Mrs. Lola Mae Autry makes her living as a teacher, photographer, lecturer, and writer. Mrs. Autry has visited, entertained, and studied in over twenty-five countries. She has photographs from caves in China and senior portraits in her backyard to tea in London. Mrs. Autry has charmed many people with her musical talents on the piano, organ, and string instruments.

Mrs. Autry was born in Memphis, Tennessee where she lived until she married. She attended The University of Memphis and obtained a Bachelor’s degree in Pre-Medicine. She met her husband, Edward Arthur Autry, and married him on February 21, 1941. Mrs. Autry stated that she had a longing to be a doctor, but she met her small town preacher and ran away to what now she calls her home Ashland, Mississippi. She said she has never regretted one minute.

 Mrs. Autry has five published books Fifty-Two Devotionals for Primary Children with Original Songs, Bible Puppets Play, Don’t Look Back Mama, Turtle and the Oak, Please God I’m a City Girl Why Am I in the Country ?, and over sixty music compositions. She has acquired many photo and writing awards throughout her career such as: the National Federation of Press Women, Southern Christian Writer’s Confederation, Mississippi Media Fiction Book of the Year for The Turtle and the Oak, chosen by Mississippi Institute of Arts and Letters, and chosen as one of the top four photographers in Mississippi. She is listed in the 2005 and the 2006 Marquis’ Who’s Who in American Women and in Marquis’ Who’s Who in America.

Mrs. Autry’s life has not always been a life of glamour, as it may seem. She has dealt with the loss of her husband, leaving the city and coming to the country, as well as an accident from which no one thought she would ever recover. However, Mrs. Autry is still an inspiration to those who know her, and a lasting legacy proudly added to the list of Mississippi people.