Sessums remembered for his service, love for community
Max Sessums loved Union.
He loved everything from supporting the Yellowjackets in sports, band and any other endeavor to the things that make Union special.
Shelia Russell, his oldest daughter, said he especially loved Country Day, which was held annually for 40 years until a few years ago. And he had every T-shirt from when it started.
“He wouldn’t let mom throw away any of the Country Day shirts,” Russell said. “They kept every one of them. He even had one on today underneath his shirt today at the funeral. He loved Country Day and Union so very much.”
Sessums, who served as mayor of Union for five terms and as an alderman for three terms totaling more than 32 years of public service, died on Friday at Anderson Regional Medical Center in Meridian. He was 82.
Sessums was a lifelong resident of Union, graduating from Union High School in 1956 and played football during his high-school career. After serving overseas in the military, he returned home and married his sweetheart, Gayle, in 1959.
Max worked as a telegrapher and yardmaster for the GM&O and Illinois Railroads for 20 years and later owned and operated Winstead’s Grocery, where he sold gas and groceries to his faithful customers until closing the store in 1998. He was also a long-standing member of the Union Country Club and a Mason.
A private graveside service was held on Monday at Union City Cemetery, officiated by the Rev. Jon Martin.
Mayor Wayne Welch met Sessums first when they worked with the railroad company. Sessums nicknamed Welch “the Baby” because Welch was eight years younger.
“He always had a knack for giving people nicknames,” Welch said. “I don’t know how he came up with some of them, but he always had a name for everyone.”
That would begin the two’s long-lasting friendship, one that saw them serve together on the Union Board of Mayor and Aldermen before and after Sessums became mayor.
Welch said Sessums was instrumental in the growth of the city’s industrial park, helping to attract Union Chain that later became Allied Lock and the glove factory. One of the more significant feats was getting Union’s newest water treatment plant up and running.
“It was finished when I was mayor, but Max was the one who really got it started,” Welch said. “He’s done so much for this community. He will be missed.”
One of the top awards Sessums received was the Union Chamber of Commerce Lifetime Achievement Award, an honor he received in March 2016.
The late Rex Gordon, who was city attorney when he was presented the award on March 4, 2016, said the city owed a lot to Sessums and that he was still achieving to this day.
“He left a legacy that carries on today. He left Union in a better place than where he found it,” Gordon said.
Former Appeal Editor and Publisher Jack Tannehill said, “Max was all into Union all day, every day. This community was his love and his passion. He spent his whole life here and always did everything in his power to make it a better place for anyone and everyone. He took a great deal of pride in the city, what it had to offer and the people in it.
“On a personal note, when we moved here in 1968 to operate the newspaper, Max and Gayle were the first people to visit us and ask us out. We went to the fish camp at Duffee. Max knew the lady serving us and after a few minutes she asked him if I was his son. He sputtered and geehawed and told her, ‘No, if he was mine I woulda pinched his head off a long time ago.’ We laughed about that for the next 40 years,” said Tannehill.
Russell and Welch said Sessums was an avid golfer. He won the Union Country Club championship several times. She said her dad was a huge impact on her son, Will Russell.
According to Sessums’ obituary in today’s edition of The Newton County Appeal, Will Russell said, “He loved Union, golf, his family, and the Lord.”
Shelia said Will, who is an attorney, learned how to connect with people because of his grandfather.
“Dad never met a stranger anywhere he went,” Shelia said. “He would strike up a conversation with anyone he met. He knew how to connect with people.
“Our son is an attorney, and he knows how to be able to walk into a city office and get whatever he needed to do his job. He said it was because he followed his Paw Paw around everywhere and learned how to connect with people. That’s how he learned what he needed to do.”
Shelia said that even though he had been out of office for more than 14 years, everyone still knew him as “the mayor.”
“Someone came up to me and said that dad would always be her mayor,” Shelia said. “That’s what everyone knew him as ‘The Mayor.’”
Sessums said during his acceptance speech in 2016 that he and his family moved to Union more than a half century ago and have never regretted it.
“I love this place and always will. If I was away from Union I would be trying to get back,” Sessums said then. “I’m so proud of this award.”
