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MARCH/APRIL 2020
GENERAL MANAGER
CONTRIBUTING
Jan Griffey
Kim Henderson
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MAGAZINE
E SHACK AT 550 HAS TASTY CRAW FIS AND MUCH MORE H
Robin Eyman DESIGN Rob SIgler
Hannah Henderson Bill Perkins Johnny Smith
LIVING HISTORY
EDITORIAL Donna Campbell
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ON THE COVER: Photo by Donna Campbell Crawfish pulled fresh from the boiling pot are piled high at The Shack at 550, available in season seven days a week. BROOKHAVEN Magazine is produced and published by The Daily Leader, 128 N. Railroad Ave., Brookhaven, MS 39601. The magazine is published six times a year. For additional information on this issue or other publications or for copies, call 601-833-6961. To inquire about story content, email news@dailyleader.com, or to inquire about advertising, email advertising@dailyleader.com. Copyright 2020 © The Daily Leader
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FEATURED
march/april 2020
Local restaurant continues to provide great seafood FOOD, Page 38
Page 12
Page 30
SHOP
BLUSH N BASHFUL DRESS SHOP OPENS ON HIGHWAY 51
BOOK REVIEW 8
PEOPLE
ED SMYLIE HAD KEY ROLE IN APOLLO 13 MISSION TO THE MOON 12
ARTS
FOUR WAY STOP BRINGS THEIR STYLE OF MUSIC TO BROOKHAVEN 22
SEAN OF THE SOUTH’S LATEST WORK IS VERY PERSONAL 24
WELLNESS
THE FACTS REGARDING THE CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC
26
HOME
COUPLE KEEPS HOME IN THEIR FAMILY FOR FIVE GENERATIONS
30
Page 34
DEPARTMENTS
PHOTO ESSAY SOCIAL SCENES GARDEN WHY I LOVE BROOKHAVEN
34-37 42-47 49 50
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shop MARCH/APRIL 20
Blush N Bashful
Dress shop opens its doors in familiar location
“
My colors are blush and bashful. I have chosen two shades of pink, one is much deeper than the other.” Shelby Lynn Eatenton in “Steel Magnolias”
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Story & Photos By Donna Campbell
When Hope Carr set her mind on opening her own dress shop, she originally planned to open in a familiar pink store that had already been in operation for many years. She needed a name that fit the space and Blush N Bashful, a take on the famous pink colors in the movie “Steel
Magnolias” came to mind. The move into the former Susan’s Shoppe didn’t happen, but that didn’t stop her from keeping the name. The Blush N Bashful sign can be found at her store on Hwy. 51, just north of the Natchez Avenue intersection. The building she’s
renting holds a special place in her heart. It’s the spot her late grandfather began his own company — Brookhaven Honda — that he operated for 28 years. So why is an emergency room nurse selling fancy dresses and sequined shoes? Because her daughter won a beauty pageant. Charlie Ann Carr is 14 and a freshman at Brookhaven Academy, but when she was in the third grade, she was crowned Miss Ole Brook and then won Mississippi’s Young Miss her fourth-grade year. Now the young girl who likes to show cows and ride bulls can sashay on a runway in satin, lace or chiffon. She’s a tomboy and a princess, depending on the day. “She enjoys both worlds,” her mother said.
Opposite page, Hope Carr is the owner of Blush N Bashful. At top, shop owner Hope Carr makes adjustments on a gown worn by her daughter, Charlie Ann. Above, each gown rental comes with shoes, jewelry and a slip.
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Through the years, whenever it was time for Charlie Ann to trade in her cowgirl boots for a pair of Cinderella slippers, they’d go to Susan’s Shoppe in Brookhaven to find the perfect dress. With a large inventory to choose from, Carr and Charlie Ann would find what they wanted, but Carr always found ways to elevate their selection. “I’d tell Susan, ‘this is what I have in mind’ and we’d find it and make it into what my vision was,” she said. She was sad to hear the store would be closing, but decided it was an opportunity go into business for herself. “I talked to her about getting into it and taking over where she left off,” she said. “I guess I’m just a sucker for pretty things. I just love all the dresses.” She purchased the inventory and opened in August at her own location. She prides herself on being able to match a girl’s wants and needs with what she has available. She offers ageappropriate selections for her customers and is knowledgeable on what style dresses are allowed at which schools. Her goal is to find the perfect dress for every customer. “I’ve always been able to kind of
picture, once they get their spray tan and their hair done, what the total package is going to look like,” she said. Working with her customer, Carr chooses dresses that will hide problem areas and showcase attributes. “There’s a lot more than just going in and putting on a dress,” she said. Finding the perfect dress is even more important for her tiniest customers. The toddlers and elementary school girls are low on experience but high in energy. “When they love that dress they want to go out there and they want to twirl and show it off and smile and have their day,” she said. “If they don’t like it, you’re probably not going to get them out there doing their best.” Choosing a dress for older girls is a challenge, especially if the customer is new to the pageant process. “We’ll pick out a dress, and they’ll say, ‘Well , I don’t know how to walk’ and we’ll sit there and coach them on how to walk and show them how to hold their heads, do their turns, you know, just whatever we can do to help them,” she said. “Because at the end of the day, I really just want them to feel good about themselves. We tell them, ‘You’ve got
to feel that this is the dress for you.’ Because when they feel good, they do good.” Pageant and homecoming dresses can be rented and come with jewelry, slips and shoes. Party dresses and prom dresses are for purchase only. Fittings and alterations are available. Carr makes a point of not allowing girls with similar dresses to be at the same event. “If we happen to have the same dress, even if it’s in a different color, we keep up with where that dress is going and try not to let somebody get that same dress and wear it to that same school,” she said. Carr is already focused on homecoming in the fall and next year’s pageant season and helping young women find their dream dresses. “I’m really big into that simple elegance that just always has a wow factor to it,” she said. “You can tell, when a girl puts on THE dress, nine times out of 10 their face shows it when they see themselves. You can just tell.” ////
Opposite page, Madisyn King and Charlie Ann Carr model pageant gowns at Blush N Bashful. At left, shoes come in many styles and colors. Above, a sea of pastel gowns hang in a back room of the shop.
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people MARCH/APRIL 20
Opposite page, Apollo 13 blasted off from Kennedy Space Center in Houston, Texas, on April 11, 1970. Above, Edwin Smylie, a 1947 graduate of Brookhaven High School, presents an award to astronauts Fred Haise and James Lovell. Not pictured is John Swigert. Below, Edwin Smylie in a NASA library photo.
