ACCENT

S O U T H M I S S I S S I P P I
AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2009

At Home With Martha Saunders

HATTIESBURG CELEBRATES 125 YEARS | THE LAZY BOGUE CHITTO | RARE DESIGN | TAMALES |SMITHSONIAN VISITS MCCOMB
 ACC E N T
SOUTH MISSISSIPPI

Volume 1, Number 2 • August/September 2009

www.accentsouthmississippi.com
JOIN OUR FACEBOOK FAN PAGE

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
Robyn Jackson
theaccenteditor@aol.com

CONTRIBUTORS
Royce Armstrong
Trudy Berger
Karen Blakeney
Charlotte Blom
Layla Essary
Leif Munkel
Valerie Wells

GUEST COLUMNISTS
Louie A. Galiano
Kristen Twedt
James Welch

ADVERTISING
For advertising information
Kristi Carver
Brookhaven and McComb
kristicarver@bellsouth.net

Charlotte Blom
Hattiesburg
charlotteblom1@gmail.com

Doug Crotty
Picayune
doug.crotty@gmail.com

Isabelle Parker
Mississippi Gulf Coast
isaparker107@gmail.com

DESIGN & FABRICATION

Lisa W. Pittman
accentproduction@cableone.net

SUBSCRIPTIONS
subscriptions@accentsouthmississippi.com

ACCENT South Mississippi is published

bimonthly by
SoMiss Publishing LLC
Post Office Box 19027
Hattiesburg, MS 39404-9027

SoMiss Publishing LLC.

All rights reserved. Contents of this
magazine may not be
reproduced in any manner without
written consent from Publisher.
ACCENT South Mississippi cannot
be held liable for errors
and omissions.

Printed in the U.S.A.

 CONTENTS
A u g u st / S e p t e m b e r 2 0 0 9 | ACC E N T S O U T H M I S S I S S I P P I
10
GUEST COLUMNS

LOUIE A. GALIANO
Life’s full of romance and
adventure for Picayune couple

12 JAMES WELCH
Floating the Bogue Chitto is a
great break from reality

DESTINATIONS

14 DISCOVER YOUR INNER SELF

Lynn Meadows Discovery Center

HATTIESBURG’S 125TH BIRTHDAY

28 AT THE CROSSROADS
After 125 years, all roads - and
railroads - still lead city’s growth

14 18 31 HISTORY’S HEROES
Former USO building pays tribute
to African-American vets

34 MOVIE PALACE
After 80 years, Saenger Theater
still defines entertainment

36 DOWNTOWN REVITALIZATION
Despite national recession down-
town Hattiesburg is thriving

HOME & GARDEN

39 AT HOME WITH MARTHA

SAUNDERS
Southern Miss President’s Home
designed for entertaining
42 VICTORIAN BEAUTY
Groth family grows into Sproles
31 42 house

ABOUT THE COVER IN EVERY ISSUE

45 SUMMER OASIS
Cottage garden adds curb
Martha Saunders, President of the 8 Editor’s Notes
appeal to Hattiesburg home
University of Southern Mississippi, 53 In The Kitchen
welcomes ACCENT magazine into 55 Life in South Mississippi ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
her home for a visit.
48 PORTRAIT OF AN ARTIST
Tracy Donald shares her talent
PHOTOGRAPHY BY FEATURES
ERICA SHERRILL OWENS 16 All Aboard at McComb Train Depot
with others as painter, teacher
18 Tagged! Medical Record Breakthrough
20 A Safe Place for Boys and Girls
SPIRITUALITY
22 RARE Design
51 HOUSE RAISING
Summit church builds hope,
homes and a future in Waveland

4 a cc e n t s o u t h m i s s i s s i p p i
 CONTRIBUTORS
ROYCE ARMSTRONG is a freelance
writer and amateur wildlife photog-
rapher from the Midwest who now
lives deep in the piney woods of
South Mississippi. His work regular-
ly appears in magazines, newspa-
pers and on Web sites. His passions
include his family, his work, his
faith, horses, bowhunting and the outdoors.
TRUDY BERGER, a retired business
consultant who moved to
Southwest Mississippi after a 30-
year professional career in
Houston, is currently an election
commissioner for Pike County, and
a dedicated volunteer deeply
involved in church and community
activities such as the Summit
Historical Society, the McComb Depot Railroad Museum,
and the Preservation Commission in her current home-
town. She is a native of Hammond, La., and a long-ago
graduate of the LSU School of Journalism.
KAREN BLAKENEY is an award-win-
ning writer who lives in Gulfport
with her husband and five chil-
dren. Before graduating from
Millsaps College, she studied art
and poetry at St. John’s College at
Oxford University. Karen has
recently completed a memoir
about her young son’s struggle to
overcome Scimitar Syndrome and Congenital Kyphosis.
She maintains a congenital heart defects Web site,
www.NathansPrayer.com.
CHARLOTTE BLOM has a bachelor
of arts degree from Vassar
College. She has been freelance
copy editing and writing for
years, as well as sampling unre-
lated professional experiences.
She enjoys exploring, hunting and
gathering in and around her home
in Hattiesburg.
LAYLA ESSARY is currently a free-
lance writer for various publica-
tions and works as a contract pub-
lic relations consultant. Before ful-
filling communication roles with
two area-wide non-profit organiza-
tions, Layla worked for nearly a
decade in the broadcasting indus-
try as an anchor and reporter for
local television stations in Mississippi. She and her hus-
band Mike enjoy watching their two elementary-aged
kids play baseball and participate in swim team activi-
ties, not to mention chronicling all of life on Facebook.
6 a cc e n t s o u t h m i s s i s s i p p i
LOUIE A. GALIANO owns and operates an antiques store
with his wife Debbie in Picayune. A graduate of
Louisiana State University with twin degrees in English
and business, his career has been mostly in manage-
ment and in teaching college economics. He is present-
ly at work on his second novel, a sequel to his first,
“Snorkel - Immersions in Time.” Born in New Orleans,
he moved to the Picayune area more than 20 years ago.
His interests include travel, pre-Columbian history, and,
of course, snorkeling.
LEIF MUNKEL is the communications coordinator for the
Hattiesburg Convention Commission. He is also in
charge of publicity for the Mississippi Miss Hospitality
Pageant. He is a former reporter and anchor for WDAM
News in Hattiesburg as well as WMDN News in Meridian.
He is originally from Minnesota where he majored in
mass communications.
KRISTEN TWEDT is a freelance writer whose work has
appeared in the Christian Science Monitor, Mississippi
Magazine, South Mississippi Scene, The Hattiesburg
American, The Columnist and various online ezines,
including The National Pain Foundation, Arriviste Press
and The Erma Bombeck Writers’ Workshop. Books
include “A Tribute to Mom,” from Paperdoll Publishing
and “My Crazy Christmas Catastrophe Cat,” from
Timothy Lane Press. A Mississippi Gulf Coast native and
graduate of the University of Southern Mississippi,
Kristen lives in Hattiesburg with husband Steven and
two children, Sam and Katie. She is a member of the
National Society of Newspaper Columnists and the
Southeastern Writers Association. Samples of her
columns appear at www.kristenscolumn.blogspot.com.
JAMES WELCH is a freelance writer who grew up in the
McComb area and has lived in the Hattiesburg area for
the last six years with his high school sweetheart and
wonderful wife, Wendy. They have three children,
Ariana, Lauren and Braden. He likes to treat every day
as an adventure, and with three children under the age
of seven, it usually is. He enjoys spending time with his
family, writing feature stories and the outdoors, and is
constantly amazed by all that God has created.
VALERIE WELLS is a freelance
writer who has covered all aspects
of community journalism for the
past 20 years. A military brat with
deep roots in South Mississippi, she
looks for stories about the shared
history and culture of the region
brought to life by everyday folk.
She has written for national and regional magazines and
has been editor of several publications and Web sites.
She lives in Hattiesburg with a patient husband and two
well-adjusted sons.
 EDITOR’S NOTES

SINCERELY SOUTHERN
HUB CITY MEMORIES

W now.
WHEN I FIRST CAME TO HATTIESBURG IN THE FALL
OF 1978, IT WAS STILL VERY MUCH A SMALL
TOWN, THE KIND OF PLACE WHERE EVERYONE
E I THER KNOWS EACH OTHER OR KNOWS ABOUT E A C H
other. After living here for 31 years, I’m still amazed by the incredible growth of the city. I can only
imagine what Capt. William Hardy, who founded Hattiesburg in 1884, would think of the Hub City

Back in 1978, the city pretty much ended at South 40th Avenue. When Methodist Hospital - now
Wesley Medical Center - relocated from Bay
Street to U.S. 98 West in 1980, I wondered
about the logic of locating a hospital way out in
the country. Older and wiser people than me
knew that Hattiesburg was about to boom and
that thousands of new residents would soon
follow, making Lamar County the fast-growing
in the state. The westward expansion had
begun.
We have pretty much everything you could
want here now, with two universities and a
campus of Pearl River Community College, two
major hospitals, Turtle Creek Mall and numer-
ous shopping centers and strip malls, and a
downtown that is starting to thrive again.
Our dining choices are a lot more varied
now, too. Thirty years ago, Dale’s, Mr. Ed’s
Pizza, Jimmy Faughn’s, Morrison’s Cafeteria, Mexican Kitchen, Conestoga Steak House, the Gold
Post, Shipley’s Do-nuts and the Wagon Wheel were popular places to eat. Burger Town had a fix-
your-own sundae bar. Sebastian’s served tasty sandwiches and ice cream concoctions with names like
the Dixie Darling. Most of those places are just memories now. We had McDonald’s and Burger King,
but I remember the excitement we college students felt when Taco Bell opened on Hardy Street
around 1980. Hattiesburg had finally reached the big time, as far as we were concerned. Now we
have many of the big national chain restaurants, but there are still many unique locally-owned eater-
ies that tempt us with their delights.
When I moved to Hattiesburg to attend USM, I had no idea I would decide to stay here, but
there’s something about Hattiesburg that sucks you in, especially if you’re from the Gulf Coast. It’s
close enough to home so you can visit your family often and take advantage of all the things the
Coast offers, but far enough away that you can be independent.
I’m proud to be part of this vibrant, dynamic community, and I hope that Accent South
Mississippi helps to show why living here is such a pleasure. I can only imagine what the city will be
like 30 years from now, in 2039. It will be interesting to watch its continued growth.
In the meantime, enjoy this issue’s special section saluting Hattiesburg’s 125th birthday. It’s time
to celebrate!
Robyn Jackson

