Columnist Rachel Darby Evans left an indelible mark
The call to the Democrat in April 2011 was from an ESPN producer trying to confirm Rachel Evans' report in her Just Among Friends society column two days earlier that Peyton Manning's wife Ashley had given birth to twins.
"Exciting news from the NFL, times two! Peyton and Ashley Manning are the parents of twins, Marshall Williams Manning and Mosley Thompson Manning, a little football player and a cheerleader, born March 3l, 20ll, in Indianapolis, Ind.," she had written. "They are being welcomed by their cousin, Ava Frances Manning, born March 2l, 20ll, to Eli and Abby Manning."
ESPN wanted to know the source since there had been rumors but no confirmation from the predictably private Manning family. So the media were chomping at the bit.
Several newspapers, radio and television stations ended up calling or emailing the Democrat to verify that the report was factual and not an April Fools joke.
Never doubting Rachel's reporting she took so seriously, I told this somewhat skeptical producer I trusted the reporter but would find out. I was more worried about Rachel being offended that I was asking.
My call caught her on the golf course and, sure enough, in a voice of some disdain, she exclaimed: "Olivia! of course."
Good enough, I thought, and sheepishly explained why I was asking.
ESPN accepted that authority, and her account of the Manning twins went viral. It was a big deal. That was Rachel: Big in life and traditions like the Fair, in her family and among friends.
She loved the Fair! Oh, did she love the Fair. For years, Sunset Strip put on their own beauty pageant she organized. She loved parties and festivities.
Few leave as big a mark on the social fabric of their community as Rachel Darby Evans left on Philadelphia and Neshoba County.
Rachel went home to be with the Lord on Jan. 11 and most of us are certain a large homecoming celebration that involved cornbread, peas and multiple casseroles ensued with some piano playing and hymn singing.
For decades, I was a Thursday noon Fair lunch guest. And when I bought the Democrat, she marveled when duty called for me to go cover the politicos. I'd make governors wait, as Rachel told it.
Truth be known, Rachel was my VIP. Our porch swing time after lunch became more precious with the years.
We especially enjoyed those years when her Fair neighbor and our friend Flynn Dobbs was alive. Eternity will be full of afternoons like that on Rachel's porch with Flynn.
After she retired from preparing the big Thursday Fair lunches, Rachel had me to her home a few years ago for lunch. She prayed a beautiful blessing about friendship and Heaven and all of our friends and loved ones like Flynn whose souls are resting with Jesus awaiting with absolute certainty the Resurrection.
Rachel loved the Democrat, and she loved writing her column because she loved people and the thrill of storytelling.
She wrote for two of my predecessors, Jack Tannehill and Stanley Dearman, in a journalistic career that spanned off and on more than five decades. She would often say that people come and go, but everyone always remembers who the Democrat editors are. Not so much these days.
But the Fair! Rachel loved the Fair. It was for Rachel, like many of us, her "happy place." That soul-enriching energy came through in her column about a cooler theft the last night one year.
"And on a sad note, someone mistakenly took a white Yeti cooler with the fish logo on top from our back porch at Cabin #244 on Sunset Strip the last night of the Fair," she wrote. "It belonged to one of our guests and we'd like to get it back for him. Please call me at 601-656-3773 and we'll arrange a ‘drop-off' location. We thank you. The Fair should never end on a sad note."
Rachel and I go way back to when I was 10 and putting out a newspaper on my dad's thermal copier one sheet at a time. Rachel had stopped to help a hurt dog on Highway 19, was bitten and that would become the first news story I'd ever write — and Rachel became my first subscriber outside of the family. And she stuck with me until the end.
Rachel loved pipe organs and recalled the M.P. Moller being installed in the old Methodist church downtown where The Citizens Bank is today in 1942 when she was seven years old.
We shared the love of the Sing at the Fair too.
Contemplating the glory of the roar of the pipes in Heaven that her soul is experiencing is real and comforting in the Faith she cherished through Christ our Savior.
Not so many people are buried out of the churches these days, but Rachel was to the Glory of God in the properness of the polite society she represented and documented within these pages.
"She was a true Southern lady to the end," one mourner wrote on social media.
Daughter-in-law Mitze Evans recalled her dedication to family. "If one of the kids woke up with a fever, she would be there by 7 or 8 so we could go to work, and she'd have supper ready by the time we got home," she said.
Rachel's attention to detail was impeccable. She came in early from the 2012 Fair to meet her deadline and reported that next week in the Democrat: "Jean Myer, former resident of Philadelphia, who now lives on Lake Martin in Alabama, arrived at the Fair on Saturday as the guest of Sarah McKay. She also departed the Fair on Saturday, with a two-week span between the Saturdays! Jean's family, Perry, Jean, Pete and Andy Myer, came for a visit over Fair weekend.
"Frances Molpus and her daughter, Nancy Molpus Pace of Greenville, South Carolina, entertained a group of Frances' bridge friends at a luncheon in Cabin 4 on the Square on Wednesday before the Fair. As a special treat, Frances' daughter and granddaughter, Melanie and Kathleen Myers, arrived for the Fair from Dallas in time to join the party for lunch. The Meridian Star captured the party in a front-page picture of the bridge players, who included Frances and her guests, Carol Oliphant, Sarah McKay, Jean Myer, Rachel Evans, Shirley Cox, Joyce Hardy, Marianne Enochs, Alyce Belenchia, Evelyn Perry, Billie Latting, and Nancy Yates."
Rachel closed her column that week this way — a fitting end if we imagine how she'd put it, perhaps, if she had just one more last word:
"And that's a wrap on pre-Fair news as I have it. Please call me so that I may include your news in ‘Friends' next week. Hope you had a wonderful Fair! Our thanks to those who work so hard to make it happen."
Jim Prince is the editor and publisher of The Neshoba Democrat. You can reach him by email at jprince@neshobademocrat.com.
RACHEL DARBY EVANS
The following is Rachel's obituary as presented by her family:
Please join the family of Rachel Evans on Saturday, January 18, 2020, at 11 a.m. at First United Methodist Church for a memorial service and celebration to help remember Rachel by listening to Rev. Chris Young preach, enjoy the music by Laura Bryan; and then hearing from you, her friends, sharing your fond memories of Rachel.
Visitation was Saturday, January 18, 2020, from 9 a.m. until service time at the church. McClain-Hays Funeral Home was in charge of arrangements.
Mrs. Rachel Darby Evans was born August 31, 1931, and passed away January 11, 2020. She lived her 88 years to the absolute fullest.
She is survived by her sons, Mike Evans (Mitze) and Scott Evans (Blair); grandchildren, Ben Evans (Erin), Dan Evans (Kate) and Charlie Evans; great-grandchildren, Emery and Lincoln Evans; favorite nephew, Lan Pickle; and great-nephew, Alan Thomas Pickle.
To her very last days, she missed and loved her husband, Harold; son, Dan; parents, Bud and Jessie Darby; and sisters, Beth and Sarah.
She completed her education at Philadelphia High School and Mississippi State College for Women.
Afterward, she served as a secretary, volunteer, columnist, realtor and author. Rachel loved so many things; her church, family, friends, the Fair, the beach, bridge, golf, yard sales, travel trailer camping, diet Cokes and chocolate, just to name a few.
At the center of everything that she loved so dearly were the people — people just like you.
In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to First United Methodist Church of Philadelphia or Blair Batson Cancer Clinic in honor of Lincoln Evans, Rachel's great-grandson.