Profile 2020

Profile 2020 PEOPLE TO KNOW IN THE MISS-LOU A

SP E C IA L

P U B L IC ATION

OF THE

NATCHE Z

D E MOCR AT

You’re always welcome in

visitnatchez.org

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ith springtime in Natchez, the intoxicating aroma of our classic flora — our jasmine, magnolia, and gardenia — begins to fill the air. The air is also charged with energy! Energy for the future of our town.

As our elected officials and community leaders pursue goals for education, recreation, downtown development, industrial recruitment, and job creation, our hospitality and tourism industry welcomes vacationers and conventioneers from around the globe.

People have been drawn to Natchez from ancient times to today because we have the greatest view of the greatest river in the world. We are proud of our Native American story — The Nachee — from whom we derive our town’s name. We are proud of our African-American heritage, which encompasses the struggles and triumphs of people whose ancestors were force brought to America more than 300 years ago help build our great country. We are proud of our beautiful town, 200 feet above the river, which evidences our French, English, and Spanish roots and the many contributions of immigrants to the diverse history of our town.

In 2016, we celebrated our 300th anniversary as the oldest continuous European settlement on the Mississippi River. In 2017, we saluted Mississippi’s Bicentennial. In doing so, we came together as one people, as one community, building on our past to create our future.

Profile, published annually by The Natchez Democrat, is about the people of Natchez — who we are and who we plan to be. Enjoy the read, and thank you for the opportunity to serve as your Mayor.

Sincerely,

Darryl V. Grennell, Mayor of Natchez

NATCHEZ CITY HALL | 124 SOUTH PEARL STREET 601.445.7500 | WWW.CITYOFNATCHEZ.NET FOR THE MOST UP-TO-DATE INFORMATION, VISIT VISITNATCHEZ.ORG

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Together We Grow

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Everyone has a story to tell.

Don’t believe me? Just ask the next person you are standing in line with at the check out aisle or whom you are sitting next to in the sports stadium.

Chances are they will launch into something interesting about their lives or the people they have come into contact with.

Each year, The Natchez Democrat produces a Profile edition that highlights some of the people making a difference in the community.

This year, we decided to profile 100 people you should know in the Miss-Lou. The staff of The Natchez Democrat gathered in a big circle one afternoon and spent an hour or so throwing out names of people who should be included in the project.

It was not hard to come up with 100 people.

In making our list, we consciously chose not to make it some hierarchical list of “most important,” “most influential” or “most anything,” but rather just interesting people who make a difference in the community.

We tried to avoid the usual suspects, politicians (especially those running for office this year) and others who are regularly featured in the pages of The Democrat.

Instead, we chose a good mix of people, granted some of them are the usual suspects and/or are influential, but most of them are everyday citizens who in some way contribute to the Miss-Lou community.

And, I must say, every one of them had interesting stories to tell about themselves and their involvement in the community.

With 100 people in these pages, we had to keep the majority of the stories short but we chose a few to break out for longer stories.

In some cases it is more difficult to write a short story about someone than it is to write a long story about them.

The writers chose to focus tightly on the essence of each person profiled here, what makes them tick and why they are someone you ought to know in the Miss-Lou. I hope you enjoy reading their stories as much as we enjoyed gathering and telling their stories.

SCOTT HAWKINS, EDITOR

scotthawkins@natchezdemocrat.com

Profile 2020 GENERAL MANAGER Jan Griffey

EDITOR Scott Hawkins

CREATIVE DIRECTOR Ben Hillyer

CONTRIBUTORS Lyndy Berryhill Jan Griffey Patrick Murphy Patrick Jones Sabrina Robertson

DESIGN Ben Hillyer

MARKETING Pascha Cater Brown Angela Green Steve Holifield

Natchez Newspapers, Inc. 503 N. Canal Street Natchez, MS 39120 601-442-9101

JEREMY HOUSTON

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Natchez man helps tell broader Natchez story by introducing tourists to African-American story.

CONTENTS

DOUG MAURO New Jersey native moves to Natchez and becomes one the area’s biggest ambassadors.

SABRENA BARTLEY Natchez woman empowers others as leader of Natchez Transit Authority, Natchez Senior Center.

LARRY WESLEY Nathez coach is changing children’s lives on the high school running track.

KEVIN PRESTON Co-owner of Magnolia Bluffs Casino committed to improving the community.

THOMAS MCGEHEE Retired police officer spends his time volunteering to keep community safer.

SARAH FREEMAN Local artist sees path to prosperity for the community through the creative arts.

THE LIST

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No. 1-24

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No. 25-48

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No. 49-75

49

No. 76-100 THE NATCHEZ DEMOCRAT

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TONY BYRNE

BYRON GARRITY

Tony Byrne was mayor of Natchez for 20 years, serving from July 1968 to 1988. During his tenure, Byr ne helped bridge the racial divide between blacks and whites during the civil rights era.

In his political career, Byrne won six elections.

Byrne played football and basketball for Natchez High School in the 1950s. In 1953, Byr ne scored 32 touchdowns for the football team. In basketball, Byrne scored 42 points in a single game and 716 points in his senior year. He attended Mississippi State University on a basketball scholarship.

Since joining efforts with the local feral cat program in 2018, Byron Garrity has performed more than 200 surgeries to spay and neuter wild cats trapped in Natchez and Adams County. A local veterinarian for 36 years, Garrity has always been involved in the effort to reduce the pet population explosion in the area. In almost two years, Garrity believes more than 2,000 unwanted kittens have been avoided. “The math gets mind-blowing when you start figuring it out,” Garrity said. Garrity performs the surgeries most days of the week, ensuring that the cats are trapped, spayed or neutered and released back into the wild in 24-hours.

FORMER MAYOR

VETERINARIAN

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TOMMY SMITH

CATHEDRAL CROSS-COUNTRY COACH

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JARITA FRAZIER-KING NATCHEZ HERITAGE SCHOOL OF COOKING OWNER

For Tommy Smith, running cross-country resembles life. On the one hand, running is a solitary sport.

Then again, it is also a team sport where runners have to rely on each other to combine their best scores to succeed and win championships.

As the Cathedral head coach for the past 10 years, Smith and his boys cross-country teams have won four state championships in a row. The owner and operator of Landscape Resources, Smith said he believes the lessons his runners learn on the course, they will carry with them through life.

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DIANA GLAZE

NATCHEZ FESTIVAL OF MUSIC CHAIRMAN

As chairman of the Natchez Festival of Music, Diana Glaze is invested in bringing high-quality entertainment to Natchez. After retiring from Callon Petroleum Company, Glaze has been able to devote even more time to preparing and planning for one of Natchez’s biggest events. As an avid believer in volunteering, Glaze is active with many groups in and out of Natchez. She is currently president of the Rotary Club of Natchez. Glaze has made lifelong friends, she said, and volunteering gives her a strong sense of purpose. “The more you give toward something you really love, the more it comes back to you…especially when you watch something beautiful come together in the end,” Glaze said.

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PROFILE 2020

Jarita Frazier-King is the owner of the Natchez Heritage School of Cooking and said the catering business has really picked up. Frazier-King also is the owner of Southwest Wellness Association of Mississippi, which is a community wellness organization dedicated to improving the overall wellness of the community, both older and younger people. Frazier-King said she believes the film industry coming to Natchez will provide opportunities for younger people as well as the restaurant industry and tourism. Frazier-King also is the creator of the Soul Food Fusion Festival.

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LANCE HARRIS DIRECTOR OF THE GRAND VILLAGE OF THE NATCHEZ INDIANS Before Natchez was Natchez, there were the Natchez Indians.

Portions of the more than 800-year-old story of the Natchez people continue to be uncovered today, with the recent discovery of a mound buried undereground and new evidence of the battlefield where the Indians and French clashed. Charged with telling the Natchez Indian story, Harris and the Mississippi Department of Archives and History are looking to the future — to new buildings, interactive exhibits and expanded programs — to tell the fascinating and ever-changing view into one of the region’s most studied cultures.

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BURNLEY COOK MUSICIAN

Burnley Cook is a restoration expert. He spent 3 1/2 years restoring a theater organ that used to be in the Baker Grand Theater, which was the oldest theater in Mississippi. Another ongoing project is restoring the International Paper Mill Christmas displays — constructing, woodworking and replicating the artwork.

Cook still plays the theater organ, which he said is completely playable and a lot of fun. The organ, Cook said, takes up two-thirds of his shop.

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PROFILE 2020

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JOHNNIE GRIFFIN

STANLEY SMITH

WOOD BOWL MAKER

FERRIDAY FOOTBALL COACH Before Stanley Smith was a state championship-winning coach at Ferriday High School, he was a college football coach at the University of Arkansas Pine Bluff and professional athlete in the Arena Football League from 2006 to 2009. Smith said he played on various teams — including the Amarillo Dusters, Texas Copperheads, Rio Grande Valley Dorados, Iowa Barnstormers and Utah Blaze — but was first a Ferriday Trojan. He graduated from FHS in 2001 and returned as coach in 2017 to be closer to his community and to his family, he said.

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SANDY BRIGGS

NURSE

Nurse Sandy Briggs knows a miracle when she sees it. When she was diagnosed with meningitis, an infection of the fluid surrounding the brain and spine, her doctor kept checking her spinal fluids and saw a dangerous sign. Yet after her church elder visited her and prayed, it wasn’t long before her health began changing course for the better, which surprised her doctor. But Briggs knew she was healed with the prayer. Ever since she was a little girl, Briggs wanted to be a nurse so she could help and heal. As a pastor’s wife, Briggs still sees working in the medical field under Dr. Kenneth Stubbs at Merit Health as an extension of ministry.

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SISTER DYMPNA CLARKE HOLY FAMILY CATHOLIC CHURCH

Sister Dympna Clarke has worked at Holy Family Catholic Church for five years, and has been a Sister for more than 50 years. Clarke said she has worked in Louisiana, Texas and Africa, but Natchez is the only place she has worked in Mississippi. Clarke said God allowed her to work in Natchez. Being a Sister, Clarke said, was a calling in her heart that made her want to help others and to follow God more closely.

After more than 30 years of printing the local daily newspaper, Johnnie Griffin is working on projects that take a little more time to complete. What started as a goal to make picture frames for his wife, turned into a passion.

Six years after walking into a friend’s workshop, Griffin now has his own shop and is turning pieces of wood into bowls. Each piece takes a year from the moment a tree is cut down to a finished bowl. In all Griffin has made more than 200 bowls and counting. As for picture frames for his wife, he has made only one.

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PAUL BURNS

CFO RECOVERY ENTERPRISES

Paul Burns has worked in a two-block stretch of Main Street for nearly three quarters of his working life. At the age of 15, he started working as a shoe clerk in the family business, Burns Shoe Store. When he returned from college, Burns joined the Gillon Group and then later worked at Britton and Koontz Bank, now Home Bank. Other than working in Hattiesburg and Meadville for a few years, Burns has been on Main Street. These days, he works as the CFO for a recovery company in the old Sears Building, just steps away from where his working life began. “People still come up to me and say how much they miss Burns Shoe Store.”

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DR. VIKRAM DULAM

JEAN BIGLANE RETIRED TEACHER

CARDIOLOGIST

Dr. Vikram Dulam is a cardiologist in Natche z. He is an independent practitioner and is affiliat-ed with multiple hospitals, including Merit Health Natche z and Merit Health River Region in Vicksburg.

