Page 135 - South Mississippi Living - November, 2020

in Coastal Mississippi
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Lyn Gibson Bobbie Tate
I always pump up the Coast to get people to move here. There’s so much to do with day trips to New Orleans, Bay St. Louis and Ocean Springs.
Lyn Gibson
said.
Crawford took her up on that o er. Tate
and a friend attend the monthly meetings in Gulfport, making it a daylong outing,
and she participates in the Welcome Center
and other events where members distribute information about the area.
As a retiree, Tate and her husband like to go on drives
together and check out garage sales, and she plays tennis and pickleball. She walks about 5 miles a day, taking various routes around Bay St. Louis where she is able to chat with people while keeping a safe distance. Once home, she enjoys sitting on her front porch and talking with the passersby.
“It’s a beautiful area and I feel safe. A lot of young people are moving here – they’ve bought homes and are from all over,” Tate said.
Gibson also said she feels safe on the Coast, and that makes it a great place for the children and grandchildren to visit and explore.
Community Partner member Karen Varnado said when she talks to people about retiring to the Coast, she mentions the lower cost of living, exemption from state income taxes, cut on property taxes and Southern hospitality.
“We have an active senior community, frequently called Prime of Life. There are many opportunities to keep busy. There’s the beach with water sports, hiking, sailing, shing and continuing education,” Varnado said.
Lyn Gibson is a Coastal Partnership member who moved to Gulfport in 2013, some four years after she had retired as a systems engineer in Birmingham, Alabama. She had
friends on the
Coast who
urged her to
come south.
As a retiree, Gibson enjoys sharing, “It’s wonderful when you
can turn it o and say ‘I’m done.’”
She joined the Mississippi Gulf Coast Newcomers organization because “it’s a good way to get introduced to the area.” She found people who played bunko and bridge and joined the symphony guild. She discovered Coastal Partnership through
a friend, and became a Hometown Ambassador where she happily promotes the Coast and the lifestyle she’s come to love.
“I always pump up the Coast to get people to move here. There’s so much to do with day trips to New Orleans, Bay St. Louis and Ocean Springs,” Gibson said. “It’s not cold, I can wear ip ops most of the time, and the food is outstanding.”
When Bobbie Tate retired three years ago, she did not relocate to the Coast because Bay St. Louis was already her home, and she knew of the area’s outstanding features. She worked 35 years in tourism, and was manager of the Mississippi State Welcome Center in Hancock County at the time of her retirement.
“I had seen the Ambassadors when they came to the Welcome Center, and I told Marcia that once I retired, I would love to be part of the Coastal Partnership,” Tate
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