Study Club concludes “Mississippi Celebrities” series
Special to The Clinton Courier
A business meeting outlining plans for the new club year and the final presentation in the series featuring Mississippi Celebrities highlighted the May meeting of the Clinton Study Club.
Christina Burns, president, presided over a business session and stated that the theme for the next year, beginning in September, will be “Getting to Know You.”
Incoming officers include Lynda Williams, president; Sharon Feaster, vice president; Margaret Drummond, secretary; Doreen Moore, program chairman; Kim Pigott, treasurer; and Mary Lundgren, reporter.
A donation from the club will honor the Clinton Community Christian Corporation (4C’s).
Four members are moving into the emeritus membership status, including Rowland Roberts, Mary Simpson, Barbara Parks, and Susan Meadors.
Following the business session, Lynda Williams, who has served as program chairman for the year, shared facts about Conway Twitty, stage name for Harold Lloyd Jenkins, a popular singer-composer whose career began in the 1950s. Born in Friars Point near Clarksdale, September 1, 1933, his family moved to Helena, Arkansas, when he was ten.
Williams explained that the musician, who recorded both country and rock-and-rock music, had played baseball in high school, and, although offered a contract with the Philadelphia Phillies baseball team, he chose the music world instead. After serving in the U. S. Army during the Korean War, he began his music career again. In 1957, his increasing popularity called for a stage name, one that was chosen from two towns, Conway, Arkansas, and Twitty, Texas. “Only Make Believe” was the first hit song of his outstanding musical legacy, and “Hello, Darling” is his signature song. Jerry Clower called him the “high priest of country music.”
Enhancing the presentation were video clips from a class reunion Twitty sponsored on the Mississippi Queen as it sailed down the Mississippi River.
“My research into Conway Twitty’s life and contributions showed a giving spirit,” said Williams. “His building Twitty City in Tennessee, a country music entertainment complex, and the successful professional association and his friendship with Loretta Lynn were special.” A poignant closing included his rendition of several hymns. He died at age 59 on June 5, 1993, from an aortic aneurism.
Members welcomed visitor Brittany Santos. Hostesses were Barbara Barnett and Kathy Cannon. Other members present were Jenta Boone, Christina Burns, Carolyn Cannon, Vee Deshpande, Emily Fokeladeh, Judy Gearhart, Carole Kelly, Dixie Lloyd, Mary Lundgren, Robin McCormick, Susan Meadors, Doreen Moore, Mary Ann Parke, Barbara Parks, Rowland Roberts, Lynda Williams, and Paula Wimbish.
