Longtime McComb children’s librarian “Miss Mattie” Rials was recently recognized as a “Golden Magnolia” in Mississippi Magazine.
The magazine has recognized “Golden Magnolias” — influential women in cultural arts, science and medicine, philanthropy, food and entertainment, and community advancement — since 2020. The May/June 2022 issue honors Rials for promoting cultural arts.
Author Sandra Buckley wrote that a Golden Magnolia represents a Mississippi woman who “is solid in her beliefs, yet has a soft heart. She may be delicate, but she’s hardy with a heart of gold. And her perseverance helps her bloom where she is planted. There are so many women in Mississippi who are setting the bar high. Through innovations, dedication, vision and so much more, the marks they are leaving on the Magnolia State are indelible. Their impacts on our state loom large.”
In addition to Rials’ recognition for cultural arts, this other honorees include Natasha Trethewey for education and literature; Dr. Gerry Ann Houston for science and medicine; Martie Kwasny for philanthropy; Sarah Thomas for food, sports and entertainment; and Jill Smith for community advancement.
Rials has encouraged literacy for generations of children in Pike, Amite and Walthall counties. After directing her kindergarten for nine years, she joined Pike-Amite-Walthall Library as children’s librarian.
Then she enlisted “Scooter Mouse” to assist her during story hour, through school presentations, on radio shows and in special events. Although now retired, Rials has continued to provide music with her autoharp during story hour, helped prepare favors for children and to coordinated exhibits by artists in the library gallery.
She and Scooter Mouse won The John Cotton Dana Award for public relations from the American Library Association in 1976.
She also received the prestigious Kaigler-Lamont Award from the Children’s Book Festival in 1998.
In addition, her Wednesday Friends won national recognition as the longest-running program for the developmentally and intellectually disabled.
In her honor, The Miss Mattie Foundation annually awards college scholarships to deserving students in Pike, Amite and Walthall counties.
During the past few years, a portion of the proceeds from the sale of five books dedicated to Miss Mattie have helped fund these scholarships: “Scooter Mouse and the Teddy Bears,” “Scooter Mouse and Rabbit,” “Scooter Mouse Finds the Library,” “Scooter Mouse Finds Christmas” and “Scooter Mouse and the Pothole,” all of which are written by Alice Rhea Mitchell, illustrated by Sheryl K. Perry and published by the Magnolia Gazette Publishing Corp.
