Legend has it Mark Twain often compared the mighty Mississippi River to a wonderful book — a book that has a new story to tell every day.
While the city of Memphis may supply its pages, Capt. Dale Meanley Lozier and family continue to inscribe the verse, in the book bound by the majesty of a muddy river.
As plumes of white steam bellow the heavy hiss of a brass whistle, people begin to slowly shuffle down the cobblestone corridor leading to the sprawling leviathan of a river below.
With loads of passengers and a traditional blow of a whistle, Lozier and her flotilla of flat-bottomed riverboats slowly begin to creep up the swift current of the river, where not too long ago cotton was king and the riverboat its queen.
“We all have mud in our blood, and catfish in our bones,” said Lozier, who along with most of her family, embodies a growing legacy of riverboat captains and University of Memphis alumni.
“Our goal is to give the passengers of these vessels a glimpse into the soul of this city,” Lozier said.
For some, the deep wail of the delta blues rhythmically in tune with the monotonous beat of the paddlewheel upon the river seems to echo the old splendor and charm of the American South.
To others, the spiced aroma of barbecue flowing from the vessel’s interior coupled with the warm glow of a Memphis night cloaked amid the darkness of the Mississippi serves as a gentle reminder of an era long ago.
But for the Meanley and Lozier family, the flowing waters and crawling boats of the Mississippi hold a much deeper meaning, woven from three generations of triumph, tragedy and timeless tales aboard the Memphis Queen riverboats.
At an early age, Lozier and siblings began the life-long love affair with the “Big Muddy.”
Their father, the late Capt. Thomas Meredith Meanley, was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize while writing for the now defunct Memphis Press-Scimitar newspaper by editor Ed Meeman, whom the U of M Meeman School of Journalism and Meeman Shelby State Park are named.
The grandson of the newspaper tycoon E.W. Scripps, Meanley had a bright future as a journalist, but the love he developed while covering issues on the local waterways of Memphis surpassed his talents as a writer.
By chance, Meanley came across an opportunity to purchase a small and dilapidated riverboat company on the banks of the Mississippi in the hopes of gaining a fun summertime hobby and to appease his passion for the water.
Today, the business that began from such humble beginnings has grown into one of the largest privately owned riverboat companies in the nation, and one of the most prominent symbols of the City of Memphis.
Having been certified as a riverboat captain, Capt. Tom, with the help of his three children, Jacob, Jerry and Dale, taught himself how to design and build boats.
With their own hands, the Meanley family erected three of the magnificent crafts from their home on the river bluff, where the family still resides today.
The Memphis Queen II, Memphis Showboat, Memphis Queen III, and the Island Queen, as well as the newly acquired City of Memphis, have long captured the imagination and hearts of both Memphians and tourists alike.
“I enjoy the nostalgic qualities of a riverboat,” said Rob Abbott, a student from Atlanta who rode aboard the Memphis Queen III. “(Riverboats) served an important role in Memphis heritage and history and it doesn’t hurt that I grew up reading the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer.”
While the gap between history and nostalgia is often as wide and deep as the Mississippi for many of the nation’s river cities, it’s one that the Meanleys’ family legacy has bridged for the city of Memphis.
“Nearly all memories that any of us can ever recollect involve the river, the boats and the good people who come to take a ride,” Lozier said. “Sure, we all went out and did our own thing, but most of us just naturally felt the river rat’s urge to get back to the river because this is what we know and love.”
With the retirement and eventual death of the “Queen Lines beloved founding father,” members of the Meanley family carried on his legacy by staying active in the company.
With Capt. Tom’s brood of children and grandchildren earning a captain’s license at an early age, the pilots of the Mississippi Queen Line riverboats are among the most seasoned captains on the Mississippi.
John Lozier, who worked as a deck hand while attending the University of Memphis, and eventually married Meanley’s daughter, Dale, served as president of the company until his death in 1988.
Following the unexpected and tragic loss of their son, J.T., and the loss of her brother Jacob in 2000, “Capt. Dale” has carried on the family business as the current president of the company.
Dale, who graduated from the University of Memphis with a master’s in genetic statistics in 1977, exhibits many of the same intangible and alluring qualities as her father. With the joyful demeanor of a child, the controlled and rustic characteristics of a veteran riverboat captain and a lifetime of insight into a world that few of us will ever know, “Capt. Dale” has the ability to keep a person in a chair for hours, intently listening to the forgotten tales of Memphis and the mighty Mississippi.
“I’ve been river ratting for a long time — I fell in love on the river, I got married on the river and it is where I can best remember our lost family,” Dale said.
But the only thing that seems more important than the river to Dale is the opportunity to share the experience with people.
Some of the past guests who have experienced the “bliss of the Big Muddy” include Mother Teresa, Bill Clinton and U2.
When the company launched its newest addition to the fleet, the City Of Memphis in 2000, Dale could not help but notice the small, yet imperative tug that effortlessly pushed the grand ship out of the harbor and into the Mississippi. The sight evoked a revelation — the little tug was called the Capt. J.T. Meanley.
