“A LIGHT BULB WENT OFF.”
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“I was eating at this little Italian restaurant after my shift. It was one of those small, family-owned places where they served the food that they grew up on. Not fancy, but real.”
Bob Hamil was not one to react to fleeting impulses. He had worked very hard to become a police officer, getting a degree in criminal justice from Southern Mississippi University in Hattiesburg. So when he told his wife, Jeanne, whom he had known since high school, she understood and was very supportive.
Nor was he completely naive. His father, Gene, had a similar experience, first buying into Ossie’s, a regional hamburger/barbecue chain, in the mid-60s, then opening up the original Hamil’s.
“I’ll never forget the day we first opened up—August 23, 1977. Somebody came into the place and announced that Elvis had just died,” Edith Hamil remembers.
The cabin that Gene built for Edith has served the Hamils well over the years—first as a furniture store, and now as the restaurant. When Bob came back thirteen years ago, he really invigorated the sleepy little family place on the outskirts of town. It is now so insufficient that folks can’t get in and out during their allotted lunch hour. This oft-heard complaint will soon be a thing of the past, once they open up the new Mamma Hamil’s directly behind the soon-to-be-retired cabin/restaurant.
“I don’t want our new place to be all new. I still want it to have the connection to the town and the people. We’ve been planning this for a while, and have been stockpiling materials salvaged from a lot of the old buildings that have been torn down around here. We will have exposed walls that are made from the bleachers of the old Madison High School football stadium,” Bob proudly states. (Image 91)
Image 91: Mamma Hamil’s 751 Highway 51 • Madison, MS 39110 • (601)856-4407
Edith adds, “I can feel Jesus’s love flow through this place like a river.” (Image 92)
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MAMMA HAMIL’S WATERMELON RIND PICKLES
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First Day: After you eat the watermelon, trim the rind from the red meat and green outside. Cut into 1-inch cubes. Parboil for 10 minutes in enough water to cover. Drain off water and put rind in large bowl.
In another bowl, mix all other ingredients together. Bring mixture to a boil and then pour over rind; cover and let stand overnight.
Second Day: Drain juice off rind. Heat that juice to a boil and then pour over rind and let stand overnight again.
Third Day: Drain juice off rind again and heat to a boil. Put in jars with rind and seal. Refrigerate and enjoy in 3 more days.