing in which new neighborhoods spring up and attract residents, emptying older neighborhoods and devaluing property.

But it is not just Montebello and Roselawn that have been emptied out and devalued, Miller said other neighborhoods, such as Woodlawn, have been affected, as well as newer suburbs.

“What has happened is the older neighborhoods have been emptied for the suburbs like Woodhaven and Glenwood, then The Trees and other newer suburbs came along, and then the other suburbs began to empty, too,” Miller said.

Miller said the economic development and industrial prospects on the horizon could spur the need for new housing as it did in the past.

“I would rather see some planning on the city’s part to encourage people to go back into our existing older neighborhoods, improve them and attract people to move there,” Miller said.

She would like to see neighborhoods such as Montebello and Roselawn revitalized but said the revitalization of the neighborhoods will require long-term planning by the city.

The area’s newer neighborhoods, such as Beau Pré, are better protected, Miller said, than the older ones because homeowners are required to upkeep their houses by deed restrictions.

“It takes good community planning to keep neighborhoods alive as they get older,” she said.

With careful planning and determination, Miller said neighborhoods such as Montebello and Roselawn can be saved from further decline and improve the quality of life for residents and the quality of Natchez.

“I think we can save them,” Miller said.

“But there has to be a will, some a vision and willingness to do it.”

Amy Welch is a full-time nursing student at Louisiana Technical College. She hopes a career in nursing will lead to a new house.

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THE NATCHEZ DEMOCRAT

123

Is there ever enough for current generation of children?

I

f you asked a child for a Christmas wish list this year, you may have a bit of insight into the mind of Generation Z. Those born from the mid-1990s through present day — also known as the Internet Generation — have very distinct wants, most of which revolve around technology. And they want plenty of it.

In fact, it’s what this group wants — and how much of it they feel they deserve — that some older residents agree warrants a new title for the group — Generation Never Happy.

But the feelings of entitlement that characterize many of today’s children don’t just begin with their

generation. Increasingly, the same feelings are affecting their parents, and therein lies the problem, area experts said.

Entitled

Joe Swoveland, a licensed professional counselor and professor of psychology and sociology at Copiah-Lincoln Community College, said today’s parents are creating the attitude of entitlement that is so p r ev a l e n t i n children.

“Young people coming up think be-

cause they’re given so many things, that they deserve those things just because it’s been handed to them versus thinking they have to earn it,” Swoveland said.

It’s natural, he said, for parents to want a good life for their children, a life better than their own.

But access to technology paired with decreasing personal time is increasing America’s dependence on things — not people — for entertainment, s a i d D r.

Linda Wil-

bourn, a clinical psychologist in Natchez.

“Certainly people in the past didn’t have as many ways to entertain themselves,” she said. “I think it’s natural that people desire more now.”

And busy parents embrace technology that entertains their children.

Wilbourn said there is a higher number of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder cases in younger generations today, which she said could be attributed to the flood of stimulation children are exposed to now from television and technology. Many parents, Wilbourn said, are very reluctant when she

Story by Lindsey Shelton Illustrations by Ben Hillyer

124 PROFILE 2012

You’ve made us look good ...

Each year we submit entries to the Mississippi Press Association’s Better Newspaper Contest. It is an honor and an accomplishment to be recognized by MPA for what we do. But most of all, we’d like to thank our advertisers. Be assured of our continued dedication with the purpose of achieving the best results for your advertising dollar.

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“In the past, all that information wasn’t available like it is now, so I think people accepted their situations and surroundings.”

Tance Hughes Vidalia resident

suggests decreasing the use of computers, video games and television for children who have a tendency toward hyperactivity.

“You see, they’re giving up their electronic babysitters,” she said.

Swoveland agreed, saying the dynamic of some of today’s families is much different than families of the past.

Swoveland said children are spending less time with their busy families and less time playing outdoors with their peers.

Younger generations have lost communication skills because of less face-to-face interaction with others, Swoveland said.

