ArtsNatchez’s October Artist of the Month rediscovers lifelong passion

After 45 years, Del Loy returns to the canvas
 
By Roscoe Barnes III
Natchez, MS, USA / ListenUpYall.com
Oct 6, 2026 | 12:37 PM

Artist Del Loy works on an oil painting in his studio. Loy's work blends elements of impressionism and realism. Photo courtesy of Del Loy. (Click on image to enlarge.)

NATCHEZ, Miss. -- Del Loy stopped painting in his early 20s to focus on his family and his career. Forty-five years later, he felt an urge he could not ignore: an unmistakable and unrelenting desire to pick up a brush and start painting again.
 
Since following that urge, he has found recognition and a ready audience for his work, while rediscovering a joy he once knew.
 
“A blank canvas invites me to explore,” Loy says. “While a sketch, photo reference, or live setting offers inspiring motifs, expressing emotion with pigment and texture is what drives my art.
 
“Whether building layers over time or getting it down all at once, painting is about interpreting the subject through composition and color. The goal is to inspire viewers to share my vision and enjoy the experience.”
 
Loy is ArtsNatchez Gallery's Artist of the Month for October. His paintings will be on display Saturday, October 10, at the gallery at 425 Main St., with a reception from 5 to 7 p.m. Refreshments will be served, and the event is open to the public.
 
Loy is an oil painter whose work blends elements of impressionism and realism. “I primarily do landscapes,” he says. “I do fine art. I enjoy doing Mississippi and Texas landscapes.”
 
Loy’s work as an impressionist is inspired in part by Claude Monet, whose image – and quotes – appear on the Del Loy Studio Facebook page.
 
On Saturday, visitors will see a selection of Loy’s work, including paintings of the Natchez Bluff with a steamboat in the background and various Mississippi landscapes. His centerpiece will be a large 36-by-52 painting of Stanton Hall, created specifically for this event.
 
Early career
 
Loy was born in Malvern, Arkansas, near Hot Springs. His family settled in Monroe, Louisiana, for a number of years before they moved to Natchez. Loy was in the 11th grade when he arrived in Natchez.
 
Loy says he grew up working in grocery stores. His father owned the Lewis’ Market chain, which grew from four stores in the Miss-Lou area to seven during his tenure.
 
After graduating from Natchez High School in 1971, Loy attended Gulf Coast Bible College in Texas, now Mid-America Christian University in Oklahoma City, where he earned a bachelor's degree in Christian ministry.
 
After completing his studies, Loy entered the ministry as a pastor. He served in California and Texas. He also engaged in church planting.
 
“I ministered for about 10 years and moved back to Natchez,” he says. “I went back to work for the family supermarket business and retired in 2020. Then I picked up my brushes again after 45 years.”
 
He and his wife Renae moved to Brookhaven five years ago to be near their son and family. Loy paints from his studio behind his home.   
 
Brown paper sacks
 
Loy is a self-taught artist who began drawing at an early age. “As a kid, I drew all the time on anything I could get my hands on,” Loy recalls. He recalls drawing on the backside of brown paper grocery bags. While in high school, he served as president of the art club.
 
Loy was 20 when he completed his first oil painting, and he still remembers the subject: a magnolia blossom. He next painted a portrait of his sister, Rhoda Gatson.
 
He painted for two or three years and then stopped.
 
“We started having kids and I put it aside. Family and career took over,” he says. But even then, he never lost interest in the arts. “When I was not painting, I was going to museums and reading books about art,” he says.
 
When asked what he likes most about painting, he says it comes from the soul.
 
“It’s something I should have done all my life. It’s something I feel compelled to do,” he says. “I spend 4 to 6 hours a day in my studio painting.”
 
Loy is a productive artist who skillfully juggles multiple projects at any given time. He explains how this is done in a note he shared on Facebook: “I work on up to five pieces at a time. While paint dries on one, I'll work on another.”
 
Awards and recognition
 
Since he returned to painting, Loy’s work has generated high praise. “The reaction from audiences has been quite good,” he says, noting he has sold several paintings since July and has sold many more through Facebook.
 
