Mississippi Gulf Coast transplant Shanon Shealy has been calling Vicksburg her home for a little more than four years. 

Although she is a relative newcomer to the River City, she along with her family represent many of the newer faces in the community that offer Vicksburg opportunities to learn and grow from others’ experiences.

Shanon is married to Chad Shealy, the Vicksburg Warren School District superintendent and is the mother of three boys, Grayson, Mayson and Riggs.

Shortly after the family moved to Vicksburg, she opened a retail store in downtown Vicksburg, The Dragonfly, and says she has enjoyed being part of the local environment.

“We have certainly been welcomed with open arms and being downtown was the best decision ever,” Shanon said. “We love downtown.”

Shanon said she and Chad met while students at the University of Mississippi, where she received her bachelors and masters of taxation degrees.

“I moved to Memphis after graduating from Ole Miss in 1997 and worked for Price Waterhouse Coopers for about two years,” she said, and married Chad in September of 1998.   

However, Shanon said she and Chad felt a calling to return to Mississippi and to education, so they put their house up for sale and returned to Mississippi for him to teach. 

“Some thought we were crazy because I had a really good job. We had only been in our home for just under a year and financially it just didn’t make sense, but we knew beyond a shadow of a doubt the Lord was leading us back to Mississippi,” she said.

Before moving to Vicksburg, the couple had lived in Byram for 15 years, where Chad continued his calling in education, Shanon said, and it was where their three sons were born.

For Shanon, opening The Dragonfly was not an entirely a new experience, she said.

When she was in high school, she had worked at her aunt’s Hallmark store and even continued working there during her summers and holidays of her freshman year in college.

Following graduation from college, Shanon then spent three years as a public accountant and seven at a telecommunications company, before retuning to work for her aunt. 

There, Shanon said she was responsible for all of the accounting for the Hallmark store as well as inventory management.

Working for her aunt did require Shanon to travel weekly to the Coast, she said, but there were also times she could work from home. That allowed her to spend more time with the children, especially her youngest son, who has special needs.

Shanon said it was this work experience that gave her knowledge of the retail gift shop business, so after moving to Vicksburg, she decided to open her own small shop. One that would allow her similar opportunities and flexibilities as did the Hallmark store her aunt owned.

“We really loved the downtown area and wanted to buy one of the old buildings,” Shanon said, “So when the opportunity presented itself, I went for it.”

The Dragonfly is located on the 1200 block of Washington Street and offers a variety of gift items, including T-shirts, jewelry, bath and body items, candles and pottery.

“I try to find things that are made in Mississippi when possible,” Shanon said.

“And I also try to find things that are different and not already represented in another shop. That can be a challenge sometimes and I am not always successful, but I certainly try.”

Shanon said she has also worked hard to find a couple of vendors that do custom work for the store, adding that she likes to provide items that say and represent Vicksburg and Mississippi.

“Visitors like things that are made in Mississippi or locally as they say,” she said.

Shanon said she used to think when people asked if things in her shop were made locally, they meant it literally. 

“I still get tickled occasionally when a customer asks if I make all the stuff in my shop. I wish I was that talented,” she laughed.

In addition to owning The Dragonfly, Shanon is a Vicksburg Mainstreet Board member and active at Crossway Church.

“And if not at The Dragonfly then I am probably at a baseball field somewhere watching my boys play ball,” she said.