Leflore Illustrated Spring 2012

Greenwood, Mississippi

A River Country Journal / Spring 2012

Spring 2012 Leflore Illustrated / 1

33

table of contents

features 5.

The flood of 1932 brought record high water to Greenwood

9.

City-Wide Usher Board raises money for area churches

5

places

33.

Flying enthusiasts take wing with radio-controlled models

39.

In spring, tastebuds’ fancy turns to salads

37

13.

Staplcotn building is home to 100-year-old skating rink

17.

The Litton house offers comfort in the country

30.

Delta Bistro dishes out good food in an artistic atmosphere

people 23.

Sam Fonda Jr. learning to brew beer at home

26.

Retiree Jerry Taylor seems like an unlikely jewelry maker

37.

Bobo Champion’s baseball card collection contains fond memories

41.

Eddie Amelung has been doing theater most of his life

more

4.

43.

From the editor Calendar of events

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44.

48.

Event snapshots The Back Page

ON THE COVER: Ann Gerard Mohamed, 6, enjoys a snack at the home of her grandparents, Ann and Bill Litton. (Photo by Johnny Jennings)

L

eflore

Illustrated

Editor and Publisher Tim Kalich

Managing Editor Charles Corder

Associate Editor David Monroe

Contributing Writers

Bob Darden, Jo Alice Darden, Lee Ann Flemming, Ruth Jensen, Charlie Smith, Beth Thomas

Advertising Director Larry Alderman

Advertising Sales

Linda Bassie, Susan Montgomery, Jim Stallings, Melinda Terry, Kim Turner

Photography/Graphics Joseph Cotton, Johnny Jennings, Anne Miles

Production

Clifton Angel and Charles Brownlee

Circulation Director Shirley Cooper

Volume 7, No. 3 —————— Editorial and business offices: P.O. Box 8050 329 U.S. 82 West Greenwood, MS 38935-8050 662-453-5312 —————— Leflore Illustrated is published by Commonwealth Publishing, Inc.

Spring 2012 Leflore Illustrated / 3

From the editor

PHOTO BY JOHNNY JENNINGS

Saying thanks, 46 times B

etty Gail asked me to not give up dessert for Lent this year. My wife thinks that when I lose weight from reducing my intake of sweets, I start to look sickly.

I had to figure what different sacrifice to make instead.

I remembered an article I had read at the first of the year in Parade magazine by John Kralik. On New Year’s Day in 2008, Kralik, then an attorney down on his luck, had gotten the idea to write a thank-you note to a different person every day for a year.

The daily commitment in expressing gratitude, he said, transformed his life. “I saw how much I had been blessed by so many people in different ways, and acknowledging their blessings seemed to make them multiply,” he wrote.

I decided I would follow Kralik’s example not for a year, but for the season of Lent.

I had some blank cards in my desk drawer that a printer had sent me as a freebie.

When I ran out of those, I picked up some more at the drugstore. They weren’t the finest stationery in the world, but I figured that didn’t much matter.

I started off writing to my siblings, but soon branched off. I wrote thank-you notes to co-workers, friends, fellow church members and community leaders.

I wrote my hairdresser, who always fits me in for a haircut, no matter how little notice I give her. I wrote my favorite waitress, thanking her for slipping my wife and me our favorite pie, even when 4 / Leflore Illustrated Spring 2012

it isn’t on the menu.

Some of the notes recognized kindnesses bestowed on me recently. Others were to people who in the past had made a huge difference in my life.

I wrote my mother, who is now in a nursing home, suffering from dementia.

Her short-term memory doesn’t last longer than five minutes, but in this case, it’s an unexpected blessing. She picks up the card over and over, relishing my compliments each time as if she’s reading

them for the first time.

What almost embarrassed me was how much appreciation I got in return from those who received my few sentences of gratitude. Some stopped my wife to tell her how much the card touched them. Some called me on the phone. Two told me they were saving the card to put in their casket.

In this day of texting, emailing and other forms of instant messaging, hand-written communication is fast disappearing. I personally have never been good at mailing thank-you notes, unlike my Mississippi-bred wife. I have said to myself that if I verbally expressed appreciation for a gift or a job well done, that was good enough.

I doubt I’m alone. The response I got suggests that although people, mostly females, still send thank-you notes for gifts, few ever think to express gratitude in writing for things less tangible. Those are harder to write. They take more thought to compose and are easier to put off for another day that somehow never comes.

I wish that I was as committed as Kralik and kept this daily routine going. He’s at something like note 900 and counting. I stopped after Holy Saturday.

Technically, Lent has 40 days, if you don’t count Sundays. I always count Sundays.

My last note was No. 46.

I saved it for the person who got me thinking in a different light.

I wrote it to my wife. — Tim Kalich

The flood of 1932

Hell and high water

A car sits nearly submerged on Grand Boulevard while a group of women passes on a mule-drawn wagon during the 1932 flood.

STORY BY CHARLIE SMITH ! PHOTOS COURTESY OF ALLAN HAMMONS AND DONNY WHITEHEAD

A

river flowed down Grand Boulevard, and boats delivered groceries.

Legionnaires patrolled levees for dynamiters while striped convicts plugged holes.

Bootleggers on moonshine runs got stuck in the high water, and socialites donned rubber boots.

It was the flood of 1932, and to this day the water has

never gotten as high in Greenwood as it did that infamous year.

The 1927 spring flood of the Mississippi River is more famous nationally, but its damage was centered 50 miles west in Greenville.

The brunt of the 1932 flood hit in Greenwood.

Water began backing up in late 1931 in the smaller rivers in North Mississippi — the Coldwater, Tallahatchie, Yalobusha and Yazoo.

Despite levees deteriorating under the pressure upstream in Tallahatchie County, some didn’t believe Greenwood would ever flood.

City Commissioner Frank H. Smith wrote a letter to the editor of the Greenwood Commonwealth on Jan. 11,

1932, criticizing reports that he said exaggerated the threat.

“I don’t believe Greenwood is in danger of high water; it never has been and will not be,” Smith said.

Two days later — after a heavy rain — every road out of Greenwood was blocked by water save one.

The effort in Greenwood focused on protecting the downtown business district in the days long before the U.S. 82 bypass and Park Spring 2012 Leflore Illustrated / 5

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The high water reached all the way up to the buildings on Front Street.

Avenue drew stores away from the city’s core.

The city was divided into sections with captains over each area. Pumps kept water seeping through sandbag levees from merchants’ stores.

Inmate labor played a key part. The superintendent of the Mississippi State Penitentiary at Parchman, J.W. Williamson, oversaw 368 convicts who rushed to different parts of the city as emergencies arose on the levees.

There were anti-crime measures in place as well.

American Legion members patrolled flood structures to check for leaks and watch for dynamiters, who had already blown a small part of a levee in Tallahatchie County in an effort to relieve pressure elsewhere.

The Red Cross estimated 325,000 acres were flooded, with the worst of it in Leflore and Tallahatchie counties.

The worst damage came in the Grenada Boulevard area east of town, and the north side remained flooded for a week.

“In North Greenwood, water from the Tallahatchie is finding a shortcut into the Yazoo down Grand Boulevard and is running through the sector rapidly,” the Commonwealth reported on Jan. 16.

The Yazoo River finally crested on Jan. 19 at 40.12 feet, and the threat gradually subsided. Greenwood schools, which had closed on Jan. 18, reopened on Jan. 25.

Even though conditions were serious, there was still fun to be had — and humor to be found.

One day deputies happened upon Charles Elardo of Itta Bena, who was trying to extricate a truck from a flooded road using two mules. Inside they found 150 gallons of corn

A boat heads up Grand Boulevard at the Claiborne Avenue intersection.

A torrent pushes against the C&G railroad near the Buckeye oil mill.

Rail lines were washed away in several spots.

Flood timeline Jan. 5: Two inches of rain weaken already stressed levees to the north of Greenwood in Tallahatchie County.

one small explosion.

Jan. 6: Water flows over Grenada Boulevard from Big Sand Creek.

Jan. 16: 325,000 acres under water in six counties; a stream flows down Grand Boulevard in Greenwood.

