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Cobb Family
25 years ago, if you had asked Nicky
and Elizabeth Cobb, both born and raised
in Greenwood, if they’d someday be living
in Madison, Mississippi, they probably
would have laughed.
“We were both born and raised in the
Greenwood community of the Mississippi
Delta and that was home to us,” said
Nicky. After Nicky graduated from Pillow
Academy, he enrolled in Mississippi State
University (MSU) and later received an
MBA from Texas A & M University.
Elizabeth was a junior in high school
at the time they started dating. After she
graduated high school, she attended MSU
where she was named Miss MSU her
senior year before graduating with a
degree in special education.
With their 30th wedding anniversary
just around the corner, I wanted to hear a
little bit more about their love story.
“Our love story? Nicky you tell it; I
can’t wait to hear what you say. This is so
much fun!” Elizabeth said in between
giggles. Nicky went on to talk about how
they met, how their families knew each
other, and how everyone knows everything
in a small town.
Making
Madison
Home
“We had a beautiful, hot, July wedding… it
felt like 140 degrees,” Elizabeth said.
“Nicky and I had dated for 6 years before
we got married, so it just felt right. Now,
looking back, there’ve been Godwinks all
throughout our relationship and this life
we’ve built together.”
After their college graduations and a
short period where they lived in Texas,
the Cobbs moved to Greenville and
became proud parents to their children
Nicholas (22), Russell (21), and Caroline
(19). “The Delta is home to us,” said
Nicky, “and we had a great nine years in
Greenville.”
“Right around the time that Caroline
was born, Russell was diagnosed with
autism and that began a long, arduous
road for our family,” said Nicky. “We loved
our life in Greenville, we were a part of an
amazing community and really had a great
network of friends—but we knew that
would soon have to change.”
Elizabeth went on to talk about how,
after finding out about Russell’s diagnosis,
he had to undergo extensive applied
behavior analysis therapy for eight hours a
day, seven days a week. “We knew that for
Russell to have a chance, for us to be able
to really pull him back out of himself so
that we didn’t lose him and communication
with him forever, we had to work
hard and fast,” said Elizabeth. “We knew
that for Russell’s future, schools were
going to be important. So we made the
decision to move to Madison because of
the public school system–specifically the
program they had in place for autistic
The
Erin Williams
Hometown madison • 31