Once A Delta Boy, Always A Delta Boy: A Memoir

By Gene Holiman

In this book I am reliving memories of many families about the lives and times in the mid-Twentieth Century Mississippi Delta as I experienced them. Hopefully, these recollections can help readers recognize events and places that were integral to their own upbringing during these formative years. Or maybe inspire others to jog their own images of Delta life they remember. Read. Reflect. Laugh. Cry. Relive growing up in the Delta from your own perspective. Smile.

The years just after World War II witnessed an idyllic era which packed explosive agricultural and industrial growth, and which provided a perfect small town atmosphere for raising families. But as more widespread integration was introduced in the '60's, many abrupt changes occurred in the area. Wealth shifted among families and races. Racially separated schools were consolidated. Some businesses prospered, many others shuttered their doors. Opportunities finally opened for some citizens just as they slammed shut for others. Growth in Queen City Greenville and other nearby enclaves peaked and then began to spiral downward.

No matter where you live today, one truth still rings true, however. If you were born or raised as a child of the Delta, you will always be a proud child of the Delta.... a Delta Boy (or Girl).

• Language: English
• Publisher: Archway Publishing
• Release date: Jan 31, 2024
• ISBN: 9781665753197

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Copyright © 2024 Gene Holiman.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

This book is a work of non-fiction. Unless otherwise noted, the author and the publisher make no explicit guarantees as to the accuracy of the information contained in this book and in some cases, names of people and places have been altered to protect their privacy.

Archway Publishing

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Bloomington, IN 47403

www.archwaypublishing.com

844-669-3957

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

ISBN: 978-1-6657-5318-0 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-6657-5319-7 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2023921738

Archway Publishing rev. date:  01/30/2024

CONTENTS

Dedication

Forward

Preface

1     Come Home Right Now!

2     Family Ties

ASIDE: Switching Babies

3     More Than Just Friends

4     Best Friends Forever

5     My Close Knit Neighborhood

ASIDE: The Teachers

6     The Lake & The River

ASIDE: Marine Mis-Adventures

ASIDE: Southern Hospitality

7     Out And About In Greenville And The Delta

ASIDE: Curb Service Tray Landslide

ASIDE: This hamburger’s So Thin...

8     School Days, Dear Old Rotten Rule Days

ASIDE: Darn, We Got Holiman

9     Christmas... And Other Holidays...

ASIDE: There’s Nothing As Over As Christmas!

10   Summertime... And The Living Was Easy

11   Faith Journeys

12   Wheels Away!

ASIDE: Delta Kart Klub

ASIDE: May Pops

ASIDE: Engineer Gene

13   Delta Implement Company

14   Lemonade Lifestyle - Quiet And Peacful

15   Beyond Greenville

Appendix

Acknowledgements

DEDICATION

I am dedicating this prose to my late brother Harold Holiman, who encouraged me to continue writing even when I became extremely frustrated and vowed to stop totally and give up my library of writing materials.

FORWARD

I’m a Delta Boy… and even prouder to be a Greenville Boy. You can only be declared such by the natives if you were born and raised in this metropolis. Transplants are welcome. They can proudly exclaim to be Greenvillians or from Greenville but cannot attain the local parlance of being a Greenville Boy. You may grow up; you may move away; but you always retain the Greenville Boy moniker among true Southerners remaining in the area.

Even though I’m in my mid 70’s now and have lived in Texas for over 40 years, I somehow still consider Greenville as home. Mother and Daddy and my only sibling are all gone now. But I still have lifelong family in the city... those neighbors who you always consider like cousins, siblings, aunts or uncles – close family friends who open their homes to you when you come back and are insulted if you even consider staying in a hotel.

I’ve never lost my Mississippi accent either, though I never realized I really had one until even Texans continually asked me where I was from. These inquirers are always astonished when I tell them I have been living in Texas since 1983.

The Mississippi Delta - my stomping ground - was famously described by Mississippi author David Cohn as beginning in the lobby of the Peabody Hotel in Memphis and extending southward to Catfish Row in Vicksburg. I’ve always considered its eastern boundary to be Valley Hill just east of Greenwood, where Highway 82 climbs into the hills. On the Arkansas side of the River, another delta roughly mirrors our Mississippi homeland, stretching westward almost to Bastrop, Louisiana.

In the 1950’s and 60’s, Greenville was widely known as the Queen City of the Delta. It was on a fast-track growth spurt, Greenville Air Force Base was active, the river towing industry was in full swing, new factories arriving in town necessitated the building of a new second industrial park, and the city was the main regional shopping mecca for citizens of nearby Leland, Hollandale, Indianola, Cleveland, Lake Village (AR), and Bastrop (LA).

The Greenville I grew up in, alas even the times of my adolescence, are gone now, some changed for the better and some sadly not so. Segregation prevailed in my hometown as I was growing up, so not everyone was able to share the bounties of a prosperous river town as my family was. Separate but equal was the stated mode of operation for most facets of life - schools, churches, residential communities, stores, social circles, restaurants, transportation, even recreational avenues like Lake Ferguson.

