WAVERLY, Tenn. (WTVF) — After a very hard year, bringing positivity into one middle Tennessee community was needed.
There's this famous quote you see in downtown Waverly. A little mural has been painted on the window of The Made Company. The quote's from Winnie The Pooh; "'How do you spell love?' asked Piglet. 'You don't spell it. You feel it,' said Pooh."
"Such a giving community that we live in," said Loyce Holland, who owns the downtown formal wear shop Loyce's.
Next door at Vintage Treasures is where I found Casey Cantrell visiting. She likes that Winnie the Pooh quote too.
"I love Winnie the Pooh," she smiled. "He's one of my favorite characters."
A few more doors down from there is where Samuel Simpson was working at his Samuel's on the Square restaurant.
"This is your place?" I asked him.
"The bills are all in my name, anyways!" he said.
"Everybody knows each other," Cantrell added.
If you're saying good stuff about Waverly, then Sheriff Chris Davis and the Humphreys County Sheriff's Department wants in on that.
"It's home, man," Davis said, speaking in the middle of other members of his department. "It's a great place. God's country."
"I know quite a few people here," said Lt. Valerie Hagler, standing next to Detective Stephanie McFerren. "Mrs. Loyce is a sweetheart."
That closeness among everyone has never been more important than in this past year.
"When they left to go to work, they didn't know what was going to happen," Holland said. "It's just hard."
"We've suffered a lot of tragedy," Simpson added. "It does effect the community, you know."
In October, there was the explosion at the nearby Accurate Energetic Systems manufacturing plant. 16 people where killed.
"Their families, my heart hurts for all of them," Holland said.
"Now, we're trying to heal," said Lt. Hagler. "The community's trying to heal."
People in Waverly have been wanting a really good day to get to celebrate something. Sunday was it.
Holland assembled a fashion show for high school seniors where Cantrell donated money for the teens to get scholarships. Simpson provided the venue. The fashion show has gone on for several years, but this time, a good day felt especially important.
"We wanted to help bring positive back," Holland said. "My heart tells me to."
"Our future is the kids in this community," said Cantrell. "This community raised me and my goal is to raise up the children coming after me. It's just paying it forward. It's making sure they have the best chance to do whatever their dream is."
At the show this time, Holland had a special thank you to give.
"Can I have your attention?" she asked the crowd gathered in Samuel's On The Square. "It's a big day. I want to introduce you to two wonderful ladies. These two ladies right here were at the scene at the explosion."
Lt. Hagler and Det. McFerren stood in front of the crowd.
"We're so fortunate to have the wonderful people that we have working for Chris Davis, our sheriff," Holland said. "I want you to give these ladies a big round of applause."
"It's just a good pat on the back saying, 'we're with you,'" said Simpson. "We're there. We're seeing what you're doing."
Do you have a positive, good news story? You can email me at forrest.sanders@newschannel5.com.
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