“Columbus is known as ‘The Friendly City,’ and at Quirky Antiques, you will discover why. 

My dog’s name is Senorita. When I adopted her, her name was PeeWee. I thought that was bad for her self-image. Would you want to be called PeeWee? I changed it to Senorita.

I grew up in Columbus, MS, on the Ten Tom Waterway. I was the youngest. My sisters were older, so I had a lot of time to myself. I rode my bike, hunted, floated down the river, and daydreamed. 

I graduated from Mississippi State in education and started out as a teacher. We found out there were a lot of dropouts, so we started a school just for them. You had to get kicked out of something to get into this school. That was right down my alley: good kids, but with poor self-esteem. Just like me when I was a boy. If you don’t see yourself as a success, you’re not going to be one. I did that for about 30 years.

I taught a course called I Can, based on Zig Ziglar’s book, See You at the Top. There was a lot of humor in it, too. God created me to do this. That’s my calling. Along the way, I also had an antique shop. Still do. I bust it up and fix it up. The 60s, 70s, and 80s were good years for antiques. I’m talking about golden oak and round oak tables. I don’t always know the history of every piece, but I can make something up.

When people ask where I get my merchandise, I jokingly say I steal all of this off little old ladies’ porches. There’s a craft to it—you can’t just run up there. Where I really get my stuff is a secret. It’s changing, though. Pinterest controls decorating now. Trends don’t last as long as they used to.

But it all still comes back to self-image—whether it’s kids in school or dogs. Once you find out what good self-esteem does, you want to spread it around like confetti.”

Fred