Homegrown Faith


Fresh Way Produce on Old Canton Road in Ridgeland has become something of a local legend since the Cockrell family set up shop there in 1989. To a passerby, the red brick building with the wide doors may appear to be just a deluxe produce market. But to several thousand long time customers the seasonal offerings - from ferns and flowers to watermelons, pumpkins, and Christmas trees - are just lagniappe. There is more happening here than tomatoes.

It’s not hard at all for Jane Cockrell to put words to it. She doesn’t talk about “customers.” She talks about “my people.” And that’s exactly what these folks are –they are flesh and blood connections to Jane. And it’s clear to any bystander that those waiting in the checkout line reciprocate her freely given affection. You really don’t have to wonder where that sincere, “We appreciate you,” comes from. You just know instinctively that this lady has the love of Jesus in her heart.

At 61, Jane stands on her feet twelve-plus hours a day, nine months of the year and as strange as it sounds, she is having a “blast”. She now has the opportunity to enjoy the ride while watching her sons run the family business, she and her late husband Billy began forty years ago. Her oldest son 38-year-old Richard, along with his wife Michelle, handle the details involved in the everyday trials and triumphs of a small business. Their son, ten-year-old Christopher – whom they adopted from Guatemala as an infant is never far away, and Kyle, the youngest of Jane’s three boys, works beside his brother. Richard is the serious one. Kyle keeps it light, and Jane’s job these days is, as she puts it is, “to love my people.”

Beginning

Jane was an unhappy eleven-year-old girl when she packed her belongings in a paper sack, said goodbye to her mother and stepfather, boarded a bus in New Orleans, and headed up the patchwork of highways for Smith County to live with her grandparents. The stability and nurture that awaited Jane when she arrived in Mendenhall late that night turned a shy little girl into a powerful prayer warrior and a woman with a mission.

She called her grandmother, “Mama,” and she was every bit that to Jane. It was from “Mama” that she learned not only how to be the quintessential homemaker, but to hunger for the scripture and to drink it in and apply it to every situation of life. Jane says that “Mama” had an uncanny ability to forever live above the circumstance.

Soon after Jane and Billy were a young married couple, they arranged to buy a herd of cattle – something that promised financial gain and a measure of security for them. Before the transaction was completed, the owner sold the cattle to someone else, and the young couple felt devastated and disillusioned.

It was “Mama” who brought comfort and a spiritual perspective to the disappointment. Assuring Jane that God is always aware of everything transpiring around His own, she was confident God had a reason, a very protective reason, that things had not worked out as Jane and Billy had planned.

It was not long before it was discovered that this particular herd was diseased…the entire herd was lost. “Not that you wish this on anyone, but the man who had bought the herd was older, established, and could recover from this setback. It would have bankrupted a young couple,” Jane says.

She has never forgotten her “herd of cattle” lesson. Many a time through the years when she or one of her children longed for something that did not materialize, she has called the disappointment “your herd of cattle lesson,” and found complete peace in knowing God is always aware of the big picture.

Marriage and Business

When Jane White married Billy Cockrell on June 19, 1967, she was fresh out of high school. She had been in love with Billy as long as she can remember. He was literally “the boy next door” as well as the handsome big brother of her best friend.

Billy’s dad, Homer Cockrell, owned 100 acres in Smith County. When the original Farmer’s Market opened on Northwest Street in the early 1940’s, Homer rented the very first stall. His oldest son Billy really never knew anything but farming, nor did he want to know. Farming was more than a livelihood. It was a passion that involved the entire family. The farm surrounded them, sustained them, and kept them close. It also connected the generations in a way few things can.

In the early years of their marriage, Jane and her mother-in-law spent the entire summer working the retail part of the Farmer’s Market selling the produce. They drove the 65 miles each way between the Shady Grove community and Jackson opening every morning. Billy worked the farm, managing the planting, growing, and harvesting. Homer Cockrell brought everything up to the Farmer’s Market in their truck, and as Jane says, “We had someone at every station.”

In the mid 1970’s, Billy and Jane inherited much acreage when Billy’s parents passed away, however farming was increasingly difficult because labor was scarce. There was only so much they could do by themselves.

Jane tells of growing as many as 300 acres of watermelons. It was definitely a family affair. She explains that it was necessary to plant lots of seeds not knowing how many would come up, and later, to go row by row to thin the plants if there was an abundance of successful seed. It was long and laborious, but the family did it together. She laughs that her eldest son, Richard, learned at age five how to do it exactly right. According to Jane he came into the world wanting to work…and to work hard. He used to tell her she needed to go back and check some rows…and he was five at the time.

All these years later, though lots of things have changed, lots of things have not. Working together and being close are the constants in this very special and “home grown” family. There is no longer a big “Billy Cockrell” sign at shed #3 at the Farmer’s market on Northwest Street. In fact, most of the original vendors have either retired or moved to the new market on High Street, but many of us remember those humid days, the scent of peaches in the air and the sight of over-flowing bins and baskets of tomatoes, okra, and squash, and coolers of watermelons…when it was all about summer and home and Southern and family. The Cockrell family is sort of the embodiment of all of that.

Today, the shelves at Fresh Way are stocked with canned goods like jams, jellies, vegetables, condiments, and even soup starter – not to mention the fresh vegetables that fill the bins in season. Although, once upon a time the Cockrell’s grew everything they sold, they now have growers who supply much of the produce they sell.

