Articles by Rufus Ward
Ask Rufus: There were giants among us
My last column mentioned a group of people who were friends of my father and like him had served in the Army Air Corps during World War II.
Ask Rufus: The names in a book
While cooped up and iced in last week, I started rearranging books in my bookcases.
Ask Rufus: Tecumseh’s journey during the ‘year of wonders’
Annus mirabilis is Latin for “year of wonders.”
Ask Rufus: Celebrating Epiphany and chalking doors
Today is Epiphany. It is the 12th Day of Christmas and the day we celebrate the story of the three wisemen or magi and the gifts they brought Jesus.
Ask Rufus: A wall of separation between church and state
Prayer in schools, prayer at public events and the public display of religious scenes all too often seem under attack by the courts. The courts base their rulings on more than 200 years of legal precedents that there must be a separation — a wall — between church and state.
Ask Rufus: Starkville’s Christmas Day blizzard of 1540
Christmas 1540 in what is now the Starkville-West Point-Columbus area was the first Christmas celebrated in Mississippi.
Ask Rufus: Christmas of Columbus’ past
I recently was looking at an old book that my great aunt Marcella Billups Richards had.
Ask Rufus: The story a jar tells
A couple of days ago a friend gave me an old coffee jar. Now I do love a good cup of coffee, but I enjoy a good story even more and this jar tells a fascinating one.
Ask Rufus: The city of Columbus was founded 204 years ago
For many years I have with Carolyn Kaye, Gary Lancaster and the late Sam Kaye researched the founding of Columbus.
Ask Rufus: The greatest college football team ever
Last Monday night I watched the documentary “Unrivaled” on Miss Public Television. It is one of the best and most interesting sports documentaries I have seen.
Ask Rufus: A Thanksgiving History
It was 404 years ago that a group of settlers from England landed in the New World and with a ceremony of thanksgiving gave thanks to God for their safe arrival and their new settlement.
Ask Rufus: An aviation milestone nobody noticed
In 1919 the first transcontinental round-trip airplane flight, and only the fourth transcontinental flight, made a stop at the Army Air Service’s Payne Field just north of West Point, but no one locally seemed to notice.
Ask Rufus: Where the buffalo roamed
Ken Burns’ new documentary series, “The American Buffalo,” is the story of the buffalo in American history.
Ask Rufus: More than just a ghost story
Halloween is fast approaching, and it’s always a time for ghost stories. Many ghost stories are simply fictional stories concocted to entertain children and adults, but some have at least a grain of truth in them.
Ask Rufus: Change of command, a 240-year-old tradition
On Thursday morning I attended the change of command ceremony for the 43rd Flying Training Squadron at Columbus Air Force Base.
Ask Rufus: Traditional Native American herbal medicine
Recently several people asked me about what native plants were used as traditional medicines by the Indians who once lived here. I wrote a column on those traditional medicines about seven years ago and have updated it to answer the question.
Ask Rufus: Preserving a musical heritage
I grew up in Columbus surrounded by blues music but not fully appreciating the level of talent I was hearing.
Ask Rufus: A cultured, civilized people
The Chickasaws and Choctaws who were here at the time of Anglo-American settlement were a cultured, civilized people. They were not as Native Americans are often portrayed by Hollywood or on T.V.
Ask Rufus: Tonight’s double dose of history and heritage
The heritage of both the Air Force and blues music run deep in the Golden Triangle, and Saturday night both will be celebrated.
Ask Rufus: The ostrich-like dinosaurs of Columbus
Two weeks ago, The Dispatch had an editorial promoting a fossil park along the Luxapalila at Propst Park.
