I would like to make mention, a internet memorial if you will, to the old Upton General Mercantile, which stood on the southeast corner of the intersection of Mississippi state roads 540 and 541 in the community of Martinville, Simpson County Mississippi. The new building is still standing but the old store was removed back in 1968. The original was unpainted wood on stump foundations, uneven wood floor, with a heating stove in the middle of the room. I remember cold frosty mornings sitting around that stove on a barrel of nails listening to the old men talk, or hot dusty summer days eating a zero candy bar and sipping an R'ah C Cola. My favorite memory was the old man who was the store helper who pumped the gas or swept up, Tony, who was black and lived in a house out back. He wore wire rim glasses and wore a hunters cap with the ear flaps tied on top. One summer night while walking on the side of the road he was hit by a hit-and-run driver. He was found alive in a ditch but he was crippled for the rest of his life. He walked with a limp and lost the use of his right arm. But the Uptons the owners (my cousins) let him live in the house out back and sit around the store, his working days were over. Tony was always good to us kids and we loved him. He had no family and when he died the Uptons took care of his funeral and in remembrance left the light on the porch of Tony's house out back for years until they both past away.

Heres to Tony...

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David Upton