Still, the family business thrives. They have paid attention and never clung to what they can’t change about the today’s business climate. Still, they have managed to keep the best part of what it is to be a family who works together, who is heart and soul connected, and at their very core – aware of serving others above self. It’s just plain refreshing.

Adapting to Changes

Although, Jane had worked side-by-side with her mate thinning watermelons, selling produce, and doing whatever she needed to do, the “hard time farming” in the early 1980’s sent her considering another job for a regular and dependable paycheck.

A close friend even talked to Billy about the changing demographics of Jackson and the possible demise of the familiar Farmer’s Market on Northwest Street. The Cockrells had already realized times were changing and everything was different, but what to do was not immediately obvious. So they prayed.

Jane ended up as an office manager in a dental office in Taylorsville. When she interviewed for the job, she says she did not have a resume of experience or training. What she did have was a desire to learn, a heart for people, and a work ethic like few can claim. She was hired. She also stayed for sixteen years and endeared herself to everyone who came through the door. It was not until she retired that Dr. Tillery, her employer, told her he had so struggled with hiring her simply because she had no experience or training. He told her God kept bringing him back to her application and over the years, he had never looked back. She had surpassed all of his expectations. It was her incredible work ethic and heart for people that put her in a class by herself.

After a full day at the dental office, Jane would continue her day at the Farmer’s Market and later what would become Fresh Way on the weekends. Wherever she was, she was making friends, discovering who needed what prayer and praying faithfully for her “people.”

It was in early 1989 – while still at the old Farmer’s Market - that Billy called her one weekday while she was working in the dental office and asked her to come up to Jackson after the office closed. That was unusual in the middle of the week, but she agreed. His explanation was that he wanted her to go out to Ridgeland with him and “count cars.”

They went out to Old Canton Road next to where today’s Fresh Way stands and sat under an old cedar tree counting cars. Jane can’t remember how many they counted, but there were a lot. Billy told her, “I’m thinking of moving out here. What do you think?” She was out of her comfort zone, a little scared, but told him she would back him in whatever he wanted to do. “We decided to pray about it,” she says.

Soon afterward, Billy and his future daughter-in-law, Michelle loaded up the back of a pick up truck with peaches and set up shop beneath that same cedar tree. They knew instantly that this location was a winner.

Next came tables, bins and a cash register – all in the open air – so when an afternoon thunderstorm struck, they were running for cover and losing lots of produce. Over a period of about two years they relocated from Northwest Street, built a shed over a dirt floor, followed by a more elaborate shed with a concrete floor and three walls. They added a cooler – which was really a retired milk truck, and as crazy as that seems, they had never had a cooler before and this allowed them to offer so much more.

And like the familiar Field of Dreams movie theme goes, “If you build it, they will come.” That has been the story of Fresh Way. Customers, who have become more than customers, came in droves. Today, they continue to come and their connections transcend someone selling and someone buying.

Surprise Endings…or Beginnings?

When Billy developed some health issues Jane realized she needed to be more available to the family business. She left her job in the dental office and became a daily participant in the family business. Billy began to back off and relinquish more of the day-to-day operations to his sons, but nobody really thought there was anything crucial and immediately critical happening. Jane and Billy thought they would back out of the business and have years to just enjoy watching their sons…together.

Jane was topping the hill and coming home from her weekly Beth Moore Bible study one Monday night in January 2009 when she was struck with a deep awareness that so many stalwarts of the Shady Grove Community were no longer there. She began to reflect on the changes that had occurred in her lifetime and the thought came to her, ”Who will be next?”

A little more than an hour later she was at the UMC hospital hearing the devastating news that her soul mate and partner, Billy, was not well. He had suffered a brain aneurysm that could not be repaired. Jane stared into the faces of the doctors delivering the news and said with confidence…and through her tears, “We will let God be God.” She said it right, but her heart was sure hoping for an amazing miracle. The miracle did not come.

Even now, over a year later, Jane looks back and all but apologizes for explaining there was a “peace” there at that bedside as they watched Billy go. “I just can’t explain it at all,” she says, “but I know that as hard as it was to lose a mate, God met us there. And even now, I can’t explain it, but there is peace…God’s wonderful peace.” She still attributes her ability to adapt to dealing with surprise life-challenging changes to everything “Mama” taught her. The legacy continues, as Jane’s advice to her sons tends to repeat “Mama’s” wisdom.

As his family stood around his bed, and Michelle, his daughter-in-law who had bonded with him in an amazing way through all the days of selling produce next to him, sang, “Peace…Peace…God’s wonderful peace…” Billy Cockrell’s family let him slip away while they held on tight to each other. It seemed like way too soon to let him go, but they had decades of memories and realized they had so great a legacy – more than families with more resources can ever begin to claim.

Today

When you venture north on Old Canton Road today, you can’t help noticing the brick building, the colorful seasonal flowers, and the open doors that make you hungry for the fresh produce we Southern creatures remember well. The best thing about Fresh Way is, whether you are looking for tomatoes or geraniums…or you are seeking a true blue friend…you can find it.

You might find Jane Cockrell…and you might find Jesus…but either way…it is worth your while to stop, buy a few tomatoes, and get to know the Cockrell family.