'Houston, we’ve had a problem ...'
Brookhaven High graduate led team that saved Apollo 13 Story By Donna Campbell Submitted photos
Many have heard those famous words in the decades since they were spoken by John Swigert in from Apollo 13. But how many know that it was a Brookhaven High School graduate who led the team of engineers that saved the Apollo 13 astronauts with some plastic and duct tape? Robert Edwin Smylie was born to Robert Torrey Smylie and Ella Leona White Smylie on his grandparents’ farm in Lincoln County on Christmas Day in 1929. A foot of snow had fallen and the doctor came on horseback to deliver him. His grandparents, William Steven White and Mary Thurman White,
grew cotton, corn, sugar cane and hay on about 100 acres. His paternal grandparents were John Alexander Smylie, an attorney in Crystal Springs who was mayor and a member of the state Legislature, and Mary Inez Warren Smylie. Young Ed grew up in Crystal Springs but remembers visiting the Smylies in the summers, his grandfather singing gospel songs at the top of his lungs while plowing with one of his mules, or raking hay with both mules. When Ed was 12, his father took a job in New Orleans building ships during World War II. The family returned to Mississippi in ’44 and moved to BROOKHAVEN MAGAZINE 13
Brookhaven where his dad had taken a job as manager of the ice plant. “He delivered ice to most of the residences in the town, first with a mule driven wagon and later by truck,” he said. “Few if any people had electrical refrigeration so the ice business was similar to a utility like electricity and water.” His mother worked for a time as a waitress at the only café in town. Ed spent his final three years of school at Brookhaven High, graduating with the Class of 1947. “Along with seven of my high school classmates we formed the ‘Eight Ball Club,’” he said. “Our highlight was the dance we sponsored at the country club. We had a good crowd and we all had dates with our girl friends at the time.” The Eight Ball Club’s social activity was a monthly dinner at each other’s homes. “My mother made chili for the group and even though they enjoyed it, I think it was a little too spicy,” he said. Ed worked summers for his dad at the ice plant, which manufactured about 18 tons of ice per day. 14 BROOKHAVEN MAGAZINE
“We made the ice in 300-pound blocks. One of my jobs was to use a crane to pull the ice containers from the freezing salt water and dump it in a chute that slid it into the cold storage where I set it on end and put it in storage,” he said. He also sold ice to customers who came by and a few times he worked on the delivery truck that took blocks to people’s homes. “My pay was 20 cents per hour, which was pretty good for a high school student in 1945,” he said. He entered Mississippi State College in 1947 as a mechanical engineering major. He took a break to accept a one-year enlistment into the Navy followed by six years in the reserve. “In 1949, I re-entered Mississippi State and resumed my engineering education,” he said. “In my sophomore year my roommates were Terry Swalm and Jean Ulmer, both from Brookhaven. Terry was a high school athlete in all sports and majored in education. Jean majored in business.” Between his sophomore and junior years at Mississippi State, he held a summer job with an oil drilling company
based in Brookhaven. “I was a helper on a truck that moved oil well pipe and equipment among drilling sites mostly in Louisiana,” he said. “It was a good job because we usually left on Monday and returned on Friday and my expenses were paid. So I had no opportunity to spend money and could save most of my income. I think I saved $1,000 that summer.” He took a job after graduation with the Ethyl Corporation, but in 1954, he was offered an instructor’s position at the college and an opportunity to pursue his master’s degree. He married June Reeves of Texas that same year. He followed his younger brother, John, also a graduate of Mississippi State, to California to work for Douglas Aircraft. Later, President John F. Kennedy would announce the nation’s goal to send men to the moon and return them safely to Earth. Ed reported to work at NASA in Houston, Texas, on in 1962. Within six years he was promoted chief of the Crew Systems Division and was solely responsible of the CSD tasks in support of the lunar missions. He and his family lived in El Lago,
Texas, in a neighborhood bag and the gray tape on filled with NASA employees. board the spacecraft to tape Astronauts Neil Armstrong a container over the end of a and Fred Haise lived on his CM absorber,” he wrote in a street. journal. Haise would join astronauts He and J.V. Correale John Swigert and James designed and fabricated Lovell on the Apollo 13 crew. mockup and test models and Apollo 13 was the seventh on April 15, 1970, the Apollo crewed mission in the Apollo 13 crew switched to the new space program and the third configuration and the CO2 meant to land on the Moon. concentration in the capsule The craft was launched from dropped within 30 minutes. It Kennedy Space Center on was a success. April 11, 1970. Just five and a NASA documents show that half minutes after liftoff, the mission control devised a way three astronauts felt a little to attach the canisters to the vibration. LM system During by using the first plastic bags, two days, cardboard the crew and tape ran into that were on a couple board. Even of minor Ed said surprises, success was but due to the generally efforts of Apollo 13 hundreds of was looking NASA and like the contractor smoothest engineers flight of the The Apollo 13 patch and program. managers At almost who made it 60 hours, oxygen tank No. 2 possible for the crew to return blew up, causing the No. 1 safely to Earth. tank to also fail. The command Now we know it was Ed — module’s normal supply of BHS Class of 1947 — who electricity, light and water saved the day. was lost, and they were about Ed went on to work a few 200,000 miles from Earth. more Apollo missions and The message came in the held other high-up engineering form of a sharp bang and jobs, retiring for the first time vibration at 9:08 p.m. April in 1983. 13. Swigert saw a warning He started his own light that accompanied the consulting company, then bang and said, “Houston, retired a second time. we’ve had a problem here.” His father’s health declined They lost electricity and one in 1993, and Ed moved him oxygen tank. The oxygen in from Brookhaven to his home the second tank was rapidly in Virginia in ’94. He died depleting. in 1997 and Ed returned to That’s when the Brookhaven Brookhaven to bury his father High School graduate used his next to his mother. good ol’ Southern upbringing “For the last 10 years, I’ve to fashion plastic bags with just been living in Tennessee duct tape to get Apollo 13 traveling and enjoying life,” back to Earth. he said. On April 14, 1970, between He and his second wife, 1 and 4 a.m., Ed’s crew was Carolyn, enjoy some traveling, brainstorming ideas. but at 90, he’s content to “Out of these discussions stay home and garden. He’s came an idea to use the liquid seen the 1995 “Apollo 13” cooling garment stowage movie with Tom Hanks, Kevin
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Bacon and Bill Paxton playing Lovell, Swigert and Haise, respectively. “I was there when they showed it to the astronauts in Houston before it was released,” he said. He said it is as accurate as Hollywood can do. “Fred and Jim Lovell were consultants on the movie and they tried to make sure it came out right,” he said. He likes to read mysteries and history, and, of course, science fiction and anything related to space. If given the chance, would he want to go to the moon? “I would have 20 years ago, but not now. At age 90, I don’t think that is something they’ll let me do,” he said. Ed and Carolyn’s children, grandchildren and greatgrandchildren are scattered around the country. He has no living relatives in Brookhaven, though his parents are buried here. He believes he is the last of his classmates still living. “I think I’m the last one standing,” he said. ////
Ed Smylie presented this award to Apollo 13 astronauts James Lovell, John Swigert and Fred Haise.
