Leflore Illustrated Summer 2011 by Greenwood Commonwealth

Greenwood, Mississippi

A River Country Journal / Summer 2011

table of contents

features 5.

The Firm is about good music and good times

17. Sights of summer on display beside the pool

31.

Local cooks serve up recipes and stories from The Help

37.

Good repairmen and good humor can help you stay cool

45.

Designers offer tips for brightening your home this summer

places 9.

people

23.

4. 44.

From the editor Calendar of events

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Jack Kyle roams world in search of art and history

28.

Bobby Cox turns hedges into works of art

35.

Ezzard Beane has found a home at Claudine Brown

42.

Gordon Ditto lives in midst of his childhood memories

47.

Index to advertisers

Jo Claire Swayze loved her home from the moment she saw it

13.

Sara Ann Carter creates secret garden at home

39.

Former Elks Lodge gets new lease on life

ON THE COVER: During summer, school uniforms and backpacks get traded in for sun dresses, bikinis and sunglasses. Showing off their poolside looks on a sunny afternoon are, from left, Ali Evans, Marianna Tollison, Faith Guenther, Christian Robertson, Quaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Niya Head and Christie McGinnis. Photo by Johnny Jennings.

eflore

Illustrated

Editor and Publisher Tim Kalich

Managing Editor Charles Corder

Associate Editor David Monroe

Contributing Writers

Bob Darden, Jo Alice Darden, Andrea Hall, Ruth Jensen, Charlie Smith

Advertising Director Larry Alderman

Advertising Sales

Linda Bassie, Susan Montgomery, Ronnie Sanders, Jim Stallings, Kim Turner

Photography/Graphics Joseph Cotton, Johnny Jennings, Anne Miles

Production

Clifton Angel and Charles Brownlee

Circulation Director Shirley Cooper

Volume 6, No. 4 —————— 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.

Summer 2011 Leflore Illustrated / 3

From the editor

PHOTO BY JOHNNY JENNINGS

The joys of ‘staycationing’ I

am writing this on the eve of an annual vacation trip to visit family in Kansas City. I’m already tired from getting everything in shape at the office and at home before heading out. I know that when I return in a week, more than likely I’ll be just as worn out as when I left. Eleven hours in a car and piles of work to catch up on will do that. That’s not to say there won’t be fun in between. Kansas City is a great place to vacation, even if I didn’t have family there. Good places to eat, plenty of bigcity entertainment and, this time of year, major league baseball to take in. We’re hoping we get lucky and see Louis Coleman, the Pillow Academy product in his rookie season with the Royals, pitch while we’re there. But relaxing it probably won’t be. Not like my earlier “staycation.” For the past two years, I have used one of my summer vacation weeks just to hang out around the house, tackle odd jobs and take a couple of day trips with my wife, Betty Gail. We never tried to do this when our children were young. We wanted them to see and experience other parts of the country. Anyway, had I recommended a staycation back then, my children would have thought that either I had lost my job or my mind. They’ll probably understand in 30 years. It may sound boring, but a staycation can be as enjoyable as a trip to the mountains or the beach. There’s no fuss with travel. There’s no waking up with a sore back while getting adjusted to someone else’s mattress. There’s no pressure to “do” things because we paid a lot of money or spent a lot of effort to get there. We can pace ourselves, cooking a little bit here, reading a little bit there, taking a walk or a nap, depending on our mood. 4 / Leflore Illustrated Summer 2011

It’s not, of course, all lounging on the couch. There’s usually a room to paint or some other big project that we haven’t had time to get to on normal weekends. It seems somehow less stressful, though, because there are more days to get the job done. When we paint a room, Betty Gail concentrates on the walls, and I handle the trim. It fits our painting skills and personalities. She says I’m “Mr. Ticky.” I call her “Mrs. Kinda Ticky.” It works, though. Sometime during the week, there’s a trip to Jackson for dinner and a movie. And this summer, we finally made a longpromised visit to the B.B. King Museum and Delta Interpretive Center in Indianola. I am embarrassed to admit that it took me almost three years to get there. Jim Abbott, a Greenwood native and the retired publisher of the newspaper in Indianola, has been on me to tour the $14

million museum. It’s everything he said it would be. We spent three hours in it, and Jim had to hurry me along just to get all the way through. We could have spent several days taking it all in. It’s a first-class museum, with great visuals and lots of interactive exhibits. At one station, you sit on a bus seat while watching a video about what life on the road has been like for B.B. and his band. B.B. is not just a legendary blues artist but a wonderful ambassador for the Delta. His life and what it shows about the progress in race relations in Mississippi are a fascinating, uplifting story. I’ve been to my share of fine museums — from Washington to Dallas, from London to Paris — but I don’t know that any of them were any more enjoyable than the one just 30 miles away. Sometimes you have to stay home just to see all you’ve got. — Tim Kalich LI

The Firm

‘Playing good music’ STORY BY CHARLIE SMITH PHOTOS BY JOHNNY JENNINGS AND COURTESY OF THE FIRM

eet The Firm:

Dudley Pleasants: A farm manager always ready for a hearty laugh. He picked up his blues influence from tenants on his family’s Minter City farm as a teenager. Glenn Nail: A former computer programmer and “musical savant.” He amazes his fellow band members with his ability to remember tunes and lyrics. Allison Faulkner: A sultry-voiced singer who once pursued a musical career in Nashville. She currently works in health care marketing. Steve Kelly: An Itta Bena carpenter with a wry sense of humor. He says he took the ’80s off from music to play golf (he may or may not be joking). Together, the band rocks venues throughout the Delta. Nail sings and plays guitar. Kelly plays guitar and bass. Faulkner sings (and shakes the tambourine), and Pleasants blows the harmonica and does vocals. If they want a different sound — drums, horns, piano — they call on friends. Those include horn/woodwind musicians Alphonso Sanders and Leonard “Mac” MacIntosh and the Tallahatchie Horns, Tom and Carolyn Sturdivant. “Everybody brings a unique sound and texture to the band,” said Judy Nail, Glenn’s wife and half of the band’s occasional backup singing duo, The Firmettes, with Jean Blunden. “They can pull off anything.” The members, all Delta natives and close friends, are as comfortable eating

The Firm gathers outside the Leflore County Courthouse. Seated in front is Dudley Pleasants. Standing, from left, are Glenn Nail, Allison Faulkner and Steve Kelly. The band has been rocking Delta venues since coming together during jam sessions last year. Summer 2011 Leflore Illustrated / 5

“We love to play music, and we have a good time. If nobody comes, we’re still going to have a good time.” Dudley Pleasants

All the members of the The Firm have extensive musical experience. Rocking, from left, are Pleasants, Kelly, Faulkner and Nail.

barbecue on one another’s front porches as performing on stage. “Everybody asks me who the leader is. We have no leader,” Pleasants said with a laugh. They all have had extensive experience with other local bands over the past few decades, with names such as Sid Herring and the Gants, Strict Middling, Ramcat Alley, Krazy Jane and Honey Don’t. In fact, Glenn Nail said one of the toughest parts of being a band is coming up with the name. But The Firm got help from its fans. The core group first began playing together during jam sessions on Sunday afternoons at Tallahatchie Flats, the rustic site three miles north of Greenwood that recreates life on a Delta plantation.

Others played, too, but those four stuck together. They initially called themselves Kelly, Pleasants, Faulkner and Nail. But that ran long, and everyone who heard it said it sounded like a law firm. The Firm was born. Its members more closely resemble an extended family than a business conglomeration, though. They play about three gigs per month, mostly at Delta restaurants and private parties. Their first paid job was for the cast of The Help during lunch last summer. Fans are known to travel to hear them, including a group of motorcycle riders from Meridian. “We’ve never played for a dead crowd. We’ve been very fortunate to have always packed the place,” Faulkner said.

“We love to play music, and we have a good time,” Pleasants said. “If nobody comes, we’re still going to have a good time.” The band has a wide range of musical interests: rock ’n’ roll, rhythm and blues, soul, country and gospel. Going forward, The Firm plans to take part in a proposed Greenwood Little Theatre production of Smokey Joe’s Cafe during the 2012-2013 season. It’s a musical revue of pieces by legendary songwriters Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, including “Jailhouse Rock” and “Hound Dog” — hits made famous by Elvis Presley. Beyond that, the band members are open to whatever comes their way. “We just want to keep playing good music,” Faulkner said. “We love it.” LI Summer 2011 Leflore Illustrated / 7

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The Swayze House

The Swayzes’ house, built circa 1910, overlooks Grand Boulevard on the corner of West President Avenue. The couple has owned the house since 1976.