Dulam has been in practice from more than 20 years and has been in Natchez for 17 years. Dulam said he travels a lot and enjoys history, so he travels to Europe and the world.

As a young English major at Mississippi State University, Jean Biglane never considered teaching until her professor introduced the idea. Whatever the professor saw in Biglane that suggested she would be an educator was spot on. Biglane taught English and writing at Cathedral High School for 30 years before retiring, but she maintains one AP English class in addition to freelance editing and copy editing for Bluffs & Bayous magazine because she is still passionate about education. Biglane said she still gets excited about teaching her class and wants to teach as long as she can — even if she needs a cane to get to class.

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DEBBIE HUDSON NATCHEZ-ADAMS COUNTY CHAMBER OF COMMERCE PRESIDENT/CEO

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TATE TAYLOR

DIRECTOR / PRODUCER

Debbie Hudson and the Natchez-Adams County Chamber of Commerce are building the leaders of tomorrow. The president and CEO of the Chamber, Hudson said the nonprofit helps bring diverse government and business groups together and helps them address the needs of the community. Hudson said the biggest accomplishment of the chamber since she started more than 12 years ago is the formation of Leadership Natchez, Youth Leadership Natchez and the creation of the chamber’s Young Professionals group. Through those groups, the organization teaches the area’s future leaders about their community and all of the entities that make the community work.

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AIMEE GUIDO NATCHEZ INC. COMMUNICATIONS MANAGER For the past eight years Aimee Guido has worked as the communications manager for Natchez, Inc., the economic development arm of Adams County. It is a position Guido said has allowed her to give back to her native hometown. Guido said her role is not like a job to her but is more like being a member of a team working closely with Natchez, Inc., Executive Director Chandler Russ and Deputy Director Heather Malone. Above all, Guido said she is happy to be contributing to Natchez, which she said is home. “I have family here. I have friends here.”

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PROFILE 2020

Though he was naturally a creative person, Tate Taylor said he didn’t realize how deep his desire for creativity was until after he graduated from the University of Mississippi and quit his first job in the petroleum business.

Taylor said he found his love for filmmaking the long way, first by trying his hand at writing and acting. While filming “The Help” in Greenwood, Taylor said he felt an unexpected pull that landed him back in Mississippi. Taylor fulfilled his dream of restoring a historic home at Wyolah Plantation and is now dedicated to creating a film community in Natchez, he said.

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JEREMY

HOUSTON

NATCHEZ MAN HELPS TELL BROADER NATCHEZ STORY

STORY & PHOTOS BY SCOTT HAWKINS 14

PROFILE 2020

The small triangular shaped patch of grass between St. Catherine and Franklin streets in Natchez might not look like much, but the history behind that spot bears a lot of weight.

“When I come here with the people, I tell them, ‘Welcome to the Forks of the Road Slave Market,’” said Jeremy Houston, owner and operator of Miss-Lou Heritage Group & Tours, which focuses on telling the African American side of Natchez’s history through tours of historic sites.

Houston, a Natchez native who holds a history degree from University of Hawaii, said he starts most of his tours at the Forks of the Road.

“From 1833 to 1863 this location was the second largest slave market in the Deep South, second only to New Orleans,” Houston said he tells tourist groups that can range in size from one person to 300 people, depending on the season. “One of the mottos that helped this place become one of the premiere slave markets during the antebellum period

was, ‘Buy more negroes to raise more cotton to buy more negroes to raise more cotton.’”

That motto, Houston said, helped Natchez become the fourth richest city in America behind Boston, Philadelphia and New York.

“Being at the Forks of the Road is an emotional experience,” Houston said. “People’s faces change after they find out what really happened there.”

Houston said he conducts tours for visitors from around the world — Germany, Australia, England, Texas and Vermont.

Houston said when he returned to Natchez after serving in the United States Marine Corps from 2007 to 2012, he saw a need for tours of the African American history in Natchez, particularly on the north side of town.

Houston’s entry into the Natchez tourism industry was when he began volunteering at the African American Museum in downtown Natchez in 2013, where he still volunteers today.

“African American history in tourism

wasn’t as talked about as much,” Houston said of the period before he and co-founder Brian McKnight started Miss-Lou Heritage Group & Tours in 2016.

“Natchez’s black history was talked about, but they were not necessarily taking tourists throughout the neighborhoods in Natchez. They weren’t having access to the north side of town, and I felt there was more history on the north side of town of Natchez than there would be downtown almost.”

March, April and May are the peak tourism months in Natchez, Houston said, when he gets as many as 25 tourists per week and during the weeks of Pilgrimage he can accommodate as many as 300 to 400 tourists.

Houston said tourists are interested in learning the African American side of the history of Natchez through the slave period to the post-Civil War period, the civil rights era and up to present day, and Natchez has historic sites related to all of those eras.

“We take them to the Forks of the Road Slave Market, St. Catherine Street, from the Forks of the Road to Zion Chapel, the Woodlawn area where Richard Wright’s childhood home is, the Watkins Street Cemetery, George F. West Boulevard and Watkins Street,” Houston said.

The Forks of the Road got its name by the points of access to Natchez, Houston said.

“The reason this place is called Forks of the Road is because of the three ways you could come into town during the 1830 to the 1860s and that would have been your east direction and going down St. Catherine would have been the south direction and coming down what is now Devereux Drive, but Devereux Drive wasn’t there at the time,” Houston said. “The road would have been where Old Washington Road is now. Old Washington Road was a part of Washington Road and a part of the Natchez Trace so the Natchez Trace served as a major highway in the transporting or the importing and exporting black people in and out of Natchez during that time period.”

Houston said when Forks of the Road was operating as a slave market, slave traders would sell salves on the site.

“You have a list of these dealers coming in and out of Natchez,” Houston said. “During the 1830s until the 1860s, supposedly 2,000 people per year were sold here at the Forks of the Road, but no one really has an accurate count because no one really kept numbers like that. The price of slaves would have varied in that 30-year period. Beginning in the 1830s the price of a slave would have ranged from $500 to $700 and about the 1860s no one sold for less than $1,600 here at the Forks of the Road.”

The Forks of the Road can often be an emotional experience for tourists, Houston said.

“I had a white woman get on her knees and start crying and apologized to me for what white people did during slavery,” Houston said.

From the Forks of the Road, Houston takes his tour groups up St. Catherine Street, stopping at the Angelety House that was the home Emile C. Angelety, an African American contractor in Natchez.

“He helped build a lot of buildings that are in downtown Natchez. One in particular was the Dumas Drugstore,” Houston said. “He also ran a lumber yard here on St. Catherine Street during the 1920s to the early 1930s.”

Later the house became the home of the Mostly African Market during the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s.

“It was run by a woman named Thelma Williams,” Houston said. “It had artifacts from Africa because she travelled to Africa every year and ran it as a museum.”

China Grove Baptist Church is next on St. Catherine Street.

“I point out about China Grove Baptist Church and its Civil Rights history,” Houston said.

The stretch between Forks of the Road and Zion was the epicenter of the black community for decades and includes houses that have been owned by notable African Americans, including the Natchez physician, Albert W. Dumas Sr., M.D. (18761945) and John Roy Lynch, a politician, attorney and writer.

Houston also points out the now vacant lot that used to be the site of the Ace Theater for blacks to see movies and concerts during the segregation era.

A house across the street from Holy Family Catholic Church, Houston said, was the NAACP headquarters in the 1960s and it was where NAACP President George Metcalf lived. Metcalf had a car bomb, believed to have been planted by the Ku Klux Klan, go off in 1965. Metcalf survived the bombing. The same house was home to Natchez’s first black doctor John Banks in the 1890s, where he hosted such notable visitors to Natchez as Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. DuBoise, Houston said.

“There is a picture of Dr. Banks with Booker T. Washington standing on those steps here in Natchez,” Houston said of a plaque in front of the historic house.

Another house on St. Catherine Street was the home of Sadie B. Thompson, a black educator who had a school named after her, Houston said.

Further up the street is the site of the Rhythm Night Club that was the site of an April 23, 1940, fire that killed 209 people.

At Martin Luther King Jr. Street and Catherine Street is Zion Chapel that was first a Presbyterian Church and later became Zion Chapel in 1868.

“They had Hiram Revels as the pastor there and two years later Hiram Revels became the first black United States Senator while being the pastor of Zion Chapel,” Houston said.

Across the street from Zion Chapel is the Robert B. Mackel & Sons Funeral Home and across Martin Luther King Jr. Street from there is where the 1968 Natchez Riots started in the parking lot of what is now NX Level restaurant.

“It was a service station at the time,” Houston said.

Then the tour goes to Minor Street and the site of the Feb. 27, 1967, bombing of then-NAACP treasurer

Wharlest Jackson.

“The bomb actually went off where you see Minor and Henderson streets and from there the truck rolled all the way to about where the historic marker is,” Houston said. “This is where he died. No one was ever arrested for that or the other NAACP bombing of Metcalf.”

The tour then goes to the Woodlawn Street childhood home of Richard Wright, author of “Black Boy,” “Uncle Tom’s Children” and “Native Son.” “Wright grew up in Natchez but did not spend his whole youth here, just his early childhood,” Houston said. “He moved to Jackson and he moved to Helena, Arkansas. His mom was a school teacher. His mama got real sick.”

Houston said Wright lived in Natchez between 1908 and the early 1920s.

“He got on out of here,” Houston said. “He would come back. He has family here to this day.”

The tour goes through the Woodlawn area of Natchez with highlights including a house that once housed Sultan Records recording studio, the former home of jazz musician Bud Scott, Natchez College and Sadie B. Thompson School.

The tour ends with a visit to Watkins Street Cemetery that was founded by a group of investors led by G.W. Brumfield, for whom Brumfield School is named. The men raised $700 apiece in 1909 to establish the Natchez Colored Cemetery., now Watkins Street.

“This was established to be a burial ground for the black people in Natchez,” Houston said, “because they couldn’t be buried at the city cemetery unless they were somewhat of prestige or had a lot of money. … Many historical people are buried here and it includes the mass grave of the people who died in the Rhythm Nightclub fire.”

Houston has written two books on the black history of Natchez, including “How Well Do You Know the Black History of Natchez, Mississippi?” and “Straight Outta Natchez, Volume I.” Houston said he plans to release “Straight Outta Natchez, Volume II,” this year.

“He is probably the only one, there might be a couple of others, but mostly him, giving the African American History in Natchez,” said Houston’s friend and colleague Greg Myles, who is a tour guide for Natchez Sightseeing and who also works with Houston’s tour group on occasion. “(Houston) gives the untold story that hasn’t been told for centuries not only for Natchez but also for the Louisiana area as well.”

Myles said he is proud of the progress Houston has made in the past few years in shining the light on the black history of the Miss-Lou. “His tours have the most potential to make a bigger impact than any other tour,” Myles said. “He is really big on change. History repeats itself and he’s big on making a change for us to learn from it versus repeating it or just not paying attention to it or not ignoring it.”

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DOUG

MAURO

NEW JERSEY NATIVE HAS BECOME ONE OF AREA’S BIGGEST ADVOCATES

STORY & PHOTOS BY SCOTT HAWKINS

D

Doug Mauro is proud of his adopted hometown of Natchez, so proud of the community, in fact, that his friends and colleagues often describe him as an ambassador for Natchez.

