Leflore Illustrated Fall Winter 2009-10

Greenwood, Mississippi

A River Country Journal / Fall and Winter 2009-2010

1933 medical murder mystery fascinates doctor

Southworth home a dream for

generations

Fall and Winter 2009-2010 Leflore Illustrated / 1

people

PHOTOS BY JOHNNY JENNINGS

5. Johnny Favara, Greenwood’s Tail Twister

7. Tammy McCrory gets a little help from her seeing-eye dog, Reagan

12. Carroll Crawford restores antiques to their former grandeur

14. At nearly 100, Marcus “Tink” Spencer is still playing in the Greenwood Community Concert Band 17. Michael Joe Cannon, the good car man 18. Cameron Abel performs magic with his camera 22. Beth Williams shows guests at The Alluvian a little Southern hospitality 41. Politics in only one of the many callings of Itta Bena Mayor Walter Parker 44. Danny Kelly performs floral artistry in historic downtown home

features

20. Tattoos are a personal endeavor for the recipient and the artist 24. Work can really be “for the dogs” 30. Greenwood physician pursues truth in 76-year-old murder mystery

A specialty cake made by Veronica LaVere.

places

This butterfly has a thorny landing on a common Delta wildflower on Humphrey Highway.

8. Lawrence Printing has been a treasure in the business community for more than 90 years 26. Veronica LaVere offers sweet treats at her bakery on Howard Street 28. Phil’s Squire Shoppe offers fashionable men’s attire and occasionally pre-marital advice 36. The Southworth Home, owned by the Brown family, has been a dream for generations

more

4. From the editor 33. Calendar 47. Index to advertisers

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46. The Greenwood Convention and Visitors Bureau works hard to sell the city to tourists

ON THE COVER: Dr. Thomas E. Weldon is fascinated with a 76-year-old medical murder mystery that happened in Greenwood.

The story appeared in several national mystery and detective magazines.

PHOTOS BY JOHNNY JENNINGS

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eflore

Illustrated

Editor and Publisher Tim Kalich

Managing Editor Jenny Humphryes

Associate Editor David Monroe

Contributing Writers

Charlie Smith, Bob Darden, Andrea Hall, Rachel Hodge-Adams, Ruth Jensen and Jo Alice Darden

Advertising Director Larry Alderman

Advertising Sales

Kim Clark, Linda Bassie, Wanda Roché, Kim Badome, Susan Montgomery

Photography/Graphics Anne Miles, Joseph Cotton, Johnny Jennings

Production

Clifton Angel and Charles Brownlee

Circulation Director Shirley Cooper

Volume 5, No. 1 —————— Editorial and business offices: P.O. Box 8050 329 Highway 82 West Greenwood, MS 38935-8050 662-453-5312 —————— Leflore Illustrated is published by Commonwealth Publishing, Inc.

Fall and Winter 2009-2010 Leflore Illustrated / 3

From the editor

PHOTO BY JOHNNY JENNINGS

The elixirof youth W

hen I began more than 27 years ago as a cub reporter in Greenwood, I made a necktie part of my work attire.

Wearing a tie wasn’t required by my employer’s dress code, but I thought the fashion accessory — even if a little stifling in the Delta summers — might add some needed age to my baby face. I wanted to be taken seriously by those I interviewed. The necktie, I reasoned, would add a layer of maturity and gravitas that was missing from my looks at the time.

I didn’t want the local folks to wonder, “Who’s this nosy, wetbehind-the-ears kid?”

I still wear a necktie every weekday at the office, although a full head of gray hair has more than done its part to catch my appearance up to my chronological age.

My wife, Betty Gail, reassures me that I’m not looking middle-aged. When I gaze these days in the mirror, though, my eyes tell me differently. The hair is gradually thinning along its part; the circles are getting more prominent under the eyes; the skin is not rejuvenating as quickly in the morning. If the light is bright enough, I can see the wrinkles starting to show on the backs of my hands.

Life expectancy tables project that I’m already a fourth of the way along the downhill slope of my earthly existence. My oldest brother says my goal should be to make it through my 50s without having surgery — not exactly an aspiration that gets me jumping out of bed in the mornings.

What does rejuvenate me, though, is being exposed to young people and their contagious vitality, optimism and idealism.

When our children were growing up, they and their friends provided most of that youthful elixir. With one child now out of state and the other at college, though, we have had to find it in other places. Betty Gail and I are both fortunate. We have jobs that, although they can’t reverse what time does to our bodies, help to keep our spirits from aging as fast.

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She gets her dose of youthfulness as a schoolteacher.

There’s no way to feel old and grumpy when you’ve got 14 smiling, affectionate kindergartners greeting you each morning.

For me, it comes from being at a place that tends to attract a fair number of bright, eager young adults.

When we have openings for writers at this magazine and its big-sister newspaper, The Greenwood Commonwealth, we often draw applicants who are looking for their first job out of college. In order to get the experience they need, they are willing to start in a small newsroom in a place where they don’t know a soul.

They usually don’t come to Greenwood planning to make it their home for the rest of their lives. Most are thinking of staying long enough to find out if journalism is really their calling and, if it is, compile enough clips to impress another potential employer higher up the circulation chain.

I make a promise to those we hire. If you come to Greenwood, we’ll teach you a lot. If you work hard and do a good job, you don’t need to be apprehensive if you decide in a couple of years that it’s time to move on. Come tell me, and I’ll do what I can to help you find the next job.

The new hires arrive in all shades of personality — perky or reserved, quiet or chatty, dry-witted or gregarious. As a rule, though, they tend to be enthusiastic about their career, their life and all the possibilities before them. They haven’t had their options limited yet by marriage, children and mortgage payments. They challenge me in a good way — to be open to change, to stick by my principles even when it’s uncomfortable, to consider a different perspective from my own.

I try to help season their news judgment and improve their journalism skills. They help keep me excited about what I do and feeling, if not young, at least on the younger side of middle age.

It’s a good bargain. – Tim Kalich

Johnny Favara loves Greenwood and believes everyone should be involved in community service.

T

PHOTOS BY JOHNNY JENNINGS

ail wister

Johnny Favara: Greenwood ’s ‘pep master’ BYJENNY HUMPHRYES

Johnny Favara is a “Tail Twister.”

In the Lions Club, a Tail Twister is a “pep master” who instills enthusiasm and good fellowship and keeps harmony. And nothing could better describe Favara and his service to the Greenwood Lions Club, the Greenwood community and every other organization he’s involved in.

As a member of the Greenwood Lions Club, American Legion Post 29, the Greenwood-Leflore County Chamber of Commerce and the Greenwood Tree Board and part-time tour guide for Viking Range Corp., there’s no doubt Favara loves the area he calls home. He also has been a Mason and a Shriner for 40 years.

“Other than our church, there is nothing more important than our community,” Favara said. “Everybody ought to be involved in the community to make it better.”

J v v v

Favara’s community service began when he became a member of the Lions Club in 1970. He has held every office in the club, including president in 1983-84 — and he at one time had perfect attendance for 26 years.

For the last 15 years, he has been the club’s Tail Twister.

Richard Avant, a former secretary for the

Greenwood Lions Club and first vice commander of Post 29, said Favara is very interested in Greenwood and does many things to put a good face on the city.

“He’s responsible for the American Legion getting flags on the flag poles,” Avant said. Favara also promoted getting a flag put up by the “Welcome to Greenwood” sign on U.S. 82, he said.

The Lions Club recognized Favara’s service in 2006 by naming him the Outstanding Citizen of Leflore County. The club has presented the award since 1955, and only five Lions have won.

The award traditionally is given to someone in the community, said Favara, who also was named Lion of the Year in 2000. v v v But winning awards is not what’s important to Favara. He praised the civic clubs and chamber for their dedication and said his favorite part of his work is dealing with all the “brilliant people” in Greenwood.

“They set a perfect example for me, and I want to be like a lot of them,” Favara said.

“People go out there and do things, work hard, and I want to be right there beside them.

“They inspire you. They inspire others, and we’ve got a lot of those type leaders who

are fantastic people,” he said.

Favara said there is no finer organization than the Greenwood-Leflore County Chamber of Commerce. He joined the organization about the same time he joined the Lions Club in 1970.

He has worked on and chaired many chamber committees and has been a longtime member and former chairman of the Community Pride Committee. He won the Community Pride Award in 2001 and was named Ambassador of the Year in 2003.

When the chamber needed someone to help with landscaping, Christmas decorations and various other projects or just someone to drive a car in the Roy Martin Delta Band Festival and Christmas Parade, Favara was always willing and able to help.

Besides, he said, he has just never learned how to say no very well.

He especially loves being in the parade, one of the state’s biggest and oldest. He marched in the parade as a member of the B.G. Humphreys High School band, where he played the cornet.

Longtime friend and chamber member Belva Pleasants will be the first to say how important Favara has been to the chamber.

Pleasants worked with him for years on the Community Pride Committee refurbishing the city’s Christmas decorations.

“He was my right-hand man,” she said.

Fall and Winter 2009-2010 Leflore Illustrated / 5

“He was always in a good mood. Even when we had a breakdown in supplies, he was always jovial and happy.”

Pleasants said Favara has been a tremendous help to the Community Pride Committee. “He is truly a cheerleader, and he can motivate people to work,” she said. v v v Favara has been an active member of the American Legion Post 29 since 1998 and now serves as post commander.

Marsh Pickett asked him to be a part of the organization, and since then it has grown from four members to 200. But Favara gives all the credit for the growth to the community and the membership of the Legion.

The American Legion not only gives scholarships but also honors veterans twice a year at Golden Age Nursing Home and is involved with the local Boy Scouts, among other projects.

“He was a big part of getting our honor guard started,” Avant said. “They go and provide military rights at servicemen’s funerals.

“We also do the Fourth of July festival at the park, and that puts a good face on our American Legion Post as well,” Avant said.

Favara said Post 29 must be doing something right because it has attracted high-caliber speakers, including several generals, five national commanders and other exceptional people.

Johnny Favara, right, gives a tour at Viking Range Corp. in Greenwood, where he serves as a tour guide and community cheerleader.

v v v Being a longtime owner of a nursery, Favara also knows the importance of trees to the city’s infrastructure.

Marion Howard, who has worked with him both on chamber projects and with the Greenwood Tree Board, praised his contributions. “He works with us on going to the schools to teach young people in fifth grade about the importance of trees and why they are needed in the community infrastructure,” Howard said.

“He’s an outgoing person, and the kind of person you will listen to when he speaks,” she said. v v v

Favara was born and reared in Itta Bena but spent much of his time in Greenwood.

His family owned Itta Bena Variety Store, and he worked in the family business until going into the Air Force, where he served for six years.

Upon returning to the area, Favara met and married his wife of 44 years, Nettie.

They have two children, John and Elizabeth, and four grandchildren.

The family attends North Greenwood Baptist Church, where he has previously served on the building committee and grounds committee.

In the early days, Favara worked for J. Kantor, Star Tailors and Greenwood Furniture Co. He later bought and operated Favara’s Nursery and Garden Center for 15 years.

After selling his business in 1996, Favara went to work for Viking Range Corp., maintaining the company’s indoor plants.

Soon, Fred Carl Jr., Viking’s president and chief executive officer, recruited Favara to give tours to its many visitors. “The tours got to be so much that we just got someone else to take care of the plants and I just do tours full time every day,” Favara said.

He’s proud to tell people not just about Viking but also about Greenwood.

“There’s nothing finer than to tell people about the finest appliance industry in the United States, and we are, thanks to Fred Carl,” Favara said. LI

®

vikingrange.com

6 / Leflore Illustrated Fall and Winter 2009-2010

Do not pet me

I am working

Black Lab Reagan serves as McCrory’s eyes

them.

“When we’ve already gotten what we need, she can take me to that person. She knows them by their scent, their voice. I can’t do that with a cane,” McCrory said.

Reagan has plenty of canine company at the family’s home on Bell Avenue. There’s Bootsie, a 10year-old toy poodle, and Spanky, a

BY BOB DARDEN 1-year-old Jack Russell terrier.

