Shelby Railroad on Track for Stuttering

Kirk and John Tarver and their Memphis-based Shelby Railroad Services Inc. raised a record $7,000 to help those who stutter.

Jane Fraser and Susie Hall were in attendance to receive this outstanding gift.

The annual Tin-Cup Tournament took place on October 7 at Wedgewood Golf Club in Olive Branch, Miss.

This is the ninth year the company teamed up with the Stuttering Foundation to honor Ruth McGuiness Tarver, the late mother of company president and founder John Tarver. Ruth stuttered from the time she was a young child.

“She was a great lady,” Shelby Railroad Vice President Kirk Tarver said of his grandmother. “It didn’t matter to us, but it embarrassed her. Back in the 30s, there wasn’t any help.”

“With the support of John and Kirk Tarver, there is now a lot more help for children who stutter,” Fraser said during the event.

-From the Winter 2011 Newsletter

CELEBRITY FOCUS

Mel Tillis

Mel Tillis, born Lonnie Melvin Tillis, was an influential figure in country music, both as a songwriter and a performer. His journey to fame was marked by overcoming personal challenges, including a stutter that he turned into a defining part of his public persona.

Emily Blunt

Actress Emily Blunt struggled with stuttering early in her life. A teacher encouraged her to act in a school play at age 12 despite her stuttering.

Blunt’s name is prominently featured on the Stuttering Foundation's list of Famous People Who Stutter.

Frank Wolf

This Virginian congressman has served in the U.S. House of Representatives since 1981. The longtime supporter of the Stuttering Foundation drew national attention to childhood stuttering in 2006 when he submitted an article about Tiger Woods from the SFA newsletter to the Congressional Record. The congressman is featured in the Stuttering Foundation's Famous People Who Stutter brochure.

Carly Simon

Carly Simon began stuttering severely when she was eight years old.

Bob Love

Bob Love has dreamt about being a great public speaker since his early days in Bastrop Louisiana, even though, as a young man, he could barely put two words together, let alone speak a full sentence.

In spite of his severe stuttering disability, Bob Love, the son of a sharecropper, rose to become a Chicago Bulls NBA superstar, whose records were eventually surpassed by Michael Jordan. Throughout his entire athletic career, Bob Love kept his stuttering a secret from the fans who adored him, thinking he could do his “talking” on the basketball court.