Christian Boone

Dec 30, 2024 | nytimes.com | Rick Rojas |Christina Morales |Christian Boone

As a result, people living in that environment became accustomed to quirks and complications that their neighbors in Richland or Americus never had to contend with. Those circumstances included days like Monday, as journalists from Atlanta, Washington, New York - and even farther away - swooped in. Local residents were asked to recount their stories about "Mr. Jimmy," as others in town sometimes called him, and to distill what he meant to their town and, indeed, the nation.