Jan. 7: A levee breaks at Sharkey, leading to evacuations.

Jan. 8: Red Cross requests 200 boats for relief efforts.

Jan. 12: Near-record amounts of rainfall put Greenwood in danger of flooding.

Jan. 13: Water blocks every road out of Greenwood except one — to Itta Bena.

Jan. 14: Dynamiters attempt to explode a levee at Glendora but are thwarted by security forces after only

Jan. 15: Red Cross estimates 30,000 homeless or otherwise suffering because of flood.

Jan. 18: Convicts and volunteers feverishly work at sandbag levees to protect downtown Greenwood; schools close.

Jan. 19: The Yazoo River crests at 40.12 feet.

Jan. 20: Officials predict water unlikely to reach business district.

Jan. 23: Workers restore railroad service. Most convicts working on levees return to Parchman.

Jan. 25: Schools reopen.

A postman gets his shoes wet but still makes his appointed rounds on Carrollton Avenue.

Spring 2012 Leflore Illustrated / 7

Convicts work on a pump on Carrollton Avenue. More than 300 Parchman inmates assisted with flood control.

liquor — it was the Prohibition era, and he was making a moonshine run.

Elardo waited out the storm in Sheriff Harry Smith’s jail.

W.H. Rucker, a former editor of the Itta Bena Times, wrote a letter to the Commonwealth playfully mocking conditions in Greenwood, which he called “Itta Bena’s best suburb.”

“The Grand Boulevard did look grand, water up to the running board of my Ford, and running over the concrete some distance, and East Greenwood using boats and rubber boots.

“I had long heard you were a wet town, but gosh, I did not know how wet until today, surrounded by water, roads all floating, and your folks all dressed up and no

Mule-drawn wagons and boats were the only way to navigate the flooded Grand Boulevard.

No preacher worth his salt would have missed the chance to use illustrations from Noah’s ark at this flooded church in Baptist Town.

way to go.”

He also made a prescient suggestion — perhaps in jest — to cut a 75-foot canal “across the bend where the Tallahatchie strikes the concrete highway, to pour the water across the bend into the

Yazoo near the old fort.”

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers would later do just that, building the spillway west of Greenwood that can allow floodwaters to be diverted before reaching the city.

The corps also built four

flood-control lakes in North Mississippi in the ensuing decades to avoid future floods of the magnitude experienced in 1932.

The high water did, though, provide a boon for some businesses.

Department stores eagerly advertised hip boots, and companies sponsored excursions on mule-drawn wagons to see flooded North Greenwood.

The Hotel Irving on Howard Street (now The Alluvian) offered special rates for dislocated families. Photographers took pictures of the flooded areas to be shown at area theaters.

An automobile dealership, Delta Chevrolet, ran an ad saying, “We have a car or two jacked up and specially equipped for deeper water driving.” LI

‘A night on a levee is an inspiring experience’ James Howell Street, a Mississippi journalist who later gained some fame as a Hollywood screenwriter, wrote about life on a levee during a Delta flood.

This selection for the Associated Press appeared in the Greenwood Commonwealth on Jan. 5, 1932, under the headline “Old Man River Brings Blessings in Disguise.”

The Delta in flood time is as active as a beehive. Days are devoted to removing and feed8 / Leflore Illustrated Spring 2012

ing tenants and watching levees. Lights are strung along the banks at night, and there is no letup in the fight to keep the rivers away from the cabins.

A night on a levee is an inspiring experience.

The lights cast a frightful yellow shadow on the muddy streams, and the rumbling of the river forms a sonorous bass to chants of the negro workers. An endless line of plantation hands or convicts tramps the embankments, bringing sand bags to strengthen weak spots. Rain falls

in sheets.

Steamboats stand by, and their deep-throated whistles sound a dirge which mingles with tolling plantation bells in a mournful melody of warning.

Even in the face of this danger the Negroes sing: “A packin’ dis sand to de levee, a breakin’ mah back wid de strain.

“Ol’ riber done got a bellyful, but still hit po’s down rain.”

Greenwood City-Wide Usher Board

A mission of service A

STORY BY DAVID MONROE ! PHOTOS BY JOHNNY JENNINGS

church usher’s job is to make people feel welcome, but the Greenwood City-Wide Usher Board is involved in many other things, too.

During services, its members can be seen doing the things commonly associated with the job — greeting and seating people, holding doors and taking offerings. But the group also helps raise money that churches use for a variety of improvements, such as air conditioning, furniture and remodeling.

“Most of the churches that are affiliated with the City-Wide, the improvements that they have made in their church basically come through the CityWide,” said Joe McCoy, president of the board.

As recently as 10 or 15 years ago, many area churches lacked adequate facilities,

and the money raised by the board has made a big difference, McCoy said.

“The rural churches especially, and some of the city churches, would not be able to bring a guest evangelist in if it were not for the City-Wide,” he said.

v v v The Usher Board was organized in 1961 at Jennings Chapel Christian Methodist Episcopal Church under the leadership of W.C. Curry.

After Curry’s death, the vice president, Willie Winford, was chosen to succeed him. Winford died in 2000, and McCoy

Joe McCoy has been an usher since 1972 and president of the Greenwood City-Wide Usher Board since 2000.

The City-Wide Usher choir performs during a recent Usher Day program at East Percy Street Christian Church.

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Ushers march during a recent service at East Percy Street Christian Church.

hard-pressed to do that without the help was appointed acting president. He events, even for churches that aren’t of the usher ministry,” he said. became president later that year. members.

Towner said the ushers play a big role McCoy, a member of New Zion, had Robert Sims, the board’s chairman, said in both “fellowship and relationships.” been an usher since 1972. they don’t go to anyone’s church to tell “An old friend of mine came to me sev- They foster a sense of camaraderie them what to do. Rather, he said, “whateral times and asked me to become a part among small churches, and those churchever they want us to do, we'll go help of the Usher Board,” he recalled. “At first es can have more of an impact when they them.”

I was kind of reluctant, but finally I come together, he said.

Sims, an usher for about 30 years, also accepted. And once I accepted, I've been Bishop Milton Glass, pastor of New sings in the Usher Choir, which has about working ever since.”

Green Grove Church of Faith, said the 25 members. Many of them don’t sing in Twenty-five churches are represented Usher Board money has helped with routhe choirs at their own churches, but on the board, and the number of repretine maintenance and other things such director Margaret Hurt said they’re a talsentatives from individual churches as youth programs. ented group. ranges from two to more than 30.

Besides that, the ushers “play a vital Hurt said her mother got her started in Churches must apply and pay $25 to part in the churches — just being there to music at an early age — “My daddy was a become affiliated. greet people to make sure everyone’s preacher, so we had to sing” — and she The Usher Board goes to each church comfortable,” he said. “They are very has a lot of experience leading choirs of twice a year — once for Usher Day and active and supportive, making sure the young people. She said when she started once to help with revival. Each church worship service goes smoothly.” with the Usher Choir, it was her first time contributes $15 during Usher Day and directing adults. v v v $10 during revivals, and ushers contribute “I love it,” she said. $5 each. Beyond that, people may donate The board’s members meet once a v v v more as they wish.

On Usher Day, as the music plays, they month to plan and to discuss any probMcCoy, a deacon and trustee at New lems that come up. Sometimes discusproceed to the front and make their conZion as well as the church’s clerk, said the sions can get heated, but they stay tributions — usually a dollar, although focused on their two purposes: fellowship Usher Board has helped him meet people some give more. he probably wouldn’t have met otherand fundraising. They also support each “We march around the table, you pay wise. other during times of illness or bereavewhatever you want to pay individually The “season” for Usher Day programs ment. and then all funds raised at this church starts the second Sunday in March and “We come together, and we all want to today stay at this church,” McCoy said. runs through the second Sunday in be of one accord,” McCoy said.

Even if it’s given only in small increNovember. Often, after that period, he The group furnishes ushers for events ments, the money adds up; in fact, McCoy said, for many churches, it’s the doesn’t see some of the people again for a such as banquets and funerals. It also largest fundraising day of the year. while, so he’s glad when March rolls sends out announcements about church Valmadge Towner, pastor of around.

