By Marilyn Miller
Many things about the Minden St. Jude Auction have changed over the past 50 years. But some things will always remain the same.
“I look at all the things that are still in play, but are bigger and better,” said Cynthia Garrison Payne, who served a 10-year stretch as chairman of the Minden Auction starting back in the late 1980’s. “I started the second year that the auction took place at the Minden Civic Center,” she recalled. “Pete Treat and Pam Loftin were co-chairmen when it started (in 1976 at KASO Radio).”
Cynthia was soon joined by John C. Campbell as co-chairman…and the names then started coming…Pattie and Charlie Odom, Jeanette Green (finances), Chuck and Nancy Hines, Jenell Fox, Donna and Tim Greer, Lucy Dickinson, Pat Culverhouse, Phil and Anne Demaline, Brad and Charlotte Reynolds, Andy Nelson, Kenneth Greer and many more.
“Charlotte Reynolds has been associated with the auction for the longest number of years,” she added. “And I know there were so many more. We just had a great time. Oh, Andy Nelson was somebody we couldn’t do without. He was the only cameraman we had…he was always there. Phil and Kenneth Greer did the boards.”
There was close to 30 “volunteers” back in the late 1980s. There are 400 today.
The City of Minden gives more per capita to the St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital than any other entity in the United States. And according to Cynthia, it’s been that way since early on. “That’s raised and collected…it’s been like that.”
“We would stay a month collecting all the money,” she recalled, “Because everything was done by hand.” Yes, the bids were taken by hand over phones that the workers supplied. “We’d tell everybody, don’t forget your phone. Then we’d take them and plug them in. And this was before everyone had cell phones and computers.” And, of course, there was no internet.
Not having the internet is one of the biggest differences in the auctions today and those 30 to 40 years ago. People couldn’t be reached as they can today.
When the local cable company started broadcasting the auctions, John C. Campbell told Cynthia that she had to go on the air, after all, she was a chairman. Cynthia said, “no way,” but he finally won. “After 10 minutes, John said that’s enough,” she laughed.
Most fund-raisers last a maximum of 10 years. How has the Minden St. Jude Auction hung on for 50 years? It’s tragic to say, but there has been a high incidence of children with cancer in Minden for the last 50 years. “And Minden rallies around its children.”
For instance, St. Jude’s always picked the auction dates for Minden. Then, one year, the date landed on the same weekend as the Super Bowl.
“We just knew we weren’t going to do well that year. Not everybody had cable,” Cynthia recalled. “But then Denise Whaley, a twin and the daughter of Toby and Susan Whaley, died after spending about two weeks at St. Jude’s.” Susan was working for KASO Radio at the time.
Minden did as Minden does, it came together and supported the Whaley family by supporting the auction. Cora Lou Robinson, a rabid supporter of the auction, painted a portrait of the Whaley twins and it was auctioned off, with the understanding that the painting would be given to Toby and Susan.
However, the name of the bidder who won wasn’t readable (remember, everything was done by hand). Cynthia called the phone number on the bid sheet and found out the winners were Greg and Samantha Beech of Shreveport. Not only did they donate the portrait to the Whaley family, they have volunteered every year since.
Denise Whaley. Stanton Haynes. Brock Castle. Justin Morris. And too many more have fallen victim to childhood cancers. Most of those cancers are curable today. And there have been success stories as well.
Raising money for St. Jude’s happens in various ways, from Chili Cook-offs, with Susan Whaley’s Sunday School Class at First Methodist supplying the back-up chili to stretch sales, to every school in south Webster Parish collecting yearly, starting with Cora Lou Robinson’s classes at Richardson Elementary.
“I attribute what the schools raise today to Cora Lou,” Cynthia noted. And the success of the chili cook-offs can in large part be attributed to George French.
Cynthia remembers the time that she got a call from an “older” woman, who told her she wanted to make a contribution, but Cynthia would have to pick it up. “She told me she’d been hiding the money from her kids and grandkids. It was over $200, which was like $1,000 to you and me.”
One year there was a piano that had to be picked up in bad weather. The job got done, and it was a beautiful piano. The first raffle was A Teddy Bear.
Cynthia, who is in remission from cancer, says that she looks at childhood cancer differently because of her experience. “The chemo…the radiation. I can’t imagine sending my child to go through what I did.”
The former chairman of the Minden St. Jude Auction is the daughter of the late Richard B. and Vesta Garrison. Her grandfather, William Richard Garrison, and her father, were both tax assessors for Webster Parish. Her dad served over 40 years. She had one brother, the late William R. (Dickie) Garrison.
She is married to Joe Payne, and they have two sons, Adam Payne and Daniel Payne. Joe has worked in Materials Management at Minden Medical Center for over 20 years. Cynthia is a 1976 graduate of Minden High School, and she attended Louisiana Tech University.
“You cannot say enough good things about St. Jude’s,” Cynthia said. “You hear it’s a happy place, which is hard to believe, but it’s true. And they think Minden is a special place.”
Which we are.