8 a cc e n t s o u t h m i s s i s s i p p i
 GUEST COLUMN | louie galiano
A Lov e Sto ry
Life’s full of romance and adventure for
Picayune couple
T TEXT BY LOUIE GALIANO
This is a love story. It’s
a love story about old fur-
niture, foreign and exotic
places, writing, and even
science. But mostly it is
the love story about
Debbie, who walked into
my office 25 years ago
looking for a job. I gave
her the job; she gave me a
new life filled with tender
beginnings and happiness.
What makes Debbie so
different is that she is
totally sincere - a rare per-
son without guile or
deceit. There is nothing in
her appearance that you
cannot sense or immedi-
“KNOW”
BY LOUIS GALIANO
Know that I am always here.
Know that the peaceful wind is the sound of my breath,
That the restful rain is the touch of my fingers on your skin,
And that the morning sun is the warmth of my embrace.
The gentle aria will be the echo of my voice
And the changing seasons will be the awareness of my moving spirit.
And you will also know me by my words
And hear them softly as I stand beside you
And speak of the constant wonder of my love for you.
And so you will know that I have not gone,
You will dream and I will be forever there
And I will smile and tenderly kiss your face.
And when you wake my memory will live inside you
And will remain with you eternally without end.
ately feel. Strangers recog-
nize that quality and
strangers become her
friends, offer their friend-
ship, confide their
thoughts, and somehow
feel redeemed. Cold rooms
become warm; one feels
the simplicity of the true,
the effortlessness of hon-
esty, the gentleness of
calm. She gives love in its
entirety; it is not within
her to hold back.
There is a longer story
but the abbreviated ver-
sion one is that we worked
together for a while, got
married and opened an
antiques shop in Picayune.
We stocked it with the
angular artistry of
Eastlake, the surprising
curvature of provincial,
the sternness of Shaker.
We added the blue jasper
of Wedgwood and the
quiet pastel of Nippon.
Lace and crystal and silver
were sold and we called
the shop, appropriately,
Galiano’s. Artists began to
congregate and wanted to
display their paintings on
the walls. Poets passed
through. A small
Parnassus in Picayune.
The shop has Debbie’s
stamp on it. It too speaks
of love and has become a
meeting place of sorts, a
clearing house for news -
who is sick, who is well,
who is pregnant, how is
one’s mother doing. I work
the shop on occasion and
there are people who say
that they’ll come back
when Debbie is there. I
guess that tells you some-
thing.
But Debbie and I had
mutually promised each
other a life like no other
and nothing detracted
from that vow. We trav-
eled - following whales in
Baja, spending the day
swimming at Magen’s Bay
in St. Thomas, doing the
countdown in Spanish at
midnight on a New Year’s
eve along the Paseo de la
Reforma, chasing
Hemingway’s ghost in
Sloppy Joe’s in Key West,
watching the Gatun locks
of the Panama Canal fill
and lifting our ship, look-
ing for pirates among the
narrow streets of the beau-
tiful walled city of
Cartagena. And we
shopped. We bought more
lace in Charlotte Amalie
and silver in Taxco and
added them to our store. determined. It was called follicular lymphoma - a
Along the way I had written a novel, “Snorkel blood cancer - and its treatment was chemothera-
- Immersions in Time,” which received some good py. The chemo was begun immediately and in the
reviews. I had planned the book as part of a trilo- mistaken belief that I could use my recuperating
gy but something happened as I was working on time to write that second novel, I found that the
the second book. There was a morning when I creative processes would not cooperate under
awoke in pain and to stand on my right leg had those conditions. The chemo would not permit it.
become unbearable. After months of testing, can- But as I began to feel worse, I considered the
cer was deter- implications of the
mined to be the Law of the
cause. The pain Conservation of
vanished and Matter and my
then returned love for Debbie
and then van- and in my belief
ished again and that my life could
the type of can- possibly be more
cer had yet to abbreviated than I
be found. had planned, I
During one scratched down
of the vanished the accompanying
again periods I verse and gave it
received a call the simple title:
from my old “Know.”
college room- I didn’t give her
mate, the artist the poem at first,
Aris Koutroulis, but carried it
about whom I around with me in
had written in my wallet until it
“Snorkel,” and became creased
who told me and slightly
that he would ragged. But then
be in New Orleans in October. I drove down to see again we have never kept anything from each
him and we sat in a hotel bar bringing our lives other and one day I merely handed it to her with-
up to date and after a few Dos Equis we left mun- out explanation. There was no need to explain.
dane matters and speculated on the prospects of The last examination indicated that the cancer
cancer and something called the Law of the is in remission and other than an occasional loss
Conservation of Matter. Aris always had a turn for of energy, there appear to be no ill effects. The
the metaphysical, but this was pure science, he pain has not returned. I have yet to test the Law of
said. Essentially, the Law states that matter is the Conservation of Matter.
finite and cannot be created or destroyed. While But the word is this: I still have two more
particles of matter may be rearranged, the sum of books to write and there is a restaurant in San José
those particles must equal the aggregate of the del Cabo where the succulent shrimp fresh from
original mass. We are attached to and part of the the sea are cooked with cilantro and orange slices,
earth. One’s conclusion, then, must be that noth- where Cuban music is played on Fridays, where
ing really goes away. In some form we will always the desert air becomes cool at night, and where
exist. the whales play in the Sea of Cortez … and where
Some weeks later the cause of the cancer was the love story is bound to continue.

a cc e n t s o u t h m i s s i s s i p p i 11
 GUEST COLUMN | james welch

DOWN A LAZY RIVER

FLOATING THE BOGUE CHITTO IS A GREAT BREAK FROM REALITY

I
TEXT BY JAMES WELCH
PHOTOS COURTESY SWEETWATER CANOE AND TUBING

In South Mississippi, the idea of escaping the heat flows into our thoughts as naturally and sud-
denly as the summer does.
One day we are reaching for our coat as we head for work and the next we are looking for our
shorts as we head for the beach. One day there’s a cold chill in the air and the next it’s so hot, it’s
hard to breathe. We enjoy only a brief moment of spring each year, before summer sets in and our
minds enter into escape the heat mode.
So goes the beginning of our summer vacation. The kids are out of school and their days fill with
watermelons and water balloons, as all thoughts of text books and homework fade away. Our minds
are suddenly free from the thoughts of carpools and after-school snacks, and that vacancy is filled
with thoughts of beaches and suntans. No matter how hard we try to slow it down, time seems to
double its pace on the beach and soon the vacation inevitably begins to come to an end.

12 a cc e n t s o u t h m i s s i s s i p p i
 With the start of a new school year comes little stresses. Lots of great wildlife can be found
waves of that all-too-familiar stuff we call stress. all along the trip and as you look on at the tur-
The plethora of free time that we have grown tles sitting on a log, you’ll be reminded of how
accustomed to enjoying through this break is you, not unlike those turtles, are in no hurry and
fading out in much the same way as it faded in. can relax while enjoying the ride. The birds fly-
Each new day seems to grow more and more ing overhead and the squirrels along the trees
filled. Leisure and relaxation are becoming a will remind you of how carefree you are at this
memory rather than a way of life, as we begin to very moment.
search for ways to hang on to this break and You want this trip to never end, but sooner or
treasure it for just a little longer. later it does and you find yourself approaching a
Canoe trips are a great way to spend a lazy boat ramp and the friendly staff from the rental
summer day and may be just the thing needed to group smiling and ready to take you back to
wrap up this summer break or relieve the stress your car and a nice changing area with private
that comes from back-to-school shopping. My showers, for getting ready for the ride home.
wife and I recently took a trip to McComb and Yet, with cabin rentals and camping sites, you’re
rented a canoe from one of the many great canoe welcome to stay a while. Maybe you could head
rental outfits along the winding road that leads down the many hiking trails available or have a
to the Bogue Chitto water park. At 230 acres, this picnic in the shade of a mighty oak. Whichever
wildlife refuge provides tons of entertainment. It activities you decide on, they are sure to be a
is named for the Bogue Chitto River that snakes great way to unwind on a summer day.
through it and provides for a great canoe or tub-
ing experience. Upon renting a canoe or tube,
you will be asked how long you would like to
float and are given a couple of options, which
range from a few hours to all day. You are then
bused to the appropriate location.
From this drop-off point the adventure begins,
and your worries begin to instantly fade away as
you ever so gently float along the spring-fed
stream. Calm water, friendly fellow floaters and
an alcohol-free atmosphere make for a great fam-
ily outing. As you paddle your way around
nature’s obstacles, you can’t help but be remind-
ed of days gone by and wonder how many oth-
ers have lost track of all of their worries along
this very river. Around the bend lies a sand bar
just calling for you to stop, and since you’re free
to do so, before you know it you are lying on the
beach basking in the sun. All along your trip,
you’ll find sand bars, swim holes and an irre-
For information on floating Magee Creek or the Bogue
sistible urge to stop and check them out. There
Chitto River, contact Sweetwater Canoe and Tubing,
are plenty of great places for a picnic, both on
www.sweetwatercanoeandtubing.com.
the canoe trip and within the park.
Time flies when you’re having fun, and on this
trip, you’ll find that the very thought of time has
slipped from your mind and so has a lot of life’s

a cc e n t s o u t h m i s s i s s i p p i 13
DESTINATIONS | lynn meadows discovery center

DISCOVER
YOUR INNER
CHILD AT
Lynn Meadows Discovery Center

S
TEXT AND PHOTOGRAPHY BY KAREN BLAKENEY

Step into the Lynn Meadows Discovery Center and you

just might experience a sudden, uncontrollable desire to be
a kid again.
Located a block from the beach in Gulfport, the 1915-
era school house is home to an amazing assortment of pro-
grams and interactive exhibits. Whether your little explor-
er is a future artist, chef, scientist or broadcaster, there are
imaginative play opportunities to nurture every tender
ambition.
The focal point of Mississippi’s only children’s museum
is the two-story Sea Climb, a spiraling series of waves
leading to exhibits on the upper floor. Celebrate the World
We Share, a colorful Mexican travel exhibit, awaits young-
sters who scramble to the top - don’t worry, parents can
take the ramp. Nearby, the History Hotel of 1898 offers a
peek at Mississippi City (the school’s location pre-annexa-
tion); children play dress-up with vintage-inspired cloth-
ing and enjoy an old-fashioned tea party.
After a visit with the past, a trip to a contemporary gro-
cery store is in order. To Market, To Market bustles with
excitement as children fill grocery bags with realistic foods
and spend play money at the toy cash registers. There are
surprises at every corner: Wonder-full Wetlands, a televi-
sion studio where “Investi-Gators” report the news; the
Porthole, a banana and chicken import station; A Matter of
Science, a hands-on approach to knowledge; and Bear
Camp Bayou, a charming play space with eye-popping
murals and delightful toys designed specifically for chil-
dren under four.
As I spoke with Cynthia Minton, executive director of
LMDC, I asked her about a picture showing the Old
Mississippi City Elementary School in its deteriorated
 condition, posted just outside her office. “That photo-
graph is a reminder,” she said. “The Discover Center
has come a long way.”
The discovery center is named in memory of a
Coast woman who died young.
“Carol Lynn Meadows and Rose Alman were look-
ing for some way to honor the memory of Lynn
Meadows, Carol’s daughter,” Minton said. “They vis-
ited centers around the country and decided this
would be a fitting remembrance.”
From its humble beginnings in 1991, these two
friends inspired a community with their dream and
converted the old school into the museum it is today.
Despite catastrophic losses from Hurricane
Katrina, the community pulled together to bring the
center back better than ever. Exhibits were restored
and improved, and the WINGS Arts and Education
Center was created with a $3 million budget. The
WINGS center increased the size of LMDC from 15,000
to 30,000 square feet. It boasts an auditorium for the-
atrical productions, a fully-equipped sound and light-
ing room and a professional kitchen designed by
friend and patron, Emeril Lagasse. Recognized recent-
ly with the Governor’s Award for Excellence in the
Arts, the new center produces quality, student-driven
entertainment.
“We like to keep it fresh,” Minton said, pointing
out the new summer exhibit, Bubblemania, which
entertains young and old alike. “It’s funny - we all
like to do bubbles. On a bad day, I go out there and
do a few,” she admitted with a mischievous smile.
She also speaks glowingly of future projects,
including “Mouth Power,” a traveling exhibit allowing
children to perform dental procedures on mannequins.
A permanent exhibit is also in the works which will
highlight safety in the home and on the road.
“We are always looking for ways to serve our com-
munity,” Minton said.

