| Newsmakers |
May 9----Christe' Harris-Leech has been named to the board of directors of First American National Bank. She is a native of Iuka and is the daughter of Glenn Ray and Dianne L. Harris.
Her roots with First American run deep as her first job outside of working for her dad at J.P. Coleman State Park was as a part-time teller at FANB through high school and college.
Leech is a 1994 graduate of Tishomingo County High School. She attended Northeast Mississippi Community College before transferring to the University of Mississippi, where in 1998, she earned a double B.A. in Banking and Finance and Managerial Finance. In 2001, she graduated from Mississippi College School of Law with a Juris Doctorate.
She began her legal career in Tupelo with a firm which served as legal counsel for a regional financial institution. Since 2006, she has been in private practice focusing on the areas of banking law, including but not limited to, creditor representation in bankruptcies, collections, regulatory authority, and general banking law. In addition, she served as an adjunct professor of business law at Blue Mountain College.
—Motion and upholstery furniture manufacturer Franklin Corp., recently promoted Whitten Grisham to Vice President of Supply Chain and Global Sourcing. Grisham brings more than 25 years of deep supply chain knowledge and experience to his new role.
Whitten will be responsible for all global and domestic supply chain activities, as well as implementing unified purchasing strategies across the company.
—Lisa Vasquez, certified nursing assistant for Inpatient Hospice, recently received North Mississippi Medical Center's BEE (Beyond Exceptional Expectations) Award.
Vasquez was nominated by the family of a patient who passed away on the unit. "Mrs. Vasquez is truly an example of what a family needs during a very devastating time. Words cannot express how important she was to our family," the nomination states. "We were truly blessed to have her care for our precious Dad in his final days."
The family wrote that Vasquez checked on the patient constantly and immediately got the nurse if he showed any sign of discomfort or they had concerns. "She never treated him as just a patient; instead, she treated him, and us, as family," they wrote. "We were blessed that Mrs. Vasquez was with us when Dad took his final breath. She has a gift of knowing what to do and say. We can't imagine what we would have done without her. Mrs. Vasquez was our angel on earth, and we will forever be grateful she was with us."
Vasquez graduated from Grenada High School in 1993. She attended Jackson State University and Itawamba Community College, and previously worked in the restaurant business. She trained as a certified nursing assistant through Medical2 Career College and National Certification. She joined the NMMC staff in November 2015 as a certified nursing assistant and also worked as an EKG technician before transferring to Inpatient Hospice in 2017.
—North Mississippi Medical Center Hospice recently honored Douglas Davis of Guntown as Caregiver of the Year.
Davis cared for his late wife, Sara, before she passed away in November 2020. After suffering a stroke, she was bedbound and required total care. The couple was married for 37 years.
Hospice staff say Davis often changed his routine to accommodate his wife's sleep schedule — which might mean serving meals late at night because she slept all day or staying awake for several days if she did not rest.
"He learned to cook many foods in hopes she would eat a bite or two, even learning to puree her favorite meals in attempts to encourage her to eat," his nomination states.
"Through it all, he constantly doted on her with loving words and kind smiles, even though she was no longer able to respond the same," her nurse wrote. "Mr. Davis is a true example of a dedicated caregiver."
