Pulse Spring Issue by enterprisejournal

2020 Spring Issue

pulse

6 Annual Photo Contest winners

e rney u o j ’s n kie Wallac o c s a J k r c e a y J la p Ted NFL graphy of

book bio g g in m o c p U

In this issue: • Ted Jackson’s journey 30 year relationship evolves into book about NFL player Jackie Wallace

In Step With

• Michelle Van Norman Lawyer, Judge & Pastor’s wife

Michelle Van Norman

Kelsie and Tonto enjoying Tonto’s birthday party!

• Book Clubs Diversity holds interest for club members

On the cover:

• Green thumb

This year’s photo contest winning entry belongs to Liz McDaniel with photo of sunset at Lake Maurepas in Manchac, La. Photo by Liz McDaniel

Sue White knows how the rose grows

34 Staff

From the Publisher

This magazine’s photo contest is always fun to prepare. This is the third year we’ve done it, and each time, a number of people send in pictures, typically several at a time, of every topic imaginable — kids, pets, other animals, rural areas, weather patterns — you name it. We got some fine pictures this year. You already saw the winning photo on the cover by Liz Mc-

Daniel. The package of more photos begins on Page 14. I would like to thank all the local residents who contributed. Everyone knows the old saying, “A picture is worth a thousand words,” but it is a challenge to take a picture that captures the imagination without saying any words at all. Many of the photographers who participated in the contest did just that.

Publisher - Jack Ryan Editor - Matt Williamson Advertising Manager - Vicky Deere Advertising sales-

Stacy Godwin, LeWair Foreman, Steven Sawyer, Christy Thornton & Margie Williams.

pulse is a publication of J.O. Emmerich & Associates Inc. and is produced in association with the Enterprise-Journal, 112 Oliver Emmerich Dr., McComb, Mississippi. For more copies or advertising information, call 601-6842421, write P.O. Box 2009, McComb, MS 39649 or e-mail advertising@enterprise-journal.com.

Volume 12, Issue 4

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2020 Spring Issue

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You Ought To Do A Story About Me: A biography 30 years in the making By Ca le b McCluskey Pulitzer prize-winning photojournalist Ted Jackson met Jackie Wallace decades ago while covering homelessness in New Orleans for the Times-Picayune. He and Wallace talked about a series running at the time in their sports section that showed star athletes years removed from their fame. “You ought to do a story about me,” Wallace told Jackson, and that moment 30 years ago spanned into a long-time friendship and a new biography telling his story titled “You Ought to Do a Story About Me: Addiction, an Unlikely Friendship, and the Endless Quest for Redemption.” Wallace was previously a star football player who played in two Super Bowls but fell off the face of the Earth sometime after his last Super Bowl appearance with the Rams. Jackson had never heard of Wallace, but he kept listening and kept the name in mind. “I didn’t believe him,” Jackson said. “I said, ‘Wow, how’d you end up here.’ What he expected me to say was, ‘Oh my God, Jackie Wallace. I know you,’ but I wasn’t from New Orleans, and I didn’t remember that name. It didn’t mean anything to me, but I played along.”

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After their interaction, Jackson said he went back to the Times-Picayune newsroom and asked the sports editor about Wallace, and they were surprised to learn his whereabouts. Jamie Smith, the sports editor of the paper at the time, ran back with Jackson and found Wallace for an interview. “We went back, and thank goodness Jackie was there,” Jackson said. “I went back a second day walking the streets and washing his clothes.” The story first published on July 6, 1990, and public reaction was swift. Wallace’s former classmate was the coach at St. Augustine High School — Wallace’s high school — and let him sleep in the high school, and the alumni association sent Wallace to rehab in Baltimore. “Published on Friday and by Friday afternoon a coach from St. Aug and a priest had scooped him up, and by Monday he was on a plane to Baltimore to a rehab clinic,” Jackson said. Jackson said most stories tend to end here, and for a while, it had. He said he was glad to shine a light on Wallace and help him to move on, but the story didn’t end where most stories would. “When he went to Baltimore, I kind of chalked it up as another job well done,” Jackson said. “I kind of forgot about it after a while.”