FUN FOR ALL AGES

Lynn Meadows Discovery Center is located at 246 Dolan
Ave., Gulfport

Hours: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday

Admission: $7 for adults and children over 1

For more information: (228) 897-6039

Web site: www.lmdc.org
 DESTINATIONS | mccomb depot railroad museum
ALL ABOARD!
Smithsonian exhibition coming to McComb railroad museum
T
TEXT AND PHOTOGRAPHY BY TRUDY BERGER
The Smithsonian is coming to our backyard in
South Mississippi. That’s right, ‘Journey Stories,”
a compelling Smithsonian exhibition that shows
how our evolving mobility changed a young
nation and how transportation made us grow, is
coming to the McComb Depot Railroad Museum
in the historic McComb Depot District.
The colorful and informative exhibition, which
is free to attend, will open to the public on
Sunday, Oct. 25, and will remain open Mondays
through Saturdays until Dec. 8.
In “Journey Stories,” the accounts of travelers
express the hopes and promises of fresh starts,
16 a cc e n t s o u t h m i s s i s s i p p i
National Humanities
Council Vice President
John Matthews, for-
mer McComb Railroad
Shop Foreman Edwin
Etheridge and
Museum Executive
Director Winnie Len
Howell exchange
ideas about the
upcoming Smithsonian
exhibition.
the grim realities of forced migrations and diffi-
cult journeys, and the thrills of personal travel.
The exhibition is a part of Museum on Main
Street, which represents a collaboration between
the Smithsonian Institution and the local state
humanities councils, in our case, the Mississippi
Humanities Council. The logistics necessary to
package and distribute these massive produc-
tions are handled through the Smithsonian
Institution Traveling Exhibition Services.
The work to obtain “Journey Stories” was initi-
ated some two years ago by Winnie Len Howell,
the dedicated volunteer executive director of

McComb’s Railroad Museum,
and another volunteer, Bob
Bellipanni. They had to submit a
proposal to the Mississippi
Humanities Council, which was
judged competitively, showing
that the Railroad Museum could
bring together all the resources
within the community, financial
and otherwise, critical to ensure
the success of such a major
endeavor as hosting a
Smithsonian exhibition.
The McComb Depot Railroad
Museum is a worthwhile daytrip,
with or without a Smithsonian
exhibition. Opened in 2003, the
museum represents the culmina-
tion of three years hard work by
dedicated volunteers to restore
the baggage room of the vintage
1901 Illinois Central Depot. Prior
to opening the McComb Railroad
Museum, Howell, a longtime
railroad enthusiast, had joined
forces with Edwin Etheridge, the
last foreman of the IC Railroad
Shop in McComb, to open a
Liberty-White Railroad Museum
at Percy Quin State Park just
south of McComb. That endeavor
kindled a desire to see a perma-
nent home for railroad artifacts
in a suitable setting in downtown
McComb. And nothing could
stop the desire of these two
determined railroad enthusiasts.
Now, six years later, the
McComb Depot Railroad
Museum is hailed by knowledge-
able railroad enthusiasts from all
over the country as one of the
best, if not the best, collection of
rolling stock and artifacts that
exists in the country. It is well
worth a daytrip to McComb to
FOR MORE INFORMATION
Contact the McComb Depot Railroad Museum at www.mcrrmuseum.com or
call (601) 684-6487 or (601) 276-3097 to arrange group tours. Admission is
free.
HOURS OF OPERATION: Noon-4 p.m. Monday-Friday
SPECIAL HOURS DURING JOURNEY STORIES: 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Monday-
Saturday, Oct. 25-Dec. 8
ADDRESS: 108 N. Railroad Blvd., McComb
DIRECTIONS: From Interstate 55, take exit 17; proceed east on Delaware
Avenue (through five stop lights); proceed through traffic light at inter-
section of Delaware and Mississippi 51, down Main Street to Railroad
Boulevard; turn left onto Railroad Boulevard and park in front of depot, in
parking lot on north side, or in garage across street.
see the inside exhibits which
include a history of McComb, a
chronicle of President Teddy
Roosevelt’s 1911 visit to the city,
aerial photos of the railroad
shops, pause to admire the man-
nequins dressed in period attire
on the platform at the end of the
room, soak up the oral accounts
of men and women who lived
and worked on the railroad, and
admire the impressive collection
of photographs from the famous
railroad photographer C.W.
Witbeck.
Step outside the museum to
the train track and visit the 200-
ton steam locomotive, the only
aluminum refrigerator car ever
built, climb up in the bright red
caboose, view the massive 191-
ton operational wrecker derrick, Between the Railroad Museum
and the list goes on. The best and the outside train display visi-
tors cross this impressive and
thing about this museum is that
oft-visited Brick Memorial con-
they are still adding to the collec- structed entirely with volunteer
tion. There is an endless supply labor provided by railroad
of dedicated retired railroad retirees.
workers committed to the idea of
keeping the spirit and history of exhibition or not, put the
railroading alive and well in McComb Depot Railroad
McComb. So whether you can Museum on your list of must-see
visit during the Smithsonian destinations.
a cc e n t s o u t h m i s s i s s i p p i 17
 FEATURE | dr. keith melancon

