John Cofield’s Photo of the Week: “Mississippi National Guard Armory”

There were drills and meetings for the guardsman for sure. But add to that the memories of Cub Scout pinewood derbies and Boy Scout jamborees, of wrestling matches, and flea markets, voting booths and victory dances, fundraisers, and frat fight nights, dance classes, and driver’s tests, tool shows, and silent auctions, Andy Waller’s red bands and rice, to egg hunts at Easter, and Van East’s memory of, “Slow dancing with my sweetie at the Shiners New Year’s Eve dance and softly singing, ‘The Nearness of You’ in her ear.”

Photograph by Dennis Bullard.

Tags: Armory, Boy Scout, John Cofield, Mississippi, Mississippi National Guard Armory, old armory pavilion, Oxford, Photo of the Week

About the Author

John Cofield grew up in Oxford. John is the son of renowned University photographer, Jack Cofield. His grandfather, J. R. "Colonel" Cofield, was William Faulkner's personal photographer, and for decades was Ole Miss annual photographer. Four generations of the Cofield family have contributed to Oxford's pictorial history.