Mississippi Expat: Di Rushing

"'Home' to me is where the people I love are. I am very fortunate to have two of these, one in Mississippi and one in Colorado."

What does it mean to call Mississippi home? Why do people choose to leave or live in this weird, wonderful, and sometimes infuriating place? Di Rushing and her family had a very tangible reason to leave Mississippi—they were running for their lives. Di, a Greenville native, and her husband Sam built Mississippi’s first winery in Merigold along with an accompanying restaurant called The Top of the Cellar Tea Room. They operated their company for nearly fifteen years until a disgruntled former employee released thousands of gallons of wine down the drain and then tried to blow up the restaurant. As his violent threats escalated, the young family of four had no choice but to leave. Di has since become part of a thriving community in Ouray, Colorado. She tells the story of this experience in her memoir The Delta in the Rearview Mirror (University Press of Mississippi 2024).

Featured contributor Di Rushing grew up in Greenville and now lives in Ouray, Colorado.

Where are you from?

Both my husband and I grew up in Greenville, MS, where we lived until we left for college. After that, we lived on his family farm near Merigold.

When did you move to Colorado and why did you move there?

We moved to Ouray, Colorado during the Christmas holiday of 1990-91. We had never been to the town where we ended up until then. At risk of sounding like a drama queen (which I am not), our young family of four were literally running for our lives. A former employee whom we had been forced to fire earlier that year had spent the previous nine months stalking us, threatening us, and murdering our pets. It was time to go.

What does “home” mean to you? How does Mississippi fit into that definition?

"Home" to me is where the people I love are. I am very fortunate to have two of these, one in Mississippi and one in Colorado. After writing my book, I have come to think of myself as having had two lives: Before Ray and After Ray. Both lives were beautiful in their own way, but very different. Before Ray, I was surrounded by people and friends whom I had known all my life. We had created a business on the banks of the Sunflower River to which many of these wonderful people came often. Our parents and family lived nearby, and our children were close to them.

In the period After Ray, we moved to a town where we knew no one in the entire county. We had no money, no jobs, and no permanent place to live. I am grateful that my parents insisted on both of us getting a college degree; that was one of the stipulations we agreed to when we married at age twenty. Until we arrived in Colorado, I had felt that it had been a waste of time of sorts. It ended up saving us, financially at least, as I was able to teach until we got back on our feet and Sam built up our glassworks business.

Di and her husband Sam at Winery Rushing in Merigold, Mississippi, which they founded in 1976.

What do you miss most about Mississippi?

I miss a lot about Mississippi, but mostly the people. People are nice everywhere of course, but there's something about what I call Delta Love that is hard to define. Once you have earned it—and that piece is non-negotiable—it never seems to fade, regardless of your choices thereafter, however sketchy they may be. So I miss the people there, and Delta sunsets, of course.

How have you cultivated community in Ouray? Do you still feel rooted to Mississippi?

Sam, Lizzie, Matt and I carved out a beautiful home in Ouray after we landed here. It is a small town located just north of Red Mountain Pass in southwest Colorado which sits at over 8,000 feet and is surrounded by mountains. While there are many who were born here, it has more transition than in the Delta, for better or worse. A hundred years ago it was considered a Boom Town, from the mining days. Now it is considered a Zoom Town, as many are moving here to work online from home. We were able to assimilate quickly as I began teaching at our small school (250 kids Pre-K through 12, all in the same building) and Sam opened a business on Main Street and became highly active on the Ouray Mountain Rescue Team. Between these positions, we came to know almost everyone in town. I never felt as though I had to dig up my Delta roots to move here. We continue to enjoy both our "roots and our wings," as Goethe once described it, I think. And I think they are equally important to me.

What’s the weirdest question or assumption you’ve encountered about Mississippi (or about you as a Mississippian) by someone who’s never been there?

I think the most inaccurate assumption, stereotype, whatever, that surrounds being from Mississippi is that we all have poor grammar. Being an English major and an English teacher, I continue to find that both absurd and offensive. Growing up, I and everyone else began learning grammar in elementary school, starting with subjects and verbs. By the seventh grade, we knew all the parts of speech, most pronoun cases, and general sentence structure, and we continued to refine our writing skills through high school. The approach out West is "Whole Language," which is fine for kids who grow up in homes who speak standard English, but no so much for others. I recall trying to explain to some of my high school students here in Ouray when to use "me" vs. "I." But to do that, I had to explain nominative and objective case, which requires understanding parts of speech, transitive vs. intransitive verbs, and lots of other wonderful things that I get (disturbingly) excited about. And when the occasional kid from the South would move here to Ouray, he/she already had that background. Don't get me wrong—I have been known to butcher the language on many occasions—but I do it for effect, not because I don't know better.

