Neighbors

The passing in 2011 of four men who showed their love for Shelby County in a variety of ways – with public service and determined legacies – left significant gaps in the foundation of the community.

All of them served in their unique ways, but perhaps none of them expanded the imprint of Shelby County more than Clarence Miller, who died in August at the age of 98.

One year ago today, a fire swept through a home at 312 Henry Clay Street, leaving one brother in the hospital and another homeless.

John Pearson eventually died from second-degree burns he received over the top portion of his body, and his bother “Booger” Bill Pearson, 69, was left homeless.

A spark of community fellowship helped raise several thousand dollars for the brothers, but it turns out that won’t be enough.

Oh, the holidays, decking the tables and countertops and computer desks and, yes, even the bedside table, with platters and trays and candy dishes with yummy treats.

Everyone has a favorite holiday dish, and many of you probably bring some of your best efforts and gifts to work to share with coworkers.

Like Patricia Ann McKinney, for example, a clerk at the Shelby County Sheriff’s office, who made Haystacks  and almond bark cookies.

“These recipes have been around for a long time,” she says.

Marshall Phillips had a story he wanted to tell, one from the earth in Shelby County to the villages of East Africa and back, so he did what most people only think of doing: He sat down and wrote a book.

Phillips has published He Leadeth Me, which he calls an autobiography that’s about half about his life as a farm boy from Chestnut Grove and the rest about the years he served as a minister and with the Southern Baptist Church’s Foreign Mission Board in Kenya and Tanganyika.