Friendship Missionary Baptist McCoy said serving with Church, said the money the board has been rewardraised by the Usher Board is ing, and he plans to stay on as “a pretty big line item in our long as he can. The election simple, modest budget” and for president is held every has helped in a variety of other December. ways. For example, it boosts a “As long as I stay in good ministry that gives financial health — fair health — then I aid to those who are bereaved guess I’ll just continue, as or hospitalized.

Usher Day services are important fundraising events for area church- long as they accept me,” he es, says Joe McCoy, president of the City-Wide Usher Board.

“We certainly would be said. LI Spring 2012 Leflore Illustrated / 11

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Staplcotn Building

Roll in history

Staplcotn moved into its headquarters at 214 W. Market St. in 1931.

I

nside Staplcotn’s downtown headquarters is a remnant of Greenwood’s past.

The Hippodrome Skating Rink, an indoor rink, was unveiled to the public in April 1907. It was above Henderson & Baird Hardware Co. According to the Greenwood Enterprise, then a rival of the Greenwood Commonwealth, some 450 people attended the grand opening on April 7, 1907.

“Everything is beautifully arranged;

ladies’ cloak rooms, seats for spectators and one of the finest floors in the South.

Nothing has been spared,” the newspaper gushed.

The following Friday night, a “Ten Dollar Gage” hat was to be given away by P.L. DeLoach Co. to the best lady skater.

Morning sessions at the rink, at 9:30 and 11:30, were free. Afternoon sessions

STORY BY BOB DARDEN ! PHOTOS BY JOHNNY JENNINGS AND COURTESY OF ALLAN HAMMONS Spring 2012 Leflore Illustrated / 13

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The Hippodrome Skating Rink was one of several indoor rinks located in Greenwood during the early 20th century. Note the grooved

were free for women and for children under 12. Night sessions cost 10 cents.

In all cases, skate rentals ran a whopping 15 cents.

Donny Whitehead, who worked as computer operations manager for Staplcotn for 36 years, recalls hearing about the skating rink.

“When I was hired on there, Mr. C.J. Coleman, he told me that he started working there in 1921,” Whitehead said.

“You could just go look at the floor and see it laid out. ... Everybody that worked there knew about it,” he said.

Whitehead, a Greenwood history buff, said he came upon the Greenwood Enterprise story in a Staplcotn newsletter in 2007, a century after the Hippodrome opened.

He said Henderson & Baird Hardware was at the location on West Market Street from 1904 to 1931. The company sold the building to Staplcotn that year.

Whitehead said the Hippodrome was just one of several skating rinks scattered throughout Greenwood. In 1907, the city had between 2,000 and 3,000 residents.

“Skating was a big thing. ... They would have follow-up articles; they would have ladies days and speed skaters,” he said.

Another indoor rink was located in the Ray Building on Howard Street. Still another was located in a lot near the future site of the Paramount Theater.

“They had them all over town,” Whitehead said.

In an era before television, skating was

pattern of the hardwood floor. This style of flooring was used in rinks of the period because the skates were difficult to turn or stop.

The building housed Henderson & Baird Hardware from 1904 to 1931.

a popular activity in the city.

In the late 1940s and early ’50s, a skating rink was located along Carrollton Avenue, Whitehead said.

“It gave them something to do.”

Jan Verhage, who retired as Staplcotn’s director of cotton classing in 2007, said he worked on the floor that contained the skating rink when he started with the cooperative in 1984.

“There were offices and everything on that floor. You could tell by the wood, by the way it was placed, it was pretty big,” he said.

At the peak of the cotton season, as many as 50 people worked on the floor that housed the Hippodrome, Verhage said.

Still, the skating rink of yesteryear brings back fond memories, he said.

“You can tell how well-built it was.”

Another Greenwood historian, Allan Hammons, chief executive officer of the advertising firm Hammons & Associates, said he’s not aware of any photographs showing the Hippodrome while it was in use.

“Maybe the article will produce one,” he said. LI Spring 2012 Leflore Illustrated / 15

The Litton House

Comfortable in the country

The picturesque plantation bell was part of the property when the Littons purchased West Brier. The bell's origins are not known.

W

hen Ann Litton looks at some of the paintings on her walls, she does not feel an obligation to hang pieces she’d rather have in storage. She sees colorful still lifes and landscapes created by her father, who loved to paint. Silver serving pieces are not dust-catchers that demand regular polishing — they’re memories of family dinners and festive parties hosted by her parents and grandparents.

STORY BY JO ALICE DARDEN PHOTOS BY JOHNNY JENNINGS

The Littons added a swimming pool in the back that attracts grandchildren and their friends in warm weather.

Spring 2012 Leflore Illustrated / 17

West Brier is modeled after The Briars, a historic Southern plantation-style home that is now a bed and breakfast in Natchez.

“So many people feel that getting somebody else’s ‘stuff’ is a burden,” said Ann, whose home is filled with treasures she and her husband, Bill, have inherited. “But to me, it’s such a comfort to have these things, now that my parents and grandparents are gone. They’re all just wonderful memories.”

There can hardly be a more Southern interior design aesthetic than honoring the past by appreciating and displaying

reminders of happy times.

Both Ann and Bill Litton have a tremendous capacity for perceiving these gifts as memories, adding their own touches and making them work in their busy lives.

Married since 1972, the Littons have always lived in the Greenwood area, where Ann grew up and where Bill’s family moved when he was in grade school.

“We lived in six other houses in Greenwood before we

Several arched wrought-iron gates break the line of the 10-foot-tall brick wall surrounding the back gardens.

18 / Leflore Illustrated Spring 2012

bought this one,” Ann said.

Each one worked for a time — until it didn’t, usually because of the need for more space. Bill, president of Wade Inc., which was started by Ann’s grandfather and has its headquarters in Greenwood, was busy maintaining and expanding the company. The Littons became an active family of five, and all three of their children have gone into the business themselves.

Daughter Gerard Litton

An oil portrait of young Ann Litton overlooks the dining room, where silver serving dishes are serving a fourth generation of the family.

Mohamed, now with Wade Inc. in Greenwood, was their first. With her late husband, Chad, Gerard has three sons and a daughter — Chandler, 14; Litton, 12; George Wade, 8; and Ann Gerard, 6 — all of whom attend Pillow Academy.

Powell Litton, manager of Wade Inc. in Clarksdale, and his wife, Wendi, a lawyer there, have a son, William, 3, and are expecting a daughter in July.

Wade Litton, manager of

The Littons added this screened porch, where Ann says they “live” during warm weather.

Spring 2012 Leflore Illustrated / 19

The Littons’ living room is framed by arches and a curving staircase. A portrait of their daughter, Gerard, hangs over the fireplace.

The deep, soothing green of the master suite’s walls combine with the room’s soft textures to make a quiet retreat for the Littons.

the store in Greenwood, and his wife, Meagan, a certified yoga instructor, have a 9month-old son, Kennan.

By 1990, the Littons were living in the house where Ann grew up on West Harding Avenue. They had bought the house from Ann’s mother, who died about five years ago, after Ann’s father, George K. Wade, died in 1987.

“We were just on top of each other,” Ann laughed, though they were trying to make the best of the close quarters.

“Bill had really always wanted to live out in the country,” Ann said. “When this house came up for sale, he talked me into buying it.”

Bill saw the house and the location; Ann saw the house and the garden. She remembers that Powell, then 12, declared the house “so far out of town” (about five minutes) that he thought the family would be forced to rent an apartment in Greenwood.

The name of the house is West Brier; it was modeled after The Briars, a historic house that is now a bed and breakfast in Natchez. Situated on nine acres carved out of the southern edge of Star of the West Plantation just north of Greenwood, West Brier was built in 1980, although it has the character of a home built a century ago.

living room. Softly aged oriental rugs dot the dark-stained hardwood floors.

The room opens into the dining room, centered by a long walnut table. On the antique sideboard, a silver service gleams, and large windows on two walls allow light and energy to flow freely.

The feeling is colonial, enhanced by the Jacobean wallpaper pattern Ann chose for that effect above the wainscoting.