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arts MARCH/APRIL 20
Four Way Stop is rolling Speaking your language, a new band is in town Story By Aaron Paden Photos By Bill Perkins
They describe themselves as “classically soaked” — a melting pot of old and new. They’re often seen around Brookhaven playing classic covers. They have big aspirations, too, but more than anything the members of Four Way Stop want to have fun and make friends. As the band sat down to interview for this story one evening in-between gigs, there was a consensus around the table that music was the way they most wanted to connect to their audience. “Music — it’s a universal language,” Brookhaven native and Four Way Stop drummer Wyatt Brady said. “One of the greatest feelings that I’ve ever experienced playing is — sometimes you will have people that will go to bars and stuff like that, just slamming the drinks trying to forget. And you go and play a song, and they’re like, ‘That was one of my favorite songs. Hearing y’all playing that is such a big help to me. It made me feel so much better.’ “Helping people with music makes me feel really good.” Brady described Four Way Stop as a band of Christians. They play secular music. In fact, they formed the band as a way to branch out from Copiah-Lincoln Community College’s Sojourners after there were complaints that their choices of music were not appropriate for a school venue. But Brady said they wanted to reach people by being good witnesses. Music, they agreed, is for everyone, and the members of Four Way Stop want to reach everyone they can. “There were some songs that are not appropriate for college representation, but we’re not getting up there and talking about really controversial things,” Kyle Graves said. “We’re just up there having a good time.” Four Way Stop is not exclusive to Brookhaven. Graves calls Monticello home, Joe Cranfield is from the Delta city of Cleveland and Ryan Purser is from Madisonville, Louisiana. Graves said the band is finding gigs further and further afield. In addition to venues in their hometowns, they’ve also had venues in Jackson and Mandeville. Graves said they’re also working on venues in Memphis and Four Way Stop is Ryan Purser on lead vocals and guitar, Joe Cranfield on bass, Kyle Graves on lead guitar and Wyatt Brady on drums. Nashville. “We want to play music for a living,” Purser said. “I’ll be so bold (as to say) we want to tour the 22 BROOKHAVEN MAGAZINE
world. That’s always the aspiration. If you’re not dreaming big — especially doing something you love — what’s the point?” While Four Way Stop may be well known for their classic rock covers, they are also working on original music. Brady said there are other influences — like funk — and modern influences as well. Graves said the band is still working on refining a sound of their own. “That’s something a band does throughout its life,” Graves said. As Four Way Stop grows and expands, Graves said Brookhaven has been a launching point for them. “We’re still expanding, but Brookhaven has been our start-up. Especially Recess 101,” Graves said. “Teresa gave us a place where we could do al the music we wanted to. It’s a very relaxed venue — more of a listening room.” Owner Teresa Moyer said everyone at the South First Street venue is a fan of the band. “Four Way Stop represents one of the things Recess 101 — all things Mississippi Music and Art — is about,” Moyer said. “They represent keeping rock ’n’ roll alive.” The language of music is an important one in Brookhaven, and the veterans of the Brookhaven music scene have always tried to nurture the next generation. Even though Brady plays drums now, Tyler Bridge, who ran Brookhaven Music and Sound until it closed last year, was instrumental in teaching him the ropes of music with his guitar lessons when he was about 10 years old. “They’re people who are still someone to look up to musically,” Cranfield said. “I still look up to — my gosh, Tony Norton has some really great material that he writes. Greg Smith is by far one of the best teachers and guitarists in this area.” While the band has aspirations — as any band does — of playing professionally and finding national and world-wide appeal, Graves said they didn’t set out on this musical journey to become rock stars or for the “cool factor.” It’s the language of music, and the connection of other people, that drives them. “We’ve played shows where there were only five people there,” he said. “But the fact that we got to connect with at least one of them in the room? That’s what makes it so much fun.” //// BROOKHAVEN MAGAZINE 23
book review MARCH/APRIL 20
'Will the Circle Be Unbroken?'
Latest work from ‘Sean of the South’ is a memoir Story By Brett Campbell Art submitted, Photo by Donna Campbell
Sean Dietrich hung sheetrock, laid floor tile, played piano in questionable locations, sung and played guitar for unappreciative audiences and smashed a fingernail with a hammer more than a time or two. If you meet the lanky redhead from the Florida Panhandle, you’re more likely to hear these things from him than the fact that he is a well-known writer and teller of tales — one who is becoming more and more wellknown by the day. Or at least by the blog, book or personal appearance. Dietrich is better known by the moniker “Sean of the South,” and has written several books, 24 BROOKHAVEN MAGAZINE
including “The Other Side of the Bay,” “Whistling Dixie,” “Caution — This Vehicle Makes Frequent Stops for Boiled Peanuts” and 2019’s “Stars of Alabama,” previously reviewed in this magazine. I spoke with Dietrich recently about his latest offering, which Zondervan published March 10 — “Will the Circle Be Unbroken? A Memoir of Learning to Believe You’re Going to Be Okay.” You know the adage about not judging a book by its cover? If you judged this one by its amazing poster-like cover, you’d be forgiven. And you’d want to read it. So judge away. Without giving too much away
in a review, the book begins with a young with it, learn from it and become a better with pen and sticky note arrows nearby. I boy talking about having the best day of didn’t want to write on the pages because person because of it. “Circle” has a his life fishing and watching a blue heron, similar point, but it’s all about hope and I might want to change something, so not knowing his life would change within healing. if I had a comment or wanted to mark 24 hours due to the suicide of his father. something to come back to, I stuck an “My goal whenever I tell the story That boy was Sean, and this really is a arrow there and read on. I marked coloris to bring out rays of humor within it, look back at a life that was scarred and coded notes as “humorous,” “hopeful” rays of optimism,” he said. “Because shaped by that terrible event. and “hard.” I have found it helpful for me to go “The introduction is jarring at first “Hard” meant it was either a passage through bad things and then frame them because I wanted everybody to know that was difficult to read or referred in your mind’s eye with a lighthearted what kind of book it was,” Dietrich said. to a difficult time. “Humorous” is perspective. One of the major things I For