Terry Headlight News

On this coming Saturday (May 20th) from 10:00 a. m. until 2:00 p. m., there will be a Meet-and-Greet the Candidates whose names will appear on the primary ballots on August 6th at the park in Terry (on Cunningham Avenue across from the Town Hall). This event is jointly sponsored by the Terry Historical Society and the Town of Terry. Food and drink will be sold. It is hoped that every voter from the Terry - 1 and the Terry - 2 precincts will intend in order to be informed about who there candidates are and on what platforms they stand!

Have you noticed how pretty the petunias are that grow in front of the Terry Post Office building?

Sullivan Ford Lincoln in Brookhaven has announced that Mr. Ray Adams of Terry has been added to its sales staff. Congratulations to Mr. Adams!

May 20 is Armed Forces Day, which honors those who serve in all branches of the United States military. President Harry S. Truman led the effort to establish a single holiday for citizens to come together and thank our military members for their patriotic service in support of our country. On August 31, 1949, Secretary of Defense Louis Johnson announced the creation of an Armed Forces Day to replace separate Army, Navy, Marine Corps and Air Force Days. The single day celebration stemmed from the unification of the Armed Forces under the Department of Defense and is observed on the third Saturday in May.

Tuesday, May 22 will be National Maritime Day. In 1933, Congress designated that day as National Maritime Day. On this day in 1819, the “first successful trans-oceanic voyage under steam propulsion” began when the steamship S.S. Savannah set sail from Savannah, Georgia. It arrived in Liverpool, England, on June 20. National Maritime Day is an occasion to honor the past and present contributions of the U.S. merchant marine during both peace and war.

A meeting was held at the Terry Grove Missionary Baptist Church on Tuesday, May 10th which concerned the possibilities of expanding high speed broadband access in the Terry and SE Hinds County area. Thank you to the state BEAM (Broadband Expansion and Accessibility in Mississippi) office for providing details to a good crowd. Rev. Dr. Dion Porter, the church’s pastor, served as the host for the meeting.

An upcoming fund - raiser is planned for the campaign of Senator David Blount to be held on June 15th. More details will be published later. If any other candidate is planning an event, it is hoped that the newspaper will be informed in order to share the news with the readers.

Schools will be out for the summer holiday very soon. It is my wish that all (both students and adults) will be taking advantage of all of the features of the Ella Bess Austin Memorial Library on Cunningham Avenue.

In April, Easter was celebrated at the library with an Easter grab - and - go and an Easter egg hunt for the younger patrons. Following the hunt, each child was awarded chocolate candy, fun activity sheets and an Easter bookmark with directions to make a bunny mask. Older patrons could also take part in the hunt by finding the only bunny brick that had been hidden. The library also hosted an enjoyable storytime reading of the book The Tale of Benjamin Bunny to the pupils of the Kendrick Headstart Center in Terry.

Earth week was also celebrated at the Austin Library from April 17th to 22nd with grab - and - go bags which included coloring books about littering presented by Mytle the Turtle in order to teach the importance of keeping the environment clean, safe and free from litter. Make - it - yourself directions were also included in the bags.

In preparation for National Library Week the library created programs to garner more traffic from the teens of our community. On Wednesday, April 26th, Stress Awareness month was discussed with representatives from Mississippi Families for Kids. Also during National Library Week, the Cadence Bank read in another special story time at the daycare center to promote financial literacy to the pupils and to present each of them with their own piggy bank with other goodies. A read - a - thon was sponsored in which teens came to the library on any day of National Library Week to read any library book of his/her choice for thirty minutes to be entered into a drawing for a free prize. A word search for teens was held on Saturday, April 29th.

The Austin Library also holds a tutoring program which will continue to assist teens and tweens during the upcoming summer months. Please encourage your students to take advantage of these services offered by the dedicated library staff in Terry.

These birthdays have recently been celebrated or will be celebrated:May 16 - David King; May 18 - Candis Green Hoefer, Robin Johnson Hicks; May 20 - Lauren Cohn, Pat Roberts; May 21 - Shannon Richardson, Jimmy Sanford.

