From the governor’s office to the Golden Triangle Regional Airport to the wall of Little Dooey’s in Starkville, it’s hard to miss the legacy Stuart “Stu” Preston Vance leaves behind.
Vance, 94, passed away Dec. 30 in Starkville.
A businessman by trade and a community builder by instinct, Vance led and was involved in efforts that helped shape Starkville and the Golden Triangle’s economic and civic identity.
“He was hard-nosed. If he had an idea, he was a very strong advocate of that idea, and that’s what you need,” said Mike Hainsey, former executive director for GTRA. “You need people that are thinking (and) planning, and he was always thinking ahead. He wasn’t happy with just staying where we are. He was always thinking, ‘Where will we be?’”
Born in Memphis, Vance came to the Golden Triangle after graduating high school to attend what was then Mississippi State College, graduating there in 1952 with a business degree. Outside of class, he was heavily involved on campus, serving as student president of the business school, head cheerleader for Mississippi State in 1950 and receiving a swimming scholarship from Coach Dudy Noble.
After graduation, Vance put his education to work in Starkville, helping to found and grow several businesses that employed hundreds in the city, from the Howard Furniture Manufacturing Company to Arnold Industries, which then included Herschede Hall Clock Company.
In 2015, he donated Herschede Clock model 259, “The Clock”, Serial Number 1, to the people of Mississippi, according to Vance’s obituary. Today, it stands in the governor’s office at the Capitol building.
Beyond business, Vance’s influence was felt across nearly every corner of civic life in Starkville, particularly with the Starkville Rotary Club.
“Stuart was really organized and really focused, and I think that spilled over not just into his professional work, but into his civic life as well,” said fellow Rotarian Sid Salter. “When you have a guy that is able to live his life and perform at a very high level for virtually all of this and to be relevant and plugged into a community for the length of time he did, you get the sort of reaction that I think his death has generated.”
Turning lemons into lemonade
That focus was reflected in Vance’s dedication to the Rotary club. In 2005, he was named district governor for Rotary District 6820, which encompasses 48 clubs in central Mississippi.
“He thought he was just moving into a good year serving as the district governor,” said Rotarian Larry Mullins, who served as an assistant governor the same year. “Things fell apart real quick.”
When Hurricane Katrina decimated much of the Mississippi Gulf Coast, Vance used his position to jump into action, helping to solicit $976,000 in donations to provide critical aid to victims of the disaster.
“He took lemons and made lemonade,” as Mullins remembers it.
Vance was honored with Rotary International’s Service Above Self Award for the effort, the civic club’s highest honor. His service to the community through Rotary continued, Mullins said, including a $20,000 contribution made in honor of his wife, Mikell Edwards Vance, dedicated as an endowment for the Oktibbeha County Young Leaders program.
The nine-month program for high school sophomores aims to shape students into informed and qualified future leaders, giving them the same opportunities to better their communities that Vance himself took.
Vance served on numerous boards and committees in and around Starkville and was a communicant of the Episcopal Church of the Resurrection since 1949, according to his obituary.
Ever a fan of Starkville, Vance told others he thought “his life had proven complete” when his picture was posted on the wall of Little Dooey’s.
Mullins, a Starkville native, remembers Vance as a constant presence in the community for decades.
“He was always a leader, a businessman in town, always doing good for different organizations. Just a great guy,” Mullins said. “… He wanted to see Starkville successful through all the different endeavors.”
Opening an airport
But Vance’s impact extended past Starkville as well. In the late 1960s, he and other leaders began developing plans for creating a regional airport in the Golden Triangle.
That idea, Hainsey said, was critical to the region’s growth.
“Because at the time, the only service that the whole area had was out of what’s now Lowndes County Airport,” he said. “… To get there from Starkville, you had to cross a couple of railroad tracks. … It just wasn’t suitable for the community to grow.”
By 1971, the idea had come to fruition, along with the airport’s name and logo, which Vance helped design. He and other members of the community gathered to celebrate the grand opening of GTRA, complete with speeches from senators and an appearance by the U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds.
Vance went on to serve on the airport board for 42 years. His dedication was honored in 2022, when an expansion of the terminal building was named the “Stuart P. Vance Wing” in his honor.
While the board during Vance’s tenure focused strongly on the commercial service side of the airport, Hainsey said, Vance ensured economic development surrounding GTRA remained a priority as well.
“For us to survive and not be like some of the other communities that have to have government subsidies for their air service, we really focused on economic development, and Stuart was a major part of that,” Hainsey said. “He was always planning.”
Today, GTRA serves as the epicenter for the region’s largest concentration of industry. To Hainsey, it’s all evidence of Vance being a true “visionary.”
“Stuart Vance was a visionary whose contributions to Starkville and the Golden Triangle will be felt for generations,” he said.
McRae is a general assignment and education reporter for The Dispatch.
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Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 34 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