Most white citizens seemed to take this philosophy in stride as the Southern way of life, the way it had always been. I know I did. I grew up privileged and never really knew the challenges that our African-American domestic help were challenged with when they went home in the evening, or went shopping, or just wanted to go out to dine, which were somewhat prohibited for them. Many African-Americans understood the mores of the day and also followed tradition. Other citizens, however, white and black, defined equal differently and fought for positive changes. In this book, I have written about Greenville and the Delta from my 1940’s - ‘60’s perspectives and understanding.

Two years after I graduated from Greenville High School in 1965, integration first entered Greenville’s public school system. Subdivisions were becoming more color-blind. Restaurants soon welcomed patrons of all colors and creeds. Though most churches remained segregated, that was by individual choice instead of laws or mores. Yes, the Delta became mired in the infant pains of the emerging civil rights movement and was slow to emerge and accept change even as the rest of the South - and the nation as a whole - transformed from an outlook of exclusivity to one of inclusion. Even though economic growth was exploding on the local industrial front, not everyone shared equally in the new wealth.

Today’s region is an entirely different atmosphere than I personally experienced. I have no intent to disregard any challenges many faced, nor to put any lifestyles on pedestals; these words are my remembrances. As I grow older and experience life as it unfolds, however, I still cherish my upbringing in The Delta and the memories of my innocent youth spent there.

Let me relate a little of background in a nutshell to set the stage for how the rest of this book evolved. I was born on July 25, 1947 in the Kings Daughters Hospital (spooky though - I was possibly conceived on Halloween Eve the year before... hmmm, maybe that explains some things?!?!?!) just one hour after Cathy Noel, my twin all through hometown school years. All my secondary schooling was in the Greenville Public School System. After graduating I entered Auburn University for a year, then transferred to Louisiana State University (Geaux, Tigers!) from which I received my Bachelor of Science in Marketing degree in 1970.

The Fifties and Sixties - when I was growing up - were an era of great change in Greenville and the Mississippi Delta. Integration was just beginning so the area was transforming from an attitude of exclusivity to one of inclusion. Growth was exploding as the new industrial park on North Theobald Street began attracting national manufacturers who responded to promised opportunities in the New South. A sprawling suburban mall jumpstarted the exodus of downtown merchants. Our city was on a roll, for better in some sectors, for worse in others.

This book chronicles some aspects of my early life as a Greenville Boy. As such, you’re simultaneously an adult and a child (my mother always told her friends and neighbors that the children were coming to visit, even though we were parents with our own grown children).

I’m writing primarily to relive some of the cherished memories I hold dear about my hometown. This book, though, is hopefully not another boring autobiography but rather a sharing with many friends who also knew many people mentioned herein, or who were themselves integral parts of these episodes. Where my memory has been joggable, I’ve mentioned specific acquaintances who were part of my adventures, or perhaps accomplices in my misadventures.

Daddy died in 1992. Mother passed away in October, 2006, at 92 – ironically being within weeks of the same age that my grandmother had been when she died in 1982. My only sibling died in 2013. I now have just one close blood relative left in town – second-cousin Jim Rushing – but a lot of family still there.

My family has always been close-knit, with Mother and Daddy being the typical two-parent family so rare today. Still rarer, my father worked for the same employer, Delta Implement Company, from about 1927 until he retired in 1975; Mother was a stay-at-home mom. I had one brother, Harold, six years my senior.

Both of my grandfathers were already deceased when I was born, but I did have loving and doting grandmothers to treasure. Although I did not know Daddy’s mother very well since she died when I was just seven, I remember her as the stereotypical nanny type with children always perched on her knees. Whether or not this memory depiction is accurate, I’ll probably never know, but as the mother of thirteen children she had an ample passel of grandchildren to occupy her attention. She lived over in Greenwood so I did not get to see her as often as I did my maternal grandmother who lived a block away from us, but I still loved ‘Big Mamma" as she was known by the family.

The Holiman side of the family was prolific, with more cousins than I could count – spread all over the Delta and the world, since several uncles were in the military or working in far flung regions like Yankeeland. Believe it or not, none landed in Greenville until the Rushings moved from Cleveland when cousin Dutch was already grown with children. I was closest to Bill and Frank Crutcher in Cleveland. Cousins Bob and Barbara French called Indianola home. The Brothertons chose Memphis, then later Dallas. Judy and Lynn Larrick’s family was in government service, so they were world travelers. Hoot and Ann Holiman hailed from Jackson. Uncle Ralph’s family (cousins Ralph, Allen, Reynolds and Kate) hailed from Greenwood. I cannot even name any of my other cousins on Daddy’s side or tell you their domiciles. My wife Kathleen has always thought this strange as she knew all her cousins – and all about each of them in almost eerie detail!

