3 Inspired People: Spring 2024
In every community, there are those among us who lead by quiet example. They seldom hold positions of power, nor do they have a title or any official designation that distinguishes them from their neighbors. Yet they are often the ones who, having found their own inspiration, serve to make us better people and a better community. The spark of imagination they ignite through the pursuit of their own dreams, passions and curiosity can spread down the street, through a neighborhood, across a community. Their stories are an inspiration and in the telling of their stories, others may be similarly inspired. In each edition, Progress tells the story of three of the “Inspired People” of our community.
PAIGE SPEARS
It would have been easy enough for Paige Spears to have turned her attention to raising her three boys and helping with her husband, Jason’s, financial planning business after her six-year active membership in the Columbus Junior Auxiliary chapter ended in 2016.
That is not what happened, though.
After a year on the sidelines, Spears returned to an active role, this time on the national level, serving in a variety of capacities. This year, she is serving as the national Junior Auxiliary president, an organization with 15,000 members in 92 chapters in Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana, Tennessee, Florida and Missouri.
Spears attributes her continued service through Junior Auxiliary to a boy she worked with as a part of the Junior Auxiliary Mentoring program (JAM) which is just one of the major service projects JA performs annually.
Even so, there was a time when Spears felt a little fatigued by the work.
It was about that time that Spears was paired with a boy at Cook Elementary School.
“He didn’t have the best home life,” Spears said. “He was incredibly shy and just didn’t talk. I worked with him on a reading fair project and by the end of the year, you could tell his confidence was up, that he had embraced that time we had together.”
It was at the year-end school awards ceremony that Spears recognized she had lost her enthusiasm.
“I wasn’t getting what I wanted out of the experience because I had made it about me,” she said. “I wasn’t as invested as I should have been. I went to the awards ceremony, but I had a bad attitude about it. I thought, ‘He doesn’t talk to me and doesn’t care whether I’m here or not.’ The auditorium was packed with family members and the ceremony dragged on. Finally, it ended and I went down to congratulate him and get out of there.”
What the boy said stopped her cold.
“He said, ‘Mrs. Paige, will you take a picture with me?’ I realized there was no one there for him. It was just me. That really turned me around and refocused me.”
It is a story Spears shares when she senses fatigue may be setting.
“A lot of people think Junior Auxiliary is just a bunch of bored housewives getting together for lunch,” she said. “But it’s a real commitment. Our local chapter performed 1,000 hours of service and those hours aren’t meeting hours or training hours for members. At some point, it’s easy to show up with half an effort or wonder if it’s worth getting a babysitter for your own children to go help someone else’s child. Then I think of that little boy.”
As her service with JA nears its end, Spears said she and her husband hope to serve the community through a program that provides used sports equipment to kids who cannot afford it.
With all three of their sons – Barrett (12), Pearson, (10) and Henry (7) – involved in sports, the Spears know how costly equipping kids for sports programs can be.
“We saw a program that did that in Slidell and thought it was pretty cool,” she said. “Jason and I have been quietly collecting and distributing equipment. We look forward to doing it on a larger scale.”
PAUL RUFF
Paul Ruff’s performance in April’s final production of Starkville Community Theater’s 2023-24 season is best described as corpse-like.
That’s no critique of his acting, though.
Ruff and his wife, Cindy, played the roles of a murder victims in the comedy/mystery production “Clue On Stage.”
“We were basically props,” Ruff said. “With all the stuff we have going on, sometimes it’s nice to play a small role.”
Consider that an outlier. Ruff’s association with Starkville Community Theater has been anything but a small role. April’s performance marked his 45th SCT production, an association that goes back to 1991 when he became the first Mississippi State student allowed to perform for the theater group.
“Back then, the thinking was Mississippi State had its own theater program and students weren’t allowed to be a part of the community theater,” said Ruff, a pediatrician by occupation. “But Cindy and I got married my junior year. I was married and lived in town, so they allowed me to be in the SCT. ... That opened the door for a lot of college students to be involved in Starkville Community Theater, which has been a great thing for us.”
Ruff has proved to be far more than a footnote in SCT’s history, which was founded in 1978.
After graduating from MSU in 1992, Ruff left Starkville to pursue his medical training. He returned to Starkville seven years later to open his own practice, Starkville Pediatric Clinic.
