Fifty years ago, Gail Long would have disagreed if someone told her she would call the Town of Union her home. She would have been angry if someone told her she would love and cherish her time here. In both cases, she would have been wrong.
A resident of Union since 1972, Long wants nothing for the best for her fellow Unionites. She is active in her church, supports the schools with time and money and owns and operates Long’s Building Materials, a home supply store her husband started before his death.
Long’s parents were school teachers, who moved all over the United States to teach, eventually settling in Philadelphia where her father took over as superintendent at Neshoba County Schools. Long attended Neshoba Central in Philadelphia, where she met her husband. After the two married, they lived in Philadelphia for a short time until her husband partnered with several others to start a business in Union.
“When my husband told me, we were moving to Union because he was fixing to go into partnership and start a business, I thought people from Union had horns,” she said. “We both went to Neshoba Central, and we were rivals with Union.”
However, Long said, the rivalry was quickly overwhelmed by the caring residents that welcomed her and her husband to their new home.
“Once we got down here, and we got involved, that changed,” she said. “That’s all it takes is getting involved in your community.”
“We have a wonderful school, a wonderful church. If anything happens the community gathers around,” she said. “We help people.”
Now, Long is one of the most ardent Unionites around. Since coming to town, she has raised three children, all of whom are proud graduates of Union Public School District.
“My daughter is a school teacher at Union, my son works with me, and we lost our youngest son,” she said.
Union is a special place, Long said. The small Mississippi town isn’t so much a town as it is a family, she said.
“We help each other, and we are family,” she said. “In fact, my store, it’s family to me. We know things about our employees, and we try to help our employees. I’ve always told them whenever we hire them, ‘If you need to be out, be out. Especially if it’s family.’”
That may seem odd to people from large towns like Meridian or Jackson, Long said, but to her it’s a comfort. The schools, the church, the town, all of it is one big family that cares for and supports its members.
“I love my bunch,” she said.
On April 23, Long will be recognized at the Union Chamber Banquet with the Lifetime Achievement Award for her years of support and dedication to the Town of Union. Surprised, she said she didn’t feel deserving of the award. That’s just what you do for family.
