Hold On WalMart

Hold on just a minute WalMart. The old family store is still alive and well. Although I had only a few minutes today, I took a nostalgic walk down memory lane when I entered William’s Store right outside of Philadelphia MS today.


Oh my goodness it was a chill bump moment for me. I’m telling you it looked like a busy Saturday in downtown Reynolds GA in 1965. When I walked in the front door the first thing I saw was a young man slicing slab bacon. And there were people lined up to buy it. I sliced a whole lot of slab bacon in my life but I am fully aware that many people reading this have never heard of slab bacon. Cash registers where running wide open. The place was full of folks with shopping buggies full of groceries and hoop cheese and shoes and horse supplies and hardware and everything else you can imagine.

I stopped in my tracks at the old fashion meat market in the back. The only thing this store lacked was a funeral home. I looked to be sure my daddy and granddaddy were not there. I sure felt them.


I learned something else today in Williams Store. For those of you who are not football fans, Payton Manning was the winning quarterback of the Super Bowl last year and his younger brother Eli was the quarterback for the Super Bowl champions last Sunday. I am positive that brothers have never won Super Bowls back to back. Payton and Eli are sons of the great quarterback Archie Manning. When Archie attended Ole Miss he began to date a beautiful girl by the name of Olivia Williams who eventually became his wife and the mother of the two famous young quarterbacks.

Olivia’s dad was the owner of this store.


There are pictures of the famous Manning brothers throughout this store from their youth football days to high school and even little league baseball. There are signed jerseys and even baby clothes with their jersey numbers on it. Payton and Eli spent their summers in Philadelphia with their grandparents. And they spent a lot of time running up and down the aisles of this store.


I was pulling for Eli Manning last Sunday and punched the air with my fist when he threw that last touchdown pass. I also appreciated Eli’s older famous brother pulling for him from the booth during the game. What a great accomplishment for a couple of brothers. They have become two of the most recognized faces in professional sports and I am certainly one of their fans.

After visiting Williams Store today, I may now be their biggest fan.