Off the dining room, a surprisingly compact kitchen with mostly Viking appliances is open now to the nook, where Ann and Bill spend much of their indoor time. But in good weather, Ann said, the screened porch they added, with its tables, comfy seating and vented Viking grill, “is where we live.”

Ann said the den is their

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A house had existed on the site for many years. In disrepair, the house was bought and rebuilt by Luther Webb Wade, who was able to preserve three of the original rooms. When the Littons bought the plantation-style house from Wade, they added a screened porch, a patio, a swimming pool, fountains and brick fencing outside. They knocked down one wall inside to open the space between the kitchen and a cozy TVreading-dining nook. The rest was cosmetic — paint, wallpaper, textiles, art and those family treasures.

The resemblance to The Briars is apparent beginning with the front of the house with its dormers and broad front porch. Inside the Palladian-arched front entry, graceful arches and a curving staircase frame the spacious

The brick wall surrounding the back of the Litton property has several fountains that add interest to the landscape.

“winter room,” and Bill’s office and a bedroom and bath round out the rest of the downstairs.

It’s clear that family is central to the Littons’ lifestyle.

Family photos and oil portraits populate walls and tabletops throughout the house. The portrait of daughter Gerard over the fireplace in the living room and the one of sons Powell and Wade over the fireplace in the den were painted

by Collier Parker, now dean of Insalaco College of Creative and Performing Arts at Marywood University in Scranton, Pa., when he was dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at Delta State University. Family and friends spend lots of time at the house, which is the site of frequent gatherings and celebrations.

Upstairs, each of the three bedrooms has its own bath.

Ann designed the master suite as a quiet haven from the couple’s daily busyness. A wall-towall natural fiber rug and the dupioni silk bedspread soften sounds to whispers, and walls of a deep, soothing green envelop the room in cool serenity.

“I saw the color in a magazine once and knew I wanted to paint our bedroom this shade,” Ann said.

Against one wall stands an antique armoire that was custom-built for Ann’s paternal

Ann Litton and her granddaughter, Ann Gerard, stand before a gurgling fountain in the shady back garden.

grandmother. “It’s built like a jigsaw puzzle,” Ann said. “It was fun trying to figure out how all the pieces fit together to set it up in here.”

Opposite the tall bed, a bank of windows and a glass-paned door lead to a balcony that overlooks the back gardens, where the family spends a great deal of time when the weather allows.

Ann is a certified Mississippi Master Gardener whose skills and talent are obvious. She and Bill created an outdoor retreat surrounded by a 10-foot-tall brick enclosure, topped with fig vine, as a barrier against the dust and noise of the adjacent fields. A potting shed and tables provide space for Ann to work as she fills and tends several beds of not only flowers, but also herbs and vegetables the family eats.

Fountains flow and gurgle. Near the shed is a playhouse built for Ann Gerard about three years ago. Children and grandchildren splash in the pool when the weather is warm enough.

It might be said that living in a halfdozen houses before buying West Brier helped the Littons know as much about what they wanted in a home as what did not work for them. The journey also allowed them time to grow as a family, shape their tastes and collect those objects that provide comfort and happiness to them now. Having lived there for 22 years, Ann says this is, finally, where they belong. LI Spring 2012 Leflore Illustrated / 21

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Sam Fonda Jr.

HOME BREWER

Sam Fonda Jr. says he’s home-brewed more than 35 batches of beer in the past 18 months in 15 to 20 different styles.

STORY BY BOB DARDEN PHOTOS BY JOHNNY JENNINGS

S

am Fonda Jr. is a beer artisan.

Fonda, who grew up in Greenwood, now lives in Charlotte, N.C. — and thanks in part to a recently enacted Mississippi law permitting the sale of beer containing 8 percent alcohol by weight instead of the former 5 percent standard, he says he might come home again.

Fonda, the son of Cathy and Sam Fonda Sr. of Greenwood, said he first experienced the art of home brewing when he went out West. He moved to Silverthorne, Colo., the summer after

Sam Fonda Jr. says the recent change in Mississippi’s beer law might lead him to come home and become a brewer.

graduating from the University of Mississippi.

“I met a guy there who gave me a beer at a party,” he said. “I said, ‘What kind of beer is this?’ He said it was a double Ipa.” In the world of beers, an Ipa is short for India Pale Ale, a very strong, very hoppy variety.

Fonda said his curiosity was piqued.

“I asked what brewery, and he said, ‘I made it in my bathtub.’ I was a little disgusted that I was drinking something from someone’s bathtub; I just pictured it,” he said. “It’s actually not like that. It was delicious.”

The beer’s full-bodied taste intrigued Fonda. But he didn’t really think about home-brewing again until he moved to Charlotte with his girlfriend, Aryn Jayne Kelly, a Canadian by way of West Virginia.

One day while they were antique shopSpring 2012 Leflore Illustrated / 23

24 / Leflore Illustrated Spring 2012

ping, Fonda said. entered a homeIf something brew shop doesn’t go known as quite right, Alternative off-flavor beer Beverage. It was batches are a warehouse merely used in with all kinds of cooking at a ingredients — a country club wonderland for where Fonda the home-brew works in crowd.

Charlotte.

Immersion in A basic startsuch an environup kit consists ment sparked of a 6-gallon Fonda’s interest. bucket, a 6Ù“I started gallon rigid looking into it. container Finally, I bit the called a “carbullet and boy” and 50 bought a kit to non-twist-off make my first bottles, Fonda beer. It was an said.

Sam Fonda Jr., center, offers a toast with his girlfriend, Aryn Jayne Kelly, and friend Lee Leflore, the extract kit,” he First, the sous chef at Giardina’s, during a recent visit to Greenwood. said. ingredients are path for me.”

“Extract brewers are kind of beginner boiled.

After that the unfermented beer, Fonda said he’d love to start a brew brewers. They buy a certain kind of pow- pub or brewery in Mississippi. The new known as cold wort, is placed in the ferder,” Fonda said. menting vessel and allowed to ferment state law allowing the sale of “higherFonda said his friends seemed to enjoy octane” beer, which takes effect July 1, for about a week. It is then “racked” in the beers he produced, but he wanted to the carboy for conditioning and then botshould help, he said. move beyond extract brewing. Soon he tled, he said.

“I think it was a very wise choice. Not began tinkering with his own recipes.

Bottling “makes a huge mess on our only will it keep Mississippi beer enthu“I got tired of following standard profloor usually,” Fonda said. siasts from driving across state lines, it cedures. I wanted to go out on a limb. I When bottling of the home brew actushould help out the Mississippi economy moved to all-grain brewing,” Fonda said. ally begins, it is a festive affair. as well,” Fonda said.

He likens extract brewing to buying “I’ll have one person washing the botStill, Fonda said Mississippi’s laws store-bought pasta and all-grain brewing tles, another person, the sanitizer, pourlimit smaller breweries from operating in to making pasta at home from scratch. ing them out, letting the bottles dry and the state.

He also said he doesn’t filter his beers. then filling them with beer. It’s a human “You cannot own a brewery and serve Fonda and his girlfriend will go to assembly line,” Fonda said. alcohol out of the brewery. You can’t let farmers markets looking for honeys, He said his beers naturally carbonate. people sample your beers,” he said. syrups and “any kind of adjuncts we can “The leftover yeast that’s in the bottom “That takes a lot of the fun out of it.” throw in there.” of these beers will actually eat the sugar Fonda said he has brewed more then A few of the beers Fonda has bottled that I put in them. It not only creates 35 batches over the past year and a half, include such colorful names as Portly alcohol, it also creates CO2,” Fonda said. including 15 to 20 different styles.

Pecan Ale, Bad Pup Xtra Pale, Whiteout Once capped, beers are kept at room “We started out doing this at home, in Ipa, Naughty or Nice Ale, Belgian Tripel, our kitchen,” he said. “You can imagine temperature for about a week.

Gullah Ale, Belgian Wit, Sweet Pilsner, Fonda said the shelf life of a beer what it smells like in your kitchen when Christmas Beer and Big Brown. Each depends on its style. you get through brewing tons of malted has a label to match.

“With a beer that has more alcohol barley and hops. It smelled like what my Porter refers to a dark-style beer; content and more hops, you could have a friend called ‘a hippie’s armpit.’”

