Even though the Selma-Dallas County Chamber of Commerce welcomed a new tourism director in February, they will now be saying goodbye just two months later. 

Jill Anderson, a Selma native, will be moving with her husband and two daughters to Waco, Texas in the coming months.

For Anderson, she said, it is bittersweet to be leaving Selma and going to Texas because even though she was born in Selma, she grew up in Texas.

“I think one of the things I will miss is all of the people here,” Anderson said.  “Everybody that I have encountered has been just warm, welcoming and sweet and has really given me the southern hospitality that they are known for.”

Anderson is not sure yet if she will continue to pursue something in the tourism field in her new home or if she will pursue a career in public relations — something chamber executive director Sheryl Smedley said Anderson has done for the department.

“We are really sad to be losing Jill,” Smedley said, and explained Anderson has done a lot of organizational things for the tourism department as well as a lot of networking.

Anderson attended several symposiums and reached out to other tourism directors in South Carolina and Mississippi and brought them to Selma under the cause of civil rights tourism.

“She has her wonderful talents and she has shared her talent here by bringing her ideas — she has helped move tourism forward,” Smedley said. “She gave Selma a lot of really great exposure and we hope she will come back one day.”

Anderson, while she said she feels like she will be leaving one home and returning back to another, said she will take Selma with her wherever she goes.

“The friendliness of the people and the warmth and really all of the culture and history here — it really made me appreciate our country’s history and I will definitely take that with me,” Anderson said.