Tagged!
FORMER SURGEON DEVELOPS
MEDICAL RECORD BREAKTHROUGH
TEXT BY ROYCE ARMSTRONG

18 a cc e n t s o u t h m i s s i s s i p p i
T The bracelet you wear may
soon be the most valuable acces-
sory you own.
“I don’t know if you have
been to a doctor lately,” Dr.
Keith Melancon said, “but they
make you fill out about 10 pages
before you can even see the doc-
tor. If it has been more than a
couple of months, you have got
to do it all over again.
“It is really sort of a govern-
ment mandated thing because
they are trying to keep track of
how well you are doing, how
patients perceive things. It is
really just a frustration for the
patients. I have patients that
come in with this big stack of
papers because they want to be
prepared for the visit, but they
can never find the paper that
they needed to give me during
the visit.”
Melancon has been an ortho-
pedic surgeon, specialist, and
partner in the Hattiesburg prac-
tice Southern Bone and Joint
Specialists since 1998. He is also
currently the president of the
Mississippi Orthopaedic Society
and he is developing a bracelet
that may be a medical records
breakthrough.
Melancon and a business part-
ner, Cory Yates, began working
on a device to help store patient
medical records on a USB drive
before Hurricane Katrina. The
device was supposed to be
waterproof, but they wanted to
know for sure. They needed a
way to test it.
Melancon’s family includes
his wife, Susan, three children
and the family dog, a black
Labrador retriever named Rex.
“We tied it to Rex’s collar and
then we started throwing the
bumper out into the water to
him,” Melancon said. “We left it
on him for a couple of months
and then we took it off and we
found out that USB drives truly
were waterproof.”
It was then that Yates sug-
gested that what they were
doing for humans would also be
a useful product for dogs. The
partners decided to develop the
product for pets first and work
many of the bugs out of it
before introducing the human
version.
Dawg-E-Data, a jump drive
housed in a colorful plastic dog
bone that is attached to a dog
collar, was born.
“You can put just about any-
thing on Dawg-E-Data,”
Melancon said. “There is a place
for the owner information and
all of the veterinarian informa-
tion. There is room for pictures
of the pet and the pet and the
family. You can put the dog’s
pedigree, AKC or UKC registra-
tion, the medications, the sur-
geries, vaccinations, X-rays, lab
tests or anything that might be
helpful to someone that is tak-
ing care of that pet. There is also
a function on the computer that
reminds you to get the dog
heartworm medicine, get his
teeth cleaned or whatever. It is
really designed to hold anything
that is important to the overall
well-being of that pet around
the collar.”
With the pet device in the
marketplace, Melancon and his
partner have again turned their
attention to the human version.
“We are excited about the
human device,” said Melancon.
“Everything that will be stored
from a medical standpoint will
be digitally stored within the
next six years. The paper chart
is dead.”
There are a number of advan-
tages to the personal data stor-
age device over concepts such as
a national database, said
Melancon. One of those is priva-
cy.
“If a kid can hack into a gov-
ernment computer or a major
credit card company records,
how safe will a national medical
records database be?” he asks.
Medi-Alert will allow people
to store medical information on
the device that will either be
worn like a bracelet or slipped
into a wallet like a credit card.
What is more, the individual can
choose which information is
accessible to emergency medical
personnel and what is not.
Melancon knows how impor-
tant maintaining medical
records can be, both as a physi-
cian and as a patient.
Two years ago it was discov-
ered that he had brain cancer.
Although the surgery was suc-
cessful, it left him with nervous
system damage that has affected
the functions of his right arm
and leg. The delicate touch
required to perform surgery was
gone.
“For a guy like me, if I am in
a car wreck, my device is going
to tell the ambulance driver that
picks me up and plugs in the
device that I have had brain sur-
gery,” said Melancon. “It will let
them know to not be surprised
if my reflexes are funny on one
side. Stuff like that. It may not
tell you that I have had knee
surgery because not everyone
needs to know that.”
Melancon is now meeting
with state officials with hopes of
introducing the product through
Medicare.
“Mississippi has one of the
highest number of Medicare
recipients,” Melancon said.
“This device could potentially
save the state millions of dol-
lars.”
a cc e n t s o u t h m i s s i s s i p p i 19
 FEATURES | south ms children’s shelter
A SAFE PLACE FOR BOYS AND GIRLS
W TEXT BY ROYCE ARMSTRONG
With tears streaming down her bruised and bat-
tered cheeks, Amanda (fictional name) tentatively
stepped through the doorway of the Hattiesburg fire
station with the bright yellow and black “Safe Place”
sign outside. She looked around, her fear evident.
Firefighters gathered around the girl, attempting to
calm her.
After determining that the child had apparently
been beaten at home and was attempting to run
away, firefighters made a quick call to the South
Mississippi Childrens Center. The call is one of
dozens that the South Mississippi Childrens Center
receives each year.
“We try to counsel them on the phone and we try
to provide counseling for the family,” said Tammy
Miller, the regional director for the Mississippi
Childrens Home. “We do not just bring the child
into the center without talking to the parents. We
contact the parents right away and let them know
who we are and what we do and ask for permission
for the child to come and stay with us while we try
to unravel what is going on.”
The South Mississippi Childrens Center is an
emergency shelter division of the Mississippi
Childrens Home. The shelter in Hattiesburg is one of
only two emergency shelters for runaway and home-
less children in Mississippi. The other is in
Vicksburg. It is licensed by the state to provide shel-
ter to 12 children at a time. Eight of the beds are
used for children that the Department of Human
Services has removed from their home. Four of the
20 a cc e n t s o u t h m i s s i s s i p p i
Shelter offers safety
and hope for
children in need
beds are reserved for runaway or homeless children.
“A lot of times the teenager is in crisis,” Miller
said. “They may have had an argument with some-
body that they care about. Usually it is with a family
member in the household. When we get the call, we
don’t know everything that is going on. That is when
our work starts. We try to unravel what is going on
in the family and then we work with the family to
get the child back home. Our goal is to always help
the child go back home. Then we provide follow-up
care.”
The center serves two distinct populations of boys
and girls between the ages of nine and 17. One
group is runaway and homeless youngsters. The
other is children that the Department of Human
Services has removed from the home.
“DHS tries to work with the family to keep the
child at home,” Miller said. “But, if it is not safe for
the child to be at home, that is when they call us. It
could be physical abuse, sexual abuse, or it could be
neglect and a lack of supervision where the children
do not have anyone to see about them. Those are
typical situations for kids to come into custody. We
are licensed to provide emergency shelter and
assessment services.”
Once taken into the shelter, the child is comforted
and calmed down. Food and clothing are provided
along with a safe place to sleep. Both a physical and
psychological assessment of the child’s needs are
made. Medical and dental care, as necessary, is pro-
vided and the child is enrolled in school for the time
that they remain in the shelter.
“We get children that have not
been in school for a year or
more,” Miller said. “That is typi-
cal, too. We get kids that have
lots of educational needs. The
school system has been great. We
could not do what we do without
the help of the school system. We
could not do what we do without
the help of the whole community.
Everyone works well togeth-
er.”
DHS children remain in
the shelter for up to 45 days
before being placed in a fos-
ter home or returned to
members of their birth fami-
ly. Runaway or homeless
children are kept for up to
21 days before being placed
in a more permanent home,
according to Miller.
The Center averages 10
children in residence at any
one time and annually
serves about 140 children.
“We see children with
more needs than ever
before,” said Miller. “What
we are seeing is that the
child may come to us with
one specific problem.
Perhaps they were physical-
ly abused. Once they come to us,
we begin to unravel all that is
going on and we discover other
things that have happened to
them as well. Perhaps they were
also sexually abused. So their
needs begin to be more complex.”
Miller blames the drug culture
for the seriousness of the chil-
drens’ needs.
“We see a lot more children
whose parents abuse drugs and
alcohol,” she said.
Not only does the shelter
attempt to help children during
their short stay, it also tries to
provide more follow-up assis-
tance.
“We are trying to help the kids
more when they leave us,” she
said. “We see the need for more
community-based services. Our
agency has started more pro-
grams where we work with fami-
lies to try and help keep the kids
in the community. The federal
government has stepped in and
said that states must try and keep
kids in the community, that we
can’t just keep putting them into
group home facilities.”
Yet, while there are a growing
number of children with more
complex needs, funding to sup-
port the center has fallen upon
hard times.
“My goal is to increase our rev-
enues so we can stay open,”
Miller said. “Staying open is a
challenge.”
The shelter is funded by a com-
bination of federal and state
grants and it is a United Way
agency. It also has an advisory
board that makes private dona-
tions and solicits donations from
the community.
“All of our funding sources are
affected by the economy,” Miller
said. “Our grant funding is
decreasing. Our costs contin-
ue to go up as our revenue
is decreasing.”
One of the problems,
according to Miller, is that
the center is invisible to the
average citizen that might be
inclined to help support it.
“Not everyone knows
about us because we cannot
reveal our location,” she
said. “We cannot put a sign
out front that says
Mississippi Childrens Center
because we cannot let the
general public know where
we are, or who is with us. If
we did that, the children
might not be safe.”
An important community
fundraiser is the annual
wine tasting and silent auc-
tion. This year’s event was
held Aug. 15, at the Hattiesburg
Train Depot and was dubbed
“California Versus the World.”
In the meantime, there are 47
Safe Place signs posted across
South Mississippi, offering hope for
shelter and safety to abused, home-
less and runaway children.
“Unfortunately as long as there
are families that have needs and
who are not able to care for their
children, there will always be a
need for what we do,” Miller
said.
a cc e n t s o u t h m i s s i s s i p p i 21
 FEATURES | rare design
CREATIVE FIRM
GIVES NEW LIFE
TO HISTORIC
HATTIESBURG
BUILDING
I
TEXT AND PHOTOGRAPHY BY LAYLA ESSARY
In the mid-1990s, fresh out of
college and working in a three-
person design studio in
Hattiesburg, graphic designer
Rodney Richardson pitched
himself to the Nike Corporation
without a portfolio or extensive
experience.
Instead it was a single
resume that turned the heads of
company executives.
“I realized I needed to make
mine stand out so I designed it
in a way that was unique and
composed the information in a
way that was unusual,” recalled
Richardson. “They told me
they’d never seen a resume like
it.”
The company eventually
offered Richardson a job in
Portland, Ore., immersing the
young artist into the early
design phase of a professional
team identity campaign.
“One of the first projects I
got to be a part of was the
design for the Denver Broncos
organization,” said Richardson.
“It was the first time a profes-
22 a cc e n t s o u t h m i s s i s s i p p i
sional sporting organization
used a retail corporation for
that role. Being a part of that
process was clearly where my
education in branding started. I
had actually hated logo projects
before and now the identity
work is the foundation for
everything I do.”
In 1999, Richardson moved
his family back to Hattiesburg
to launch Rare Design, a com-
pany he conceptualized as a
senior project in college.
“I used my initials R-A-R for
the first three letters, and used
the word ‘rare’ because that
word means raw but also
unique,” said Richardson,
explaining how Rare Design
has fulfilled what he envisioned
years ago, as a forward think-
ing, edgy creative venture. “I
wanted those qualities to be
reflected in our logo and that
logo I designed then is still the
logo we have today.”
BEHIND THE RED DOOR
Rare Design doesn’t exactly
rely on foot traffic for business,
so the fact that it’s tucked away
on the side of a 30,000 square
foot building on Buschman
Street in downtown Hattiesburg
isn’t exactly surprising. But one
glimpse inside the business
behind the scarlet red door
reveals interior design elements
that are anything but ordinary.
“We like being off the beaten
path, tucked away with our red
door,” Richardson said. “Then
you walk in and there’s this
massive, curved, corrugated
wall that sets a tone for the
vision we are trying to project.
The space is what we call mod-
ern, urban, industrial living.”
Because of the creative
nature of their work, downtown
seemed to be the best fit for the
company.
“There was never any ques-
tion about it — our office
would be downtown. It’s a cre-
ative agency, and with creative
people you have to be able to
get up from your desk and
move around and do different
things. I think other creative
people thrive with a greater
sense of community, and where
else can you get out, go down
the street, and go to an eatery,
go to a shop, go to a gallery
and experience residential and
commercial blended together so
well?”
Richardson said he looked
at this 30,000 square foot build-
ing about a year after
Hurricane Katrina, realizing
that it needed a lot of repairs
along with a new look and feel.
“It had lots of damage,”
Richardson said. “There were
literally gaping holes in the
ceiling, but I immediately saw
the multi-use potential of the
building. There’s a legacy of
people already here in down-
town doing wonderful things
with the spaces here and we
wanted to join in, to contribute
to this community.”
The Buschman Street build-
ing is a part of what is now
described as the Depot District.
“Downtown Hattiesburg has
begun to describe areas in
regard to districts and the
Depot District gets its name
because of the proximity to the
newly renovated train depot,”
said Betsy Rowell, director of
the Historic Hattiesburg
Downtown Association. “It’s
wonderful to see this building
and the entire district preserve
its history, while at the same
time creating an exciting future
by choosing this important cor-
ridor in downtown.”
“It’s an eclectic blend of life
here,” Richardson said. “We are
proud that we are a part of the
investment going on in down-
town.”
And that investment now
continues with a current
remodeling effort involving
more than 10,000 square feet of
space, dedicated to creating an
unparalleled event room.
“By early next year, we hope
to be able to offer a unique
space to local businesses and
organizations,” said Toby
Barker, who serves on staff at
Rare Design and event space
facilitator. “We know that there
is a demand for a space like
this and we are thrilled with
the chance to create a venue
like no other in this area of
downtown.” plinary suspensions at
Southern Miss, yet getting a
SECOND CHANCE second chance at the field he
Faintly painted numbers lin- was pursuing.
ing the lower quadrant of a “A person with a key posi-
brick wall are clear reminders tion at the university let me
of the building’s former life as know that they didn’t think I
a large scale commercial bak- was a bad kid,” Richardson
ery; the old Smith Bakery mark- said. “There was a student
ings are left behind by design. design position that had
Likewise Richardson is quick become available. They knew I
to remember the events in his wasn’t technically supposed to
life that have made lasting be eligible for this position, but
impressions. they thought I deserved anoth-
“It’s not always that picture- er chance.”
perfect business success story; That second chance proved
there have been many struggles to be the big break Richardson
and many defining moments needed.
along the way,” said “When I think about that
Richardson. “In my faith jour- now, it was huge. I was just
ney, I’ve learned to rely on God another kid among thousands
through every step of the way, and they made that effort to
through many ups and downs.” call me back in and give me my
Richardson recalled the rock first design job. You talk about
bottom coming while in college, a light switch that flipped on. I
enduring scholastic and disci- don’t even think I knew what
a cc e n t s o u t h m i s s i s s i p p i 23

the field was about before then.
After I served my disciplinary
time, from that time on, school
was so easy for me.”
Years later, Rare Design still
does work with Nike and was
contracted to create the identity
and logos for the Memphis
Grizzlies and the Houston
Texans, not to mention the cur-
rent design used by the
University of Southern
Mississippi.
“There’s nothing like the
work we do with sporting
organizations,” Richardson
said. “If we design a corporate
identity, outside of the top offi-
cials, not that many people
really care what that logo looks
like. But you get an athletic
identity? People are emotional-
ly invested in that mark and
what it represents; fans connect
with it. If we miss that, it’s
huge. But if we capture it, it’s
even bigger.”
And there’s evidence that
getting it right can affect the
bottom line profits of the com-
pany.
24 a cc e n t s o u t h m i s s i s s i p p i
“There’s a great joy in show-
ing our work to clients and
when we see their eyes light up
and they say, ‘Yes, that’s it’,
you know the work that’s being
done is right and connects with
the client and their audience.
There are case studies that
show it impacts the company’s
bottom line significantly.
There’s great satisfaction in
that.”
Richardson added that as a
designer, it’s more than just
making a logo that looks good.
“A lot of people say, ‘I see
this logo over here and I want
one of those.’ But that logo is
the end result of a lot of work
determining the core values of
a company and its identity. It
starts as a big shotgun explo-
sion of large pieces, but at the
end of the day the branding
ends up very concise and they
say, ‘Wow, that is who we
are.’”
Yet Richardson admits that
getting there doesn’t come
without a price.
“Our goal with our clients is
to help them understand that
there is a connection that has to
be reached with their consumer
and make sure they are willing
to do the tough work to get
there. It’s an arduous, time-
consuming process, and it can
be costly, but it’s front-loaded.
Later, when you have to do a
brochure or release to the pub-
lic, all those decisions are
made. It makes all the choices
easier to make down the road.”
And no doubt Richardson
has his eye on what’s down the
road, at the same time main-
taining the important mile-
stones of the past.
“Rodney’s found a way to be
respectful of the history of the
building his business now
occupies,” Rowell said. “In a
time when there’s so much
emphasis on being environmen-
tally conscious, reviving these
sustainable buildings is really
the ultimate act of being
green.”
Along with being green,
Richardson aims for excellence
in all that he does with the
business and renovation efforts.
“A friend told me the other
day that he thought of our
business when he saw an ad
campaign. It said that a busi-
ness was ‘Rare but exceptional-
ly well done.’
That, Richardson said, goes
beyond the awards or accolades
Rare Design has received, serv-
ing as inspiration for the
decade to come.
More information on Rare
Design can be found at
www.raredesign.com.
hattiesburg’s entertainment destination
h a p p y 1 2 5 t h b i r t h d a y !
 BROOKHAVEN
LITTLE THEATRE
SUPPORT THE
LOCAL ARTS
www.brookhavenllittletheatre.org
 SPECIAL | Hattiesburg celebrates 125 years
At the Crossroads
T TEXT BY VALERIE WELLS
ARTWORK COURTESY HISTORIC HATTIESBURG DOWNTOWN ASSOCIATION
The right timing created Hattiesburg 125 years
ago. If the timing had been slightly off, the near-
by community of Monroe might have become the
dominant city in the region instead.
“Hattiesburg is a victim of circumstance, a
consequence of geography,” said historian
Andrew English.
He remembers crossing the bridge from Petal
into Hattiesburg one day when he was a boy.
His father told him this was the spot the Leaf
and Bouie rivers came together and that the first
name of the community was Twin Forks. The
story fascinated English and he started asking
why.
Through a lifelong pursuit of local history, he
discovered Monroe on the other side of the
rivers.
Soon after the Choctaw Cession of 1830, white
Americans started settling the Piney Woods. Just
a little northeast of present day Hattiesburg, sev-
eral veterans of the War of 1812 created the com-
munity of Monroe. Close to it was Gen. Andrew
Jackson’s famed military road that cut through
this area to New Orleans. The memory of the
road and the community is still there on Old
28 a cc e n t s o u t h m i s s i s s i p p i
Af ter 125 years,
all roads
- and railroads -
lead to Hattiesburg’s
continued g rowth
Monroe Road in Forrest County.
What Monroe lacked was two railroad lines
crossing.
The Twin Forks community became Gordon’s
Station, a stop along the tracks. It was smaller
than Monroe, but a savvy businessman from
Meridian had a plan in 1880.
William Hardy was sitting under an oak tree
near Gordon’s Creek when it hit him like Isaac
Newton’s apple that this would be a perfect spot
for a city. Perhaps it was more than a dropping
acorn that gave him the idea. A city between
Gulfport and Jackson could be profitable.
“While resting, Captain Hardy spread a map
of Mississippi on the ground and studied the
surveyed line of the New Orleans and North
Eastern Railroad.,“ the Hattiesburg Historical
Society says in its literature. “He drew a line
through the virgin pine forest and intersected
the New Orleans and North Eastern Railroad
where the city of Hattiesburg is now located.”
The city was founded in 1884. Hardy named it
for his wife, Hattie, who never visited the city.
Trains and lumber created a bustling economy
in Hattiesburg in the late 1800s. It also brought
Old photographs and postcards depict life the way it
was in Hattiesburg’s early years.

