Annie Strong walks up Jackson Street while picking up trash and litter. Strong, 76, has shown her love for Vicksburg by cleaning up city streets five days a week during her walk. (The Vicksburg Post/PAT SHANNAHAN)

[03/05/01] Annie Strong is a 76-year-old dynamo with a mission.

“I want Vicksburg to be as beautiful as it can be,” she said.

To that end, Strong leaves her North Poplar Street home at 7 a.m. Monday through Friday to pick up trash.

Her route takes the 5-foot-4 Strong from her three-room wood frame home before she walks down Martin Luther King Drive and Lynn, Farmer and Fayette streets. She usually gets home about 10:30 a.m.

“I enjoy seeing the city clean and I get to speak and wave to all my friends,” Strong said. “That is a joy to me.”

John Applin, owner of Openwood Boot & Shoe Repair, said he enjoys seeing his neighbor when she comes by his business in the morning.

“She does a really good job, and she always speaks when she comes by,” Applin said.

Strong said her daily trash-collecting walks evolved from the morning excursions she takes to pick up aluminum cans.

“I decided I would help keep Vicksburg beautiful, and that is what I try to do,” she said.

Lt. Chip Denman, who is assigned to the Police Department’s Code Enforcement division, said he feels Strong is setting an example for other citizens.

“She is really worth her weight in gold,” Denman said. “I wish more people would catch on and be like her.”

With her smile and laugh, Strong is a fixture in the neighborhood where she has lived since 1971.

“The children see me coming and they start yelling, Here comes the trash lady,’ and then I get a big hug from all of them,” she said.

Strong estimates she collects about five bags of trash a day.

“It would be great if one day there wasn’t any trash out there to be picked up,” she said.

Even though Strong retired five years ago from Vicksburg Medical Center, where she was employed in the housekeeping department for 33 years, she is hardly resting.

“I try to stay as busy and active as I can,” she said. “I want to stay in motion.”

Strong and her 12 siblings grew up in a small house off Oak Ridge Road.

“I am glad I was raised in a time when you were taught to respect people,” she said.

A dark cloud momentarily passes over her usually serene face when she talks about how times have changed since her own childhood.

“We used to sleep out on the porch at night and you didn’t have to worry about a thing,” she said. “Now people are doing all kinds of crazy stuff and you can’t leave your doors unlocked.”

Strong said the strength she learned from her parents helped her deal with the death of her daughter, Eunice Strong, who lost a battle with cancer a few years ago.

She said she guesses people litter because they think someone else will pick it up. “I guess that someone is me.”

Denman, who spends each day enforcing city and state ordinances such as abandoned vehicles, illegal dump sites and litter, said Strong is an inspiration to him.

“Maybe the next time someone starts to litter, they will think about this little old lady out there picking up their trash and they’ll think twice,” Denman said.

Strong said the compliments are nice but she doesn’t need accolades to stay focused on what she is trying to accomplish. “I just feel so good when I get back home in the mornings, and that is enough for me.”