It was during the recent Good Neighbor Contest (won by Miss Ruth Davis of Indianola) that our telephone rang one evening and a lady's voice announced that she was nominating Dr. Hugh Gamble as her entry.
She went on to say that she read our staff in the paper and wondered if we'd mind helping her a little bit with the article she was trying to write.
We explained that, as an employee of the Democrat-Times ourself, it would hardly be proper for us to take a hand in the contest. In the meantime, we have been trying to identify the voice, checking off, as we did so, such immediate neighbors of Dr. Hugh as Ann Lake, Charlotte Grafton, Marie Starling. Marge Martin, Norma Hall, Mrs. George Weathers Sr., and Ted Millette.
It was none of these, so we finally asked the lady if she lived close by Dr. Gamble, and she said no, that she lived out on the Leland Road.
In that case, we replied, it looked like she was not following the rules of the contest. For, as we understood it, the neighborliness folks were supposed to write about was more personal, like borrowing a cup of sugar from the party next door, or tending the baby for the folks across the street. Before we could cite other Instances of what the contest was about, we were interrupted by the lady a the other end of the line, quote-
"Listen Mister", she said, "you can't tell me anything about neighborliness. Now you take Dr. Hugh Gamble, he saved my life, and I'm asking you how you can find anything more personal than that!" A
As usual, the lady had the last say and Old Stuff would certainly be the last to deny she had something there.
We see in last Friday's Commercial Appeal (May 21st) where Miss Phoebe Dent, 283 Ridgefield Road Memphis. Tenn., has won a coveted $1,000 scholarship to exclusive Wellesley College".
Eight hundred dollars of the award was granted by the Wellesley Club of Memphis, and two hundred dollars by the college itself. The award was based on Miss Dent's academic achievement, personality, and record of extra-curricular activities.
A straight-A student at East High School in Memphis, Phoebe Dent is a member of the National Honor Society, president of Allegro Club, cartoonist for the student newspaper, and a winner in Latin and French tournaments. She plays violin In the Memphis Youth Symphony and has won first prizes from the Memphis Academy of Arts, and from the Memphis Garden Club, for her artistic work in metalsmithing, jewelry-making, and ceramics.
All of which Is very nice, and not so many teenagers rate a half-galley which Phoebe received from the "South's Greatest Newspaper." But, as Cap'n Henry used to say, back In the days of the Showboat, that half galley "was only the beginning!"
For Phoebe Dent is really Phoebe Paxton Dent, sister of Mary Jo and daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Lucien Minor Dent, of Memphis. She is also the niece of Mrs. William Armstrong Percy of Memphis; of Mrs. K. Elmo Lowe of Cleveland, Ohio, and Mrs. Robert Keebler of Washington, D.C.; and of Mrs. Frank Young of Indianapolis, Ind.; and of Miss Annie Paxton, Mrs. E. M. Burton, General A. G. Paxton, and John McNutt Paxton, all of Greenville. She is also a great-niece of Mrs. Porter ("Aunt Neal") Chapman of Indianola.
Phoebe's maternal grandparents, the late Mr. and Mrs. A. G. Paxton Sr., lived for many years on South Broadway, at the dead-end of Johnson's Alley. Legend has it that when her mother was born, the late Mr. Paxton recorded the event, as follows, in the family Bible;
"Born unto us this day a daughter, Frances Houston Paxton, but we shall call her Phoebe."
(Maybe so, Mr. Paxton, but your son John called her "Phibbie.")
Miss Phoebe Dent will continue her art and music studies at Wellesley, says the Commercial Appeal, while taking the liberal arts course. No mention is made of nature-study, but Old Stuff remembers a far-off afternoon when he and Phoebe found a rabbit's nest beneath a windrow of alfalfa hay. The baby bunnies were stacked in the aisle.
Oh yes, we nearly forgot, the straight-A Phoebe Paxton Dent is also an active communicant of St. John's Episcopal Church. (Pause for ten seconds while her late great-great uncle, Major Millsaps, and the Wesleys, John and Charles, are turning over in their graves.)
