Park-loving couple walks early daily

Published 12:00 am Monday, September 10, 2001

Johnny and Irene Maxey walk in the Vicksburg National Military Park before sunrise this morning.(The Vicksburg Post/MELANIE DUNCAN)

[9/10/2001]Count them among the more faithful of the 75 to 100 walkers who can be found in the Vicksburg National Military Park about dawn of any weekday.

Irene Maxey, 70, has been doing three miles for 20 years. Johnny Maxey, 71, her husband for 52 years, has been accompanying her since 1994.

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The Maxeys, both Vicksburg natives, say they know most of the rest of the regulars, so there’s a social aspect. It’s also nice, Johnny Maxey says, to get a head start on the day.

“We like getting up when it’s just getting light at about 6, and then when we get home everybody’s just coming out of their houses,” he said. “That’s a good feeling.”

Johnny Maxey, semi-retired as a painter from Waterways Experiment Station, wasn’t always a faithful park walker, though. His wife, who started walking there in 1980, got him involved after he had surgery seven years ago.

“I was gaining weight, and she came in one day and said, Why don’t you try walking?'” he said.

He hasn’t stopped since. Now, when one of their eight children, 22 grandchildren or four great-grandchildren can’t reach the Maxeys in the morning, they know where both of them are.

“As soon as it gets light, we’re out of here,” Irene Maxey said.

They walk a north loop in the park, usually going 2.78 miles. The summer heat makes them cut down to 2.25 miles for a few months, though.

The exercise helps them keep weight off, and it also takes the Maxeys back to a place they’ve loved since they attended Bowman High School in the 1940s.

“It’s so beautiful, with all the grass and the trees,” said Irene Maxey, who retired as a sales clerk from Sears department store in 1988.

Johnny Maxey said he’s loved the park since exploring it in elementary school.

“We got lost and had to climb up in the trees to find where we were,” he said. “It hasn’t changed that much since then. We still love it.”