Ted Jackson holds copy of his upcoming book: You Ought To Do A Story About Me: Addiction, An Unlikely Friendship, and the Endless Quest for Redemption

After three years, Jackson had almost forgotten about the story, when Wallace walked into the office and found Jackson in the photo lab. Jackson had heard a knock on the window into the photo lab. “I looked up, and it was Jackie. He had talked his way into the newsroom,” Jackson said. “He’s standing there, and he is 6-foot-3 inches. He’s huge, and he is standing there in a three-piece suit with a vest and all, and he says through the glass, ‘Do you believe in miracles?’ and it was awesome.” Wallace came to the office to invite Jackson and Smith to his wedding in Baltimore, but they were unable to attend. “He was there to invite us to his wedding, and I really regret that we didn’t get to go,” Jackson said. Jackson did, however, get to visit Wallace’s home in Baltimore a year after the wedding. He said he went to do a follow-up story on Wallace, and met Wallace's wife, saw his new house and his new job, and he was extremely proud of his turnaround. “It was a remarkable story,” Jackson said. “That is when it really felt like a

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success to me. It felt like journalism had arship at the school, went into the pros, really made a difference here.” got hooked on crack at 35 years old, beJackson said despite his journalistic incame homeless and ended up right here. stincts, he began to see Wallace as more than “We felt like that was God’s provia subject, but instead as a friend. He looked dence bringing us together, and since forward to the calls Wallace gave him every then our stories have been intertwined.” year around Thanksgiving. Wallace called Jackson said after a few years, a Jackson every Thanksgiving to thank him Thanksgiving came and passed without a for his contribution to his recovery. call from Wallace, and at first, he just “That is where it kind of transformed told himself that Wallace forgot, but he from a subject in a photograph I shot to started getting worried. being a friend,” Jackson said. “That is where it kind of transformed “We are trained to never cross from a subject in a photograph I shot that barrier, but sometimes it happens, and you become ento being a friend.” trenched in someone’s life beTed Jackson cause of the impact or whatever.” “I was a full 12 years later after I found Wallace has had many ups and downs him under the bridge that I discovered since the two reunited, and, like many that he was missing again. He had had a friendships, the two would drift together fight with Debra (Wallace’s wife), and and apart in irregular intervals. Wallace they had broken up, and he disappeared,” hit another rough patch in 2019, falling Jackson said. “From then on I started back into old drug habits, but Jackson looking for him again... without any real said he is clean again and doing well. purpose. When I went under bridges, I’d Jackson said it was more than a coincilook. When I did a story in the homeless dence that brought the two of them toshelter, I’d ask for his name.” gether. Both Jackson and Wallace are reliJackson said he searched for Wallace in gious men and see it as fate that brought homeless shelters around New Orleans them together. but had no luck. “I loved art, and I gravitated toward “Another 12 years passed, and I decidphotography and went to journalism ed it was really time to look for him, and school. I got a job at a newspaper, and I I found him again,” Jackson said. “That ended up right here,” Jackson said of started the ball rolling of ‘holy smokes, their original meeting. “Jackie grew up in this story has just grown legs that we just a housing project, got interested in sports, never expected. This could possibly be a played great baseball, got a football scholbook.”

A few months after Jackson retired from The Times-Picayune, he tossed around an idea for a book, which would be about 20 people that inspired Jackson throughout his career, which included Wallace. He sent the brief off to a couple of agents. One called back the day she got it and was interested. “Through a friend, I found a couple of agents that might be interested in reading it,” Jackson said. “One of them called me the day she got it and said, “This proposal is interesting, but this one chapter you have on the football player Jackie Wallace. That’s your book.’ ” He and his agent eventually sold the proposal to Harper Collins, which decided to publish the book. “It was a huge deal,” Jackson said of being published. “(I was) thinking that was good, but now I have to write it. I think it was a 62-page proposal, which had taken the life out of me. I just couldn’t believe how detailed it had to be.“It’s completely different than photography.” Jackson said even though it is a book about Wallace, it is also about himself, their relationship and what they learned through each other. He also said there are a lot of topics in the book from racism, faith, drug abuse and the NFL. “It’s a book of discovery,” Jackson said. Football is a nugget in there. It is kind of why we care about Jackie because he was a star. “You learn about CTE (chronic traumatic encephalopathy) with concussion and brain injuries that are such a hot topic in the NFL now. There is pretty much a whole chapter about how Jackie has suffered from that and

