Talented Tuesday - B. K. Miller, Jr.

Born in 1938 to the marriage of Byron Kingston "B. K." Miller, Sr. and Mary Artie Garrison, "Little B. K." became a star athlete on the football field at Sicily Island High School.

In an article in the October 17, 1954 edition of the Monroe Morning World where Coach Raymond Peace referred to him as "Mr. Outside", the sports writer described B. K.'s athletic abilities as follows:

"Miller is a squirming twisting runner that refuses to be knocked off his feet and can find a hole or make his own.  He is also dangerous on kickoff and punt returns and is an adept pass receiver.  A junior, he'll be back to haunt opponents next fall too."

Following his high school graduation, B. K., Jr. attended Louisiana Tech in Ruston where he played on the Louisiana Tech football team.

While his athletic abilities no doubt brought pride and touched the lives of folks on the Island, it would be his future vocation that would touch many more lives...for a much greater purpose.

From an article appearing in the December 11, 1960 edition of the Monroe Morning World:

Transcription:

B. K. Miller, Jr. of Sicily Island will be ordained to full ministry by the First Baptist Church here at 2:30 p.m., December 18.

He was licensed to ministry by the Temple Baptist Church of Ruston while he was a student at Louisiana Tech.  At present he is serving as pastor of Norris Hill Baptist Church near here and also attending the New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary.

Serving as the presbytery at the ceremonies will be the Rev. Carleton Vance, pastor of the First Baptist Church of Wisner; Clarence Young, pastor of the First Baptist Church of Winnsboro; Carl DeLatte, pastor of the Pine Hill Baptist Church of Sicily Island, and James C. Houston, pastor of the church here.

Miller was active in athletics while at Louisiana Tech, and played on the football team.  He served as minister of music at a number of state churches during revival meetings.

Reverend B. K. Miller retired in 2001 after serving in the ministry for over fifty years.  He continues to serve as an interim pastor for local churches in the Ruston, Louisiana area.

He is known for beginning his sermons with funny jokes and stories and recently compiled them in a book called, "300 Church-Tested Funny Jokes and Stories."  The News Star featured a story entitled 'Holy Humor' on Rev. B. K. Miller in their Lifestyle section on May 30, 2014.

Talented Tuesday ~ Gordon Vaught, Louisiana Star Farmer of 1953

From the June 29, 1953 edition of the Monroe News Star:

Henry Gordon Vaught is the son of William L. Vaught and Eva Gordon and the grandson of Dr. Charles Judson Gordon and Mary Eva Chisum.  He married Mary Joy Miller of Sicily Island who was the daughter of Byron Kingston "B. K." Miller, Sr. and Mary Artie Garrison and the granddaughter of Edgar Eugene Garrison and Hulda Annie Francis.  Gordon and Joy had one daughter named Mary Eva.

Talented Tuesday ~ The Mystics

The Mystics - 1968/1969

Talented Tuesday ~ Mary Lillian Robinson Enright

This portrait of my sister was painted by the talented Mary Lillian Robinson Enright.  

Mary Lillian Robinson was born in Franklin Parish, Louisiana ca. 1915 to the marriage of Fred Louis and Kate Robinson.  By 1940, she was living in Sicily Island, Catahoula Parish and married to Sicily Island resident, Claude Martin Enright, son of Claude Ledreau Enright and Vivian Martin.

Mary and Martin were the parents of one son, Dr. Frederick Martin Enright.

Mary Lillian Robinson Enright passed from this life on February 19, 1978.  She is buried in Roselawn Memorial Park in Baton Rouge, East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana.

Courtesy of Mary Agnes Hammett at FindAGrave.com

Talented Tuesday ~ Joseph Raymond Peace, Sr.

Raymond Peace

Joseph Raymond Peace, Sr. was born in Haynesville, Claiborne Parish, Louisiana on December 20, 1920.  He was the son of Wallace Meacham Peace and Annie Jean Horton.

