After reconnecting on the Internet over the past couple of months, a group of former Minter City residents will gather in person this weekend starting with a dinner at 6 p.m. Saturday at the Crystal Grill.
The small reunion was spawned by the formation of a Minter City group on Yahoo, created by Marie Oswalt Nutt of Jackson.
According to Tate Cooper Conlon, a Minter City native who now lives in Derry, N.H., the community of Minter City became scattered when the schools were consolidated in 1958, so many people lost touch. One of the group’s missions is to locate former residents who grew up in the area then.
“We are recreating the Minter City of the 1950s and 1960s in cyberspace,” Conlon said.
Nutt had become reacquainted with former Minter City classmate Newton F. Cole, who now lives in San Antonio, Texas.
“I grew up living in the Minter City depot, and he builds model railroads. We are both interested in the history of Minter City and the railroads that were once in that area,” Nutt explained.
After the pair worked together to compile a history of the Minter City rail lines, Nutt started the Yahoo group — not just to locate people, but also to dig deeper into the history of the town.
“Marie started the site to see if we could find out more of the ‘lost’ history of the little town of Minter City where we all grew up,” Cole said. “There is not much left of the town, but there is a wealth of memories that have resurfaced.”
Through the collective memories of its members, the group has put together a database of old Minter City roads, businesses, homes, plantations and names of teachers and ministers.
In addition to being informative, Conlon said, sharing stories on the Web site also has been enjoyable and sentimental.
“It was a very nice, sweet time. Most of us have wonderful memories of growing up in Minter City,” she said.
Membership in the Minter City Yahoo group is by invitation only, and Nutt must approve all members. She said they have put together a database of 258 people from the area whom they would like to locate. So far, 23 members have joined, and invitations have been sent to 47 others.
This weekend’s reunion was scheduled because Conlon was going to be in Mississippi this week to visit her sister. In addition to the dinner on Saturday night, the group will attend the service Sunday morning at Minter City Methodist Church and have breakfast together.
The event has been coordinated by Imogene Spragins of Minter City, and about 30 people are expected to attend.
“A lot of us haven’t seen each other in 50 years,” Conlon said. “This is a very special time to get together with people like that.”
For more information about the Minter City Yahoo group, visit http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Mintercity/.
To contact Nutt about joining the group, send e-mail to mintercity1952@bellsouth.net.
