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One of the highlights of this year’s annual Chamber of Commerce banquet on March 7 will be the induction of two Magee women into the city’s Hall of Fame.
Barbara Magee and Edith Polk, both of whose lives are closely intertwined with the history and progress of the city, are this year’s honorees.
The two were chosen by a committee of Chamber members. The selection of honorees is based on long-term and significant contributions to the community and achievements in their business, church, civic and individual lives. Honorees do not have to be members of the Magee Chamber of Commerce.
Barbara Sullivan Magee was born in 1931 in Smith County but grew up on the Smith-Simpson County line. Her first educational experience was at Mize School, but she graduated from Magee High School in 1949, setting a pattern that would be followed by her two daughters, five grandchildren and several grandchildren who have or will graduate from Magee.
She recalled coming to Magee to the movies, where a ticket cost 17 cents, and to eat and dance at Lavone’s Cafe on the weekends. On Magee’s Main Avenue one weekend she met Daniel Magee “in a white sailor suit–he was in the Navy,” she said.
They married in 1950 and started a dairy on land deeded to the Magees by the Choctaw Indians. Daniel cut lumber from their land and built a 25×30 ft. home for his family.
“I had my children in that house,” Barbara recalls.
She kept house while Daniel farmed. She stayed busy with her two daughters, working in Sunday school and Vacation Bible School at Coat Baptist Church near their home and volunteering in their school activities. She worked as a Girl Scout leader in the local troop–“I loved that!” she said, and was an active Band Booster at Magee High School.
Barbara helped with the huge Tennessee Walking Horse Show that the Band Boosters sponsored for many years as a fund-raiser for the Trojan Band.
When the girls got older, Barbara worked at McAlpin’s Department Store for about 10 years. Later she accepted the job as director of the Magee Chamber of Commerce and served there from 1989 through 1999, directing Crazy Day, helping to lead Magee’s downtown 
revitalization program and to establish the Adopt-A-School program for the city schools.
“I loved the Chamber,” she recalls. “I loved working with the city and did what I could for economic development in Magee and the surrounding area. I loved getting to help people.”
After her tenure with the Chamber, her family helped the city obtain the property for the Sportsplex, which is built on former Magee land and which draws hundreds of visitors to town every year for games and tournaments.
Barbara was a member of Sinfonia Music Club until it dissolved and is still a member of the Magee Woman’s Club and the Colonial Dames of the 17th Century, which she became interested in while researching her family history.
“I’ve got papers back to Pocahontas,” she laughed.
Barbara is now a member of First Baptist Church of Magee and of the Gleaners Sunday School Class there. She says that her favorite scriptures are I Corinthians 13, which reminds her that “love never fails,” and Isaiah 40:31, which tells her to “Wait upon the Lord.” Those words, she says, helped her through the death of her husband, then of a daughter, Kaye Magee Ethridge.
Barbara says she can remember when there was nothing on the highway in Magee. “I never dreamed it would grow like it has.”
She added, “I’ve never lived more than 5 miles from Magee in my life. I love the town and the people. They are my extended family. I’ve never wanted to live anywhere else.”
This year’s second honoree, Edith Polk, was also born in Smith County. She attended the old New Haven School but graduated from Mize High School. She then graduated from Mississippi College and came to Magee in 1951 as a young educator. She taught at the Dixie School in 1951-52 and then taught fourth grade at Magee Elementary from 1952-1963.
That year, she and husband Eugene Polk established Gene Polk’s Pharmacy in Magee. At that point, Edith left the classroom “and I’ve worked at Gene Polk’s ever since,” she said. 
Edith joined First Baptist Church in 1951 and entered whole-heartedly into supporting its work. She has taught Sunday school classes during most of her years there.
“I still teach,” she said.
She has served on most of the church’s major committees over the years, including the Budget, Long Range Planning, and Building committees. When the church decided to build a multi-purpose building and family life center, she served on the committee to plan it. She has served on Pastor Search and Minister of Music Search committees to supply new church leaders through the years.
In addition, she has served on committees at Mississippi College and on the Magee Chamber of Commerce.
She said, “When you have lived in one place most of your life, you work and serve at the pleasure of your city and your church.
“I’m bossy and opinionated, and I have a mind of my own,” she admitted with a smile, “but I like people. I still go to work every day and stay busy.”
When she isn’t at work, Edith likes to travel. “I’ve been in most of the states,” she said, “and most industrialized countries in the world.”
“I’m seldom bored,” she stated. “Life with its ups and downs has been enjoyable. God has been and is so good to me.”
