Many people struggle with gift ideas for their parents. Let’s face it, what do most people really even need?
Eugene Barham, III and Jimmie Barham Beauchamp do not have this problem. They have created a tradition of giving in their family and have presented their mother, Mrs. Jimmie C. Barham of Earle, the perfect gift every Christmas for the last 15 years!
The Barham family, L to R, Eugene Barham, III, Mrs. Jimmie C. Barham, Jimmie Barham Beauchamp
It all began around Christmas in 2001. In a conversation during a family visit, they asked their mother what she wanted for Christmas. She made no special requests; she said she really didn’t want anything. But during their visit, that conversation wound its way around to something Mrs. Barham found very exciting – Mid-South Community College. She had just been asked to join the MSCC Foundation Board of Directors, and she relished the service opportunity. ‘Mrs. Jimmie’ has always had a passion for education and for community service. This new board post embodied an honor that combined both of her loves. She commented several times how she felt the college was going to do such great things for the community and give people new opportunities.
Later, Eugene called his sister with an idea, and they put together a plan to create an educational award in honor of their mother. They worked with the newly-formed MSCC Foundation to create the Jimmie C. Barham Scholarship. The scholarship benefits adult students age 25 and over who show academic excellence and a commitment to community. “The Foundation helped us write the requirements for the scholarship in a way they would mean the most for people who need to have a second chance,” said Mr. Barham.
The Foundation arranged for a plaque for the siblings to give their mother on Christmas Day. When she opened her gift, she was very surprised and so happy. She asked them, if possible, to continue to fund the scholarship every year as their Christmas gift to her.
Mrs. Barham said she sees her life as being full of blessings, and she understands the significance of second beginnings. In her younger days, she embraced the opportunity to have a second life that she loves. She raised her family and then unexpectedly found herself a widow at age 52. “Mother has never been the retiring sort. She needed something to do,” said Eugene.
She held a teaching degree and had served as a substitute teacher when her children were young. But during those early years, she focused on her husband and her children. After her husband’s death, she learned of an opportunity to become the librarian at Earle Elementary School. She went back to college to earn her Library Science degree and in 1985 she graduated with honors at age 54. Today, more than thirty years later, she still works in the Earle Elementary School Library.
“This scholarship is about more than having an annual Christmas gift for Mother,” Eugene said. “It embodies so much of the kind of person she is – a Steel Magnolia of sorts. We grew up with the saying about ‘Roots and Wings’ on our refrigerator. She raised us that way. And this scholarship, in a little different way, kind of symbolizes that as well. People get their foundation — their education. And then that education can take them anywhere. Education provided her an opportunity for a second life that she loves, and she loves that she gets to help others work toward their second life opportunities as well.”
