New Orleans Courtyard Painting Honors Memory of Her Husband

A large painting that portrays a New Orleans courtyard splashed by sunshine brought back fond memories for Billie Sartin.

The wonderful piece of work by Clinton artist Jeanette Jarmon is one of about 200 paintings hanging in the Baptist Healthplex on the Mississippi College campus.

“It’s a beautiful painting,” says Sartin, a 1952 MC graduate who recently donated the painting to the Christian university in memory of her late husband, Dr. Jack Sartin, a longtime Clarksdale surgeon.

Billie Sartin and her husband lived in New Orleans from 1952 through 1957 when he attended medical school in the Crescent City and launched his health care career in Louisiana. At the time, Billie Sartin worked as a secretary at St. Charles Avenue Baptist Church in New Orleans.

After leaving Louisiana, the Columbia, Mississippi native worked as a general surgeon in Clarksdale for 45 years. Dr. Sartin died in 2002.

Seeing the tall painting by Jarmon hanging just outside the Baptist Health Systems medical clinic for the first time, it immediately made an impression on Billie Sartin. A few months ago, the Clinton resident purchased the painting and donated it to her alma mater in Clinton.

“We had a lot of great memories in New Orleans,” said Sartin, a Cleveland, Mississippi native.

A former Columbia, Mississippi school teacher, Billie Sartin and her husband also had great memories of life in Mississippi. The couple raised four boys.

A few years ago, the Clintonian became friends with Jarmon, an award-winning artist and MC graduate who’s an adjunct professor in the university’s art department.

In the lobby and other places around the building, the Healthplex showcases paintings of all sizes and styles, photography and creative furniture. Many are by Jarmon, who paints pictures of flowers, cotton fields, scenes of Olde Towne Clinton and much more. She’s considered to be the artist-in-residence at the Baptist Healthplex.

Just a short walk from places where many Mississippians burn up calories on fitness equipment, shoot baskets or go swimming, the splendid art pieces have been a fixture at the Baptist Healthplex for about a decade.

“It brightens up the place,” says David Carpenter, the executive director of the Baptist Healthplex. “It’s so great to have local artists displaying their art.”

Jarmon’s New Orleans courtyard is the largest of the 200 paintings on display at the Healthplex. The Vicksburg native produced the piece of art in 2002 based on photos she took during visits to the Big Easy. Other area artists with their work on display include Bob Dunaway, Penny Ma, Karen Johannson, Mishka Kincses, Karen Freeman, Georgia Wright, Bill Broadus, Karen Fowler, Marijane Whitfield, and Sherry Ferguson.

But Jarmon’s painting of the New Orleans Courtyard clearly remains Billie Sartin’s favorite piece of art in the building on the Clinton campus.