[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 24 (Tuesday, February 15, 2011)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E225]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     HONORING KATHARINE CARR ESTERS

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. BENNIE G. THOMPSON

                             of mississippi

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, February 15, 2011

  Mr. THOMPSON of Missisippi. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor Mrs. 
Katharine Carr Esters. Mrs. Katharine Carr Esters, a devout Christian 
and member of the Presbyterian Church since the age of seven years old, 
gives thanks to her Lord and Savior Jesus Christ for her 
accomplishments, especially since returning home to Mississippi back in 
1972.
  After retiring from the Veterans Administration in Milwaukee, 
Wisconsin, she wanted to start a small business, so in October of 1972 
she built a 12 x 15 concrete block grocery store on her parents' land. 
She mixed the mortar and hauled it in a wheelbarrow herself. Her small 
enterprise was a success that enabled her to later add two gas pumps at 
the store. She felt fortunate to get approval for gasoline on the 
gravel country road where she lived. Along with obtaining a license to 
sell groceries she was also issued a beer license.
  Seeing the need for improving the standard of living in her 
neighborhood, in 1975 she applied for community water from County 
Supervisors. They initially denied her, so she got an easement for a 
waterline right-of-way from neighborhood property owners. With that 
breakthrough she rented equipment and bought the pipe, then hired 
workers to lay the waterline. Ford Motor Credit loaned her some of the 
money. After completion, the County Supervisors reassessed the taxes on 
all property where her waterline was put down and that was how she got 
her area of the county road surfaced.
  A politician and staunch democrat, in 1976 she became a Governor 
Cliff Finch Colonel and placed on the Probation and Parole Board for 
the State of Mississippi, replacing Dr. Leslie McLemore. Shortly 
afterwards she was reappointed to the Board of Directors of the 
Department of Mental Health where she served two consecutive seven-year 
terms. Working hard on the Board, she is credited with the idea of the 
State building group homes for mentally challenged citizens so they can 
have some independence while not being totally on their own, helping to 
keep their dignity and humanity intact. The first group home was built 
in Meridian and named the Katharine Carr Ray Esters Group Home and the 
group home in Kosciusko was also given her name in 2002.
  A relative of the rich and famous Miss Oprah Winfrey, in 1988 Mrs. 
Esters contacted the Northern Highway Transportation Commissioner and 
persuaded him to name the road that passed the bend from Buffalo 
Methodist Church near where Oprah was born the Oprah Winfrey Road. Miss 
Winfrey came home for the celebration and the road was dedicated on the 
grounds of the Buffalo Community Youth Center--the old church. The 
evening of the dedication a benefit was held in Oprah's honor at the 
Coliseum where money was raised. The proceeds were split. Half the 
money was given to the Buffalo Community Youth Center and half to the 
Kosciusko/Attala Cultural Center. After that Mrs. Esters refurbished 
the Buffalo Community Youth Center.
  A history major in college she has a love for the past and people who 
survived hard times with dignity and respect, especially family 
members. So over the years she has bought and had installed permanent 
signs at several historical landmarks. She bought a sign for the site 
at the old retired Black Presbyterian Church at Ethel where she was 
baptized, a sign at Alexander Memorial Presbyterian Church where she is 
a member that is on the ``Tour Guide'' in Kosciusko, and a sign for the 
Carr Graveyard on #12 Highway near Ethel. She also reactivated the 
abandoned Civil War Era Cemetery and extended its entire perimeter so 
that indigent people today can be buried there, and bought and placed 
36 granite headstones for those buried there whose graves had not been 
marked. She also bought and lettered a 14-foot metal gate for the 
cemetery.
  But perhaps her best known accomplishment is her memoir titled Jay 
Bird Creek and My Recollections published in 2003 that told of when Jim 
Crow was law in Mississippi. Her book has sold many copies and touched 
the hearts of readers young and old. Also, in 2005 she wrote the 
history of Plantation Missionary Baptist Church for the benefit of 
future members.
  She is a Life Member of the NAACP, a Life Member of the Attala County 
Cultural Center, a member of the Board of Directors of the Oprah 
Winfrey Boys & Girls Club, a member of the Democratic Executive 
Committee, and an Elder at Alexander Memorial Presbyterian Church.
  In closing the interview she said, ``I have given too many 
scholarships to number, taken high blood pressure medicine everyday for 
60 years and taught Christian Education even longer. From my dialysis 
chair I am still privileged to enjoy my family and friends and, most of 
all, I remain a grateful servant person.''

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