EASTER SUNDAY SERVICES

MID-SOUTH MEMORIES

25 years ago — 1997

WGKX-FM 106 (KIX 106) fired its morning team of Jay Young and Brian Elder last week. Program director J.L. Fisk is taking over the 6-10 a.m. program while the station searches for a replacement. Young and Elder, both 34, came to Memphis in August 1994 from Birmingham. They also worked together at a station in Idaho. When they arrived, the station emphasized their personality-driven comedy, a style the station manager now says didn’t fit well with KIX’S country music format.

“We just felt it was time to go in a different direction,” said general manager John Bibbs. “To this day, I don’t think they were necessarily a bad morning show, they were just on the wrong type of radio station.” 50 years ago — 1972

After five months as a justice of the United States Supreme Court, Lewis F. Powell Jr. says he doesn’t enjoy it, but he’d still take the job if he had to make the decision again. “The truth is,” the former Richmond attorney told members of the Virginia Bar Association, “I’d rather be a lawyer than a judge.”

75 years ago — 1947

TEXAS CITY – Fire-fed explosions ripped through this teeming industrial port for hours Wednesday, killing hundreds of persons and injuring an estimated 3,500. Waterfront blazes still burned furiously at midnight almost 15 hours after the initial blast and property damage was estimated as high as $75,000,000. Fire and wreckage made it impossible even at midnight to count the dead with precise accuracy, but early estimates by State Highway crews of 1,200 killed appeared high.

100 years ago — 1922

OAKLAND, Calif. – Firemen arriving at the home of Mrs. J.S. Brown today to put out a blaze were requested by members of the family to “please make as little noise as possible.” They complied. The fire soon was extinguished, and as they boarded their apparatus for the return, a nurse came to the front door and announced, “Mother and son are doing nicely, thank you.”

125 years ago — 1897

E. S. Proudfit was elected chairman of the Memphis Flood Relief Committee. C.T. Dobbs, W.B. Barksdale and F.M. Norfleet were added.

THE COMMERCIAL APPEAL FILES March 30, 1997: Valerie Moore, center left, and Nancy Lubiani pray together at the Love Thy Neighbor Easter service at The Pyramid. About 16,000 people attended the service, a joint effort of the predominately Black Mississippi Boulevard Christian Church and the predominately white Christ United Methodist Church. THE COMMERCIAL APPEAL FILES April 19, 1987: Thousands gather at the Overton Park Shell for a sunrise service on Easter Sunday.

JIM WEBER/THE COMMERCIAL APPEAL FILES April 16, 2017: Matthew Sorg waits to lead the procession at the opening of the 32nd annual Easter Sunrise Mass at Calvary Cemetery. Hundreds of Memphis-area Catholics filled folding chairs and camp seats or laid out on blankets to celebrate Easter with the rising sun.

BRANDON DAHLBERG / FOR COMMERCIALAPPEAL.COM April 4, 2021: Members of the congregation of Greater Imani Church sing songs of praise during the Easter service, their first in-person gathering since the COVID-19 pandemic began.

THE COMMERCIAL APPEAL FILES April 21, 2019: George Robertson, senior pastor, is seen during Second Presbyterian Church's Easter Sunday Sunrise Service at the Memphis Botanic Garden.