Opposite, the original Hattiesburg High School was

built around 1921 on Main Street. The building,
which was abandoned years ago after serving as the
Hattiesburg School District’s headquarters for years
after the new high school was built on Hutchinson
Avenue, was gutted by an arsonist’s fire in 2007.
The brick shell remains and architect Larry Albert is
heading up the city’s effort to rebuild it for use as
an arts center with the University of Southern
Mississippi.

Top left, horses and buggies were the main source

of transportation when this photo was taken in front
of the M.L. Thompson Sales Stable in 1912.

Left, horse-drawn carriages line the unpaved Main

Street in this view taken in 1906.

Below, the 500 block of Main Street was bustling in

the 1940s, with the Kress 5 and dime store on the
corner and the Merchants Cafe on the bottom floor
of the Bufkin-Cadenhead bulding. The Albert &
Associates architectural firm is now located in the
renovated building.
 Top, traffic was certainly a lot lighter downtown in the
late 1920s or early 1930s, as this hand-tinted post card
shows. This view of Main Street is looking north from the
Front Street intersection. The Kress store and Bufkin-
Cadenhead building are on the left. The Sarphie’s jewel-
ry store sign can be seen on a building across the steet.
Bottom, Main Street in the early 1900s, looking south
from the Pine Street intersection. Note the trolley tracks
in the middle of the street. When a portion of North
Main Street was dug up and repaved in the 1990s, some
of the old tracks were discovered. The tower of Bay
Street Presbyterian Church is visible in the distance.
30 a cc e n t s o u t h m i s s i s s i p p i
trouble. It was a wild west town, English
contends. Gunfights, murders and illegal
activity were rampant.
One notorious example was the famous
Sullivan-Kilraine fight at Richburg Hill, the
last heavyweight bare-knuckle champi-
onship in the nation. It was illegal and
attracted thousands to Hattiesburg in July
1889.
“The crowd was restless and the situa-
tion was ugly,” English writes in his new
book, “Ringside at Richburg.”
“Many fight fans were armed with
revolvers and some of the spectators were
known toughs from Meridian, New
Orleans, St. Louis and Louisville.”
Monroe, however, never had such a sen-
sation.
Because of the railroads and the timber,
Hattiesburg continued to grow. South
Mississippi College - now known as
William Carey University - opened in 1906.
Mississippi Normal College - now called
the University of Southern Mississippi -
opened in 1910.
During World War I and World War II,
Camp Shelby just south of Hattiesburg
became a large training base for soldiers
headed overseas. Thousands of National
Guard troops from around the United
States have trained at Camp Shelby before
heading to Iraq in recent years.
Beginning in the 1970s, the same decade
that saw desegregation in Hattiesburg
schools, the city started expanding west-
ward, with dozens of shopping centers and
subdivisions popping up in the Oak Grove
area. Hattiesburg, the county seat of
Forrest County, gradually annexed parts of
the city that had leaked over into Lamar
County.
The main street in town named for
Hardy cuts a straight line through town
from Gordon’s Creek in downtown to the
now annexed portions of Oak Grove. It’s a
physical timeline of the city’s development.
HISTORY’S H E ROES
FORMER USO BUILDING PAYS TRIBUTE TO AFRICAN-AMERICAN VETERANS
A
An old white building on East Sixth Street in
Hattiesburg is, at first sight, a modest relic left
over from an era of past glories. The World War
II-era tank guarding the property reminds visi-
tors that this building’s time passed by years
ago.
Immediately upon stepping into the parking
lot, however, the lifeless old building comes
alive with Big Band music which conjures up
mental images of soldiers dancing with pretty
girls. This building, after all, is the former USO
for African-American soldiers.
Built during the second world war for the
recreation of black servicemen and women, the
old structure has been transformed into many
TEXT BY SHANNON ESTES
PHOTOGRAPHY COURTESY HATTIESBURG
CONVENTION COMMISSION
Hattiesburg’s own Ruth Bailey Earl
stands in the center of the World War II
exhibit as a symbol of the indomitable
spirit of the African-American woman.
different entities since then, from a library to a
community center and now, a museum honoring
the very same soldiers it served during the era
of segregation.
“The USO Club is a historic landmark and is a
one of a kind institution in the United States,”
said Iola Williams, Hattiesburg Convention com-
missioner. “It’s amazing to see this building,
which was once a symbol of segregation, become
a symbol of freedom, not only for African-
Americans but for everyone. It’s only fitting that
some of our nation’s bravest would be honored
here.”
Anyone stepping into the African-American
Military History Museum should expect to be
a cc e n t s o u t h m i s s i s s i p p i 31
 SPECIAL | Hattiesburg celebrates 125 years
THE EXHIBIT TELLS THE WELL-KNOWN STORIES OF ALL-BLACK AND
FIRST-BLACK UNITS OF WORLD WAR II, SUCH AS THE TUSKEGEE AIRMEN
Children and adults can take the wheel of an army truck and learn about the brave men of the Red
Ball Express through an interactive trivia game.
greeted with a friendly, “Hello, welcome to the
museum.”
There are boards on the wall next to each
exhibit explaining what is being displayed. There
is a cell phone option which allows visitors to
call a toll-free number and listen to the audio
designed to describe each exhibit and historical
trivia. For the technologically impaired, nearly
every exhibit has a video that can be activated
with the punch of a big red button.
HISTORY BUFF’S DELIGHT
“The museum covers the military history of
our nation,” said Richard Barnes, 18, a museum
employee. “I took ROTC in high school and I
love history. There are nice exhibits and even
history buffs can learn a lot here.”
The exhibits begin with an explanation of
black bondage prior to the Civil War. A wall dis-
play honors Crispus Attucks, one of the first
martyrs of the American Revolution, Attucks was
one of five people killed in the Boston Massacre
32 a cc e n t s o u t h m i s s i s s i p p i
and an inspirational figure during the War of
Independence. There are also references to black
Americans who fought the British in the War of
1812.
The larger exhibits begin with the Civil War.
Thousands of black Americans, some of them
former slaves, joined the U.S. Army in the fight
to preserve the union and end the enslavement
of their race. Life was hard for soldiers of this
war. One striking exhibit shows a blue uni-
formed soldier trying to lead a horse that is stuck
up to its knees in mud. The horse is also wearing
period gear, including the famous McClellan sad-
dle used by the cavalry of the day.
There are also rare mementoes from the
Spanish-American War of 1898. Mostly associat-
ed with Teddy Roosevelt, the war to end Spanish
domination of Cuba, Puerto Rico and the
Philippines included many Americans of color.
Decorations from this war adorn the walls in
worn, but honorable condition.
 The next exhibit - World War I - is not for the the Middle East. Local heroes such as Jesse L.
claustrophobic. Visitors are taken through a nar- Brown, the first black naval aviator, are honored
row hallway with walls that are lined with logs as well as national black military figures such as
and painted to look like dirt. Immediately the Gen. Colin Powell. There is even a Hattiesburg
feeling of being closed in sets in. Fortunately, Hall of Honor that electronically displays images
the “trench” isn’t very long and leads to a wall of African-Americans who served in the mili-
with other World War I items, photos and tary.
medals. The Historic USO Club is the only surviving
USO built exclusively for African-American sol-
WORLD WAR II diers and has helped provide an identity for
The old USO’s next exhibit is probably the African-Americans in Hattiesburg for more than
largest. It depicts the era of the 1940s when half a century. That fact is not lost on the young
Americans of African descent were called upon people who work there.
to help liberate Europe and Asia from the Axis “Working here is a fun opportunity and I’m
powers. Dozens of items adorn the walls, includ- proud to have the chance to be a part of this,”
ing colorful posters, striking photos and medals. said Jasmine James, 17. “This USO is the last
The exhibit tells the well-known stories of all- one. It’s one of a kind.”
black and first-black units of World War II, such
as the Tuskegee Airmen, but it also includes
lesser known historical units such as the “Triple
Nickle.”
The “Triple Nickle” was an all-black airborne
unit named the 555th Parachute Infantry. These
men were trained for combat in the Pacific in
what was called “Operation Firefly.” Called
“smoke jumpers,” the 555th jumped over wild-
fires and landed in the forests of Montana,
Oregon and Washington. Their mission was to
find Japanese bombs which had landed along the
West Coast. The government feared that the
nation would panic if it learned that the U.S.
homeland had been attacked, and the “Triple
Nickle” was sworn to secrecy.
A more interactive display depicting the Red
Veterans Raylawni and Al Branch place dog tags on the muse-
Ball Express of the European campaign is sure to
um’s deployment map, showing where they served
garner the interest of active youngsters. A jeep
sits in front of a video screen. Kids are encour-
aged to climb in and “drive.” Turning the wheel
changes the image on the screen, giving the
driver the feeling of hauling supplies through IF YOU VISIT THE MUSEUM
France. Hours: 10 a.m. - 4 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday
Location: 305 E. Sixth Street, Hattiesburg
ONE OF A KIND Admission: Free
Other exhibits explain the courage and deter- Phone: (601) 450-1942
mination of those men and women who served Web: www.hattiesburguso.com
in Korea, Vietnam and the most recent wars of

a cc e n t s o u t h m i s s i s s i p p i 33
 SPECIAL | Hattiesburg celebrates 125 years

PHOTO COURTESY ALBERT & ASSOCIATES

MOVIE PALACE A FTER 80 Y EARS , S AENGER T HEATER S TILL D EFINES

E NTERTAINMENT FOR THE P INE B ELT

I
TEXT BY LEIF MUNKEL
PHOTOGRAPHY COURTESY HATTIESBURG CONVENTION COMMISSION

In 1929, the nation was in the midst of one of the worst economic crises it had ever seen.
The Great Depression left millions without work and even more in poverty. Movies
became popular as inexpensive distractions and movie houses sprang up across the coun-
try, including in downtown Hattiesburg.
On Thanksgiving Day 1929, the Hattiesburg Saenger Theater, built by brothers Abe and
Julien Saenger, opened. During the golden age of Hollywood, the Saenger Theater
brought the world to the Pine Belt through moving pictures. John Wayne thundered across
the western plains on horseback, while Charlie Chaplin gave viewers a much needed
laugh. It was this escapism that gave the nation and the City of Hattiesburg the lift they
needed during those difficult times.
Eighty years have passed since the Saenger Theater opened its doors, but the Saenger

