Let’s play a little game of Jeopardy! Category? How about Notable Columbians? I’ll make it easier by providing the answer first, which is always in the form of a question: “Who is Dr. John M. ‘Jack’ Kaye”? If you gave any of the following as your answer, consider yourself a winner!
(1) In addition to his academic roles at Mississippi State University and Mississippi University for Women, this native-born Columbian frequently gave regular public programs on prehistoric life in the Golden Triangle, regaling his audiences with stories typically beginning with an inland intrusion of the Gulf of Mexico, dinosaurs roaming the coastline nearby, and ending with the last ‘Ice Age’ when other megafauna—like mastodon, giant ground sloths, and enormous long-legged bears—inhabited the Black Belt woodlands.
(2) Exactly 10 years prior to his passing in 2012, this one-time tractor salesman published his last technical paper on the “strange course of the Tennessee River” in northeast Mississippi, where it abruptly flows northward to the Ohio River. Several decades earlier, he introduced the first solid evidence for a pre-Tenn-Tom connection between the Tennessee and the Tombigbee Rivers during the Pleistocene Epoch (“Ice Age”).
(3) The Mississippi Constitution has been amended 123 times to address outdated laws, including those relating to racial discrimination and unfair business practices. In January 1970, this MSU professor was one of five faculty members who led a campaign to repeal an antiquated Mississippi law that prohibited the teaching of evolutionary biology in the classroom.
(4) This U.S. Air Force captain composed his master’s thesis (1955) on the “Geology of Lowndes County,” which necessitated revision of earlier work done statewide (most recently) in the 1940s. His findings included the first detailed stratigraphic observations within the county, including the description of a major ‘transitional zone’ along Luxapallila Creek and the first report of fossil shark teeth therein.
(5) On one of his numerous exploratory outings, looking for fossils and studying geologic layers (frequently in streams), this well-known local geologist was encountered by a landowner who asked what he was doing in his creek bed, to which the geologist matter-of-factly began his reply, minus any prefatory explanation, “I’m tracking elephants!”
How did you do? How about one more round? “What is the Columbus City Council?” Clue: This duly elected, and otherwise truly respected, local governing body has still not overwhelming acknowledged the earnest petitions from numerous Columbians to name the upcoming fossil park after one of their own who was, although never elected to public office, nevertheless deeply invested in the education (e.g. academic career), personal liberty (e.g. devoted military service), and welfare (e.g. Rotarian, public speaking, gregarious personality, etc.) of his fellow citizens.
George Phillips
Jackson, Mississippi
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You can help your community
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 30 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
