Alton Fairley, known in Clarke County as Picasso, was born and raised in Clarke County in the Desoto area. He attended Quitman School District where he took art classes under Mrs. Karen Fowler.
Alton served three years in the military and returned to Quitman after leaving the military to pursue his art career. He has painted many signs and pictures on places of business in Quitman. He has the God given ability to take a picture and transpose it.
I had marveled at pictures around town. Then one day, I had the privilege to meet Picasso and found he also paints signs. My home town, Leakesville, MS, located in Greene County, needed a new sign for the Scotland Cemetery. With only a picture on his phone, he transposed a piece of art on a plate of metal. The painting encompasses a lot of history.
The cemetery was erected in the early 1800s. History records the migration of three brothers with their families who sailed from Skye, Scotland to South Carolina. Peter McLeod left South Carolina and moved to Greene County, MS. One brother moved to North Carolina, and the third brother moved to another state.
My wife and I came to Quitman in 1970 and established the First United Pentecostal Church located on the Old Palestine Road where I pastored for 43 years. After our final days are spent in Quitman, we will be carried back to Greene County for our final resting place in the Scotland Cemetery.
We give honor to Picasso for taking us back in time to relive this great memory and moment in history.
May God be with all of our families. Thanks.
Glen McLeod
