Remembering Growing Up Around Yazoo City (as posted on fb)

I never technically lived in Yazoo City, so I may not even be qualified to post. But I was born at Kings Daughters Hospital in Yazoo City, attended Miss Norman’s Nursery School in Yazoo City, attended First Baptist Kindergarten in Yazoo City, and attended high school in Yazoo City.

I grew up in Eden, Mississippi, a little town (yep, Eden is actually incorporated!) about 12 miles northeast of Yazoo. Today, 12 miles seem like nothing. In fact, most people drive farther than that to and from work every day. But to a young country girl who longed to be in town with her “big city” friends, it might as well have been a galaxy away - - especially when my parents told me they were not driving me “all the way back to town” for some social event.

So, from a Yazoo City wannabe, here are some of the things I remember about that enchanting little place, Yazoo City.

I remember Miss Norman’s Nursery School in the little yellow house on Grand Avenue. I remember the merry-go-round she had in her garage and the train cars made out of boxes that we sat inside in her den while we watched “Romper Room.” I remember feeling sad because “Miss Ann” never saw “Dana” in her magic mirror at the end of the show.

I remember Kindergarten at First Baptist. I remember Mrs. Cummings coming “all the way out” to my house in Eden to meet me and take my picture just before I started. I was excited to see my picture on the board in the classroom when I got to Kindergarten. I remember a rabbit (Charlie Brown), and I remember when it finally got to be my turn to take him home for the weekend. I remember two little boys - - who I won’t name right now but if you went to Kindergarten with me you may remember - - calling me “Dana Doo-Doo” (my maiden name was Dew (pronounced like “new,” not “do”) and making me cry. I remember Mrs. Yates and Mrs. Buckley. I remember the playground and a field trip to the fire station. I remember Easter egg hunts and birthday parties at Brame Park.

I remember beginning first grade and every single “registration day” a few days before school started from that year through my senior year. I remember my mom driving me to Gibson’s (and later Grant City and then K-Mart) to buy the school supplies on my supply list each of those elementary registration days. Some, maybe most, of you dreaded that time of year. But I loved it! For me, it meant I’d be back “in town” every day with my friends. Summers were long and lonely for a young girl in Eden. There were no other girls, or boys either, just my age in Eden. But some of the older girls, like Rita Newbaker, Stephanie Martin, and Debbie and Cindy Vickers, did allow me to tag along some times. Rita was my next-door-neighbor, and so when we were younger, I did get to play with her a whole lot - almost every day. Debbie and Cindy were kind enough to invite me to swim in their above the ground pool sometimes and, on occasion, even invited me to a slumber party at their house. But those sweet girls grew up faster than I did and started dating and doing all the other teenager things. Luckily, I did have, and so loved and enjoyed my cousin, Kim. She was two years younger than me, but we played together quite often.

Anyway - - there are soooooo many things I remember about my school days in Yazoo City.

I remember spending nights with several girlfriends. I particularly remember in elementary school spending the night with Leslie Matthews or her spending the night with me. I spent one night with Patricia ("Tricia") Morrison. She had some kind of motorcycle. After spending the night with her, I asked my dad to buy me a motorcycle. Instead of saying “no,” he said he would when I made “straight A’s.” I never did make straight “A’s.” Hand-writing got me every time.

I remember spending a few nights with Leslie when her mom was still living. After her mom died, she would get to spend quite a few whole weekends with me. We figured out we were kin through the Netherland family in some way. I was sad when she changed schools after her mom died. We didn’t see each other as much and eventually lost touch (until reconnecting here on facebook).

Strangely, even though I went to such a small school, three of my friends all lost parents at young ages. Leslie lost her mom. Tricia and Melissa Hood lost their dads. Looking back, I’m sure they had a lot of sadness I couldn’t even imagine. But they were all great girls - great friends.

I remember spending one night with Ryan Metts. Her big sister was getting married, and Ryan and I rode to Jackson with her mom and sister to look at wedding dresses. I’m trying to recall the name of the place we had lunch. I think it was “The Dog and Suds” or something like that. Ryan ordered root beer so I did too. I hated it! It gave me a headache.

I remember spending one night with Kelly Saxton. We went skating at the skating rink, and I couple skated with a boy - - scared me to death. I don’t remember his name but do recall he was a twin. I also remember Mandy Young lived down the street from Kelly, and Kelly and I walked to her house that weekend.

I remember spending lots of nights with Angela Allen, Lori Cleveland, and Melissa Hood. For a number of years, we were almost inseparable. Angela and Lori lived on Highland Drive. When we were younger, we would ride bikes from one of their houses to the other. Lori’s sister, Sheri, was only a couple of years older than us. But she was so pretty. I can remember watching her get dressed and put on makeup and dancing along with the dancers on American Bandstand (and even practicing “The Hustle”) in their den. Strangely, I also remember a big aquarium they had in that room filled with silver dollar fish. And Lori loved comic books. When I spent the night with her, we always stopped at the Stop-N-Go on the way home from school to get icees and comic books. Lori’s mom was one of the sweetest ladies in the whole world. On Saturdays, she would drive us to the Jackson Mall to shop. Because of her and Lori, I also got to hear Billy Graham (I wish I had been old enough to really appreciate who he was at the time) and go to a governor’s inauguration (Cliff Finch).