“It’s almost as if kids are scared to talk to someone,” he said.

Children are attaching to other things, he said, such as video games and Facebook, to give them interaction and self-esteem.

“Children today are growing up alone and very individual,” he said.

“They don’t have a friend network, they have a social network.”

Monkey see, monkey want

But it’s not just the parents creating today’s new society, young adults say, its modern media.

Tance Hughes, 21, of Vidalia, said people are also a lot more exposed to what is available to them now.

“We see so many more things now,” he said. “The more we see, the more we feel like we need to have.”

Hughes said society’s expectations of success have been raised through today’s instant access to media. Hughes said people are less

content with their lives because they are continually exposed to what others have that they do not.

“I would say people feel like they have to live up to the expectations they see in media,” he said. “In the past, all that information wasn’t available like it is now, so I think people accepted their situations and surroundings.”

Vidalia resident Mallory Helms, 24, said raised standards of success and happiness are flaunted in people’s face, inevitably making people feel inadequate and unhappy.

“Now you see TV shows just

about how much money people have and all the things they have that are supposed to be making them happy,” she said.

The marketing of today’s gadgets, Helms said, and how that relates to happiness, trends and fitting in with your peers has also increased people’s desire to have more.

“A lot of it has to do with labels of success and trends,” she said.

“Young people want to fit in and be cool, as they always have. People just think you need more to be happy now, the new iPhone, a new iPad.” Helms said she be-

lieves marketing of products that were popular 50 years ago made people feel they needed those products too, but the exposure and availability of technology has changed people’s perceptions of happiness.

“People don’t think the same way they did 50 years ago,” she said.

People work themselves ragged so they can buy more stuff, yet Helms said people have no time to stop and smell the metaphorical roses.

“How can you be happy if you’re working yourself to death,” she said.

You can’t buy happiness

It takes the wisdom that only comes with age to realize that working won’t ever produce enough income to buy happiness.

Carrie Coleman, 54, grew up poor on a farm in the Mississippi Delta.

Coleman said she wasn’t afforded a lot of material possessions when she was a child.

“We didn’t have stuff, but we had each other,” she said.

Coleman said she believes a lot of families spend less time together now than in the past.

“People work so much so they can have so much, but they need to realize that they don’t need all that,” she said.

And with all the work and dreaming of the next big purchase comes stress, Natchez resident Deliza Thomas said.

“When I look back on those times when I was younger and there was less for people to have, goodness, people just weren’t as stressed out

126 PROFILE 2012

back then,” she said. “Those were the days.”

Younger generations have lost appreciation for what is sacrificed and what is needed for their happiness, said Butch Hosea, 57, but don’t blame the kids.

“A lot of the fault has to fall on older generations and parents because we couldn’t say no,” Hosea said.

Turning back time?

No one can point to the moment America traded in the belief that you must earn it to the feeling that it should be yours. And no one has the magic answer to real happiness for this and future generations.

“Where did we go wrong? I don’t think you can point your finger at a date when things changed,” Hosea said. “I think it was subtle, then it just snowballed.”

But adults do realize the problem.

Coleman said the closer connection people have now through technology and social networking is an illusion.

“We’re so connected now, but we’re actually much more disconnected,” she said. “We’re communicating more, but we’re actually communicating less.”

Coleman said texting, Facebook and e-mail has made it easier for people to communicate but at a heavy price.

“It’s so impersonal,” she said. “We’re falling further and further apart.”

A growing number of young adults and teens are realizing that fact and making changes in their own lives.

Helms, for example, doesn’t need an iPhone, she says.

“I have a $15 phone, and I’m not worried about that,” she said.

“Sure it would be nice to have an iPhone, but I don’t need it, and I’m content without it.”

Coleman said she believes getting back to a closer family c o n n e c t i o n i s t h e ke y t o decreasing the desire of needing more and restoring people’s Carrie Coleman happiness.

Natchez resident “All you need is family,” she said.

