With a sincere love for her local community and a passion to promote Magee, 2018 Chamber of Commerce Hall of Fame inductee Sue Dickey Honea is the driving force behind MageeNews.com, a site she began in 2007 as a way of keeping friends and family abreast of the latest happenings in Simpson County.
“I grew up with parents who helped others,” she said.
Concern for others is not the only trait Honea’s parents, F. J. and Mary Ruth Dickey, instilled in their daughter. “They taught me responsibility,” she said.
They also taught her about business. Honea grew up working in her family’s store, which began doing business in Magee as Horn Brothers in 1922 and remained in business for 65 years.
A 1968 graduate of Magee High School, Honea has served on the city’s zoning commission and has always been a staunch supporter of the F.J. Dickey Volunteer Fire Department, which was named in honor of her father. Her home, which belonged to her grandparents, has been in her family for 97 years.
Honea took the helm of her family’s store after she graduated from the University of Southern Mississippi and returned to Magee to teach English and speech at Magee High School.
“I loved teaching,” she said, “but I knew I needed to leave teaching and be part of the family business.”
Dickey’s, as the store was known by that time, was years ahead of its time with features that Honea established such as cooking classes, window displays that featured live modeling and etiquette classes.
When the store closed, Honea began work with the United States Postal Service, where she worked for 20 years before having the stroke which led to her retirement.
It also paved the way for MageeNews.com, which was in the works before Honea suffered the stroke.
“It really began as a hobby,” Honea said. “MageeNews.com did not begin as a news outlet. I just wanted to promote all of the good things that happen in Magee.”
MageeNews.com is more than a hobby today, however, and Honea has helped train people in other communities to start similar sites as well.
When the site launched, Honea was not sure what to expect and recalls, “I remember thinking--Oh my gosh!-- because we had 1,000 followers.”
Today, MageeNews.com averages more than 20,000 visitors and 100,000 page views each month and has hosted various events, including political forums and live interviews with state political leaders as well as countless Simpson County citizens.
In fact, MageeNews.com spearheaded the live streaming of local sporting events and each year live streams election results from the county courthouse.
Even though technology constantly changes, Honea’s goal is still the same: to promote the town she loves so well and to help others by doing so.
She also incorporates her love of teaching by mentoring high school students who intern with MageeNews.com.
One of those students, Brandon Johnston, and Honea have worked together to expand Local News Online, a company that sells advertising on televisions throughout the area, to its 12 locations in Simpson and Jefferson Davis counties.
Honea’s passion for promoting things she cares about reaches much farther than local news. She uses her marketing skills to benefit others around the world and is one of the founding board members of Merchant Ship Ministries, which helps women in Kenya receive training and economic development opportunities. She also serves on the board of Friends and Family of Boswell.
Honea’s impact in the community has also been felt through her leadership of the Ollie Mayhall Circle of the Baptist Young Women group of First Baptist Church of Magee, where Honea has been a member all her life. The BYW supports local mission projects throughout the year. Honea’s newsletter to the group, the “Message from the Prez,” was the earliest form of MageeNews.com, starting as a regular letter then an email and, finally, a website.
Honea has always been involved with the Magee Chamber of Commerce. She has served on the Board of Directors several times and received the Spirit of Magee Award in 2013. She has volunteered with Crazy Day since its beginning and is always part of the annual Christmas parade.
Family has always been of utmost importance to Honea, and her devotion to her family and her community continues to the next generation.
Since her days as head cheerleader at Magee High School, she has always been an avid supporter of everything Magee, and while her three sons, Dickey, Larkin and Breck, were growing up, Honea became very involved in youth sports in the city, serving on the board of the Magee Youth Center when the YMCA first came to town and working with others to build the city’s baseball program, in which her sons participated.
While they were enrolled in the local schools, she also volunteered with the schools’ parent organizations.
At this point, Honea looks forward to watching MageeNew.com grow. The company hopes to extend training services to people in other areas, enabling them to better serve their communities through local news sites, start a podcast, and expand the use of video and social media to promote Magee and its local news.
Sue Honea’s goal is to continue to promote and support the prosperity of the City of Magee because she truly believes “All Roads lead to Magee.”
