SMITHVILLE — A majority of the Smithville population was in attendance at Saturday’s Smithville Memorial Day when Governor Phil Bryant presented Mayor Gregg Kennedy with a check for $13,732.16 to help pay debris removal costs.
Community members, adorned in I love Smithville t-shirts, gathered under a blue sky to remember the 16 people who died in the EF-5 tornado April 27 of last year.
Kennedy remembered many of the victims by name.
“You could come in on the south end of town and see the beautiful roses in Ms. (Celia Fay) Jackson’s yard,” Kennedy recalled. “My first job as a teenager was driving a green Jon Deer tractor for Mr. Jesse Cox. When I went deer hunting in the hills, I would have a great time fellowshipping with (Roy) Peanut Estis. My wife would talk with Ms. Maxine (Chism) and she gave us years and years of personal advice. I miss them. I miss all of them. And I know without a shadow of a doubt they are looking down on us now, smiling ear to ear.”
Along with Kennedy, Congressman Alan Nunnelee, Gov. Bryant and his wife Deborah spoke to community members. The focus of each speaker was the impressive recovery of Smithville.
The check Bryant presented to Smithville is part of a grant from the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality for environmental cleanup.
“That afternoon someone came to my office and said, ‘It struck a small community named Smithville,” Bryant said. “Then, I was unfamiliar with Smithville but they told me where you were and what happened. As I came into the community I began to see the devastation, unparalleled to anything I’d seen.”
Bryant talked about the resolve of Smithville citizens and their effort to rebuild.
“We understand that when we go back to our jobs, your work goes on,” he said. “The real achievements have occurred because of the men and women of Smithville.”
Tornado Victims:
Jesse Cox
Courtney Easter
Mildred Elam
Celia Fay Jackson
Roy Peanut Estis
Nellie Ruth Estis
Carla Jones
Mavis Jean Manley
Alan Scott Morris
Betty Newkirk
Jessica Pace
Lucille Parker
Maxine Chism
Elvin Patterson
Hazel Noe
Mary Lavern Patterson
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