It’s been a long journey for The dogs provide companionTammy McCrory of Greenwood, ship when Tommy is away from and her trusty seeing-eye dog, home.

Reagan, has been with her almost “He works all the time. I guess every step of the way. that’s why I have dogs,” she said.

Diagnosed with the degenerative When McCrory and Reagan go eye disease retinitis pigmentosa in to Immanuel Baptist Church, the 1990, McCrory has become experikids there go wild. enced in handling Reagan, a 9-year“Our church has a lot of kids. old black Lab that she acquired in They want to pet her. It’s hard to 2003. get them not to do it,” she said.

Along with Reagan’s work harOften, the kids want to bring ness, McCrory always carries at the their own dogs to church, but Pastor ready the leash laws of all 50 states so Tommy Williamson probably that no one gets between her and wouldn’t like that, McCrory said. her dog.

Since McCrory picked Reagan “If I go somewhere and they say I up at Leader Dogs for the Blind of can’t have Reagan, I’m covered,” Rochester, Minn., she’s met one McCrory said with a chuckle. person — a student at Mississippi PHOTO BY JOHNNY JENNINGS McCrory, a native of Leland, came Valley State University — who had to Greenwood by way of Bakersfield a seeing-eye dog. and Lancaster, Calif. For the past 17 Often people will ask McCrory years, she has been married to Tammy McCrory at home with her beloved Reagan. how she came to get Reagan so Tommy McCrory, manager of they can help a vision-impaired Greenwood’s Sonic drive-in. family member get a seeing-eye Before she got her leash law handReagan’s harness, which boldly states “Do dog of their own. book, people in some places said no to Not Pet Me I Am Working.”

McCrory also has a bone to pick with Reagan, who is completely housebroken.

“They’ll ask me, ‘What is she doing?’ or Greenwood officials for not doing more to Once, in Alabama, where the couple was ‘What does she work for?’ and I’ll say, ‘She’s help the disabled get around in the city. attending a Sonic convention, they stopped my seeing-eye dog.’” McCrory said.

“Around here, there is no transportation at a restaurant with Reagan leading the way.

Reagan helps McCrory in other ways whatsoever,” she said.

“The woman at the counter said, ‘You besides checking for cars and other potential Still, one thing is certain: Reagan will be can’t have dogs in here,’” McCrory recalled. hazards. there for her as long as she can.

“My husband said, ‘We’ve got to go.’”

“If I have to go to Wal-Mart, whoever “She’s a great dog,” McCrory said.

Only as the threesome left did the restau- comes and brings me or picks me up, she rant manager come out and apologize. knows them, that person, already,” McCrory For information on Leader Dogs for the Only one similar incident happened in said.

Blind, call 1-888-777-5332. For information Greenwood, McCrory said, and it was quickIf McCrory’s driver decides to go to the on visual aids for the visually impaired, call ly resolved. book section of the store and McCrory goes Maxiaids at 1-800-522-6294. LI Still, McCrory often has to explain grocery shopping, Reagan can help reunite Fall and Winter 2009-2010 Leflore Illustrated / 7

PHOTOS BY JOHNNY JENNINGS

LAWRENCE Printing

A Greenwood treasure for more than 90 years

George Ellis, left, Malone Dunn, center, and Alan Ellis examine work done on the latest in high-speed digital printers.

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This collator folds and cuts items when they come off the press at Lawrence Printing.

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This old linotype machine is still used on a few of the company’s print jobs.

These block letters are used for crash printing to place a person’s name and title on forms.

BY JENNY HUMPHRYES

awrence Printing Co. is all about family, community and customer service.

There’s no job too big or too small for the company, which has been a valued corporate citizen in Greenwood for more than 90 years.

“We do work for individuals all the way up to big corporations,” said George Ellis, company president.

Making Lawrence Printing successful has involved a lot of hard work and a little luck. As times changed, the company diversified to meet the needs of its customers. Its services include copying, direct mail, statement processing, digital color printing and book publishing.

“We do a little bit of everything,” Ellis said.

The printing business changes fast. The company moved from the linotype system to computers, and now it’s all digital, he said.

No one knows more about the changes at Lawrence Printing than longtime plant manager Malone Dunn. Dunn, who has worked there 48 years, laughingly said, “I was born here.”

“I started here the Monday after I finished high school on Friday night,” Dunn, 68, said.

The business was on Cotton Street then. It moved to its current location on Stribling Avenue in 1986. “I’ve seen a lot of changes through the years,” he said. “Back then there were hundreds of little banks in the state, and we did work for most of them.”

Dunn said six presses ran three shifts a day then. “Those were really good years,” he said.

Today, there is only one shift operating in the 50,000-square-foot facility.

In 1986, First National Bank of Jackson was bought by Trustmark National Bank, and Lawrence Printing handles all the forms for the bank, Dunn said. The former Deposit Guaranty National Bank had been a big customer as well, but Trustmark was the new kid on the block.

Lawrence Printing also attracts business from all over the country, including companies such as Anheuser-Busch, which has been a longtime customer.

“Back then, we wouldn’t take an order without four to six weeks to deliver,” he said. “Now, a lot of people want it in four hours. It’s very unusual to get more than a week on anything now. There’s a lot of on-demand things and digital printing.”

Dunn gave an example of a job for baseball cards that came in via the Internet, which Ellis said was becoming more common. The order for full-color process came in one day and was already printed and ready to be shipped out the next.

“That would have been a two-month job when I started,” Dunn said.

The emphasis on service led George Ellis’ son, Alan, to join the family business after graduating from college in 2007.

“I always heard how well customers were treated by the company, and I wanted to be a part of it,” said Alan Ellis, who now serves as vice president of customer service.

But he had been around the business all his life. “I used to roller skate out here and get in everybody’s way,” he said with a laugh.

These days, the roller skates are gone, and Alan Ellis doesn’t take his responsibility to the family business lightly. He said it can be overwhelming to live up to the outstanding name his family has made for itself, but that’s what he intends to do.

Fall and Winter 2009-2010 Leflore Illustrated / 9

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“I can’t imagine anyone running a business more efficiently and as smoothly as Ellett (Lawrence). And they’ve got another generation coming on to run the company.”

Donnie Brock

Supporting economic development Lawrence Printing also has been a longtime supporter of economic development in the area. It’s a treasure to Greenwood and the Mississippi Delta, said Donnie Brock, former chairman of the Greenwood-Leflore-Carroll Economic Development Foundation.

Lawrence has built a reputation for good work throughout the Mid-South, and many businesses depend on it, especially the banks.

Brock said that reputation was established by the company’s chairman, G. Ellett Lawrence.

“I can’t imagine anyone running a business more efficiently and as smoothly as Ellett,” Brock said. “And they’ve got another generation coming on to run the company.”

According to Angela Curry, executive director of the Greenwood-Leflore Industrial Board, Lawrence Printing is one of the board’s largest donors.

“They are a good corporate citizen.

They are a good company, and the tradition is continuing,” Curry said.

How it all started G. Ellett Lawrence had two uncles, F. Ellett Lawrence and Edgar M. Lawrence, who were in the newspaper business in Grenada. The Lawrence brothers thought it would be a good idea to start a commercial printing business in Greenwood, and they proved to be right.

F. Ellett Lawrence organized the operation in 1919 with the help of Calhoun Wilson, then-vice president of Wilson Banking Co., and the late W.R. Humphrey. But several years later, F. Ellett Lawrence bought all the outstanding stock.

He remained president of the compa-

ny until 1966. His brother, Edgar M. Lawrence, served as vice president and plant manager from 1921 until 1966, and then he was president until 1971.

G. Ellett Lawrence joined the company in 1949 and became sales manager in 1955. He was named president in 1971 and continues to serve as chairman today.

George Ellis joined the Lawrence family and its business 30 years ago when he married G. Ellett Lawrence’s daughter, Ann. Ellis was named president of Lawrence Printing in 1993.

But Ellis didn’t go to school to work in the printing business. He learned it on the job. “Everybody who works here we train ourselves, from pressmen to graphic artists,” he said.

Now Ellis can’t imagine doing anything else.

G. Ellett Lawrence has a second daughter, Kay, who is married to former NFL football player Kent Hull.

The early years During the early years, the company enjoyed modest growth and added office supplies and furniture as a service to its customers. But much of its business was done with counties, municipalities, gins, oil mills, banks and other commercial accounts.

Lawrence Printing has had good and bad years. When five banks closed on Dec. 20, 1930, the company struggled to stay open. But with much determination, it survived the Great Depression.

In the early 1940s, the company recognized the increasing use of multi-part forms in offices and became the first printer in Mississippi to use one-time carbon for manifold snap-out forms.

World War II hit the company hard, taking many of its young employees and causing it to almost go out of business for several years. Recovery came, however, and the company moved forward.

In 1958, work began on a new build-

ing on the corner of West Market and Cotton streets. New equipment was installed, including three high-speed rotary three-color offset presses for printing business forms. At the time, it was the only press of its kind in the South, according to a written history of the company.

Lawrence had 30 employees then, making it the largest printing company in North Mississippi.

Growth continued, and in 1960, Lawrence was the first company in Mississippi to install a web-fed offset press for the production of continuous computer forms. New equipment was added to do magnetic ink imprinting of checks for the new electronic sorting equipment being put into use by banks across the country.

As the company continued its rapid growth, it moved into its current location on Stribling Avenue.

The building was equipped with the latest in press technology to make it possible to produce forms of all types for business customers. The presses are supported by state-of-the-art laser typesetting, computerized quality control testing and paper warehouse facilities.

Lawrence sells checks and other computerized forms to specialized markets all over the country. Dunn, George Ellis and G. Ellett Lawrence all became accredited as certified forms consultants by the National Business Forms Association.

Today, Lawrence Printing has about 50 employees, and it has stayed at the forefront of business forms and technology. It also offers forms management service, including warehousing customer forms and shipping on demand, along with computerized monthly inventory reports.

The latest technology installed at Lawrence Printing includes the Xerox DocuColor iGen3. The digital printing technology gives flexible abilities to add full-color, data-driven graphics to all needed documents. LI Fall and Winter 2009-2010 Leflore Illustrated / 11

PHOTOS BY JOHNNY JENNINGS

Grandeur

Carroll Crawford, an antiques restorer, handles all kinds of antiques, big and small, for Russell-Thomas Antiques.

Here, a pair of garden doors stand at the ready for restoration.

Restoring

Crawford brings antiques back to life

BY BOB DARDEN

C

arroll Crawford likes making things look beautiful.

A restorer with Russell-Thomas Antiques, Crawford spends her days cleaning antiques and restoring them to their former grandeur.

“I really enjoy it,” Crawford said.

“I don’t repair. We have somebody that repairs for us. But as far as the finishing, a lot of the stuff we get in here just needs waxing and to be cleaned up real good.”

Crawford’s boss, Russell Cohron, and his wife, Belinda, live and breathe antiques, and it was just a natural progression for Crawford to work for them, Crawford said.

“I started at John-Richard 14 years ago. I started out as an artist in lamp finishing and just moved up,” said Crawford, a Jackson native who now lives in Schlater. “I was over the furniture department. From there, I moved to design.”

12 / Leflore Illustrated Fall and Winter 2009-2010

Bringing antiques back to life is Crawford’s passion.

“It’s something that I truly enjoy doing.

I met Russell and did a few pieces for him and became more interested,” she said.

“This is the first time I’ve restored antiques, and he’s been very patient with me.”

Since April 2008, Crawford has been working out of a storefront building on Howard Street, which is closed to the public.

Russell Cohron said Crawford demonstrates patience and skill every day, doing work that is more difficult than it may appear at first. “You just can’t know it all.

Nobody knows all the things with this stuff. You’d have to have 20 or 30 restorers, experts in gold leaf and bronze mounts, all different aspects of everything,” Cohron said.

“You need to know what something is supposed to look like, which I do — to know what it is supposed to be or to know what’s missing or what needs to be done.”

Still, Crawford and her two assistants, Willie Berry and Jarvis Russell, make the restoration process seem effortless.

The workload varies each day, Cohron said, and that requires something different than a simple production-line approach.