a long time he’d been thinking self-explanatory, and “hopeful” meant wanted to accomplish is to talk about it about writing this book, or one it seemed to me he was like it. His mother told him years — perhaps unconsciously ago that one day he’d write their — pushing his own and the story. He wasn’t so sure. Still, it reader’s thoughts toward a was there, living in the back of higher plane of being able to his mind, occasionally making a peacefully and purposefully foray into his mental kitchen to persist in spite of or because of make sure it wasn’t forgotten. painful experiences. “I kind of think I had the first I gave that copy to one of my line of the book,” Sean said, daughters because I thought adding that he’d since forgotten she’d really like to read it, and he wrote it that way. “It was like would appreciate the notes a bleeding a sore, getting the I made. Sean was gracious infection out.” enough to autograph it for her, As a former construction commenting a bit on my notes. worker, Sean is no stranger to the Above: Sean Dietrich poses with reviewer Brett Campbell, his The night he did that, my hammer-meets-fingernail scenario. father Rev. Wayne Campbell and brother Rev. Brad Campbell. Pic- wife and I had taken my brother As a woodworker, whenever and my father to meet Sean and tured are, from left: Wayne, Sean, Brett and Brad. Opposite page: the inevitable whack happened, a Dietrich and his dog Ellie Mae on the water near Sean’s home. his wife at a book-signing event blood blister would form beneath near my father’s home. After the offended nail and Sean’s father would and find in the worst times of your life a he’d played guitar, sang songs and told touch of humor.” take care of it. It was always the same humorous anecdotes, Sean took time with Sean does this well. remedy. every attendee to hug necks, shake hands, I began reading the book on a Saturday “He’d take a blazin’ hot needle and sign books and pose for photos. As my afternoon, and I went from hurting — shove it through the fingernail,” Sean dad and I stood near at the end of the line, for the man recalling the boy who was said. “It hurts so bad, but as soon as the we talked a bit about the book that I’d hurting and angry and confused — to fresh blood comes out it’s a tremendous read and he was eager to begin. laughing out loud, to furrowing my brow relief.” “You’ll enjoy …,” I began, and in concentration and agreement, to crying stopped. “Well, you may not enjoy Writing this book was like that for him — it was painful at times, but once it was again and not knowing whether it was reading the book, but you’ll be glad you from feeling my author friend’s pain or out on paper, it was a tremendous relief. did.” from laughing too much at something And just like the junk is discarded from a He understood and said so. he’d said in his unique storytelling way. wound, the emotional junk is sometimes I told Sean reading the book was like I read until I couldn’t hold my eyes open having a conversation with him, only one discarded, too. Which may be why he doesn’t remember some of the things he anymore that night, then picked it up again in which I didn’t say too much. It was a wrote in the book, he said. Sunday afternoon and finished it. conversation in which he bared his soul, The book has some “parentheticals” He does remember most, however. But one painful bit at a time, and did so with — things that begin in one spot and are it doesn’t weigh on him like it used to. such conviction, humor, grace and hope revisited later in a way that echoes or “As I was writing it, it’s gone,” he that he encouraged me. mirrors or answers. One is a man whom said. “You don’t ever have to touch it And I love him a little more for it. the boy doesn’t know, who tells him again. You can go back to it if you want Read the book. You may not “enjoy” it, everything is going to be OK … and the to, but you don’t have to. And that was but you’ll be glad you read it. same man showing up in his life one day a neat moment to realize that, because Sean’s blog, podcasts and more much later. Another is an angry explosion information can be accessed at his you feel like you want to talk about it, from a child that’s gently answered many sometimes.” website, SeanoftheSouthShow.com. “Will years later from the man the child has the Circle Be Unbroken?” and his other become. I’d love to explain those more Hope and healing books can be purchased pretty much here, but I’d be giving away too much, I anywhere you buy books. think. Not spoilers to the story, really, but Sean told me “Stars of Alabama” was spoilers to the experience of reading it. about suffering — that everyone suffers //// As I read my copy of “Circle,” I did so and everyone has to learn how to deal
BROOKHAVEN MAGAZINE 25
wellness MARCH/APRIL 20
Educate yourself on the virus instead of panicking Story By Robin Eyman Art by Metro Creative Connection
With a coronavirus named COVID-19 spreading in parts of the nation in the blink of an eye, it can make you wonder what is happening if you get a sniffle or a cough. Is it a cold? The flu? An allergy? Or the coronavirus sickness that originated from Wahun, China? The Mississippi State Department of Health reported its first presumptive positive case of coronavirus March 11.
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The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had not verified the case when this issue printed. The individual is a Forrest county adult male who recently traveled to Florida. After confirmation by the Mississippi State Department of Health’s Public Health Laboratory, the patient voluntarily isolated himself at home to prevent further transmission to others. The patient was not hospitalized.
The Mississippi State Department of Health is conducting further investigation to limit spread of the virus from this case. This and other cases in nearby Louisiana brings concerns to Southwest Mississippians. For instance, customers at Brookhaven area businesses have been emptying store shelves of hand sanitizers. Don’t panic, but educate yourself and take precautions, according to the CDC and other health sources.
It can be difficult to not panic after hearing national news reports of school closings, public gatherings banned and nursing homes deciding to ban or screen visitors. But King’s Daughters Medical Center in Brookhaven is ready if the virus comes, officials said. The 99-bed hospital has about 50 test kits with more on order, said David Culpepper, director of marketing. “We have in place operations plans for handling emerging infectious diseases such as the novel coronavirus and for handling a pandemic should we have
a large outbreak,” said KDMC Safety Officer Clyde Sbravati. “Those with suspected COVID-19 will be isolated and tested for the virus. A call will be placed to the MSDH for guidance on further treatment, isolation and monitoring of the patients.” Patients would be placed in a negative pressure isolation room and ER staff wearing protective gear would collect specimens of lower and upper respiratory systems and serum samples, Culpepper said. No one had come to the hospital with COVID-19 symptoms as of mid-March.