Maybe that's not a great thing, but I think a lot of Southerners use language as a colorful tool to express their personalities. I still cuss a lot, and I did it in the classroom from time to time. But as one of the principals once told me, I never "cussed at the children, just near them," which was true. I guess my students never told on me, as I never had a parental complaint. I'm not sure how I got by with it for twenty years, but I did.

Di Rushing’s memoir, The Delta in the Rearview Mirror, is a firsthand account of the splendid rise and frightening fall of Mississippi’s first commercial winery. Order it from Bookshop.org.

 How has being from Mississippi affected your identity and your life’s path?

It's difficult to say how being from Mississippi has affected my identity. It's where I am from, so I guess I'll never know. I think it has affected my path, however, in that as soon as I open my mouth (accent) I can't pretend to be something I'm not. And I gave up a long time ago trying to dispel preconceptions on what that accent says about me. I've learned that what others think of me is none of my business. Anyway, that's their problem, not mine.

What is something that you’ve come to understand about Mississippi by living elsewhere?

I don't think I understood how exceptional Mississippi is as related to the arts—music and literature, in particular—until I moved away.  It has certainly given birth to many incredible artists over the years, from the Blues to Jazz, to award-winning classical writers. Another example of Delta Exceptionalism is that people there never seem to forget how to party hard, for better or for worse. I am not sure if that is true all over the state, but it surely is where I grew up. People my age (and I'm on the wrong side of 70) still know how to get down. I had a great time when I was on my book tour, but it may be best that I don't live there anymore. Lordy. . . 

Have you ever thought about moving back? What would need to happen in order for you to move back to Mississippi?

No, we will never move back. Most of my family, including my only remaining sibling, lives in Colorado now. My daughter and her family live in Switzerland, so Mississippi is not on my radar so much anymore. But I would love to have a place there to go to from time to time. That would be nice.

Di and Sam with their award-winning wines at the Winery Rushing in either 1979 or 1980.

What do you wish the rest of the country understood about Mississippi?

I don't know that I would try to change what anyone thinks about my home state. That seems to be an exercise in futility—people think what they want to think. If it serves them to think poorly of the state, I doubt anything I can say will change that. If they are well-traveled, then they know that all regions of the world have both beauty and sorrow, and Mississippi has plenty of both. I don't think any of us understand another region until we have lived there a while, so I wouldn't know where to start explaining what Mississippi is about; it's about a lot of things.

Do you have a favorite Mississippi writer, artist, or musician who you think everyone needs to know about?

There was a Delta rock and roll band called The Tangents, some of whom have passed away. They were unbelievably talented, in my humble opinion. I still listen to them often. They go great with Bourbon and Coke.

If you had one billion dollars to invest in Mississippi, how would you spend your money?

If I had a billion dollars to invest in Mississippi, I would spend every penny of it in the Delta, starting with education. Some of the schools there don't have teachers in the classrooms anymore; they are monitored by aides and taught on a TV screen. Having been a teacher for twenty years, I find this hard to wrap my brain around; I just know that will never work. That said, I do not know the best way to approach this problem, which is exacerbated by food deserts, unemployment, and poor infrastructure. The problems sometimes seem insurmountable. But I know one thing for sure—it is worth trying. 

What or who do you want to shamelessly promote? (It can absolutely be a project you’re working on, or something you are involved in.)

Shameless plug, huh? Well, The Delta in the Rearview Mirror, of course!—and the reprint of my cookbook which should be coming out this summer. Many who read my book think it would make a great movie, and I agree. Unfortunately, those are not the circles I travel in, so I doubt it will ever materialize. But it's nice to think about sometimes, especially if they get someone good-lookin' to play me.

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Di Rushing grew up in the Mississippi Delta. In 1976, she and her husband established the state's first winery near Merigold, Mississippi. A few years later, Rushing opened Top of the Cellar Tea Room and published a companion cookbook featuring its recipes. In 1990, she and her family relocated to Ouray, Colorado, where she taught high school English for twenty years. Di tells the story of the rise and fall of the winery in her memoir The Delta in the Rearview Mirror (University Press of Mississippi 2024). She still misses Delta sunsets.