Thursday, after nearly 11 months of planning and research, Rebecca Dana-Fetterolf of Lumberton celebrated the official naming of an unnamed stream with a ribbon cutting.
The creek, now named Dana Creek, runs through the Fetterolf’s 40-acre property on Hickory Grove Road.
“A lot of people asked me if the creek had a name,” she said. “I called Pearl River County, found out it was unnamed. I did some research and found out how to apply to have it named nationally.”
She obtained and completed an application from the U.S. Board on Geographic Names, prepared a narrative and obtained a professional map from County Engineer Les Dungan.
From the beginning, Dana-Fetterolf knew she wanted to name the creek Dana, to honor her father, Richard L. Dana. He was born and raised in Harrison County. He was a veteran of World War II and worked in the engineering and maintenance department at the Veterans Hospitals in Biloxi and Gulfport, Dana-Fetterolf said. Dana died in 2009 and is buried at the Veterans National Cemetery in Biloxi. She also included pictures of her father, taken during WWII, with the application.
After numerous phone calls and emails, Dana-Fetterolf finally received the letter she had been waiting for.
On Feb. 11, 2016, the U.S. Board on Geographic Names approved her proposal to apply the name Dana Creek to the previously unnamed body of water.
Dana Creek is 17.1 miles long and flows through Forrest County, De Soto National Forest, Pearl River County and empties into Red Creek, which can be found in the back of the Fetterolf’s property, Dana-Fetterolf said.
Richard L. Dana’s wife Colleen said she is pleased about the new name of the creek, but added that her husband would be embarrassed by the attention.
“He was a humble man,” Colleen Dana said. “He didn’t expect anyone to pay attention to him.”
Richard L. and Colleen Dana often visited their daughter and her husband Anthony Fetterolf in Lumberton. Richard L. Dana was an avid quail hunter and his last bird hunt occurred in Lumberton.
“I can breathe a big deep sigh of relief,” Dana-Fetterolf said. “It was a lot of planning and organization but well worth it.”
In her letter to the U.S. Board on Geographic Names, Dana wrote that her father had a tremendous love and appreciation of nature and witnessed firsthand the development and degradation of the wilds of Mississippi.
Dana-Fetterolf ended her letter with this statement, “In honor of Dad, his devotion and fierce loyalty to Mississippi, his service to country and state, love for his family and love of our creek, it would be fitting to name our creek Dana Creek.”