Born in Water Valley in 1907, Hubert Creekmore earned degrees from the University of Mississippi and Columbia University and studied at the University of Colorado and Yale. A veteran of the US Navy in World War II, he was a poet, playwright, critic, and editor. Creekmore also wrote three novels, five books of poems, and reviews for the New York Times. Water Valley inspired much of his fiction, including the novel The Welcome. Related by marriage to Eudora Welty, Creekmore died in 1966 in New York City.