Micki Waugh with husband Joey and three-year-old Tanner.

She's pretty as a picture and sings like a nightingale...but some of her best work is done in silence. Micki Waugh is at once enigmatic and girl-next-door. A student in Bethel's Success Program, she's going places, and staying right here at home. Hers is the best kind of success: homespun and earthy, she knows family is the most important thing in life.

Now a resident of McKenzie, Micki grew up in Huntingdon, the daughter of Roxie (now Dublin) and Mike Mansfield. With time and circumstance her family grew to include stepfather Keith Dublin of McKenzie, where he and Roxie own Quality Cleaners and Ti-County Guttering, and stepmother Bertlynn Mansfield, who lives with Mike in Camden. Micki's siblings include Misty Vaughn, Marcus Mansfield, and JoMeagan Mansfield, plus Keith's children Rob Dublin and Lisa Bowen, and Bertlynn's daughter, Amy Pierce.

Micki's recollections of her childhood years retain the magical quality of carefree days spent laughing and playing in the fresh, sunny ambiance of the rural town which was itself undergoing exciting new changes.

"I had a big yard and I played outside all the time," smiles 27-year-old Micki, her dark-blond hair falling naturally over her shoulders as she recalls games of kickball with other children in the neighborhood. Her outdoor fun was enhanced when Veterans Park was developed across the street, where Fourth of July celebrations and more took place. "It was fun having that on our street," she says.

Micki hugs mom, Roxie Dublin, on graduation day, 1996. "I love her more than she will ever know," says Micki.

Her back yard was just a block removed from Main Street, across which lay the Dairy Queen and the town's first Wal-Mart. "I just kind of walked to town if I needed to as a kid," says Micki.

She played T-ball up to softball and was on the school's basketball team until she was a sophomore, when she decided to work instead, picking up her first job at City Drugs.

Her father was, and remains, coach of the renowned Mustang football team, and she recalls, in her younger years, accompanying him to the fieldhouse, where she and Misty would roller skate around the track, making up songs along the way.

While she enjoyed singing, Micki was reserved regarding her abilities. By the time she was a sophomore in high school, however, her talent received recognition from teachers Clay Barger and Jeanie Newman when she was assigned a small solo for a performance of the school chorus. Petrified, a ballgame the night before provided a way out of her misery.

"I made myself hoarse so I wouldn't have to sing that solo," she admits. "I just yelled and yelled at the game."

Her respite lasted a couple of more years until she earned one of the leading roles in the senior play: "You Ain't Nothing But a Werewolf". Micki says even her mom hadn't realized she could sing.

"She thought I was lip-syncing," laughs Micki. "She was really proud of my performance but hadn't known I was going to be singing."

She ponders the significance of Ms. Barger's role in her life: "She gave me one of the leading roles and it required me to sing," Micki says sincerely, faltering as she continues, "I was not a very good student. I never was studious; I wanted to save the world. I wanted to be a veterinarian and go to Africa and do all the things that don't make a lot of money." She laughs again, relaxing as she makes her point: "She encouraged me as an individual. She encouraged me to sing and when she spoke to me she was very sincere--I knew it was from the heart--and she encouraged me to be myself...My mother was also one of those encouraging me to be myself--anything I wanted to be--and she was a very hard worker. From that she has taught me so much, just by her example. I respect and love her more than she will ever know."

Huntingdon High School teacher Clay Barger (left) and Micki, who credits Barger with encouraging her to pursue her dreams and talents.

After graduating in 1996, Micki spent a semester at Jackson State, then transferred to UT-Martin. But she found it impossible to maintain an interest in scholarship.

"I didn't know what I wanted to do...I had no motivation because I didn't know what I wanted to do, so I quit," says Micki.

She had developed another interest, however, when in the summer of '96 she met Joey Waugh at the Hideaway restaurant in Huntingdon where he was employed as a cook and she was a waitress.

"I was robbing the cradle," she says with feigned remorse. "I had just graduated and he was a sophomore in high school."

The couple dated over the next few years as Micki worked at several restaurants before landing her "first real job" at the Bank of Gleason after postponing her education. A natural lover of people, she says waitressing is still her favorite vocation.

Micki, in the blue top, adopts a tough pose for her senior play, "You Ain't Nothing But a Werewolf", in which she debuted her singing skills.

