Kosciusko has lost a major supporter, leader

Opinion

October 27, 2011

Kosciusko has lost a major supporter, leader

Anonymous The Star Herald The Star Herald Thu Oct 27, 2011, 09:33 AM CDT

KOSCIUSKO — The people of this community have lost a major leader and supporter in the death of Marlin Ivey.

Current newspaper reports of his death list many of the things in which he participated and was successful. There are others, some he did as part of a team effort and others on an individual basis.

First, he and Nelma chose to return to his hometown of Kosciusko soon after completing studies at the University of Southern Mississippi. They had married while students at Southern. She had roots in Texas and had moved to a small south Mississippi community when her father’s work took him there. She had an important role in student activities at USM.

After graduation Marlin joined the staff of University Medical Center in Jackson in an administrative role but soon decided to return to Kosciusko. He joined his father in a small business in Kosciusko and expanded it into a contractual firm. It became one of the largest 100 companies in Mississippi and expanded dramatically with offices all across the South. It has only grown larger and more comprehensive, currently providing employment to over 1,000 personnel.

Marlin later stepped aside from the day-to-day operation of that business and undertook new projects involving business, his and Nelma’s church and the state. His workload widened as he grew and expanded his accomplishments, serving as a member and chair of the state College Board and the Mississippi Economic Council as well as in numerous other roles. He passed on the operation and part of the ownership of his contractual firm to younger associates.

Since his younger years he worked to benefit his fellow man back home, helping keep a bi-racial line of communication open at a time when turmoil was wracking many other areas of the South. Their efforts helped avoid conflict in the Kosciusko area and insured a community togetherness which continues even today.

He was one of the founders of a non-profit organization in the 1980s that created our Visitors Center at the Kosciusko entrance to the Natchez Trace. He and a small group gathered around a table one morning and raised $100,000 to pay half the cost of the center’s construction. They divided a list of prospect names and within a few days had gathered almost $100,000 in additional money needed to build the center. It opened in 1984, operating seven days a week with more than 200 volunteers without use of tax money. For more than 20 years he and a team of supporters of the center supervised its operation.

At one time an Attala County resident was working to start a new manufacturing facility and Marlin stepped in as a partner along with some others to help it get going. That business is prosperous here today.

Even after he and Nelma moved their primary residence to the Jackson area and he became ill he kept working in our behalf. As late as recent weeks he had continued to have a role in current plans to expand Holmes Community College in Kosciusko to a full scale campus offering a comprehensive academic curriculum and a widespread-vo-tech program. That, hopefully, will occur soon.

We are a better community because of him, his family and associates.

W.C. “Dub” Shoemaker, former owner, editor-publisher of The Star-Herald

Text Only

Opinion

To ‘my boy’ and the Class of 2013
Legendary coach Vince Lombardi said, "The price of success is hard work, dedication to the job at hand, and the determination that whether we win or lose, we have applied the best of ourselves to the task at hand."

May 22, 2013
Can ‘good’ news sell the newspaper?
As the saying goes – “If it bleeds, it leads.” The “hard stuff” – murders, wrecks, fires, deaths and the like – has been selling newspapers and upping the ratings of television stations for years.

May 15, 2013
On Getting ‘Stranded’
Beth and I were in Kosciusko last week for our semiannual visit to the dentist. As we rounded the corner from West Adams onto North Madison, there she stood in all her refurbished splendor: The Strand Theater!

May 9, 2013
Fear of Big Red canceled fishing
I have said before that my daddy loved fishing. Not having a son to fish with for eight years, I was his fishing buddy. He had his favorite “fishing holes” and one of them belonged to Mr. John Yates. The only problem was, we had to walk about a mile from where we parked our car to get to the pond.

April 17, 2013
Summertime visiting
I was always so excited for summer break to come about because that meant that I could begin my visits to my cousin’s houses out in the country. I loved to spend several days with my aunt and uncle and three cousins in the Hebron community. I would always go during their revival time and we would go every night.

February 7, 2013
Parlez-vous francais?
Absolutely not! Some of my Southern English is so drawn out with my Southern accent that some cannot understand me at all times.

January 18, 2013
Bacon accident
My husband loves bacon. But only if it’s cooked in the oven at 425 degrees. It comes out in about 20 minutes crispy and crunchy.

January 10, 2013
‘The night before Christmas’
T’was several days before Christmas and all throughout The Star-Herald everyone was scurrying to get the next edition out.

January 2, 2013
Fire escape fear becomes a reality
When I was in middle school, we went to school in the big three story red brick building that used to set where the Attala County Library now sets. The first floor was third grade, second floor fourth grade, and third floor fifth grade

January 2, 2013
Memories of The Strand
The Strand Theatre was so important to me and my life during my childhood. I was given 50 cents a week for an allowance and all of it would go to my Saturday movie time.

December 27, 2012
More Opinion Headlines

Opinion

Search Results

Kosciusko has lost a major supporter, leader

Site Map