- This is the third in a series celebrating the culture bearers in our state. These are the painters, planners, policymakers, and patrons who diligently and passionately work to protect, preserve, and raise the cultural aspects that define a community.
Linda Ross-Aldy has always been a mover and shaker and continues to do important work, despite being retired. She grew up in “the Mayberry of Mississippi,” the small, sweet town of Oakland, which sits on I-55 between Grenada and Batesville. “Our high school consolidated with Coffeeville High School going into my junior year, so I graduated from CHS.” Linda attended Northwest Community College for a year, then transferred to Mississippi University for Women, then known as The W.
“Oakland is near Ole Miss, so I took summer classes there. My major was journalism, and I minored in speech.”
Linda has had a multitude of careers, which she says is the very best of life to her.
“My personality style loves change. I have grown and been exposed to a wondrous array of experiences and people. I am technically retired, but I seem to have more going on and more responsibilities than ever.”
To back up a bit, Linda has been a weekly newspaper editor, a reporter/bureau chief for The Commercial Appeal back in its heyday, helped create and publish a couple of magazines, served under several Mississippi Governors, worked for Entergy in both communications and customer service management, owned her own consulting business, managed two statewide nonprofits, and continues to serve as a lobbyist.
A Heart for Oakland
Linda is a long-time resident of Madison County, but she is dedicated to her hometown of Oakland.
“While I left Oakland after high school graduation for college and career, Oakland has remained a big part of my heart and life. My mother lives in Oakland, my brother is the volunteer Fire Department Chief and retired manager of Cossar State Park in Oakland, my son owns a home there and lives there part-time, my sister-in-law recently retired as the manager of the bank there, I have cousins there, one of my three sisters lives between Oakland and Coffeeville and represents Oakland in her service as Justice Court Judge. My other two sisters, while living out of state, have remained a part of the community as well.”
Her work with Oakland began when she learned about a group of younger residents who started the Oakland Beautification Committee just as she retired.
“It was exciting to listen to them and hear the same heartfelt story that I had experienced growing up there. They loved the town and wanted to serve as much as I did. Their enthusiasm was contagious! Since I retired at the end of 2021, we have started a Chamber of Commerce and a Foundation, joined Main Street, have a very active Lions Club, and more. Between a scholarship from the Mississippi Economic Development Council (MEDC) and financial support from the Chamber, I was able to attend USM’s True South Basic Economic Development Institute in 2023. That course was invaluable, and most of my focus in the community now is really community development.”
Her approach to working with Oakland has been systematic.
“My involvement was to work with the Mayor and Town Board and community leaders to see what we could do working together. One of the first things we did was hold listening sessions to determine what the people of the town and area believed needed to be addressed. We also developed a joint Chamber/Town of Oakland Strategic Plan to ensure we are on the same page, which guides our work. I have served in almost every role with the Chamber, from President to volunteer Executive Director. I am also the Town of Oakland’s volunteer lobbyist. I’ve worked with our largest industries, Ajinomoto and Gray’s Power Supply, which were very important to getting the Chamber up and running. I also write simple grants, and I am a member of our Lions Club.”
In connecting all their energies, exciting things have been happening in Oakland.
“Mayor Stephanie Patterson, who was then on the Chamber Executive Board and a Town of Oakland Alderwoman, and I worked with now-retired Mayor James Riley Swearengen to bring Farmacy Marketplace to Oakland. This is a community grocery store which has an ice cream parlor and makes the best cheeseburgers in the state. It now offers blue-plate meals for lunch. There has not been a grocery store in town in roughly 30 years, so it is very, very exciting for us. We realized that we were leaving money on the table as other towns up and down the Interstate passed the 2 percent prepared food tax. With legislative authority, we held an election on the question of Oakland adopting such a tax. It passed with 100 percent of the vote. Those who follow elections tell me they have never heard of a community voting 100 percent for anything!”
Linda admits there is still a lot of work to do, and some days it is hard not to get discouraged, “but then something wonderful will happen, and we get the reassurance that we are on the right path.”
“Our Mayor and Town Board are working hard on getting infrastructure issues addressed. Our downtown area requires a total rebuilding, so it’s a big lift. At a Main Street conference I attended, one of the speakers made the point that your town’s appearance reflects its mental health, and we don’t like what downtown is reflecting, so we are working on that. We also don’t have a day care, Head Start, or a school, so we are opening a 3- and 4-year-old PreK Montessori program.”
While it’s easy to focus on what the town is missing, Linda points out that Oakland has a remarkable list of positives for a small town.
“We have a bank, a post office, a health clinic, a library, a chamber office, a grocery store, a senior citizen building, a walking track and park, and a playground, multiple churches, a restaurant, a great location just off major highways, rail service, and a state park. Our primary goals (as stated in our joint strategic plan) are revitalizing downtown, attracting additional retail and industry, increasing tourism and recreation, improving communication channels to our citizens, addressing neglected and blighted properties, and attracting quality and affordable housing. It’s important to me that we continue to focus on and deliver on these goals. We are also working with our legislators, Sen. Ben Suber and Rep. Kevin Horan, to help us get a much-needed fire truck so that our insurance rates don’t go up and our area has adequate fire service and protection. Due to our location on I-55, our small town actually deals with more callouts than larger municipalities.”
Linda says she is overjoyed that she still has the passion and the energy to be a part of what is happening in Oakland.
