NATCHEZ – With a new year approaching, Dorothy and Jack Stubbs have more than resolutions on their minds – much more.

Epiphany is nearing. Christians prepare to celebrate on Jan. 6 the appearance of Christ in the world and the pilgrimage of the three kings bearing gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh to the child.

At the Stubbs household, boxes are coming out of the closets, packing paper flying and, with careful and loving handling, hundreds of kings are stepping out once again for their annual appearance at First Presbyterian Church in Natchez.

“Some of them are tiny,” Dorothy said, demonstrating with her fingers a size not more than an inch. “Some are three feet tall.”

The kings – magi or wise men, as they also are known – are made of paper, wood, glass, leather, stone and other materials. Some are earth-toned; others are wild with vivid color. There are exotic kings and simple ones, some to make the viewer smile and others to elicit more serious reflection.

“My king collection began when I went to Yucatan on an archeological expedition in 1968,” Dorothy said. “I saw these three beautiful wise men, and I didn’t buy them. But I never forgot them, and I found out some friends were going to the same place and I asked them to get them for me.”

That started a collection that now numbers in the hundreds of sets. And what pleasure would they be if they were not shared, they contend.

With Jack doing most of the packing, unpacking and transporting back and forth from home to church, the couple sets up as many as they find attractive in the windows and on a table in the church sanctuary.

It is their pleasure. And the kings collection is only one way they have to share their things and themselves with others.

Does the new year also bring thoughts of resolutions? “Of course,” Jack said. “We always say at the beginning of the year we’ll get the house cleaned one day.”

Dorothy laughed along with him, describing the boxes that make it difficult to pass through certain rooms of the house.

“But there’s a saying, ‘a dull person has an immaculate home,’ and I go along with that,” she said.

“There are so many other things to do besides cleaning house. And besides, there’s always tomorrow to do that.”

As partners in many of their activities and as successful parents and grandparents, the couple acknowledges that, surprisingly, their personalities are unalike.

“I’m an organization person,” Jack said. “I still put my clothes out each night and know exactly what I’m going to wear the next day.”

Dorothy? “I know what I’m going to wear when I walk out the door.”

Jack said the two are opposite in many ways. “I’m Bohemian,” Dorothy said. Jack quickly responded, “And I’m prissy. When you’re like I am, you have to swallow a lot.”

He is an engineer. She is an artist. They have worked well as a combination, much to the delight of both.

A lifetime of giving

“This is just the way we’ve always done things,” said Dorothy.

Jack agreed. “And we believe the things we do are helpful.”

Indeed, the two could be classified as professional volunteers. Their involvement in community activities, their generosity in sharing what they have and the enthusiasm with which they do it have led to awards they did not seek and do not discuss unless pressed to do so.

“We used to have plaques on the walls, but we don’t have room for those now,” Jack said.

They are busy with Institute for Learning in Retirement at Copiah-Lincoln Community College in Natchez. Jack was the first president of the group. They are active in Natchez Retiree Partnership. Both have volunteered as hosts at the Natchez Visitor Reception Center. They work with the Natchez Historical Society. Jack volunteers at the Stewpot and is a narrator at the annual Historic Natchez Pageant in the spring. Dorothy is an active elder in their church and is official photographer for numerous local organizations.

Their Baton Rouge days

Both look back on formative volunteer years in Baton Rouge, where they spent most of their married life and reared their children. “We were both involved in Boy Scouts and Campfire Girls,” Jack said.

They both were active in the Historical Foundation for Louisiana and together served as interim directors for one year and were program chairmen for eight years.

For many years before they changed their residency to Natchez, the couple came frequently to Natchez to visit their son, Dr. Kenneth Stubbs, and his family.

By 1992, Jack and Dorothy decided they should have a place to live in Natchez and purchased a condominium, which they kept for several years. Then in 1996, they sold their Baton Rouge house and bought a house in Natchez. They maintain close ties with friends in Baton Rouge but have become dyed-in-the-wool Natchezians, too.

“When I realized we had to make a choice, I asked Dotty, ‘would you like to live in Natchez?’ And the answer was an immediate yes,” Jack said.

The two had met in the 1940s in Baton Rouge, where they both worked for the company that now is known as Exxon. Their three sons grew up there; they are Olin, recently retired as a state forester in Louisiana; Samuel, an attorney in Houston; and Kenneth, a Natchez physician.

Slowing the pace

Their activities hardly seem to have slowed in the past year. But, in fact, they have. “We’re getting older, a little slower, and we don’t get as much done as we used to,” Jack said. They try to take a day off during the week. He, having had some heart problems, takes a rest after lunch. They had to cut out a couple of their volunteer activities.

By no means have they stopped, however. And when they do pause for a few moments, the memories of the past 55 years they have spent together are exciting enough. They have traveled all over the world with a group called Friendship Force International. “We organized the chapter in Baton Rouge,” Dorothy said. “It’s thriving now.” &160;

&160;