Ted Jackson with Jackie Wallace. how it has shaped a lot of his bad decisions.” Spirituality plays a large roll in the book, too. Jackson said Wallace has taught him more about coping with failure and getting on the path of redemption. “There’s a lot of spirituality in it too because it all leads to how we all have our failures, and we all have to come to redemption in the end.” He also said over the years, he learned about how similar he and Wallace are. “I finally stopped telling Jackie I’d pray for him,” Jackson said. “Instead, I started saying, ‘Jackie, I will pray for you if you’ll pray for me,’ because I suddenly realized we were a lot alike. “The real difference is that my little addictions, my issues that I have in my life have not been something that led to public shaming and homelessness in a gutter in New

Orleans, but it is still the same thing.” Jackson’s book will release on Aug. 25 and is available for preorder at major book retailers. Hardcovers are $27.99, $39.99 for an audiobook, and electronic editions are $15. “It’s been an incredible journey that I could never dream of for myself and Jackie kind of felt the same way,” Jackson said. “It all leads back to that day under the bridge.” Jackson, a McComb native who spends much of his time teaching photography classes at Southwest Mississippi Community College, said he was not sure what he would do when the book is published, but he would still like to write the original book idea he had. “I don’t think I have another Jackie story. It just doesn’t let go. It starts at the prologue and doesn’t let go until 20 chapters later,” Jackson said. n

2020 Spring Issue

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In Step With: Michel le Van Norma n

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2020 Spring Issue

“She held court under the Palm of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim, and the Israelites came to her to have their disputes decided.” — Judges 4:5

In Step With Michelle Wroten Van Norman

Liberty woman now law partner, judge By Ernest Herndon For someone who didn’t enter law school until her mid-30s, Michelle Wroten Van Norman has come a long way. At 46, she’s now a full partner in a well-known McComb law firm, has opened a new office in Liberty and been appointed Liberty municipal judge. Van Norman was born in Baton Rouge, but her father, the late James Wroten, was from Amite County, and the family moved back there when Michelle was in second grade. She’s the youngest of three sisters, the others being Dana Freeman of Liberty and Kathy Freeman of Bogue Chitto. Van Norman graduated from Southwest Mississippi Community College, then Louisiana State University with a degree in sociology. She spent the next 15 years working a variety of jobs, including secretary at a mobile home dealership, mental health technician, travel agency receptionist, office manager and accounting employee. She also took some courses toward a Master of Business Administration degree but decided instead to enroll in law school at LSU. “Daddy was a brilliant engineer but he always wished he had gone to law school,” Van Norman said. “That was something I had always talked about with him.” The final push came from a longtime friend who said to Van Norman, “You’ve been talking about law school for 15 years. You either need to do it or move on.” Van Norman said, “So I did it.” She graduated from law school in 2013 and moved back to Amite County to help take care of her aging parents, James and Jo Ann Wroten. “I didn’t think I would come back here, but I’m glad I did,” she said. “I thought I would just stay in the city.”

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Michelle Van Norman, wearing judge’s robes, stands with Liberty Mayor Pat Talbert at town hall. She soon discovered an affinity for the small-town, rural lifestyle. “It’s home. It’s good that some things never change, or they change slowly, and that’s the way it is in Liberty,” Van Norman said. “Plus, it’s a family. You know everyone, and everyone can take care of one another.” Shortly after moving back, she put in a resumé at Robison & Holmes law office and went to work there in October 2013. The firm does general practice, which includes real estate closings, estates, wills, “What I like most is when I land transactions, family know I’ve really helped someone, matters, criminal cases, because clients come to us with a collections, litigation, car problem and they don’t know accidents and personal what to do with it.” injury cases. Michelle Van Norman “What I like most is when I know I’ve really helped someone, because clients come to us with a problem and they don’t know what to do with it,” Van Norman said. She attended Enterprise Baptist Church west of Liberty with sister Dana and family, and there she met a dashing young pastor named Shan Van Norman. The two particularly hit it off at a church youth camp in 2014. “We got married the next month,” Van Norman said. “That was July. We got married Aug. 31. “There was just something about him. He’s just such a sweet, good man, and I just knew that he was my future. He is my love.” She admits preacher-lawyer couples are pretty rare. A friend refers to the couple as an “oxymoron,” meaning contradictory terms. “I don’t find it to be that odd, but most people do,” Van Norman said. “When they find out I’m a preacher’s wife and I receive a doubtful look, I tell them not all lawyers are bad.”

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Van Norman stands inside her newly renovated office on East Main Street in Liberty.