Raymond graduated from Haynesville High School where he played football for the Tornadoes.  Next to his family, football would become the love of his life.

In 1948, Raymond Peace was hired as the first football coach for Sicily Island High School in Sicily Island, Catahoula Parish, Louisiana. Later, he also served as the principal and held that position for many years.




Raymond Peace coached the Tigers for 27 years and amassed a winning record that was unmatched throughout those years.  His last year to coach the Tigers was 1975.

Raymond Peace is listed in The Louisiana High School Football Coaches 200 Win Club with the following record:

Won:  228
Lost:  58
Tied: 5
Average Win per Season:  8.8
*based on 26 years

What the record books and statistics don't show is the impact this man had on the lives of the players he coached as well as every student who passed through the halls of Sicily Island High School during his tenure.

Raymond Peace taught us the importance of discipline, perseverance, loyalty and yes, winning; whether on the field or off.

His love of the game was evident to all who knew him.

Coach Peace died on October 19, 1992. 

The memories he left behind and the many lives he touched proved the measure of the man.

Talented Tuesday ~ 1918 Ladies Basketball Team

1918 Sicily Island Central High School Ladies Basketball Team

(LtoR) May Saltzman, Mamie Scott, Mary Disch, Mearine Chambers, Olga Knight, Ophelia Langston, Ruth Gillespie, Mary Green, Eleanor Enright, Naomi Hardin.

Coach Juanita Porter standing behind the team.

Talented Tuesday ~ Alice Bell Kirby

Anniston Star, Anniston AL - March 25, 1938

Transcription: 

This small, East Louisiana town today buzzed with reports of the supernatural powers of 12-year-old Alice Bell Kirby, who hundreds swear "talks" with a table and commands a ghostly hand that writes answers to her questions.

Alice Bell, seventh granddaughter of a seventh child on the paternal side, today had achieved her greatest evidence of weird powers, Mrs. Leon Kirby, the mother, reported.  The child has become proficient in mathematics, formerly the "tough" subject in her seventh grade classes.

Mrs. Kirby said her daughter discovered the strange powers by accident while playing with a group of friends.  The children tired of dominoes and decided to "play at making the table walk," Mrs. Kirby related.  They were terrified when the table actually "walked" at Alice Bell's command, the mother said.

Among the feats the child has been able to perform, according to Mrs. Kirby, were:

• To get a "yes" or "no" answer to questions from the direction in which a dining room table tilted or tapped, apparently of its own accord

• To make the table rise as high as three feet off the floor

• To make the floor vibrate at her command

• To make doors open or close without touching them

• To make a pencil, without human motivation, scribble answers to her questions

• To make a piano lift at her request; to make the instrument play a tune, unaided by human hands

Talented Tuesday ~ Buddy Blair

Louis Nathan "Buddy" Blair was born in Columbia, Mississippi on September 10, 1910 to the marriage of Peter Blair and Clarinda Barnes.  He and his family moved to Sicily Island where he graduated from Sicily Island High School in 1931.

While in high school, Blair excelled in sports and was named the high school state champion in javelin and pole vault.

His sports career at Louisiana State University included three letters in basketball, three letters in baseball and three letters in track.  In 1933, the LSU track team won the National Collegiate Title and Blair was named All American in Javelin.

1933 LSU Track Team - Buddy Blair, standing next to Coach Bernie Moore

Talented Tuesday ~ Coy Wilton Wynn

Photograph by Eileen Blass, USA TODAY

Coy Wilton Wynn was born in Prescott, Arkansas on August 9, 1920 to the marriage of Ota Gilbert Wynn, Sr. and Kate Ward.  He was a brother to Hazel, Ota Gilbert, Jr. and Winnie Wynn.

The family moved to Louisiana in the mid-1920s and can be found on the 1930 census living in Wisner, Franklin Parish, Louisiana.

By 1940 the Wynn family had moved again and made their home in Sicily Island, Catahoula Parish, Louisiana.