Tombigbee Tales

Dr. Lillian Eichelberger MUW Class of 1914

Dr. Lillian Eichelberger graduated from the Mississippi Industrial Institute and College for Women in 1914. She was instrumental in developing and testing synthetic quinine during World War II. 

Helen Rembert Carloss - Native Mississippian, Tax Expert, and W Girl

Mississippi Author Julie Liddell Whitehead - W Girl Turned Novelist

Julie's first novel, Hurricane Baby about the life of Katrina survivors is available for purchase: Madville Publishing
Barnes and Noble
Amazon
 
 
 

Neill James - Novelist, Adventurer, and W Girl

Neill James was a journalism major who graduated from the Industrial Institute and College (MUW) Class of 1918. She traveled the world, landing in Ajijic on the shores of Lake Chapala in Mexico and publishing her Petticoat Vagabond series. 

Dr. Elizabeth Lee Hazen - Mycologist and W Girl

Native Mississippian Dr. Elizabeth Lee Hazen, a graduate of II&C (Class of 1910) earned a PhD in Microbiology and Dr. Rachel Fuller Brown (Mount Holyoke) discovered Nystatin and two antibiotics. The women were inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame posthumously in 1994. The royalties from their patent were used to fund a foundation to support women in research in life sciences. 

Father of the B52 Bomber Henry Edward "Pete" Warden

Pete Warden was a quiet farmer on the Black Belt Prairie in his twilight years, but what most locals did not know was that he was a distinguished WWII fighter pilot and aircraft designer for the US Air Force, designing the first long-range intercontinental bombers. 

The USS Cyclops, The Bermuda Triangle, and George Barrow

Columbus native George Barrow was not quite 18 years old, a seaman 2nd class, and off on his first South Atlantic cruise during World War I on the USS Cyclops. He and 308 of his fellow crewmen were lost at sea. The mysterious disappearance of the Cyclops has never been solved. 

Rosa Peebles and Edith Fahnestock II&C Alumni and Faculty - MUW History

Dr. Rosa Peebles and her life partner Dr. Edith Fahnestock taught at the Columbus, MS Industrial Institute and College before spending the rest of their career at Vassar as the respective heads of their departments. 

Robert Webb Banks, Sr. Civil War Soldier, Author, & Historian

Robert Webb Banks, Sr. was born in Columbus, MS to Dunstan and Lucretia Banks, early settlers in Lowndes County. Robert attended the University of Alabama before joining the Confederate Army after the Battle of Shiloh. Robert authored the most significant first-hand book on the Battle of Franklin (1864) published in 1908. 

Jim "Long Gone" Thomas Pro Football Legend

Hunt High School graduate Jim "Long Gone" Thomas played for the NFL and CFL for 9 years before becoming Tight End Coach at Ole Miss for fellow Columbus, Mississippian Coach Billy Brewer.