Oral history with Ms. Janelle McComb

              Oral history with Ms. Janelle McComb
F341.5 . M57 vol. 746, pt. 1
Funding for this project provided by The Mississippi State Legislature, The Mississippi Humanities Council, The Mississippi Department of Archives and History, and the Center for Oral History and Cultural Heritage at the University of Southern Mississippi.
This transcription of an oral history by the Center for Oral History and Cultural Heritage of The University of Southern Mississippi may not be reproduced or published in any form except that quotation of short excerpts of unrestricted transcripts and the associated tape recordings is permissible providing written consent is obtained from the Center for Oral History and Cultural Heritage. When literary rights have been retained by the interviewee, written permission to use the material must be obtained from both the interviewee and the Center for Oral History and Cultural Heritage. Please call ( 601) 266- 4574 for more information.
Biography
Mrs. Janelle McComb was born in Lauderdale County, and moved to Tupelo, Mississippi, when she was two weeks old. Her parents were Ralph and Kathleen Patey. She married Roy McComb and taught school in Lee County, Mississippi, for two years, then worked at Monts Tobacco Company for forty years.
In 1936, Mrs. McComb survived the Tupelo tornado in her grandfather's storm cellar, and then witnessed the wreckage left in Tupelo in the wake of that storm. As a child, she enjoyed the annual Mississippi / Alabama Fair and Dairy Show. Mrs. McComb enjoyed the privilege of a personal friendship with Elvis Presley. She chaired the Elvis Presley Memorial Foundation at Elvis Presley Park for twenty- five years and served on Alpha House, a boy’s home, for twenty- eight years. Additionally she served on two other civic clubs.
Mr. and Mrs. McComb have one son who is the planning commissioner of a large town near New York City. Roy and Janelle McComb live in Tupelo, Mississippi.
Table of Contents
I. Childhood
II. The cotton mill
III. The fish hatchery
IV. President Roosevelt
V. Theodore Bilbo
VI. Lyric and Strand Theaters
VII. Hoboes
VIII. The Tupelo tornado of 1936
IX. Milltown strike
X. Swap, a childhood game
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