“He goes down to the Visitors Center regularly without anybody asking, and he greets the tourists and he’s got cookies that he has made,” said Eugenie Cates, president of the Pilgrimage Garden Club.

“He is really a great ambassador for Natchez just because he wants to be. He is inspired and driven because he is so proud of this area and he is not even from this area. He is from New Jersey.”

Mauro, 55, was born and raised in Monmouth County, New Jersey.

“You know Monmouth Plantation?”

Mauro said while sitting in his living room at Oak Hill Inn, the bed and breakfast he runs with his partner Donald McGlynn. “Well, the people who built Monmouth Plantation came from where I’m

from, Monmouth County, New Jersey.”

Mauro said he was one of five siblings growing up in a middle-class Catholic family in New Jersey, where they could see the New York City skyline across the bay on a clear day.

Mauro later attended Rutgers where he studied horticulture and graduated in 1987 before going to work as a Medical Lab Technician for Riverview in Redback, New Jersey.

In 1995, Mauro said he switched companies and went to work for Laboratory Corporation, which is one of the biggest diagnostic labs in the United States and that is where he was working on Sept. 11, 2001.

“We lived in Monmouth County, New Jersey, an hour south of New York City, so as a crow flies 25 miles, just across the bay.

So, when (the terrorist attacks) happened it was really a big deal,” Mauro said. “I used to tell people it is like seeing a mountain (the Twin Towers of the World Trade THE NATCHEZ DEMOCRAT 17

Center) every day of your life and then one day you look across and the mountain is gone.”

As part of his work with Lab Corp, Mauro said he was assigned to help families by using DNA testing to help identify the remains of loved ones who had perished in the terrorist attacks.

“Lab Corp really stepped up to the plate and they did free DNA testing, so I was liaison in Monmouth County for that program,” Mauro said, adding that many of the victims had lived in Monmouth County. “I would greet these family members who would come and bring their loved ones’ toothbrushes and hairbrushes and we would do a DNA match, so they had some kind of closure.”

Mauro said he worked on that project for a couple of years before he and McGlynn moved to Natchez in 2003.

Mauro said he and McGlynn, who is a graduate of Tulane, love New Orleans and on a trip there in 2002, decided to take a side trip to visit Natchez.

“We had never been here before, and we loved it,” Mauro said. “Don worked for the state of New Jersey for many years and he was offered an early retirement, and I was able to retire after so many years. After we went back home after staying in Natchez, it is like the city seduces you, and we couldn’t get it out of our minds.”

Mauro said Natchez was more suitable to them for a retirement location because it was a quieter community than New Orleans.

“Natchez is like New Orleans with all the positives,” Mauro said. “We don’t flood and we don’t have any crime. It’s a little bit cooler here. Beautiful old houses, which we love.”

Mauro said he wrote down the name of a realtor before they left Natchez on that visit.

“When I got home, I was in contact with her, and my partner wasn’t as excited about Natchez as I was at first,” Mauro said. “We were here in June of 2002, then in January of 2003 we came for a long weekend and looked at real estate. We looked at three houses and this (Oak Hill Inn) was one of them. We wanted an antebellum home. We wanted to be downtown, those were some of the requirements. We walked in the front door here and just fell in love with it.”

Mauro said the original plan was not to operate a bed and breakfast but after buying the property it morphed into that.

“We just wanted to be retired,” Mauro said.

“This is our second restoration. Our first house in Asbury Park, New Jersey, was a Victorian home and we had restored that one ourselves.

This is our second restoration. These houses seem to be getting older, not younger when we buy them.”

Mauro said he had been the president of the Asbury Park Garden Club when they lived there.

“We restored all the parks and public places there,” Mauro said, so it was only natural he 18

PROFILE 2020

would get involved in the Natchez garden clubs. “Moving here was like a double whammy. Not only are these garden clubs into gardening, but they are really into historic preservation, which I love also.”

Mauro recently finished a term as president of the Natchez Pilgrimage Tours, which is the marketing and ticket-selling arm of the Pilgrimage Garden Club serving all the venues around town with ticket sales.

Cates said during Mauro’s three terms as president of Natchez Pilgrimage Tours, he spearheaded several important projects.

“In his time, many innovations were made,” Cates said. “He oversaw a total upgrade of the ticketing system to online purchasing. In fact, right now Natchez Pilgrimage Tours has presold about $19,000 worth of tickets for Spring Pilgrimage, which doesn’t really start until March, and he was very hard at work upgrading that ticketing system.”

Cates said Mauro worked closely with the staff of the Natchez Visitor’s Center to assess the needs they had.

“They are the frontline people who see the visitors and trying to help make it easy for visitors to purchase tickets once they get to town or before they get to town,” Cates said. “Also, he was involved in the overhaul of the Natchez Pilgrimage Tours website which features all the homes from the Natchez Garden Club and the homes from the Pilgrimage Garden Club and the city-owned home of Auburn. It features all those homes year round. Just everything in town that has historic significance is sold through the ticket selling there on the website.”

Mauro is currently a member of the Natchez Bed and Breakfast Association and he has served on the board of the Historic Natchez Foundation.

In his spare time, Mauro said he enjoys running Oak Hill Inn with McGlynn and the two have been successful in that endeavor having earned Trip Advisor’s Travelers’ Choice Award

six times and being ranked the No. 1 Bed and Breakfast out of 44 in Natchez.

The rankings are based on customer reviews.

“They score everything and it is 1 to 5 stars so as of yesterday we have 1,226 five star reviews,” Mauro said.

In 2014, Mauro said Oak Hill Inn was ranked the No. 1 Bed and Breakfast in the United States and No. 3 in the world.

“In 2014 the phone rings one day and this lady with an English accent — I didn’t even know what Trip Advisor was — she calls and says, ‘This is the London Times, and we’d like to interview you,’” Mauro said. “I thought it was my sister playing a joke. She does that. I said, ‘Jo,’ she said, ‘No. This is the London Times.’ I said, ‘Why do you want to interview me?’ She said, ‘You were picked as the No. 1 B&B in the U.S. and third in the world.’”

Mauro said their bed and breakfast has been busy ever since.

McGlynn handles the bookkeeping and cooking and Mauro does the gardening and reservations.

“When he (McGlynn) went to Tulane,” Mauro said, “he worked at Brennan’s (Restaurant) so he really is a great cook. He does most of the cooking and baking. He is a wonderful baker. We do a 5-star breakfast. We do eggs Benedict and all sorts of things. We do 12 different breakfasts.”

After breakfast, Mauro said he enjoys helping visitors plan their day’s itinerary and giving them advice on what areas to visit in Natchez.

“I’ll sit down and I’ll open up the visitors guide,” Mauro said. “I’ll give them a little history of Natchez about the Natchez Indians, the French, the Spanish. I’ll go through all of that and then I’ll show them the map. I’ll fold the map page over and I tell about the mansions, that if they don’t see any other house they have to see Longwood, that’s the most important house and I tell the background story about how it is unfinished and then tell about Stanton Hall and all the other homes and I try to tell them they can spend a whole day just on touring the churches.

We have beautiful churches in Natchez and they are free. St. Mary Basilica, which is my church, the doors are not only unlocked, it is open all day and it is the finest example of French Gothic Architecture in the whole country. It is magnificent. And, the Trinity Church has the Tiffany windows. I tell them about the Presbyterian Church photo gallery and this is all free and it is wonderful.”

Mauro said he relishes being an ambassador to visitors in Natchez.

“I try to give them a good experience because we want them to come back,” Mauro said. “I think that is why we are so successful. We get lots of repeat customers here. We want them to have a good time. I love sharing the town with them.”

“After we went back home after staying in Natchez, it is like the city seduces you, and we couldn’t get it out of our minds.”

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CHARLES STEPHENS

FAY MINOR

METAL WORKER

NATCHEZ RECREATION DIRECTOR Athletics and recreation have been a part of Fay Minor’s life ever since she was growing up and played basketball on the South Natchez High School team with her twin sister, Kay. Later both went to Alcorn State University where Fay played on the basketball team and Kay ran track. After graduation, Fay worked in various jobs in the Natchez area, including a stint with the Southwest Regional Mental Health Association and as a police officer for the Natchez Police Department. Fay later ran the Natchez Boys & Girls Clubs for many years and is now director of the Natchez Recreation Department. “I feel like it is a calling to keep people active and involved,” Fay said.

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JONATHAN WOODS OLD SOUTH TRADING POST OWNER

Impressed by the pioneering women who laid the foundation for tourism in Natchez, Jonathan Woods said he left his career in broadcasting and moved to Natchez from Oklahoma City and founded the now iconic Old South Trading Post 17 years go with 100 items. The store has moved into larger locations over the years as it has grown and now attracts visitors from around the world as well as locals. The trading post now operates online and ships more than 3,000 quality souvenirs. Woods still works the counter himself as he greets new shoppers and those who keep returning. Woods says the women who started the Natchez Pilgrimage believed in the future of the city. That is a legacy he is proud to help continue.

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DAVID KING

ADAMS COUNTY CHRISTIAN SCHOOL HEADMASTER

David King, a 1987 Adams County Christian School graduate, is as enthusiastic about making people smile in his school family as he is about coaching, he said.

King is in his eighth year as headmaster at ACCS and led the ACCS football team to the 2018 MAIS state championship, for which he said he has a lot of people to thank. King has coached football for 17 years, starting first at Trinity and later at ACCS and decorates his office with LSU Tigers memorabilia.

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PROFILE 2020

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LORRAINE GRIFFIN ARTIST

For Lorraine Griffin, life would not be complete without her art and her music. The creative muse has been her close companion since she was a small child drawing under her bed on the wall where her mom couldn’t see what she was doing. Those first drawings started a lifetime love of all things creative for the local artist.

She exhibits her artwork at the ArtsNatchez Gallery on Main Street. Griffin said art school in Chicago unleashed all of her potential and now she uses creativity in every aspect of her life.

Charles Stephens is not one to prop up his feet when he is back in Natchez after two weeks on a production platform in the Gulf of Mexico. He has too much to do. When he is on shore, Stephens creates and builds ornamental ironwork. In the last 20 years, he has made more than 100 gates, fences and handrails in the area and as far away as Atlanta. If that weren’t enough Stephens has also made a name for himself as baking the best banana caramel pie around. Stephens estimates he has made well over 1,000 pies in the last 40 years.

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DR. JACK RODRIGUEZ ONCOLOGIST

Dr. Jack Rodriguez is an oncologist at Merit Health Natchez and at Natchez Oncology Clinic, which he established in 1997. Rodriguez did his medical fellowship at Beaumont Hematology and Oncology at St. Louis University. In his free time, Rodriguez and his wife and four daughters travel. Rodriguez said traveling is how he likes to spend his family time. He also likes to exercise, including running the bluffs and doing weight training.

THE NATCHEZ DEMOCRAT 21

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MARIE GASQUET

MARION SMITH LAWYER

VOLUNTEER

After Hurricane Katrina destroyed her condominium on the Mississippi Gulf Coast in 2005, Marie Gasquet said the storm blew her right back to Natchez where she grew up, which was a good thing. She was able to help her aging mother and she built a new house in town. Since then, Gasquet said she has never been short of things to do. She volunteers her time delivering meals for the Natchez Stewpot and helping with the feral cat program in Natchez. “I like it here because there is a lot to do, social and philanthropic.”

