In just a few weeks, the 31st edition of the Run Thru History will take place. It’s far too soon to know whether Saturday morning, March 6, will dawn clear and temperate or cold and raining. It’s far too soon to know whether attendance at the events taking place in one of the nation’s most scenic and historic locales will generate sparse numbers or, as is more often the case, set records. It’s not too soon, however, to thank four key individuals who are stepping aside from their organizational roles. And, at the same time, we can all, as the saying goes, “take a lesson.”

The idea of a running event associated with the spring pilgrimage tourism season in Vicksburg is attributed to Warner Byrum, then owner and manager of what is now the Battlefield Inn.

For the past 23 years, though, the practical aspects of making sure a thousand or more details are handled has been the responsibility of Mack Varner, Robert Sadler, Bobby Abraham and Hays Latham.

Their attention and expertise — people who participate and attend Run Thru History events tell us it’s the best-organized and most fun of any such event in any community anywhere — has been the basis for continued success. In interviews, the four credited the work of supporters and volunteers and cooperation by National Park Service personnel. No doubt, but someone has to provide the spark, the enthusiasm. And that’s what the four have done.

The lesson starts with the fact that each of these men has plenty to do without taking on a project of the magnitude of the Run Through History. Varner is an attorney, Sadler and Abraham are medical professionals and Latham is a businessman. None of them is an elected official. None of them receives a penny for their efforts. They’ve done it to make Vicksburg a better place to live. That’s the type of community service that should be inspirational to the rest of us.

Vicksburg’s Run Thru History is in capable hands. It will be managed by a new committee under the auspices of the Vicksburg YMCA. But a great debt of gratitude will always be owed to Varner, Sadler, Abraham and Latham. The events, as Abraham said, are “a Vicksburg institution.” That’s true, but we must remember that didn’t happen by accident. It happened because four citizens saw a need they could meet, and met it.