Buc-ee’s, Travolta and the people we lost: Remembering 2023 on the MS Coast
Buc-ee’s made the Top 10 list of most read stories for 2023, as did a casino jackpot winner and John Travolta, while he was filming a movie at Scarlet Pearl Casino in D’Iberville.
It wasn’t all good news in South Mississippi. Drug overdoses and mass shootings also topped the list.
Looking back at the year reminds us of well-known business leaders, government officials and journalists who are among the many Coast residents who passed away this year.
Jimmy Buffett, born in Pascagoula on Christmas Day, kept close to his Coast roots as he performed around the world. On Labor Day Weekend, he left the Parrothead party he created to celebrate life. Former Gulfport Mayor George Schloegel, in addition to being a bank president and Coast mayor, was a champion of early childhood education.
Take a quick look back.
Most clicked stories for 2023
▪ Two dead after 6 Mississippi Coast high school students shot at Bay St. Louis house party
▪ 1 dead, multiple people injured in mass shooting at downtown Ocean Springs restaurant
▪ A woman played a 10-cent slot machine at this Biloxi casino. She hit the jackpot
▪ John Travolta is filming a new movie at a Mississippi Coast casino
▪ 5 people overdosed at a Mississippi Coast motel. The managers sold the drugs, police say.
▪ I-10 traffic from future Mississippi Buc-ee’s site to Hancock County backed up for hours
▪ New Orleans shipyard closes after 3 decades and moves operations to the Mississippi Coast
▪ Closed for years, a popular MS Coast buffet reopens in a new city. ‘It tastes like home’
▪ Longtime Mississippi Coast principal arrested for shoplifting at Walmart, police say
▪ When will construction begin on the first Buc-ee’s in Mississippi? Here’s the latest.
Well-known Coast deaths in 2023
January
▪ Frank Leach, former Jackson County Supervisor
February
▪ Alben Hopkins Sr., Gulfport attorney, Maj. General of MS National Guard and chairman of MS Gaming Commission -
▪ Marjie McFarland, real estate broker and former director of the March of Dimes
May
▪ John McFarland died two months after his wife. He was director of American Red Cross and former Sun Herald marketing director
▪ Dwayne Bremmer, reporter at Sea Coast Echo
▪ Robert Boyd, former Moss Point mayor
June
▪ Kennon Barton, beloved teacher at Ocean Spring High School and son of State Rep. Manly Barton
▪ Oliver Diaz, businessman who helped incorporate the City of D’Iberville.
August
▪ David Riemann, chairman of Riemann Family Funeral Homes-
September
▪ Jimmy Buffett, who was born in Pascagoula and kept his roots as he became a renowned musician and businessman
▪ Robin Fitzgerald Eyman, a long-time crime reporter at The Sun Herald
October
▪ George Schloegel, long-time president of Hancock Bank and former mayor of Gulfport
November
▪ Albert Necaise, an Ocean Springs attorney who quietly gave to those in need
This story was originally published December 29, 2023 at 5:00 AM.
