CADDO MILLS — She used to pick cotton for $1.50 a week just to have money to feed and clothe her 14 children. Living through many tragedies, Emerline Rector, 90, never forgot the importance of family and the value of life; and in the process she gained stamina and strength. And she still keeps on going.

Every step of the way, they’ve been together. Everything they’ve done were stepping stones to where they are today. Every day they get up, they look for new opportunities to give other people hope.

When Jerry Wright Jr., 65, wakes up every morning, he can’t wait to begin a new adventure. He has an insatiable desire to learn new things, and if he could sum up his life in one word, it would be “curiosity.”

Friendships can develop anywhere, anytime or when people might least expect it. Friendships, however, normally require a special bond to survive. So what’s the bond between their friendship? A child.

With the help of his friends, Bill Oliver is now able to what he loves to do best — wood turning.

Every hurricane season, Claire Foster-Burnett and her husband Scotye came to Greenville to visit his relatives and to get away from potential storms. When the couple came to Greenville in 2005, however, they had no home to return to because their house was destroyed in Hurricane Katrina.

As Dee Sindle, 66, sat by her window for four hours and watched the concrete being poured for a new house, which will eventually be a home for the mentally challenged, she wept. She never dreamed that her vision would finally come true.

Sherlene McMillan said she never won anything in her life except for a bird. So when she was told that she and her husband, Bill won the cutest couple contest sponsored by the Herald-Banner, she was almost speechless.

She likes to cut their hair and fix their nails, but every day is a challenge because most of her customers bite and scratch.