But the medical center saw 240 patients with flu-like symptoms in January, and 274 in February, Culpepper said. About 10 percent tested positive in January and 20 percent in February. The ER saw about 483 patients with complaints and diagnosis of upper respiratory and other respiratory issues in the same time frame. KDMC treated 160 pneumonia patients in January and February. You can prepare for the possibility of COVID-19 by stocking up on nonperishable foods, tissues, hand sanitizer, disinfectant and over-the-counter BROOKHAVEN MAGAZINE 27
medicines. But if you do get sick, how do you know what it is or whether you need to call your doctor? To figure it out, let’s look at viruses and allergies and their similarities and differences. To be clear, there is not just one coronavirus. Coronavirus is a family of different strains that can cause the common cold and have been responsible for the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and the Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) outbreaks. COVID-19 is considered a novel coronavirus because it’s a strain that’s never been seen, the CDC says. It is highly contagious. Colds and flus are also contagious, but allergies are not. An allergy’s major reactions including itchy eyes, runny nose and swollen sinuses. You may also have wheezing and coughing. A cold is a respiratory illness that’s milder than the flu. Medical experts say a cold causes sneezing, runny nose or stuffy nose and a sore throat, and in some cases, a fever. 28 BROOKHAVEN MAGAZINE
The flu, as an old saying goes, will make you feel like you’ve been run over by a Mack truck. Its major symptoms are fever/chills, a cough and muscle/ body aches. You remain contagious for five to seven days after you notice the symptoms. The flu can also cause serious health problems such as pneumonia, leading to hospitalization, says the CDC. Flu shots are considered the first line of defense to guard against the virus. The flu and COVID-19 can both cause serious health issues or death for people over 65 and for people of all ages with serious chronic problems such as heart or lung disease, diabetes or asthma. COVID-19 causes flu-like illnesses, but it starts suddenly with a fever followed by a cough and shortness of breath or difficulty breathing. Signs or symptoms may show up two to 14 days after exposure, the CDC says. You may have nausea, vomiting or diarrhea before respiratory symptoms occur. The CDC says COVID-19 is spread from person-to-person among close contacts and from a distance of about six feet. It’s spread mostly through respiratory droplets when an infected
person coughs or sneezes, similar to how the flu and other respiratory germs spread. The droplets can land in your mouth or nose or can be inhaled into your lungs. In mild cases, people get better between 10 and 14 days. But people who develop pneumonia may take a few weeks to recover, while those with a lifethreatening illness may not recover for months, or they may die. The best practices for precautions against catching a virus, including COVID-19, are the similar: wash your hands frequently with soap and water for 20 seconds or use an alcohol-based hand sanitize, covering all surfaces of your hands and rubbing them together until they’re dry. Also, avoid touching your eyes, nose and math with unwashed hands. Avoid crowds if possible and limit close contact with others. Cough or sneeze into a tissue, or at least your sleeve, and wash your hands. Use a tissue to open doors in public. And if you feel sick, stay home. The COVID-19 virus is believed to remain infectious on hard surfaces for three hours to three days. As with the flu,
disinfect often-used surfaces, such as tables, door knobs, toilet handles and counters or clean them with a solution of bleach and water. Don’t forget to clean cellphones and TV remote controls, said Sbravati of KDMC. If you realize symptoms of flu, call your doctor, who can prescribe an anti-viral drug within two days to reduce the length and severity of sickness. If you believe you have COVID-19, call your family doctor immediately. Don’t show up at a doctor’s office or ER without calling first in case you’re contagious. A mask is not as effective a deterrent as washing hands, according to medical experts, but a mask may remind you to not touch your face, eyes or mouth. Also, the virus scare has depleted manufacturers’ supplies. Officials recommend leaving masks for those who tend to the sick. The Mississippi coronavirus hotline, 1-877-978-6453, is available weekdays from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. The MSDH also has information online at healthyms.com. ////
Answers to your symptom questions • • • •
Colds cause sneezing, runny/stuffy nose and sore throat. You’re likely to feel tired and may have a fever, but not always. Allergies are more likely to cause itchy eyes and wheezing, runny nose, watery eyes, wheezing, coughing, and possibly diarrhea, headache and cramps. Influenza, the flu, is more likely to cause cough, fever or chills and muscle or body aches. You also may have muscle or body aches, headaches and fatigue. Children are likely to also have vomiting and diarrhea. COVID-19 starts suddenly with a fever, then a cough and shortness of breath. BROOKHAVEN MAGAZINE 29
home MARCH/APRIL 20
Home with history Bogue Chitto couple holds on to home, land in their family for five generations Story ByKim Henderson Photos By Hannah Henderson
When James Andrew Kyzar built his house in Bogue Chitto in 1900, he used longleaf pine from neighboring forests, sand from a nearby hill, and clay from Myers Creek to press brick for the fireplace. His great-grandson, Jimmy Bullock, still has a few of those bricks. “They have his initials on them,” he said, adding his take on 30 BROOKHAVEN MAGAZINE
Kyzar’s industriousness. “Back then folks made do with what they had.” The same might be said of Bullock. The 61-year-old has made do with what’s been handed down to him — land, a historic home and a few storied antiques. When Bullock and his wife, Jan, moved to the homeplace 10 years ago, they understood they
had become caretakers of something precious. “It’s easier and cheaper to build a new house, but this is a really special place,” he said. “It’s been in our family for five generations.” Living in the woods is a good fit for Jimmy, a senior vice-president with timber management company Resource Management Service LLC. His work often takes him to Washington, D.C, but he manages to find time to serve on the board of several outdoors-oriented organizations, including the Catch-A-Dream Foundation, National Conservation Leadership Institute, Amphibian and Reptile Conservancy, Forest Landowners Association and the Mississippi Wildlife Federation. Awards on a mantle in the home’s living room attest to Jimmy’s role as a champion for wildlife, conservation, and private landownership causes. Last year, Mississippi State University recognized him as an Alumni Fellow for the College of Forest Resources. Jan, too, enjoys their property, especially the weeks their grandchildren, ages 7 and 12, visit. That’s when the family land comes alive with the sound of blackberry picking, hiking, lightning bug hunting, and four-wheeler riding. “They’re city boys, but they love to be in woods,” she said, smiling. After those long summer days, the Bullocks’ grandchildren go to sleep in a house built 120 years ago, but James Kyzar probably wouldn’t recognize it. Photographs show the original house was constructed in the classic dogtrot style, a design characterized by a large breezeway through its center. The South’s hot temperatures and high humidity made dogtrots especially desirable. Jimmy believes family members enclosed that space and BROOKHAVEN MAGAZINE 31