34 a cc e n t s o u t h m i s s i s s i p p i
Theater has remained a cultural and historical
icon in the Pine Belt, and in today’s economic cli-
mate it remains a means of escapism.
“The Historic Saenger Theater has been the
hub for entertainment and culture throughout its
80 years in Hattiesburg,” said Hattiesburg
Convention Commission Executive Director Rick
Taylor. “Many community groups and friends of
the Saenger have worked hard to keep the the-
ater in good condition.”
The Hattiesburg Saenger, originally one of
seven Saenger Theaters operated throughout the
South, quickly became the crown jewel of
Hattiesburg. It was designed by New Orleans
architect Emile Weile and is one of Mississippi’s
two examples of the movie palace type. Weile
infused characteristics of Neo-classical Revival
Style and Art Deco Style, including Mayan-
inspired elements into the theater’s decor. The
theater boasts a 778-pipe Robert Morton Pipe
Organ, which was specially designed for the
Saenger’s acoustics. It has been reconstructed,
and is one of the only Robert Morton organs in
the United States still in its original position.
The Saenger was placed on the National
Register of Historic Places in 1979 and has
undergone two renovations: The first in the 1980s
was undertaken by Mayor Bobby Chain, and in
2000, it underwent a $3.75 million renovation.
The Hattiesburg Convention Commission inherit-
ed operation of the theater from the City of
Hattiesburg in 2003 and it once again entertains
with world-class events which dazzle audiences
from across Mississippi. It would have been
impossible for the Saenger brothers, Abe and
Julien, to ever imagine that the small theater they
built 80 years ago would house some of the
biggest events in Mississippi, including this
year’s 80th Anniversary Gala.
At 8 p.m. Sept. 26, to begin the celebration of
its 80th anniversary, the Saenger Theater will
host the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra. The Big Band
became popular during the early years of the
Saenger Theater in the 1930s. Dorsey formed his
orchestra in 1935 and had such hits as
“Manhattan Serenade” and “The Big Apple.”
Dorsey’s smooth, lyrical trombone style led to
his popularity among swingers. Dorsey would
die in 1956 but his orchestra continued to flour-
ish under various conductors, including today’s
most recent conductor, Buddy Morrow, one of
this era’s greatest trombone players, who has
worked with many Big Bands and jazz groups
throughout the United States. He joined the
Tommy Dorsey orchestra in the 1940s and also
played with the Jimmy Dorsey orchestra after
serving in World War II.
“For the Saenger’s 80th anniversary we wanted
to bring in a special act that was indicative of the
theater’s founding era,” said Public Relations
and Marketing Manager Traci Rouse. “The
Tommy Dorsey Orchestra is almost like looking
into a time capsule for that generation.”
In addition to the concert, the 80th
Anniversary Gala will include a dessert reception
and special memorabilia for guests. Tickets for
the event are $20-$30 and can be purchased
through the Saenger Theater Box Office at (601)
584-4888 or online at
www.HattiesburgSaenger.com.
Left, the Saenger Theater, under construction,
was designed by New Orleans architect Emile
Weile. It is one of Mississippi’s two examples of
the movie palace type.
Opposite Inset, Saenger upon completion in 1929
a cc e n t s o u t h m i s s i s s i p p i 35
 SPECIAL | Hattiesburg celebrates 125 years
DOWNTOWN
REVITALIZ ATION
D TEXT BY VALERIE WELLS
PHOTOGRAPHY BY JULIAN BENSON
Despite a national recession,
downtown Hattiesburg is thriv-
ing with new businesses.
“Almost every month, we’ve
had a major building sell,” said
Betsy Rowell, executive director
of the Historic Hattiesburg
Downtown Association.
For example, the large Komp
building on East Pine Street
sold recently. The former head-
quarters of Komp Equipment
Co. - a historic, large landmark
- now will house more down-
town living space. Developers
are renovating the space into
more loft apartments, a popular
36 a cc e n t s o u t h m i s s i s s i p p i
trend in downtown living.
And that’s not all. The Curry
building on East Front Street
will house five loft apartments
upstairs and three retail stores
at the street level. One of the
new shops will sell frames, a
welcome addition to an arts dis-
trict.
New developments and plans
keep cropping up. The Family Y
will open a gym on Mobile
Street next year. About a block
away, a new restaurant will
open and will be yet another
music venue for regional bands.
For more than 20 years, key
people worked quietly behind
the scenes to put all this rebirth
in motion. Slowly, steadily, a
core group of dedicated volun-
teers with a common vision put
all the pieces in place to create
the current renaissance, which
includes the renovation of the
train depot and the charming
Walnut Street restaurants and
storefronts. Downtown had
been virtually deserted in the
1970s when Cloverleaf Mall
opened and retailers moved
west, but now it’s starting to
boom again, this time with
restaurants, a bookstore, art
galleries and nightclubs.
Part of the success now was all about timing, Rowell said.
“Kids growing up in the suburbs are tired of that,” she
said, referring to the young downtown entrepreneurs.
Instead of strip malls and giant marts, this younger gen-
erations prefers niche shops, intimate lunch dates and one-
of-a-kind experiences. And in turn, a thriving downtown
needs the energy of “new blood,” Rowell said.
Along with the music and the art and the coffee shops,
there’s a commitment to recognize what Mayor Johnny
DuPree calls Hattiesburg’s “other downtown” - the Mobile-
Bouie Street area. The historically black business district
and neighborhood is now embraced by the historically
white downtown association. The African-American
Military History Museum housed in the historic USO Club
building on East Sixth Street attracts many visitors. Also set
to open soon is a community center at the renovated Eureka
School building.
From the train depot to the Mississippi 42 Bypass, Mobile
Street is the unifying element that connects the two old
downtowns. The Mobile Street Renaissance Festival, found-
ed in part by City Council member Deborah Denard
Delgado, celebrates the one new downtown. This year, the
festival is Oct. 2-4.
The downtown is finding other common ground. Two
separate studies - one for a business strategy and one for
public arts development - concluded the same thing:
Gordon‘s Creek is an asset. Both studies suggest making the
creek an attractive, linear sculpture park will improve qual-
ity of life, attract visitors and keep the new blood pumping.
Architect Larry Albert, who oversaw the restoration of
the Saenger Theatre and Hattiesburg Train Depot, is head-
ing up the rebuilding of the old Hattiesburg High School on
Main Street, which was gutted by an arsonist’s fire in 2007,
and will eventually be an art center for the University of
Southern Mississippi.
Albert also designed the new Hattiesburg public library
on Hardy Street, which won a Governor’s Award for
Excellence in the Arts for its design in 1997. Its red tile
roof, huge arched windows and twin curving staircases
inside reflect the design of the original library on Main
Street, which is now the Hattiesburg Cultural Center.
“I spent a lot of time in the old building and had a love
for it,” Albert said.
Rowell sees it all coming together.
“It’s amazing when you stop and look at what’s happen-
ing in Hattiesburg,” she said.

a cc e n t s o u t h m i s s i s s i p p i 37
 HOME & GARDEN | golden eagle’s nest

At home with
Martha Saunders
S OUTHERN M ISS PRESIDENT ’ S
HOME WAS DESIGNED
FOR ENTERTAINING

M TEXT BY VALERIE WELLS

PHOTOGRAPHY BY ERICA SHERRILL OWENS
Martha Saunders has a comfortable morning
ritual at home. The president of the University
of Southern Mississippi gets up before 6 a.m.
each morning with her husband, Joe Bailey. They
make coffee, read several newspapers online and
then walk about three miles at the Thames
Elementary School track a few blocks away.
“I was in the inaugural class at Thames,”
Saunders said. The Hattiesburg native was in the
ninth grade when the school opened as a junior
high school. She’s right at home in the neighbor-
hood.
The Jamestown Road house, built 30 years ago,
is the personal residence of the president. It’s
also a public building belonging to the universi-
ty and the site of many public events. Every
month, the president welcomes special guests in
the large rooms designed for entertaining. In
August, the president hosted a reception for
Miss Hospitality contestants, another one for
new Southern Miss faculty and another for state
officials who oversee state buildings.
“It’s well-suited for what it’s supposed to do,”
she said.
It’s meant to be a place for university busi-
ness, fundraising and making new friends. It’s
also meant to be a refuge for the president after
long days spent overseeing budgets, being fair
during academic debates and pushing an ongo-
ing determination to make Southern Miss “the
national university for the Gulf South.”
When Saunders moved into the house in 2007,
state funds had already been approved to reno-
vate the kitchen.
“I kept looking at it. It looks like a real good
kitchen to me,” Saunders said.
She suggested leaving the kitchen just the way
it was and using the money to make other reno-
vations needed in the house. So the kitchen has-
n’t changed much at all in recent years. Outfitted
with Viking appliances, the functional space
allows a flow for busy catered affairs while
being warm and inviting enough for making
family meals.
When it’s just Joe and Martha at home in the
evenings or on the weekend, they spend most of
their time in a sunny corner with wicker furni-
ture and dappled light. The long, cozy sun porch
that runs the length of the back of the house was
walled in under a previous administration. It’s
one of the couple’s favorite spots to unwind and
read or write letters.

38 a cc e n t s o u t h m i s s i s s i p p i
 In the evenings, the university president courtyard there when the renovations are com-
writes personal notes on birthday cards to plete.
Southern Miss employees. She sends notes to Saunders has a small herb garden close to the
parents of student athletes along with pictures door near the kitchen. Under some hanging
taken by her favorite photographer - Joe Bailey. tomato plants grow basil, thyme, oregano and
With a Kindle in her lap, she catches up on her mint.
reading. “I’m fond of tarragon. And a lot of rosemary,”
“It’s my favorite thing,” she said. she said.
The electronic book reader has come in handy
in her frequent travels. She rips out book
reviews in magazines or newspapers so she can
order the books instantly to her Kindle as she
needs new reading material just for pleasure.
Recently, she’s read “Ahab’s Wife,” by Sena Jeter
Naslund and “First Family” by David Baldacci.
On Sunday mornings, the couple visits with
their grandchildren via Skype using a Web cam
on the Internet. When they get the chance, they
visit their children and grandchildren in person.
When they are not working, traveling or read-
ing, they are gardening. Joe Bailey has a bonsai
garden where he carefully maintains the small
tree and bush forms.
“Bonsai is an art form,” Bailey said.
He even has a bush that he salvaged from the
Ogletree House on the Southern Miss campus.
He is making a bonsai tree out of it that he wants
to give to the Alumni Association to place in the
B
 V i cto r i a n

B eauty
Groth family grows into
Brookhaven’s Sproles House

B
TEXT AND PHOTOGRAPHY BY TRUDY BERGER

Bruce and Laura Groth of

Brookhaven came into this
lovely Queen Anne-style
Victorian home on Natchez
Avenue by way of California
and Vermont, an unlikely path
for a couple who have adapted
so well to Mississippi horticul-
ture that they routinely garner
prize ribbons in the annual
camellia show.
Apparently it is not enough
for this busy couple to live in
and maintain a stunning, late
19th century two-story stately
home, known as the Sproles
House, on a large corner lot of
a well-traveled residential
street. The morning of the
photo session, Laura had just
received her master’s degree
from Mississippi College,
summa cum laude no less, and
Bruce had taken off on a hiking
trip to the northeast. She lasted
five minutes into the interview
before rushing off to an after-
noon class in Natchez – leaving
the writer to admire the intri-
cate details of this eye-popping
manse.
The Groths have lived in the
home four years, having
searched diligently for just the
right home in Brookhaven
before taking the plunge. Laura
teaches kindergarten at Mamie
Martin Elementary School and
Bruce is an executive with an
out-of-state company, traveling
often. The house was remod-
eled by its previous owners, the

a cc e n t s o u t h m i s s i s s i p p i 43
Rosses, who completely gutted
the rear of the first floor, thereby
creating a large open kitchen
with spacious counters, custom
wood cabinets and 14-foot ceil-
ings, and a cheery breakfast area
which opens into a den-sitting
area, all surrounded by windows
which look out into the large,
beautifully landscaped and well-
shaded back yard.
As one enters the front door,
the first detail to catch the eye is
the beautifully carved oak stair-
way leading to the second floor.
To the left is the living room, the
centerpiece of which is a massive
coffee table crafted from a large
wood-framed glass front door,
complete with door knob, hinges,
mail slot and gold leaf numbers
still evident on the glass.
Another feature in the living
room is the fireplace, with its
distinctive surround and
Victorian cast iron fireplace
cover. Directly behind the living
room is the dining room with an
antique glass chandelier and
dentil molding.
What catches the eye about
this house happens before one
sets foot inside the front door –
it’s the large turret on the north-
east corner of the façade, and the
two large gable windows above
the bay windows on the front
and one side that really define
the exterior of this house.
Next time you are in
Brookhaven, ride by and take a
look for yourself. And do try to
resist the impulse to get out of
your car and rest a spell in one
of those inviting rockers on the
front porch.
 pearl street garden | HOME & GARDEN

