CHARLESTON, Mo. The family of Jamarcus and Maggie Williams is something straight out of central casting. A great-looking, young professional couple, with four adorable children, who run amok all over their beautiful home, just as kids should do. Even where the Williams’s have settled down, a small, southern town which oozes history and cotton fields, fits the bill. They are a holiday feature on The Hallmark Channel waiting to happen. “I never wanted to stay in Charleston,” Maggie said in a moment of brutal honesty. “Honestly, if we could move to San Diego, I would today.” Tap the brakes there, Maggie. That ruins the entire movie. Thank the Lord above that Maggie also admits to “following Jamarcus everywhere,” and for Jamarcus, there is no place like home. “It’s so easy to grow up, become an adult, move off, and never look back to your hometown,” Jamarcus said. “That mentality doesn’t sit right with me.” In the beginning Maggie and Jamarcus both attended Charleston High School, but in many ways, they weren’t destined for each other. Two years older, Jamarcus was the star athlete for the Bluejays. He eventually played both basketball and football at the collegiate level, and when he glanced at the sidelines during his high school days, he wasn’t focused on the cheerleaders, but Maggie, who served as the school mascot. They began dating when Maggie was a sophomore, and she still had visions of travel grandeur. However, life (and the fact that Jamarcus loves his hometown almost as much as he does the late Kobe Bryant) had other plans for the couple. The couple had their first child, daughter Aubri, followed later by daughter Camille, and twins Capri and the couple’s only son, Haze. While the Williamses were growing their family, Jamarcus was growing his career and stature within his community. Setting an example Jamarcus began his professional career as a sixth grade educator in the same middle school he had once attended, not long before. He later became a high school physical education teacher, and there was a part of him who felt that was a perfect fit. “I was in the gym every day and wearing sweats,” Jamarcus said longingly. However, as the people of Mississippi County know all too well, Jamarcus isn’t comfortable pursuing, well, comfort. “I never want anyone else to believe in me more than I believe in myself,” Jamarcus said. With the urging of several mentors, that drive which once fueled his work in athletics was now setting him on a path that sped through the assistant principal position at Charleston High School, the principal position, and he is now in his fourth year as the superintendent for Charleston R-1 Schools. His spacious office is located in a former classroom that a young Jamarcus Williams once sat in daily. “I look out for the kids who are in the same situation that I was when I was a kid,” Jamarcus said of his role in his hometown. Spreading their roots Maggie, who works as a respiratory therapist at Mercy Hospital Southeast, as well as manages her family’s 1, 500-acre farm that has been in her family since the Spanish claimed these parts, eventually had to face the reality of being a Southeast Missouri girl, and now loves where she is. “Charleston is a village,” Maggie said. “When it is time for people to come together, they pull together from all angles. They will help out with anything. “Honestly, that is one of the best parts about Charleston.” For Jamarcus, his parents still reside in town, and despite his administrative success, as well as the fact that he has coached the Bluejays boy’s basketball program to four MSHSAA District championships, as well as a Class 3 state championship (2022) in his five seasons, he has no plans to venture anywhere else at this time. “It’s not about where you are,” Jamarcus said. “It’s about what am I doing?” And with that, the credits roll, and another fabulous Hallmark flick is in the books.
https://www.standard-democrat.com/magazines/bootheel-charleston-couple-are-living-a-hollywood-esque-life-right-here-in-the-bootheel-84bdf52b