A place to come home to F

inding a new home does not often involve a snap decision; there’s so much to consider. But as soon as she walked through the front door of her house the first time, before it was hers, Jo Claire Swayze was ready to sign the papers.

STORY BY JO ALICE DARDEN PHOTOS BY JOHNNY JENNINGS

In the mid-1970s, Jo Claire and her husband, Charlie, had been looking for a larger home for a while. Their family was expanding, and their house on Alta Vista Drive in Greenwood seemed to be shrinking. Jo Claire had always told Charlie she wanted an older home, one with some history and character, but they were

having no luck. They gave up and bought a lot on Robert E. Lee Drive in North Greenwood, planning to build. One day Charlie called Jo Claire from work — he’s an attorney with Whittington, Brock & Swayze in Greenwood — and said he’d learned about a property that had just become available. “I think you need to go

Summer 2011 Leflore Illustrated / 9

look at this house,” Charlie told his wife. Of course, the Swayzes were familiar with the house. The two-story Arts and Craftsstyle house on the corner of Grand Boulevard and West President Avenue has a strong presence, having stood there for decades. At the time, however, the exterior did not seem promising. “It had a lot of lattice work on it,” Jo Claire said. “So ugly!” But then she opened the front door of oak and beveled glass and entered the foyer. “I’ll take it!” she said. The Swayzes have owned the house since 1976.

v v v The couple met at Ole Miss when they were students; Jo Claire said she was attracted to the “sharpdressed man” Charlie was and still is. Jo Claire grew up in Jackson and taught school there and in Oxford when Charlie was in law school. Charlie brought Jo Claire to Greenwood, his hometown, where she became a substitute teacher and later served four terms on the Greenwood City Council, from 1988 to 2003. Family has always been the

Married for 44 years, Charlie and Jo Claire Swayze have four children and eight grandchildren.

Swayzes’ top priority. Charlie and Jo Claire, both 67, have been married 44 years and have four children and eight grandchildren. The best times of their lives are spent with

The foyer of the Swayzes’ home showcases the architect’s generous use of oak —a characteristic of the Arts and Crafts movement of the early 20th century. 10 / Leflore Illustrated Summer 2011

their family. Daughter Julie McLemore is a lawyer with the state attorney general’s office assigned to the Department of Agriculture, and her husband,

Mark, is a financial adviser and estate planner; they live in Jackson and have two boys, James, 11, and Harris, 9. Daughter Allison Pillow, a home health nurse, and her husband, Reese, a farmer, live in Greenwood with their three sons — the twins, Swayze and Walt, 13, and John Sharp, 10. Daughter Melissa Meacham lives with her husband, Jay, in Jackson, where she is director of graduate studies with Millsaps College, and he owns a company that does digital conversions for business and courtroom presentations for attorneys in litigation. Their sons are Foster, 4, and McNeil, 2. Son Charles Jones Swayze III practices law with his dad and is married to Lucy, who is an event planner with The Alluvian. They have a daughter, Anna Claire, 2. On that day when Jo Claire entered the house for the first time, she knew she had found exactly what she had been looking for. “All I wanted was a place to raise my children, where they’d all want to come back and bring their own kids,” she said. Family gatherings at the senior Swayzes’ house are lively events, but the house has stood up to many years of stress since it was built circa

An oil portrait of Charlie Swayze’s great-grandfather, John Sharp Williams, overlooks the dining room, the center of most family gatherings and holiday celebrations.

Spanning the width of the front of the house, the front porch becomes an extension of the interior when the Swayzes entertain.

1912 by architect H.C. White, according to Charlie, who has done some research on its history. The Swayzes are only the third owners of the property. Charlie said White also designed the house traditionally known as the Provine house — the large white twostory in the Greek revival style on the corner of Grand Boulevard and West Jefferson Avenue, just a block north. He said the original owners of the houses, Braxton Bragg Provine and Judge W.M. Hamner, bought the lots on the same day in March 1910.

v v v “We did have a lot of work to do upstairs,” Jo Claire said. There had been some severe structural damage due to storms, so rebuilding and redecorating were in order. “And there was no kitchen,” she said, laughing, adding that was OK with her — since she says she’s not much of a cook, anyway. But with a growing young family, obviously, a kitchen had to be built. It’s spacious, comfortable and bright and serves the family well when they’re all over for an event or on the frequent occasions when the Swayzes entertain. The instant attraction — what “sold” Jo Claire when

she walked in the first time — was the architect’s generous use of warm, welcoming oak in the front staircase and throughout the downstairs, much of which is visible from the front door. All the woodwork in the foyer, the stairs and the dining room is oak with a medium stain. Double oak pocket doors lead from the foyer to the dining room on one side and to the living room on the other. The floors are oak. All the windows, molding and ceiling beams are made of oak. The Swayzes got a small surprise, however, when they noticed in the original house plans that the ceiling beams and woodwork in the living room – even the sides of the doors facing into the living room – are red gum. “The part of the doors facing into the foyer is oak, but the living room side of the doors is red gum,” Jo Claire explained, running her hand down the edge of one of the doors to show the seam. Much of the rest of the woodwork in the living room is also red gum. The Swayzes assume the architect must have wanted the living room — probably the “parlor” then — to look slightly dressier than the rest of the house. If there was a clearly noticeable difference when the

house was built, the patina of age developed naturally over the years has softened it, and few would catch this detail now. The Swayzes’ furnishings are an eclectic mix of comfortable contemporary and family pieces, including many heirlooms and antiques and pieces that have special meaning just because they are special to the family. In the den, an oversized black-and-white close-up photo of the Swayzes’ three daughters is the focal point of the room. “It was taken by Charlie’s sister,” Jo Claire said. An oil portrait of Charlie’s great-grandfather, John Sharp Williams, minority leader of the U.S. House of Representatives from 1911 to 1923 and close friend of President Woodrow Wilson, oversees the dining room, the center of frequent gatherings and celebrations. And, not surprisingly, photos of various sizes frame and document events from family additions to graduations and weddings, populating nearly every horizontal surface.

v v v Weather permitting, the broad and deep front porch of the house becomes an extension of the interior when the Swayzes entertain.

Comfortable tables and chairs are grouped casually for conversations and visiting. “It’s like having another room,” Charlie said. “We can even have a band set up to play at one end and still have lots of space to move around in.” Holidays are Jo Claire’s passion, which she exercises with each one during the year. “It starts with Valentine’s Day,” Charlie said. “I call this the ‘house of holidays.’” “When I was growing up, holidays were always so special,” Jo Claire said. “Christmas was huge. It’s just carried with me through the years.” Anyone who has driven by the house on Grand Boulevard at any holiday time has witnessed the results of Jo Claire’s enthusiasm for celebration. “Easter is my favorite holiday to decorate for,” she said. Every year she sets up outsized bunnies, eggs, flowerpots and baskets, all treasures she stores between holidays. And she decorates the interior of the house with the same fervor. The Swayzes’ children grew up witnessing this passion and now bring their children back home to do the same — just as the Swayzes planned from the beginning of their life together. LI Summer 2011 Leflore Illustrated / 11

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Sara Ann Carter’s garden

Hidden treasure STORY BY SUSAN MONTGOMERY PHOTOS BY JOHNNY JENNINGS AND SUSAN MONTGOMERY

ll Sara Ann Carter wanted in her backyard a dozen years ago was a resting place. “I didn’t have a plan,” she said. “I was trying to have a place to sit.” She has that now — and more — in a small walled secret garden behind her home in North Greenwood. Carter, the owner of Russell’s Antiques & Fine Jewelry, has an eye for a diamond in the rough. One of these was her backyard back in 1998, when she and her

Sara Ann Carter's eclectic tastes led her to team a stained glass window with antique wrought iron doors. Here, they swing open into the garden.

