All Saints Sunday, Remembering the Taylorsville Signal Office and Stories about World War II

The Watkins Sisters, the World War II Soldiers--Saints Not to Be Forgotten

Sarah Walker Gorrell and Mary Lou Cheatham
(Mary Lou Gregg Cooke)
Mayor Rosalyn Glenn
At Grillin' and Chillin' 2016

In the fall of 2016, Sarah Walker Gorrell and I signed Travelers in Painted Wagons on Cohay Creek at the Taylorsville, Mississippi, Chillin' and Grillin'. (Other books of the Covington Chronicles were included on our table too.)

My husband John and I walked around the corner to visit the Watkins Museum. Throughout my childhood, my mother, who was a good friend of the Misses Watkins, took me to see them every few days. They showed me their printing press and the way they set type.

The museum is a neat place. It's been restored into a  pristine building, which is full of authentic objects from the past. To read about the restoration of the Watkins Museum and to see a beautiful photograph of it, click on this link: Watkins Museum

Another link with details of the history of the museum contains some interesting old black-and-white photos. Here's one of them. shared from this web page.  Go to The Conversion of the Taylorsville Signal Newspaper Office and Creation of the Watkins Museum to read more of the story.

Looking around that day, we were amazed at the scrapbooks the Watkins Girls (as we used to call them back in Taylorsville)

They collected stories throughout World War II of the activities of the local boys who had gone off to war. They organized the pictures so that it was easy to find my brother John Edwin Gregg and our Gregg cousins. The scrapbook, along with all the other items of interest, would have kept me entertained for at least a week.

Sweet memories of childhood scenes spent talking to the Watkins sisters in their fascinating newspaper office washed over me. What a wonderful day it was! Below are three clippings photographed from one of the scrapbooks: