I heard a lot about John Ellzey long before I ever got to know him.
My aunt Ruth Ann Patterson loved him dearly. She was always talking about “Johnny” when I was a kid.
Like just about anyone growing up in Yazoo I knew John from visiting Ricks Memorial Library, but I didn’t truly get to know him until I started working for The Yazoo Herald. That was the beginning of a friendship that I greatly valued.
I can say without a doubt that no one has helped me more in the decade I’ve worked at this newspaper than John Ellzey. He would have been a wealthy man if I had paid him a dollar for every time I’ve called him about some historical detail I needed for a story I was working on.
John was always eager to help, and on the rare occassions he didn’t already know the answers to my questions, he would always find what I was looking for quickly.
There were also popular stories we published over the years that were John’s idea.
One that I was particularly pleased with was on the anniversary of the Great Flood of 1927 we did a historical feature that included several great photos that had never been published before. John found those photos in a collection that had been donated to the library.
Another good historical story he provided was the discovery of The Manchester Herald, which was the first newspaper published in this city. Local historians had previously agreed that it was the first newspaper published in this community, but no known copies existed.
A copy was discovered when a historic home was being cleaned out in the city, and John contacted us immediately.
We got a lot of positive feedback about that story.
He always showed me interesting old newspapers he found. I think he knew I appreciated them as much as he did.
I once wrote a column about an old dog trot house in our community that I thought was haunted when I was a kid. John not only knew what house I was talking about, he had actually painted a picture of it. The house burned down years ago, and seeing John’s painting was just like seeing it in my memory.
John would also gently correct us when we got details wrong. If we accidentally misidentified a historic home or other detail, he helped us set the record straight.
Another reason I often encountered John in newspaper work is that you could count on him to be in attendance at just about any kind of good community activity.
If a new restaurant opened in town, he’d be among the first to try it. He was at every estate sale in the area. If there was something fun happening downtown, he’d be there. I could go on and on.
It’s hard to believe he won’t be in the library the next time I walk in. It won’t seem right not to seem him walking home after we pick up the kids at daycare. I know sometimes I’ll still find myself looking for John and his sister to pull up in front of our office to get an early copy of the paper.
I have a list of ideas of things I wanted to work with John on for future historical features. Sometimes it’s hard enough just to keep up with the current events with a small newspaper staff, and I never got around to those things.
I sent John a card when I heard he was in the hospital because I was sure there’d be plenty of time to catch up when he got back to Yazoo.
I will always regret that, but it would be a disservice to Johns’ memory to sit around feeling sorry about it.
He showed us how to preserve and honor Yazoo’s history and make positive contributions to the community’s future. Now it’s the responsibility of those of us who loved him to carry on his work.