added the kitchen in the 1930s. Since he grew up in the home, he remembers a major renovation in 1972. That’s when his father bricked the exterior and added a bedroom on the west side, upping the floor space to 2700 square feet. Interior updates in 1972 included paneling and shag carpet that were all the rage — but no central air or heat. “We didn’t get window AC units until 1980,” Jimmy said, laughing. “I didn’t know what I was missing until I went to college. I was used to box fans in the summer and gas heaters in the winter.” Career demands took Jimmy out of state for years, but always knew he’d return. His ties to the land were strong, and he was an only child. The family home had never been vacant. 32 BROOKHAVEN MAGAZINE
When he and Jan did move into the house, they went in with their eyes open to the challenges of owning an older home. The plumbing. The exterior painting. The kitchen in need of updating. The fear of fire in an all-wood structure. Before Jimmy’s mother died, she told Jan she was free to make changes to the house. “Mom indicated she’d had a go at it, and now it was my turn,” Jan recalled. Putting her personal stamp on an heirloom home has been an ongoing process for the do-it-yourselfer and former Brookhaven shop owner. Before it burned in 2007, Jan’s handmade soap and bath products store, Posey Place, had a Victorian flavor that drew customers from a distance and even the attention of
an editor from Southern Living magazine. That style bent is obvious in renovations at her Bogue Chitto residence. One of Jan’s first goals was to take the walls, floors and ceilings back to their original state. “I wanted to see what was under there,” she said. She wasn’t disappointed. Beneath paneling, she found beadboard walls made from longleaf pine. Under layers of old carpets, she discovered a patch of rare leaf-design linoleum. In the middle bedroom, someone had used a 1940s edition of The Daily Leader as floor padding. Toward the back of the house there’s a music room Jan claims as hers. She plays mandolin and fiddle and is part
of a local dulcimer group: “I use the room to practice, as well record and write. All those windows make it a great place to be creative and the acoustics are wonderful. Jimmy’s daddy was choir director at his church. He’d love that we have music here again.” Jan recently finished a 5-year bathroom update. She chose marble for the floors and walls, trimmed with reflective glass. The pink fixtures she inherited stayed put. “I decided to just lean into it and go with it,” she said, laughing. The crowning feature of the space is a delicate light fixture the Bullocks commissioned while visiting Venice, Italy. Recovered beadboard shines in the dining room where it stretches 14 feet high and is painted with Behr’s “Grape Leaves.” Jan chose the green shade and a rag application method because they were popular in the early 20th century. In a nod to the new, she asked Ryan Costilow of Fine Line Construction and Design to add a built-in china cabinet to bank a wall. Costilow says leveling is a challenge in older homes, but the 8-foot-by-13-foot piece turned out well due in large part to Jan’s suggested details. She asked for the addition of legs and wooden appliques, and rather than enclose the back of the cabinet, she wanted the beadboard walls to remain visible. The cabinet now houses six generational sets of china obtained from relatives on both sides of the couple’s family. A group of classic white dishes with silver trim sits on one shelf. Haviland China produced them in New York in the early 1900s before the company moved overseas, and they belonged to Jimmy’s grandmother, Clara Bullock. Jan keeps her personal favorite, Noritake’s “Mandalay,” on the antique table anchoring the room. “It’s our go-to china. We use it almost every day,” she said. The table and its accompanying chairs belonged to Clara, too. They were the first pieces of furniture she and her husband bought as newlyweds. The family knows this and other details about furnishings because Rachel Posey Bullock, Jimmy’s mother, documented them in a cloth-covered journal before she died. In uncomplicated penmanship, she wrote things like this: The mirror over the mantle was given to Mama Clara by Aunt Mary Bullock. All I know is it came from a hotel she used to have in Monticello. It is very old. The sewing box on the mantle was Aunt Trudy’s. And this: In the front bedroom, the player piano belonged to Aunt Della Price. Sat out on the porch, weather and all. At some point was given to James. He dried it out with kerosene lamps. Reading the entry aloud, Jimmy notes his relatives “didn’t have much, but what they had they hung on to.” That’s evidenced by a spinning wheel tucked away that once belonged the home’s original owner, Mary Alice Kyzar. They have one of her quilts, too, and carpentry tools used to build the house. Hanging on to things makes events like a wedding the Bullocks hosted on New Year’s Day special. “The house was overflowing with family,” Jimmy said. “I remember when my great uncles used to come home during the holidays when I was young. It felt like that.” These days, the Bullocks consult son Brian about any renovations they’re considering. He’s next in line to inherit the property, and Jan and Jimmy are intent on keeping the place in the family: “We want it to be comfortable for them when they come in.”
C A T E R I N G
//// Previous pages: Jimmy and Jan Bullock are happy to call the Bogue Chitto ancestral home of the Bullock family their own home. The house was built in 1900.
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photo essay MARCH/APRIL 20
Behind the Scenes Krewe of Ceres 53rd annual Charity Ball Photos By Johnny Smith Photography The Krewe of Ceres crowned Whitney Bailey Moak as queen and Paul Raymond Phillips as king. They are pictured with members of their court, attendants, family members, Krewe members and Charity Ball attendees
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Above: xxxxxxxxxxxx
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food MARCH/APRIL 20
Hanging out at The Shack on 550 From Alaskan crab to steaks, the food is really good Story By Brett Campbell Photos By Donna Campbell
I had seen the pictures and heard the stories of friends hanging out at The Shack on 550. But I had not yet been there myself. In the photos, they’re holding up enormous lobsters, huge grins on their faces — the friends, not the crustaceans — saying, “I got to pick my own lobster!” The ones in the picture are 3 and 3.5 pounds each. Again, I’m talking about the lobsters. Those are big sea bugs. But the critters The Shack is better known for are mudbugs — crawfish, crayfish, crawdaddies. And they are cooked just right. Calvin Crane has been cooking the bugs since he was in college, setting up cookers on a concrete slab near his parents’ grocery store. It’s the same location where he cooks now, only in a metal building he affectionately began calling his “shack.” Crane worked for years overseas for 38 BROOKHAVEN MAGAZINE
Facing page and above, the seafood offerings at The Shack include croawfish etouffee, snow crab legs and the restaurant’s special slightly sweet Shack Shrimp. Below, Erik Herrera shows off a large crawfish from his platter during a recent visit to The Shack.
