NATCHEZ &045;&045; By mid-afternoon Thursday the employees of International Paper’s Natchez mill had stepped out of the facility’s gates and into an often uncertain future.

As he lashed the cabinets, desks and equipment from his office to a trailer on the back of his truck &045;&045; a common sight in the parking lot at 3 p.m. Thursday &045;&045; maintenance planner Tony Braley reflected on what the mill had meant to his family.

He pointed to a series of wall calendars, fastened one on top of the other, tacked onto one of the storage cabinets he was allowed to keep.

&uot;There’s one for each year I’ve been here, … 32 years,&uot; Braley said.

His father worked there for 45 years, until his retirement; Braley’s son worked there three months, until the mill closed down.

&uot;The mill’s been good to me, I won’t lie about that,&uot; Braley said, wiping the sweat from his brow.

But on Thursday, IP shut down the mill due to a poor market for chemical cellulose it produces &045;&045; leaving Braley and others to contemplate their future.

He’s sent resumes to other companies throughout Mississippi and Louisiana, even one in Alaska, but he doesn’t want to leave the place where he was born and raised.

So for now, Braley said, &uot;I’m just waiting to see what door the Lord opens. I’m hoping the buyout will go through. And I’m optimistic &045;&045; you have to be.&uot;

The buyout to which Braley referred is a proposed employee buyout of the mill through an employee stock option plan, or ESOP.

A meeting will be held at 9 a.m. Wednesday at the Natchez Convention Center to inform employees about the progress of the deal.

&uot;We need to get the word out,&uot; said union leader George Robinson, who greeted fellow employees as they left the mill. &uot;

Everybody needs to be able to make an informed decision.&uot;

As he spoke, mill Manager Steve Olsen and other managers from human resources and maintenance stood at the security gate to applaud and shake the hand of every worker who came out, wearing hard hats and carrying lunchboxes, to make the walk to their trucks.

Most who were questioned about their plans said they would stick around the area, at least in the coming months, to see if the ESOP materializes.

&uot;We’ve got God on our side,&uot; said Barnette Gilchrist, a 23-year employee of the shipping department.

In the background, a sign in front of the administration building read, &uot;The Future Belongs to Those Who Believe in Their Dreams.&uot;

Some, like Mike Rehms, an electrician, have lined up work in the area; others, like Nancy Eidt, may go back to school.

&uot;If the ESOP comes through, I’ll come back here. If it doesn’t, I’ll go back to school to become a teacher,&uot; said Eidt, a 25-year employee who is now a general mechanic and machinist.

But in any case, she said, &uot;I don’t want to leave here. My parents are here. My home is here.&uot;

&uot;We were just talking about some guys who left to go to work in North Carolina, and they’re dying to come back here.&uot;

Ella Singleton will soon attend Copiah-Lincoln Community College to train as a medical transcriptionist.

That was a career she chose after researching growing job fields on the Internet.

&uot;And if there’s nothing in that field, well, maybe I’ll get some office skills I can use somewhere else,&uot; Singleton said.

She mentions the need to find a secure job, and she and Robinson break into raucous laughter.

She later explains that she has gone to work for several places in a row &045;&045; Diamond International, Natchez Pecan and Kroger, among others &045;&045; and each one has shut down.

&uot;People say, ‘Let me know where you’re going to be working so I don’t go there,’&uot; Singleton said, laughing.

A minute earlier she was wiping away tears as she hugged some longtime co-workers goodbye.

&uot;It’s very emotional,&uot; Singleton said. &uot;You know there are people you just won’t see again.

&uot;This is family. You know you’re going to miss them. You work eight, 12, 16 hours a day with somebody for ‘x’ number of years, and you’re going to be close.&uot;

That might account for some of the laughter that could be heard outside the mill as the last employees filed out Thursday &045;&045; the chance to share, in some cases, the last pat on the back or teasing joke between friends.

Jerry Stowers, a 31-year employee in the maintenance department, even cooked jambalaya to mark the last day.

Beyond the gate friends and co-workers came together with tight hugs, firm handshakes and &045;&045; perhaps most surprisingly&045;&045; smiles as well as tears.

Some even referred to the day as being like a celebration because, while they were sad about the closing, the mill and its people had given them so much.

&uot;It put my girls through college, and now they’re grown and got families of their own,&uot; Stowers said. &uot;That’s what it’s all about right there. I’ve got no regrets.&uot;

&uot;No regrets&uot; is also how Greg West described his feelings on the last day of his 14 years at the mill.

On a day marked more by the din of goodbyes than the noise of equipment, West stood by himself for a moment with a silent smile, watching all the activity.

&uot;The day has come,&uot; he said with a small laugh.

It’s hard on some people, leaving a way of life and a family of sorts, West said, although he said the reality of the closing hasn’t hit him yet.

That’s why he got the mill management’s permission to hold a voluntary prayer meeting each day this week to help people deal with the change.

At 3:20 p.m. Thursday he and a handful of other employees could be found under the facility’s flagpole, hands held in a circle, praying together.

&uot;We just thanked the Lord for the blessing of the mill,&uot; West said later.

&uot;We thanked Him because it’s allowed us material things and given us friendships.&uot;

As for the future, West doesn’t know whether he will go to school or take a job elsewhere, at least not yet.

&uot;I don’t know what God’s plans are, but whatever they might be, they’re good,&uot; West said.

&uot;With that in mind, I can leave in peace.&uot;