Eupora native Michael Brannon of Hernando presented a step box from the Columbus and Greenville Railroad to Bobby Johnson of Eupora on May 13. Brannon included this letter with the step box:
Dear Bobby,
We knew each other from a distance when growing up in the best environment and town that our parents could give us. You were several years younger, but your mother and father were friends of my parents.
About once a month, my mother would send me to the “meat market” and have me purchase a slab of bacon from your dad. Never once did I enter that block building did your father not treat me with respect and kindness. I’m not sure what a slab of bacon was worth, but I know we didn’t have much money except for necessities. Sometimes mother would have two dimes or maybe a quarter, but Mr. Johnson always gave me the bacon neatly wrapped in the white paper for the trip back home to the John Gunter house.
One doesn’t forget kindness from adults, especially if you’re a kid. So many people were good to us growing up and it instills seeds for character and kindness for us to hand down, as we become adults.
Through social media, we are able to connect with generations; share memories, pictures, events, and drift back in time when we need to reach those who’ve gone before. I’ve enjoyed that friendship with you and (your wife) Sherry. I’ve witnessed your love for your family, your church and Eupora.
Last year I asked where I could get a Eupora Eagles hat, and you sent me two. You have a kind heart like your parents.
This gift to you I’ve had in my possession since 1973, 45 years. There is so much history behind this gift, and like anything of historical importance, the “story” is of greater value.
What you see is the step box which was used on the Columbus and Greenville passenger train which made many a stop in Eupora with so many of our ancestors and citizens using it to step into comfort and to take the first step down arriving home. If this box could talk, it would name names, tell stories, talk of people’s love for one another, and it would ask it be placed in someone’s loving care who truly loves their hometown.
I was an investigator for the Association of American Railroads, Washington, D.C., for 22 years. There were 15 of us in three countries. But I made it a point to visit the offices of this small carrier because of my hometown connection. I visited with Olen Mitchell, and he gave me one of his original turkey callers, which my brother-in-law in Kentucky used for years.
I came by this step box through my association with Benny Ivey, an officer of the C&G. The C&G was previously known as the Southern Railway of Mississippi in the mid-1800s. Benny knew I loved his railroad and my hometown.
I’ve often wondered what I would do with it and whose hands I could place it in for safekeeping. And at some point pass it to another. I found that in you and your wife.
It is now trusted in your care. I could have restored it, but that would have diminished the value and lessened the history where many a foot was placed. So many natives of Webster and Choctaw County stepped up on that box to board the passenger train to connect with the Illinois Central’s Panama Limited. If we could extract the stories and were able to pull that passenger list, we would sit down and talk for days.
Enjoy this C&G step box, what it represents and what you and your family represent ... Eupora heritage.
Your friend,
Michael Brannon