An interesting twist is that both professions are bound by confidentiality with their clients or parishioners. “We don’t really talk about work, but if it’s something interesting I’ve done, we just don’t mention names,” Van Norman said. In May 2019, Van Norman became a partner to Mark Holmes. The firm is now called Robinson Holmes Van Norman PLLC Attorneys and Counselors at Law. The other partner, Stewart Robison, retired this past Jan. 31 and moved to Madison, Ala. “When I was hired, that was the end plan, for him to retire,” Van Norman said. Also this year, the firm — which employs eight people — opened an office at 932 E. Main St. in Liberty, with a ribbon cutting March 23. “I always wanted to be in Liberty in some capacity,” Van Norman said. “It’s home. It’s where I grew up — Amite County.” The Liberty office is open 8 a.m. to noon and 1 to 5 p.m. weekdays. The McComb office at 112 Commerce St. is open 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays. Another development this year was Van

Norman’s hiring as Liberty municipal judge. After the departure of judge Ben Weathers, she sought the position and was hired. She was interested in the role “just being a part of the town and being in Amite County and doing something in our town,” she said. She holds court once a month, and so far has had a full docket. Most cases involve traffic violations, but there are also cases of shoplifting, DUI and other misdemeanors. Ironically, Van Norman was named judge at the same time her husband was teaching a Wednesday night church series on the Old Testament book of Judges — in particular, the story of the female judge Deborah. When not practicing law or judging, Van Norman loves raising plants, hosting dinner gatherings, spending time with her nieces and nephews, working with MS Adopt-A-Hero and participating in church activities, such as crafts, exercise classes and Operation Christmas Child. Her philosophy of life and law comes from a phrase her husband often uses: “It’s never wrong to do the right thing.” n

2020 Spring Issue

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2020 Spring Issue

Sunset on Lake Maurepas Winning photo contributed by Liz McDaniel Liz McDaniel was out on assignment looking for her latest photo to take as part of her photography class at Southwest Mississippi Community College. She drove to Manchac, La., after visiting some family near Hammond in November to take some shots of the sun setting amid cypress trees at the swampy pass where Lake Maurepas connects with Lake Ponchartrain. "It was getting close to when the sun would start setting and I saw some spectacular sunsets on the water on Lake Maurepas,” she said. “I went over to a canal area and I was taking silhouette pictures of the camps and the trees.” Using a Canon Rebel T5i digital SLR camera, McDaniel adjusted her settings: manual mode, ISO 400, shutter speed 1/400 of a second and aperture f7.1. “In the distance I could hear a boat motor so I sat and waited and the motor went out so the man in the boat started paddling,” McDaniel said. “I shot off a couple of quick flicks. I thought it was kind of neat with the silhouette setting of him and the camps and the trees and obviously the gorgeous skies." The shot earned her the first-place award in this year’s Pulse Magazine photography contest. Photography is nothing new for McDaniel, whose father was an Air Force photographer who took photos during World War II. "I grew up around someone who always had a camera, taking photos," she said. "He always tried to teach me as much as he could when I was young. I remember being in the dark room with him and he said watch as he put a blank piece of white paper in a bath and all of a sudden a pictured appeared and I thought that it was magic." McDaniel said it’s exciting to win the contest. "Wow!" she said. "It totally made my day. Last year I got honorable mention with a shot that I took in Chicago."

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2nd Place Darlene Dickerson

The second-place entry from Darlene Dickerson shows a child enjoying some play time on a swing. The photo was taken at the end of the Summer of 2019 on Dickerson's farm in nearby Progress and the girl in the photo is her grandchild Kelsie Lea. Dickerson said the photo was taken with an iPhone. She said she had to position herself to get a good shot. “I was down low,” Dickerson said. “There is a pond down by there and the swing goes off this oak tree that goes up hill so I could get a shot of her.” When she got into position, she knew she had a great shot.

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“With the sky as the backdrop, when I got down low I could see the backdrop,” she said. “I wanted to take one of her feeling like she was flying through the air.” Dickerson said she enjoys using the portrait setting on her iPhone and she posts her photos to Facebook, where she usually receives praise for her work. Dickerson said that she is really into photography, but for her it is more than just taking photos. “My husband and I are retired now and I think that I need to take a photography class at some point,” she said. “But I like the memories of my babies.”