There is no substitute for hard work and dedication. As someone who has spent more than six decades in law, Marion Smith can’t kick the habit. During his professional years, Smith worked to ensure oil and gas employment would stay strong by helping bring CO2 technology to the area, served in the state Legislature for 12 years beginning in 1960 and along with then speaker of the house John J. Junkin, fought to buy the Grand Village of the Natchez Indians and Jefferson College. Without his efforts, the Natchez Indian site would be a housing development. Although retired, Smith still spends plenty of hours at his office. He enjoys working on community projects.

Among other interests, he is spearheading a plan to preserve Christ Episcopal Church in Jefferson County.

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CALLIE GODFREY DOULA

TAYLOR COOLEY PHOTOGRAPHY

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PAM PATTERSON

ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT

When it comes to what’s best for body and soul, Natchez wife, mother and doula, Callie Godfrey, thinks nature provides our best guide. Godfrey, wife of Kolby Godfrey and mother of Phoebe, 5, and Charlotte, 2, became a certified doula two years ago through DONA International and earned her certification in childbirth education through The Academy of Certified Birth Educators. Doulas provide support and guidance for a mother and father or the mother’s partner during a birth and in many ways acts as a coach during the birth experience, she said. Godfrey embraces nature first in most aspects of her life and those of her family. She enjoys visiting farmers’ markets and learning about natural remedies, which led her to begin creating elderberry syrup, which she sells in Natchez at Dianne’s Frame Shoppe and Natchez Coffee Co. She also ships her elderberry syrup all over the country through her website, thecollectivespace.org.

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PHILLIP WEST

FORMER NATCHEZ MAYOR Phillip West served as mayor of Natchez from 2004-08, and he was Natchez’s first black mayor since Reconstruction.

West was active in local and state offices of the NAACP. Before becoming Mayor, West was elected to the Mississippi House of Representatives in 1997 and served for seven years.

Prior to the first day of attending Alcorn State University in January 1965, West said he and his father almost lost their lives at the hands of the Ku Klux Klan while driving to Brookhaven. “The experience changed my life,” West said.

“I committed my life to bring about positive change and a better future for those who would come behind me.”

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PROFILE 2020

When it comes to serving the citizens of Natchez, Pam Patterson considers herself to be on “the front lines.” As the city’s administrative assistant, Patterson has assisted elected officials in many capacities without being as visible from the general public’s point of view. Patterson said her role ensures a structured and efficient process, whether she calls public entities together for a meeting or helps a citizen in distress understand how the city can best assist them. Outside of City Hall, Patterson said she loves to travel — whether it is to a physical destination or within the pages of a captivating book — and loves spending time with her family and friends.

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MARGARET PERKINS

REGINA CHARBONEAU

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Regina Charboneau is more than Mississippi’s “Biscuit Queen.” Charboneau earned the title from The New York Times, which did a story about her famous flaky biscuits. Charboneau opened Regina’s Kitchen, a cooking school on Main Street, last May, and she is the founder of Biscuits & Blues restaurant, which opened in 1995. Charboneau also is the owner of Twin Oaks B&B, King’s Tavern Restaurant and Charboneau Wine Distillery and she helps create menus for the American Queen riverboat.

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ROBERT GREENE

NATCHEZ-ADAMS COUNTY HUMANE SOCIETY VOLUNTEER Area dogs and cats have a friend in Robert Greene. The former president of the Natchez-Adams County Humane Society has spent many hours fixing roofs, building fences, installing doors and doing maintenance to provide safe and secure homes for local cats and dogs. He started volunteering at the former shelter on Liberty Road and now helps at the new shelter across the street. When he is not carrying his toolbox, Greene is helping control the area pet population problem by catching feral cats to be spayed and neutered. And, yes, he has adopted a few pets along the way.

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DR. BRAD LEMAY CARDIOLOGIST

Dr. Brad LeMay is a cardiologist at the Doctor’s Pavilion in Natchez and has been in Natchez since 2010. LeMay has been a cardiolo gist since graduating in specialty training in cardiology in 1993.

He graduated from medical school in 1986 and is board certified in cardiology and internal medicine. LeMay works for the Our Lady of the Lake in Natchez. When he is not at work, LeMay said he restores property and has restored several properties in Natchez.

24

PROFILE 2020

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LINDA GARDNER DELTA MUSIC MUSEUM DIRECTOR

Linda Gardner loves the Miss-Lou and has spent most of her career promoting the area through work at the Vidalia Chamber of Commerce and most recently as director of the Delta Music Museum in Ferriday, a role the Natchez native said combines her love of the region and its music with her skills in public relations. Gardner said she loves to share the region’s musical history, including stories about locals Jerry Lee Lewis, Mickey Gilley and Jimmy Swaggart, with locals and visitors alike. In her spare time, Gardner, a Vidalia resident, is an avid golfer and sings in the choir at First Baptist Church of Natchez.

For Margaret Perkins, radio is community. “Music brings everyone together regardless of our differences,” Perkins said. As the President and CEO of Listen Up Y’all Media, Perkins is in charge of five radio stations and one website.

Growing up in a radio family and working professionally in the industry for more than 40 years, Perkins believes that the stuff between the music is just as important, if not more important, than the music. That is why Perkins chooses to use live DJs, when many in the industry are doing otherwise. “Radio is intended to be a community-oriented business. It is not the music, it is the issues and things that are happening in the community,” Perkins said.

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36 PROFILE 2020

SABRENA

BARTLEY NATCHEZ WOMAN EMPOWERS OTHERS AS LEADER OF TWO CITY DEPARTMENTS

e

Each day, when the Rev. Sabrena Goins Bartley gets up for work, she feels the joy of knowing that the day-to-day operations of the two Natchez city departments she oversees are having a positive impact on individuals in her community, she said.

Whether it is by providing transportation through the Natchez Transit System or promoting independence and enhancing the quality of life for adults through the Natchez Senior Citizen’s Multipurpose Center, Bartley said she is able to support the Natchez economy with upwards of $34 million poured back into her community while empowering the lives of others.

“I have brought economic development in the form of job creation and retention, local support of businesses and direct and indirect service to citizens of this community in this position as executive director,” Bartley said. “However, I am more interested in leading others toward a greater cause that will make a positive difference in their circle of life than aggrandizing myself for personal notoriety. My greatest achievement continues to be the ongoing building of the community by building up people through jobs, services and opportunities.”

The Natchez Senior Center at Mar-

STORY BY SABRINA ROBERTSON tin Luther King Jr. and Washington streets provides a central meeting place for senior citizens to participate in activities that promote independence, including arts and crafts, health and fitness programs, swimming, computer classes and other educational programs.

The center also offers transportation services to the elderly through a partnership with Natchez Transit — a public and non-profit, rural transportation system that operates more than 50 vehicles, nearly 20 of which are fully accessible for disabled persons.

Bartley was the impetus behind the creation, funding and building of Natchez Transit, which she said is the first rural regional multi-faceted transportation center in the state of Mississippi.

As the Chief Executive Officer of both the Natchez Transit System and the Natchez Senior Citizen’s Multipurpose Center, Bartley said she is entering her 19th year as the CEO of both departments. Bartley said she is the first female pastor of Poplar Hill AME in Fayette while her husband, Rev. Charles E. Bartley, is pastor of Grant Chapel AME, in Amite, Louisiana.

Bartley said it is by “the grace of God” that she can make a difference

in the lives of others on a day-to-day basis.

“By God’s grace I am a talented, innovative, empowering, visionary, trailblazer and spiritual-transformational leader who exemplifies Christian values in both the secular and sacred,” she said. “… Each day I am presented with the awesome opportunity to enhance another person’s life through the many services offered at the Natchez Senior Center and the Natchez Transit Regional Center. As an ordained itinerate elder and pastor of Poplar Hill AME Church in Fayette, my goal in life is to exemplify Christ in my everyday life.”

Bartley is described by her colleagues as “a woman who quietly moves large mountains,” as she seldom boasts about her own achievements earned throughout her career but often boasts about her faith.

When asked about her numerous accomplishments in life and work, Bartley said, “To God be the glory for the great things he has done.”

Bartley also serves her community, region and state as the State Delegate to the Community Transportation Association of America; the regional director of the Southwest Mississippi Accessible Regional Transportation; and as a member of the Board of Directors of Mississippi Public Transit

Association; Zeta Delta Omega chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Inc.; the Natchez Chapter of the Links Inc.; the NAACP; the Natchez-Adams Council on Aging; Southwest District Coordinator of the Women in Ministry through the AME Church; AMEC Conference Board of Examiners for Ministry candidates; AMEC Conference Leadership as Secretary and Ministerial Delegate to the General Conference of the AME Church.

Bartley has a bachelor’s degree in management, a master’s degree in business and public administration, a master’s in divinity with a theology emphasis, and is a candidate for a doctoral degree in organizational leadership with an emphasis in Christian ministry.

Aside from her leadership roles, Bartley said she enjoys watching great action movies, listening to good music and the adventure of road trips. She is the mother of five children, the godmother of two, the grandmother of nine and one granddog named Chee-Chee.

“As a distinguished rural public transportation professional, community services advocate and Christian religious leader my interests are simply empowering the community to greatness through service — one person at a time,” Bartley said.

THE NATCHEZ DEMOCRAT 27

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WARREN REUTHER JR.

CAROLYN MYERS

NATCHEZ GRAND HOTEL OWNER Warren Reuther is the owner of Natchez Grand Hotel and he also presides over Hospitality Consultants Mississippi, the managing entity that oversees the marketing and operations for the Natchez Convention Center, Community Center, Natchez Grand Hotel and Monmouth Historic Inn. Reuther also served as chairman of the board of the New Orleans Convention and Visitors Bureau three times. He is the chairman of the board and CEO of Hospitality Enterprises New Orleans, Hospitality Consultants and New Orleans Hotel Consultants.

SEEDS OF CHANGE FOUNDER Seeds of Change Founder and President Carolyn Myers said she has always found herself in a position to help people, even before she had a vision to start a charity benefitting senior citizens, disabled persons and veterans. Myers volunteered at a food bank prior to Seeds of Change and said she feels that the more she helps others, the more blessings she receives in return. Her vision has grown since the foundation started in 2006 as she is now seeking ways to open a shelter for the homeless.

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TOM HUGHES POTTER

40

GREGORY BROOKING GOLFER

International Paper brought Tom Hughes to Natchez in 1980.

The Troy, Alabama, native said he immediately fell in love with the town that reminded him of his hometown of Troy because of the friendly people and historic structures. With him, Hughes brought a love of pottery and a love of Christ. Today, Hughes uses his pottery talents to spread the word of Christ by making crosses as pendants and by volunteering in the community to deliver meals for the Natchez Stewpot and through prison ministries.

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THE REV. SCOTT THOMAS

ST. MARY BASILICA RECTOR The Rev. Scott Thomas has been ordained a Catholic priest since June 5, 2010. Thomas was born and raised in Jackson. Thomas said it is rare for a priest to have been born in Mississippi. Thomas said he wanted to become a priest because he has always felt God’s call to serve others. Thomas has lived in Natchez since July 1, 2019. His favorite part of Natchez is the Antebellum houses, Emerald Mound and the architecture.

