By Harold Brummett

Denmark Star Route

 

Marion Bowles was laid to rest this last week. I call him a friend and he will be missed. I read the obituary and the usual facts of a person’s life condensed into a few paragraphs. This was all factual and correct and a hundred years from now some researcher will look at the obituary, pull the pertinent data, and reduce Marion’s life even further. While I cannot add more facts I did know him for several years.

Marion was a mechanic. Marion retired from a local car dealership where he worked for many years and developed a mechanic’s practical eye and common-sense manner. Marion was President of the Denmark Water Association and took this responsibility seriously.   

One of the things I knew of Marion was his deep knowledge. While he may not have had degrees and letters behind his name, the man I knew was tremendously intelligent. This is the kind of person I like to be around, the kind who has a PhD in life. 

This was a man who could talk dogs and hunting, and had the technical expertise to rebuild a V8 engine. If I were stranded on a desert island, Marion is the man I would want to have with me. 

Marion was the driving force behind the Denmark Water Association getting a new well. The Association had been running on one well for a couple of years after the other older well had played out. The association was one lightning strike away from disaster. We had talked to Three Rivers Planning and Development District and the USDA for help but the paperwork was tremendous with no guarantee of success in the end. 

ARPA came along and we were sure we met the criteria for a grant or a loan but after it was all said and done, others had a greater need or better connections than we did. I believe connections within the bureaucratic system played a major role in how the ARPA funds were awarded.  

Marion continued to push for a way to get a new well and the Association continued to save money. Marion stepped outside of the box with his common-sense approach and we abandoned any hope for help from the government. After having the well for almost a year if things go as planned the new well will be paid off by the fall. This feat is largely due to Marion’s vision, persistence and a working man’s dislike for debt.

Marion was blue collar, not afraid of work and knew what he knew without a doubt. One could see a lifetime of labor in the lines and creases of his hands. Marion was born of the North Mississippi red clay. He loved his State and his community, gave much of himself and held nothing back. 

At  Marion’s funeral, I listened to a preacher who prefaced his eulogy and sermon with the declaration that he was preaching what the Good Lord laid on his heart and if you didn’t like it, that was just too bad. Well…too bad.   

The Marion I knew did whatever was needed to keep the good, clean water flowing and his community taken care of. Marion spent days and nights in the mud and heat or cold repairing leaks and making sure the system was maintained. Marion was my friend, a good man with no more flaws than any other and a great deal less than many.  I just wished the Good Lord had laid that on the Preacher’s heart.