“It’s patience. It’s a lot of patience.

There are a lot of details,” Cohron said.

The pieces come in at the back of the building. As their restoration progresses, they are moved closer to the front.

Ultimately they are destined for the showroom at 319 Howard St. or for sale on the company’s Web site.

“You try to organize it by long-term projects and mid-term. You’ve got to mix it in,” Cohron said. “If you get caught up in doing all long-term, you never get anything out. You’ve got to get a lot of stuff ready.”

Cohron has a man skilled in woodworking in Greenwood who is able to make replacement leaves for dining room tables, using the same type of wood with similar wood graining as the originals.

Crawford is tasked with gently removing built-up grime and unveiling the original piece in all its glory. “It’s something I enjoy.

I take my time because that’s all you can do,” she said.

Crawford looks at an enormous New England dining room table that’s halfway through the shop — still not quite complete. She says she’ll apply another three coatings of wax before it’s ready for sale.

The waxing is all done the old-fashioned way — by hand.

“You can’t get the shine you want any other way. You don’t want it shiny, shiny.

You want a sheen, but you know the exact sheen you want,” she said.

While she adores Victorian furniture, she doesn’t get personally attached to pieces

she’s working on. Instead, she gets a kick when she sees a customer’s reaction to a piece. “I like to see the people, whoever buys them, their faces. To know that they are happy with it,” she said.

Crawford and her husband, Sammy, an employee of Mid Valley Pipeline, have two grown children.

Crawford works 8 to 5 Monday through Friday.

Meanwhile, the treasures that Cohron has purchased at auctions and estate sales just keep coming through the back doors.

“Every time he brings something in, it’s like Christmas. You unwrap it and see what’s in it. I never know what’s next,” Crawford said. LI

Caroll Crawford

Fall and Winter 2009-2010 Leflore Illustrated / 13

PHOTOS BY JOHNNY JENNINGS

Marcus ‘ Tink’ Spencer

Still playing

as 100th birthday approaches

M

BY RUTH JENSEN

Marcus “Tink” Spencer lives each day not as if it might be his last, but as if he’s expecting many more.

In fact, with his 100th birthday coming up Oct. 24, he’s planning another season with the Greenwood Community Band, beginning in September.

Music is such an important part of Spencer’s life that he has a hard time explaining it.

“I wish I could think of the words to describe what music has done for me,” he said. “It has made my life. I don’t know what I would have done without it. It’s helped me a lot physically and mentally. I practice a lot. It keeps me mentally fit.”

During the Great Depression, playing his music helped him financially as well.

14 / Leflore Illustrated Fall and Winter 2009-2010

Tink Spencer, who will turn 100 on Oct. 24, with his saxophone.

Fall and Winter 2009-2010 Leflore Illustrated / 15

Tink Spencer is still playing music in the Greenwood Community Concert Band at age 99. The longtime musician will be 100 on Oct. 24. He first learned to play the piano and then the violin. He eventually found his musical home as a saxophonist.

“When I finished business college, I worked as a bookkeeper to play with. Around 1975, he joined the Greenwood Community for $30 a month,” he said. “It cost me $30 for room and board, Concert Band, which he continues to enjoy very much. “We have so I played in a dance band to make more money.” a wonderful director in Russell Baxter,” he said.

He enjoys playing dance music, especially big band swing Spencer has outlived two wives and a brother who died at 96. sounds. “I’ve played in three or four His sister, now 95, is helping to plan the dance orchestras,” he said.

100th birthday celebration along with a As a youngster, Spencer learned to play niece. He has outlived most of his close piano first and then violin. Eventually he friends; there’s only one left of a group of found his musical home as a saxophonist. widowers who used to get together every “When I finished business “I was working for a car company in day and eat in the Greenwood Leflore college, I worked as a Winona, and they sent me to a sale in Hospital cafeteria. But he said he doesn’t Grenada to buy a typewriter. I came dwell on the past much, and that it doesn’t bookkeeper for $30 a home with a beat-up saxophone and a bother him to be a survivor. month. It cost me $30 for clarinet,” he said.

These days, Spencer spends time doing His first experience in a dance band crossword puzzles or other mentally chalroom and board, so I was in his younger days in Winona. lenging tasks, practicing his saxophone and played in a dance band to “A lady who had gone to a conservatory going out to eat with friends or to church at make more money.” got a few of us together to form a dance North Greenwood Baptist. band,” he said. “It was the Depression, He still drives his car some — in fact, he Tink Spencer and no one had a job. She suggested we said he can drive better than he can walk — get together and play. We’d write our own but he has help, too. Fellow band member parts, did the best with what we had.

Charles Bowman picks him up for band There wasn’t much sheet music available, practice, which is once a week during the and we didn’t have any money. season. “If Charlie can’t do it, Barbara “She was great on the piano and left Winona to go play in a Short does.” club in Detroit, and lived there until she died,” he recalled. “One The new band season is close at hand, and Tink Spencer of our group, a guitar player, played with the Glenn Miller Band.” hopes to be a part of it. If at all possible, he’ll be there. He doesLater Spencer went to business college in Chillicothe, Mo., and n’t want to miss it, because after all, “I think we’re getting pretthen came home to work in Greenwood, always finding a group ty good,” he said with a big, infectious grin. LI 16 / Leflore Illustrated Fall and Winter 2009-2010

Michael Joe Cannon

PHOTO BY JOHNNY JENNINGS

CAR MAN

A who

CARES

BY CHARLIE SMITH

As they say in the automobile business, Michael Joe Cannon is a good car man.

The former college football player and coach looks customers in the eye, offers a firm handshake and is always ready with a smile and an upbeat word.

Interacting with people is what drives the owner of Cannon Chevrolet-Cadillac-Nissan in Greenwood.

“I don’t have many good traits, but I hope that’s one of them: I love people,” Cannon said.

That attribute comes naturally for Cannon, but he also brings a wealth of experience to the car business.

His dad, Joe Bob Cannon, ran a used-car dealership in Calhoun City from 1950 until his death in 1986.

Until then, Michael Joe Cannon’s passion had been football.

He played collegiately as an outside linebacker, first at Northwest Mississippi Junior College and then at Memphis State, now the University of Memphis.

Then he went into coaching, spending two years at Northwest before moving on to Ole Miss.

Although Cannon left coaching after his father’s death to run the family dealership, he sees parallels between the two jobs.

The things needed for success are often the same, particularly motivation and aggressiveness.

“I kind of coach in here every day with my sales folks,” Cannon said. “I guess that’s one of the reasons why I enjoy it so much.”

From 1986 until 2001, Cannon ran the used-car business in Calhoun City, adding a second one in Grenada along the way while living in Oxford.

Part of his business included buying trade-ins from Delta Chevrolet in Greenwood. When its longtime owners, the Williamses, were looking to retire, they contacted Cannon.

Michael Joe Cannon loves the car business and is an active player in the Greenwood community.

Having never sold new cars, Cannon was somewhat reluctant, but he ultimately decided to jump in with the help of a good friend, Kersh May. Cannon took over the company in September 2001 and learned from the Williamses initially while commuting.

In July 2002, Cannon and his wife, Cheryl, and their three children moved to Greenwood. The family quickly became a part of the community.

Cannon works with the Boys and Girls Club of Leflore County, has led the annual fundraising campaign for the United Way and is president-elect of the Greenwood-Leflore County Chamber of Commerce.

“That feels like the least I could do to give back to the community since it’s given so much to us,” he said.

His dealership moved to a modern new facility on U.S. 82 in 2004, and Cannon credits the community and his employees for the company’s success.

It employs about 68 people and has been able to weather a tough car market without layoffs.

“The car industry, we needed a little shake-up,” Cannon said.

He believes sales of new cars will continue to move toward the Internet, and eventually service and parts will be in the front of the store and sales in the back.

Whatever changes in the business, Cannon figures to be a part of it.

After recent dealership closings ordered by General Motors take place, Cannon will have two of the four Cadillac dealerships in Mississippi: one in Greenwood and one in Oxford.

His three children, especially his oldest son, Tyler, have shown interest in continuing the family business.

As for himself, Michael Joe Cannon doesn’t ever envision retiring completely.

“I enjoy people that much,” he said. LI Fall and Winter 2009-2010 Leflore Illustrated / 17

PHOTOS BY JOHNNY JENNINGS Cameron Abel, right, one of the owners of Gallery Point Leflore, shows a photograph to Charlot Ray of Greenwood in the Howard Street gallery.

A mystical

talent

‘Lawyer artist’ Cameron Abel performs magic with a camera 18 / Leflore Illustrated Fall and Winter 2009-2010

BY RUTH JENSEN

Art is as unique as the artist, and it often seems mystical to those who don’t have such talent.

Cameron Abel, one of the owners of Gallery Point Leflore in Greenwood, performs his magic with a camera.

Abel especially finds beauty in old weather-beaten objects and tries to find a unique way to photograph them. He has been called “the lawyer artist,” since he works as an attorney with the Tollison Firm in Oxford. Most weekends, however, he spends in Greenwood, where he has an apartment, and where his mother resides.

“The Delta and Greenwood are home,” Abel said. “You don’t get that out of your blood. There’s a culture of the arts, of socializing, that is distinctive from other parts of Mississippi. There are places of isolation, so everyone is constantly socializing, getting together.”

Abel grew up in Oxford. He came to the Delta in his 20s as a journalism major who was asked to help revive a weekly newspaper in Drew that had stopped publication. Later, Jim Abbott, then-editor and publisher of the the Enterprise-Tocsin in Indianola, needed some help, so Abel went to work for him.

Cameron Abel is one of numerous area artists who have their work displayed at Gallery Point Leflore on Howard Street in Greenwood. Abel is one of four who jointly own the gallery.

Abel gives Abbott credit for teaching him a great deal about photography: “He taught me to look for an interesting angle, to fill the frame.”

But it was the darkroom that really drew Abel into photography as an art form, he said. “When you put the paper in the solution and saw the image appear, that was the hook.”

Nowadays, digital cameras and computer programs do the work of the darkroom.

Abel said he is fascinated with some of the old-time photographic processes and wants to experiment with a computer program to reproduce some of those.

“I’m going to start a new series of prints, experimenting with various ways of showing images,” he said.

He is passionate about photography already, but when someone else likes what he does, it is especially gratifying, he said.

“I appreciate that someone would want to take an image of mine and put it in their home.”

Abel’s journey to the legal field detoured through Drew, where he taught in middle school for nine years. He said he decided to teach after watching a number of young Teach for America teachers come into the Delta, not understanding the culture, and leave after only a year.

“I befriended a number of the teachers while living in Indianola, and I saw the difficulties they had. I felt like being from Mississippi, I could connect with students,” he said. “The first year was a learning experience. I’m proud of the work I did there. I had a great time.”

There were also great frustrations in

the work, and Abel decided to move into the legal profession, hoping to practice education law.

“Few people can do that full time,” he said. “One of my supervising attorneys serves in the Mississippi Legislature and works with education issues, so I feel I have some connection to education and can fulfill that interest.”

While in law school at Ole Miss, he exhibited some of his photographs, after which one of his professors tagged him the artist lawyer — which he doesn’t mind, since both words encompass important areas of his life.

Abel said the idea for The Gallery came about as a group of friends — Buddy Hendricks and Ann and Hank Roberts — were together and someone suggested putting a gallery in Greenwood.

“We began to look at storefronts and take care of things,” he said. “Now we have about 40 artists represented.”

In addition to the actual gallery, works of art are also displayed on its Web site.

“Come back and just sit,” Abel tells a customer. “You don’t have to buy anything.” Although The Gallery is not a museum, he hopes people will feel free to browse, enjoy the art and not always feel pressure to purchase something.

Althought his early dream of working as a photographer for Southern Living magazine changed, Abel still loves layout and design.

“All of these things define you — your skills, your love for different things,” he said. “It’s as simple as a camera, a magazine, that make up who you are.” LI Fall and Winter 2009-2010 Leflore Illustrated / 19

PHOTOS BY JOHNNY JENNINGS

Gets personal Skipper Grantham

with tattoos

F

BY RACHEL HODGE-ADAMS

or tattoo artist Skipper Grantham, there is no way to sum up or generalize tattoos.