Sara Ann Carter stands next to a bird bath in her garden. Summer 2011 Leflore Illustrated / 13

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husband, the late Gerald Carter, moved into the house. “There was no landscaping. It was all just extremely big shrubbery,” Carter said. A year or two later, they began to make some changes to the yard. “It has evolved over time,” she said. “I had to live with it. I had to envision what it could look like.” She’s always been good at that, gifted at seeing possibilities. During a 28-year period in the Carters’ 39-year marriage, they lived in 14 houses in Leflore and Carroll counties. They would buy a house, live in it, remodel it, sell it and move again. “I was blessed to have the ability to see things as what they could be and not only what they are, to see past flaws and envision the beauty in something,” Carter explained. The garden evolved within a tight, Lshaped space. Its characteristics are Asian and Southern, eclectic but unified by the repetition of patterns, such as iron scrollwork on a door next to fig ivy growing on a wall. “It’s mostly Asian. That’s the feel I lean toward,” Carter said. An arch from India, hand-carved from teak, forms the entrance, which leads to a walled courtyard with a sculpture of a Tibetan man seated in the lotus position near a garden gate. This opens onto a pathway of paving stones that is flanked by two outdoor rooms. One is formed by a patio with an antique Victorian cast iron mantel on one side and a lily pond on another. The other room is floored with pavers and covered with a pergola with a set of wrought iron doors teamed with a stained-glass window. The pathway leads through a lawn

A path leads the way past hydrangeas and through an arch that is covered with passiflora and wisteria.

and past hydrangeas and the pond and through an iron archway entwined with passiflora and wisteria and toward a mirror framed hanging from a second arch. A column, antiqued to look like stone, stands in a corner. Hostas, camellias, woodland ferns and annual flowers fill planters and beds accessorized with collectibles and bird

Fig ivy and an antique Victorian cast-iron mantel decorate a wall and form focal points for one of the outdoor rooms.

feeders. The garden was constructed one area at a time, pieced together with one element leading to the next. The result is private and quiet — meditative. “It’s relaxing for me, and it does give me a sense of peace,” Carter said. “The world just drifts away.” LI

A passiflora vine, also called passion flower, blooms in the garden. Summer 2011 Leflore Illustrated / 15

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SUMMER IGHTS OF

When the sun is at its midsummer peak, thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s only one place to find comfort outdoors in the Delta. Around a pool. But itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s not just about feeling cool. You have the look the part, too. From colorful bikinis and bejeweled flip-flops to flirty dresses and movie-star sunglasses, the summer dress code is anything but bland. The Greenwood home of Toni and John Heston Powers provided a perfect setting for capturing a group of young ladies having some fashionable summer fun.

PHOTOS BY JOHNNY JENNINGS

Splashes Marianna Tollison kicks off her day at the pool by making some waves both with her blue bikini and her foot as she walks poolside to meet up with friends.

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Bubbles Christie McGinnis relives her childhood days by blowing bubbles for friends to pop.

Christian Robertson doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t even notice the camera as she goes for the bubble floating past her face.

Pool toys

Ali Evans takes a break from swimming and relaxes on a lounger in the pool. Summer 2011 Leflore Illustrated / 19

Hats

It’s not the Kentucky Derby, but hats are in fashion this summer as temperatures soar. Faith Guenther shades herself from the sun in a floppy summer hat. In back, Ali Evans and Marianna Tollison catch some rays.

Christian Robertson, left, and Qua’Niya Head are both wearing red dresses, but they use their sunglasses to bring out their personal style. Robertson wears an ’80s-inspired pair of plastic frames. Maybe she knows it’s “Risky Business” to go outside in the sun without proper eye protection. Head wears a classic cat-eye frame.

Sunglasses 20 / Leflore Illustrated Summer 2011

Quaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Niya Head is a ray of sunshine soaking up its beams and enjoying an afternoon at the pool.

& Smiles Lots of

Having a ball? Marianna Tollison cools off in the water during a game of oversized beach volleyball.

Ali Evans is amused by friends on the other side of the pool about to jump in. She is hoping not to get splashed as she lazies around in a pink-and-white suit with matching sunglasses. Summer 2011 Leflore Illustrated / 21

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Jack Kyle

Window on the world STORY BY DAVID MONROE PHOTOS BY JOHNNY JENNINGS AND COURTESY OF JACK KYLE

ack Kyle’s family didn’t travel outside the Southeast much when he was growing up in Minter City, but he was still curious about other places. The local library was housed in a dry goods store. Every week, he would eagerly await the arrival of a panel truck that brought books from Greenwood so he could devour the writings about history and other topics. “Books were a wonderful door to me to the outside world,” he said. He also developed an interest in the visual and performing arts — although, for a while, much of his knowledge of art came from World Book Encyclopedia – and following that interest has served him well. He has had a successful career overseeing major art exhibitions, and his work has taken him to many foreign countries. Since 1994, he has served as executive director or chairman of the Mississippi Commission for International Cultural Exchange. Between 1996 and 2004, he coordinated international art exhibitions in Jackson that attracted more than 1.3 million visitors. Last September, he moved back to Minter City to plan the Mississippi Arts Pavilion and Gardens, a museum devoted

Jack Kyle moved back to his hometown of Minter City last fall to have a Delta base for his new project: a museum devoted to porcelain. Summer 2011 Leflore Illustrated / 23

to porcelain, which he wants to put in the Delta. When people ask him why he thinks such a project can succeed, he has a simple answer: Why not? People didn’t associate the region with kitchen equipment before Viking Range Corp. was founded, but that Greenwood-based company has flourished, he said. “Somebody could invent the new car that would revolutionize the world here, or the next Michelangelo could rise up from Greenwood,” he said. “I mean, you don’t really have to have a reason.” The porcelain project is ambitious, but he is confident that it will attract visitors from all over the world, educate people and have a major economic impact. “My deal is, if it’s good, and if it benefits people and society, let’s do it,” he said. “And I feel that this is an area that can really enrich the lives of people for years and years and years to come.”

emphasis on the arts; he chose that field himself. But he also was influenced by his grandmother, Lillie Walker of Philipp, who talked about her travels to places such as New York and Mexico. “She was sort of the old school,” he said. “She played the piano, and she knitted and sewed and canned and raised gardens and raised animals for food.” He was introduced to music through his church. His grandmother also had a piano, and sometimes the family would get together after Sunday dinner and sing. Beginning in seventh grade, he started studying the B-flat cornet, and he played in bands at Sunnyside Elementary and Leflore County High schools. “Music was the thing that interested me, seemingly, the most — because back in those days we didn’t have major museums,” he said. After graduating from Leflore County High, he went on to Delta State University and earned a degree in v v v music education. When his draft numJack Kyle has traveled to many foreign countries and met with some prominent inter- ber came up after Kyle, 60, is the national figures since he began coordinating art exhibitions. oldest of three chilgraduation, he heard and keeping that going. ... I’ve always dren of Robert and Jackie Kyle. One there was an opening in the U.S. Navy’s used this phrase, ‘I’m not trying to pour a brother, Joel, lives in Minter City; anothSea Chanters chorus. So he auditioned bucket of culture out on anybody.’ But if er, Stephen, lives in Winona. and eventually was accepted. you’re not able to be exposed to some of He said his parents placed great value “I’ll never forget the kindness of the these things, I think you’re missing out on education and church attendance. late Sen. James O. Eastland and, from on a lot of important things in life.” “I was raised with a sense of family. I Greenwood, Adm. Means Johnston, who His parents gave him opportunities was raised with a sense of knowing about both wrote letters of recommendation such as Scout camps, music camps and your history. And I think that was very for me,” he said. “And Sen. Eastland church camps, but they also let him purimportant,” he said. “Today it seems like even called me at my hotel when I sue his own interests rather than pushing our country is becoming more homogearrived in Washington, D.C., to see if him in a certain direction, he said. For neous, if you will — versus really underthere was anything he could do to help example, they didn’t place a particular standing your local history and culture me.” 24 / Leflore Illustrated Summer 2011

Kyle was in Washington from 1972 to 1978 and served in the chorus four of those years. Then — “when I discovered I wasn’t going to be a Metropolitan Opera star,” he said with a laugh — he studied political science at American University, did an internship with then-U.S. Rep. Trent Lott and worked on the staffs of U.S. Reps. Sonny Montgomery of Mississippi and John H. Rousselot of California. While in the nation’s capital, he also was able to visit major art galleries and travel to such places as England, Scotland, France, Belgium and the Netherlands. This helped later when he was coordinating exhibitions, because he had already visited most of the places where those exhibitions originated. “I still believe that the United States is the greatest country in the world. We have the greatest freedom here,” he said. “That being said, I certainly have an appreciation for the culture, the history, the art that other countries all over the world have produced.”

v v v

Jack Kyle says the United States is the greatest country in the world, although he has gained an appreciation for the cultures of other nations over the years.