an oil company, cooking when he was home and letting his eldest of three daughters take over when he was gone. He retired from the oilfield in fall 2015 and officially opened The Shack in February 2016, offering up pretty much anything boiled. As he could, and as demand grew, he began offering more on his menu. He doesn’t serve imported anything. His steaks, seafood and anything else are sourced in the U.S. His fish comes fresh from the Gulf a couple of times each week. His oysters are harvested and shrimp wild-caught in the Louisiana Gulf. His crab comes from Alaska or the eastern Canadian coast. Steaks are upper-third choice or prime Angus, cooked over a wood fire. Gumbo is made from scratch and fries are hand cut. Nothing is cooked ahead of time — it’s all made to order — so you might have to wait a bit. If you want good food and aren’t impatient, you won’t be disappointed. Want a pound of boiled shrimp, two pounds of crawfish, as well as potatoes, corn, sausage or mushrooms cooked in the Cajun boil, too? He’s got you covered. And for those who have shellfish allergies, nothing is cooked in the same pot as the shell-on seafood — the veggies are cooked in seasoned water in their own pot to avoid allergens. They have gluten-free options, too, if you need that. The Shack is open seven days a week,
and although Crane says he’s thinking about opening another day, he may have to be satisfied with just seven. His hours are 10:30 a.m. until 9 p.m. Monday through Thursday, open an hour later on Friday, 4-10 p.m. on Saturday and 11 a.m. until 7 p.m. on Sundays. In my internet searches, I’ve yet to come across a review that’s lower than 4 out of 5 stars, and most hover around the 4.9-5 mark. My wife and I recently visited The Shack on a weeknight with some friends who’ve recommended this place several times. I don’t know how we’ve lived here this many years and haven’t eaten here sooner. On a pleasant night we sat out on the patio and enjoyed our colas and water, crawfish, fried shrimp, boiled shrimp, Shack Shrimp, fried oysters and catfish, hush puppies, fried mushrooms and crab legs. We ate until all five of us were stuffed and happy. Every time someone tried something new, the comment was the same — “That’s really good.” I’m going to sound like I’ve been paid by Crane to write this, but the food was, uh, how do I say this? “Really good.” The petite button mushrooms were some of the best fried fungus I’ve ever eaten. When other places fry mushrooms, this is what they’re trying to produce. The boiled crawfish were seasoned perfectly, and this comes from a man who’s spent a good portion of his life BROOKHAVEN MAGAZINE 39
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living in Louisiana. Not everyone can get mudbugs done right, but The Shack can. The fried catfish fillet was perfectly fried and flaky, and my wife — the hushpuppy connoisseur — said the hushpuppies were great. The Shack Shrimp and fried shrimp were … I’ve got to come up with some different words than “good,” “great,” “tasty” and “delicious” or I’m just going to sound redundant. You pick a positive adjective and we’ll go with that. I liked them. But my favorite of the night were the oysters. Fried to perfection, I tell you, and some big enough to cover the palm of my oversized mitt. I will go back and order just a couple dozen of those. I might order them through the website, theshackat550.business.site, or text SHACK to 33733 to order. My dad is an oyster lover, too. I should get him a gift card for Father’s Day. When my wife and I were there, the patio was just about full with patrons — upward of 30. But Crane is expanding into his parents’ old grocery store next door. He’s installing a larger kitchen and will have seating for more than 50 indoors. Thankfully, he’ll still have the patio open for those nice nights and he’ll keep the boilers going where they are. The new area is expected to be open by the first of May, Crane said, and he and his wife Kathy are looking forward to being able to serve more people. That’s good, because I’ll be bringing my whole family. //// Opposite, owner Calvin Crane samples a mudbug fresh from the boiling pot. At left, the fried oysters were some of the best this reviewer has ever tasted.
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social scenes MARCH/APRIL 20
Wesson Chamber Banquet
From left, William Brown Jr., Sabrina Brown and Anna Grider
From left, Josh Hood, Hannah Hood, Jennifer Johnson and Michael Johnson
From left, Julia Ivey, Chuck Ivey and Wilma Turnbo
From left, Emma Anderson, Marilyn Britt and Katie Dixon
From left, AC Currie, Janet Currie and Anna Kendall Thames
From left, Dustin Dupre, Kaylee White and Ken Carraway
From left, Claire Crow, Lisa Smith, JoAnn Miller, Paige Anderson and Jennifer Peets
From left, Valerie Love, Alana Hughes, Haley Andrews and Angie Wade
From left, Betty Ashley, Charlotte Newell and Sharon Langley
From left, Desiree Hart, Keith Hart, Dwayne Mclemore, Cathy Stroud and Erin Stroud
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From left, Bobby Smith, Patty McCardle and Laura Smith
social scenes MARCH/APRIL 20
Krewe of Ceres Charity Ball
From left, Olivia Sullivan, Sara Smith and Chloe McDonald
From left, Kathleen Bailey, Morgan Moak and Courtney Owens
From left, Holly Gardner, Clint Gardner and Judge Mike Taylor
From left, Lizzie, Janie and Spencer Mooney, Polly Watkins and Sam Mooney
From left, Rhonda White, Athena Nakos, Morgan Barron and Holli White
From left, Charlsie Estess, Asa and Sarah Reynolds
From left, John McCardle Jr., Angie Williamson and Cindy Townsend
From left, Adrian Stafford, Tristan, Abigail and Eliott Peavey
From left, Jacob Piazza, Brenda Green, Steve Bowman and Johnny Bowman
From left, Melanie McCreary, Fran Massengill, Mary Margaret Allbritton, Pat and Anna Grace McCreary
From left, Pete, Dienna, Nancy and Connley Moak
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social scenes MARCH/APRIL 20
Mozart in Candlelight
From left, Katie Lee, Jessica Malone, Pam and Jon Whitaker
From left, Frank Burns, Jill Logan and Delores Myers
From left, Joe Fernald, Wanda Fernald, Bob and Beba Lawrence
From left, Kesha, Miranda and Phillip Smith
From left, Pamela Barth, Steve Amos and Peri Akin
From left, Tucker Hollie, Braylen Becker and Rebecca Hyde
From left, Sarah Lloyd, Sharyn Davis, Avis Mullins and Susie Kinbrough
From left, Stephanie Sullivan, Orilla Joseph and Sue Sullivan
From left, Zoula Huffman, Dr. George Huffman and Judy Phillips
From left, Kay Burton, Allie Rose, Shelly and Jonathan Whitaker
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social scenes MARCH/APRIL 20
Diary of Anne Frank
From left, Brandy Johnson, Cile Johnson and Ann Carter Waltman
From left, Neisha, Joy and Julie Leggett
From left, Misty Nowell, Taylor Nowell and Macy Mcdaniel
From left, Tansley Case, Jan Smith and Palyn Smith
From left, Sharon Covington, Tucker Hollie, Braylen Becker and Rebecca Hyde
From left, Peggy, Melissa and Trish Bradford
From left, Jean Phillips, Gwen Case, Cheryl and Donald May
