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18 SOUTHERN SENIOR MAGAZINE | Summer 2021 K atherine Moak grew up in Neshoba County, MS, near Philadelphia, but she considers Picayune her hometown after living here for over seventy years. One might wonder how Katherine ended up in Picayune? “I had been teaching at Ackerman for four years, and I was wanting to change from an 8 month school to a 9 month school. I was taking summer classes at USM, and there was a vacancy in Picayune that was posted on the bulletin board in the education department at Southern Mississippi. So, I called the number on the posting and it was Dr. John Napier, the Superintendent of the school system.” Katherine accepted the job in a town she had never heard of. She saw Picayune for the first time when she came to start work at the high school in the fall of 1949. “I fell in love with Picayune right away, and Picayune accepted me right away. When I got here, I got involved with the ‘Y’, and I just fit right in.” The ‘Y’ she referred to was the old YMCA which was on the property that is now home to The Cor- nerstone Family Fitness Center at 101 Kirkwood Street. “Mr. J.J. Holcomb was the director at the Y, and he was so nice to me. Because I had played basket- ball in high school, it gave me something to jump into that I was familiar with at the Y. Next thing you know, they asked me to join the bowling team Katherine Furr Gold, Frankincense, and...Furr By: Carey Meitzler