Fonda describes the Belgian Tripel as a longer shelf life,” he said.

Since those initial batches, the opera“high-octane” beer made with Belgian Fonda said artificial preservatives, such tion has been moved to a friend’s shed. candy and yeast strains. as those used in most store-bought beers, Fonda’s brew is not for sale. Instead it is given to friends and family. Typically Belgian Wit beer is “white beer,” have undesirable side effects. he can brew about 5 gallons per week. which is made using bitter orange peels “We’ll have three or four of these Five gallons will produce between 50 and coriander seed. when I get off work, and I don’t ever feel and 55 bottles of beer.

Fonda said Charlotte’s beer culture very bad the next day,” he said.

“It will cost me $20 to $45 per batch. It has furthered his skill as a brewer. In Fonda has made one more convert to really is an inexpensive hobby,” he said. fact, it may have started the Ole Miss home-brewing — his father.

Typically, the journey from brewing to history major into thinking about a new “My dad was a Busch Light guy, and belly takes a little over a month, Fonda line of work. “It’s probably a new career now he drinks porters,” Fonda said. LI Spring 2012 Leflore Illustrated / 25

Jerry Taylor

Unlikely artisan

Jerry Taylor shows off some of the wire-wrap jewelry he has created at his home in Itta Bena.

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STORY BY CHARLIE SMITH ! PHOTOS BY JOHNNY JENNINGS

o one would be surprised to see Jerry Taylor driving a truck hauling beans or rice from his family’s farm in Itta Bena.

Some heads would turn, though, if they saw him making fine jewelry.

Inside a small workshop at his home, Taylor crafts gold and silver wire into bracelets, pendants and other pieces that are sold in several Mississippi stores.

“People who know me say, ‘I can’t believe you’re doing 26 / Leflore Illustrated Spring 2012

this,’” the 74-year-old retiree says. “They go, ‘Why?’ and ‘How?’” The “how” is this: Taylor practices one of the oldest forms of jewelry-making, called wire wrap.

There’s no welding, soldering or gluing; pliers and other simple tools are used to bind wire together in imaginative ways.

Each finished product is a unique creation.

As for the “why,” discovering that requires a journey to the small desert town of Quartzsite, Ariz. Its 3,000 population swells to more than 1 million during the winter, when RV campers descend upon “the Rock Capital of the World.”

Taylor — who retired in 1999 from Dow Chemical — and his wife, Erma Dean, made the trek in 2004.

“We were sitting at the motor homes one afternoon, and this guy walked up and said, ‘What do you think about this?’ He was from Wisconsin, and he had some

wire-wrap jewelry,” Taylor said.

Taylor liked it and thought, “I think I can do this.”

He spent the rest of the week learning about the work, finding suppliers and buying a how-to book.

Tools proved one of his biggest hurdles to learning the craft.

The pliers he had from the farm are rough inside to facilitate holding onto things, but on delicate jewelry work, it made for scuffed and torn wire. Taylor first solved the problem by wrapping masking tape around the pliers before finding out he was supposed to have smooth ones.

Finding a pin vise for twisting the wire took a search across the West from Arizona to Texas.

The Taylors return to Quartzsite every two years and stay a couple of weeks.

Jerry walks around with a small book and takes notes on things he likes. He’ll buy pieces and get permission to copy the design.

By 2006, Taylor was ready to submit his work to the Craftsmen’s Guild of Mississippi for a juried review.

He’s been a member of the guild ever since, getting recertified every three years.

Taylor’s commercial sales started thanks to a phenomenon that could be called “beauty shop marketing.”

His wife wore the jewelry while getting her hair done, and other women there began to admire it.

Candy Carver from Traditions Custom Framing and Gift Shop on Howard Street saw something there and sent word to Taylor.

Traditions began carrying his work, and it’s been a good relationship for both sides.

“I just think it’s really elegant jewelry but at a reasonable price,” Carver said.

Gold and silver bracelets, loop earrings and wrapped state quarters are all popular, she said.

Taylor does custom work, too, even ordering gold from Israel for an order when he couldn’t find that thickness in the United States. He’s wrapped everything from a gold medal to elk teeth.

Taylor also sells now at the Craftsmen’s Guild store in Jackson and most recently at Montage Marketplace in Greenville.

Carver said the Taylors work well with her — Erma Dean makes her a homemade coconut cake every year — and with customers.

“They’re just so down-toearth. They really love people and are so helpful in so many different things they do,” she said. LI

Jerry Taylor says finding the proper tools was the biggest obstacle he had to overcome in learning how to make jewelry.

Spring 2012 Leflore Illustrated / 27

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Spring 2012 Leflore Illustrated / M29

Delta Bistro

‘You know it will be go od’ W STORY BY BETH THOMAS ! PHOTOS BY JOHNNY JENNINGS

hen custom

ers step into Delta Bistro, colorful images, mostly painted by chef proprietor Taylor Bowen Ricketts, catch their eye.

Ricketts, who holds a fine arts degree from the University of Mississippi, uses the same creative juices that saturate the restaurant’s walls to concoct flavorful masterpieces that keep locals and out-of-towners coming back for seconds — and thirds.

The restaurant serves everything from Southern favorites, such as chicken salad sandwiches and barbecue shrimp po-boys, to the more obscure, such as elk brisket and fried alligator.

“Everything on our menu is pretty popular; there isn’t just one thing that stands out among the rest,” Ricketts said.

“If people don’t like something, we retire it from the menu. Everything on the menu now has been there a while.”

30 / Leflore Illustrated Spring 2012

Delta Bistro chef proprietor Taylor Bowen Ricketts serves up an award-winning menu.

Server Tashunda McGee delivers food to a table during a Saturday lunch.

Ricketts learned the art of cooking in her grandparents’ Louisiana kitchen, which heavily influenced the Cajun and Creole recipes on the restaurant’s menu.

Her creative use of flavor and color have earned both the restaurant and Ricketts herself several honors from Mississippi Magazine, Delta Magazine and other regional publications. Ricketts’ most prestigious recognition came in 2011, when she received the James Beard Award “Best Chef - South” semifinalist nomination.

As a relatively new establishment, Delta Bistro moved from Delta Fresh Market on Park Avenue to its Main Street location in September 2008.

“We wanted a cozier location, and this suited us more,” Ricketts said. “We wanted to downsize and just focus on the restaurant.”

With a new location, new name and new purpose, the restaurant grew into an established business that has attracted both flavor-seeking locals and culinary

celebrities such as Ruth Reichl, Emeril Lagasse, John Folse and Thomas Keller.

To Ricketts, the most distinctive aspect of the restaurant is its lunch special menu, which changes daily. “This gives people a chance to try something new that they’ve never tried before,” she said.

“You can come here every day of the week and have something completely different. Whether you try a new dish or order a favorite, you know it will be good.” LI

A unique spot at Delta Bistro is the chef’s table, where diners can observe the action in the kitchen.

Delta Bistro Type of cuisine: “Traditional Southern fare with global flavors” Where: 117 Main St., Greenwood Phone: (662) 455-9675 Hours: 10 a.m-9 p.m. MondaySaturday Website: www.deltabistro.com

Artwork, much of it created by Taylor Bowen Ricketts, adorns the walls of Delta Bistro.

Spring 2012 Leflore Illustrated / 31

It’s g n i r Sp n I e Tim ! a d a n e r G

32 / Leflore Illustrated Spring 2012

Radio-controlled airplanes

Frequent flyers

A group of radio-controlled plane enthusiasts have made a small grass airstrip near Money, owned by farmer Billy Whittington, their base of operation. From the left, pictured with a selection of planes,

A

are Bill McMinn, Richard Oakes, David Franklin, Harold Moorehead, Solon Scott III and Scott’s son, Solon IV. Not pictured, the Rev. Glenn Seefeld.

STORY BY BOB DARDEN ! PHOTOS BY JOHNNY JENNINGS

band of hearty men have taken the wonders of flight and turned them into a love of flying model airplanes.

On Easter Sunday, all the men who gathered on the grass airstrip near Money owned and maintained by farmer Billy Whittington said flying radio-controlled planes is a hobby they often quit before coming back to it.