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PROFILE 2020

Golf is in the blood of Duncan Park Golf Course Superintendent Greg Brooking. Brooking was Super Senior Player of the Year in 2018. He is a member of the Golf Course Superintendents of America and is a certified golf course superintendent. Brooking said he is most proud of the course conditions at Duncan Park as well as the Norman Puckett Junior Program. Brooking qualified for the USGA Senior Amateur in 2013 and won the Super Senior Amateur in 2017. He also won six city golf titles.

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PROFILE 2020

LARRY

WESLEY

NATCHEZ COACH CHANGING CHILDREN’S LIVES ON RUNNING TRACK

a

At the age of 7, Larry Wesley developed a love of racing that he said came from humble beginnings on the streets on the south side of Natchez.

“It started with sitting out on the corner and saying to other kids, ‘I can outrun you,’” Wesley said. “When I was 7 or 8 years old, I would race boys who were 12 to 13 years old. I would outrun them.”

Wesley went to North Natchez High School and ran track and field for the Rams, including the 100-meter dash and 200-meter dash. During his senior year in 1975, Wesley set the Mississippi High School Activities Association Overall and Class 5A record in the 100-meter dash with 10.64 seconds. Wesley held the record for four years until Calvin Smith ran a time of 10.44 seconds for the overall state record in the 100-meter dash.

The following year, Wesley said he had an opportunity to make it onto the 1976 US Olympics team in California.

“I finished fifth in the 100 and 200 meters and I was so close in trying out for the team,” Wesley said. “In the events, I competed against some of the top athletes in the world.”

After competing for a spot on the 1976 Olym-

STORY & PHOTOS BY PATRICK MURPHY

pics team, Wesley earned a scholarship to run at Jackson State University.

In his freshmen year in 1977, Wesley competed on the Tigers track and field team. In 1977, the Tigers won the team track and field National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics championship at Arkadelphia, Arkansas.

During Wesley’s running career at Jackson State, the Tigers won the NAIA championship in track and field for four years, from 1976-79.

“I was two to three classes short of earning my bachelor’s degree in general studies in 1979,” Wesley said. “I was in an automobile accident in April and I had to leave school.”

In 1998, Wesley came back to Natchez and became the assistant coach of the basketball, football and track and field teams at Natchez Middle School. The following year, Wesley went to Alcorn State University to earn his undergraduate degree in general studies. Two years later in 2001, Wesley was named the Natchez High School track and field head coach.

Since becoming the head coach, Wesley has continued coaching the Bulldogs track and field program for 19 years. In 2018, the Bulldogs competed at the MHSAA Class 5A state championship in Pearl. In the state championship meet, four indi-

viduals placed in the top eight and the 4-x-800 meter relay team won the event. The Lady Bulldogs won with a time of 10 minutes and 32 seconds.

Zharia Barnes threw discus and shot put for the Bulldogs during the 2018-19 season and finished fifth in the state for shot put. Even before Barnes was in high school, Barnes said Wesley was her track and field coach in seventh grade.

Barnes said after having Wesley as her coach in high school, she was able to go on to compete on the Alcorn State University track and field team.

“He is a very amazing man and I like to look up to him as my school dad,” Barnes said. “He makes sure he builds a competitive team to get the job done.”

Besides his passion for track and field, Wesley teaches biology and human anatomy at Natchez High School, helps out at the Adams County Juvenile Detention Center and helps with the Upward Bound program at Alcorn State University.

“It’s an honor just being able to work with so many great families and children here in Natchez,” Wesley said. “I also coach a variety of different kids around the Miss-Lou. I don’t mind spreading the love of my coaching. I just like working with children and help changing people’s lives.”

THE NATCHEZ DEMOCRAT 31

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DARRYL GRENNELL NATCHEZ MAYOR Aside from having served in local government offices since 1997, Darryl Grennell is an academic with a strong passion for biology and for teaching, which he did for more than 30 years. Grennell said while in school, he actually hated political science and history but wound up using every one of his general study courses in his career, both as an Adams County Supervisor for 18 years and as Mayor of Natchez since 2016. Unlike most in the politics, Grennell said he is naturally a quiet person and enjoys reading, fishing, frogging, knitting and baking.

THE NATCHEZ DEMOCRAT 33

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CAROLYN VANCE SMITH

DEE FAIRCLOTH

RETIRED EDUCATOR

RETIRED COACH

Dee Faircloth is the former head football coach at Vidalia High School.

Faircloth served two stints as the Vikings’ head coach — from 1969 to 2009 and from 2016 to 2018 — a total of 44 seasons. Under his leadership the Vikings won 265 games. His greatest accomplishments were coaching that long and being inducted into the LHSAA Hall of Fame in 2014. Now in retirement, Faircloth said, “I sit on the couch and mow the lawn.”

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DIANA NUTTER WMIS RADIO OWNER Diana Nutter has been affiliated with WMIS 1240 AM radio since she was approximately 2-and-a-half years old and moved from New Orleans to Natchez with her family after her father P.K. Ewing Jr. and her grandfather P.K. Ewing Sr. went on the air with the radio station in 1941. After her father died suddenly in 1963, Diana ran the radio station for a while as a young woman and later she married Jim Nutter and the two bought WTYJ 97.7 in 1986. The two stations have been the voice of the black community in the Miss-Lou ever since. Nutter, who is in the process of selling the stations to Gregory Adams, said that in retirement she looks forward to staying active in the community and her church Trinity Episcopal Church.

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JACQUELINE MARSAW NAACP MEMBER

Jacqueline Marsaw is a member of the NAACP. In the past, she was the secretary, vice president and president. She is also the field director for the National Action Network. Marsaw is a past member of the Natchez Stewpot board and used to deliver meals for the Stewpot. She’s an alumna of Jackson State University. She used to coordinate the MLK Parade and now she’s over the Black History Parade. Marsaw also is a member of the Adams County Democratic Party.

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PROFILE 2020

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AMANDA JEANSONNE

NATCHEZ STEWPOT DIRECTOR Natchez Stewpot Director Amanda Jeansonne is quick to note that the organization she heads is backed by an army of volunteers, including people who do the delivery routes to help feed elderly people and shut-ins, the dedicated staff, including longtime cook Johnnie B. Davis and her niece Elrica Coleman. The organization provides 100,000 meals a year, Jeansonne estimates.

“We get so much from the community,” Jeansonne said.

Carolyn Vance Smith is the author and editor of many Natchez-related books including “The Goat Castle Murder: A True Natchez Story That Shocked the World” and “Secrets of Natchez: From a Journalist’s Notebook.”

Smith’s largest contribution to the Miss-Lou, however, has been the Natchez Literary & Cinema Celebration, which she founded in 1990. Planning for the inaugural event took an entire year and the annual event features some of Mississippi’s best writers, who also are among the best in the world. Festival themes have covered topics in Southern literature, film and culture. Smith said that above all, the festival brings lovers of literature together.

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NANCY REUTHER

HENRY HARRIS

Nancy Reuther is the owner and general manager of Monmouth Historic Inn & Restaurant 1818, and she is the owner of New Orleans Hotel Consultants, Natchez City Sightseeing and Hospitality Consultants Mississippi. Reuther is a member of the Natchez Garden Club and the Natchez Bed & Breakfast Association and is part of the committee to help reestablish Margaret Martin School as a community center and home to fine arts in Natchez.

With the exception of a period between 1999 and 2007, Henry Harris has been employed by the City of Natchez since Oct. 15, 1974, when began his career with the city as a police officer. Later he was transferred to be assistant director of the recreation department.

Harris later moved on to be the tennis director in Jackson between 1999 and 2004 and returned to Natchez as tennis director in 2007. Harris’ passion is teaching people to play tennis and he plans to retire on Oct. 15 this year but said he will continue to teach tennis lessons on a part time basis.

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DR. KEN STUBBS INTERNAL MEDICINE

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CURTIS MORONEY

IT CONSULTANT

Dr. Kenneth Stubbs works as an internal medicine specialist at Merit Health Natchez. He was the longtime announcer at Cathedral High School soccer matches for 15 years from 1995 to 2010. Stubbs operates as a concierge practice, in which his clients pay a flat annual fee in exchange for medical services. He also coaches youth soccer at Vidalia. Stubbs is part of the Internal Medical Associates at the Doctor’s Pavilion, which is next to Merit Health Natchez. Stubbs is also a Sunday School teacher at Jefferson Street United Methodist Church.

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ANNA MAE FREEMAN RETIRED FLORAL DESIGNER

Anna Mae (Maier) Freeman has called Natchez home for 93 years and has worked in horticulture as a flower arranger for most of those years. Her family owned a gardening business located on East Franklin Street for many years, where Anna Mae worked arranging flowers for weddings and other events. Later, Anna Mae went to work at The Nest where she continued to arrange flowers until late last year. Although she is retired now, Freeman said she would consider taking on special projects for people as she can.

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PROFILE 2020

Curtis Moroney is a self-employed IT consultant. “I’m everybody’s computer guy,” Moroney said. Moroney also is active in the Natchez Balloon Festival as a pilot liaison, the parade chairman for the Krewe of Phoenix and is the director of the Natchez Christmas Parade. Moroney is active in the Rotary Club of Natchez and he will serve as the event director for the newly reformed Natchez Bicycle Classic.

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SUE GOSS COSMETOLOGIST The thought of Jesus washing the feet of his disciples inspires Sue Goss every day. A cosmetologist at Laird’s Barber and Style Center, Goss has been catering to the hands and feet of her many clients, providing what some in the Miss-Lou call the best manicures and pedicures in the area. Goss said she has always had an affinity for hands. Goss said her mother always thought she would be good at doing manicures.

Prayers to God for help led Goss to finishing cosmetology school, a job at Pamper Me Please and her lifelong passion of serving her many clients, which she said are some of the best people in the world.

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PROFILE 2020

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CASINO CO-OWNER COMMITTED TO MAKING COMMUNITY BETTER

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Kevin Preston said he became interested in the casino industry when he did an internship at Harrah’s Casino in Joliet, Illinois. From then on he knew his destiny was to be a casino owner.

“I started recognizing that the casino environment and business type is what I wanted to go into,” Preston said. “It’s so people-driven and all about the relationships you build. Those were truly important traits for me. Unlike in some businesses, in the casino business there are so many departments.”

Preston was born in Chicago, Illinois, where he lived with his parents, Dolores and Roy Preston, and sister, Kimberly.

His mother, Dolores Preston, worked at a local bank in Chicago, and Preston said his parents supported him even as he began his studies at University of St. Francis and through his ascent toward the top of the casino industry.

In 1992, Preston got an internship with Harrah’s Casino through the University of St. Francis in Joliet, Illinois. From 1996-2000, Preston stayed at the property in Joliet for four years.

During that time, Preston traveled around Mississippi to Greenville and Vicksburg. Preston said the companies came down here but Preston never settled down in Natchez. Then, Preston said he worked in Harrah’s corporate office for four years, where he was responsible for seven of the 14 casinos owned by Harrah’s Casino, including four in Mississippi.

It wasn’t until a banker friend reached out to Preston in 2009 about a casino opportunity in Natchez, that he considered moving to the area.