Kyle came to realize that he wanted a career in the arts because that was what interested him most. So he returned to the South. His first job in the arts was doing marketing and public relations work for the Memphis in May festival, during which he discovered his skill for producing events. He later developed an exhibition of antiquities for Memphis State University (now the University of Memphis), which led to the creation of that university’s Institute of Egyptian Art and Archaeology. After he worked on the planning for the successful “Ramses the Great” exhibition, Mayor Richard Hackett asked him to work with the local administration to help develop more such projects in Memphis, and four followed: “Catherine the Great,” “Splendors of the Ottoman Sultans,” “The Etruscans: Legacy of a Lost Civilization” and “Napoleon.” Throughout, he was focused on making these displays accessible to a large audience. “I was very much also into working with projects that were not only scholarly but also had a broad interest on the part of the general public,” he said. “I mean, why create something that nobody’s going to come to see or participate in?” He has maintained that focus since he returned to Mississippi to lead the cultural exchange. When he was planning the “Palaces of St. Petersburg” exhibition, Summer 2011 Leflore Illustrated / 25

people told him it couldn’t be done in this state, but it did well enough that he brought three more: “Splendors of Versailles,” “The Majesty of Spain” and “The Glory of Baroque Dresden.” All required a lot of work, but they taught him the value of persistence. “Sure, I’ve had ups and downs with these projects,” he said. “Anything to me that is important comes with passion, dedication, hard work. When you embark on something, you can’t look back. ... No matter how stormy and rocky things become, you’ve got to hold the course.”

v v v While in Memphis, he maintained his ties with his home state, partly because he worked with Mississippi media to publicize the exhibitions. He took media representatives to Egypt, Russia, France, Turkey and the Vatican to familiarize them with the works involved. The Delta also was an important part of his marketing strategy for the Jackson exhibitions. “I’ve never really left the Delta, in terms of being involved, since I returned to Mississippi,” he said. He said he also has seen the variety of audiences that each exhibition brings. For

26 / Leflore Illustrated Summer 2011

“I’ve never really left the Delta, in terms of being involved, since I returned to Mississippi.” Jack Kyle example, Faberge enthusiasts came to Jackson to see the works from St. Petersburg; Spanish people from places such as San Antonio saw “Majesty of Spain;” and porcelain lovers saw “The Glory of Baroque Dresden.” That gives him confidence about the wide appeal of the new porcelain project. “If we’re involving 10 to 20 different foreign countries related to the porcelain element, you can see all these different constituencies from all these different countries,” he said.

He plans for the new museum to have two interconnected buildings. One, the Porcelain Pavilion, would contain 10 galleries of U.S. and foreign porcelain. “It won’t be a copy of any other building in the world,” Kyle said. “It’ll be a new design.” The other building, the Exhibition Pavilion, would host two changing exhibitions a year, as well as other cultural and social events. The changing exhibitions should help attract new visitors, as well as the local and regional regulars, he said. “The goal would be the building’s uniqueness in and of itself would merit people coming here to see the building — in addition to the cultural treasures that would be displayed in the interior of it.” Kyle believes the Delta can be a destination for people wanting to see art pottery. It’s already the home of McCartys, Peter’s Pottery and other sites in cities such as Greenwood, Leland, Clarksdale and Arcola. Pottery also ties in well with Viking’s culinary items, so it can embellish what’s already here, he said. “This avenue has been opened to me in my life, dealing with this great art, these great collections from all over the world,” he said. “And so I think it’s important for me to utilize that for the benefit of other people, not just myself.” LI

Summer 2011 Leflore Illustrated / 27

Bobby Cox

Hedge menagerie

Bobby Cox’s hedge creations at his Black Hawk home include a horse, a bull, a turtle, a snake, a goose, an alligator and an eagle.

STORY BY RUTH JENSEN PHOTOS BY JOHNNY JENNINGS

obby Cox doesn’t remember exactly why he started making his hedges into sculpture. It’s just something he began to do about 20 years ago at his Black Hawk home, where he has lived for more than 40 years with his wife, Leler. “I just had hedges like everybody. They were growing wild,” he said. “I pulled up a load from the old home place. I found 28 / Leflore Illustrated Summer 2011

out I didn’t have to do a lot of work to get them to grow.” For a good many years, he said, the

hedges just grew wild and “shaggy,” and the neighbors asked why he let them do that. One day he decided to try to make a horse from the hedges. His first efforts didn’t go so well; he would pull and twist, but they’d come undone. “I made a horse, and someone came up and said, ‘I’ll be damned. You’re making a mule,’” he said. The bull was second. “I tried a buffalo. I put his tail looking up. Everybody called him a bull, so I made him a bull,” Cox said. Now, he’s much more expert at using his main tool, his hands, as well as a little bit of wire and some string. “You can’t do this with a trimmer,” he said. Each day he walks by the row of hedges

and snips off pieces that are growing out too far and ruining his shapes. The chief enemies of his artistic creations are drought and mold. “When too much dies, I cut it off,” he said. Cox’s menagerie includes a turtle, a snake, a goose, an alligator, an elephant, a horse with a rider, and an eagle that some think is a vulture. The gregarious Cox, 74, likes to see people stop and look at his creations and enjoys the interaction with them. “There’s been a lot of people stop and look,” he said. “I have people stop every day. There’s more traffic out here than you might think. I always ask people where they’re from.” Cox’s art has been featured in several publications and on Walt Grayson’s “Look Around Mississippi” television show. Before his retirement, Cox owned a glass shop in North Carrollton. It was filled with friends and lookers-on, but he enjoyed it. Occasionally, though, the comments can be an irritation. “A woman pulled up with three or four kids,” he recalled. “One was hollering, ‘Look, look, a dog.’ The woman said, ‘That ain’t no dog; that’s a damn armadillo.’”

“A woman pulled up with three or four kids. One was hollering, ‘Look, look, a dog.’ The woman said, ‘That ain’t no dog; that’s a damn armadillo.’” Bobby Cox Since the armadillo is Cox’s least favorite animal, he cut it down immediately. “I hate armadillos,” he said. Cox said he doesn’t really know how he decides what to make. “I don’t have a picture of anything. I just have a horse, but

this one doesn’t look like him.” Although he’s seen this type of landscaping on television, he hasn’t had any formal training in art or landscaping. When he decides to make an animal sculpture, he lets the hedge grow tall. “You got to pull, twist, tie, pinch it out,” he said. “Never had nobody show me.” For another of his favorite sculptures — his large elephant, also about 20 years old — he needs a ladder to reach it. The elephant took five years to form. Right now he doesn’t plan to make more animals, but “you never know,” he said. Cox has been retired for four years, but he doesn’t like sitting around. A man intimately acquainted with each tree and plant on his property — he planted most of them, and he can tell you when they were planted — he also loves the outdoors. “I can’t just lay up in the house,” he proclaims. But you sense there’s more to it than just having something to do. Each sculpture is special, and the many hours of work he has put into them have brought him joy, just as they bring smiles to those who come to see them. LI

Bobby Cox, who shaped this hedge into a horse with a rider, says he’s had no formal training in art or landscaping. Summer 2011 Leflore Illustrated / 29

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Cooks for The Help

A taste of Hollywood STORY BY ANDREA HALL PHOTOS BY JOHNNY JENNINGS

ee Ann Flemming, food stylist of The Help and the Greenwood Commonwealth’s food columnist, says she never knows what to expect when her phone rings these days.

Lee Ann Flemming, left, has been called on by Glamour magazine and Food and WIne for her story and recipes for The Help. But what she prefers is getting the chance to share her real love — cooking. She was asked to cook for a special gathering of guests from Disney and DreamWorks when they came back to film extras for the movie’s DVD. Helping Flemming prepare a feast of Southern favorites was Heather Harris, Flemming’s neighbor.