There is no design that is the most popular, because he does all kinds.

20 / Leflore Illustrated Fall and Winter 2009-2010

Skipper Grantham designs a tattoo on a man’s shoulder at his shop, Beach Bums, on Park Avenue in Greenwood.

“Nobody has the same taste.

Everybody’s their own person,” he said.

“Tattoos are personal.”

Grantham, who runs the Beach Bums Tattoo Hut, doesn’t think tattoos are just for rebels, and he’s done tattoos for many friends and relatives, including his children.

Grantham has nine tattoos himself.

He is state-certified and has nine years’ experience in body piercings and tattoos.

Grantham had always enjoyed drawing, which eventually led him into the tattoo business, but he said drawing is not the only skill required.

“Everybody wants to do tattoos, but just because you can draw doesn’t mean you can do tattoos,” Grantham said.

After learning the trade at a school in Michigan, he came back to Greenwood and started his shop inside Beach Bums, the gift shop and tanning salon owned by his wife, Barbara.

The businesses opened in 2003 and moved to their current location on Park Avenue in 2004.

Grantham said the downturn in the economy hasn’t really hurt his business, because for many people, tattoos provide an escape and relief from stress.

“We stay booked, sometimes two weeks in advance,” he said.

The shop is open Tuesday through Saturday, and between appointments and walk-ins, it sees about 25 to 30 customers each day.

An average tattoo will take about 45 minutes to an hour to complete, but large designs with several colors might take multiple visits.

Grantham does a lot of the designing himself, including redesigning drawings that people bring in.

“When you’re putting something on someone’s skin that’s permanent, you’ve got to be very careful,” he said.

Grantham said he will make suggestions if someone picks out a tattoo that is the wrong size or color for the customer.

He also tries to talk people out of getting boyfriends’ or girlfriends’ names permanently printed on their bodies.

“You have to guide people. We’re not here to mess people up,” he explained.

He added that people should consider their choices carefully, because getting a tattoo is not something to do on the spur of the moment.

Grantham also refuses service to anyone who comes in under the influence of drugs or alcohol.

Grantham said it’s important to be careful about whom you’re getting your tattoo from.

“If they don’t have a shop, they’re not certified,” he said.

Cleanliness is a major concern, as the risk of hepatitis can be great if needles and other equipment are not sterilized.

In Mississippi, even with parental permission, a person must be 18 years old to get a tattoo or piercing, aside from ear piercings.

Grantham said he doesn’t necessarily agree with the law because it encourages many young people to go out and get tattoos and piercings from illegal sources, but he does comply with it. LI

These are dyes Skipper Grantham uses to design his tattoos. Grantham is a state-certified tattoo artist.

Fall and Winter 2009-2010 Leflore Illustrated / 21

Beth Williams

Southern

Hospitality Manager takes pride in serving hotel guests

BY ANDREA HALL

T

he Alluvian is known for its shiny floors, framed art and beautiful rooms, but General Manager Beth Williams also takes pride in the hospitality.

In fact, she said guests at the Howard Street boutique hotel comment on the warm reception by both the staff and the community.

“We get a lot of people who write letters and tell us in depth about how good their experience was,” Williams said. “It is a pleasant surprise that people take the time to do that.”

They also praise the bed comfort, the Southern breakfasts and the fact that the hotel is just so beautiful and unlike other hotels in Mississppi, she said.

“We have been very blessed, and we have been written up by a lot of magazines,” Williams said. “But we still get people who come, and even though they may have seen us in a magazine, when they get here they are still a little surprised because they were thinking maybe the article was an exaggeration.”

22 / Leflore Illustrated Fall and Winter 2009-2010

PHOTOS BY JOHNNY JENNINGS Above, Beth Williams does more than oversee the operations as the general manager of The Alluvian. She and her staff give guests a home away from home during their stay.

Left, Williams went from event planner to manager of the historic 50-room boutique hotel. “It is a beautiful place to come to work every day,” she said.

Since joining the hotel staff in fall 2003, she has moved from managing cocktail parties, business conferences and other events to coordinating the staffs of all the departments. “A large part of my job is working with all the managers just to make sure the day-to-day operations of the hotel get done,” Williams said. “It is almost never the same thing twice.”

In the hospitality industry, there is no set routine. Every day is something different, she said. “One day we may have a wedding, and the next day we might have a business meeting that lasts four days.” Williams said.

“There are people from all over whom you get to meet. It’s fun.”

Although the hotel has been featured in national publications such as Southern Living, Travel & Leisure and Condé Nast, it also serves as an escape for people not wanting to go far from home. “People don’t have to get on an airplane to come. They can drive down here and park in front of the hotel,” Williams said.

“They can go to the spa, the cooking school, shop, eat in town and drive to other nearby places.”

Having fancy hotels in small towns goes back to the idea of taking weekend holidays and escaping city life for a few days.

For a Mississippi State business major who also escaped the traffic and fast-paced life when she moved from Jackson to Greenwood in 2000, she has spent her professional life serving the public and doing it with a smile.

Mississippi State “didn’t offer a program in hospitality. In fact, I am not even sure I knew that was an option at any school when I went,” Williams said. “There are so many things you don’t know are out there when you are 18 and go off to college.”

Williams worked for the nonprofit MakeA-Wish Foundation for three years in Jackson. So she knows something about helping people dream, whether they’re hotel guests wanting a good night’s sleep or children wanting to go to Disney World.

“I was the wish granter, so I handled all the kids’ wishes and the logistics and the parties, the fun stuff, and trained the volunteers,” Williams said. “I loved my job, and it was the most rewarding job.”

Williams’ experience in event planning for Make-A-Wish helped her land a job at the hotel after starting in appliance management with the hotel’s parent company, Viking Range Corp. “When you work for a nonprofit, you pretty much do everything,” Williams said. “They had already opened the hotel, and they needed someone to plan the events, and so they asked if I would be interested in transferring.”

She has passed along that “do everything” motto to her staff. “We have a real big team atmosphere here. Everybody is willing to help everybody else,” Williams said.

“Nobody says, ‘I’m not going to pick up that

“So many small Southern towns are kind of withering away. It’s not like that at all here ... .”

Beth Williams piece of trash because that’s not my job.’ It is everybody’s job to do everything here at the hotel, whether that is keeping it clean or keeping a guest happy.”

Helping provide that hospitality and service has made Williams happy, too.

“So many small Southern towns are kind of withering away. It’s not like that at all here, but it’s not Jackson or Memphis either,” Williams said. “It is that wonderful inbetween.”

Although her lifestyle has changed since she moved to Greenwood, the mother of two enjoys her involvement with her family and in the community. “My job has put me in a position to be real involved in our community. I do a lot with Main Street; I do a lot with the Chamber of Commerce,” Williams said. “They are both so vital to our community, also to the hotel and the whole hospitality group.”

She believes in the Greenwood community and giving back as much as possible.

“It doesn’t seem like it has been nine years,” Williams said. “They have passed by like that.” LI

Fall and Winter 2009-2010 Leflore Illustrated / 23

PHOTOS BY JOHNNY JENNINGS Les Shanks feels at home when his two English bulldogs, Gracie, left, and George Dubya come to visit him at Tallahatchie Flats, where they can work and play at the same time.

Shop

PETS From man’s best friend to co-worker

Sherry Murphy, a groomer and receptionist at Greenwood Animal Hospital, has been bringing her pit bull Bruizer to work since 2002.

“It started out because he had to be bottle-fed every couple of hours,” Murphy said.

She said Dr. Andy Johnson was happy to let her bring Bruizer to work.

“When he got older, he had grown accustomed to coming with me,” Murphy said. “Bless his heart, he doesn’t even know he is a pit bull.”

Since Bruizer doesn’t like being left by himself, coming to work with Murphy was a good solution.

“He freaks out when he is left alone,” Murphy said. “ Even a kitten could scare him.”

She keeps Bruizer under her eye at all times.

“I think it has made us very close,” Bruizer enjoys watching his owner while she Murphy said. “Everybody around town works at Greenwood Animal Hospital. Getting knows him — people at the grocery some work done are, from left, Bruizer, store and at the drive-through.”

Sherry Murphy and Chloe.

Murphy also thinks Bruizer underGo to work? stands what she says.

It looks like these dogs have learned a “He knows when I tell him it is time new trick. to go to work in the morning,” Murphy said.

From man’s best friend to co-worker, these dogs are working Bruizer must feel the same connection toward his owner as 9 to 5 alongside their owners.

BY ANDREA HALL

“Sit,” “Stand” and “Go to work” are the commands some Leflore County dog owners are giving to their furry family members.

24 / Leflore Illustrated Fall and Winter 2009-2010

well. “He could go into the bigger cages out back, but he likes being with me,” Murphy said. “When I am in the front, you can hear him whining.”

Since Murphy is a groomer, Bruizer can see her work station from his cage. But she can’t always be with him.

“If I go on vacation, he goes to my mother’s or she comes here,” Murphy said. “He has a babysitter.”

She would never leave him alone because of the possibility of burglars and people who think pit bulls should be fighting dogs.

“He is not a fighter,” Murphy said. “He is really people-oriented. He is my child.”

Bruizer has both four-legged and twolegged family and friends.

It is not just animal clinics where workers love their pets enough to bring them to work.

Les Shanks, publicist and manager at Tallahatchie Flats, brings his two English bulldogs, George Dubya and Gracie, to the rustic lodging facility.

“I am going to try and bring them out more when the weather cools off out here,” Shanks said.

Bulldogs’ scrunched faces make it harder for them to breathe, so during the hotter months, they are unable to go visit him at work as much as he would like.

“When I moved out here a few months ago, I really missed having them,” Shanks said. “They are not here enough.”

English bulldogs may be expensive and high-maintenance, but to Shanks they are family.

“I would never let them outside alone,” Shanks said. “If something happened to them, it would be like losing a child.”

Shanks, like Murphy, shares a special bond with his two dogs.

“When I say ‘go,’ they know what ‘go’ means,” Shanks said.

They even know the name of their veterinarian, Blaine Cooper. “Say ‘Dr. Cooper,’ and they go to the car.”

Although most dogs don’t like going to the vet, Gracie and George love it.

“They love people,” Shanks said.

“They are so excited about going places.”

His dogs may love making new twolegged friends, but the dogs show him loyalty.

“George is a bit protective of me,” Shanks said. “He makes you aware that I’m his. Once he gets acclimated to you and sees that you aren’t going to hurt me, he is fine.”

Shanks has spent a lot of time with the dogs and has raised them to be good family pets.

“Often bulldogs get a bad reputation, but they love people,” he said. LI Fall and Winter 2009-2010 Leflore Illustrated / 25

Sweet treats Veronica LaVere’s

PHOTOS BY JOHNNY JENNINGS

Greenwood baker creates delicious works of art

V

BY RUTH JENSEN

eronica LaVere loves pastry.

A baking rotation at the California School of Culinary Arts got her hooked on luscious sweet things she loves to create.

She knew she wanted to be a chef when she went to culinary school right out of high school, but she didn’t know in which area she would specialize.

“I was thinking about being a personal chef, but when I did baking, I loved it,” she said.

Baking just had one negative. “I found out you have to get up really early, but it’s just a sacrifice I have to make,” she said.

After culinary school, LaVere looked for internships where she could hone her baking skills. “It was hard to find one. Many people aren’t willing to have an intern in the way, even if you would work for free.”

Finally she found a bakery near her home that would take her.

“They allowed me to work with the main baker. When my six months were over, he asked me to work there,” she said. “I stayed for a year, focused on cakes — orange, chocolate, chocolate raspberry, tiramisu. I worked a lot with chocolate, got to appreciate that.”

LaVere’s mother and father encouraged her to come to Greenwood, where they had moved, and after some persuading, she did so. The family opened the Blue Parrot Café, which her mom and brother run, and Veronica’s Custom Bakery, where she turns out banana bread, cheesecake, muffins, scones, turnovers and other lus26 / Leflore Illustrated Fall and Winter 2009-2010

Veronica LaVere loves to bake. Special order cakes are her forte. Here, she displays one of her more traditional cakes and one of her cakes that is shaped like a woman’s purse.

cious goodies each day.