Loy is a member of the South Mississippi Art Association. In 2025, his entries in SMAA juried shows won two first place prizes in oil painting and in watercolor, one second place, and one honorable mention.
 
He held a solo exhibition of thirty-seven paintings at the Lucile Parker Galleria on the William Carey University campus in Hattiesburg in the fall of 2025 and will be the featured solo artist in Hattiesburg’s Festival South in 2027.
 
Loy says he’s pleased with his progress. Now in his early 70s, he hasn’t slowed down. In fact, his outlook may be summed up in a meme he posted on his Facebook page, which states, “Never underestimate an old man who still paints in his 70s.”
 
The quote makes Loy chuckle.
 
ArtsNatchez Gallery is open daily at 10 a.m. For more information, call 601-442-0043.
 

Untangling the birth date of Wharlest Jackson Sr.

Top of the Morning column published in The Natchez Democrat (Friday, October 2, 2026, page 4A) 
 

(Click on image to enlarge.)

Top of the Morning

 

Untangling the birth date of Wharlest Jackson Sr.

 

By Roscoe Barnes III

 

If you’ve done any reading or research on Wharlest Jackson Sr., the civil rights leader who died when his truck was bombed by the Ku Klux Klan on February 27, 1967, you have probably noticed different dates given for his birth. If you visit Minor Street at the site where his truck exploded, you’ll see a historical marker presenting 1937 as the year he was born.
 
Unfortunately, there’s quite a bit of conflicting information about the birth year of this important figure in Natchez’s civil rights history. This discrepancy is reflected not only on the marker, but also on his headstone and various websites.
 
In this column, I examine a discrepancy in the historical record concerning Jackson's date of birth and the information currently displayed on the historical marker honoring him.
 
Here are the different dates:
 
* The historical marker on Minor Street lists his birth year as 1937.
 
* The Find a Grave page lists his birth year as 1929.
 
 * His headstone at Natchez National Cemetery lists his birth year as 1930.
 
* The Veterans Legacy Memorial page also lists 1930.
 
In September 2025, I discussed these conflicting dates by phone with Denise Jackson Ford, Jackson’s daughter. She told me that her father’s birth certificate lists his year of birth as 1929, while his death certificate lists 1930.
 
According to Ford, his actual birthday was December 7, 1929, based on the birth certificate. Ford also explained the discrepancy on the historical marker on Minor Street. She said that 1937 was the birth year of her mother, Exerlena, and that it was mistakenly placed on the marker as Wharlest’s birth year.
 
If Wharlest was born on December 7, 1929, then he was 37 years old when he was killed on February 27, 1967, and not 36, as reported in some accounts.
 
Surprisingly, a number of highly respected sources continue to report that Jackson was 36 years of age when he died. One example appears in PBS Frontline's American Reckoning project. An article accompanying the documentary describes Jackson as a "36-year-old Korean War veteran and father of five." Another example appears in the 2015 Guardian article, “Families' wounds stay open as decades-old racist killings are left unsolved.” The article states: “Wharlest Jackson Sr died at 36 when a bomb went off under his car in 1967. His family is one of dozens still fighting for justice after tragedy.”
 
The age of 37 is also supported by the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice. In an overview of the case, the department describes Wharlest as a 37-year-old African American man who had recently been promoted to a new position at Armstrong Tire and Rubber Company. The department notes that the bombing occurred around 8 p.m. on February 27, 1967.
 
Wharlest had left the plant after working overtime on his day shift and had driven about six blocks when his pickup truck exploded. The FBI believes the bomb or other explosive device had been placed under the driver’s seat area outside the truck frame, according to the Justice Department.
 
The birth certificate information provided by Wharlest’s daughter, combined with the Justice Department’s account of the case, provides strong evidence that Wharlest Jackson Sr. was born on December 7, 1929.

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ROSCOE BARNES III, Ph.D., is the cultural heritage tourism manager at Visit Natchez.