“You gotta know when to hold em. Know when to fold em. Know when to walk away. Know when to run...”
I probably sang “The Gambler” by Kenny Rogers a thousand times at St. Mary’s Daycare. Or maybe I should say that I performed it because I always had an audience.
Mrs. Jewell Guion loved to hear me sing that song for some reason, and I was always willing to belt it out. Sometimes when someone visited who had never heard me sing it before, Mrs. Guion would come and get me for a quick song.
Mrs. Guion was one of those teachers you really knew cared about you. She made me feel like I was special. I left St. Mary’s Daycare when I entered the first grade, and I’m 40 now, so the fact that I still remember her so vividly is a testament to what a lasting impression she left on me.
What’s even more impressive to me is that she remembered me so many years later.
Shortly after came back home to work for The Yazoo Herald I ran into Mrs. Guion one day, and I was surprised that she remembered me. She even remembered “The Gambler.”
Mrs. Guion was someone who had a positive influence on numerous young people during her career in Yazoo City. She will be missed by many.
Good News in
Bad Times
With so much bad news going on these days in our city, particularly this week, good news is something worth celebrating.
It’s hard to find much better news than a congregation building a new church right in the heart of our city. That’s probably not something many people expected to see happening, but that’s what’s going on at Calvary Baptist Church on Jackson Avenue.
They broke ground on the site where the new building will be constructed Sunday in the pouring rain. I slipped out of church a little early so I could be there to take a picture.
Many of the church members didn’t hesitate to walk out in the mud with their shovels for the ceremonial groundbreaking.
“In the Old Testament, rain is often a sign of God’s blessings,” Rev. Caleb Clark said as he held an umbrella in one hand and a shovel in the other. “I’m going to take this as a sign of his blessings.”
After the quick ceremony Clark joked to me that I probably thought they were a little crazy standing in the rain and mud like that.
I pointed out that I was also standing in the rain and mud, and I was holding my daughter’s little pink umbrella, so it didn’t seem crazy to me at all.
I’m excited about seeing that new church building going up, and even more excited about seeing their ministry expand in our city.
A living legend
celebrates another year
On Monday morning I had the honor of paying a visit to Mrs. Leola Dillard on her 105th birthday.
Mrs. Dillard is one of the kindest people I have ever met, and although she doesn’t get around like she used to, her mind is still sharp and her smile still lights up the room. She was looking through a stack of birthday cards she had received, and enjoying the morning.
Mrs. Dillard has done a lot of great things for our community over the years, and God has blessed her with a long life.
Actually those of us who have gotten to spend some time with her have received the greatest blessing.
