Shining Son

Sandra Lee cautions that when she talks about her father, she sometimes gets a little emotional."He was a good daddy," she says with conviction. "He was good to us."Sandra's father, David Smith "Son" Humphries, founder of Son's Supermarket on Ninth Avenue, was born in 1913 in Amory, MS, the youngest of ten children. His father passed away a few months before he was born. Though it's not certain, it is speculated that his father probably worked in a sawmill.Son moved to Jasper when he was still a young boy. "He said they were so poor, he never thought he'd even own a bicycle," Sandra says. The origin of his nickname is not clear, but her theory is that perhaps his mother might often say something like, "come on, son," when he was very small and it stuck."Rolling stores" were common in rural Alabama during the early 1900s, and Son had his own for a brief time. In 1936 he purchased property from the Kilgore family and opened the first actual store, then called "Son Humphries Groceries" on the site of the current location on Ninth Avenue in Jasper. "It was a Mom and Pop store," Sandra says. "It had old board floors and a potbelly stove. Mother quit teaching school when they married to help him run the store. He kept six of every item on shelves, and you'd tell him what you wanted and he would get it for you. It was like Ike Godsey's store on The Waltons," she laughs. "But he and Mother worked hard. If it hadn't been for her, he would have given the store away. He started with nothing and he gave away more than he kept."As the business became more successful, Son would add on more and more space. In 1955 he enlarged the store and changed the name to "Son's Supermarket." Sandra says he never allowed his success in business to influence his generosity. "He was the most generous and kind man. If I had a friend at the house, and he gave me five dollars for something, he would turn and give my friend five dollars too."Son's giving nature did not end with his family. Sandra and her husband Jimmy, who worked with him for many years, recall that every year on Thanksgiving Day, when they had all finished eating, Son would gather food on plates and take it to people who were hungry and less fortunate. "He wanted nothing for himself," Jimmy says, his eyes becoming watery with emotion. "He wouldn't let anyone go hungry.""I remember him saying, 'Jimmy, it doesn't cost anything to be nice to folks,’" Jimmy says. "One night we were counting up the cash registers. He looked at me and said, 'Jimmy, do you know what this stuff (money) is good for?' I said, 'What's that?'" Jimmy's voice now wavers a bit with emotion and he continues. "He said, 'To help people with.’" Then, out of love and respect, Jimmy pauses before he begins again. "He said he didn't want to have anything better than anyone else. He was the most generous guy you'd ever meet."Son Humphries passed away in November of 1982, but he left behind a legacy of humbleness, love for others, the desire to help those less fortunate, and honesty. Sandra remembers one particular bit of fatherly advice he gave her many years ago."One thing he said to me when I was a little girl was, 'Don't ever tell a story.’ That has stuck with me all these years." 78Cover photo by Blakeney Cox