“Go to church. Accept Christ as your Savior, and work hard,” advised Jimmy Ivy, Sr. “If you do those things—put God first and family second and love everybody—you won’t be in trouble. You’ll have a good life and a productive life if you stick with it.”
Jimmy Ivy, Sr. has a strong faith in God. He’s demonstrated his faith to everyone in his family and has always offered his wisdom to those around him.
His parents and way of life growing up made an impact on his values and who he has become today.
“I was always amazed at my mother. I’d always wake up before everybody else did. I can remember today hearing her in the kitchen singing and making breakfast for all of us on the old wood stove. She’d get us up to go to school to go to school when school was going on. When school wasn’t going on, she’d get us up and get us breakfast and send us to the field to work. At lunchtime, we’d come back and she’d have lunch on the table,” remembered Jimmy. “We always lived my mother and daddy’s rules. On Sunday mornings, our main thing was we’d get up, have breakfast, and then we all went to church together. We didn’t have a vehicle to ride in. We’d either catch a ride with somebody or ride to church in the wagon since a lot of people back in those days didn’t have a vehicle.”
He was always a hard worker and experienced life in a way that most people today can’t even fathom.
“When I was growing up, it was hard. There wasn’t much money to be made back in those days,” Jimmy reminisced. “We worked in the field most of the time when the crops were planted and grown and harvested. We didn’t have tractors back in those days. Everything was done with mules and plows. We plowed by hand. We gathered everything by hand. We always had eight or nine acres of cotton we had to pick. We pulled the corn by hand and hauled all of it in wagons. We had to feed and milk the cows and all. We didn’t have electricity to do homework. Nobody understands what it was to study by a kerosene lamp. We all grew up and never got into any trouble. We got to go swimming every once in a while and fishing every once in a while.”
Working in the field wasn’t the only job that had to be completed. As winter approached, they would need fire wood, and their mother would need a steady supply of stove wood to cook with.
“During the winter, we had to cut firewood and stove wood for the wood stove. We didn’t have a power saw because there was no such thing as a power saw back in those days. We had to use an old cross cut saw to saw wood,” recalled Jimmy. “It was a pretty good process: we had to saw it with a cross cut saw and split it, load it on a wagon, bring it to the house, stack it, and in winter time we had to bring it into the house for the fireplace and stove wood for mother to cook with.”
He had a very large family, and they all worked together to get everything done and loved each other.
“I had four brothers and two sisters. I say it was hard, but we all loved each other,” expressed Jimmy. “We had certain chores we had to do after we got through working in the field. Mine was milking the cow.”
Despite having so many people in the family, they loved each other and got along remarkably well. His closeness with his family is actually one of the things he most happily remembers.
“My fondest memory is how there were seven of us and how well we always got along,” declared Jimmy. “A lady asked us one time if we ever fought. My response was no that we never fought that I could remember. We might have argued a little bit, but as far as passing blows, that didn’t happen. I told the lady that after working in the field all day we were too tired to fight. It made better kids out of us by working and playing together. There was no such thing as buying toys at Christmas time. If we had time, we’d get out and make our own toys and play with them. We were always happy and got along. We all loved each other.”
Once he was out of school, his life began to change. He took off on his own and found a job after enlisting with the Air National Guard.
“When I got out of school, I joined the Air National Guard in 1956. I went to boot camp at Sheppard Air Force Base in Wichita Falls, Texas,” explained Jimmy. “When I got back, I went to work at the knitting mill and worked at the dye house for 25 years. The dye house was on the back of the knitting mill on the right. They knitted the cloth there, and we died it and sent it to the cutting department. They cut it and probably had around 150 women in the sewing room that made it into t-shirts and different things. Then, it went to the shipping department and was shipped out to different companies.”
It was while he was working at the knitting mill that he married the love of his life, Glynna Smith Ivy, and proudly started a family of his own. With his family also came a transition with his job. What started out as a part-time job to help support his wife’s education would eventually grow into his new full time job.
“I got married to Glynna while I was working there. We had three kids, two boys and a girl,” proclaimed Jimmy. “When I got married, my wife had two years of her junior college, and I told her when we got married that if she ever wanted to go back and get her degree that I’d see that she went. When Kevin was born, she decided she wanted to go back, and I started working part-time at the police department to put her through college. I worked part-time at the police department for about three and a half years and worked full-time at the knitting mill. When she graduated college, I quit at the knitting mill and was full time with the police department. I worked there 25 years and retired.”
He enjoyed his time as an officer with the Quitman Police Department, and eventually, he took on a leadership position in the department.
“I started working with the police department in 1980,” informed Jimmy. “Around 1986, I got promoted to assistant chief. I was the assistant chief until 1996 when they promoted me to chief of police. I was chief of police until 2005 when I retired.”
His position as police chief wasn’t the only leadership position that Jimmy possessed. He’s also had other leadership positions and honors over the years.
“I’ve gotten several certificates for schools I’ve been to. I went to one school to be a certified firearms instructor through the National Rifle Association. I was the city’s firearms instructor,” expressed Jimmy. “I was the chaplain for the Chief’s Association for the last five years that I worked. I got a plaque for that every year for being the chaplain in the association. When I retired, I got a card that I was a lifetime member of the Mississippi Chief’s Association. Even though I’m retired, I’m still a member.”
He’s always spent any free time he could outside doing things he loves. He takes care of and spoils his cattle each day.
“I love to hunt and fish. I love to fish more than I did hunting,” described Jimmy. “I bought some land out in Elwood and wound up getting some cows. I worked with them and still have some cows.”
No matter what he is doing, he still shows his family just how much he loves them. Even when he isn’t able to physically spend time with them, he shows his family concern and love and prays for each of them daily.
“I love all my children and watching them grow up and excel in their jobs. I love all my grandkids and great grandkids and watching them grow up,” declared Jimmy. “I can’t help but worry about all of them, the younger ones especially. The way our world has become with the drugs and alcohol, I worry and pray that they don’t become involved in anything like that. They all have good parents, and I just pray that it doesn’t happen to them.”
Not a day goes by that Jimmy doesn’t trust God and show those around him how much he loves them. He is a man after God’s own heart that is filled with compassion and wisdom. Anyone who speaks with him is sure to leave with a smile and joy in their heart.
If you would like to nominate someone for Person of the Week, contact Brittney Mangum at 601-776-3726.