For Harold Moorehead, the hobby began back in 1985.

“I quit for 18 years and started back about four years ago. These guys talked me into coming back one day,” he said.

The group — which still does not have a formal name — is made up of

Moorehead, David Franklin, Bill McMinn, the Rev. Glenn Seefeld, Solon Scott III and Richard Oakes.

Moorehead, who has lived in Greenwood for the past 20 years, said the technology that goes into the small planes has improved greatly over the past decades.

“The radios are so sophisticated now,” he said. “Used to, you had channels. Say somebody was on Channel 12, you couldn’t fly on the same channel. Now, you can’t interfere with anybody.”

Spring 2012 Leflore Illustrated / 33

34 / Leflore Illustrated Spring 2012

Bill McMinn does a pre-flight check with his scale model of a Piper Cub.

Solon Scott III prepares to start the engine on his scale model of a Stearman bi-plane.

Harold Moorehead gets one of his performance aircraft ready for takeoff.

Asked if it’s an expensive hobby, McMinn replied, “Depends on how good you fly. It’s probably a little more expensive for me than others.”

As a youngster, McMinn started out with line-controlled planes, a Cox TD specifically, where the pilot steered the plane by means of a string or guideline. In other words, the plane was started, and the pilot stood at the center of an imaginary circle.

The plane flew in circles until it ran out of fuel.

“About 15 years ago, I bought a radiocontrolled plane. I met up with Glenn Seefeld, I found out that he flies, and Glenn introduced me to these guys,” McMinn said.

Fears of catastrophic failure while aloft don’t deter McMinn, a native of Marks.

“There’s always something that can go wrong. Something can come loose. It’s just like a real plane,” he said. “There’s radio failure, there’s engine failure, there’s always something.”

Good maintenance goes a long way in diminishing the chances of something going horribly awry, McMinn said.

Today’s radio-controlled planes fall into two categories — nitro fuel and gas. Flying time with each fuel varies.

“If you’re flying the nitro ones, it’s around 10 to 12 minutes,” McMinn said.

“If you’re flying gas, it’s more like 18 minutes.”

Like Moorehead, McMinn had given up on the hobby, at least for a while.

“I quit for about 15 years, started back, then quit again. I learned that when I quit now, I don’t get rid of my stuff,” he said.

More sophisticated radio controllers are just one area of improvement. Now a controller can be used on multiple planes.

“I’ve got nine on one radio now,” McMinn said.

One of McMinn’s nine planes is a scale model of a Piper Cub. Countless pilots cut their teeth piloting Cubs, and McMinn said the model recreates that dependability.

“It flies just exactly like the real airplane.

It’s good on a day when it’s not windy,” he said.

On the opposite end of the spectrum is McMinn’s Ultimate, a nitro-powered stunt plane that’s definitely not for beginners.

Oakes said he, too, has returned to the radio-control fold. He got started as a youngster.

“My next-door neighbor, when I lived in Greenville, when I was like 10 years old, got me started in it,” Oakes said.

“I pretty much lived next door.”

Scott said he was active in radio-controlled planes in the 1980s but lost interest through the 1990s.

“I started back about six or seven years ago,” he said.

Scott always liked building models when

he was growing up. With his engineering background, the jump to radio-controlled planes was fairly easy.

He said getting started depends on the kind of radio control one buys.

“You can start at a couple hundred dollars. The bigger planes are more expensive.

You’re talking hundreds or thousands of dollars,” Scott said.

“It’s like fishing. You can get you a little fishing boat and a trolling motor, or you can get a bass boat.”

Still, there are some universal rules: Avoid people, trees and power lines.

Assembly of radio-controlled planes can be simple or sophisticated, Scott said.

Some planes are sold “ARF,” or “Almost Ready to Fly.” “You still have a fair amount of work to it. The wings are built in two sections, and you’ve got to glue them together. The fuselage doesn’t have any of the control surfaces,” he said.

Scott has three World War II-era planes — a P-47 Thunderbolt, a P-51 Mustang and an AT-6 Texan. All feature retractable landing gear.

He said he hasn’t had any problems with the landing gear retracting or deploying.

“I’ve knocked landing gear off when I’ve landed them too hard,” Scott said.

Scott’s 7-year-old son, Solon IV, is learning the skills necessary to be a good radiocontrol pilot.

“He’s doing a simulator on a computer.

He’ll probably pick it up,” Scott said.

You can punch in whatever type of plane you’re flying, as well as the weather and landing strip conditions, he said.

It’s a less expensive way to learn. “You can’t go through a lot of planes” in the real world, he said. LI

An essential component to radio-controlled planes is the radio transmitter. Today, transmitters are capable of being programmed to control several models with a wide spectrum of radio channels from which to choose.

Spring 2012 Leflore Illustrated / 35

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Bobo Champion

Card-carrying collector F

or many little boys growing up in the 1950s, collecting and swapping baseball cards was a favorite pastime.

Most put them aside as they grew up, and they often got lost or thrown away. But a few, such as Bobo Champion, held on to their collections.

“I probably have a couple of thousand,” he says. “I lost some when Mother moved.”

Now 63, he occasionally looks at the cards and reminisces about those times and the heroes those baseball players were. “It’s fun to go back now and look at these guys and say, ‘Gosh, he was a good player. I thought he was older when he was playing.’”

In the North Greenwood neighborhood where Champion spent most of his growing-up time, little boys were everywhere, he remembers, and collecting baseball cards was a big activity.

“There were at least 25 of us on West Adams, West Monroe, Cherokee,” he said. “We would ride our bikes all over and buy them at a country store where Park Avenue is now, and at the New Deal Tobacco Company owned by the Cascio brothers. It was a lot of fun. We didn’t have a lot to do. A package of five to 10

Bobo Champion, 63, says he still has “a couple of thousand” of the baseball cards he collected as a boy growing up in Greenwood, including prized ones for players such as Mickey Mantle, Willie Mayes and Ted Williams.

cards cost only a nickel. There was a big piece of bubble gum in it.

“Our parents would say, ‘You don’t need to eat all that gum.’ We just wanted the cards. We would look for a particular card. You might buy four or five packages to get one you wanted.”

Always an ardent sports fan, he especially loved baseball. “We didn’t have much television,” he said. “It was

blurry. If someone came on TV, you would want that card.”

Some of his favorites played on the Greenwood Dodgers, a minor-league team of the Brooklyn club, and later moved up to the big time.

“The Dodgers played where Hickok Manufacturing is now, and years later, when the team folded, Greenwood High played there.

STORY BY RUTH JENSEN ! PHOTOS BY JOHNNY JENNINGS

It was interesting to look at cards and see if any of the guys played here,” he said.

“I have a picture of a guy from the last game played at Ebbets Field, before the Brooklyn Dodgers moved to Los Angeles (in 1957). He married a girl from here.

His name was Danny McDevitt. He played here.”

Champion stopped buying baseball cards when he hit 13 or 14. As for his most treasured cards, that’s like asking a parent which child is your favorite, he says. He’s got Hall of Famers Mickey Mantle, Willie Mays, Ted Williams and many others.

“How hard was it to find Mickey? You just kept buying until you got it, or somebody traded you for it,” he said. “Trading cards was a lot of fun but could get you aggravated. If you, by chance, got a rookie card and that person later became famous, that card became worth a lot.”

Although he holds some valuable cards, he has never tried to sell any of them. He keeps the rarest ones in a lockbox.

Occasionally he collected cards featuring professional athletes from other sports, particularly if they had roots in Greenwood.

He has a card of Gerald Glass, the Amanda Elzy High School boys basketball coach who played in the NBA, and one of Kent Hull, the former NFL star who died last year.

“I was good friends with Gerald Glass when my son Chris was young,” Champion said. “We got one of his cards. We have it in glass. Chris has a Kent Hull card. He was his childhood hero. It is put up.”

Champion feels the collecting of sports cards helped him in many ways. It inspired him early to do something he still enjoys — broadcasting sports on the radio.

Nowadays, it’s Pillow Academy football, but baseball provided his first taste of being on the air.