Summer Oasis
COTTAGE GARDEN ADDS PLENTY OF
CURB APPEAL TO HATTIESBURG HOME

I
TEXT AND PHOTOS BY CHARLOTTE BLOM
If you’ve ever driven on Pearl Street in
Hattiesburg, then you’re probably familiar with this
lush cottage-style garden that takes up an entire lot,
filling the space where a house would ordinarily sit.
In her living room, lit by natural light through a
bay window that offers a view of the yard, Sue Sharp
tells the story of the garden’s evolution. She and her
husband, Merv, have labored and crafted it for years.
Sue’s warnings about the garden not being up to par
this summer, due to the drought and heat wave
Hattiesburg experienced for more than a month, are
waylaid by her enthusiasm for the story. Her large,
beautiful, tiger-striped cat saunters in and out of the
room, furtively assessing things as Sue talks.
A professor of fashion merchandising at the
University of Southern Mississippi for 35 years, Sue
retired in 2003. Though she’d always had some kind
of garden, her passion for planting and growing real-
ly blossomed after stepping down from teaching.
Then, on Aug. 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina caused
major wreckage to the Sharps’ property and home.
Their corner lot lost most of its more than 20 pine
trees. Ten landed on the house. Although a few pines
and one hefty oak withstood the storm, Katrina had
uprooted most of the Sharps’ trees, as well as the
Sharps themselves.
Luckily, they were able to communicate with
their neighbors, who were out of town, who said
they could stay at their house, enabling the Sharps to
relocate right next door. A year later, they purchased
the house and began creating a garden for it, where,
according to Sue, there was nothing before.
But they decided to keep their old garden as well,
making the clean-up around their old home a care-
fully approached task with preservation in mind. Sue
would not allow the house to be plowed, even

a cc e n t s o u t h m i s s i s s i p p i 45
though it was unsalvageable,
because it would have destroyed
the garden.
Amidst the beds and flowers,
there is now a pergola with wis-
teria vines, jasmine and other
climbing flowers. The gazebo in
the center of the garden is recon-
structed from the front porch of
the old house, adding charm and
a haven from the sun with two
wooden rocking chairs from
which to enjoy the greenery.
Despite the harsh weather
conditions this summer, Sue has
already experienced a special sur-
prise, the blooming of white
climbing hydrangeas. Her garden
tour, along a quaint winding path
created by salvaged brick from
the Sharps’ former house, is full
of names of the flowers, trees and
plants, including a tea tree, a
tung oil tree, a bottlebrush tree,
coneflowers, Mexican petunias,
Texas lilac vitex, yuccas, clematis,
roses, Texas Star hibiscus, morn-
ing glories, oleanders and bat-
winged pansies.
Everything is so meticulously
cared for; even the weeds grow-
ing in the cracks of the Sharps’
old driveway aren’t actually
weeds. And even when Sue does
refer to weeds or unwanted
plants, it’s with a hint of affection
that she’ll refer to them as
“thugs.”
Without rain, Sue faithfully
waters the garden from daylight
to at least 10:30 a.m. most morn-
ings in order to save the garden.
But one might imagine she is out
there much of the time even in
wetter weather, just out of sheer
devotion and because of the joy
and vitality gardening gives her.
 Purchase Your Copy Online
Visit our New Website
www.waiting4acure.org

W
C for a
AITING
URE
601.543.5719
 ART | tracy donald
Portrait of an artist
T RACY D ONALD
OTHERS AS PAINTER , TEACHER
I TEXT AND PHOTOGRAPHY BY LAYLA ESSARY
In a West Hattiesburg art
studio usually bustling with
budding child artists, there are
a dozen canvases positioned on
easels, ready to be painted by
novice adult painters. This par-
ticular evening art class at
Bristles features artist Tracy
Donald as instructor. An inspi-
ration photograph, depicting a
Mississippi Delta sunset, is
tonight’s subject.
In the next hour, Donald is
tasked with providing a light-
hearted tutorial on the basics of
oil painting, and those 12 can-
vases will come to life with the
brilliant colors of twilight.
“It’s my first time to teach
48 a cc e n t s o u t h m i s s i s s i p p i
SHARES HER TALENT WITH
an art class for adults, and I
want these women to go away
not only with a nice painting
they could be proud of, but
also some knowledge of the
basics,” said Donald, who dab-
bled in painting while attend-
ing the Art Institute of Dallas
years ago.
After a 13-year career in
graphic design, Donald pur-
sued painting more seriously
about five years ago after her
family moved to Hattiesburg.
Long before delving into
sunset paintings, Donald’s first
creative subject was one she
knew quite well — a portrait of
her oldest daughter, Laine. It
didn’t take long for requests to
start piling up from people
wanting their own children
depicted in her unique painting
style.
“Tracy does these wonderful,
unique portraits unlike any I’ve
ever seen before with such
minute detail,” said
Hattiesburg Arts Council
Director Patty Hall, who met
Tracy when she participated in
an emerging artist show at the
Hattiesburg Cultural Center a
couple of years ago.
But Hall cautions against
attaching the label of portrait
artist too tightly to Donald’s
work.

“As an artist, she is so versa-
tile in her subject matter and
style of painting. Along with
the portraits, Tracy will turn
out some fabulous, very con-
temporary pieces and I find
myself really drawn to that
work also. Not to mention the
painting she’s done of a pear
that’s so luscious, you could
just slice right into it.”
Hall invited the artist to par-
ticipate in a seven-week dis-
play at the Hattiesburg
Cultural Center this summer,
featuring a collection of almost
30 paintings.
“I got to know Tracy a cou-
ple of years ago shortly after
she moved to Hattiesburg,”
Hall said. “I admired her work
and she had a few paintings in
our emerging artist exhibit
which is held each December.
That’s when I really got to
know her and spend some time
with her. She’s been on my
radar, thinking now that’s a
young artist I really would like
offer a full show.”
Donald said she was thrilled
to be offered a chance to show-
Patty Hall, above, displays
Donald’s art at the
Hattiesburg Cultural Center.
case her work.
“This has been a great oppor-
tunity especially in this space
because it is such a gorgeous
place to have a show,” said
Donald. “I’m so grateful to the
Arts Council because without
them, I probably wouldn’t have
gotten this opportunity.”
Giving artists a venue for
exposure and inspiration was
exactly what Hall and others
with the Hattiesburg Arts
Council and the City of
Hattiesburg had in mind when
they began renovating the old
a cc e n t s o u t h m i s s i s s i p p i 49
Hattiesburg public library
building years ago.
“We were hopeful when
talks began for renovating this
space that they would give us
permission to maintain an art
gallery here and that has now
happened,” Hall said. “We’ve
been blessed to participate in
introducing new, emerging
artists who have gone on and
enjoyed a successful art career.
It’s been nice to see them in the
early stages of their careers and
watch them develop themselves
as artists. Often as a public
space we have events and wed-
ding receptions here so artists
are introduced to a wide array
of audiences by virtue of hav-
ing their work on display. And
that can lead to a work of art
getting sold to someone in the
audience, or just getting their
name out even beyond this
area. So it’s mutually beneficial
for the city to have the space
enhanced by the work and we
believe it’s also a great service
to the artist.”
Hall said that the space does-
n’t come without a few chal-
lenges for artists.
“It isn’t always easy to have
a one-person show in this
space, because of the heights of
the ceiling, it seems to be
almost too consuming some-
times,” Hall said. “But Tracy
paints with such large canvases
sometimes so that her work is
able to fill a space.”
And the opportunity
prompted the oil painter to
explore new areas of interest.
“I’ve done quite a few flow-
ers, some still lifes and land-
scapes, but one of my favorite
areas is abstraction and I fig-
ured this was a great chance to
explore that genre,” Donald
said, adding that she wants to
continue exploring the abstract
style of painting. “In my opin-
ion, abstract paintings are the
most difficult. You are relying
on your mind for inspiration
and not looking at a photo or
subject per se.”
Meanwhile, what started as
an alternative to dinner and a
movie among friends has
turned into 12 unique pieces of
art.
“We started the adult paint-
ing classes as an opportunity
for women who might not oth-
erwise pursue painting to see
into the window of a painter’s
world, and I wanted Tracy
Donald to be a part of this
opportunity,” said Lissa
Ortego, local artist and
owner/instructor of Bristles.
“Tracy did a great job demon-
strating the medium of oil
painting and giving everyone a
basic glimpse into a skill she
knows very well. I found it
interesting to see how she
works stylistically, and I
believe others did as well.”
Donald said each person can
find ways to explore their artis-
tic side and have a good time
doing it.
“I wanted them to have a
great time being creative and I
think they all did.”
Hall said not every artist is
so eager to share their creative
talents with others.
“She has such a heart for
what art can do for a person,
how it can enhance a life,” Hall
said. “It’s wonderful to work
with someone who is eager to
give back to the community
with the power of the arts and
that’s certainly the case for
Tracy.”
To find out what’s on display at
the Hattiesburg Cultural Center
or to schedule a mini-gallery
talk with the artist, call the
Hattiesburg Arts Council at
(601) 583-6005. Information on
Bristles Art Studio is available
at www.bristlesstudio.com or by
calling (601) 450-ARTS.

HOUSE RAISING
Summit church builds hope, homes
and a future in Waveland
E TEXT AND PHOTOGRAPHY BY TRUDY BERGER
Every year during the first
week of June, First Baptist
Church of Summit sends out a
construction mission team. It
may be to build a church or to
help rebuild damaged homes,
but at this time of year a team
of anywhere from 30 to 70 peo-
ple, ranging from youth to sen-
ior adults, will hit the road on
this trip. This year, the trip was
to have been to Gallup, N.M.,
but due to a delay in obtaining
building permits, a substitution
missions | SPIRITUALITY
was made and the trip was just
down the road, to Waveland.
Many people, even those of
us in Mississippi, assume that
the Gulf Coast has been rebuilt.
Not so. Waveland is in the
process of rebuilding, but the
damage there remains exten-
sive. The FBC mission team was
sent to Shoreline Park Baptist
Church to build a home for a
family that lost theirs to
Hurricane Katrina on Aug. 29,
up construction job, to build an
1,100 square foot wood frame
house on 12 foot high piers,
under new hurricane construc-
tion standards.
“Scott,” the homeowner,
explained that he had been
injured on the job and was dis-
abled. Once Katrina hit and
destroyed their home, his wife
and child had to wait along
with tens of thousands of other
victims for their FEMA trailer.
2005. The project was a ground- Once settled in their FEMA
a cc e n t s o u t h m i s s i s s i p p i 51
trailer, it did not take long for
Hurricane Gustav to come along
and once again wipe them out.
FEMA regulations prevent vic-
tims from receiving more than
one trailer, so they then lost their
automobile to pay apartment
rent. This family was in a real
bind.
Left with nothing but the land
on which their home had once
stood, the Rev. Ed Murphy and
Shoreline Park Baptist Church
came to their rescue with the
church’s innovative construction
program. Scott’s home is the 16th
such home built under the aus-
pices of the church, this time by
volunteers from First Baptist
Church Summit.
Bro. Ed has seen a lot in the 10
years that he has been the pastor
at Shoreline. In the last five
years, he has seen loss for his
own membership. Waveland was
ground zero for the Mississippi
coastline during Hurricane
Katrina, and the Shoreline
church was hard hit. As he
recounts story after story, he
chokes up frequently at the
struggles and difficulties that
different people have faced. He
even had to bury a church mem-
ber soon after the hurricane, and
when he says “bury” he means
preaching and digging the grave
as well.
This is not your ordinary
Southern Baptist preacher. On
any given day he might be driv-
ing a tractor, using the bucket to
hoist sheeting on the job, hauling
construction materials to the job
site, hauling children around in
another van to some activity, tak-
ing a church member to a job
interview, putting Freon in a
deacon’s truck or just pitching in
on anything else that might need
to be done.
“I surrendered to the ministry
late in life,” Bro. Ed explains. “I
was 35 at the time and I had my
own construction business so I
know how to build houses and
do a lot of different things.”
As he drove around to the var-
ious sites of the 16 homes that he
has built since Katrina, recount-
ing the unique and touching sto-
ries of each family as we
approached each site, he says, “I
can’t believe there have been this
many. How did I do all this?”
When asked what he plans to
do next, he responds without
hesitation, “Sleep. I’m just going
to sleep for a while. You see, I
get up at 6 every morning and go
nonstop until 12 every night.
And from midnight until 6 in the
morning I don’t really sleep very
well because my brain is still
thinking about all the details
involved. So I really want to
sleep.”
Bro. Ed and his wife Karen,
originally from South Carolina,
have grown children and grand-
children scattered around the
country. They would eventually
like to travel out west and men-
tor pastors in smaller churches,
possibly doing short-term assign-
ments building Sunday school
classes or serving as worship
leaders in churches.
“When they finally lay my
body down, I’d like it to be total-
ly spent in service for the Lord,”
says Bro. Ed.