“We have a traffic count of more than 20,000 vehicles a day through Oakland. We have rail service. We have so much going for us. I’m happy to be a part of the team working to make things happen. We need more and better housing. We need more retail. We are working to eliminate blighted properties.”
In a perfect world, Linda believes Oakland will grow without losing the power and charm it has as a small town.
“We would have quality affordable housing, more retail, walkability, quality early childhood education programs, and people wanting to raise their children here. We have our former school building available for development with a National Historic Trust designation. I would love to see a boutique-style hotel or something equally wonderful in that space.”
With all the positives Oakland has going for it, Linda says the absolute best thing about Oakland is her people.
“It’s a tiny town in Mississippi without a lot of claim to either fame or historical disgrace. Families of all races go back generations here and have known each other throughout those generations. The Mayor’s great-grandmother was a Black woman my White family adored. She would be so happy that her great-granddaughter, Stephanie, and I are working together. The people here love each other and work together in a spirit that is a model. One of my favorite moments was at the launch of our new Chamber in December of 2021 when a visiting Congressional staffer with tears in her eyes said, ‘This is how it is supposed to be,’ as people of all races, ages, and faiths had gathered to show their support.”
When asked what a visitor to Oakland must see, Linda was quick to answer.
“If we know you are coming, we’ll give you a tour of things plus paint the picture of where we are heading! Right now, we would like to invite you to stop by Farmacy Marketplace to buy fresh fruit and vegetables, get a really good cheeseburger and milkshake, or maybe a sundae for dessert at their Sweet Spot Creamery. You could also drive out to Cossar State Park and do some boating, swimming, golf, or hiking. If you love catfish and all you can eat, you can join the multitude who come on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday night to eat at Oakland’s Country Catfish. If you love books, stop by the best small-town library in the region on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. There is always something going on there for all ages. It is warm and welcoming; modern, but with a significant old-fashioned personal service that harkens back to a time when people really knew each other. If things are hopping at the Jenkins Tire Shop and you really want a local flavor, pull up a chair or sit on your tailgate and listen to the men gathered there share their memories and solve the problems of the day. Earlier in the day, you can get that same vibe from the guys eating breakfast and solving problems at the Shell station “out at the highway” (Interstate 55). If you want to drive just up I-55 to the Enid exit, there is the amazing Bob Tyler Fish Hatchery Visitor Education Center. The hatchery produces and stocks a variety of sport fish into Mississippi’s public waters. The Visitor Education Center (VEC) at the Bob Tyler Fish Hatchery is the first and only facility of its kind in Mississippi. The VEC features a native habitat area, a 10,000-gallon aquarium, interactive exhibits, displays, artifacts, a fishing rodeo pond, an art gallery, and the world record white crappie.”
In closing, Linda states that the Oakland team she works with is amazing.
“From our original Chamber Board, we have the Town’s new Mayor and Oakland’s representative to the Coffeeville School District Board of Directors. Our former Mayor, after nearly 40 years of public service, retired and is now on our Chamber Board. Thanks to our Yalobusha County Board of Supervisors’ support, we’ve been able to hire a part-time Chamber Executive Director. Sue Donohue Smith, our Executive Director, is a baker extraordinaire and caterer who is a former territory supervisor for Hallmark, Guest Experience Manager for the Seattle Aquarium, and past vice-president of the US Jaycees.”
Divine Intervention
Linda also credits a higher power for the successes in Oakland.
“We’ve got the expertise and the energy to move things forward, and we have seen some amazing ‘God-winks’ as we’ve done this work. We were selected by the Children’s Foundation of Mississippi to receive one of their first planning grants, which allowed us to determine the need for quality early childhood education in Oakland and to gift our library with funding to purchase materials for parents and children. A few years later, a woman from New Jersey walked into the library to do genealogy research on her grandfather’s family. He was born and had spent his childhood in Oakland but moved to New Jersey with his older siblings after his parents died. He had talked about Oakland and loved his time as a child here. She completed her research and turned to leave when she noticed the above-average early childhood materials and corner in the library. She commented to the librarian, who shared what the Chamber was working on. This woman is Co-CEO of a national Montessori program and is now working with us to establish a PreK Montessori School. After hearing about our desire to create the Montessori program, Ed Meek, who grew up in Oakland, funded the purchase of a building to house the program. God is not only winking but also working. We were recently contacted by Russ Garner of Communities Unlimited, who asked what some of our capacity needs are and is now funding a program that is going to allow us to pull our faith-based groups together to help expand our communications and volunteer network in a civic engagement process. A local landowner has donated land to us to create an environmental education center, and we have submitted a grant to begin the planning process. One of the old school buildings burned, and one of the things left after the rubble was cleared was the foundation from our school cafeteria. It was just the right size for a pickleball court, which AARP funded. Many of these steps are tiny; some are really big, but it is exciting to be a part of it.”
Supporters of her Dreams
Married to her high school sweetheart for 51 years this summer, Linda and her husband have “two amazing sons, two incredible daughters-in-law, and three precious grandchildren.”
“Our older son, Jim, and his wife, Jeannie, live just a mile away from us. Their children, Jake, 12, and Alice, 9, keep us busy with school activities, including baseball and softball. We are in business with them, owning and operating six Cups coffee shops in the metro Jackson area. Our younger son, Josh, an attorney who tutors for the LSAT, his wife Rosy, a family therapist, and their 10-month-old daughter Huckleberry, live outside of Chicago as well as in Oakland. I’ve shared about my siblings and mother, who shaped me and continue to be wonderful supporters of all my unreasonable, crazy dreams.”