STORY & PHOTOS BY PATRICK MURPHY “I knew Natchez from coming down and I was familiar with the area,” Preston said. “Once I came down and saw the sight where the casino would be built and I saw some of the people that I would be working with, it was a no-brainer.”

In 2012, Preston, along with co-owner Robert Lubin, built the Magnolia Bluffs Casino and opened on Dec. 18, 2012. Preston said the first year of operation gave him gray hairs, in part due to the Isle of Capri Casino being in Natchez and the transition between different mayors and members of the Board of Aldermen.

The Magnolia Bluffs Hotel was added to Preston’s holdings in 2016 after the Isle of Capri closed down. The casino will celebrate its eighth anniversary on Dec. 18. Preston said he has kept 80% of his employees from opening day.

One of the employees from opening day was Debbie Saulter, who said the first time she met Preston she was taken aback by how tall he is.

“I asked him if he played basketball and he said he didn’t,” Saulter said. “But then he started to talk and the warmth of his personality just drew me in to him and I immediately took a liking to him.”

Saulter has involved herself for 30 years in the casino business and began working in her home city of Las Vegas at the Tropicana. Saulter met Preston 12 years ago at a casino he owned in Greenville, and she said Preston reached out to her about an opening as the director of finance for both the casino and the hotel.

“I decided that it was the perfect match for my experience,” Saulter said. “Working for Kevin is

completely different, and I will work for him until the day I die. He doesn’t look at us as a commodity or a number. Rather, he looks at his employees as his family members and he treats us as such.

It’s an amazing thing to have in this business because the majority of the people don’t have it. I didn’t have it until I started working for him in Natchez.”

When Preston was trying to build the Magnolia Bluffs Casino, he reached out to Tony Heidelberg, a local attorney in Natchez.

Heidelberg said he met Preston at an event and Preston reached out to him to be his attorney. Heidelberg added he knew nothing about casino law.

“He pushed our relationship to become more than attorney and client to (being more like) brothers,” Heidelberg said. “We do everything as it relates to the casino and everything else in the business aspect as brothers, not as employee and employer. That’s what he expects from me and that’s what I try to live for because that’s why we have our relationship like it is.”

Preston is married to Michelle Preston, and their daughters, Kylee and Taylor, both played volleyball in Kentucky. Preston said if he were not a casino owner, he would like to have been a coach of any sport.

Preston said he’s hopeful for Natchez and what the town can become in the future.

“I think being in town I have been fortunate enough to meet a lot of great people,” Preston said.

“I think ultimately we’re just here to continue to be a great corporate citizen and do the things that we can do to make the community better.”

THE NATCHEZ DEMOCRAT 41

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DR. CRAIG BRADFORD

PATTIE REED JONES

PEDIATRIC DENTIST

OPERATION GRITS FOUNDER Pattie Reed Jones is a second-generation insurance agent, the daughter of Paul Reed, founder of Reed Insurance.

She is a lifelong resident of Concordia Parish and has been involved in the community in many ways, including children’s sports programs and working with children at her church. She is the founder of Operation GRITS, which sends boxes with items to soldiers who are serving overseas during Christmas. This year is the 10th year of Operation GRITS.

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KATHLEEN BOND NATCHEZ NATIONAL HISTORICAL PARK SUPERINTENDENT

Kathleen Bond has one foot solidly planted in her Mississippi upbringing and one foot solidly planted in the National Park Service. Ever since she was a child in Vicksburg, the Natchez National Historical Park leader for the last 14-years grew up with history in her backyard. Bond and her friends grew up playing around the monuments of the Vicksburg National Military Park that were scattered throughout the city. “History was our companion,” Bond said. Those experiences shaped a life-long respect and admiration for the national park service.

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MIMI MILLER

HISTORIC NATCHEZ FOUNDATION DIRECTOR EMERITUS

Mimi Miller and Ron Miller have lived in Natchez since 1973. Ron Miller founded the Historic Natchez Foundation, which opened doors in 1979 but he went to work on the Mississippi Gulf Coast after Hurricane Katrina for the Department of Archives and History in 2007. Mimi Miller became Historic Natchez Foundation Executive Director in 2008, a position she held for a decade.

The combination of the tenures for both Ron and Mimi spanned almost 40 years. Mimi said she and her husband felt like they were the luckiest people on Earth because they landed in Natchez.

Dr. Craig Bradford is a pediatric dentist with Natchez Dental Arts Clinic. “Primarily what we do is preventive and restorative dentistry for kids up to adolescence,” said Bradford who has had a private practice in Pediatric Dentistry for 37 years in Natchez. Bradford has been a member of Beau Pré Country Club since it opened back in 1999. His interests include golf, farm activities and marine navigation. Bradford also is a member of Jefferson Street United Methodist Church.

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JOHN NORRIS PRODUCER

In Church Hill, just north of Natchez, John Norris and a band of actors and producers hang out in a music room at Wyolah Plantation, grab an instrument and just go crazy. Originally from Arlington, Texas, John Norris’s curiosity and creativity eventually led him to Los Angeles, where he met his partner, Tate Taylor, in 2003. “The Help,” which at the time Norris thought would be a small independent film, skyrocketed their filmmaking careers. Though charmed by historic homes in Southwest Mississippi, Norris said it was relationships and people that caused him to fall in love with the area.

THE NATCHEZ DEMOCRAT 43

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NANCY HUNGERFORD RETIRED DIRECTOR OF NATCHEZ CHILDREN’S HOME

Nancy Hungerford, who grew up in Clemson, South Carolina, adopted Natchez as her hometown in 1983 when she moved to take over the Natchez Children’s Home with her then-husband, Peter. Her children Caroline and Betsy graduated high school in Natchez. “I do love this little town,” Hungerford said. “It has become home.” Despite being retired, Hungerford remains active in the community in the garden club, serving on the hospital board and being active in New Covenant Presbyterian Church. “Because of the work I have done, I have met so many wonderful folks who support of this community.”

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TRAVIS MCREADY BISHOP GUNN LEAD SINGER Travis McCready is the lead singer for Bishop Gunn.

The band began in 2014. In May 2018, the band released their first full-length album titled Natchez. The album entered the Billboard charts as the No. 4 Blues album. In 2019, the band toured over 40 states and 14 countries on their summer tour. Bishop Gunn will release another album in April. Bishop Gunn is comprised of McCready, Drew Smithers (guitarist), Ben Lewis (bass) and Burne Sharp (drummer).

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RUDY NUGENT COLLEGE STUDENT

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DEVIN KLUGH

FILM NATCHEZ DIRECTOR

Rudy Nugent is a Natchez native and a student at Millsaps College. Nugent had the highest ACT score at Cathedral when he graduated in 2017, and he is now in his junior year at Millsaps, where he is currently majoring in business administration and then plans to pursue a master’s degree. Nugent said he is a home brewer of coffee, beer and wine and he plans to open his own coffee shop one day.

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DARBY SHORT OWNER of DARBY’S Dennis and Darby Short have lived in Natchez for 37 years. The Shorts own shops named Darby’s in Natchez. In total, the Shorts own five Darby’s stores in the 400 Block of Main St. The Shorts started with one Darby’s store at 409 W. Main St. Darby’s was located at 409 W. Main St. for six years before the Shorts bought another Darby’s store at 410 W. Main St. Darby Short said both she and her husband, Dennis, are very fortunate in helping people have a better day.

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PROFILE 2020

Devin M.W. Klugh is director of the non-profit Film Natchez organization that promotes the film industry through education, workforce development and diverse community outreach. Klugh graduated from University of Georgia, where she was involved with film and started doing film-acting classes while in Athens. Then, Klugh moved to New York and earned a master’s degree in educational theater from New York University.

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JIMMY ALLGOOD

BUTCH BROWN

MISS-LOU OUTDOORS OWNER

FORMER MAYOR Larry “Butch” Brown was elected as Mayor of Natchez in 1992. It was his first of two consecutive terms as Mayor of Natchez. Four years into his administration in 1996, Brown was awarded the American Hometown Leadership Award. In 2002, Brown lost a re-election bid for mayor and was appointed MDOT Executive Director and served until his departure in 2011. In 2012, Brown was re-elected as mayor and served for one term.

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XAVIAN LEWIS SINGER

Xavian Lewis is a senior at Natchez Early College. Last year, Lewis tried out to be on the 17th season of “American Idol.” For the Black History program, Lewis sang “A Change is Gonna Come” by Sam Clarke. Lewis said the video went viral and one of the talent producers for “American Idol” reached out to Lewis for an audition. Unfortunately, Lewis did not get on the air with his audition, but Lewis said he hopes to try out for “American Idol” next year.

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GARY HOLLOWAY ACCOUNTANT

Natchez native Gary Holloway, along with his wife, Tawana, has operated an accounting practice in Natchez for approximately 35 years. Holloway has called Natchez home most of his life, with the exception of the time he spent earning an accounting degree at Mississippi State University and a master’s degree in accounting from Southern Miss.

Holloway, a member of First Baptist Church, Natchez, enjoys giving back to his community and serves as chairman of the Adams County Airport Commission. Holloway also has been volunteering his accounting services for the Natchez Stewpot for approximately 15 years. “I get as much of a blessing working for the Stewpot as the people who are being fed,” Holloway said.

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PROFILE 2020

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AUDLEY CASE

RETIRED APPLIANCE SALESMAN

Audley Case worked in retail in Natchez for the better part of four decades — first in his father, Rudolph Case’s Feeders Service, and then as an appliance salesman at Sears, where he was a top salesman for 24 years, and later at Home Hardware after Sears closed. During those years, Audley Case said he got to meet many people and he was the voice and face of Home Hardware through advertising for many years, making him recognizable to many people in the community. Even after being retired six years, Audley Case said people recognize him out and about and will tell him he sold them an appliance some years ago. Case said he enjoys taking the time to reminisce with people.

Jimmy “Jim Bob” Allgood has been the head coach of Adams County Christian School’s varsity boys’ and varsity girls’ soccer teams for 12 years. He is the 20-year producer of the outdoors nation-wide syndicated TV show “Redneck Adventures,” and he is the owner of Miss-Lou Outdoor Tours, consisting of pontoon boats and swamp tours, etc. “We do everything from small family outings to corporate events,” Allgood said. He is also the CEO of Mid-South Broadcasting.

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MARK LAFRANCIS VETERANS ADVOCATE

Mark LaFrancis, a former newspaper editor, said he bleeds red, white and blue. Like his father and grandfather, LaFrancis is a veteran of the U.S. Air Force and gives back to his fellow veterans through the Home With Heroes Foundation, of which he is the founder and president. LaFrancis also specializes in photography and producing film documentaries and oral histories. He works part-time teaching film and photography at Fallin Career and Technology Center. He came to Natchez in 1994 for a job at The Natchez Democrat and stayed “for the people,” he said.

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FRED BUTCHER NATCHEZADAMS COUNTY SCHOOL DISTRICT SUPERINTENDENT Fred Butcher is the Superintendent for the Natchez-Adams School District. In April, Butcher will have been the superintendent for four years. In the past, Butcher was the principal of Ferriday High School for 24-and-a-half years. In 2017, Ferriday High School named a street in between the high school and Melz Field after Butcher.

Butcher is married to his wife of 50 years, Elaine Butcher, and they have two children.