The experts agree the answer lies in people, not things.

A young person’s connection to family, Swoveland said, helps them to learn it’s a tough world they have to work hard in to survive.

“Because a lot of parents aren’t able to give quality time, they tend to make it up with gifts,” he said. “It’s not healthy that a lot of children grow up with an attitude of deserving things they don’t work for.”

Swoveland recommends to people who are struggling with making time for family to eat at least one meal a day as a family.

“Sometimes you have to schedule family time because everything else is scheduled, dance is scheduled, soccer practice is scheduled,” he said.

“If you don’t schedule time with the family, that time is going to pass you by before you know it,” Swoveland said.

Wilbourn said technology will not slow down, and she does not believe people can return to the lifestyle they lived 50 years ago.

She said parents must consider a stricter approach to get a handle on their children’s reliance on technology.

“It’s a matter of the parents actually having to monitor closely what the children are exposed to and start saying, ‘No you may not have the iPod, or no you may not watch TV,” she said.

If that occurs, maybe we can all learn what it really takes to make Generation Never Happy smile.

“We’re so connected now, but we’re actually much more disconnected.

We’re communicating more, but we’re actually communicating less.”

THE NATCHEZ DEMOCRAT

127

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J. C. Passman, M.D. Robert Haimson, M.D. Daniel McCallum, M.D., Locum Tenen Marcia Passman, PT Michelle Kaiser, PT Jessica Clayton, PT 601-442-9654

Natchez Regional Clinic-Surgery

Hendrik Kuiper, M.D., FRACS, FICS 601-442-5388

Natchez Neurology Clinic Anubha Jati, M.D. 601-445-2248

Natchez Regional Family Clinic Benita Cushingberry-Turner, M.D. 601-445-2248

Jackson Heart Clinic of Natchez Brad LeMay, M.D 601-442-0011

Natchez Regional Clinic-OB-GYN Beverly Love, M.D. Thomas Purvis, M.D. William Godfrey, M.D. LaToya R. Walker, M.D. Leigh Wolfe, CFNP 601-442-3701

Natchez Medical Foundation

W

hen you need medical help, you can depend on the physicians of the Natchez Medical Foundation to listen to your needs, explain procedures and services, and treat you with courtesy and respect.

46 Seargent S. Prentiss Drive, Doctors’ Pavilion Natchez, MS

128 PROFILE 2012

Generation Z Academy Awards Best Picture winners 1999 - American Beauty 2000 - Gladiator 2002 - Chicago 2008 - Slumdog Millionaire 2009 - The Hurt Locker 2010 - The King’s Speech

Online simulation role playing games continue to be popular. Tablet computing, like the Apple iPad at right, and smartphones, below, are the hot trends. Apps, such as Instagram at right, are all the rage.

born 1994-present

S

ince the oldest members of this generation are 18, and likely just embarking on life trips to find themselves, it’s difficult to offer definitive conclusions about what defines Z. But scores of psychologists and sociologists are trying.

Generation Z is already different than Y. They are more individualistic and less concerned about playing as a team. They multi-task and process information at a speed no older generation will ever match. And they are smarter and more Generation fun facts: mature than you ever were.

Also called the Internet • Generation Z children have their own cell Generation, the youngest phone often before they become teenagers. of this generation have never • Their list of BFFs (best friends forever) is longer considered the idea that life than a teenage boomer’s telephone cord. existed before the Internet.

• They vote to create their generation’s top rock They can’t imagine not being stars, via text on American Idol. constantly connected to their • Gen Z teens have a few CDs around the house, 400 Facebook friends, and but music is mostly played through iTunes on they don’t know what a rotary an iPod or iPhone. telephone sounds like.

• Sassy, short, fitted clothing, bedazzled jeans They’d rather text than and glittery shirts make Gen Z girls look older talk, be indoors than out and than they should. Jeans and a T-shirt are good they know the world is danenough for guys who dress up for little. gerous.

