Ricky Love says he’s had a rewarding career of nearly 35 years at Staplcotn, and his long-term goals are simple: “Do the best job you can, and stay healthy to keep doing it.”
Love, 56, was born Rence Love in the town of Leflore, the 11th of 12 children of Charlie and Lannie Love. Six of his siblings are now deceased, but one sister and four brothers remain. He took on the nickname Ricky in childhood after one of his siblings started calling him that.
He said he liked growing up in a big family, although it could get competitive at times.
“It was really a lot of fun,” he said. “A lot of love there.”
He said his parents, who were sharecroppers, taught him about hard work. He remembers chopping cotton, cutting grass and doing other tasks, and he also took up hunting in his youth to help feed the family.
After graduating from Grenada High School in 1980, he worked in farming for a while before a friend helped him get a job interview at Staplcotn, where he began working in March 1983. His first responsibilities included helping to load trucks and sometimes traveling out of town to pick up samples.
“It was good. I enjoyed it,” he said. “Gets you out of the building.”
During the peak season, he would come in at 7 a.m. and often worked until 9 p.m. It was slower during the summer, but there was other work to be done then, too.
“We still had little stuff to do all summer — count sacks, paint and just clean the whole second and third floors,” he said.
In 1989, a supervisor asked Love whether he would be interested in going to classing school, and Love said yes. So he went through a program at the Memphis Cotton Exchange from May through July that year, learning how to look at cotton and determine its key qualities, including grade, color and staple length. The class had about 25 students, who were graded on their work — and “me and a guy from Texas, we tied for fifth,” he said. After that, he took a test in classing at the U.S. Department of Agriculture office in Memphis, which he passed.
Over the following years, he moved up at Staplcotn, becoming shipping supervisor in 1999 and classing operations supervisor in 2004. In 2008, he became mailroom, maintenance and classing supervisor, the job he holds today.
Most of his work is in maintenance, where he supervises three employees, but he also orders supplies and oversees the operation of the mail machines. And occasionally he is asked to put his classing skills to use examining cotton.
“It’s a good job, you know?” he said. “It’ll be 35 years pretty soon. I love my job.”
Love has lived in Itta Bena for 19 years. He and his wife, Carolyn, who have been married 19 years, have six adult children between them — Cassie, Terrance, Veronica, Torri, Trey and Octavius — who range in age from 40 to 23.
In his spare time, he enjoys watching football, hunting deer and rabbits, and fishing. He also grows a variety of vegetables, including peas, tomatoes, cucumbers, squash and okra.
He grew up in Samuel Chapel Missionary Baptist Church in Itta Bena and remains active there today, having served as a deacon and church secretary for about 15 years.
He travels occasionally but isn’t interested in living elsewhere.
“I like the good old Delta,” he said.
• Contact David Monroe at 581-7236 or dmonroe@gwcommonwealth.com.
