Legend has it Rupert Lunceford’s family came to what is now Calhoun County more than a century and a half ago to escape revenuers in North Carolina.
“My dad told me a story about either his granddaddy or great granddaddy during prohibition, and he was in the (moonshine) business up there (in North Carolina) and the revenuers got after him,” Lunceford said. “He got on a horse with his shotgun across the saddle horn and headed this direction and settled here in Mississippi.”
Lunceford, who will be honored with a 90th birthday with celebration on Saturday, June 6 from 2-4 p.m. in the Calhoun City First Baptist Fellowship Hall, was born in a house on the Blue House Road just south of Calhoun City.
Rupert Lunceford
His parents, Perry Lunceford Sr. and Clara Nelms Lunceford, farmed, sawmilled, milked cows and much more.
“I think I learned how to milk before I learned how to walk,” Lunceford said with a grin. “At that time they had what they called a cheese plant down here where Dr. Wells’ veterinarian office is. We had a separator and we would run our milk through it and bring the cream over to the cheese plant and sell it to them and feed the skim milk back to the calves.”
Lunceford attended school at the Mally Hardin School near Spring Hill through the fifth grade until his family moved to the Pleasant Hill Community when he was around 10 years old. He rode a school bus to Calhoun City from there where he finished school, graduating in 1943.
His principal was D.L. Harrison, the man the Wildcats’ football field is named for today.
“He came my second year there,” Lunceford said. “I think some of the boys run off the previous principal, but when they started pulling stuff on Mr. Harrison, he let them know he aimed to stay.”
Lunceford said he had always looked forward to playing football in high school, but World War II came along and they disbanded the team until after the war.
“I think 1939 was our last year to have a team until after the war,” Lunceford said.
Upon graduation in April 1943, Lunceford got a job at the PX at Camp McCain, which had just been built the year before. That September he got the call and was inducted into the U.S. Navy.
After some initial training at Camp Shelby, he was sent to San Diego – the farthest he had ever traveled away from home.
“I might had been to Memphis a couple of times, but other than that I doubt I had hardly left Calhoun County,” Lunceford said. “It was quite a change.”
He was assigned to storekeeper school and later sent to Mare Island and the Port of Chicago near San Francisco where all the ammunition was loaded for transport to the Pacific Theater. He was there on base working late one night during the infamous Port Chicago disaster where a deadly munitions explosion on July 17, 1944 killed 320 sailors and civilians and injured 390 others.
“I remember running out the barracks and looking up, and you could see the sky full of red, hot metal, so I ran back inside and then heard the second ship explode,” Lunceford said.
Rupert Lunceford served 33 months in the Navy during World War II.
He served 33 months total in the Navy and returned home to Calhoun City the day before his 21st birthday. His father had a job at the time selling cars for McCormick Chevrolet in Grenada, and got Rupert a position in the parts department.
He would later try his hand at farming before landing a job at Calhoun Garment plant in Calhoun City, the predecessor of Kellwood.
He would stay there for six years, leaving in 1955 to take a job with the railroad after seeing an advertisement in the newspaper. He worked in Alabama and Georgia for around three years before returning home to Calhoun City.
“I just loved Calhoun City,” Lunceford said. “Those years I was over there I couldn’t wait to get back to Calhoun County.”
Upon returning, his brother H.W. Lunceford, talked him into going into the grocery business in a building south of the square. His brother had a dry goods business.
“He loaned me $1,500 to get started,” Lunceford said.
Rupert’s Supermarket served Calhoun City until 1984. It was at that time he sold the grocery to Eric Weeks of Bruce and moved the Western Auto store, which he acquired in 1982 from Lee Inman, to its current location on Hwy. 8 with the Hawkins family.
Lunceford retired in 2004 at age 79, but that didn’t slow his involvement around town.
He remains among the leading deacons at First Baptist Church in Calhoun City. He’s an active member with the Chamber of Commerce, recently earning their quarterly honor as a leading contributor to the community. He’s one of the longest serving members of the Calhoun City Rotary Club and a Paul Harris Fellow – the highest honor presented by the international organization. He served the town 12 years as an alderman and has been honored with countless awards over the years for his community service.
“I just enjoy what I do,” Lunceford said. “I like to be involved with as much as I can.”
His greatest source of pride is his family. He and his late wife Jane Merritt Lunceford were married for more than 60 years and raised two children. He said he met her “walking around the square.”
“Back in those days, instead of driving around the square, we walked around the square. The farmers would work until noon on Saturday and then come to town. We’d walk around the square and go to the Western movie in the afternoon and stay around for the late show that night.”
“I saw this good looking girl walking around the square and thought she might like to go to the movie, so I asked and she said yes.”
Lunceford has five grandchildren and seven great grandchildren. Those along with lots of other family and friends will gather at First Baptist Saturday afternoon to celebrate Lunceford’s 90 years of life.
“I’m looking forward to it,” he said. “Looking forward to seeing all my friends and family. I hope to see some I haven’t seen in a long time.”