3rd Place Austin Fortinberry

For third-place winner Austin Fortinberry, photography has been a hobby of his for just two years, but the Summit native and Mississippi State sophomore has become avid and talented. His winning shot of star trails streaking in a spiral across the night sky — perhaps was the most technical of ll the entries received — was taken in early February. Fortinberry went to some family land in Progress, drove to the middle of a field and set his Canon 80D camera on a tripod. “I put my camera on a 90-minute timer, sat in the back of the truck and just watched,” he said. The 90-minute exposure, combined with the earth's rotation resulted in the shot of spiralling stars.

“Ever since I really got into photography, I saw these pictures that people were doing and I just had no idea how to do it,” Fortinberry said. Wen the time came for Fortinberry to give it a try, certain conditions worked in his favor. “I came home for the weekend and I checked the weather, like I do all the time,” he said. “You really shouldn't have a full moon in these types of pictures because the light pollution will take from the stars. I checked the weather and there was no moon, I checked the weather and there were no clouds and I was like dang this will be a really good night to go take astro photography.” 2020 Spring Issue

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Others we liked!

Kiss, kiss, kiss, oops! - Christmas family photo. Submitted by Jeannie Rape

Skeeter attempting to herd a donkey, mule and a horse in Tylertown (Lexie). Submitted by Chad James

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nna-Marie and A , ie ls e K rs te is S nies joy Girls and their po of photographer Ashley Lea, en Jessa, daughtersing their ponies. hley Lea Submitted by As grooming and rid Hummingbird ca ptured in flight.

Submitted by Au

stin Fortinberry

2020 Spring Issue

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Brady Jones coach of Elite Sports Academy (ESA) Jays tosses baseballs waiting for play to resume. Submitted by Belinda Jones

Bee sits on red sunflower in the summer garden of Darlene Dickerson. Submitted by Darlene Dickerson

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2020 Spring Issue

Early morning on Lake Tangipahoa at Percy Quin Park. Submitted by Brice Belsom

Bert Passman swimming with jellyfish at Jellyfish Lake, Palau, Micronesia. Submitted by Margy Wicker

Belinda Jonesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; grandson George Max Jones on the swing in his yard. Submitted by Belinda Jones

2020 Spring Issue

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Mickey Dickerson of Progress on his daily walk on Herman Allen Road. Submitted by Darlene Dickerson

After the morning rain this rose shines. Submitted by Laurie Bacot Weber

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Sun breaks the horizon near Clinton, LA. Submitted by Jeannie Rape

Beautiful Pike County morning. Submitted by Julie Etheridge

2020 Spring Issue

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Handmade, painted wooden doll art at the Christmas Kindlemart in Chicago, Illinois.

Morning awakens on early winter morning. Submitted by Jeannie Rape

Submitted by Liz McDaniel

Rows of sunflowers in the summer garden of Mickey and Darlene Dickerson of Progress. Submitted by Darlene Dickerson

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2020 Spring Issue

Morning sunrays near Clinton, LA Submitted by Jeannie Rape

Due to the volume of entries that we received we wanted to share as many photos as space allows. Thank you all for your entries and enjoy the scenes from around the area.

Moon behind the clouds outside Johnston Chapel United Methodist Church. Submitted by Yvonne Church

Granddaughter Jessa Lea enjoys feeding our palomino mare, Josie, a watermelon treat. Submitted by Darlene Dickerson

Photo was taken on Silver St. or â&#x20AC;&#x153;Under the Hillâ&#x20AC;? on a day trip to Natchez, right next to the Mississippi River! Submitted by Brooke Flory

A lizard on the nature trail at Percy Quin State Park. Submitted by Austin Fortinberry

Azaleas announcing the arrival of Spring. Submitted by Janice Hoaglund

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Whitetail haven in Liberty. Submitted by Amanda Hughey

Surreal - Sunset in Liberty. Submitted by Amanda Hughey

Volkswagon Cruiser Taken in Ono Island Bay at Orange Beach, Alabama. Submitted by Debbie Vincent

Lucy takes a break in the lawn chair. Submitted by Alexis Thornton

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Pelicans at roost in Slidell, La. Submitted by Ruth James

Friends enjoy drink and conversation. Submitted by Wayne McDaniel

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A ratrod at the 2019 Liberty Heritage Days. Submitted by Jeannie Rape

Sunset near Liberty. Submitted by Jeannie Rape

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2020 Spring Issue

Vacationing in Milan, Italy and captured this photo from atop a church that was being renovated. Submitted by Margy Wicker