Angela lived in a neat, huge house on the corner. I remember riding bicycles from her house to Strick’s for candy. She started off in a downstairs bedroom but, one day, her parents let her turn the attic into her room. Oh what a retreat that was! And Angela loved to read. She had as many books as some libraries. I remember one time throwing a chain ladder out of her window and practicing climbing out “in case there were a fire.” She had a big sister too (and a sweet little sister). Her big sister, Debra, was older and so she gave us lots of “boyfriend” advice. Years later, Angela, her sister, Debra, and a whole lot of other Yazoo City girls played softball on my church’s (Eden Baptist) softball team. I played, too, but I wasn’t very athletic. (Luckily I was a better marcher).

Melissa lived on the corner of 19th and Grand - next door to Pattenotte’s Grocery Store. I can remember watching Saturday Night Live in her den and sneaking outside and peaking through the hedges to watch all the older kids hanging out at Pattenotte’s. I also remember having to pick up beer bottles on Saturday mornings that some of the older kids had thrown into her yard on Friday nights. Melissa had an older sister too, “Joycie.” Joyce was 19 years older than us, so we said “yes ma’am” to her just like we did to Melissa’s mom. (And what an angel her mom was!). I also remember going to Pass Christian with Melissa to spend one Spring Break at Joyce’s. While we were there, I bought makeup at Merle Norman’s. We also teased Joyce unmercifully because she had a date while we were there. I remember laying out to get to try to get a tan because that's what girls did during Spring Break. However, it was barely 70 degrees, and we nearly froze to death. Speaking of tanning with Melissa, I also remember the two of us tanning on the trampoline at my house and speeding up our tans with a little Coppertone QT. We turned orange and had to go to school that way until the fake tans faded. That “unfortunate” incident reminds me of another “unfortunate” incident when she asked me to cut her hair. I told her I couldn’t. She assured me I could and explained that she knew I could because Lori always did. Well, let’s just say that Lori went on to cosmetology school, and I did NOT.

Later, through band and basketball, I started spending a lot of time with two other great Yazoo City girls, Natalie Bush and Sally Ross Wilburn. I spent lots of nights at their houses, too - - with Natalie usually after an out of town Friday night football game and with Sally Ross usually after a basketball game. I remember several of Natalie’s first boyfriends, but I won’t embarrass her by naming names. I also remember Natalie being in the Miss Mississippi Pageant twice, and I remember some of the beautiful things her mother sewed for her. I remember Sally Ross riding horses a lot, and I remember two t-shirts she used to wear. One said “one of the Wilburn girls.” She had 3 older sisters - - all 4 girls were pretty and popular. The other t-shirt said “why couldn’t I have been rich instead of good looking?”.

My senior year, Frances Carroll and I got to be good friends. I remember one night, while spending the night at her house, we rode horses after it was dark. Seems like I fell off, scraped my leg pretty good on the asphalt road, and wouldn’t get back on.

I remember the “teen center” and jr. high dances at the teen center. I remember high school dances at the Country Club - - especially homecoming dances and “Midnight to Dawn” dances. I remember one friend - - and I’m not naming names because she’s on facebook and would kill me - - busting her pants while dancing at one of those high school (or maybe it was jr. high) dances.

I remember cheerleaders going around to all the classrooms and selling football ribbons on Fridays before the pep rallies. I remember always buying one, every week, for my brother, Danny. I remember the pep rallies. Friday night football games. Marching in the band and ultimately leading the band as drum majorette. Basketball practice and games.

My whole basketball experience is actually a funny story. I casually mentioned to Sally Ross Wilburn one day that I had thought about trying out for basketball. The next thing I know, Coach Parker came and got me out of one of my classes and talked to me about joining the team. I was 5'7" which isn’t that tall, but, nevertheless, made me one of the tallest girls on the team. Unfortunately, I had never played basketball and was, at this time, a JUNIOR in high school. Coach Parker and all the girls on the team were nice to me despite the fact I was pitiful. It took me forever to just learn to shoot a lay-up. I even won “most improved” the next year (my senior year) - - not because I was any good but because I went from not being able to do anything to finally being able to shoot a lay up, at least in practice. I loved practicing with the team and going to all of the games (hey, it was a way to get to go to all the games - there’s no way my dad would have let me go to all of the games if I hadn’t been on the team), but I always hoped the games were close enough that Coach Parker would keep his starters in and wouldn’t put me in for those last few embarrassing moments of the game.

I remember homecomings being special. We celebrated homecoming all week with a different theme or activity on each day. And we worked on our homecoming floats in the barn across the street. When I was a Junior, our class won “best float.” I remember those homecoming parades – from the school, down Eighteenth Street, and then down Grand Avenue past Pattenotte’s Grocery Store . . .