“I pick up the phone, and they are like, ‘This is ‘so-and-so’ from ‘blank’ magazine,’” said Flemming. “It’s the funniest thing.” The first time the Cruger resident got one of these calls, she was fairly certain it was a prank; she has a lot of friends who enjoy doing that to each other. But it was anything but a joke. With Oscar buzz surrounding the actresses from The Help and the Kathryn Stockett novel continuing its reign near the top of the best-sellers list, it seems everyone wants a bite. Flemming has been contacted by Glamour, Food and Wine and Taste of the South magazines for some of her recipes used in the movie. It’s understandable when the movie features scrumptious caramel cake and devilishly delicious chocolate pie; the publications all want to give their audiences a taste of the magic. Summer 2011 Leflore Illustrated / 31

“It has been so exciting,” Flemming said. “I can’t believe I finally get to be in Glamour magazine, even if all they wanted was my deviled eggs recipe.” The Help explores the relationship between black maids and their white employers in 1960s Jackson. The movie version, set for nationwide release Aug. 10, was filmed primarily in Greenwood. Although Flemming’s brush with fame is lasting more than your typical 15 minutes — especially for someone who will have no face time on screen — it is continuing just the way it started for her and the other off-screen chefs — with just one phone call.

movie and said she would call me.” Hoover didn’t think Ubick would contact her again. “I thought it was just talk,” Hoover said. But Ubick did call. It was just what Hoover needed to get back into the kitchen. “I loved every minute of it,” she said. “I was down and out, and they raised me up. I can’t thank them enough.”

Life on set Flemming would describe herself as anything but an outdoorsy girl, so when she heard she was going to be cooking in a tent, she wasn’t exactly excited. “I thought, a tent?” she said. Because she’s a typical Southern woman, thoughts of Getting the gig large wedding-recepMary Hoover was tion tents went down. With health through her mind. issues taking center That wasn’t exactly stage in her life, the it, however. chef of more than 30 “It was a freaking years couldn’t even tent with a butane find joy in the one cooking stove and a thing that had walk-in refrigerator brought her through that I spent a great so many happy and deal of time acting hard times before. like I was getting She said somesomething out of times she would just because I was about lie on the couch all to die of the heat,” day, not wanting to she said. eat or cook. For many of the That all changed scenes, she cooked at when she got her her house and call. brought everything to Hoover’s husband, Mary Hoover is back in her kitchen and her garden, where she gets many of the veg- the set. etables she cooks, thanks to The Help. Hoover said she had been down and out and Sylvester, was helpIt wasn’t just the feeling sorry for herself before getting a call to cook for the movie scenes. It lifted her weather that had the ing secure filming back up, and she is glad to be in the kitchen once again. locations and set up chefs sweating, howthe houses for filmever. The sheer size While Hoover was enjoying some ing. He was going to be joining some of of some of the cooking projects kept lunch, Chris Ubick, prop master, tapped the production crew for lunch one day many of them up at all hours of the her on the shoulder. and invited his wife to join him. night. “She told me she heard that I was a “I really didn’t want to go,” Mary Martha Foose and Debra Shaw, who good cook,” Hoover said. “She asked if I Hoover said. “But I did.” cooked some of the food for the movie, would be interested in cooking for the

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Lee Ann Flemming, Mary Hoover and Martha Foose, who all cooked for The Help, had some of their movie recipes featured in the July issue of Glamour magazine in celebration of Southern fare and the Aug. 10 release of the film.

spent hours one evening stuffing mushrooms. “I think we literally made 400 mushroom caps,” Foose said. “Then we got to set, and they said they needed at least double that many.” Shaw said she also made between 600 and 700 meatballs along with helping to make the hundreds of mushroom caps. “I don’t care for meatballs or mushrooms anymore.” Shaw even joined Flemming in the tent, where she fried tons of chicken in the heat for one of the scenes. “It was a such a long shot. We were out there from before the sun came up to long after it went down,” Shaw said. “I would look over and see Lee Ann just cooking and sweating. It was relentless.” Shaw, who is used to cooking on a large scale for Golden Age Nursing Home, where she works, said it amazed her how many pounds of food were used for one scene. Cooking for the silver screen While the chefs were preparing meal after meal, the food didn’t actually have to taste good; it just needed to look good enough to eat. “The hardest thing for me as a cook was finding out that no one was going to be eating the food,” Flemming said. “I

“The hardest thing for me as a cook was finding out that no one was going to be eating the food. I wasn’t used to that.” Lee Ann Flemming wasn’t used to that.” But sometimes it still took more work for it to look screen-ready than taste-budready. On Flemming’s first day on set, she had to make a ham and pineapple casserole. Although she had never made one of those before, she was given a picture of what it should look like. “I fixed it to look just like that,” Flemming said. “Chris (Ubick) took it in

for the scene, and the director said, ‘No, I don’t like that sauce.’” So Flemming rinsed the sauce off the ham slice and brought it back. “Then he said he liked it better the other way,” she said. “This was day one. Day one! I’m freaking out.” Everything the chefs made for the scenes they had to make an extra or 10. And they all had to look the same. Flemming made about 52 chocolate pies during the three months of filming. Gwen Toomey and Adrian Tribble made a dozen cakes, plus a dozen lookalikes of the first dozen. Hoover said she was glad when she heard that some of her food was so good, the cast and crew couldn’t help but take a bite. “That made me feel really good,” she said. “I like knowing the food wasn’t going to waste.” Famous chefs As the movie gets closer to its release, not only is the buzz about the film and its actors growing, but even its food stars are getting some time in the spotlight. Flemming, Hoover, Foose, Shaw and Donny Whitehead, who made pralines, have all been contacted by magazines wanting to know the recipes they used, Summer 2011 Leflore Illustrated / 33

Tate Taylor, right, director and screenwriter of The Help, and Octavia Spencer, one of the movie’s stars, enjoy lunch made by Lee Ann Flemming during a recent return trip to Greenwood to film extras for the movie’s DVD.

asking about their cooking experiences or finding out about life on the set. They have been happy to share their stories, but some weren’t prepared to hand over recipes. Flemming doesn’t really measure, so she had to go back and try to cook with a measuring cup. “I gave them a cucumber sandwich recipe, and then they called me back to

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change the recipe because it had too much onion,” Flemming said. So, it’s her recipe, sort of. If you want to make it true to Flemming’s liking, however, add a little more onion. Hoover had to rework some recipes with her measuring cups as well, but she wasn’t letting go of some of her recipes, especially her coveted butter roll.

“They wanted it,” she said. “But I am going to my grave with it.” Hoover’s mother never told her the recipe; she learned from watching in the kitchen. And that’s how Hoover’s daughters will have to learn it if they want it. “Some things you have to keep secret,” Hoover said. “I gave them a sweet potato recipe.” LI

Ezzard Beane

Feeling right at home STORY AND PHOTOS BY BOB DARDEN

zzard Beane stands amid stacked tables, chairs and computers at Claudine Brown Elementary School, waiting on carpet installers. Students and teachers will be returning in less than a month and things must be made ready. Beane, 37, is going into his fourth year as principal of Claudine Brown Elementary. He enjoys leading the school but wouldn’t have expected to be in this position 20 years ago. “I was in the Navy after high school. When I initially went into the military, my goal was to get experience as a gas turbine electrician. I was going to come back out and work in that,” he said. “We were in Spain, we were volunteering, working at an orphanage. That’s when I said, ‘I’m here in Spain helping children.’ I felt a calling to go into education,” he said. As it turned out, it worked out well for Beane. “At the time, (President) Clinton was downsizing the military. They were offering individuals the opportunity to get out early. I got out six months early,” he said.

v v v He

Beane, a 1991 graduate of O’Bannon High School of Greenville, bounced from place to place as a kid, attending no fewer

Ezzard Beane says the teachers at Claudine Brown Elementary School have made his job easy during his first three years as principal.

than eight different schools in Virginia, Oklahoma and Mississippi. A native of Fort Hood Army Base, Beane’s parents, Ezzard and Jennifer Beane, hailed from Roanoke, Va. Once Beane’s father got out of the Army, he went to work for the Veterans Administration in Roanoke. When Beane was in the fourth grade, the family was uprooted once again and headed for Oklahoma City. Still, Roanoke remained a familiar stomping ground for Beane. “I spent every summer in Virginia,” he said. While growing up, Beane spent a lot of time with future NFL stars Tiki and Ronde Barber in Roanoke. “My first cousin, he lived around the

corner from them. They are very, very, very close. Each summer, when I would come to visit, I would kind of just fall in with the guys,” he said. “Everyone played sports. When I would go in the summer, I had a spot saved on a baseball team for me.” Youth teams in Roanoke were duplicates of the American and National leagues. Because Beane’s grandparents lived in a certain ZIP code, he played for a National League team while the Barbers played for an American League team. When the leagues met at the end of the season, the Barbers usually won. “They were more gifted than I was,” Beane said. Summer 2011 Leflore Illustrated / 35

