By Bob Arnold
Locals these days know Wesson native Linda Mehri as a story-teller. A retired teacher and seminary-trained church leader, you often find her today reading to children at Wesson Public Library special programs to help spur their interest in books.
Raised as a farm girl, Mehri left Wesson in the late 1970s for what she thought would be a fairy tale marriage with a young wealthy Mideastern man she met at Co-Lin, but returned to the simplicity of Wesson living with two daughters after it became clear world travel, multiple homes and life in fabled cities was anything but a fairy tale.
Mehri may tell stories to children today, but fairy tales aren’t her genre. And she prefers Wesson’s simple life.
Mehri grew up on a dairy farm in the Sylvarena area as part of a family with five siblings – three brothers and two sisters. She recalls milking cows, riding quarter horses and participating in rodeos. Through the third grade, she attended the Wesson old school before transferring to Wesson Elementary School at the current Wesson Attendance Center. She graduated from the high school at Co-Lin, where she started college before earning a BS in Education with studies in English, Science and Social Studies at Mississippi College and graduate degrees from the University of Mississippi and the University of Southern Mississippi. In 1976, she received an MA in Theology, Psychology and Counseling from New Orleans Theological School.
Before attending Mississippi College, she served for four months as pioneer missionary on the Eaglebath native American tribal reservation in South Dakota. In 1973, after graduating from Mississippi College, Mehri taught English at then Parish High School in Hazlehurst and Slidell (Louisiana) Junior High School. As a seminary student from 1974-1977, she worked at Wesson Baptist Church.
In 1979 after teaching stints at Crystal Spring Junior High School and Madison, Mississippi, she married her sweetheart from her days at Co-Lin – a nephew of the Shah of Iran, who showered her with material wealth. They traveled throughout Europe and other part of the world, lived in Paris and Rome and spent summers and Calgary, but after 20 years, Mehri realized the marriage wasn’t working.
“Cornbread marrying caviar, the farm marrying the palace just didn’t work,” she explains.
In 2000, Mehri, left her husband with her two daughters – Lindsey, a nursery school teacher now 40, and Ginny, an academic guidance counselor at Mississippi State University now 35 – and settled in Wesson again in 2002 after a two-year Moslem divorce process.
Back in Wesson, Mehri returned to teaching and serving churches. She taught English at Crystal Springs and science and social studies to third graders at Wesson Attendance Center, where she retired in 2020. From 2004 to 2023, she served Beauregard United Methodist Church as Associate Pastor and was a Hospice Pastor for the United Methodist Church in Copiah County following Hurricane Katrina.
What are your hobbies?
I am a reader. I sketch and play guitar. When I didn’t suffer from arthritis, I enjoyed riding horses.
What do you read?
I like Christian writer Max Lacedo and Nicholas Sparks, mysteries – particularly those by Agatha Christie, and biographies.
How about movies or theater?
I enjoy ballet. Gone with the Wind is my favorite movie.
Do you have a special interest in music?
It took me a while to get into it, but I enjoy country. I Italian and English singers, particularly Andre Bonacello.
What would you do with the winnings if you won the lottery?
I would pay off my debts, and give to the church and other charities.
How would you change the world?
People must realize that it isn’t material things and wealth that are important, but rather faith, family and friends.
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