• Billy Ray Cyrus’ daughter brings the teen strife Generation Z children have of Hannah Montana to life on the Disney strong opinions and they Channel. express them to adults open• They’ve traveled more in just a few short years ly. They even show their attithan most older generations ever did. tudes through words embla• Baby names are wilder than they’ve ever been, zoned on their clothing. but basic Emily and Jacob lead the way. MadiThey are less dependent son is the second most popular female name. on and protected by their parents than Gen Y children were, and more socially connected to their peers.

No one quite knows what they will be like as adults or in a workplace, but there are a few best guesses. Generation Z will know what they like at an early age, and may be more likely to settle into a career faster than X or Y did. They will embrace change, something that bothered nearly every generation before them. They will be good at self-direction, but not very creative.

No. 1 songs 1998 - My Heart Will Go On - Celine Dion 2001 - Fallin’ - Alicia Keys 2005 - Gold Digger Kanye West & Jamie Foxx 2007 - Beautiful Girls Sean Kingston 2009 - Poker Face - Lady Gaga 2010 - California Gurls - Katy Perry & Snoop Dogg 2011 - LMFAO - Sexy and I Know It Chevrolet redesigned it Corvette for the first time in 15 years in 1984.

The Ford Mustang, at left, tops the list of cars teens want to drive

by Forbes Magazine in 2011.

Computing goes to the clouds, above, in 2011 and allows people to be synced all the time.

THE NATCHEZ DEMOCRAT

129

Sha'Reeba Wexler, 11 Born February 2000

S

ha’Reeba Wexler is a poster child for the youngest generation of Americans.

At age 11, Reeba spends her time on her Dell computer, Kindle Fire, LG Encore cell phone, Nintendo Wii and Xbox

Kinect.

Her parents Karla and Gilbert Wexler already think she’s smarter than them.

She’s in her second year of Spanish classes at Vidalia Junior High School, and she’d prefer to skip PE. Reeba loves to read — books, magazines or her Kindle. And when she starts driving in five years she wants to be cruising in a black or red Mustang or Camaro.

She loves shopping at the mall, and knows her parents will buy pretty much anything she wants. When it comes to clothing, those items are likely to be from a store called Justice and they’ll be “cute, glittery” and with a message.

She has a Facebook account, but it bores her a bit. Instead her online time is spent playing games that allow her to simulate a person and control them.

Though she spends plenty of time alone — her only sibling is an adult — she’s also just as comfortable in groups of her peers. When it comes to doing schoolwork in groups, she’s fine with it as long as she picks the partners.

Mom and Dad vouch for the fact that the confidence she radiates is a consistent part of her life.

“I know she’s 11, but it’s like she’s much older,” Karla Wexler said. “And she’s a whole lot smarter.”

Reeba obviously doesn’t remember Sept. 11, 2001, but has studied it in school. She has only vague memories of Hurricane Katrina. Her parents, who both work at the Fruit of the Loom in Vidalia, work long hours, and Reeba realizes that the life ahead of her won’t be all roses. “(Life) is kind of hard because you have to work a lot and you may not get a lot of money,” she said.

Tomorrow’s girl:

• Reeba got her first cell phone at age 7. She expects that you surely had one by age 11. She currently “needs an upgrade,” she said.

• Her favorite thing to do with friends is go to the arcade.

• She wants to travel — probably to a beach — and isn’t afraid to fly, unlike her mother • Her favorite TV show is H20 on Teen Nick. It’s about mermaids.

Sha’Reeba Wexler enjoys school and has excelled so far in her young career in the Vidalia schools, including being labeled an honor student in elementary school. She is pictured at top with her mother, Karla, at right. Center, Wexler has typically had all the toys and technology she wanted, including her own mini-wheels. Bottom, Sha’Reeba loves spending time with friends, and would rather be on the go than sitting at home.

