“Jesse Yancy was an icon,” Judge Henry Lackey told those gathered Sunday for the 40th anniversary re-dedication of the Jesse Yancy Memorial Library in Bruce. “Exceptional? Surely, without question. Rare? Yes he was. Extraordinary? He certainly was. Remarkable, outstanding, unique, all of these words describe Jesse and we miss him.”
Judge Lackey was the featured speaker at the program sharing his memories of Jesse Yancy Jr. of Bruce who served as city, county and district attorney as well as state senator from 1954 until his death in 1970.
Judge Henry Lackey speaking about Jesse Yancy Jr. at Sunday’s program.
“If he had lived the suggested three score and ten, we would have been introducing him as U.S. Senator Yancy,” Lackey said. “He was so innovative. During his political campaigns, he would put a speaker on top of his vehicle and drive around playing music, and if he saw people gathered anywhere, he’d jump in the back and get on the microphone and say ‘I’m Jesse Yancy Jr. from Bruce, Mississippi and I’m running for senator.’ This was incredibly innovative.”
“When I was county attorney, I had opportunities to try cases with Jesse. He would come in and ask, ‘What are we trying today?’ I would hand him the file and he tried that case like he knew everything about it,” Lackey said. “He was absolutely brilliant. The one thing I learned when I tried a case with Jesse, I always kept an extra pack of cigarettes in my pocket.”
Lackey said Yancy always wanted to be on the front row. “He wanted to lead the parade. He didn’t want to follow.”
Lee Yancy (Jesse Jr.’s son), Ellard native Johnny McPhail and Jere Allen of Oxford.
Lackey recalled when his father, who owned a store on the Calhoun City Square, had Robert Wadlow, the world’s tallest man, come to Calhoun City as part of a promotion. Thousands gathered on the square, but somehow young Jesse Jr. got on the front row.
“He knew right where to get and was looking at the camera when they made the picture,” Lackey said.
He shared several stories from Yancy’s campaign speeches saying he “could charm a crowd. He just had that personality.”
Lackey praised Yancy’s determination to serve all comers. “It never mattered who they were or what station in life they were, Jesse Yancy believed in helping everybody.”
“He loved his family. He loved Barbara. He loved those Cooper boys. He loved his country and he loved Calhoun County,” Lackey said. “It’s so fitting that his hometown, that he loved so much, chose to honor him in such a fitting way by naming this library in his honor.”
Jo Ann Denley, a charter member with the Friends of the Library organization, provided some history as to how the library was established.
“We all wanted a bigger library and wanted to memorialize Jesse, but there was no money,” Denley said.
Efforts initially were made to locate the library on the square, but met resistance.
James Young, left, brother of Jesse Jr.’s wife Barbara Yancy, visits with Butch Ruth during the reception.
Supporters ultimately approached people who had a house on the lot where the library is currently located and asked “if they were willing to break up housekeeping and sell us their lot,” Denley said. “That was pretty nervy of us as I think back on it. But they agreed a few days later, and we paid $6,000 for it.”
Denley said Jay Lacoste of Oxford was contracted to build the library, but he first designed a large two-story structure.
“We didn’t have the money for one that big,” Denley said.
She noted that a few years later Oxford built a new library and its that same two story plan that was proposed for Bruce.
“When you go up there, think about the front of this library and then drive by the Oxford library. They are one in the same,” Denley said.
Librarian Janice Vaughn and Denley both thanked those who contributed to the establishment of the library and its many supporters since.
Regina Graham, director of the Dixie Regional Library System, paid tribute to the library staff.
“Often when we think about the library, we think about books and computers,” Graham said. “However, those who staff our libraries are a valuable resource, too.”
Chris Pasquale, representing the 20th Century Club, announced planters would be installed in front of the library with memorial plaques honoring Barbara Yancy, who was a leader of their club.
Vaughn expressed her gratitude for the support from the city and the many recent improvements made to the facility and vowed to maintain the original mission of the library.
“This library is one of the cornerstones of the American tradition of equal opportunity,” Vaughn said. “It provides free and open access to the accumulated wisdom of the world without distinction to income, religion, nationality or any other human condition. It guarantees freedom of information and thought.”