Special order cakes are her forte. A Nintendo, a purse cake that looks like the real thing, and a princess cake with a sugar crown are just a few of her unusual designs.

One of her favorite cakes included orchids made of sugar. “I love making sugar flowers,” she said. “I like doing something I haven’t done before.”

Wedding cakes are a lot of fun to do, she said, especially when she can decorate them with wonderful sugar concoctions. They often have to be delivered, and she and her mom, Regina, have had some real adventures in the delivery process, since neither is very familiar with areas outside of Greenwood.

“Mom tried to use her GPS system to take a wedding cake to Wister Gardens in Belzoni,” she said. “We wound up in a cotton field.”

Mrs. LaVere said she noticed Veronica getting pretty nervous about it, since the wedding cake had to be there at a certain time.

Luckily they had left quite early. They finally located the event site.

Another time they went to Carrollton on Really good chocolate is one of LaVere’s a bumpy road to deliver a special Christmas passions. “I do chocolate ganache for a glaze wedding cake. a lot,” she said. “I make chocolate flowers.

LaVere especially likes it when someone It’s hard to work with. To begin, I had to tells her to just use her creativity. She loves learn about temperatures, and how to temworking with gold and silver dust, and her per the chocolate, so it won’t melt as easily.” dream is to do a really extravagant cake.

LaVere said she orders some supplies “I want to make a online, but most things cake that looks like a she can get through car, with lots of detail.

Sysco — even hard-toI could airbrush find items. “They more,” she said. found a particular She would also like whipped topping for to do a Mardi Gras me from California,” cake with masques she said. made out of sugar. “I Of all today’s famous saw one that was so chefs, LaVere said she intricate, so creative,” especially admires she said.

Mary Maher, a baker The only thing from Chicago. “I recogholding her back is nize her work when I time, since keeping see it. It’s really clean, Veronica LaVere makes her cakes artistic. She sometimes the bakery counters with great detail. This purse cake does a challenge on filled, baking the looks like it has real beads and fabric. Food Network.” bread used at the restaurant, and filling LaVere feels her special orders take all her time. cakes are beginning to get more attention.

The cakes take two days to make. “I “The cake business is beginning to pick up. bake, then assemble and leave overnight.

People realize you can have special things The next day I shape, mold, cover with made.” fondant, and decorate,” LaVere said.

The move to Greenwood some years ago She loves to spread tasty fillings between has been a good one for LaVere, she said. “I layers. One of her recent cakes included a work a lot, and go home and relax. I like it lemon curd with raspberry filling. that way.” LI

Fall and Winter 2009-2010 Leflore Illustrated / 27

PHOTOS BY JOHNNY JENNINGS

Service is the name of the game at

PHIL’S Squire Shoppe

BY DAVID MONROE

P

Phil and Cathy Ellis have been partners in Phil’s Squire Shoppe since 1980. Phil Ellis estimated he has furnished tuxedos for more than 2,000 weddings – as well as a lot of useful advice for grooms.

From left, Phil and Cathy Ellis look over a variety of men’s dress shirts with salesman Martin Beringer, a clothing line representative with Arrow Shirts in Little Rock, Ark. 28 / Leflore Illustrated Fall and Winter 2009-2010

hil Ellis remembers a time in the early 1970s when Greenwood had seven men’s clothing stores, maybe a dozen women’s stores and a number of children’s stores.

The numbers have thinned out considerably since then, and now his business, Phil’s Squire Shoppe, is the only men’s store in town.

With all the options available for ordering clothes through the mail or the Internet, local stores have to stress customer service – and Ellis says he’s glad to do that.

“We try to treat the customer as well as we can,” he said. “Service is the name of the game.”

Phil’s grew out of Star Tailors, which Ellis’ father, Phil Ellis Sr., bought in 1952 and expanded in the early 1960s on Carrollton Avenue.

The “Squire Shoppe” initially was a small area in the back of Star Tailors that carried items such as navy blazers, penny loafers and button-down white and blue shirts. Ellis said it probably didn’t have $1,000 worth of merchandise, but people noticed it, partly because of its red carpet.

“People would come in – ‘Man, look at the carpet!’” he recalled.

“I mean, that was something to see back then, instead of an old wooden floor.”

That part of the business grew and eventually became Phil’s Squire Shoppe. After Highland Park Shopping Center opened on Park Avenue in the 1960s, Phil’s Squire Shoppe moved there.

Everything was moved to Park Avenue after the downtown store closed in 1992.

Ellis started working for his father around ninth grade, and even then he thought he might be doing it for a while.

So what did he learn from his father? “Oh, probably most of what I know,” he said.

He was encouraged to get on the sales floor, learn from the experience of others and learn from his mistakes.

He also knows to stay up on fashion trends. For example, Phil’s didn’t always carry bow ties, but when more people started asking for them, the store added them.

“One guy’ll come in and ask for this, and two days later another guy asks for it – sooner or later, you’ve got to get it,” he said.

He also knows when to adjust his inventory flow to account for the economy and other conditions. For example, he typically keeps about 1,000 ties at a time, and he knows how much of the most popular items to keep on hand.

“You don’t need to be out of some of your basics – navy blazer, gray slacks, things like this – but can’t be overloaded in them either,” he said.

His wife, Cathy, who has been his partner in the business since 1980 and keeps the books, said they can’t be without items such as white shirts: “It’s like going to the grocery store and there’s no bread and milk.”

They offer extra services such as free gift wrapping and alterations, and Ellis has delivered items to people in hospitals or their homes when needed.

Phil’s also is a popular site for tuxedo rentals. Ellis estimated he has furnished tuxedos for more than 2,000 weddings, and

he takes pride in being able to do everything for the men in one place. “We make it easy to do business with us,” he said.

During a couple of weekends in the spring and summer, Phil’s might have five weddings going on at once. And if some other item in the store catches a customer’s eye, so much the better.

Ellis also will give grooms the benefit of his knowledge from 38 years of marriage.

For example, he’ll advise them that after they say “I do,” they should say “Yes, ma’am” a lot.

And there’s this: “If you have an argument with your wife, or a lady you’re going with, come in second place. That’s a good spot to be in.”

Cathy Ellis said they have made many

friends at the store, and interacting with them is what she enjoys most.

“Phil and I feel like we’ve watched children grow up,” she said, “and then all of a sudden, they’ve gone to college, and we’ve dressed them through high school, and then they get married and they come back. It’s just fun to kind of watch some of these people grow up and dress with us and start dressing their families with us.”

Phil Ellis said he hasn’t thought about how long he wants to keep working. He has a good sense of when the busiest and slowest times are, so he takes time off when he can. “We enjoy what we do, really, and still do nice business around nice people,” he said. “It’s not like it’s a chore every day to go to work.” LI

Fall and Winter 2009-2010 Leflore Illustrated / 29

-

Captivated

PHOTOS BY JOHNNY JENNINGS

by Greenwood’s medical murder mystery

Dr. Weldon pursues the truth in a 76-year-old case

I

Urologist Thomas E. Weldon was instantly hooked when a friend told him about a scandal in 1930s Greenwood involving a woman pediatrician and her married lover, the doctor who built the Physicians & Surgeons Building on West Washington Street.

30 / Leflore Illustrated Fall and Winter 2009-2010

BY JO ALICE DARDEN

n the fall of 1995, as they hunted quail, Dr. Thomas E. Weldon of Teoc, a urologist, and his friend, the late attorney Fred Witty, were discussing the O.J. Simpson case, which had recently mesmerized the nation.

remarried.

Around 10 p.m. on Aug. 2, knowing he was near death, Kennedy summoned his two brothers to his bedside. Hand was also in the room. Kennedy wanted to ensure Mrs. Kennedy and his daughter were taken care of. He mentioned two insurance policies that provided some double indemnity coverage in the event of his accidental death.

One of the brothers asked what had happened to make Kennedy so sick. Only at this time did the dying physician make the full accusation that he believed he had been poisoned with bichloride of mercury in a drink served by Dr. Sara Ruth Dean, whom he met that late night, July 27.

He said he picked her up where she was living with her aunt, and they drove to the Physicians & Surgeons Building, where they both practiced. They had been romantically involved, but over drinks of whisky at v v v the deserted office that night, he told On the night of July her he was returning 27, 1933, Dr. John to his wife.

Preston Kennedy He said Dean sugwent to bed on the Before the couple separated, Dr. John Preston Kennedy, his wife, Bessie Brunson sleeping porch of the Kennedy, and their daughter, Ann Margaret, lived in this house in North Greenwood gested they have one last highball, and he house where he had near Little Red Park. left the room to get been living since he water. When he and his wife had separeturned, she had already poured their last arrived to shave Kennedy, who said he felt a rated about a year earlier. The owner of the drinks. He took his glass and swallowed, little better and wanted to perform an house, August Thalheimer, had been out noticing a metallic taste. appendectomy on the son of a friend who visiting friends with his wife and returned Fearing poison, Kennedy quickly led requested his services. Over Baskerville’s about 10 p.m. to find Kennedy asleep in his Dean to the car, he said, drove her home, protests, Kennedy went to the hospital, bed on the porch. Thalheimer retired to his and stopped on the way back to the medical where he made the incision and removed own bed nearby. office to make himself sick. When he the appendix, but then he was unable to Kennedy, who in 1929 had built the arrived, he swallowed a tube and pumped continue. Baskerville, who had stayed with Physicians & Surgeons Building on West his own stomach but got little relief and his friend, completed the operation for him.

Washington Street in Greenwood, received went home.

Kennedy grew steadily worse and, on the four phone calls over about an hour and a Asked what he wanted the brothers to night of Aug. 1, finally told Baskerville that half. After the last call, he got up, bathed, do about the woman, Kennedy replied shaved and dressed before leaving the house he suspected he might have mercury poithey should do what they think is right, soning. He then allowed Baskerville to have about midnight. Thalheimer thought if it “but don’t do anything that would keep the him rushed to a hospital in Jackson, where were an emergency, the doctor would have his parents and his other brother, Barney, an three of us from meeting in heaven.” He left in greater haste. Thalheimer went back then lay back to rest, having been given orthodontist, joined him at his bedside to sleep. drugs earlier to ease his suffering. with Henry. Dr. W.F. Hand of Jackson Around 4:30 a.m. on July 28, he awoke Much later, the case would turn on this and noticed Kennedy lying diagonally across attended the patient. man’s deathbed statement. Though it led to Surprising the family, Kennedy asked his bed, partially clothed, vomiting and the trial of Dean, if Kennedy had spoken moaning in obvious distress. Kennedy asked them to notify his former wife, Bessie under the influence of narcotics, the truthfulBrunson Kennedy, of his condition. He his landlord to call a doctor. ness of his account would be questionable. explained that they had been making When Dr. George Baskerville arrived, Back in Greenwood, as Kennedy lay in Kennedy told him he had eaten a “pig sand- plans to reconcile and that he was to have joined her in a couple of weeks in Panama, his hospital bed, rumors flew about his wich” and drunk some whisky and must strange behavior at the appendectomy and have gotten a touch of ptomaine. Baskerville where she was vacationing with their his collapse afterward. When daughter and where they would have noticed blood in the vomit and diagnosed Simpson had been found innocent in the brutal murder of his ex-wife, Nicole, and a young waiter, Ronald Goldman. Emotions ran high as the country divided itself into two camps: those who believed Simpson was innocent and those who believed he should have been found guilty.

“Fred told me about a trial in Greenwood that had a lot of those same elements,” Weldon said. “He said his dad was part of the prosecution team. He got me hooked.”

In its own way every bit as scandalous, the case of a local pediatrician accused of murdering her lover, a prominent, well-liked physician, left more questions than answers in the wake of its resolution.

The trial drew national attention and gripped the city, dividing it into defense and prosecution camps.

Weldon wants to know what actually happened 76 years ago.

poisoning, but the sick man shrugged off his diagnosis.