Since then, Ruff has served in almost every imaginable position with SCT: assistant director, director, board member on multiple occasions, vice president and president. Starkville Pediatric Clinic sponsors SCT’s summer children’s program.
Three times, Ruff has been the recipient of the Mississippi Theater Association Best Performance By An Actor Award. In 2009, he was one of three nominees for Best Actor in the American Association of Community Theatre annual festival in Tacoma, Washington, for his performance in the SCT production of “Catfish Moon.”
“We are a community theater and while it is a hobby, it’s also serious. It’s competitive theater and (SCT) has won numerous awards and prizes,” Ruff said. “We’re one of the most awarded community theaters in the Southeast.”
It is that competitive element that drew Ruff into SCT.
Ruff and Cindy, his high school sweetheart, didn’t have access to theater in their hometown of Long Beach, Mississippi. The school did have an excellent choral program, though.
“Cindy and I were both singers,” Ruff said. “We had a really good choral program that competed in competitions all over the state. I think that’s where we developed our love of performing and being in competitions.”
For Ruff, the theater is serious, fun business.
The emphasis is on the fun part, he says.
“The big picture is that community theater is a way for people who are new to the community to get involved in something that is kind of low pressure,” Ruff said. “It’s a way to meet people from all walks of life who share a similar interest. It doesn’t matter what your skills are, even if you can’t hammer a nail, we’ll find something you like to do and help you learn how to do it.”
“We are super inclusive.”
MICAH GRAVES
To best understand how Micah Graves went from a part-time dishwasher at a local restaurant to executive sous chef for Mississippi State Athletics, you can turn to 19th Century Danish philosopher Soren Kierkegaard.
“Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forward,” Kierkegaard observed.
“I loved to entertain people, especially my friends,” Graves said of his teenage years. “My father would always call me Mr. Entertainment because I would constantly invite people over to our house and grill out for everybody while we swam. Just seeing the pure joy on all my friends’ faces was the sure sign that I would end up in the hospitality industry.”
That may have been a sign, but it wasn’t one Graves would recognize right away.
In the fall of 2013, Graves enrolled at Mississippi State and joined a fraternity where he again felt the urge to entertain his fraternity brothers through food.
“To keep the entertainment going, I needed a part-time job,” Graves said. “I heard from a friend that BIN612 was hiring kitchen staff. I had never worked in a kitchen before, so I was eager to try something new.”
“After a couple years, I had learned from the previous Head Chefs/Sous Chefs that ran the kitchen,” Graves said. “I found out that we also took part in multiple food competitions. We won numerous trophies in numerous categories.”
Those competitions appealed to Graves’ competitive nature.
“I wanted to be a part of food competitions to showcase my creativity and love for the art of food. After I helped win an award, that fueled me to compete and win more. Over the next few years, I attended nine food festivals and three competitions, winning two of those with best tasting dish.”
Graves progressed quickly, becoming the restaurant’s sous chef in 2019 and head chef in 2020.
During his six years at BIN612, Graves learned the art of cooking. Learning the science of cooking came next.
“The new job opportunity fell into my lap,” Graves said. “I was happy at BIN612, but I knew I had more to learn and grow. In October of 2023, a friend messaged me asking if I knew anyone who would be interested in being the chef for MSU Athletics, and without hesitation I said ‘me.’”
One of the perks in the new job was that it allowed Graves to attend MSU sporting events on weekends, something he was never able to do at BIN612 where weekends meant all hands on deck.
Graves, 29, soon realized there were far greater benefits in the new position as he worked with MSU dieticians to provide Bulldogs athletes with a diet designed to enhance their performance.
“Working with the athletes has changed me as a chef for sure,” Graves said. “I now pay more attention to detail as to what all exactly is in each ingredient that makes up a particular dish. I have to be knowledgeable on all dietary restrictions/allergens. The main challenge to being successful is understanding that not everybody sees food the same way as me, but I am also not preparing food for myself. The main focus is fueling the athletes.”
That doesn’t mean sacrificing flavor, though.
“I put my heart and soul into what I create,” Graves said. “Just seeing anyone who enjoys my food always puts a smile on my face.”