Book Clubs By Mack Spe ncer There’s a joke about book clubs actually being wine clubs, and members of book clubs around McComb don’t deny enjoying a good libation during their meetings. “We always have a good book, good food, and an adult beverage,” said Debbie Stovall of the Second Sunday Book Club. Members of the Third Thursday Book Club said they do sometimes veer away from focusing on their book of the month in favor of other enjoyments, like a good glass of wine. “Sometimes we read the book, but we may not talk about it,” joked Susan Hedges. That might not be the only distraction, though. “We spent the first 45 minutes of the (January) meeting talking about football,” specifically LSU’s national championship season, said Third Thursday’s Lydia Bellipanni. Wine may not actually figure into every book club meeting, as it’s usually up to the hostess what is served to eat and drink. “Each hostess chooses the book for their month, and they provide the books and the luncheon for the month,” said Patsy Brock of the Thursday Treasures Book Club. “If they want to serve wine, we have wine.” It’s not unusual for the clubs to have a meal or refreshments based on the books they’re reading for the month. Brock’s fellow club member Dayle Felder fondly remembered the fried chicken dinner held the month their club read “The Help.” (Presumably, they also had a chocolate pie, unadulterated, for dessert.) Third Thursday members planned a trip to a ramen restaurant in Jackson to accompany one of their book choices this year, one of a number of trips they’ve made tied to their monthly book choices through the years. Second Sunday members went to Natchez for a club meeting after a member moved there, and all of the clubs have taken some kind of trip for a meeting, whether to a member’s camp in Louisiana or up to McCarty Pottery in Merigold.

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Of course, the books are nominally the reason for the club meetings, and they do eventually take center stage, at least for a little while. Many different genres and lengths of books have been perused and parsed by the local book clubs. Brock said the first book her group read in 2000 was “The Giving Tree,” by Shel Silverstein. “I wanted an easy, small book that would let us have a good discussion,” Brock said. “You would think we would have that with a children’s book. Some of the members were about to fight over it. “The diverse opinions were directly related to the stage of life each member was living and the age of their ‘boy.’ Those with small children had much sympathy for the ‘boy,’ but those with trying teenagers were not so sympathetic. As time has passed, the opinions have generally reversed with the changing ages of our families. “I think 20 years later, we might have some different thoughts about what the tree should do. I’d like to do it over and see what changed. That’s the book that got us going and inspired us.” “We haven’t been that angry since,” club member Nancy Soyars added. Brock said another controversial choice among members was “The Life of Edgar Mint,” which she said some members found amusing, but offended others with its “raunchy parts.” “On the whole, once the review was done, everyone put it in perspective,” Brock said. Third Thursday also got started in 2000. Their first choice was “All Over But the Shoutin’” by Southern memoirist and humorist Rick Bragg. Members largely profess an affinity for historical fiction, but have practically run the gamut of genres, from John Matherson’s “One Second After,” a science fiction thriller about the effect of an electromagnetic pulse attack on a small North Carolina town, to “In the Sanctuary of Outcasts” by Neil White, a

Diversity brings enjoyment!

â&#x20AC;&#x153;We always have a good book, good food, and an adult beverage.â&#x20AC;? Debbie Stovall Second Sunday Book Club.

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Thursday Treasures book club members Bonnie Wimberly and Cindy Quayle, seated; standing, Patsy Brock, Dayle Felder and Nancy Soyars, with the club’s original reading choice, Shel Silverstein’s “The Giving Tree”.

memoir about time spent in a minimum-security prison that hosted the last leper colony in the mainland United States. Second Sunday members Stovall and June Hart didn’t remember a lot of the titles the club had read in their years in the club that started in 1997 — “After a while, things like that just run together,” Stovall said — but there was “a long spell of books about women in Iran and Afghanistan,” Hart said.