130 PROFILE 2012

ADVERTISER’S INDEX Adams County Airport Commission.......................................................6

Field Memorial Community Hospital ...............................................122

Natchez Regional Medical Center...........................................................2

Adams County Christian School...........................................................82

Fish Fry, The ...............................................................................................109

Natchez Seniors’ Center ..........................................................................74

Adams County Circuit Clerk..................................................................127

Franklin County, MS Grouping............................................................. 35

Natchez Total Fitness ..............................................................................119

Adams County Sheriff’s Department................................................. 23

Funeral Home and Burial Services Guide....................................... 125

Natchez Transit System ...........................................................................34

Carmen Adcock DMD PLLC.................................................................... 26

Gillon Group PLLC, The............................................................................ 35

Natchez Veterinary Clinic........................................................................ 83

Todd Ainsworth....................................................................................... 119

Go-Mart......................................................................................................... 22

Natchez Water Works............................................................................... 75

Anderson Medical Clinic of Natchez................................................ 115

Grand Village of The Natchez Indians................................................ 81

Natchez Yoga Studio.............................................................................. 118

American Medical Response................................................................. 15

H. Hal Garner Antiques & Interiors.................................................... 112

Paul Green & Associates.......................................................................... 60

Arthur’s Tire Sales & Service................................................................... 64

Hansel and Gretel...................................................................................... 99

Pentecostals of the Miss-Lou................................................................. 64

BASF -The Chemical Company............................................................. 99

Hazlip Companies, The............................................................................ 74

Personal Homecare Services................................................................. 55

Bergeron & Plauche, LLC......................................................................... 36

Home Hardware Center........................................................................ 113

Port Gibson, MS Grouping................................................................... 117

Blankenstein’s Supplies and Equipment........................................... 56

Integrity Mortgage Center, Inc........................................................... 113

Premo Stallone, Inc................................................................................... 31

Bowie Outfitters....................................................................................... 121

J. E. Hicks Distributing Company......................................................... 41

Promise Hospital of Miss-Lou.............................................................. 106

Britton & Koontz Bank.............................................................................. 48

J & J Carpet Company.............................................................................. 26

REDCO, Radcewicz Exploration & Drilling Co...........................................54

Brookhaven Urology.............................................................................. 111

Jack & Stella................................................................................................. 60

River View RV Park & Resort..................................................................115

Business Card Directory..................................................... 76, 77, 78, 79

Jacks Girls & Company........................................................................... 118

Riverland Medical Center .......................................................................98

Cable One..................................................................................................... 34

Key Rehab & Associates, Inc................................................................. 105

Rives & Reynolds Lumber Company Inc. .........................................108

Callon Petroleum....................................................................................... 41

KFC..................................................................................................................... 7

Rogers Lawn and Garden .......................................................................22

Camellia Home Health & Hospice..................................................... 108

Kimbrell Office Supply........................................................................... 127

Silas Simmons, LLP ....................................................................................16

Camo Construction................................................................................. 122

Arthur Lewis.............................................................................................. 120

Southern Signs, Inc. ................................................................................118

Cartoon Map........................................................................................ 66, 67

Louisiana Technical College................................................................... 57

Southwest Distributors, Inc. ..................................................................44

Cathedral School....................................................................................... 19

Magnolia Bar & Grill................................................................................ 118

Southwest Mississippi Electric Power Association................................................126

Celebrate Business.................................................................................... 87

Magnolia House....................................................................................... 122

Southwest MS Regional Medical Center...............................................51, 84, 91,107

Cellular Plus............................................................................................... 111

Markets, The................................................................................................ 30

Sports Center...............................................................................................75

City of Natchez......................................................................................... 102

McDonald’s..................................................................................................... 4

Spotlight on Business...............................................................................68

City of Vidalia.............................................................................................. 26

Medical Directory........................................................................ 92, 93, 94

Sun, Moon & Stars....................................................................................113

Concordia Bank & Trust Company....................................................... 37

Miss-Lou Infusion Therapy....................................................................109