I remember the first boy I ever liked the summer after I turned 14 - Jack Dearman. I had spent the night with a girlfriend, Melissa Hood (who, by the way, was Sheriff Homer Hood's daughter), and went swimming with her at Forest Park one June day in 1979. I couldn’t swim very well because - - well, I grew up in the country. I never took swimming lessons, and I was never a member of a pool. I had spent the night and gone to Benton Country Club with Lori Cleveland a number of times when we were younger. But I could only “dog paddle” or swim under water. So, needless to say, I was very self-conscience at Forest Park while the other kids swam all over the pool. This particular day, I just sort of hung across a float in the “deep end” and enjoyed being with Melissa and other school friends. But Melissa kept leaving me to jump off the high dive. So, I started looking around, and I noticed this really cute blonde-headed boy. He kept swimming by me and looking over his shoulder as if to silently ask “did you see that?” He finally approached me, told me he was “Jack Dearman,” and asked my name. Oh I was so nervous. He was so cute, and his brothers, Joe and Irl, were the lifeguards! Anyway, without filling in all of the details, I’m so very proud and happy to be married to Jack Dearman today!  (By the way, he still looks over his shoulder to make sure I'm watching him at whatever he's doing).

I remember the first boy I could actually date. (I had to be 16 to date). I wasn’t allowed to simply “go out” on a Friday or Saturday night like everybody else. Rather, I had to have a very specific destination - - like to Pizza Hut and the movies and back. Or to my little brother’s baseball game. In fact, my dad required me to go to all of my little brother’s little league games whether I had a date or not.

And I remember so many other things like the Yazoo County Fair, Jerry Clower, the witch’s grave, the house Willie Morris grew up in (and going on a field trip to his house and meeting his mother in 4th grade - trivia: the store he referred to in his books - - Goodloe’s Grocery Store - - was my grandfather’s store!), the Yazoo Herald (and the coloring section full of Christmas pictures to color that used to run during the holidays), Jimmy Carter coming to Yazoo City, so many wonderful stores (Carmen’s, Ratner’s, Miss Black’s, Escoe’s, Ellis’, Kathryn’s, the Judy Ann Shop, the Prissy Chic, the wonderful store Mrs. Helton opened where Mom bought me a white, rabbit fur jacket when I was in about the 8th grade for Christmas (Sak's), Dr. Rock Record Shop (we could take a song list in and get all of the songs on our list recorded on a cassette tape), Jim King’s, Sunflower’s, IGA, the MaryLena Shop, Ingram’s Shoe Store, VanJohn’s, Weller’s Jewelry Shop (before it became Arnett’s), Myron’s, Leon’s, etc.) and so many good places to eat including Danery’s, Hastee Tastee, Brown’s, Stubbs, 4-points, The Circle, Parker's Catfish and the Steak House.

I remember Rick’s Memorial Library. I remember having to go there to do research and prepare index cards for term papers. (Yes, I’m old. I was born before there even was an Internet.)

I remember performances and pageants at the Annie Ellis Auditorium. I remember the Triangle Center. I remember dragging Grand (when I spent the night in town with a girlfriend). I remember the first arcades in the Stop-N-Go stores (there were 2 Stop-N-Go stores). I remember the downtown Yazoo Theater (before the Plaza Twin Cinema) - - when kids paid a quarter for a movie and adults (age 12+) paid fifty cents.  (Admission to the last movie I went to in Tupelo, Mississippi a week or so ago was $8.50).  I remember the Yazoo Theater had a balcony, burgundy carpet, and heavy velvet drapes. I also remember dance recitals on that same stage! It’s such a shame that the building was torn down at some point.

I remember Yazoo City having a drive-in and dreaming of being old enough to get to go on a date to the drive-in. However, as it turns out, I only ever went to the Yazoo drive-in with my parents to watch westerns.

I remember the Yazoo Skating Rink. In about 4th and 5th grade, virtually every kid I went to school with had their birthday parties there. Speaking of that time period, I remember going on a field trip to Jackson to see “The American Freedom Train” in celebration of the Bicentennial. Does anybody else remember “The American Freedom Train”? (I also remember going to the Jackson Coliseum for the Jackson State Fair and the Dixie National Rodeo).

I remember the bowling alley.

I remember Haley Barbour running for senator against longtime incumbent, Senator Stennis, on the campaign: “Senator for the 80s”, and I remember going to Jackson on a bus to hand out “Senator for the 80s” bumper stickers with his wife, children, and a group of teens.

Most of all, I remember a wonderful “small town” experience where everybody knew everybody, the streets were safe, kids respected parents, adults and authority, and parents loved their kids. I remember wonderful, supportive teachers who taught because they loved to teach and not just for a paycheck. And I remember dreaming of the day that I would finish high school and college, marry, and move back to Yazoo City - - this time actually in town instead of in the country. That never happened and likely never will. But I still love and dream about Yazoo City.