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social scenes MARCH/APRIL 20
Goin’ to Town Car Show
From left, Norm Shotts, Ann Bruce, Tullis Duplichain and Barbara Duplichain
From left, Victor Smith, Vickie Smith and Jon Coffman
From left, Kim, Carter and Dwayne Anding
From left, Kevin Hux, Landon McGraw and Adelyn McGraw
From left, Terry Martin, David Martin, Missy Thames and Jon Thames
From left, Jacob Henson, Troy Lewis, Charlene Lewis and Jimmy Henson
From left, Trace McCardle, Brantley James and Jeff McCardle
From left, Michael Sullivan, Marsha Sullivan, Gloria, James, Jeff and Tanya Lofton
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From left, Paul Smith, Johnny, Garrett and Renee Victory
From left, Allison, Michael and Alex Etheridge
social scenes MARCH/APRIL 20
Mommy and Me Princess Tea
From left, Hannah LaPorte, Hallie LaPorte, Holli Pepper and Bess Pepper
From left, Sara Marshall Ladnier, Lucy Ladnier and Heather Evans
From left, Brittany Sones, Lottie Sones, Jolie Smith and Jamie Smith
From left, Bailey Pounds, Jaycie Bowling, Macie Bowling and Anna Richardson
From left, Tawny Lea, Layla Parkman, Pamela Shumaker and Gracie Lea
From left, Emma Jean Ott, Stephanie Ott, Hollis Smith and Allyson Smith
From left, Virginia Brown, Lawsen Brown, Rebecca Fisk, Lilly Fisk, Mallory Fisk, Kim Jordan and Hayes Jordan
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garden MARCH/APRIL 20
Choose a perennial salvia for recurring garden wins By Gary R. Bachman MSU Extension Service
Sometimes it seems I need a larger garden landscape because, sadly, I don’t have room for every great plant I write about. But one group of plants I make sure to save space for is perennial salvia. Year in and year out, perennial salvias are landscape overachievers. Salvias come in a few species and hybrids, and you can’t go wrong with any of them in your garden. Here are some of my top perennial salvia picks. Victoria Blue salvia is botanically Salvia farinacea. This upright grower has been a garden favorite for a while; it was a 1998 Mississippi Medallion winner. This selection displays big, beautiful, deep-blue flower spikes from late spring to frost in the fall. A very pretty white selection is called Victoria White. Rockin’ Playin’ the Blues salvia is a selection I have been growing for six years. This is an interspecific hybrid, a cross between Salvia longispicata and farinacea. I like to think it should be included in the Best
of Gary’s Garden. The plant produces beautiful, blue flowers all summer long, and its blue calyxes remain after the actual flower petals fall off. This means the color has an even longer-lasting landscape effect. The plant is sterile, which means the gorgeous flowers don’t produce any seed that could become a weedy problem. Look for others in the Rockin’ series: Rockin’ Deep Purple, Rockin’ Fuchsia and Rockin’ Golden Delicious. A salvia that really creates neighborly interest in my Ocean Springs’ landscape is Black and Bloom or Salvia guaranitica. All summer, the deep-blue flowers contrast with the black calyx displayed on black stems. Black and Bloom seems to laugh at our Mississippi summer conditions of heat, drought and humidity. Mexican Bush Sage, or Salvia leucantha, is one of the largest of the garden salvias, potentially growing over 5 feet tall. I love the fuzzy texture of the foliage and the velvety flowers. A shorter selection called Santa Barbara has extravagant blooms of purple and white
that are prominent from spring to fall. This plant is drought tolerant, which is a great attribute considering our typical summer weather. Consider this plant a tender perennial in north Mississippi that must be mulched to overwinter. Mexican Bush salvia is photoperiodic and needs short days to bloom. This is a perfect choice for the shorter days in the fall garden. Always plant your perennial salvias in full sun in well-drained, well-prepared soil. The blue and purple flowers pair well with many of your favorite annuals and perennials, especially those with yellow and gold colors. Whichever perennial salvia you choose will attract pollinators. Every summer, my salvias are covered with bumblebees, honeybees and all kinds of butterflies — especially swallowtails — enjoying the nectar-filled flowers. Hummingbird even swoop in for tasty snacks. Perennial salvias are easy care and low maintenance, which leaves time to have fun and enjoy the garden. //// BROOKHAVEN MAGAZINE 49
voices MARCH/APRIL 20
Why I love Brookhaven There are so many reasons I can share with you on why I love Brookhaven, but I’ll share with you a few. Being born and raised in Brookhaven was truly a great adventure for me. If you’re from Brookhaven or have ever visited Brookhaven, you know that there is almost a church on every corner. I grew up directly across from one of those churches, St. Paul M.B. Church. A large portion of my childhood was spent in that church and others around it. We were there for Sunday School, Bible class and church each Sunday morning. Growing up in my neighborhood in Brookhaven, I always felt protected. Our next door neighbor was “Pap Arlustra Henderson who was the police chief. Several years later, our other neighbor, Bobby Bell, was also elected police chief. Brookhaven is such an amazing town to grow up and feel protected in. An added bonus of being born in Brookhaven is its rich history and love for Panther sports. From Panther football to Panther basketball, we show our Panther pride. We flock to all games to support our teams. I’ve watched many family members represent our Panther teams as my brother, nephews and my son, Caleb Edwards, graced the basketball court, football field and even track. Brookhaven has allowed me to continue my love for it by nurturing my love for this community through different
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organizations. On May 28, 2017, my son, Austin Edwards, and nephew, Jordan Blackwell, were murdered. Through the pain of losing them, I met some beautiful women in this community who also shared the pain of losing a child. My sister, Tiffany Blackwell, and I joined the women of Just Moms. We meet monthly and encourage one another through stories of our loved ones. Also, through this pain, my dear friend, Erin Smith, and I started a prayer group called United in Christ Against Violence. Each month, we meet with community members who share prayers with us to stop the violence in our beautiful community of
Brookhaven. This is why I love Brookhaven.
Shayla Edwards is an educational consultant for Harper Educational Consulting LLC and pre-K literacy specialist of the McComb School District. She a mother of three — Caleb, 18, McKinley, 5, and Austin, who would have been 13 this year. Her family attends New Zion Union M.B. Church in Bogue Chitto, where her father, the Rev. Eugene Edwards, is pastor. She is president of Gamma Beta Chapter of Zeta Phi Beta Sorority Inc. She, along with Erin Smith, co-founded United in Christ Against Violence.
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