Woman Of The Year
MELISSA CHAVERS
Big Mama loves her new title BY | REGINA BUTLER
Be still and know that I am God. Psalm 46:10
I
Scott and Melissa Chavers between their dogs Hank and Hank. Chavers said they had one for 13 years then when they got the other he was already named Hank.
16 | Best of Pontotoc 2021
t never gets old. Although she has been in the kid care business for eight years, she still loves all her 140 something grandkids that call her Big Mama. You see, Melissa Moss Chavers was content with her life as a nurse in California. Yes. I said California, you know, that state that is as far west as you can go before jumping off into the Pacific Ocean. Growing up in Pontotoc, her nursing career took her to that big state and she spent quite a number of years there before small voices brought her back to these hills, the small voices of her grandkids, the originals who call her Big Mama. Her daughter, Dallas, encouraged her to buy this daycare that was for sale so she found herself owning the Learning Tree Academy and in charge of 70 or so children. But that quickly mushroomed into more than 140 over a short period of time because of the love and care she insists on from herself and her staff. “I don’t think I could have done this as a young person,” Melissa said, “but as a grandmother, this is perfect. Working in the nursing field I saw that people didn’t have a lot of food to eat or someone to take care of them, and I am determined that that won’t be said about the children here.” Her parents, Harrell and Lovell Moss, had the greatest influence on her life, that still resonates in her character today.
