The Jones County Chamber has launched a new program for its members who are emerging professionals in the Jones County area named Jones CO.nnect. Membership in the group is free and is part of the annual Chamber membership.
Approximately 25 members of the new group gathered at the Laurel Train Depot, Thursday morning, September 12, to hear former Mayor Susan Boone Vincent speak on leadership and her journey through serving 12 years as the mayor of the City of Laurel.
Chamber of Commerce and Tourism Director, Amanda Roll, introduced Vincent, who grew up in Laurel and graduated from Gardner High School in 1959. After attending college in Bristol, Virginia and graduating from Ole Miss with a degree in Elementary Education, Vincent taught for three years, and then became a stay-at-home mom raising three daughters. Presently some of her accolades include serving as Chair of the Laurel Planning Commission, commissioner and vice chair of the Pine Belt Regional Solid Waste Management Authority, secretary/treasurer of the Laurel Municipal Airport Board, a member of the tourism committee for the EDA Board, Lauren Rogers Museum Council, Laurel School District advisory committee, a member of the Laurel Garden Club, Little Garden Club, and Laurel Main Street to name a few. Vincent was elected as Mayor of the City of Laurel in June of 1993 and served three terms until 2005. She has received numerous awards over the years including Junior Auxiliary of Laurel Humanitarian Award, Daughters of the American Revolution Constitution Award, and Sertoma International Service to Mankind Award, to name a few.
“I did grow up in Laurel and it was a great place to grow up,” said Vincent. “The economy was great. There was a lot of civic participation. Most of the teachers in our school districts had master’s degrees. We were known all over Mississippi for our good educational system. We had a lot of manufacturing. Masonite at that time employed over 3,000 people. A lot of professional people came into Laurel because of Masonite. Crime was non-existent. Nobody locked their doors or cars. The only time you locked your house doors was when you went out of town somewhere. You could go to a spend-the-night party and walk around the streets in your pajamas or go roll somebody’s house. It was a wonderful experience growing up in Laurel.”
Vincent said with her generation there wasn’t a lot of job opportunities available for women like there are today. “You could be a nurse, a teacher, or maybe a secretary,” exclaimed Vincent. “A few brave women may have gone to medical school or law school. But, you were expected to get a job and work, have your babies, and then stay at home and take care of them. You didn’t keep on working like my three daughters do today and many of you. So, I stayed at home and became interested in the community.”
Vincent said she became involved in the city and in politics while raising her children. She was appointed chairman of the capital improvements committee for the city by Mayor Sam Lindsey, which dealt with long range planning of what type of equipment the city was going to need to purchase in the next five to ten years.
“I found myself becoming very interested in the City of Laurel and what was going on,” said Vincent, “so, I started attending council meetings.”
Around this same time she became involved in politics and helped raise money for Ray Mabus’ gubernatorial campaign.
Vincent said she also started going to the supervisors meeting, too and before long became known as a community activist.
She said with knees shaking she went before the senate constitution committee in Jackson and testified for the need for a new constitution in Mississippi. “I ended up getting my picture on the front page of the Jackson Daily News because I was the only individual there that was not from a special interest group that was lobbying to not have a new constitution.”
In 1991, she decided to run for the state senate.
“I ran against Vince Scoper,” exclaimed Vincent. “He was a 16 year incumbent. I had even helped him in one of his campaigns. I ended up getting 42% of the vote. I didn’t have the connections in Jones County and I think being a woman didn’t help me either at that time.”
Vincent said one of the main topics during the campaign against Scoper was the lottery. She was for people having a vote whether they wanted a lottery or not, but Scoper was against gambling altogether.
“It got to be a pretty tough election,” exclaimed Vincent. “I think he got a little worried at the end and did a lot of negative campaign ads against me bringing up that one of my children went to a private school. She had a learning disability, so I did what I thought was right for her at the time.”
“After that campaign, I felt a little bruised and beaten up,” exclaimed Vincent. “I thought, I don’t want to ever run for anything again. All I wanted to do was pack up my tent, go to my house, and lick my wounds, and try to go on with my life. But, two years later, I changed my mind.”
Describing the state Laurel was in at the time, Vincent said people were leaving the city, the streets weren’t getting paved, and the ditches weren’t getting cleaned. The mayor at the time and the city council were at war with each other and were fighting all the time.
“Ax TV began broadcasting the council meetings and it became the biggest show in town,” exclaimed Vincent. “People were watching it all the time. The mayor and the city council both wanted to be the boss. It was a nightmare, and it was embarrassing. We were on the news, in the Jackson paper, and on state TV stations. I just could not stand what was happening to my town that I loved. I just felt like I had to do something to help. Even though I had got beaten up in the senate race, I said I was going to do it again.”
Having spent all her money on the senate race, Vincent said she had no money for the campaign. But, she put on her tennis shoes and campaigned door to door.
A prominent businessman called her up one day, and asked to meet with her. He told her that he had 75 or more other businessmen supporting another candidate in the race and they had already raised over $100,000.
“He said, ‘you know Susan, you ran for the senate and lost. If you run again, you’re going to be a two time loser.’ Well, that didn’t go over very well with me.”
She explained how he basically told her she had no experience and no business running. She said after she won the election, the businessman did call her and congratulate her. Later on in her career as Mayor they worked together on a particular project he needed done.
One day during the campaign, she said her husband asked her why she wanted to be mayor. “I was 51 at the time, and I told him that when I was 75, I wanted to feel like I had made a difference in this world. After she left office, he asked her if she felt like she had made a difference and she responded by saying, “I do.”
“I can look at this train depot building right here,” exclaimed Vincent. “It was a rat trap. “Ya’ll cannot envision what this building looked like. It was horrible!”
She explained that a Jones County Leadership group chose the depot as their leadership project and raised $3,000, which paid for the architectural plans needed to ask for an MDOT Grant. “We were able to get a $350,000 grant and the city put in $150,000,” explained Vincent. She added that there was one councilman that was against the renovation of the depot. He didn’t think it would be utilized for anything but rummage sale type events.
“Ironically,” said Vincent, “I saw his wife a few years later and she said, ‘guess where Amanda is having her wedding reception; the train depot.”
Continuing to point out her accomplishments, she said she went to a conference with recreational architects and landscapers. “I saw this beautiful design of a sportsplex and I thought, I want one of those,” exclaimed Vincent as the group broke out in laughter.
She said at the time the tennis courts at Daphne Park were in need of repair. The water in the Daphne Park swimming pool suddenly drained out one day, and it wasn’t worth the half million dollars it would take to repair it. Laurel had no swimming pool, no tennis courts, and very few recreation areas. So, the Laurel Sportsplex was built. In 2016, it was renamed the “Laurel Susan Boone Vincent Sportsplex.”
“I can look back and say I feel like I made a difference,” said Vincent. “Each one of you can get out there and make a difference in our community, too.”
She ended with a phrase she used at her last acceptance speech, which was found in a card given to her by her sister, “We are all angels with only one wing. We must embrace each other to fly.”