While in Oklahoma City, Beane’s father left the VA and went to work for the Federal Aviation Administration as part of the agency’s flight services operation. In the mid 1980s, the Beanes moved to Greenwood for about nine weeks as his father transitioned to airport operations in Greenwood and Greenville. The move was short-lived. “My parents felt more comfortable with us in Virginia,” Beane said. Later, Beane moved to Greenville.

v v v After leaving the military, Beane initially had dreams of going to school in Virginia. But his mother was then working at Mississippi Valley State University, and when Beane got to Valley, he fell in love with the Itta Bena school. Upon receiving his bachelor’s degree in education from Valley in 1999, Beane taught for a year and half at Leflore County Elementary School. He then went on to obtain his master’s degree in educational administration from the University of Mississippi in 2001. Upon completion, Beane moved to the Memphis City Schools for five years, first as an eighth-grade algebra and pre-algebra teacher and then as assistant principal at Colonial Middle School. During his time as assistant principal, Beane tried to further his education by enrolling in a doctoral mathematics program at the University of Memphis. However, the demands of being a new dad conflicted with his job requirements. “We were a performing arts school. There were basketball games. The assistant principal has to go to all of those, the performing arts. I wanted to spend more time at home,” he said. Feeling the strain, Beane transferred back to a mathematics teaching position at Cordova Middle School, which was closer to his home.

v v v He’s now found his place at Claudine Brown Elementary, which was historically one of the Leflore County district’s highestrated schools. (It doesn’t receive a ranking under the state’s current system because it’s only kindergarten through third grade.) Beane said the school presented a good situation for a new principal to get acclimated. “It’s a very well-oiled machine. Administrators in the past made it a good 36 / Leflore Illustrated Summer 2011

place. It was easy to kind of step into because of the teachers and the leadership that were already here. It was kind of easy to step into and get adjusted. It’s better than most places,” he said. “The teachers are very knowledgeable and competent. While the classes are not as small as we would like them to be, we can work with them,” he said. Beane knows all too well the importance of a good, highly motivated workforce. “The staff, it can make or break a principal,” he said. Jean Hall, superintendent of the Leflore County schools and a former principal at Claudine Brown, said Beane was a natural

for the post. “We hired Mr. Beane to do something differently. He was the perfect fit for Brown Elementary. Since then, he has proven to be a great choice for that school,” she said. Beane said he’s found himself a home in Greenwood. He’s married to the former Sylvia Hoover of Greenwood and has two daughters, Sydney, 5, and Zoe, 23 months. “The reason why I love where I am is because I can go home. Whenever you’re with a middle school or a high school, you have to stay for basketball games, football games. It takes away from time with your family,” he said. LI

Tips from the ‘expert’

Quest for co ol

Air-conditioner repairmen are the link between you and the unquenchable heat of a Delta summer. Here John, left, and David of Steve Daves Heating and Air Conditioning ply their trade. Customers’ insatiable appetite for cool air is such that the company declined to release the repairmen’s last names, saying they don’t want customers calling the employees directly.

ike sweating iced tea pitchers and the overwhelming smell of Off, oppressive heat is a definitive aspect of Mississippi in the summer.

COMMENTARY BY CHARLIE SMITH PHOTO BY JOHNNY JENNINGS

Greenwood has already broken several record highs this summer, and heat advisories are the norm. Higher power costs mixed with a brutish recession have left many choosing between relief for their overheated internal organs and already parched wallets. “Little relief is expected at night,” the National Weather Service coldly

reports, dashing what remains of hope after the sunset. But, all is not lost, thanks to airconditioner repairmen. They stand astride the thin line between an idyllic Southern summer and a Hadean world of suffering. It’s a tough balance. To keep customers cool, they must venture into the recesses of triple-digit temperaSummer 2011 Leflore Illustrated / 37

tures. As a descendant of such heroes, I salute their courage and resolve. I never helped my dad or uncle with heat and air jobs but learned a small measure of what they went through while working in hay fields during high school and college. But that was in East Tennessee; I was naive to think that experience could prepare me for the Mississippi Delta. A former colleague, who was a transplant from West Virginia, and I were once so shocked by the extreme heat that we decided to put to test the maxim, “It’s hot enough to fry an egg,” during a long lunch break. When it failed on asphalt, we tried on the hood of his truck. Our attempts, immortalized in video, proved futile. We returned to the office with sweatsoaked shirts inside a sticky, smelly truck. We salvaged a modicum of satisfaction from knowing we had put the scientific method into action. So take heart: Despite what you may hear, it’s probably not hot enough outside to cook things. These tips will also help you survive a Delta summer: ! Dip seven times daily in the Yazoo. ! Redesign first lady Michelle Obama’s new food plate using this simple formula: half ice cream novelty treats, one quarter ice cubes and one quarter frozen waffles (served frozen). ! Keep a supply of industrial liquid nitrogen handy. Consider wearing a canister on your back and referring to yourself as a “heatbuster.” ! Take some lessons from man’s best friend: Hold your head out the window and let your tongue wag while driving. Whimper at neighbors’ front doors to get inside where it’s cool. If unsuccessful, head underneath their porches. ! Minimize producing heat while cooking to lower utility costs, even if it means altering your diet. Eating catfish sushi requires no heat source, is a healthy alternative to frying and helps support a local industry. ! Finally, just embrace the heat. Remember that up North people pay membership dues to join clubs and sit in saunas. Every Deltan can step outside and do the same. LI 38 / Leflore Illustrated Summer 2011

Former Elks Lodge

Landmark getting new life STORY BY BOB DARDEN PHOTO BY JOHNNY JENNINGS

reenwood’s former downtown Elks Lodge is in the midst of a rebirth. Viking Range Corp. is restoring the nearly century-old structure to the glory it once held as the place to be in Greenwood’s social scene. And nationwide audiences will get a peek at it while watching The Help. The crucial ballroom scene of the movie, which was filmed mostly in Greenwood during the summer of 2010, was shot at the Elks Lodge. Soon, the public will have a chance to rent it for receptions. Renovations should be completed sometime toward the end of 2012, according to Bill Crump, Viking’s director of government affairs and executive assistant to the president. “We’re putting in two elevators, new wiring, HVAC, all new plumbing, two restrooms on the main floor and a fullcatering kitchen in the basement,” he said. It’s a fitting revival for the impressive structure at the corner of Main and Washington streets. First organized in 1895, the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks Lodge No. 854 had its first home in 1904 inside a former residence at the same location. In 1912, the Elks sold the home, which was moved to Main Street, and built the $30,000 lodge. The Greenwood Commonwealth heralded the future building as “one of the handsomest structures of the kind in the State.” Donny Whitehead, a local history buff who manages the website www.about-

The former Elks Lodge, which was built in 1913, has hosted dances and was turned into a movie set last year during the filming of The Help.

greenwoodms.com, said the lodge was the scene of a lot of social activities since its inception. He got in on the action, too, attending a sixth-grade dance there in 1958. Mrs. Sam W. Williams’ memories of the Elks Lodge date back even further. Going to the lodge was a regular ritual for young Greenwoodians in the pre-World War II years, the 91-year-old said. “We used to go to dances at the Elks Lodge, upstairs. In my day, we had a chaperone. My mother went to every one of them,” she said. “That’s about the only place where we could dance. We could go to the country club, and we did, but most of the dances were at the Elks Lodge upstairs.” Jamie Stowers, current president of the lodge, recalled the downtown landmark’s salad days. He attended dances there while a student at Pillow Academy in the

late 1960s and early 1970s. “I heard some of the old timers talk. The Red Tops out of Cleveland played there constantly. Glenn Miller’s band played there in the ’40s. It was the place to be,” Stowers said. The Mississippi Department of Archives and History designated it a Mississippi landmark in 2002. But by 2005 the building was beginning to show its age, Stowers said. Lodge membership was way down, and a bid to replace rotten wood and paint the exterior came in at $10,000. “At the time, we had something like $1,000 in the bank. We were living from one utility bill to the next. There was just no way we could continue,” Stowers said. In 2008, the lodge agreed to swap the 1913 building to Viking for a new 4,200square-foot facility on Sgt. John A. Summer 2011 Leflore Illustrated / 39