“Lane Tucker from WABG radio let me do some Little League baseball occasionally, helping him out some. I did a little Ole Miss baseball,” he said.

Later he went into sports information at the University of Mississippi.

“I went on to write for the school paper, was editor of the paper at Ole Miss and was head of sports information there. I went on to write for the Commonwealth,” he said.

Later, as he began to broadcast Pillow sports on the radio, it took him and often his family to many places around the state.

“I’ve traveled a lot of miles, been in some interesting situations, and met a lot of interesting people,” he said “I like Mississippi so much. Small towns can have people you feel you’ve known forever.”

38 / Leflore Illustrated Spring 2012

Despite trying to maintain some impartiality in his broadcasting, he admits he sometimes fails.

“I am a ‘homer,’” he said. “Over the years I have probably gotten more impartial, but it’s not easy to do.”

His regular occupation is account representative for C Spire Wireless, but a favorite pastime is coaching girls soccer for Pillow. He started in 1992, when he helped begin the soccer program.

“Soccer helps children develop,” he said.

“Some people thought it would ruin football, but it can develop feet and help kids learn competition.”

Champion, who describes himself as a type-A personality, has had numerous health problems and is diabetic, but he says he will not quit until he just has to.

Sports, though, is third on his list of priorities. Faith and family are higher, and they have meant so much through good and bad times, including a kidney transplant, he said.

But he knows athletics can teach valuable lessons.

“I try to stress to the girls that this is helping you get ready for life. You have to be tough-minded out in the world today,” he said. LI

Spring salads

Simply scrumptious

This plate is covered with fresh, delicious spring treats: A scoop of chicken pasta salad on leaf lettuce, tomato cup of marinated green

bean salad, cucumber sandwiches, pickled okra filled with homemade pimiento cheese, deviled eggs and grapes.

STORY BY LEE ANN FLEMMING ! PHOTO BY JOHNNY JENNINGS

O

ur taste buds seem to change with the seasons. With the arrival of spring comes the mouth-watering desire for a cool, delicious salad.

Whether it is a crunchy vegetable concoction, delectable fresh fruit or a hearty main course, salads are a refreshing change of pace from cold-weather soups and chowders.

A variety of crisp, leafy greens with the addition of fresh vegetables is a welcome addition to a summer meal or can also be a meal by itself.

Try something new! Thinly sliced tiny yellow squash is a great ingredient to try. The color is a beautiful addition, and squash is also a good cruditĂŠ to try for summer dips.

Luscious fresh fruit is a sight for sore

eyes. Ripe, juicy strawberries, a variety of melons, kiwi and grapes make a scrumptious salad mĂŠlange. Top it off with poppy seed dressing for an added delight.

A ripe garden tomato can be filled with homemade chicken, tuna or shrimp salad for a main-course salad. Working your way through the salad to reach that delicious tomato is a great way to end your journey to the main dish.

Try combining a main-dish salad with an assortment of fruits and vegetables to make a beautiful salad plate that is pleasing to the eye and the taste buds.

PASTA CHICKEN SALAD 4-6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts 1 (12-ounce) package Rotini noodles 1 (8-ounce) bottle Wish-Bone Italian salad dressing 1 cup mayonnaise 6 tablespoons lemon juice 2 tablespoons prepared mustard 1 bunch green onions, chopped 1 (6-ounce) can sliced ripe olives, drained 1 cup diced celery 1 teaspoon salt 1 teaspoon pepper Boil chicken breasts in salted water until done, reserving the broth. Chop chicken and place in a large bowl. Boil noodles in chicken broth according to directions. Drain noodles and add to chicken. Pour salad dressing over chicken noodle mixture. Allow to cool. Blend mayonnaise, lemon juice and mustard.

Stir in onion, olives, celery, salt and pepper. Add to cooled chicken macaroni mixture. Mix well; best if chilled overnight for flavors to blend. LI Spring 2012 Leflore Illustrated / 39

40 / Leflore Illustrated Spring 2012

Eddie Amelung

Show biz kid STORY BY RUTH JENSEN PHOTOS BY JOHNNY JENNINGS

B

orn just four years after his parents helped found the Greenwood Little Theatre, Eddie Amelung has been involved in it about as long as it has existed.

There’s little he hasn’t done — lights, stage manager, acting and directing. He has been involved in about 75 shows, including some at Indianola’s community theater.

“My parents were charter members in 1956,” he said. “My mom, Margaret, or ‘Margie,’ was one of the first directors, and my dad, one of the first treasurers. They were always involved. They took me with them.”

His mom directed the first children’s play, Flying Prince, and young Eddie got a part. “I was hooked ever since,” he said.

At 13, he played in Fiddler on the Roof, directed by Peggy McCormick. “She was one of the best directors ever, and it was one of the most fun times I ever had,” Amelung remembers.

After graduating from Pillow Academy, Amelung went to Delta State University and then to pharmacy school at the University of Mississippi. He took a six-year break from the theater while in school, but he jumped back in when he returned to the area. He worked in Winona for five years and then at Eckerd Drugs in Greenwood. He currently works for Fred’s Pharmacy in various area stores and is still actively engaged in Greenwood Little Theatre.

This season, Amelung directed Joseph and

Eddie Amelung’s parents were charter members of the Greenwood Little Theatre, and he started performing at an early age. He’s done numerous jobs in that time, including acting, directing, serving as stage manager and running the lights.

Spring 2012 Leflore Illustrated / 41

the Technicolor Dreamcoat, which he said was extremely challenging, but gratifying.

“Everyone in the show did a wonderful job,” he said. “We had to add a row of seats.”

Amelung, 52, says directing is as fulfilling as acting, but much more work.

“I like directing people,” he said. “I’m a perfectionist. I have to start pre-planning six months ahead of time. You figure out what type people you need for parts. I plan scenes.”

He said Joseph and Jesus Christ Superstar were his favorites to direct. In the 2008 production of Superstar, they added a resurrection — a lack of which had been one cause for criticism of the play.

However, there were local protests, which caused some people not to act in the show and some others not to attend.

In all, though, Amelung believes the protests were actually helpful in the end.

“We had a lot of support. I am a person of faith, and I would not do anything that is

42 / Leflore Illustrated Spring 2012

blasphemous,” he said. “It was a wonderful experience.

Some people were deeply moved.”

Amelung says the secret of presenting a successful show is to get people engaged.

“If you really get people energized about it and tell people how good they are, that energy feeds off itself. The first thing you know, you’ve got a hit,” he said. “It’s gratifying for me to see people enjoy what they do.”

His favorite show as an actor was The King and I. “Connie Black was my costar,” he recalled. “It’s a privilege to work with her — so much fun. We had great costumes. I had to shave my head. It was quite a fun show.

It’s neat to do a part like that.”

Amelung enjoys doing musicals and comedies, but his favorite is drama. “In drama you have to search deep inside yourself. They are more challenging to do,” he said.

Occasionally there have been near-disasters during a

show.

“While performing in My Fair Lady in Indianola, I had some funny stuff. I got to a line I was supposed to deliver and said something that made no sense,” he said. “John Brindley looked up at me with a hard look. Nobody could get me out of it. They didn’t know what to do. I’ve always been able to ad-lib my way out. I couldn’t do it. It seemed like an eternity before we could get out. We all just froze.

It was terrible.

“In M*A*S*H, the lights went out after breakers tripped. It took five or 10 minutes to get them back on. The ones on stage were just left there. They finally started whistling to lighten the mood of the audience.”

A continuing effort by Amelung and other Little Theatre members is to have more African-American participation, and although that effort has been somewhat successful, Amelung would like to see even more. “The theater is a

place where the community comes together,” he said.

He believes theater is an important activity for the community.

“It’s an outlet for people to develop talents they didn’t know they had,” he said. “It makes a place more attractive.”

He also hopes people will continue their support as participants and spectators.

“It’s important for people to continue to support us,” he said. “It takes people willing to do shows, but you’ve got to have an audience.”

An early supporter, Ella Lay Merrick, left an endowment for the theater, but much more is needed to carry it on.

“We spend only the interest on it,” he said “It is our nest egg. Most of our funds come from donations. We’re completely nonprofit. No one is paid. Everyone is a volunteer.”