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TYLER GREGG MUSICIAN

Tyler Gregg is a 16-yearold high school junior at Cathedral High School.

Gregg is the guitarist in a band called Easily Distracted. Gregg and fellow bandmate, Bryce McGlothin, have played in the School of Rock Music School in Baton Rouge and have gained local popularity in the Miss Lou. Gregg said he wants to make a career out of music and still play in a band when he is older. Gregg’s favorite band is Green Day.

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JOAN GANDY

FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH MINISTER

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ARLENE RICHARDSON TEACHER

Age isn’t everything — at least not for Arlene Richardson, who graduated from Alcorn in Lorman at 50 years of age and punched in at 254 hours of work as an undergraduate.

Richardson, who currently teaches at Adams County Christian School, has taught English Literature for 23 years and raised five children. Richardson said she feels more like a visitor in the lives of her students than she does a teacher, and she learns as much from her students as they do from her. Each class is a group discussion on literary topics and is more like a conversation than a lecture, she said. Richardson also enjoys sewing, painting and especially reading.

The Rev. Joan Gandy has had many careers in her life.

Each has helped mold and shape her current position as minister of the First Presbyterian Church in Natchez.

“Right now this is where I am, where I have been called,” Gandy said. Returning to Natchez for the second time in her life, Gandy said she hopes her ministry inspires others to look at each new day as important and as an opportunity to make a difference in someone’s life, something she strives to do when she wakes up each morning.

THE NATCHEZ DEMOCRAT 47

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GREG ILES

RONNIE DANIELS

AUTHOR

JACK-OF-ALL-TRADES

Ronnie Daniels is a jack-of-all trades, he said. Daniels has trained horses and birds of prey. As a former falconer — he trained wild birds to use his arm as their perch.

He started his career at the age of 15 as a blacksmith and horse farrier and hasn’t stopped working yet at age 80, he said. He has bred and raised mules for more than 40 years at Happy Trails Ranch, which he still does today.

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MAGGIE GRAY ACCS STUDENT Maggie Gray is as much a star student at Adams County Christian School as she is a dancer — at least that’s what her teachers say. Gray is a senior this year and is the school’s dance team captain, vice president of the student council, president of the National Beta Club, and choreographer of the school play, “Aladdin.” Gray is also a cheerleader and member of the archery team and enjoys reading, painting and drawing and is a member of the Ridgecrest Baptist Church mission team, she said.

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PETER TROSCLAIR

BISCUITS & BLUES OWNER

Peter Trosclair is the owner of Biscuit and Blues in Natchez. Trosclair has owned Biscuit and Blues for 22 years. Trosclair said he learned about the biscuit recipe from his sister, Regina Charboneau, who owns King’s Tavern. Trosclair and his nine siblings learned how to cook from their father, J. P. Trosclair.

Trosclair said J. P. Trosclair owned Trosclair’s Bakery and Belmont Restaurant.

Greg Iles has authored 16 New York Times bestselling novels and is still writing but is most proud of his three children. Iles was reared in Natchez from the age of 3. He lives in Adams County, where he spends most of his time writing, doing research and playing music. Iles said Natchez has shaped him as well as his work. In recent months, Iles said he has been working to bring the Natchez Burning trilogy to television.

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CARTER BURNS

HISTORIC NATCHEZ FOUNDATION DIRECTOR

Carter Burns said it was inevitable that he would return to his hometown of Natchez after studying at Millsaps College in Jackson, at Ole Miss, where her earned a law degree, and the University of Georgia where he earned a master’s degree in historic preservation.

Burns, who is the executive director of the Historic Natchez Foundation, said Natchez is the ideal place for him not only because his family is in Natchez but because of his love of history. “I’ve always been interested in history and preservation since growing up here,” he said.

THE NATCHEZ DEMOCRAT 49

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81 PROFILE 2020

THOMAS

MCGEHEE

RETIRED POLICE OFFICER VOLUNTEERS HIS TIME TO KEEP COMMUNITY SAFE

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At 2 a.m. on a Saturday in January, while most people in the central U.S. with daytime jobs were sleeping, Thomas Leicester McGehee was at the Louis Gunning Community Safe Room with emergency responders planning ways to keep the rest of the community safe, McGehee said.

“We were preparing for bad weather so that others could sleep,” McGehee said. “Whether I get paid to do it or not doesn’t matter.”

McGehee celebrated a soft retirement in November after 32 1/2 years working at the Natchez Police Department in various capacities, only to voluntarily return to work on occasion to help his former comrades.

“I’m now scheduled to come back and work part-time with the department in February,” McGehee said.

“There are things that need to be done. … When the chief decides there is nothing more that I need to do, I’ll leave. I’m not doing it for the income.

I do it because there are things that need to be done.”

Natchez Police Chief Walter Armstrong said he came to know McGehee when Armstrong served as the Chief of Police in Vicksburg before either of them began working at the Natchez Police Department.

“He is definitely an asset and left a huge void when he retired,” Armstrong said. “He didn’t shy away from work or challenges and I could

STORY & PHOTOS BY SABRINA ROBERTSON

always count on him. Many times I didn’t even have to call on him. He was one of those people who would show up during an emergency at 9 or 10 p.m. and would stay until the next morning. … He’s just a great person and is one who leads in public safety.

When he retired, I knew it would be hard to replace him.”

McGehee said he spends most of his days doing what needs to be done so that everyone else can enjoy life — not that he doesn’t enjoy doing the work.

“Most people don’t consider work to be a hobby, but going out to cut a load of firewood would be a hobby to me,” he said. “It’s what I enjoy doing. I’m preparing to build a shop and have materials to put together for that. I live on a farm, so I’ll go and get the neighbor’s tractor and push something. I do stuff that produces stuff.”

McGehee is involved in Adams County Emergency Operations and serves as the planning director during events — which for him means coordinating first response crews and planning for emergencies while others celebrate at parades, festivals and other community events.

McGehee, a Natchez native, lives near his childhood home on McGehee Road in a house that he built — and continues to build onto when he

can find the time.

McGehee was born at Natchez General Hospital in 1954 and graduated from Natchez High School in 1972. He later attended Copiah Lincoln Community College in Wesson and the University of Southern Mississippi and earned his bachelor’s degree in criminal justice in 1976.

He worked for the Mississippi Department of Corrections in Parchman; the Boy Scouts of America and the Coweta County Sheriff ’s Office in Newman, Georgia; and for the Court Appointed Special Advocates and the Clarke County Sheriff ’s Office in Athens — where he married his wife, Nanette Bates, in 1979.

McGehee, his wife and daughter, Ellenora, returned to Natchez in 1987 and he began working at the Natchez Police Department — first in the Patrol Division and later the Criminal Investigations Division.

McGehee climbed the ranks from Sergeant to Lieutenant in the Patrol Division and worked as a training coordinator until his retirement.

McGehee is also a missionary at heart, he said, having journeyed to Nicaragua twice and even spent Christmas with his daughter and grandchild in Macedonia. However, McGehee said most of his service to God and humanity is done inside of Natchez through his church.

Most of his time lately is spent

at Natchez First Assembly of God, where he collects and organizes food donations for the King’s Kabinet ministry — a pantry that provides packed boxes of food to anywhere from 160 to 290 families each month.

“I’ve seen him working on Sundays,” Armstrong said. “He would go and pick up food from various locations that has not expired and he would deliver it to a food pantry.

That to me is community service at its highest. He is just a true champion and one that has his fingers in the community and with people in general.”

As the King’s Kabinet director of more than 20 years, McGehee keeps a record of all of the food donations — cakes, canned goods, frozen meals, etc. — and gathers them into boxes to be delivered to those in need.

“The pantry takes a lot of time,” McGehee said. “It’s more than a hobby because it’s so consuming. …

I’ve got to do something. The worst thing you can do once you retire is sit down. For me, I’m just wired that way and part of it is missions.

At noon we have to have a pantry — and mostly that is just the bait. At 11 a.m. there are people lined up at the door. At 11:40, there is someone on the stage preaching and could change a life — but someone has to put out the chairs. Why wouldn’t I do that?”

THE NATCHEZ DEMOCRAT 51

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RANDY MYERS

CORVET MCNEAL

NATCHEZ ANIMAL CONTROL OFFICERS Randy Myers is the Natchez Animal Control Officer, a position he has held for eight years. On average, Myers said he helps rescue two dogs a week and sends them to Natchez Adams County Humane Society. Myers said he was raised on a farm and was around animals all of his life.

Therefore, Myers said he decided to work for Natchez Animal Control. Myers and his wife, Myra Myers, own seven dogs and have rescued goats and horses.

ADAMS COUNTY BOARD OF SUPERVISORS ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT As administrative assistant and inventory clerk for the Adams County Board of Supervisors, Corvet McNeal is often the face of Adams County for visitors and people who have business with the county.

A native of Natchez, McNeal said she loves the Miss-Lou because everybody knows everybody, and she loves the job she has held with the county for six-and-a-half years, because she gets to meet so many people and help them with any problems they might have.

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WILLIAM TERRELL BLUFF CITY POST PUBLISHER

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KATIE MCCARSTLE

KATIE’S LADIES OWNER

William Terrell is the publisher of the Bluff City Post newspaper, a position he has held since 1991. He said he writes and types articles, does the interviews, talks with advertisers and delivers the paper. Terrell is also a member of the Louisiana Black Press Association. Among people Terrell has interviewed are Jesse Jackson, Kathleen Blanco and Myrlie Evers. Terrell said he got into the newspaper business in 1978 when he, Theodore C. Johnson and Alex Green started the City Bulletin.

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JOHN GRADY BURNS OWNER OF NEST

Whether Burns is making floral arrangements for a White House dinner or a small wedding party in Natchez, the same principles apply. Good floral design is good floral design. The Natchez native and Cathedral graduate was fortunate to be chosen for a one-month internship in Washington, D.C., when he graduated from Mississippi State University. From there, Burns took his design skills to Memphis and Atlanta, where he worked for 30 years.

He returned home four years ago and opened up his floral retail shop Nest on Franklin Street. “I love being home,” Burns said. “It is almost like I have never left.”

The last 25 years for Katie McCarstle have been an adventure. After being in the tourism business for 15 years, McCarstle decided to follow her dreams and open up Katie’s Ladies — a ladies apparel store on Liberty Road. In 1995, she opened her store in the old Britton and Koontz Bank building and with a lot of hard work and a little luck, McCarstle is still having fun serving customers. What is the trick of this successful businesswoman? “If you love what you are doing, you can give it your best and that is what I try to do,” McCarstle said.

THE NATCHEZ DEMOCRAT 53

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GREG JONES

TRACY HALL GAMMON

CHEF

DELTA CHARTER SCHOOL TEACHER Tracy Hall Gammon is a third-grade Language Arts and Social Studies teacher at Delta Charter.

Gammon taught fourth grade in Hillsborough County, Florida, for six years. After living in Tampa Florida for 19 years, Gammon said she decided to move back home. At Delta Charter, Gammon has taught third grade for four years. Besides being a teacher, Gammon is involved with the Pilgrimage Garden Club. She said she enjoys the history of Natchez.

