Sela Ward may have left Meridian when she was just 18 years old, but she didn’t leave her hometown behind.

    Ward, the nationally recognized actress who currently stars opposite Gary Sinise in the CBS crime drama, CSI:NY, left home in the ’70s to pursue her passion for acting, but she continually makes it evident that she has another passion — Meridian.

    Ward will grace the cover of this week’s “Parade” magazine, but she makes Meridian the star of her story, which bears the headline, “Sela Ward: Where I’m From — The CSI:NY Star Talks About the Mississippi Town She Still Calls Home.”

    The magazine, which is distributed as an insert in more than 510 Sunday papers all over the United States, including The Meridian Star, has a circulation of 32.2 million and a readership of 74 million.

    In the article, Ward discusses Meridian, especially growing up in the Lakemont neighborhood, located between Old Highway 45 and 22nd Avenue Heights, and fondly remembers long summer days playing and fishing at Lakemont’s Echo Lake.

    Ward talks heavily about how leaving Meridian has helped her learn to appreciate it, saying, “Sometimes you don’t know what you have until you leave it.”

    Specific Meridian landmarks mentioned in the article include Weidmann’s restaurant, which Ward helped re-open, the Grand Opera House, Lamar School, and the Meridian Little Theater, where Ward recalls silently mouthing the words to a song because she was cast in the chorus of a musical but couldn’t sing.

    The article also touches on Ward’s part in helping to found Hope Village for Children, and Ward describes the service Hope Village provides to children who might otherwise be shuffled between foster homes.

    The overwhelming theme of the article: Ward’s intense desire to move away from Meridian when she was a girl, and the intense love she realized for her hometown once she had left and started a life elsewhere.

    The story will be published in this week’s “Parade” magazine, which can be found in your Sunday Meridian Star.