Recently I’ve been thinking about a grandfather I never knew.
Birney Imes, Sr. died in 1948, in the decade before I was born. I know almost nothing about him as a person.
As it is, all I have to go on are old newspapers, which isn’t much. He was an accomplished fellow: He served on presidential commissions; was district governor of Rotary and so on.
Not to make light of any of this, but it doesn’t offer the first clue to my grandfather’s personality.
He did write an editorial once bemoaning the disappearance of the cigar store wooden Indian. The editorial received national attention and with it came letters from owners of wooden Indians wishing to sell.
My grandfather responded by asking the owners of these cigar store sentinels to donate their treasures so they could be sent to Jackson to serve in the legislature. They couldn’t do worse than the folks we have down there now, he wrote.
Apparently the old boy had a sense of humor.
So many obits in the paper offer a litany of positions held, memberships and add that he or she was a loving father or mother.
Wouldn’t it be nice to know he bought four watermelons every Fourth of July and gave three to his neighbors; or that he was an avid squirrel hunter and spent hours under the hood of the old F-150 pickup he loved to tinker with.
A piece of art I saw at The W art department last week brought this to mind.
In 2018 The W commissioned the artist Elayne Goodman to make a sculpture honoring her friend, mentor and longtime MUW art professor Eugenia Summer.
The piece, a square column about five feet tall, gives a sense of its subject’s humanity any obit or feature writer would envy.
Elayne encircled the base of the column with a collection of egg cups Eugenia bequeathed to her. There are photographs of Eugenia and her brother and a picture of Eugenia with a possum on her head.
On the sides of the sculpture Elayne has emblazoned memories about the honoree.
For example …
“When she attended the Mississippi Picnic in Central Park, she took sardines and crackers for lunch.”
“Early in her life she won an award for one of her artworks. She used the money to buy a red wool coat.”
“She didn’t like Elvis. She did like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.”
“Her artworks were shown in over 60 juried shows throughout the United States. Eleanor Roosevelt owned one.”
“She loved baseball and the Atlanta Braves.”
“She had a parakeet named Ikey Democrat.”
“As president of the student body, she convinced The W president to allow a jukebox in the Goose. She considered this the greatest accomplishment of her life!”
“She liked Chinese Food.”
“Her best friend was Dr. Mary E. Stringer.”
“She enjoyed canoeing.”
Unlike most memorials, Elayne’s homage to her friend evokes a real human being. The sculpture is on display in Summer Hall on Fifth Avenue South between 11th and 12th streets.
While they’re still around, why not sit with your elderly friends and family and listen to their stories. Listen closely, for when they are gone, those stories will sustain you and keep alive their memory like nothing else
Birney Imes ([email protected]) is the former publisher of The Dispatch.
Birney Imes III is the immediate past publisher of The Dispatch.
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