Mother’s family was different, however. Since she was an only child, relatives on her side taxed my brain less intensely – no first cousins to track! She was born in Greenville and lived in only five houses and one apartment in the area in her entire life. I thus grew much closer to some of my relatives in the O’Bannon clan who lived locally. I always doted on my grandmother Norma O’Bannon and my great uncle Harold Council, plus my great-aunt Kathryn Council.

As you delve into my memoir, I hope my words also conjure up some personal memories in your life that you can reflect on, laugh about, or quietly smile about. If you’re also a Greenville Boy or a Greenville Girl, or even a Delta son or daughter, you’ll understand where I’m coming from as I write. If not, you’re in for a pleasant awakening in learning what it is like to be able to proudly tell people I’m from Greenville or I’m from the Mississippi Delta.

My memoir is in a sense a tribute to the passing by of an age of innocence for both myself and the Mississippi Delta. My generation discovered there was another world beyond those rich cotton fields and the Muddy Mississippi – opportunities to pursue, and new challenges to be thrust upon us from beyond our imaginary borders. For better or worse, Greenville has changed forever. I myself left forever when I married and moved to Memphis in 1972, then on to Austin in 1983.

Yes, this is a recollection of my memories and life in Greenville as a youth, but I hope these musings will stir up in readers pleasant thoughts of their own past endeavors in our home town.

I moved away from Greenville - physically - about fifty years ago. But some of my most fun times were in Greenville. Most of my memories still are.

Sit back now. Enjoy the ride around town. Have fun!

Gene Holiman

December, 2023

PREFACE

Greenville & Delta Trivia

How much do you really remember about Greenville

and the Delta in the ‘50’s and ‘60’s?

Have fun by jogging your memory to answer these historical questions about people, places and events in the Delta during the golden era of Greenville’s prominence. Many of these questions are answered within the text of this book; all are detailed in the appendix.

1.The local YMCA and the Greenville Kiwanis Club used to jointly fund and operate a youth summer camp in Arkansas. What was its name and where was it located?

2.What floating restaurant used to serve catfish and other seafood delicacies on Lake Ferguson?

3.Name the old general store outside of Leland, dating from the early 1900’s, that later became a popular niche restaurant (it burned several years ago).

4.The Trinity United Methodist, First Presbyterian and St. James Episcopal Churches currently occupy a site that formerly housed what recreational endeavor?

5.What structure is reputed to be the oldest surviving building in Greenville, and what is housed in this building today?

6.Which Greenville automobile dealer used to showcase Santa sitting in a red convertible, led by his reindeer, in its showroom each Christmas?

7.Name three of the hotels which still operated downtown in the 1950’s.

8.Who was the Washington County Superintendent of Education for decades until his/her retirement in 1968 (hint - a local school is named after him/her)?

9.What prominent Greenville funeral home operated a red Cadillac ambulance in the 1960’s prior to the emergence of contemporary EMS units?

10.Greenville used to be home to many of the largest towboat operators and river shipyards in the 1950’s and 1960’s. The stretch of the Lake Ferguson waterfront which housed these operations was locally known as what?

11.Name the lumber company that anchored the address at the intersection of Percy and North Harvey Streets by the C&GRR tracks.

12.The drink concoction – Coke and cherry flavoring – that Strazi’s Drive-In served was informally known as what, named for whom?

13.Where was the Alley Inn located?

14.Where was the Seven Oaks Inn located?

15.In what city was WABG television originally licensed?

16.What were WNIX Radio’s previous call letters?

17.What famous bakery in the 1000 block of Nelson Street near North Edison was known primarily for its delicious donuts?

18.Where was the Gold Room located?

19.Which prominent Greenville restaurateur used to chime out give me a loaded whimpie to his kitchen crew whenever a hamburger was ordered?

20.In what month and year did the Illinois Central Delta Express passenger train depart Greenville for the last time, heading back to Memphis?

21.Greenville’s streetcar line discontinued service in 1927 after the flood, yet one block of track is still visible on what downtown street?

22.Where was the main downtown post office located in the early 1900’s, and who was the postmaster (HINT: the building still exists, albeit for a totally different use)?

23.What popular downtown private lodge later became a prestigious furniture store? (HINT, this derelict building was demolished in 2023)

24.Name the upscale downtown clothier who also sold 33 RPM albums from a niche bookcase in the front corner of the store.

25.What Greenville street was once Highway 82 and extended all the way southwest from town to the Mississippi River ferry landing before the now-dismantled river bridge opened to traffic in 1940 ?

26.In what year was the new E.E. Bass Junior High School building completed?

27.Two grooved rail tracks still run down the lakefront wharf from the top of the levee into the water. What were these rails originally used for?

28.What company constructed wooden barrels in a plant on Mill Road behind the Greenville Cemetery?

29.What famous Delta agricultural commodity is depicted in a tile mosaic embedded in the lobby floor of Carrie Stern Elementary School?

30.Cleveland is the home of Delta State University. Which other Delta town was originally considered for this college’s location?

31.Lake Ferguson was created in what year, when the