A
TEXT AND PHOTOGRAPHY BY CHARLOTTE BLOM
Alma Gonzales is affectionately
known as the “Tamale Lady” to
those who frequent Hattiesburg’s
farmer’s market in Town Square
Park. And she deserves her nick-
name. Her tamales are fresh and
delicious, not to mention cheap
($2.50 each).
She sometimes draws a waiting
line longer than a school bus, even
on a relentlessly hot summer day.
Her selection includes shredded
pork or chicken, ground beef,
jalapeño & cheese, and vegetable.
She also makes several kinds of
salsa, including one with green
beans, and on some occasions, melt-
in-your-mouth cakes, made from
scratch. With one or more of her
daughters often helping, they might
warn you, before purchasing the
salsa, that it will be too spicy for
you. And it will be too spicy, but
you will not regret it.
Gonzales started cooking and
serving to the public after
Hurricane Katrina. With so much
reconstruction in the area following
the destruction, she exacted her
entrepreneurial spirit and began
making lunches and delivering to
the job sites. Eventually she gained
‘ TA M A L E L A D Y’
adds s p i c e to farmer’s market
a reputation for her specialties like
tacos and tamales.
Now, she sets up her booth
amidst the fruits, vegetables, plants
and handmade toys and merchan-
dise at the Pine Belt Farmers’ &
Artisans’ Market and Downtown
Laurel Farmers’ Market (managed
by co-owner of New Yokel Market
and Side Door Café, Chris Cagle).
She says the process takes her about
three days, one day for shopping,
one day for cooking the meats, and
on the day of the markets, she puts
it all together, rising at around 5
a.m. to prepare her spicy dishes.
She is sponsored by La
Veracruzana, where she uses the
kitchen to cook enough food for at
least 100 people at each farmer’s
market.
It would stand to reason that
more than Gonzales’s culinary skills
draw people to her; her rich and
warm personality do, too. Many of
her customers come to her for a
hug, and even those who don’t
know her get passed their plate of
food with a term of endearment
that will make you think you’re
momentarily a part of her family.
And family is the most impor-
tamales | IN THE KITCHEN
tant thing to Gonzales.
“Money doesn’t really matter.
Enjoy your family,” she says. “You
don’t know how long you’ll have
with them.”
Gonzales also emphasizes the
importance of caring for those out-
side of your family, and sharing,
even when it seems like there isn’t
enough to go around. Always give
what you can, she offers sincerely.
Though it took her four years to
finally get her tamales to her liking,
it’s not just about a recipe, she says.
“It’s about your heart and your
hard work and your good inten-
tions.”
Gonzales says when she makes
her masa (corn paste) for the
tamales, she is praying for everyone
who will eat her food, and for
everything to come out great. “With
my food, you are not just getting
tamales, you are getting a piece of
love.”
FARMERS’ MARKETS
• Hattiesburg, Thursday, 3-6 p.m.
Town Square Park, corner of Main and
Buschman streets
• Laurel, Fridays, 3-6 p.m. downtown
parking lot
a cc e n t s o u t h m i s s i s s i p p i 53
 IN THE KITCHEN | pecans
NUTS ABOUT
Pecans Thousands of South
Mississippians will gather in a
shady pecan orchard on Wingate
Road, about six miles from
Richton, Sept. 25-27 for the 22nd
annual Mississippi Pecan
Festival.
In addition to more than 250
food, arts and crafts and
antiques booths, there will be a
charity bake-off, live bluegrass
and gospel music, a mule pull,
antique engine show, draft horse
demonstrations, stock dog
demonstrations, Pecan Festival
Pageant, quilt show, living his-
tory homestead and the Purtiest
Rooster Contest.
At the Living History
Homestead, you can watch but-
ter being churned, biscuits being
baked on a wood stove, baskets
being woven, lye soap being
made and Rosey the cow being
milked. An herb man will help
you find a natural cure for
whatever ails you.
If you’re nuts about pecans,
try these recipes from “Best of
the Best 500 Fast & Fabulous
Five-Star 5-Ingredient Recipes,”
by Gwen McKee and Barbara
Moseley ($16.95, Quail Ridge
Press).
54 a cc e n t s o u t h m i s s i s s i p p i
MONKEY BREAD BREAKFAST
1 (16-ounce) package frozen rolls
3/4 stick butter, melted, divided
1 (3-ounce) package cook ‘n serve
butterscotch or vanilla pudding mix
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 1/2 cups finely chopped pecans
Dip frozen rolls in melted butter;
reserve remaining butter; place rolls
in bundt or tube pan. Sprinkle pud-
ding mix, brown sugar and pecans
over rolls. Pour remaining melted
butter over all. Leave on counter top
overnight. Next morning, bake at 350
degrees for 40 minutes. Invert onto
platter and start picking off the deli-
cious warm rolls.
CHEDDAR PECAN BISCUITS
2 cups self-rising flour
11/2 sticks butter, melted
1 (8-ounce) container sour cream
1 cup shredded sharp Cheddar
cheese
1 cup chopped pecans
Combine flour, butter, sour cream,
cheese and pecans, blend well. Drop
by heaping tablespoonfuls onto
greased baking pan. Bake at 425
degrees about 20 minutes or until
golden brown.
M
PECAN SANDIES
2 sticks butter, softened
3/4 cup confectioners sugar
1 3/4 cups chopped pecans
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Cream
together butter and sugar until
fluffy. Stir in pecans and vanilla. Add
flour a little at a time, stirring well.
Form into cookies and place on
ungreased cookie sheet. Bake 20
minutes. Remove from oven and
allow to cool. Coat with extra con-
fectioners sugar before serving.
Makes 3 dozen.
BROWN SUGAR PECAN BITES
1 packed cup brown sugar
1 egg white, slightly beaten
Pinch of salt
2 cups pecan halves
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Preheat oven to 450 degrees for 10
minutes. Blend together sugar, egg
white and salt. Stir in pecans and
vanilla. Drop by teaspoonfuls onto
well-greased baking sheet. Turn off
oven before putting cookies in. Let
sit in hot oven for 8 minutes.

SOUTH COAST LIVING
SUN, SHRIMP AND SOMETIMES SNOW
TEXT BY KRISTEN TWEDT
PHOTOGRAPHY BY KEN MURPHY
M My husband grew up in Nebraska, Massachusetts,
Maryland and finally, Mississippi. I came of age here,
where coastal live oaks and sand beaches wrap our
southern exposure in timeless beauty. Married to each
other and to our South Mississippi home for almost 20
years, we know salt water runs in our veins, the kind
that fills the Gulf of Mexico. We always feel best when
we’re somewhere within casting distance of its expan-
sive berth and shimmering shores.
While he recalls childhood winters of sleds and
snowmen, I remember Christmas in shorts and flip-
flops. He harbors memories of his dad shoveling the
sidewalk and coaxing warmth into car batteries. I
remember how a scant two inches of the white stuff
meant no school and the stunning realization that
northern kids ride the school bus past towering snow
banks for months at a time.
I know what people say about Mississippi.
Whenever one of those lists comes out about how we’re
number one in something bad and number 50 in some-
thing good, I understand how that sounds. But, South
Mississippi will always rank as a best place to live in
my book. Here, you still find deep pockets of the natu-
ral world and secluded respites that only a cloistered
LIFE IN SOUTH MISSISSIPPI
arboretum or the rush of evening tide can provide.
Yes, we have Wal-Mart, and the same currency as
the rest of the country. We have chain restaurants,
although you won’t find the best fried shrimp or boiled
crab there. But what is truly the feather in our cap is
the loveliness of our landscape, from tidal waters to
rolling hills to acres upon acres of undisturbed wet-
lands and forests. Our south coast waterfront defies
description. Without fail, the soothing surf of warm
waters will win your soul; the unfettered horizon in
glorious sunset hues, your heart.
If you need further convincing, just ask the brown
pelicans. In the 1970s, the use of DDT pesticide caused
a thinning of their eggshells. Babies didn’t hatch, and
their numbers plummeted across the Gulf Coast. After
time on the endangered species list and a ban on killer
DDT, brown pelicans began their resurgence. Today,
they’re everywhere, dipping their bucket beaks in the
Mississippi Sound in magnificent, plentiful flocks.
Even after near decimation, they persevered in tri-
umph, much like Coast residents after Hurricane
Katrina’s historical wipeout. There is no place like
home.
Loving South Mississippi means appreciating those
things that are subtle yet critical to fine living. If you
recognize the difference between delectable Gulf
shrimp and those tasteless creatures quick-frozen and
shipped from foreign lands, you might like it here. If
you appreciate the essential goodness of a perfect roux,
a homegrown tomato and pinkeye purple hull peas,
then you have a place at the table. If you like interest-
ing people, fish tales and an ice cold beer, then bring
your cooler and drop on by.
South Mississippi ranks high among destinations
that really matter, the kind of places that make quick
friends of visitors and lasting friends with those who
stay. For all its perceived lack of “best of” status, it’s a
place of indigenous splendor like none other that
always makes us glad to be home.
a cc e n t s o u t h m i s s i s s i p p i 55
www.accentsouthmississippi.com

ACC
S O
ENT
U T
H M I S
AUGUST S I S
/SEPTEMB
ER 200
S I P
9 P I

At Home
HATTIESBU
RG CELEBRATE With Mar
VOL. 1,
NO . 2 -
$5.00
S 125 YEARS
| THE L
AZY B
tha
OGUE Saunders
CHITTO
| RARE
DESIGN
| TAMAL
ES |SMITHSONI
AN VISITS M
CCOMB

R EAD ACC E N T ONLINE

OR VISIT ONE OF OUR
ADVERTISERS TO PICK UP
YOUR FREE COPY.

Adding a little ACCENT has never been so easy!

READ ARTICLES ONLINE • SPECIAL WEB-ONLY FEATURES • SUBMIT COMMENTS & STORY IDEAS

Coming in our next issue...

SPECIAL SECTION FOCUSING ON SOUTH MISSISSIPPI CUISINE
ACC E N T
dining guide 2009

For information on advertising in this section, contact Robyn Jackson at

theaccenteditor@aol.com or visit our Web site at www.accentsouthmississippi.com
to find a sales rep in your area. Ad deadline is September 4.