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They and the other clubs also managed to host authors for their meetings, whether in person or over the telephone, or to hold book signings locally on their own or with other book clubs cooperating. Hart said Second Sunday had phone meetings with Jill Conner Browne of Jackson and with the Rev. Will Campbell, while Stovall set up a book signing with Lovejoy Boteler, whose book about being

kidnapped by Parchman escapees was published last year. Book choices are usually made considerately, with many hostesses polling members about what they’d like to read or might have already read, or offering up a book in a genre she already knows many members enjoy. Many of the clubs also have running lists of the books they’ve read, so they don’t unintentionally repeat a previous selection. “We also visit friends from other book clubs as to selections they have enjoyed,” said Thursday Treasures member Bonnie Wimberly. Technological advances have affected how club members take part now. The availability of books for the Kindle or other e-readers is a consideration for hostesses. “Having a Kindle means a lot,” Brock said. “If I want to get a book at 9 o’clock at night, I can download it in just minutes,” “We’ve become Not everybody likes the tech leap, friends with people though. we really didn’t “I want the actual book,” Soyars know well at first.” said. “The Kindle’s just not the June Hart same.” Second Sunday Technology has also affected the Book Club. monthly — or, in Thursday Treasures’s case, bimonthly — meeting calls. Each of the club’s hostesses used to mail out elaborate invitations decorated according to a theme of the month’s book, or with attached items. Third Thursday member Deranne Boothe recalled an invitation sent out for Barbara Kingsolver’s “The Poisonwood Bible,” a study shared with Second Sunday, which included cake mix. “They were pretty elaborate,” Boothe said. “Now we’ve gotten lazy.” “We just text now,” Hedges said. Once each group gets together, they enjoy hearing the different perspectives each member brings to the table. “In terms of age, we’re fairly diverse,” Bellipanni said. “We have members from their 70s to their 50s.” “We’ve become friends with people we really didn’t know well at first,” Hart said. “It’s a diverse group with a range of ages.” Brock, too, said her club is a good group of friends now, and fellow club member Dayle Felder said the club can act as a support group as well. “After 16 years in the club, you look forward to seeing each other and catching up at meetings,” Felder said. Many members “were not close friends when they joined the club, but through the years have developed deep connections to each other,” Brock said. n

One of the annual club books of the Thursday Treasures club, with the books read and the member listing.

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Green Thumb Sue White’s gardening skills are renowned By Gabrie l Perry Sue White is 85 and she’s been growing beautiful gardens each year for as long as she can remember. “As a little girl, I planted all the flowers in the yard,” she said. “We were poor, and my mother wanted roses. So she scavenged for trimmings.” In fact, her gardens are somewhat famous around McComb — people come from all over just to see what she’s doing with her flowers each year. “I’ve always loved flowers,” she said. “I was the 4-H club president in Amite County and I won first prize at 15 for an arrangement at Ole Miss.” White designed landscaping for the Southwest Mississippi Community College vo-tech facility, helped organize the Keep Pike County Beautiful board, designed flower arrangements for placement along Veterans Boulevard, held art exhibits in her garden and has been in the McComb Garden Club. She learned how to keep a nice garden as a young girl. “I always did the landscaping myself,” she said. “I dug up grass, I edged people’s grass, I planted in the yard.” She’s cut down on her once-sprawling garden outside her west McComb home, tired of battling the deer each year. She’s lived there and grown her garden each year since 1972. “I grew more before there were so many deer,” she said. “Now there’s no pansies, no caladiums. But I spray pepper to keep the deer away.” White is famous for her roses, of which she’s grown many varieties and decorated official and private events. She said growing roses is a passion she’s held her entire life. White said she loves Dogwood trees, but

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2020 Spring Issue

Sue White stands in her garden on Arrowhead Drive in McComb. doesn’t have any anymore. She said her husband’s mother loved Dogwood trees and, while taking her for cancer treatment in Jackson, would enjoy looking at the trees along the way. White said she’s kept up her gardening for so many years because she considers the act a ministry and loves to see visitors experience joy while relaxing in her garden. “People ask me, ‘Sue, why do you do this?’” she said. “Many times a car will drive up and stop to see the flowers — I guess I consider it a ministry that people enjoy. “I’ve helped I don’t know how many people, giving talks about how to grow a garden — you have to love what you do.” She said caring for a garden is akin to rais-

ing a family. “When you’ve got roses, it’s like a bunch of babies you’ve got to take care of,” she said. “Start with just a few, don’t do what I do — it’s too much to keep up and to do.” White has traveled around the world looking at beautiful flowers. She said some of her favorites include the gardens of Vancouver, Canada, the hanging baskets of Alaska and the Bougainvillea flower of California that she saw loads of on a recent church trip to Israel. She said taking care of her garden makes her happy. “I love what I do,” she said. “I feel closer to God out there in that yard and when I see a beautiful flower I say, ‘Thank you, Lord, that one is really pretty.’ ” n