For nearly four days, Kennedy kept ice in his mouth and ice packs on his head and stomach, trying to douse the burning sensation he felt. Baskerville notified Kennedy’s brother, Henry, a dentist, and another physician friend, Dr. W.B. Dickins, and the gentlemen tried in vain to relieve Kennedy’s suffering.

On the afternoon of July 31, a barber

Fall and Winter 2009-2010 Leflore Illustrated / 31

Leflore County Sheriff Harry Smith and District Attorney Arthur Jordan began looking into the whispers, Smith dropped in on Baskerville at the Physicians & Surgeons Building, and Baskerville shared the revelation Kennedy had made about his suspicions of mercury poisoning. But with no name to connect to the suspicion, the investigation had no target.

The family kept its vigil as Kennedy lingered, but he died on the morning of Aug. 6, 1933, at the age of 42. Mrs. Kennedy had left the Canal Zone when she was notified of her ex-husband’s illness, but she and her daughter arrived in Jackson five hours too late.

After Kennedy’s funeral, attended by hundreds, the surviving Kennedy brothers and Hand, the doctor who attended the deceased in Jackson, met with District Attorney Jordan, a pallbearer, and told him of Kennedy’s full deathbed accusation against Dean. In Greenwood, Sheriff Smith and a deputy arrested her immediately. An autopsy of Kennedy is said to have revealed mercury in the internal organs.

Released on bail, Dean was soon indicted for murder by a Leflore County grand jury. With her legal defense team of J.J. Breland, J. Richard Denman and A.F. Gardner, she prepared herself for trial; jury selection would begin in January 1934.

Dean was orphaned at an early age and reared in Greenwood by her grandmother and an uncle. Studious and serious, she had few friends and no boyfriends. She expressed an interest in medicine and attended the University of Mississippi for the first two years of medical school before finishing her medical degree at the University of Virginia.

In 1928, Dean returned to Greenwood to practice and was considered a brilliant pediatrician. She soon became romantically involved with Kennedy.

In April 1931, while Dean and Kennedy were out of town together, Mrs. Kennedy, alerted to the affair by a telephone call from a woman, went to her husband’s office and found a half-dozen letters from Dean in his desk. She took the bundle of letters, returned home, packed for herself and her daughter, left the letters on her husband’s pillow, and went to stay with her brother-inlaw Henry’s family.

The couple tried, off and on, to reconcile, but Mrs. Kennedy was granted a divorce in 1933. Dean and Kennedy’s entanglement ran hot and cold, as well; in the spring of 1931, she left Greenwood and set up practice at a hospital in Delaware, only to return to Mississippi in December 1932 to live with relatives in Madison, though she spent much of her time in Greenwood.

While she was away, Dean kept up a prolific correspondence with Kennedy, even 32 / Leflore Illustrated Fall and Winter 2009-2010

though when she returned, she said she was engaged to be married to a riverboat captain named Franklin Maull.

Dean’s trial was based largely on Kennedy’s deathbed accusation. Twelve jurymen were chosen from among local farmers and storekeepers. The judge was S.F. Davis, regarded as a fair jurist. The courtroom in the Leflore County Courthouse was packed every day of the trial.

The Kennedy family said Dean’s motive was jealousy, since the doctor had told her that night at the office that he was going to remarry. Mrs. Kennedy, the Kennedy brothers and several medical experts and witnesses testified for the prosecution. All the evidence was circumstantial.

The defense offered up its own slate of medical and chemical experts. When Dean took the stand, she calmly asserted her innocence. She denied having been with Kennedy at all on the night in question; her testimony was supported by her aunt, who said she and Dean slept together in the same bed through the entire night of July 27-28. Dean seemed quietly confident she would be acquitted.

The case went to the jury on the evening of March 2, 1934. After only three ballots and a few hours of deliberation, the men voted unanimously: Dr. Sara Ruth Dean was found guilty of murder and sentenced to lifelong imprisonment at hard labor.

The defense filed an appeal immediately, and Dean remained free. Nearly two years later, Mississippi Gov. Martin Sennett Conner exonerated Dean by giving her a full pardon. She never served a day of her sentence.

Eventually, Dean went to work at the State Hospital at Whitfield, in charge of female admissions. She married Marshall Ney Pitchford, taking his last name, and died of breast cancer in the late 1960s.

Clinic in 1990; the practice has a satellite office in Grenada, where Weldon works a couple of days each week.

He revisits the murder mystery in spurts, he said. But the question of the woman doctor’s guilt or innocence is always in front of him.

“Fred (Witty) was in the camp that believed Dr. Dean was guilty,” Weldon said. “But I don’t agree – I don’t think she did it. All the evidence was circumstantial; that autopsy was not really an autopsy; and Kennedy’s deathbed deposition?

Nowadays that wouldn’t even be accepted as evidence.”

When he began investigating the case, Weldon believed Dean was probably guilty, but the more research he did, the less certain he became. He said it may even be possible that Kennedy tried to commit suicide and blame his death on Dean.

“I am torn,” he said. “Both were obviously capable of lying and cheating. So who do you believe?”

Weldon would welcome information or even just opinions from anyone who has any knowledge of the case. Many relatives of people who were involved live in the area and might have heard things about the case when they were younger.

“We’ll probably never know what really happened,” Weldon said, “but I sure would like to!” LI

v v v Since that quail hunt in 1995, Weldon has been on a quest of a different sort. He has spent a tremendous amount of his spare time researching the crime – if there was one – and trying to determine whether justice was served. He plans to submit his findings to a state medical publication and solicit responses from other doctors who may have heard about the case and may have something to contribute.

A Jersey City, N.J., native, Weldon, 62, moved to Mississippi with his family in 1981 after serving in the U.S. Army at the Eisenhower Army Medical Center in Augusta, Ga. He and his wife, Loretta, have two grown children – a son, Tom Jr., in Diamondhead, and a daughter, Laura, in Boulder, Colo.

Weldon joined the Greenwood Urology

Jennings Photography

662-299-3400 Greenwood

Fall and Winter Events OCTOBER The Department of Fine Arts at Mississippi Valley State University is presenting an exhibition of art works by art faculty, students and most recent alumni at the Johnston Gallery through Oct. 9.

3 – Mississippi Valley State University Homecoming; Delta Devils vs. Texas College, 2 p.m., Rice-Totten Stadium.

24 – Mississippi Valley State University Delta Devils vs. Jackson State University, 1 p.m., Rice-Totten Stadium.

NOVEMBER 3 – Citywide Holiday Open House, at participating merchants around Greenwood, 5 p.m.

7 – Mississippi Valley State University Hall of Fame Day; Delta Devils vs. Texas Southern, 1 p.m., Rice-Totten Stadium.

14 – Mississippi Valley State University Senior Day/Take A Kid to the Game Day; Delta Devils vs. Lincoln University, RiceTotten Stadium.

DECEMBER 3 – Leflore County Courthouse lighting, 4:30 p.m.

4 – Roy Martin Delta Band Festival , “The Songs of Christmas,” 3 p.m.

JANUARY 14 – Mississippi Valley State University hosts Martin Luther King Convocation, 10 a.m., H.G. Carpenter Auditorium. Free.

FEBRUARY 25 – Mississippi Valley State University hosts Black History Convocation, 10 a.m., H.G. Carpenter Auditorium. Free.

APRIL 23 – Mississippi Valley State University hosts the J.H. White Preeminence Awards and Scholarship Gala, 7 p.m., Harrison HPER Complex.

Fall and Winter 2009-2010 Leflore Illustrated / 33

H

ungry? You’re at the right place. Whether you’re searching for traditional Southern fare or something more exotic, restaurants in Greenwood and the surrounding area offer a delightful experience for every palate.

Crystal Grill 423 Carrollton Avenue Greenwood

Type of cuisine: American Full Bar Hours of operation: 11 a.m.-10 p.m. (Tuesday - Sunday)

Price range (per person ): Lunch: $10-$20 Dinner: $10-$20 Children’s menu

Handicapped accessible Reservations recommended Phone: (662) 453-6530

Veronica’s Custom Bakery 222 Howard Street Greenwood

Type of cuisine: Homestyle Breakfasts, Soup, Salad, Sandwiches and Pastries Hours of operation:

7:30 a.m.-5 p.m. (Tuesday-Saturday) Breakfast all day Saturday, Closed January Price range (per person):

Under $10 Children’s menu

Handicapped accessible, Outdoor dining

Phone: (662) 451-9425 E-mail: 3deuces@bellsouth.net Web site: www.threedeuces.net

China Blossom 917 Hwy. 82 West Greenwood

Type of cuisine: Chinese & American Beer and Setups Hours of operation: 11 a.m.-3 p.m. (Sunday), 11 a.m.-10 p.m. (Monday-Thursday), 11 a.m.-10:30 p.m. (Friday & Saturday) Price range (per person ):

Lunch: under $10 Dinner: $10-$20 Children’s menu

Handicapped accessible Phone: (662) 453-3297

Carroll County Market

607-608 Lexington Street, Carrollton Type of cuisine: BBQ, Steak, Seafood, Wood-Fired Pizza; Full Bar, BYOB Hours of operation: 5p.m. until Fri. & Sat.

Price range (per person ): $8-$30, Children’s menu Occasional live music, Open Mic Friday Reservations recommended but not required Handicapped accessible

Phone: (662) 237-1133 Web site: www.carrollcountymarket.com myspace.com/carrollcountymarket 34 / Leflore Illustrated Fall and Winter 2009-2010

Blue Parrot Café 222 Howard Street Greenwood

Type of cuisine: Fine Latin Cuisine Full Bar Hours of operation: Occasional special & private events.

Call to be put on the e-mail list.

Price range (per person ): $15-$25

Handicapped accessible Live music Reservations recommended Phone: (662) 451-9430 E-mail: 3deuces@bellsouth.net Web site: www.threedeuces.net

North Carrollton Fish & Steak House

Giardina’s

314 Howard Street, Greenwood

202-1/2 Hemmingway, North Carrollton Under New Ownership — Jason Walker Type of cuisine: Fish, Steak, Other.

Wine, Beer, Setups, BYOB Hours of operation:

5:30 p.m.-9:30 p.m. (Wednesday-Friday), 5:30 p.m. -11:00 p.m. (Saturday) Price range (per person ): $4.95-$15

Live music: Every Saturday night Phone (662) 237-0067

Lusco’s

Type of cuisine: Italian (Fine Dining) Full Bar Hours of operation: 5-10 p.m. (Dinner), Sunday Brunch 11-2 p.m.

Price range (per person ): $20-$40 Children’s menu

Outdoor dining area for smokers Handicapped accessible Occasional live music (Alluvian) Reservations recommended Phone: (662) 455-4227 Web site: www.giardinas.com E-mail: giardinas@giardinas.com

722 Carrollton Avenue Greenwood

Type of cuisine: American with an Italian flare, Steaks and Seafood.

Beer and Setups: You may bring your own wine or liquor.

Hours of operation: 5 p.m.-10 p.m.

(Tuesday-Saturday)

Price range (per person): Dinner $10-$30 Handicapped accessible Reservations recommended Phone: (662) 453-5365

Mai Little China 617 West Park Ave.

Highland Park Shopping Center Greenwood

Type of cuisine: Asian Fusion Wine, Beer and Setups Hours of operation: Lunch: 11 a.m.-2 p.m.

Dinner: 5 p.m.-9 p.m. Open 1st Sunday of each month, 11am - 3 p.m.

Price range (per person ):

Lunch: $10 Dinner: $10-$20, Children’s menu

Handicapped accessible Reservations recommended Phone: (662) 451-1101

Delta Bistro

117 Main Street, Greenwood

Type of cuisine: Southern Eclectic Beer, Setups, BYOB Hours of operation: 10 a.m.-9 p.m. Monday through Saturday

Price range (per person ): As little or as much as you want to spend.

Handicapped accessible Children’s menu Reservations recommended Occasional live music Phone: (662) 455-9575 Web site: www.deltabistro.com

Turnrow Cafe Turnrow Book Co. 304 Howard Street, Greenwood

Type of cuisine: Sandwiches, Soups, Salads Beer Hours of operation: Lunch: 11 a.m. - 3 p.m.

