HISTORY & HERITAGE
Jones County History & Heritage held its 15th annual Hamilton Williams award dinner Feb. 8 at Trish Ann’s restaurant in Haddock with 27 members and guests attending.
This award – named after Jones Countians Annie Bowen Hamilton and Carolyn White Williams – is awarded to an individual or organization in the community who demonstrates a significant commitment to further the preservation of the county’s historical assets.
President Earl Colvin welcomed everyone and introduced guests, Adam and Chandra Lowe and Chris and Andrea Williams. After the meal, Colvin explained the origin of the award and its purpose in recognizing efforts of citizens of the county in furthering historical preservation. He then announced that the award would be presented to Adam Lowe and Chris Williams in recognition of their work to preserve the history and memories of Gray Feed, Seed and Fertilizer, keeping the store true to its roots after they purchased it from the Childs family in 2017.
In addition to their efforts in preserving the feed store, Lowe and Williams have been instrumental in working with the Downtown Development Authority’s preservation efforts of the Gray Depot. It is located directly across the street from the feed store on Railroad Street, and both properties now provide a historical look back in time at this area in the center of Gray.
Colvin read from one of Jones County History and Heritage’s publications called “The 107 Story,” a compilation of stories about people, places and events in the county’s history. Included in this volume published in 2011 was a story called “The Feed Store.” It was written with the assistance of Floyd and Betty Jean Childs and Ponder and Beth Childs and told the history of the store which was originally opened in 1949 by Milton Bowen in the same concrete building that stands today. In 1953 Howard Childs Sr. and Floyd Childs, who worked in the store, assumed ownership from Bowen after he suffered a heart attack, and it remained in the Childs family for more than three generations.
The last paragraph of the story is the standard under the ownership of Lowe and Williams. Floyd Childs was quoted in an article in The Jones County News written by Mildred Dye in 1981.
“We served the grandparents, parents and now the children. We appreciate every one of them and want them to stop by and pass the time of day with us anytime they can. If we can’t help them, we will find someone who can.”
Very little has changed at the store in all these years. Honesty, hard work and personal customer service still remain the standard.
