This has definitely been a bittersweet week for our family.
It was about a month ago that we began notifying folks in the community that we are moving at the end of the month.
I have accepted a position at a newspaper in Fayetteville, Georgia, just south of Atlanta.
Before anybody asks, I’m not necessarily moving there because it’s 40 minutes from the Braves stadium. But it sure doesn’t hurt.
I don’t think that I can properly put into 500 or so words what Indianola and Sunflower County have meant to myself and my family over the past four-and-a-half years.
We’ve grown our family, our faith and this newspaper here. We were able to do each of those because of the strong relationships that were built within the community.
I never thought in a million years that I would ever set foot on a stage to perform in a play, much less have a lead role.
Thank you to Andy Daniels for talking me into trying out for The Odd Couple back in 2019. I’ll never forget the co-stars; Jath, Joe, Luke, Gaston, Melissa, Marcella and Dominick.
I’ll always feel a special bond with this community because we literally went through life and death together.
We sadly lost so many friends and neighbors during the COVID-19 pandemic. We grieved together. We suffered through an economic recession together.
Through it all, we continued to put out a newspaper each week, telling the thousands of stories of Sunflower Countians.
During the last four years, I’ve had the privilege to serve this community outside of my role as editor and publisher.
Thank you to the Indianola Rotary Club for allowing me to serve on your board of directors and as president from March 2020 until July of last year.
That was a tough year to be president of any civic club, but it helped me both personally and professionally in so many profound ways.
To Indianola Chamber Main Street, thank you for allowing me on your board. I’m sad that I will not get to serve my year as president, but I know it is in good hands.
Perhaps the most distinguished honor over the last four years was serving on the board of the Mid-Delta Arts Association.
What a fantastic organization.
Indianola’s little theater has no rival in the Delta, and it is all due to the personalities on that board that continue to keep it going.
I am grateful to have worked alongside Malika Polk-Lee and Robert Terrell, as well as the entire staff at the B.B. King Museum. I hope I helped in some small way in advancing the mission of the state’s best museum.
I have enjoyed covering multiple churches during my time here, but I would be remiss if I did not specifically thank the congregation at First Presbyterian Church for embracing our family from day one and making us feel welcome and loved.
I want to say a special thank you to the readers of The Enterprise-Tocsin. Without you, none of this would be possible. Thank you for believing in our product and supporting us through subscription buys and rack sales.
On another special note, thank to our advertisers.
You believe in our product and our readers, and you have helped to grow this newspaper in a time when print is in constant state of disruption.
I believe that the thing I will miss most about my time here is Sunflower County’s spirit.
If something needs to be done, the people in this community make sure that it gets done.
That spirit has died out or is dying in a lot of small communities, some not very far from us, but this county has never let its spirit die.
It’s that spirit that continues to fuel things like the little theater, the museum, our local merchants, restaurants, two critical institutions in South Sunflower County Hospital and North Sunflower Medical Center and, of course, your local newspaper.
As long as the community supports itself, it will never die.
And neither will that spirit.