"I love waitressing; I could do that still today I love it so much," she muses, "because you leave it there and you meet so many people. I like talking to people and I like fast-paced work. It'll keep you slim," she adds, laughing.

Her sights are set on loftier goals, however, including the fact that she and Joey, already the parents of three-year old Tanner, plan on having a large family.

"Kids are a handful," says Micki, "I guess I'll pull my hair out, but I love a family and kids and we want to have a big family."

The two have already begun preparations for that role with the renovation of a sprawling, two story home on Locust Street. Its furnishings have benefited from the Waughs' enjoyment of frequenting auctions. Its upgraded, historic appeal is owed to Micki's sense of style and Joey's expertise in many aspects of the construction industry, right down to the gleaming hardwood floors. The perfectly mastered flooring is Joey's best advertisement, in fact, for his business: Waugh's Hardwood Floors.

"Joey really enjoys building and working for himself is a nice freedom to have," says Micki.

Joey credits Huntingdon High School teacher Paula Atkins with helping him determine his direction in life after high school. After helping him examine his interests, she aided him in finding employment with Barger Construction Company.

Micki explains that, because his mom, Wanda Waugh, is deaf, several adults from school and church helped form the "village" of his raising.

She admits she was nervous the first time she went to meet his family. "I just sort of waved hello," she begins, adding, "It's not just his mom--several of his family members are deaf (four of his grandmother's 11 children were born deaf)--and because of that, they have friends who are deaf...Our parties are always loud, but their parties are quiet. Everybody would be talking and I'd be the oddball out."

Not one to remain on the sideline, Micki set to work to learn sign language so she could join in.

"I already knew my letters," she says, reckoning she had picked them up from Sesame Street and figuring most children know the sign language alphabet. Sitting down with Wanda, she says, "I would spell out a word to her and she would show me the sign for it and I wouldn't forget it."

When she had learned enough words to string into sentences, she rejoiced. "Every song I heard I was signing just because I could and I was excited about it."

As for Joey, he had learned sign language before he learned to talk, a trend that was repeated in Tanner, who was able to sign "more" and "please" before he spoke his first words.

The couple conducts a deaf ministry at Long Heights Baptist Church, translating song and spoken word for deaf members and guests. Micki's extraordinary singing ability is also put to good use as she inspires the congregation through heartfelt and gifted performances.

The couple settled in at Long Heights after moving to McKenzie from Michigan, where they had moved soon after their marriage on May 13, 2000, a year after Joey's graduation.

"It was a good idea to move to Michigan, we needed to see something else," says Micki. Without jobs, they had headed north where they stayed with her brother, Marcus, and his wife, Lydia, until they were established on their own. About two years later, with Micki pregnant, they returned to Tennessee, followed soon afterwards by Marcus and Lydia and their twin daughters, Hannah and Sarah.

At first attending services at First Baptist Church in Huntingdon, where Micki had grown up (Joey attended First United Methodist Church in Huntingdon as a youth) they decided to try churches closer to home. They chose Long Heights for their first visit and discovered no need to look further; the church was a comfortable fit.

After arriving back in McKenzie, they took up residence in a small, rental house on Locust Street, across the street from their current abode, a Victorian house that was once divided into two downstairs and one upstairs apartments. Once charming, the timeworn home was in a shambles inside and out.

"We both love old houses and antiques," she says, recalling watching out her window at the historic home with an eye for its former beauty.

In time they approached the owner about purchasing the house. It took two years of hard work before, in June last year, they were able to move in. Only a few details remain to make the home worthy of its era, maintaining the original, cast-iron fireplace, large rooms and lofty ceilings.

With spring's arrival, Micki will be able to enjoy other favorite pastimes. "I like working in the yard and gardening and I like walking," she says. "There's something about walking outside, and if I've got somebody with me I can walk a long time."

In fact, once she has her degree in hand--projected for August 2006--Micki entertains dreams of using her business sense in a way that might promote beautification beyond the borders of her own lawn.

"Some people just need a wake up call," she smiles, envisioning rejuvenated neighborhoods where inhabitants take pride in their surroundings.

And she has dreams of using her other talents as well. "Joey says that someday when I become a singer he's going to build my stage for me," she smiles. No matter what career moves she makes, however, she's certain of one thing: "My family is the most important thing to me."