Business Directory

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Pittman Drive. Now the lodge has more than 100 members and money in the bank, Stowers said. He said while Viking’s purchasing of the old lodge was a “win-win” for Viking and the lodge, Greenwood was the real winner. “It worked out for the entire communi-

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ty because the building will be restored,” Stowers said. Greenwood Mayor Carolyn McAdams, who attended dances there during junior high and high school, said the restored lodge will complement The Alluvian hotel, which is not able to host large receptions. Shooting the Junior Auxiliary benefit scene for The Help last summer also gave

a glimpse into what the lodge’s future use could be, she said. McAdams thinks that Fred Carl Jr., president and founder of Viking, has a sentimental attachment to the historic building. “It has a special place in Freddie’s heart because he went to the same dances that I did,” she said. LI

Business Directory

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Gordon Ditto

At home with memories STORY BY RUTH JENSEN PHOTOS BY JOHNNY JENNINGS

nlike many of us who hold on to their best childhood memories in mind only, Gordon Ditto gets to live where his most memorable times took place — and he invites others to make memories there as well. Situated in Carroll County with a lake and rolling hills, the land is a place of beauty and calm. When Ditto was a boy, he often went there with his Greenwood Scout troop. Dr. Reed Carroll, his Scoutmaster, took his young charges to his place in the country, and they had many great times in this “phenomenal campground,” Ditto said. “Dr. Carroll was a master in creating interesting projects,” he said of the late physician. “We planted trees, ran barbed-wire fences, cut hay.” They even built a log cabin. “The log cabin started out as a Scouting project in the late 1970s. It was reignited in the summer of ’80 and finished in the spring of ’81,” Ditto said. Scouting was an important part of Ditto’s life as a youngster. He became an Eagle Scout, along with Wilson Carroll, his friend and son of Dr. Carroll. 42 / Leflore Illustrated Summer 2011

Gordon Ditto now lives on the land where he spent a lot of time as a Boy Scout. He and friend Wilson Carroll own the property together.

Gordon Ditto built this open-air chapel on his land in Carroll County with the help of a father who wanted his daughter to be married there.

The achievement had a big impact on Ditto. “Eagle Scouting is something special you put on a resumé,” he said. “It’s the best thing I did as a child.” He regrets that many children now are scheduled into so many things that they miss Scouting. He offers the land to other troops to enjoy. “They’re always welcome,” he said. Ditto wants others to enjoy this place that has meant so much to him. Each year on July 4, he and Wilson Carroll hold a barbecue and invite friends and acquaintances to enjoy the farm. A few couples have been married there, in an open-air chapel he built, with help from a father who wanted his daughter to wed there. “Someone had started the chapel in ’95 and abandoned the project,” he said. “I was approached by a lady who wanted her daughter to get married there. We didn’t have any real plans. My sister and I scribbled it on a napkin. Once I put it on paper, we started work on it. On October of 2010, Eliot and Stacia Fancher were married there.” Before coming home to Carroll County, Ditto served for 30 years in the National Guard. He retired in 2009. He returned to the area in the fall of 2002 and bought part of the farm along with Carroll. They share all of the land, and the Carroll family still returns to enjoy good times. Ditto, however, has the pleasure of soaking in its beauty every day. He lives on the land in a house overlooking the 60-acre lake, which he and the Carrolls share with the Williams family, who lives on the opposite side of it. Walking out onto the home’s deck or sit-

ting in the nearby gazebo, surrounded by trees, is like being on vacation every day. “I love the solitude of the farm,” he said. Ditto’s life now is in direct contrast to his former life, in which he served as commander of the Mississippi National Guard’s civil support team, providing training in biological threats as well as radiation and explosives. He has an undergraduate degree from Western Illinois University and a master’s degree

from Mississippi Valley State University in environmental science. Ditto couldn’t be happier than to be on this place, which he remembers had “such great energy.” “Embedded in us are all those positive experiences we had here,” he said. More than likely, his former Scoutmaster, Dr. Carroll, would be pleased as well to see the land continue to be used and enjoyed. LI

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Summer Events AUGUST 6 — Cyclists will trek across Leflore County in the fourth annual Bikes, Blues and Bayous. Rides of 20, 46 and 58 miles start from historic downtown Greenwood. 15 — Fall classes will begin at Mississippi Delta Community College. 16 — United Way of Leflore County will kick off its annual campaign at The Alluvian. 22 — Classes will open for the fall semester at Mississippi Valley State University. 23 — The Greenwood-Leflore County Chamber of Commerce will host its Excellence in Education awards at the Leflore County Civic Center.

SEPTEMBER 8 — Fall convocation will be held at MVSU. 17 — 300 Oaks Road Race will be held in Greenwood. Events include a 10K run,

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5K run, 5K walk and one-mile fun run. 29 — Museum of the Mississippi Delta (formerly Cottonlandia Museum) hosts the first in a series of events commemorating the 150th anniversary of the Civil War.

OCTOBER 2 — Mississippi Blues Fest will be held

at the Leflore County Civic Center. 6 — Art Alfresco will be held in downtown Greenwood 20-23 — Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat will be the first production of the Greenwood Little Theatre’s season. 28-29 — MVSU will celebrate homecoming.

Interior design

Summertime inspirations STORY BY JO ALICE DARDEN PHOTOS BY BOB DARDEN

t’s summertime, and the livin’ is indoors.

The high temperatures drive many Deltans to spend more time inside, where we tend to look around and wonder what we can do to refresh the tired interiors of our homes — without breaking the bank or too much of a sweat. Two local designers offer some quick and easy suggestions for perking things up. MaryNeff Newsom Seabergh is an interior designer with Malouf Furniture Co. in Greenwood. Having moved here from Greenville about three years ago, she is developing a loyal client base. She also writes about interior design for Mississippi Magazine, and she worked with the art director on home interiors when the movie The Help was being filmed here. Clay Pettit of Itta Bena is a longtime independent designer who has quite a devoted following himself. Owner of 1919 Antiques in Itta Bena, he is sometimes known as the “Lone Arranger,” a nickname created by a local physician friend and client.

MaryNeff Newsom Seabergh, an interior designer with Malouf Furniture Co. in Greenwood, suggests decorating with lighter fabrics in the summer than in cool months for a fresher, more relaxed feeling.

Trends in wall and ceiling color Cool things down by lightening up walls, say both Seabergh and Pettit. Changing the color of the walls of any room creates the highest visual impact. “Go beachy” by using light creams, blues and greens on walls, or maybe a light khaki, Pettit says. The more intense the color, the warmer and more “dramatic” a room feels, but when you use a light, cool color, the mood of the room lifts to bright and romantic, he says. “Some people are turning to grays Summer 2011 Leflore Illustrated / 45

now,” he continues. Grays are neutral, calming and comforting, and they tend to be good for children’s rooms; he says gray walls help children focus and encourage their creativity. Many of Seabergh’s clients are coming back to light neutrals — whites and creams — after spending years with darker colors. “I work with a lot of people in their 30s. They’re in their first or second houses. They’re collecting good furniture, and they want a nice, light place to display it that doesn’t compete with it,” Seabergh says. “Neutrals are fresh and young,” she says. “They make rooms look larger, and if you want punches of color, you can add them with brightly colored pillows and other accessories.” One thing Pettit has noticed through the years is that trends in automobile colors often predict trends in home design colors and sometimes even fashion. This year, he says, he’s noticed a growing share of cars in the sage green family — a light, silvery green that makes a good neutral backdrop on walls. The two designers agree that most of their clients tend to stick with traditional white ceilings, although they’ve seen more colored ceilings lately in national advertisements, such as for “big-box” home improvement stores. Colored ceilings can be interesting, Pettit says, but white ceilings help solve problems. “They’re more reflective of light in a room, and that helps older people with reading and other tasks” — especially when a room’s windows overlook a porch or are situated under a broad overhang. Seabergh says her mother was ahead of her time. “When I was growing up, I remember my mom had a yellow ceiling in the kitchen and a lavender ceiling in the foyer,” she says. “We just don’t see it a lot around here. I think people just want that traditional white ceiling for contrast with their walls.” Living and dining areas Slipcovers on sofas and chairs can lift a room’s mood instantly, says Pettit. Stick with light colors and fabrics, such as linen or cotton or a lightweight canvas. If you have them custom-made, he points out, ask the maker to launder or dry clean the fabric before cutting to avoid shrinkage surprises. And opt for slipcovers with zippers or ties for easy on-and-off. Rearranging the furniture in a room gives it a feeling of newness because it 46 / Leflore Illustrated Summer 2011