Price range (per person ): $5 -$8 Phone: (662) 455-5995 Web site: www.turnrowbooks.com E-mail: turnrow@turnrowbooks.com Fall and Winter 2009-2010 Leflore Illustrated / 35

PHOTOS BY JOHNNY JENNINGS

Southworth House The richly stained wood trim in the grand foyer, as all through the house, came from a now extinct figured gum tree in Spain. Homeowner Roy Brown refinished it and the gleaming oak floors himself.

A dream for generations

BY JO ALICE DARDEN

The five bedrooms in the Southworth House are furnished in period antiques that feel organic to the home.

36 / Leflore Illustrated Fall and Winter 2009-2010

I

In the first bustling decades of the 20th century, Judy Brown’s future dream house was being designed in Greenwood by local architect Frank R. McGeoy.

Nearly 80 years later, Judy discovered and fell in love with the yellow brick mansion at 1108 Mississippi Ave. But it wasn’t available; it was still being handed down through generations of the original owner’s family.

Judy was patient.

In 1984, she built a day care center – Judy’s Kids, now on George Street in Greenwood – that has grown into a thriving enterprise that Ashley, the couple’s older daughter, helps operate. Judy’s husband, Roy Brown, built his businesses and grew them, as well – Brown’s Complete Janitorial Service and Ashley’s Rug World on Howard Street. They lived in various places and in several houses, many of which needed fixing up. Fortunately, Roy is deeply talented in those skills.

Eventually, the couple started planning to build a home of their own. But every time Judy envisioned it, the image of the front of their house was always that of the house on Mississippi Avenue – the Southworth House, as it was known.

“It’s an ongoing process.

We’ll never really be finished. But it’s a labor of love.”

Judy Brown The structure was aging, but it still held Judy’s focus and desire. She learned about its history and that of the family who owned it. McGeoy had modeled it after the Whittington House on West Market Street, which he also designed and which is now the state headquarters of the Garden Clubs of Mississippi Inc. Fisher Morgan Southworth had the house built for his bride, Shel Prince Southworth, having bought the land in 1909.

World War I interrupted construction, and Mr. Southworth returned home from service with a war injury, so they didn’t move in until 1920. Additions to the house were interrupted

by World War II. Finished after that war, the house was passed down through the Southworth generations.

F.M. Southworth Jr. married Nan Barnett, and the couple reared their family in the house. When he died, his widow remained there. It was at one time an office for Nan’s father, who was a physician, and it was for a while a boarding house.

Judy once approached Mrs. Southworth about buying the place, but the owner cited a stipulation that the house had to stay in the family.

As the Browns were designing their new house in 1999, Judy said, the builder noted the similarity in the way Judy wanted the front to look and the way a certain house on Mississippi Avenue looked. He suggested Judy call Fisher Southworth III and inquire about its availability.

Above, the Brown family is at home in the Southworth House.

Seated, from the left, are daughters Taylor and Ashley and their mother Judy, who dreamed for years that she would own the house with her husband, Roy, standing. At left, the Greenwood architect Frank McGeoy designed the mansion after designing the Whittington House on East Market Street, now the state headquarters of the Garden Clubs of Mississippi Inc.

Fall and Winter 2009-2010 Leflore Illustrated / 37

An upstairs bath has many of its original fixtures and the original tile. Judy and Roy Brown are always on the lookout for antiques that are exactly right for their house.

“That’s when I found out Nan had died in November 1998,” Judy said. “I asked Fisher if he would consider selling the house, and after thinking and talking about it, he finally said he would.”

The Browns’ builder walked Judy through the house, inventorying what would need to be done. From rooftop to basement, the bones seemed solid, but extensive remodeling would be required to bring the house up to modern standards.

“This house is my joy,” said Judy, its new owner.

“Another house we gotta fix up,” Roy replied, laughing.

Work began in December 1999, while the stipulation about the house remaining in the Southworth family was dispensed with legally, and the Browns closed the purchase in February 2000. Roy and Judy and their contractors and subcontractors worked on the house steadily for two years before the Browns moved in on Jan. 1, 2002.

The walls had to be replastered and later painted. The floors had to be refinished.

Central air and heat had to be installed.

Plumbing had to be updated. The kitchen had to be remodeled. A back porch needed to be transformed into a breakfast room.

Roof problems needed to be fixed. The window and door treatments – draperies, sheers and so on – had to be replaced. And all of the wood trim in the five-bedroom, five-bath house had to be stripped and refinished.

38 / Leflore Illustrated Fall and Winter 2009-2010

“I look back on all that now and wonder how I did it,” Roy said.

“It’s an ongoing process,” said Judy.

“We’ll never really be finished. But it’s a labor of love.”

Although Judy suffered a stroke in 2008 and was diagnosed with diabetes, those ailments slowed her down only a bit; she could hardly wait to finish rehabilitation to get back to her dream project.

The oak floors are pristine, with almost a mirror finish. Most stunning is the massive amount of woodwork, stained in a dark mahogany shade. The deep baseboards, the crown molding, the door and window surrounds, and the columns throughout the house are made of wood from a nowextinct gum tree that was brought here from Spain, Judy said. Roy refinished every inch of it himself.

Nan Barnett Southworth had the house added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1985, so preservation was all the more important to the Browns. Even the antiques and period pieces the couple bought for the house seem organic to the structure.

“I’ve always been curious about old things,” Judy said. “I used to love going into my aunt’s attic and playing with the old dolls and dishes she had up there. As I grew up, I learned to appreciate and respect old things.”

The attic especially has yielded reams of documentation of the lives of the previous owners and even some of their predecessors. She found a sterling silver hypodermic syringe that she assumes belonged to Dr. Barnett. She has found a variety of papers dating as far back as the 1700s. She has found an invitation to the White House, ancient photo albums, old Greenwood High School annuals, newspaper clippings dating from the 1890s, 200-year-old oil paintings, and hundreds of letters detailing the day-to-day routine of generations of Southworths.

People often stop by, curious about what it looks like now, Judy said, because they remember being there decades ago for parties and celebrations and receptions and other happy events. The house had a stately social presence in Greenwood, situated then on what was U.S. 49, at the southern edge of town. That was before the bypass was built, bisecting the old highway and turning it into Mississippi Avenue north of it and Baldwin Road heading south.

“There is just so much history in this house!” Judy said.

She hopes someday to be able to organize and catalog the treasures she has found. She’s working to do this for herself and Roy and for Ashley and the Browns’ younger daughter, Taylor, and for all the future generations of Browns and others who will keep Judy’s dream house alive. LI Fall and Winter 2009-2010 Leflore Illustrated / 39

Business Directory

40 / Leflore Illustrated Fall and Winter 2009-2010

Itta Bena Mayor Walter Parker

Equipped to lead

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PHOTOS BY JOHNNY JENNINGS

BY DAVID MONROE

tta Bena Mayor Walter Parker still remembers the first time he went out by himself as an emergency medical technician.

He had always ridden with others before, so he was nervous about responding to that medical call. But he relied on his training to get him through.

“I had not only people who actually believed in me and gave me an opportunity to work, but I had very encouraging parents who very much encouraged me to go out there and challenge myself,” he said. “And even though I was nervous, I went and I took care of my patient, based on my training, and the outcome was good.”

Itta Bena Mayor Walter Parker, who grew up there, says the town “was and still is a good environment.”

He also enjoys helping students at Mississippi Valley State University, where he is director of student health.

Business Directory

Fall and Winter 2009-2010 Leflore Illustrated / 41

vices could be improved, and he wanted to help.

“My feelings were, ‘Why complain if you’re not willing to step forward and do something about it?’” he said.

His wife, Patricia, said she supported him 100 percent, thinking that if he had ideas for helping the town, he should go for it.

Of course, when he began talking about running for mayor, she knew it wouldn’t be easy.

“I was like, ‘Are you sure this is what you want to do?’” she recalled, “because I knew the mayor requires a lot and it was going to be challenging.”

Then again, she added, he has never shied away from tough tasks — and when he takes on something, he usually succeeds. v v v “Everything he went through, it was a challenge, and he always came Parker, 46, has called Itta Bena out on top, so I knew he was going home since he was 6. He graduated to do it for this, also,” she said. from Leflore County High School Patricia Parker, also a nurse, works in 1981 and entered EMT Basic three 12-hour shifts a week at school that August.

Greenwood Leflore Hospital. But As an EMT, he got used to being summoned at any hour. Sometimes Walter Parker became mayor of Itta Bena, his home- the couple is usually able to see town, in July. This marker tells a little history of the each other in the evenings, and they it would just be a dispatcher, an town known as the “Home in the Woods.” support each other. ambulance driver and Parker – and “I can honestly say I’m a better at those times, he said, “every time person because of my wife,” Walter Parker said. the ambulance cranked up, I had to be on it.”

They have to sit separately when they attend East Percy Parker, who has since earned certification as a paramedic, said Street Christian Church — but he’s OK with that, since she’s the EMTs have to manage their time well and think quickly. pastor.

“You don’t have a lot of time to sit on an emergency scene and “I enjoy her company and her presence even in the church,” think about what you’re going to do and come up with an orgahe said. “And I think she’s absolutely awesome in the pulpit.” nized plan,” he said. “You have to know what to do based on protocol and training and carry that out for the benefit of your v v v patient.”

He considers his work a calling. In fact, it’s a natural outgrowth Walter Parker is particularly concerned about the loss of homeof his upbringing; he said his biggest influence growing up was town businesses in Itta Bena. his mother, the late Elma Ree Parker, who taught him to care for When he was growing up, people could walk uptown to get what others. they needed or send someone else to do so. Now they often have to “Caring for people is really what led me into the emergency go to Greenwood, and that is particularly a strain on senior citizens medical service,” he said. “I think it’s a beautiful calling to be able who lack transportation. Besides, he said, locally owned businesses to care for someone in their time of need.” give a small town character.

This interest in helping patients led him to choose nursing Of course, he said, it won’t matter how many businesses Itta Bena school to further his training. He worked as a nurse for 18 years at attracts if citizens’ basic needs aren’t met. So he is focused on Greenwood Leflore Hospital before joining Mississippi Valley improving customer service at City Hall and doing what is needed State University as director of student health in 2001. to boost police and fire protection, utilities and other basics.

Parker said it’s a pleasure to serve a diverse, intelligent group of He also said his predecessor, Thelma Collins, initiated some good students. Not only does he teach them about preventive care projects, and he plans to see them through. and other topics, but sometimes he learns from them, too. And “You just don’t throw aside a good project because it was someit’s not just an administrative job; he continues to be a hands-on body else’s idea,” he said. “That’s not good for the community or nurse. anybody.”

“I do assessments; I take vital signs; I give medicines; I do He said he doesn’t expect to eliminate all of Itta Bena’s probeverything that a nurse would do in a clinical setting,” he said. lems but remains hopeful about its future. He also is optimistic As if that weren’t enough, he also serves on the Greenwood about working with the aldermen, who bring a variety of skills Leflore Hospital Board — and, although he doesn’t work regular and experiences to their posts. shifts as an EMT, he will pitch in when needed.

“In my older years, I’ve been other places, but quite frankly, I “If I’m available, with no conflict, I generally go,” he said. wouldn’t change a thing about my childhood and where I grew up,” he said. “The town was and still is a good environment. We still v v v have very good people and very caring people in the town. And even though the economy may have changed, I think the overall Parker said he first became interested in running for the Board of good nature of our citizens still exists.” LI Aldermen within eight months of the 2001 election. He thought serParker grew up in Itta Bena, but as recently as 2000, he had not considered politics. In fact, he said, he probably would have laughed at the idea back then. But after serving for two terms on the Board of Aldermen and being elected mayor in 2009, he feels equipped to lead the town.

“In a way, being an elected official in a town is a lot like taking care of a patient: You assess it; you come up with or identify what the problem is; then you do those things to intervene in order to solve the problem,” he said. “And then at some point, you come back and evaluate to see if you actually solved the problem, or do you really need to go back and do further planning?”

