“Let’s keep our memories alive” is something that many people truly believe in, especially at this time.
It is hard to find someone who believes in keeping memories alive more than Jerry Mason. Jerry loves his country and wants nothing more than to preserve its history and memories so that people in the future can understand what life was truly like.
Most of Jerry’s memories and history growing up involved the military. His dad is a retired Air Force veteran, so growing up, Jerry moved around a great deal. He was born in Alaska, but he also lived in Texas a little while before moving to Spain.
“Living in Spain is one of the best memories I have,” reminisced Jerry. “We toured everywhere. Everywhere we went, we camped. We didn’t stay in motels. Instead, we cooked over fires. I kept that feeling of camping and cooking over the fire, and it’s something I’ve always liked to do.”
His dad retired in 1971, and they moved back to Mississippi. Jerry started attending school here in sixth grade and graduated from Quitman in 1978. It was while he attended Quitman that he first fell in love with history.
“I’ve always had a love for history. My school teacher started that—Ms. Loper,” explained Jerry. “Mildred Loper got me into history. She made me love history. I remember she made me get up in front of the class one time, and that got rid of my shyness and talking to people. Since then, I’ve always talked to people without getting too shy or anything.”
It was also during his senior year in high school that Jerry decided to follow in his father’s footsteps and serve his country.
“My senior year, I joined the Mississippi National Guard and stayed in it a little over two years before I joined the regular army,” stated Jerry. “Then, I took off again in my military career. I went to Germany twice while in the military and lived out in San Francisco for three years. I got out of the military after going back to Germany and then Texas. I was not happy getting out, and I moved back to Mississippi and finally settled back in my old family home that my family has had since 1964.”
Once he made it back to Mississippi, Jerry held a variety of jobs.
“I started my own little business in the Town of Shubuta. I had my own little café in town,” said Jerry. “I didn’t think I had enough time, so I went and got another job. I found out I had more free time owning my own business.”
Jerry was never satisfied with his life outside the military, though.
“I always regretted getting out of the military, so in 1993, I was able to get back in the Mississippi National Guard and serve there,” explained Jerry. “Then in 2003 I volunteered to go overseas with the 114th ASG out of Hattiesburg and served over in Kuwait as an LNO. My job there was to clear all the people who were leaving Iraq. They had to come to where we were, and we had to clear everything and give final approval. Once they got my signature, they were able to leave. I did that for ten months and then came back home. Since I worked at Camp Shelby at the time Camp Shelby mobilized, I was able to mobilize with them and stay with the military and retire with 22 active duty service years in the military and the United States Army for 30 years, so I’m a 30 year veteran of the United States Army.”
Before retiring from the military, Jerry managed to find a hobby that he loves. It goes perfectly with his love for history.
“Right before I got out of the military, around 2010, I got into reenacting the War Between the States,” stated Jerry. “One of my first big events was Battle for the Texas Hospital. I went there in 2010 just to watch it. That day after watching it, I went and bought a uniform, and that night I was full-fledged into reenacting.”
He has attended reenactments at many of the major battle sites, including Gettysburg. Thanks to his reenacting, Jerry has developed his own reenacting family.
“Sometimes I know more about my reenacting family than my actual family because I see them more,” stated Jerry.
He has also made some major accomplishments with reenacting. In fact, his greatest reenacting accomplishment is Battle for the Texas Hospital.
“After Battle for the Texas Hospital quit in 2015, I was able to get in touch with the park ranger at Archusa and get the reenactment back,” explained Jerry.
Reenacting isn’t the only historical accomplishment Jerry has made. He is also responsible for meeting with the Town of Shubuta and getting the town to agree to fix the old jail.
“When I retired, I opened a little store in Shubuta that someone else already had and kept it going. It was in the old City Hall Police Station in Shubuta, and the jail was behind it. I started cleaning it out then because it had about six inches of dirt that had accumulated over the years, and I just saw it deteriorating. Termites were eating it, and people were stealing bricks off the walls, so I just always wanted to fix it up,” explained Jerry. “I found the opportunity to, so I raised $4,000 to get it repaired. I was able to talk the town into letting me get with an organization to fix it up, so we’re in the process of getting it refurbished—putting a new roof on it and fixing the walls.”
Jerry loves the town of Shubuta so much that he has made sure to record Shubuta’s history for the future. Not only did he once write a column about news in Shubuta for The Clarke County Tribune, but Jerry actually wrote his own book about the town that he had published.
“When I had my café, my mother started putting pictures on the wall of my café and the area, and I started writing a local history of the town,” stated Jerry. “I started out with ten pages. Then, after ten years of local research and going everywhere, I completed my book: Shubuta Mississippi, Home of the Red Artesian Water. It’s out of print now, though."
Jerry does have hobbies outside of history.
“I like to ride motorcycles,” said Jerry. “That was my gift to myself when I got back from overseas. I bought myself a Harley Davidson and drove it everywhere. I have it on my bucket list to one day just take off on my motorcycle and travel all over the United States without any worries.”
Although Jerry only lives with his dog, Bella, now, he is the father to five children that he is extremely proud of.
“My oldest child was my son. He died in a house fire in 2005,” stated Jerry. “I have a set of twin daughters. One is a school teacher who married a school teacher, and the other one followed in my footsteps and joined the military. She was released on medical discharge from the Navy. I have another daughter in Texas that has given me three grandchildren and another daughter in Delaware. All of my daughters have been successful in what they’ve done and accomplished.”
He is very involved in his town and had helped with the Veteran’s Day Celebration in Shubuta and the Christmas Bazaar in Shubuta. He is also a member of Historical Clarke County, the VFW, and Sons of Confederate Veterans.
It comes as no surprise with all of his hobbies and interests that Jerry has one major piece of advice for everyone in Clarke County.
“Write down your history so that we can keep our history alive. If people will just write down their history, they are able to preserve it for future generations.”