“Nobody likes to dust, especially in the summertime, so scoop up your photos and bowls and unused vases and put them away for hot weather. You can always bring them back out again in the fall.” Clay Pettit changes your perspective, Pettit says, and it costs nothing. You see the whole room differently when you sit in your favorite seat, but in another place in the room. Seabergh says changing the textiles in the living and dining rooms can refresh them. “New pillows on the sofa add color,” she says. “I’m seeing a lot of traditional patterns with updated colors and florals with blues and greens mixed with ikats.” She says changing the rugs can transform a room. Pettit agrees: “Take up the heavy wool Oriental (rug) and replace it with a natural-fiber rug or one in a lighter color,” he says. “Or better yet, if your floors are OK, just leave them bare for the summer. Let them breathe.” He also suggests removing that heavy wool throw you like to snuggle under while you watch TV on the sofa — in the winter. “That’s just like we change from winter clothes to summer clothes,” he says. “If you have to have a throw on the sofa, make it linen or cotton or silk in a light color.” Both designers suggest decluttering

will open up a room that has many accessories on display. We tend to make room for pieces we love, often adding to our collections, but rarely subtracting from them. Pettit believes that some judicious editing of things that catch a lot of dust can give a room new life. “Nobody likes to dust, especially in the summertime,” he says, “so just scoop up your photos and bowls and unused vases, and put them away for the hot weather. You can always bring them back out again in the fall.” “You can really have the most fun in the dining room with your chairs,” says Seabergh. “It’s so easy to change the fabric on most dining room chairs — very DIY (do-it-yourself) and high-impact.” You can remove most dining room seat cushions with a few screws. Notice how the fabric is applied, stretched evenly and tacked down on the underside using a staple gun. Seabergh says to just remove the old fabric, replace it with new fabric in the color and design of your choice and screw the seats back onto the chairs. “It takes very little fabric, and it almost feels like a new dining room.” Kitchen ‘makeovers’ You can spend as little as nothing or many thousands of dollars on updating the looks of your kitchen. But one of the highest-impact changes you can make with zero cost, Pettit says, is to declutter the countertops. “Take everything off the counter that is not absolutely essential right now,” Pettit says. “We’re not making heavy stews and chilis and roasts and other cold-weather foods in the summertime, so store those pots and pans out of sight. Put your heavy pottery away. Clean your countertops till they shine, and then put out baskets of fruit.” He says apples of gold and green look great in a summer kitchen; so do peaches, bananas, lemons and limes. The color brightens the room, and the fruits actually do serve a higher purpose: They’re good to eat and good for us. Pettit and Seabergh both suggest two other inexpensive but impressive changes: Replace the faucet at the sink, and replace the hardware on the cabinets and drawers. “People hardly ever think of changing the faucet,” Pettit says — we usually just hang onto the one that came with the house unless we’ve had a total kitchen redesign. But if you update the faucet, you can get one that looks great and can make things easier for you at the sink.

SUMMER 2011

The index

of advertisers Ad page

Ad page

ANTIQUES

The Pickett Fence

ART GALLERY Gallery Point Leflore

ARTS AND CRAFTS Montage Marketplace

ATTORNEYS

Upshaw, Williams, Biggers & Beckham L.L.P.

AUTOMOTIVE

Kirk Auto Group Mims Wholesale Motors

back cover 40

AUTO PARTS Delta Farm & Auto Supply, Inc.

Capital City Beverages, Inc. Delta Distributing

40 22

BEER DISTRIBUTOR BOOKS Turnrow Book Co.

CLOTHING Phil’s Squire Shoppe Puddleducks Rachael’s Smith & Co.

CONSIGNMENT Deja Vu

26 34 6, 44 1, 44 41

EYE CARE Walls Vision

Triple M Irrigation Wade Incorporated

30 38

FARM EQUIPMENT FINANCIAL

Bank of Commerce

FLORIST

Bella Flora

FURNITURE

McCaleb Discount Furniture

GIFTS Fincher’s Inc. Gift Box,The Mississippi Gift Company, The

GLASS

Custom Glass Services Mobile Glass, Inc.

GOVERNMENT

City of Greenwood

Ad page

OFFICE MACHINES 8 34 41 41 40

MidSouth Copier Systems, Inc. 41

OIL CHANGE

Shell Rapid Lube

PET STORE Pet Quest

PHARMACY

Downtown Drugs 16

HEALTH CARE

PHOTOGRAPHY

Jennings Photography

40 41 40 12

Air Evac Lifeteam 26 Clarksdale Urology Clinic 14 Magnolia Medical Clinic inside back cover Mallory Community Health Center 27 Sta-Home Health 12

PLUMBING

Bowie Realty, Inc. DuBard Realty

22 30

HOME IMPROVEMENT

Flatland Grill Mai Little China

40 8

Lexington Home Center

HOTELS Alluvian, The

INSURANCE Alfa Insurance Clark Insurance

8 40 38

JEWELRY

Clevenger Jewelry & Gifts inside front cover, 44 Lynbar Jewelers 30 Russells Antiques & Fine Jewelry 8

LIMOUSINE SERVICE Performance Limo

LOANS

RESTAURANTS SCHOOLS

North New Summitt St. Francis School

Leflore Illustrated

Viking Range Corp.

44 43

Main Street Greenwood

Direct Connection Travel

TRAVEL AGENCY UTILITIES

Greenwood Utilities

VETERINARIANS

WRECKER SERVICE

TOURISM

Four Paws Animal Health Center Greenwood Animal Hospital

Pioneer Credit Company

MANUFACTURING

REAL ESTATE

MAGAZINE

Westerfield Plumbing

Parker Wrecker Service

40 41 43

index of advertisers index of advertisers index of advertisers index of advertisers index of advertisers index of advertisers index of advertisers

index of advertisers index of advertisers index of advertisers index of advertisers index of advertisers

index of advertisers index of advertisers index of advertisers index of advertisers index of advertisers Summer 2011 Leflore Illustrated / 47

“Replacing the cabinet hardware — the knobs and drawer pulls — is incredibly easy,” says Seabergh, “and it can really brighten up your kitchen.” Just make sure, if you don’t want to do any drilling and spackling, that the new hardware attaches in the same holes drilled for the existing hardware. Another easy but eye-catching change is to paint your cabinets and drawers (but do this before you put your new hardware on). Seabergh suggests a light dove gray or a linen white for a bright neutral that makes a kitchen gleam. Small bath or powder room “Spicing up a bath is so much fun,” Pettit says. “You can make a huge impact by just replacing the mirror with a nice one in a beautiful frame. Or hang a small mirror on top of a larger mirror.” “Wallpaper is making a comeback from the ’80s,” Seabergh says, “and since you’re working in such a small space, you can buy fine wallpaper and still not spend a whole lot of money.” She suggests a big, bright, bold, fun pattern, and you don’t have to cover all the walls — maybe even just one – and paint the others a coordinating color. “Silver or some other metallic leafing on a wall or the ceiling is another stunning change that will reflect light and add a vintage feel to a powder room,” she adds. Both Seabergh and Pettit suggest a charming light fixture to brighten the small room — something sparkling and twinkly, such as a small chandelier that fits the proportions of the room. They also suggest having only one gorgeous piece of art for one of the walls. More can feel like clutter you have to fuss with — not good in hot weather. Pettit recommends removing toilet seat covers; they make the room feel hot, and they hold dust and germs, as well. Lighten up the bath linens, he says — white makes a bath feel spa-like and clean. Put a stack of colorful or monogrammed paper guest towels in a basket by the sink, and change them by seasons. Guests will appreciate the singleuse towel, too. And change the soaps in your powder room, switching from a heavy spicy scent in winter to a lighter citrus scent for summer. And, again, updating the faucet and the hardware in the powder room can have the same refreshing impact it has in the kitchen. LI 48 / Leflore Illustrated Summer 2011

Interior designer Clay Pettit recommends displaying white towels in the bath for hot summer months. White linens make a bath feel spa-like and clean.