42 / Leflore Illustrated Fall and Winter 2009-2010

Fall and Winter 2009-2010 Leflore Illustrated / 43

PHOTOS BY JOHNNY JENNINGS

This arrangement is seen in front of Bella Flora’s stained-glass windows.

Bella Flora is now located in the “Historic Blantonia House,” built in 1895.

Danny Kelly brings new life to historic home

BY RUTH JENSEN

The staircase in Bella Flora during the renovation of the building.

This beautiful fall scene is arranged in the showroom at Bella Flora.

Bella Flora

A downtown Greenwood eyesore has once again been brought to new life as the home of floral artist Danny Kelly and his shop Bella Flora.

To the delight of many of his former customers, Kelly returned to Greenwood in 2003 after being out of the floral business for 11 years. He first returned to his former shop’s home in an old two-story home on Cotton Street. Although he loved the look of that building, he kept hoping for another location that would afford him the cooler space he needed. He found most available space too expensive, until he came upon the current property.

Lanham Properties purchased the Walthall Street property from the Holmes Estate. Charles Holmes, who died in 2007, had a longtime floral shop at the location.

“They had to decide whether to tear down the old house and sell the architectural details, or refurbish it,” Kelly said.

Thankfully, he said, they decided against tearing it down – and now it’s revived once again for use as a flower and gift shop. “I was able to work with them on colors and other details,” he said.

Kelly said the house was built in 1895 by the Keesler family and has the original parquet floors in the living and dining rooms.

Craftsmen were brought in from New York to do them, he said. After falling on hard times during the Great Depression, the Keeslers sold the home to the Telfair family, who kept it until the 1970s, when Holmes purchased it.

Kelly said the house suits him for a couple

44 / Leflore Illustrated Fall and Winter 2009-2010

Danny Kelly opened Bella Flora in the old Charles Holmes Estate on Walthall Street.

of reasons: “I like the old house setting, and the rent is good.” Although the house is more than 100 years old, it isn’t on the historical register, Kelly said, so it could be made to fit his needs.

Besides, the location is good, and it doesn’t hurt to be down the street from Century Funeral Home, he said.

The return to the floral business is a natural one for Kelly, whose floral artistry is well known. He seldom turns down a challenging project, “as long as they’re willing to pay for it.” And while he has done many large and beautiful arrangements for weddings or other events, some of the more interesting ones have been for funerals.

“I once made a transport truck and cut it out of flowers,” he recalled. “It was four feet long.”

He also made a flower-covered ladder for a roofer who had died, and a big acoustic gui-

tar on stands in memory of bluesman Robert Johnson. He even does pet casket sprays.

Kelly’s father, Kimble, helps with those projects, cutting out designs from Styrofoam.

“Dad is good with drawing things off and cutting them out,” he said.

Rarely does Kelly turn down a request – not unless it seems repugnant to him for some reason. His mother, Ann, helps with bookkeeping and billing. Like many artists, Kelly doesn’t care for that part of the business. “I don’t turn on a computer,” he said.

Kelly came by his love for flowers from his Grandmother Kelly, who grew all sorts of flowers and vegetables. He watched her bring in cut flowers and make arrangements and helped with her gardening.

“She loved dahlias,” he said.

At the age of 18, he went to work for Mary Bell’s Flower Shop in Greenwood, and six years later he opened his own, calling it Danny’s Flowers. He ran the shop for about nine years and then decided to change direction. He sold the business, moved to Jackson and worked for Indianola Pecan House as a salesman and district manager.

Since his return, Kelly said, he has a better perspective on things. “I used to get uptight, but now I don’t worry. If something can’t get done, that’s just the way it is,” he said.

He loves his new shop with its beautiful woodwork and ambience that lends atmosphere to the gift items and plants that are displayed. He is especially proud of his large cooler that makes possible more advance preparation for special occasions and holidays. LI

Where to find the latest items that you shouldn’t do without.

B. WESTERN FLARE

looks fabulous. These Rampage boots are burnished brown with copper studs and a stacked heel. You’ll find them at Anthony's on West Park Avenue and Ola's Shoes on Howard Street. 662455-2145, Anthony’s, & 662-453-1462, Ola’s.

B. A.

A.EMILY RAY JEWELRY NEW Swarovski chili pepper twisted coin crystals and pendant on our new textured double-link goldplated chain. Exceptional designs from classic to contemporary fit for blue jeans to bridal wear.

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C. SAPPHIRES appeal to everyone, and there are so many ways to wear them. You’ll find them in crosses, earrings, pendants, bracelets, pins, broaches and rings in estate, antique and modern settings at Russell's Antiques & Fine Jewelry on Howard Street in Greenwood. 662-453-4017

C.

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D.

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top sellers! Warm, durable fleece in a Snap-T pullover. THESE WILL GO FAST! Make sure you get one at Smith & Company, 211 Fulton St., Greenwood.

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E. F. LATICO PURSES

D.KITCHENAID STAINLESS COOKWARE. Impressive from the inside out. Choose from a variety of colors. It’s for the chef in all of us! Get yours at JD Lanham, 215 W Market Street, Greenwood. 662-453-7131

Classic leather bags with a modern edge. Stay current with these bags. Various colors to choose from.

Available at Rachael’s, 201 Howard Street, Greenwood.

662-453-0266

Fall and Winter 2009-2010 Leflore Illustrated / 45

Convention & Visitors Bureau

Selling Greenwood

BY DAVID MONROE

Paige Hunt works hard to promote Greenwood – and sometimes that work includes being a tour guide.

Hunt, the executive director of the Greenwood Convention and Visitors Bureau, said she has conducted tours for a banking group and a school group this year. They have to provide their own transportation, but the trips are free and can be very informative.

“I love to do that, and it’s something that I wish we could do more,” Hunt said. “It’s just a lot of people don’t know it’s available.”

The CVB also can provide welcome bags for visiting groups. From Oct. 1, 2008, through Aug. 13, 2009, the CVB had distributed 512 of the bags, each of which included a brochure, a map and something small such as a pen, a note pad or a fan.

In recent years, the city has hosted the Mississippi Conference of Black Mayors and the Sons of Confederate Veterans. Because the State Garden Club has headquarters in Greenwood, it is a natural site for garden club meetings. In July 2010, the city will host the Ducks Unlimited state convention.

“We try and do our best to welcome these groups and do as much as we can to make them feel welcome while they’re here,” Hunt said, “so that if they don’t come back next year, they’ll come back the next – or maybe come back with their families.”

She said the city got a good response after hosting the state women’s amateur golf tournament.

“They had a fantastic time,” she said. “They had not been in Greenwood in 20-some-odd years; that’s an every-year tournament.”

Greenwood is limited by its hotel-room inventory as to the size of groups it can accommodate. The city presently has 764 rooms and will add 65 suites in 2010 when Comfort Suites opens.

But Hunt said it can serve travelers in four categories: Those interested in the blues, particularly the sites related to the life of Robert Johnson.

Those taking weekend trips, who typically come from places such as Jackson, Memphis, Little Rock. Hunt said the drive-in market has a radius of about 300 miles.

Motor coaches, including church, family and school reunions, weddings, bar mitzvahs and association meetings.

Business travelers.

Hunt said the CVB doesn’t typically market to reunion and business groups because they tend to make their own plans. Still, the bureau can greet them, provide welcome bags and maybe conduct a tour. Also, there are others who can provide tours for a fee if she’s not available.

Trade shows also provide opportunities to make contacts and talk up Greenwood. For example, Hunt attended the last meeting of the 46 / Leflore Illustrated Fall and Winter 2009-2010

PHOTO BY JOHNNY JENNINGS Paige Hunt enjoys promoting Greenwood. As executive director of the Greenwood Convention and Visitors Bureau, she does everything from conducting tours to providing welcome bags for visiting groups.

American Bus Association and has registered to attend the next one in January.

For that one, she can go onto a database and find out information about the tour operators who will attend. Then she can research their interests – whether they have been to Mississippi, whether they are interested in blues music or culinary activities, and other questions. If they look like a good match, she can request an appointment with them.

And if she gets one, she has only a few minutes to make her pitch.

“You do your little two-minute spiel, they ask questions, and they ring this buzzer, and they say, ‘Move to your next one,’ and you run across this big convention floor,” Hunt said.

The follow-up opportunities from these gatherings can be profitable as well, she said: “I’m really, really proud to say that I’ve booked three groups directly from trade-show contacts that probably would not have come here otherwise.”

Because of funding uncertainty, she has to be selective in which meetings she attends. Sometimes she represents Greenwood, and other times she promotes the Delta. And once in a while, a tourism professional from another Delta county will direct someone with specific interests to her, or vice versa.

“We really work hard to work together to sell each other,” she said. LI

FALL AND WINTER 2009/2010

The index

of advertisers Ad page

Ad page APPLIANCES J.D. Lanham Supply Co.

FLORIST 3, 45

Frank’s Flower Shop

10

Neblett’s Frame Outlet

38

Williams & Lord Funeral Home Wilson & Knight Funeral Home

ARCHITECTS Beard + Riser Architects

ATTORNEYS Upshaw, Williams, Biggers, Beckham & Riddick

AUTO PARTS Delta Farm & Auto Supply

BEER DISTRIBUTOR Capital City Beverages

40

BOOKS Turnrow Book Co.

33

CLOTHING Anthony’s 19, 45 Ola’s Shoes 19, 45 Phil’s Squire Shoppe 27 Puddleducks 43 Rachael’s inside front cover, 45 Smith & Co. 33, 45 Sweet Pea, The 38

COMPUTERS

Patmar Computers

CORRECTIONAL FACILITY Delta Correctional Facility

40 23

COUNTY GOVERNMENT Leflore County Board of Supervisors

10

DENTAL CLINIC Cleveland Dental Clinic

29

ELDERLY LIVING Riverview Nursing & Rehabilitation

40

25

43

Jennings Photography Lamb’s Photography

32 38

Print Shop, The

25

Bowie Realty, Inc. DuBard Realty

10 25

FUNERAL HOME 40 41

Carroll County Cavalier Fincher’s Inc. Gift Box,The Market Place, The

GLASS

Mobile Glass

HARDWARE

Leflore Ace Hardware

40 15 43 43 40 41

HEALTH CARE

Continue Care Home Health & Hospice 15 Greenwood Leflore Hospital inside back cover Northwest Mississippi Regional Medical Center 29 Sta-home Health & Hospice 13

JEWELRY

Clevenger Jewelry & Gifts Jewelry, Etc. Russell’s Antiques & Fine Jewelry

LOANS

Pioneer Credit Company

15, 45 43 3, 45 40

Viking Range Corp.

6

MOTELS 39

FINANCIAL First South Farm Credit Planters Bank

Scott Petroleum Corp.

MANUFACTURING

FARM EQUIPMENT Wade

41

FRAMES

GIFTS 40

America’s Best Inn & Suites

MUSEUMS

Cottonlandia Museum 10 39

40 40

NEWSPAPER Greenwood Commonwealth, The

Ad page PETROLEUM

41

PHOTOGRAPHY PRINTING

REAL ESTATE

RESTAURANTS Blue Parrot Cafe Carroll County Market China Blossom Crystal Grill Delta Bistro Flatland Grill Giardina’s Lusco’s Mai Little China North Carrollton Fish & Steak Turnrow Cafe Veronica’s Custom Bakery Webster’s Food & Drink

21, 34 34 34 34 35 38 35 35 35 35 35 21, 34 23

SCHOOLS

Mississippi Delta Community College Mississippi Valley State University St. Francis School

21, 48 back cover 25

SECURITY SYSTEMS Safetylink

40

TREE SERVICE Shane Sanders Tree Service

1

TOURISM Greenwood Convention & Visitors Bureau 27

VETERINARIANS Greenwood Animal Hospital 40 Four Paws Animal Health Center 23

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index of advertisers index of advertisers index of advertisers index of advertisers index of advertisers Fall and Winter 2009-2010 Leflore Illustrated / 47

48 / Leflore Illustrated Fall and Winter 2009-2010

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