Two years ago today, I locked the door to the Old Court House Museum and handed the key to Bubba Bolm. Many of you know his name, but I want you to know him.  

 He’s tall and slender, has dark wavy hair with wisps of gray around the temples. He occasionally enjoys a cigarette, wears reading glasses, and dresses in jeans, casual shirts and boots.

His voice is soft and Southern, and his brown eyes reflect his attitude, which is usually very upbeat.

Bubba Bolm (his real name is George, but Bubba is just Southern for Brother) fits the bill for a small-town museum curator/director.

He also rides a Harley and helps his wife, Becki, rehabilitate wounded wildlife, and relies on herbal remedies for much of the good health he has enjoyed his 57 years.

He runs a history museum, but the only history courses he took at Delta State were those required to get a degree in business administration.

Popping the question

Bubba Bolm certainly wasn’t expecting what I asked him several years ago: Would he be interested in taking my place when I retired as curator/director of the Old Court House Museum-Eva W. Davis Memorial?

“I was hoping something like this would happen, but I didn’t expect it,” he told me last week.

I had thought of retiring for some time, and Charlie Mitchell, one of six board members of the Historical Society which operates the museum, had said I couldn’t quit until I found my replacement. He wasn’t entirely kidding.

Not just anyone would do. It would take a special person to continue the work begun by the late Eva W. Davis in the 1940s. She always stressed that working at the Old Court House was an honor and a privilege. Dee Hyland, who is also a board member, asked if I thought Bubba could and would take the reins.

Here he was, the guy I had been looking for, who had been working at the next desk just a few feet away for the previous two years.

Laying the foundation

He had become a member of the Historical Society without his knowledge — his wife Becki had bought the memberships. Soon, he took on an active role on a Sunday afternoon when my place was put on tour for a fundraiser for the Old Court House; again, Becki volunteered their services, and Bubba found himself at first parking cars and then washing glasses in the kitchen, frantically trying to keep ahead of the 400 visitors who came (we had expected about 150).

Bubba and Becki did such an admirable job that they were soon on the museum’s advisory council — but he really wasn’t interested in meetings that he thought would be little more than tea parties.

That all took place about six years ago. Becki and I were friends, but I didn’t know Bubba very well until they spent a weekend in the Ozarks with me.

Not much later, when I needed some help at the Old Court House, Becki suggested I call Bubba. He wasn’t working and needed something to do. I was reluctant to offer him the small salary, which is all we could afford. I thought the offer would be an insult to him, but Bubba didn’t feel that way. Reflecting on the series of events, he told me, “I came to work here as a result of Miss Becki — she’s always taken care of me.”

I can’t help but believe also that the teachings of St. Augustine and St. Paul, clarified in later years by John Calvin, had come into play. Bubba, you see, is Catholic, and I’m Old Baptist, and we agree on many things, especially when they are seemingly meant to be.

Bubba’s history

Bubba grew up in Clarksdale, one of four boys who helped his dad in the summers and after school run a hardware store. His senior year he spent in Washington State, but he doesn’t count that — “It was like being on Mars.” He returned to the Delta for college, entering Delta State in 1971. That’s when he met Becki, who was from Greenville, and also when he bought his first Harley, a used bike, because he couldn’t afford a car and needed transportation. He and Becki graduated in 1975, and a month later they were married.

In 1982, they moved to Vicksburg where he was manager of a new steel plant. He had gone to work for the company when he finished college. His studies had been concentrated on finances and economics and “had zero to do with history.” In 1978, he and Becki had a son, Chris, who now lives in North Carolina. In Vicksburg, Becki taught at Jett, Warrenton and St. Francis before starting a Montessori school. Bubba’s office was only five minutes away, and he loved visiting the school at lunchtime, “meeting the children, listening to their stories, just having a good time with them, and it has been fun watching them grow up.”

Bubba’s hobbies

Bubba has several outside interests and hobbies. One is his 1982 Jeep, which often keeps him from planning any weekend activities other than repair and restoration. He also has a fascination with firearms, a hobby since he was in junior high. Not just old guns, but any guns, especially military weapons and also modern arms “which have a fascination with me — the mechanics, the designs — to me they are works of art. Not many people see that.” He and Becki like to ride their Harley Davidsons and enjoy the scenery. Chris also has a Harley.

For his work at the Old Court House, Bubba wears many different hats. In addition to overseeing the business affairs of the Historical Society, he also pursues research, tends to correspondence and acquisitions, greets visitors and works in the gift shop. He’s also handy when some equipment breaks down.

At the museum

In the last two years, most rooms have been painted and the floors refinished. Most displays have been kept the same “because people like them the way they are,” but the entrance hall and office have been rearranged and are more inviting. There are some new displays— one featuring women in World War II and another of Mike Palermo’s Civil War collection. A computer system, which I don’t comprehend, has also been installed along with modern phones.

Most curators, I told Bubba, can’t do these things. They have to wear suits or white smocks and sit around looking intellectual — and end up missing most of the fun. One thing that remains the same is the eternal replacing of light bulbs. One thing Bubba doesn’t do is make talks to clubs. When will he start? The reply was an emphatic “Never!”

The accomplishments, Bubba is quick to state, aren’t his doings alone — he has a hard-working staff, a good board and advisory council and numerous friends and historical society members who help.

One of the fundraisers for the museum is the fall flea market, coming up Oct. 4, and the fourth annual sporting clay event, The Guns of Vicksburg, has just been completed. The museum relies upon admissions, gift shop sales, memberships and donations to operate, and the money is used where it is most needed. Funds from the sporting clay shoot have been used to restore the courtroom and currently to restore the cistern houses on the lawn. Bubba hopes that future funds will repair bricks and stucco and the slate porches.

There are no dull days at the museum, Bubba said, “for you never know who’s going to walk through those doors. That’s one of the fun things about this job.” In addition to tourists, there are researchers, including genealogists, historians, and filmmakers, and authors such as Winston Groome who wrote “Forrest Gump” and Hollywood star Gene Hackman. Last week, a group of Belgians arrived; they came because friends at home told them not to miss the Old Court House Museum in Vicksburg.

What if Bubba has a question about history?

“I wing it,” he laughed. “But if I can’t answer it and my staff can’t either, we can usually find the answer in a very short time with our sources here, the local library and some individuals.”

He said he was at first concerned about his limited knowledge of the past, “but, in the last two years, I’ve learned more about history than I did in the previous 55.”

He’s high in praise of the support from the community and the Board of Supervisors and expressed appreciation for “a fantastic advisory council and board. I’m thrilled to be a part of it.”

His jobs, he said, “came along at just the right time. I’ve never had a job before that was so rewarding. The people I’ve met in the community that I would not have known had it not been for this job, people off the street, tourists — it has been phenomenal. Vicksburg has lots of good folks.”

“These have been the happiest two years of my life,” he concluded.

I couldn’t be happier with the job he is doing.

Gordon Cotton is an author and historian who lives in Vicksburg.