By Donna Traywick
Mt. Olivet News

I had a wonderful opportunity last week. I saw three-day-old Scarlet Elizabeth Horne. She is named Elizabeth after her great-grandmother Elizabeth Browning. Scarlett’s the daughter of Taylor Browning Horne and Andrew Horne.

Her two little brothers simply adore her. When have you held a six-pound doll? She attended church at Mt. Olivet on Sunday at the tender age of seven days.

One of my favorite technicians at dialysis is from New York. She came to Blue Mountain College on a volleyball scholarship. She liked Mississippi so she stayed and went to nursing school here. I enjoy hearing about her hometown and also enjoy telling her about Mississippi. 

Of course, she uses the term “you guys.”  I ask her, “Have you ever said y’all? 

She said, “Yes, but it didn’t come out right.”

I am reminded of the story in the fall of 1970. A fourth-grade Sunday school teacher had three boys and three girls in her class. She asked this question: “Who is your hero, and who do you worship?” 

The girls mentioned some teenage idols on television. The three little boys in unison said Archie Manning. The teacher spent the next 20 minutes trying to convince them that only one man was worthy to be worshiped.

At the end of the class, she asked the question again. The girls had changed their answers to the teacher’s satisfaction. When she asked the boys they replied in unison Archie Manning. 

Is football a religion? Maybe around Oxford, Batesville and South Panola.

I’ve enjoyed telling the technician all the firsts that Mississippi has. Edward  is home to the only cactus plantation in the world. In 1716 Natchez was settled by the French and is the oldest permanent settlement on the Mississippi River.       

Natchez once had 500 millionaires. More than any other state at the time.

The concept of selling shoes in boxes in pairs occurred in Vicksburg at Phil Gilbert’s shoe parlor.

Root beer was invented in Biloxi by Edward Barg. 

In 1902 while on a hunting trip in Starkey County, President Theodore (Teddy) Roosevelt refused to shoot a captured beer. This act resulted in the creation of the world-famous teddy bear.

Guy Bush of Tupelo played with the Chicago Cubs in the 1929 World Series Babe Ruth hit his last home run off of a ball he pitched. Sam Vick of Courtland was the only player who pinch-hit for Babe Ruth. Vick said, “No, I hit for Ruth in a pinch.”

Pine Sol was invented by a Jackson native.

In 1943 the University of Mississippi Medical School in Jackson accomplished the world’s first human lung transplant. Bordon’s condensed milk was first bottled in Liberty.

The largest Bible-binding plant is in Greenwood. And Greenwood is still the cotton capital of the world. 

Last, but not least, is the list of the famous musicians born and raised in Mississippi. The most famous, of course, is Elvis Presley born in Tupelo. 

Faith Hill McGraw is from Star. The Delta Blue’s first star was Charlie Patton near Edward. Jimmy Buffet was born on Christmas Day in Pascagoula. Conway Twitty was from the little Delta town of Fairs Point. Mickey Gilley and cousins Jerry Lee Louis and Jimmy Swaggert were all Mississippi boys who were second cousins of Elvis Presley. 

B.B. King, born on a Delta Plantation near Itta Bena, became the world’s greatest blues guitarist of all time. Britney Spears, the childhood wonder, was born in McComb.

Tammy Wynette was born in Tremont. She was sometimes called the First Lady of country music along with Loretta Lynn. Tammy was once married to George Jones. She helped pick cotton on the family farm. 

In 1992 future First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton said in an interview that she wasn’t “some little woman standing by her man like Tammy Wynette.” Tammy demanded and received an apology. She even sang at one of Clinton’s fundraising.

I guess my favorite of all Mississippi-born singers was Charlie Pride from Sledge. He was a close acquaintance of my family in Sledge. 

He was the fourth of 11 children born to a poor sharecropper. He and his brother Mack got a chance to play professional baseball. The manager paid him ten dollars to sing before each game to increase attendance. 

His daddy obtained an old battery-operated radio and kept it on the Grand Ole Opry. Charlie became the first black of country music. 

This article could fill the entire newspaper. You can tell I’m passionate about Mississippi.

Call or Text Donna @ 901-828-8824 with any questions or news tips.