For Amelung, the theater is much more than just a hobby.

“I plan to do this as long as I can,” he said. LI

Spring Events MAY 1 — Greenwood-Leflore County Chamber of Commerce’s annual meeting, Leflore County Civic Center. Includes the Taste of Greenwood, where guests sample area restaurants’ best dishes.

3 — Chamber of Commerce golf scramble, Greenwood Country Club.

4 — Mississippi Delta Community College graduation, Washington County Convention Center, Greenville.

4-5 — River to the Rails — The annual downtown art festival also features live concerts and the 'Que on the Yazoo barbecue competition.

5 — Graduation at Mississippi Valley State University, HPER building, Itta Bena.

JUNE 2-Oct 31 — The exhibit “Close to Home: Photographs by Eudora Welty” will be on display at the Museum of the Mississippi Delta. It’s organized by the Mississippi Museum of Art and features pictures taken by the Pulitzer Prize-winning author in the Jackson area in the 1930s.

28 — The Stars and Stripes Festival offers pre-Independence Day fireworks and family fun. It’s now between the two bridges in North Greenwood.

28-July 1 — The Greenwood Little Theatre will put on a production of Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, the dark drama about a dinner party gone wrong.

JULY 8-10 — Greenwood Invitational golf tournament, Greenwood Country Club.

Spring 2012 Leflore Illustrated / 43

Cotton Ball

The 55th annual Junior Auxiliary Cotton Ball was held Feb. 25 at the Leflore County Civic Center. John Doty Porter was crowned king and Molly Black was crowned queen. (Photos by Andy Lo and Johnny Jennings)

Cotton Queen Molly Black and Cotton King John Doty Porter

Cotton Maids Mary Holly Fleming, Ashley Milner, Elizabeth Rustom, Qua’Niya Head and Liz Grantham

Quiana Franks and Robin O’Bryant

Carter Kittle and William Brown

Kayla Bosworth and Kola Sue Bowden

Connie Black and Sarah Reese Fincher

Suzanne Sturdivant and Zach Brannon

Dee and Gina Haynes

Vaughn Avant and Ellen Hull 44 / Leflore Illustrated Spring 2012

Cotton Maids and fathers: Maggie Hall, Dr. Todd Hall, Belle Colquette, Jason Colquette, Kristen Stephens and Shane Stevens

The Alluvian hosted a viewing party for the 84th annual Academy Awards on Feb. 26. Party-goers wanted to see how “The Help,” which was filmed primarily in the Greenwood area, would fare. Octavia Spencer won the movie’s only Oscar for Best Supporting Actress. (Photos by Johnny Jennings and Bob Darden)

Oscars party

Bill and Jane Crump

Linda and Jim Shad

LaMonica Peters and Henry Carpenter

Steven McGrew, Beth Williams and Kelvin Scott

Claire and Doug Dale

Stacie Erfle, Dixie Kelly and Jo Claire Swayze

Bethe Williams and Dave Becker

Pam and Charles “Mo” Powers Spring 2012 Leflore Illustrated / 45

Mississippi Blues Fest/ Wine-tasting benefit

Annette Polk, Christine Wright and Jimmy Reeves

Octavia Jones and Yolanda Neal

The Mississippi Blues Fest was held March 3 at the Leflore County Civic Center. (Photos by Charlie Smith) The wine-testing benefit for the American Cancer Society was held March 24 at the home of Lisa and Floyd Melton III. (Photos by Beth Thomas)

R.L Golden and Emma Wade

Glen Golden and Faye Golden

Tommy Crawford, Ed Elzie, Mildred Bell, Latasha Bonapart, Toni Linnear, Virginia Hudson, Angela Sims and Geanette Bell

Randy Clark, and Joanne and David Branham

Mayor Carolyn McAdams and Kay Tyler

Tim and Betty Gail Kalich, Allison Harris, Shannon Melton and Lizzie Powers

Heston Powers and Dale Riser

Richard and Leigh Macy

Charlene James and Sherry Clark

46 / Leflore Illustrated Spring 2012

A total of 640 competitors took part in the inaugural races on March 31. Many runners praised Greenwood and its residents for their support of the event. (Photos by Charlie Smith and Andy Lo)

Selika Owens, Judge Betty Sanders and Dr. Neeka Sanders

Viking Half Marathon and 5K

Meagan Rae Mitchell

Meagan Kennedy and Curtis Vann

Edi-Ann Mitchell

Don Hummel

Renee Beckum and Josh Stevens

Alison Underwood-Clark

Meagan Litton

Kate Davis and her mother, Liz Davis

Matt Alford

Mihyang Faulks Spring 2012 Leflore Illustrated / 47

The Back Page

9

PHOTO BY JOHNNY JENNINGS

Making connections

11. 411. Everything in between.

That's what we are here at the Greenwood-Leflore County Chamber of Commerce.

A few Sundays ago, as I was driving by the place I call work, I glanced over at the beautiful Colonial-style brick building and modest landscape that sits on Highway 82.

I, along with countless others, have passed this building so many times. Before I knew what went on inside this building, I always wondered about it. I'm sure others do, too.

Many have us confused with the Bank of Commerce. For the record, we have no cash, no vaults and no bank tellers here.

But what we do have is people. That's what has dawned on me over the years. We are so much more than this brick building.

We are the community.

We can boast of a modest staff of twoand-a-half employees, but we are only a small part of this picture.

This building, this organization, represents the people, seeks the people. recruits the people, entertains the people and helps the people. And we do it all in the name of community.

Every day, we get to encounter some of the most wonderful, and quite interesting, people. People both from within and from outside this community. Some are seeking directions; some need a job; some are just looking for a great place to get a meal; and others still are looking for a way to connect.

Isn't that what we as humans are all about anyway? Connecting? We long for community, for that sense of belonging, for the security and quality of life for our families, for the opportunity to make our lives just a little bit better. And we do that by seeking others who share the same goal.

Connecting for us here at the chamber has been an adventure over the years. The people we come in contact with have been no less than wonderful, amusing, entertaining, sometimes frustrating and endearing.

There seems to be a myth out there that here at the Chamber of Commerce, we know just about everything. Although it's true that we do display a wide array of 48 / Leflore Illustrated Spring 2012

knowledge about a lot of topics (essential to fielding the many strange phone calls we get), there are some inquiries that we haven't been able to answer over the years.

They still have us stumped. Here are some of our favorites: “Can you tell me why all these birds in my backyard won't eat my birdseed?” (Yes, it's true.)

“Can you tell me what my balance is in my account?”

“What's that big hole they're digging up beside your building out there?” (The city was doing some work on the water lines, but we were tempted, just for fun, to tell everyone that we were putting in a pool.)

“Can I wash your windows for $3? I need some gas money.”

“Can we pick up the acorns in your

parking lot?”

“Our car broke down. Can we just hang out here for a little while?” (a family of four) “Did you know Dave, the Wendy's guy, died today? Someone better call Wendy's and let them know!”

“I need the phone number to The New York Times.”

We also receive on a regular basis student calls and letters for class projects all over the country, and our favorite one is the student who asked us to send brochures, photos, and, if possible, an antique from our community.

Or, my all-time favorite: “Can you give me the phone number to ... .” You can fill in the blanks. We're always slightly amused that people can find us in the phone book but couldn't find the phone number they were asking us to find. Maybe we're just better searchers. It makes us smile, really, to think that we're so important and knowledgeable. It's actually very flattering.

We also see some very interesting happenings in our parking lot, including reunions, marital spats, business deals and handshakes. They always leave us wondering. Sometimes, we are left speechless.

Despite all the silly and amusing requests we get and the eclectic people we encounter, we also get to share in the joys of making our community a special place. I know of no other chamber or community whose people are comparable to ours.

Maybe that's why other communities call and ask what makes us so special.

The Chamber of Commerce is made up of many different groups, including members, volunteers, students, business owners, community activists and visionaries. We may be just a brick building on the outside, but once inside, you'll find a whole array of folks just wanting to dig in, devote themselves and make Greenwood and Leflore County a better place. And, it's paying off.

That must be it. That's what makes us special. — Beth Stevens, Executive Vice

President