Sunshine Children’s Center...................................................................111

Concordia Parish Tax Assessor............................................................ 115

Miss-Lou Physical Therapy................................................................... 120

SWD Acidizing, Inc.....................................................................................60

Conrad Anderson Company.................................................................. 60

Miss-Lou Veterinary Hospital.............................................................. 111

T & E Enterprises.........................................................................................91

Copiah-Lincoln Community College................................................ 113

MRI of Miss-Lou.......................................................................................... 91

Taco Casa.....................................................................................................119

Corrections Corporation of America.................................................. 81

Natchez Adams County Chamber of Commerce........................... 83

Tensas State Bank.......................................................................................54

Cotton Alley Cafe..................................................................................... 120

Natchez Adams School District ..............................................61, 63, 65

Jeffrey F. Traina, MD.................................................................................131

Crye-Leike Stedman Realtors, Inc...................................................... 106

Natchez After Hours Clinic PLLC ..........................................................15

Trinity Episcopal School...........................................................................28

D & D Drilling & Exploration Inc........................................................... 28

Natchez Children’s Home Services ....................................................105

Turning Pages Books & More...............................................................114

Darby’s......................................................................................................... 112

Natchez Community Hospital .............................................................132

United Mississippi Bank...........................................................................51

Davidson’s Package Store..................................................................... 114

Natchez Convention and Visitors Bureau .......................................121

United Way of the Greater Miss-Lou....................................................44

Delta Bank.................................................................................................... 82

Natchez Democrat, The......................................................................... 124

Vidalia Conference and Convention Center........................................3

Delta Rentals, Inc....................................................................................... 75

Natchez Democrat, The........................................................................... 84

Vidalia Police Department......................................................................82

William P. Dickey, III, D.M.D., PLLC........................................................ 28

Natchez Grand Hotel................................................................................ 48

Woodville Republican, The.....................................................................64

Dunleith ......................................................................................................108

Natchez, Inc................................................................................................. 48

Worship Directory...............................................................................96, 97

Durham School Services .......................................................................114

Natchez Little Theatre.............................................................................. 41

Elliott Electric Supply .............................................................................115

Natchez Mall.................................................................................................85

Enersteel, Inc. ..............................................................................................86

Natchez Manor......................................................................................... 119

Entergy ..........................................................................................................37

Natchez Medical Foundation.............................................................. 127

Farm Bureau ..............................................................................................114

Natchez Pathology Laboratory ...........................................................105

Ferriday, LA Grouping ..............................................................................69

Natchez Pilgrimage Tours Inc...............................................................120

THE NATCHEZ DEMOCRAT

131

It Doesn’t Matter That There Are 206 Bones In The Human Body (And 230 Joints).

What Matters Is The One That Hurts.

Mobility is independence. So, when knee, hip or shoulder pain keeps you from enjoying daily activities, you may need a specialist. Dr. Traina earned his medical degree from Southern Illinois School of Medicine, and completed his orthopedic surgical residency at Wake Forest University/North Carolina Baptist Hospital. He completed fellowships through Harvard University at Massachusetts General Hospital and Boston Children’s Hospital; and has taught at the University of Texas Medical School and the University of Illinois College of Medicine.

It was the friendliness of the people, quality of life, and the superb medical community in the Miss-Lou region that charmed Dr. Traina and his wife. He is happy to join the other excellent orthopedic surgeons in the area.

Compassion.

Competence.

Convenience.

Community.

Community Orthopedics Community Orthopedic Clinic 150 Jefferson Davis Blvd.

Suite 100 Natchez, MS Practice Hours: Mon – Fri, 8:30 a.m. – 4 p.m.

601-442-7455

Jeffrey F. Traina, MD Community Orthopedic Clinic 150 Jefferson Davis Blvd.

Positively Breathing Better.

Positively More Active.

Positively Pulmonary Rehab.

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NatchezCommunityHospital.com Natchez, MS | 601-445-1743

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