Hometown Living At Its Best 75
great friends, which, of course, is a
great start for a healthy relationship.
Whether it was the motorcycle or Al’s
“good cookin’,” we may never know.
But the rest, as they say, is history.
If you stopped reading here, you
would think that Jesslyn’s success
was the result of her own hard
work. But according to Jesslyn, that
would be only partly true. Plenty
of hardworking people work night
and day and don’t make it. One
person can start a business, but it
takes a team with the same
heart and vision to maintain a
business. Although Jesslyn gave
everything, she is adamant that
her ongoing success is the result
of the family at Pix Photography
and Pix One-Hour Photo and
Gifts where she is affectionately
known as “Mama.”
Jesslyn’s first full-time
employee, Luan Newman, has
been with her now for thirty-one
years. Traci Hart, the Manager of
Pix One-Hour Photo and Gifts,
started working at the age of
fifteen and has been with her
for twenty-nine years. Michelle
Moore, also at Pix One-Hour
Photo and Gifts, has worked
alongside Traci for the past
twelve years. Traci’s mom, Elaine
Strange, took over as CFO and
bookkeeper twenty-eight years
ago. Belinda Cox, Jesslyn’s
fulltime printer and retouch
artist, joined the family twentyfour
years ago and does all the
printing. Vicki Jay, an incredible
photographer in her own right,
joined Pix Photography twentyone
years ago. Her specialty
is high school seniors and
“tweens.” More recent additions
to the business have been Baily
Thomas and Briana Brinson, both in
sales. “My daughter, Josie, has also
started working some with me,” said
Jesslyn proudly.
All the long hours and hard work
would have been much more stressful
if not impossible had it not been for
Jesslyn’s mom, Keller Morris. “My
mom helped me from the beginning.
She came and did sales, and when we
started a family, she stayed home to
keep our girls, Josie and Alex called
Rocki.”
In order to stay relevant in
the rapidly changing world of
photography, Pix One-Hour Photo
and Gifts has expanded their services.
“People are taking more pictures
now than ever with their cellphones
but then don’t print them out.” And
the scary part about a digital life
is that thousands of photos taken
of children’s birthday parties and
vacations can be lost in a moment.
“We had a girl come in yesterday
who said, ‘I've got 3,000 pictures on
my phone, and I’m going on vacation.
I need space to take more pics, but I
don't have time to get through them.’
We put them on a CD from her phone,
and she can go through it later. And
if something were to happen to your
cellphone, you still have a copy.
You can also come in and select the
photos you want for us to print on
our professional printer, which is far
superior to a home printer.” Digital
photos can also be uploaded to Pix
website at night and picked up the
next morning.
Other services include DVD/
Movie transfer, photo restorations,
personalized greeting cards,
invitations, announcements, thank
you and note cards, posters, collages,
posters and collages with mounting
options, and photo books. “We sell
a lot of personalized t-shirts, Easter
baskets, and ornaments at Christmas,
too,” said Jesslyn.
To date, Pix Photography services
all the surrounding recreational
departments and has contracts with
fourteen schools. “We have a lot
of people who depend on us,” said
Jesslyn. “It’s our job to make sure that