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CHASE KLUGH HISTORIC NATCHEZ FOUNDATION DIRECTOR OF PRESERVATIONS Chase Klugh is the director of preservations at the Historic Natchez Foundation. Klugh graduated from University of Georgia with a master’s degree in historical preservation and said his interest in historical preservation was sparked at his grandparents’ house in Ashville, North Carolina. In July 2018, Carter Burns, executive director of Historic Natchez Foundation, hired Klugh to be director of preservations. Klugh said he couldn’t ask for a better way to start his career than in Natchez.

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MATILDA OGDEN STEPHENS

ADVOCATE FOR MENTALLY AND PHYSICALLY CHALLENGED

Matilda Ogden Stephens is from Natchez and helps people who are mentally and physically challenged. In 2017, Stephens received two awards for her work. She received a statewide award by the Coalition for Citizens. Also, Stephens was among five other people to receive the Torchbearer’s award. Stephens said her passion to help people began when she was in college at University of Southern Mississippi and she and her roommate volunteered at a the Special Olympics.

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PROFILE 2020

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BRYCE MCGLOTHIN SINGER Bryce McGlothin is a freshman at Cathedral High School and is the lead singer for a band called Easily Distracted.

McGlothin said he and Tyler Gregg created Easily Distracted after a talent show at Cathedral.

McGlothin’s father, Glen McGlothin, is a member of a band called Easy Eddie and the Party Rockers. Bryce said watching his father on stage has helped him feel more comfortable on stage. McGlothin’s first performance was in 2016 at the Jonesville Balloon Festival.

Greg Jones, 54, is a cook at The Carriage House Restaurant that is known for great fried chicken and biscuits. Jones said when he first started working at The Carriage House Restaurant he was a dishwasher.

His mother, Dorothy Jones, was a chicken cook. Jones said when The Carriage House Restaurant moved him from washing dishes to cooking, he enjoyed it from the first day. Despite being the chicken cook, Jones said his favorite dish to prepare at The Carriage House Restaurant is shrimp and grits.

Visit the original Natchez. natchezgrandvillage.com | 601-446-6502

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92 PROFILE 2020

SARAH

FREEMAN LOCAL WOMAN SEES PATH TO PROSPERITY FOR COMMUNITY THROUGH CREATIVE ARTS

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For Sarah Freeman, Natchez’s path to prosperity is through the creative arts.

Where other people see empty buildings, the director of the newly minted Mississippi School of Folk Arts sees a masterwork in progress.

“The future of Natchez is creative,” Freeman said.

In 2019, Freeman and fellow artist Carolyn Weir started the school, which they hope will not only attract art lovers from afar to Southwest Mississippi but also spark a creative revival for the town.

An artist herself, Freeman said the idea of the school came out of conversations she had with other craftsmen and artisans in town.

“Over the course of about two weeks, the idea came to me from every direction of my life,” Freeman said. “It seemed like a wall I kept running into.”

The conversations spurred Freeman to action.

“I am not somebody who likes to sit around and talk about how nice it would be if everything was different,” Freeman said. “I am more like someone who says, ‘There is this great idea.

Why aren’t we doing it and how could we do it?’”

With the help of Weir and Freeman’s cousin Paul Sullivan, Freeman said she decided to take the leap and form the school.

“I felt like I am never going to have the time, I am never going to have the money and I am never going to have the space,” Freeman said.

“I was never going to have the perfect storm to make this happen, but we made it happen.”

STORY & PHOTOS BY BEN HILLYER

Freeman said Natchez is already perfectly suited to support the arts.

“I think Natchez is like the most ideal place to be an artist community,” Freeman said. “We have a fantastic downtown that has a lot of buildings that are work-space friendly.”

When it comes to sheer beauty, few places can compete with Natchez, its historic architecture and the Mississippi River. “We have this incredible beautiful environment, both natural and manmade.”

Freeman came to Natchez from New Orleans eight years ago, but had been visiting the area for nearly 30 years.

“I remember coming up on a vacation and thinking I could live here,” Freeman said. “I wanted to live somewhere that was small.”

Having grown up in a family that supported the arts in New Orleans, Freeman was always around art and creative people.

“Since my mother was an art historian, she took us to every museum, church, cathedral and historic house,” Freeman said.

After high school, Freeman found her passion in printmaking and sculpture at Tulane University.

Getting involved in the Natchez artist community was a given for Freeman when she moved to Natchez. She first joined the Natchez Art Association.

Through the Art Association Freeman had taught some after-school programs and participated in some summer camps. When she and

Weir started Crafted Gallery they also offered classes to adults and children.

The initial reception to those classes spurred Freeman and Weir to take the classes one step further and organize a school.

Taking inspiration from the folk art schools organized in the early 20th century, the Mississippi School of Folk Arts offers a series of creative workshops and art classes.

“Folk art schools started in Denmark as a way for people to remain in small towns and make a living,” Freeman said.

The Mississippi School of Folk Arts will host multi-day workshops approximately four times of the year. These workshops bring in professional artisans to teach their craft to local and out-of-town guests.

This year the school plans several classes, including a two-day workshop in March on how to print on natural fabrics with natural dyes, flowers, leaves and other botanical materials.

In February, Mandeville, Louisiana, artist Marcia Holmes taught an “Abstract Pastel” class. In October, regional artist Carol Hallock will lead a three-day plein air painting workshop, where artists take their easels outside to paint in the local landscape.

“We are going to touch people not just in the classroom but simply by being able to walk downtown to grab lunch and meet other like-minded people. That to me is incredibly exciting,” Freeman said.

In addition to the larger workshops, the

THE NATCHEZ DEMOCRAT 57

school offers small one-day classes that cater to the local community and members of the non-profit. Weekly after-school art programs engage local students from preschool through high school.

The school recently purchased the Natchez Pottery studio and will offer a variety of clay classes.

Unlike traditional folk schools, the Mississippi School of Folk Arts will not be limited to traditional crafts, but will also include the fine arts.

“We are not limiting ourselves,” Freeman said. “We want to provide educational opportunities for people in every creative realm.”

Since starting the school, Freeman said she has getting “incredible support” from everyone in the community.

“Everyone is really excited,” Freeman said.

Now Freeman wants to take the excitement and turn it into something that will have a positive effect on the community.

“I think we are at a turning point here where if the decision makers can get behind the arts citywide, then I think we are going to be able to make an impact and change people’s lives — financially as well as every other way,” Freeman said.

“Small towns that have embraced such thinking have financially turned themselves around.”

Freeman said starting the school was a small step in a longer journey.

“I am looking at the big picture,” Freeman said. “We took a little step. You have to be out there and be willing to fail.”

Freeman said she invites others to join her along the journey.

“I have heard from many people about how they would like things to be, but I would love to see everybody follow through with their ideas and take a little step,” Freeman said. “Do something that gets you a bit closer to where you want to be.”

Those interested in the Mississippi School of Folk Arts and its offerrings can visit the nonprofit’s website at msfolkart.org.

Sarah Freeman teaches young students art lessons in an after-school art class at the Mississippi School of Folk Arts on Franklin Street.

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PROFILE 2020

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SER SESHS AB HETER C.M. BOXLEY FRIENDS OF THE FORKS OF THE ROAD COORDINATOR

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PROFILE 2020

Boxley’s efforts to shine a light on the underserved and underepresented did not begin in Natchez. With a degree in Urban and Regional Planning from San Jose State, the Natchez native has been an agent of change since the late 1960s when he ran a community development corporation to serve low-income and disenfranchised residents in Redwood City, California. He brought those same skills with him when he returned to Natchez 25 years ago. His insistence for institutional change has led to the addition of the Forks of the Road to the National Park Service.

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CHANTAL MARSAW

DOROTHY SYLVESTER

IT STILL TAKES A VILLAGE FOUNDER

CATHOLIC CHARITIES INTERIM PROGRAM DIRECTOR

After retiring from a 25-year nursing career, Dorothy Sylvester began volunteering with Catholic Charities by hosting Bible classes for women in the organization’s shelter.

From there, more volunteer opportunities opened up within the organization, including helping homeless people in the area. Then her volunteering became a full-time job when she was a made a case manager in 2013. Most recently, Sylvester was named interim program director of Catholic Charities and Guardian Shelter. Sylvester said she loves being involved in helping in her hometown community as a “visible sign of Christ’s love in the community.”

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CLYDE WEBBER RETIRED CLERK OF COURTS Clyde Webber Jr. was just 29 when he was appointed Clerk of Court in Concordia Parish in 1966 by then-Gov. John McKeithen. Webber later won a special election and has been reelected to the position ever since. A lot has changed since then, Webber said, noting when he first took office everything was handwritten and today everything is digitized on computers.

Webber did not seek reelection last year so he will be leaving office in June. Webber said he will miss working with the people of Concordia Parish, his office staff and “even some of the lawyers.” As for retirement, Webber said he looks forward to spending time with his wife, Connie Connell Webber and their children and being a part of the community.

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EDDIE WALKER FORMER ADAMS COUNTY CIRCUIT CLERK Eddie Walker is the former Adams County Circuit Clerk. He served in that position for three terms from 2007 to 2019.

Before that, he served 28 1/2 years in the district attorney’s office as an investigator in the Sixth Judicial District. Now in full retirement, Walker said he would like to travel as much as he can. “There is a lot in the United States I haven’t seen,” Walker said.

He added that he’s been to Ireland three times.

When Cantel Marsaw’s daughter Van’Triece Scott, was class president at Natchez High School in 2013 she came home one day and asked Marsaw to do something to help her classmates who had lost a parent, so Marsaw asked the school if she could present those students with a plaque at graduation. From there, Marsaw saw a need so she founded “It Still Takes a Village,” a 501 (c) (3) that helps students who have lost a one or both parents or a sibling to encourage them not to drop out of school and to help them with the little things such as school supplies, clothing and gas money through college. Marsaw, a teacher at NHS, said 70% of the students It Still Takes a Village has helped have graduated from college.

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CRICKET DAUGHERTY

ADAMS COUNTY CHRISTIAN SCHOOL VICE PRINCIPAL

Cricket Daugherty is the vice principal at Adams County Christian School. She was the headmaster at Trinity Episcopal Day School for a year and a half before that school closed in 2018. Daugherty also is an attorney. She earned her law degree from Ole Miss and passed the Bar in both Mississippi and Tennessee. Daugherty was in Nashville for 15 years before moving back home to Natchez and she was a private attorney for several years.

THE NATCHEZ DEMOCRAT 61

99+100 JAY AND KATHY FITCH

HOOFBEATS AND PAWPRINTS RESCUE For Kathy and Jay Fitch, the mission of HoofBeats and PawPrints Rescue is simple — take adoptable pets that can’t find local homes and move them to areas of the country where they can find good adoptive families. The pediatric nurse anesthetist and consultant for emergency service providers formally started the equine rescue and pet transport non-profit in 2017. Outside their regular day jobs, the couple works with their dedicated staff and local animal shelters to save the lives of healthy adoptable animals. In doing so, they are decreasing the need to euthanize any animal in the Miss-Lou for lack of shelter space. Since 2008 when the euthanasia rate was close to 90% at the local shelter, Kathy has been working to get the rate down. Increased advertising and local adoptions got the numbers down to less than 70%. When the first transport program was established in 2012 the euthanasia rate dropped to “nil” Kathy said. Since then more than 7,000 families from across the country 62 have PROFILE 2020 with pets from the Miss-Lou. been blessed

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