A memorial service for the late Joyce Clark McDonald. Mrs. McDonald was the widow of Ray McDonald , who is remembered so well by many of us. Here is her obituary : Joyce Clark McDonald (November 8, 1938 — April 15, 2023)

Joyce Clark McDonald, 84, went to be with her Lord Saturday April 15, 2023, at Baptist Hospital in Jackson, Ms. A celebration of life memorial was held for Friday May 19th, 2023, at Hickory Ridge Baptist Church, 319 Hickory Ridge Road in Florence beginning with visitation at 10 am followed by the memorial service at 11am.

Joyce was born November 8, 1938, to R. L. and Sarah Hettie Jordan Wood in Mississippi. Joyce more than anything else loved God, her family and her friends. She was a member of Hickory Ridge Baptist Church and a Godly woman who was at church every time the doors were open, where she taught Sunday school and led Bible studies. To know Joyce was to love her. She never met a stranger and had a true servant heart, always putting others before herself. She loved to travel, enjoyed good food and loved to shop.

She was a preceded in death by her parents; her baby sister; husband, Ray McDonald and daughter, Cyndi Thomas. Those left to cherish her memory are her daughters, Debbie Williamson of Bryant, Arkansas. Valerie Moak of Ridgeland; 6 grandchildren, 7 great grandchildren and 2 great great-grandchildren.

The family had requested that in lieu of flowers, memorials be made to Hickory Ridge Baptist Church’s Building Fund or Clear Branch Baptist Church’s Hand - and - Feet Ministries.

Please keep Rev. Deacon Rose Mary Foncree in your prayers. Rose Mary, who preaches regularly at the Church of the Good Shepherd on Claiborn Street and is an English professor at Belhaven University, is recovering from detached retina surgery. Mayor Billy Pechloff is recovering from back surgery, and his name should also be lifted in prayer.

Condolences are extended to the family of our former Fifth District Supervisor Kenneth I. Stokes and his family upon the recent loss of that family’s matriarch Hinds County Judge Larita Cooper-Stokes.

The final day of the Easter season is this Sunday (May 21), with next Sunday being Pentecost Sunday. The Scripture readings which were printed by mistake and should have been read this weekend instead.

This hymn, which accompanies John 17:11 ( I am coming to you; I will not stay in the world any longer. But they are still in the world. Holy Father, keep them safe by the power of your name, the name you gave me, so that they will be one, just as you and I are one.) was written by the Irish priest Somerset Corry Thomas Lowry (1855 - 1932).

“Son of God, eternal Savior, Source of life and truth and grace, Son of Man, whose birth incarnate Hallows all our human race, Thou, our head who, throned in glory, For Thine own dost ever plead, Fill us with Thy love and pity; Heal our wrongs, and help our need. “Bind us all as one together, In Thy Church’s sacred fold, Weak and healthy, poor and wealthy, Sad and joyful, young and old. Is there want, or pain, or sorrow? Make us all the burden share. Are there spirits crushed and broken? Teach us, Lord, to soothe their care. “As Thou, Lord, hast lived for others, So may we for others live; Freely have Thy gifts been granted, Freely may Thy servants give. Thine the gold and Thine the silver, Thine the wealth of land and sea, We but stewards of Thy bounty, Held in solemn trust for Thee. “Come, O Christ, and reign among us, King of love, and Prince of peace, Hush the storm of strife and passion, Bid its cruel discords cease: By Thy patient years of toiling, By Thy silent hours of pain, Quench our fevered thirst of pleasure, Shame our selfish greed of gain. “Son of God, eternal Savior, Source of life and truth and grace, Son of Man, whose birth incarnate Hallows all our human race, Thou who prayedst, Thou who willest, That Thy people should be one, Grant, O grant our hope’s fruition: Here on earth Thy will be done.”

Your weekly readership of the Terry Headlight is appreciated. Please contact me with news of weddings, births, deaths, services, illnesses and parties by calling 601-878-5714 or by e-mailing me details at terryj1@bellsouth.net.