I hope the week is finding you all well and the rest of it will be blessed. I have done everything I know to do to restore the voice mail to my digital home phone to no avail. I think the next step will have to be replacing these old handsets. Meanwhile, continue to use the same number to leave voice mail that is used for texting. All of my contact information will be at the end of this column. Please use these methods to send news to me for this column.
It seems that our girl Anne Duett is not the only one to be visited by the rose-breasted grosbeak. Norma Lowe reports that she had four males and one female of the species at her feeders last week, but no appearances this week, so they must have taken flight.
Mary and Ben Ware, Wyatt and Walker visited Joe Caperton for his 89th birthday at the Veterans Hospital in Kosciusko last Thursday. He looked well and said to send his greetings to all of his Union friends.
Elizabeth Breland wanted to honor the memory of her long-time friend, Miriam Smith, who passed away on Sunday, April 29. Miriam was a lifelong Union resident until she graduated and married George Smith, moving with him to Carrolton where she was a nurse for 12 years. George is a retired pastor. Miriam’s funeral was Tuesday, May 1 at Carrolton Baptist Church, with burial following at Neshoba Baptist Cemetery in Union. Old friends attending the graveside service and burial were Elizabeth Breland, Betty Thomas, Ollie Faye Jones and Janet Thrash. Rest in peace, Miriam.
Three classes from Union held a combined class reunion, the classes of 1957, 1958 and 1959 on Monday at teh Ole Opry House. Elizabeth Breland would like those of you who know of graduates from those years, who have moved away, to get in touch with them and let them know.
The Newton/Neshoba Chapter of Mississippi Writers Guild met at my home on Saturday, May 5 to plan for future meetings which will be at the Opry House. We decided to meet on alternate months. Since the meeting on Saturday was a business meeting, we will meet again on June 2, the first Saturday in June. After the June meeting, we will meet the first Saturdays of August and October, but will skip the December meeting because it is the busiest personal month of the year for everyone.
The meetings will start at 10 a.m. and end at noon. Many thanks to Jim Ogletree for allowing us this venue for the meetings. For anyone who is a writer or interested in learning more about it, please come join us. Membership in the Mississippi Writers Guild is not necessary to attend the meetings, but we do encourage you to check out the website. Your membership will offer a discount to the 2018 Writers Conference, which offers a number of good workshops and this year will be at the new Arts & Entertainment Building, the MAX in Meridian on July 27-28. Membership is not necessary to attend the conference, but it costs more to register for non-members.
I am very excited to see where 2018 is going to take our Chapter and the Guild as a whole, especially with good friends like Pam Hillman offering some much-needed expertise.
Hoping to get more items of news and interest, I wish you a blessed and safe week until we meet here next week.
Email me at gingersnapwelch@gmail.com or text or leave voice mail at 601-504-3146.
