Category: Press Release

ELLISVILLE – With a birthday on Halloween, 100-year-old Geneva Thomas Burnett naturally had a fun time celebrating her milestone wearing her favorite Halloween themed sweater and sharing memories with Jones College President, Dr. Jesse Smith and his wife, Jennifer.  The Smith County native reminisced about her days at Jones College and what it meant to have a birthday on Halloween.

“I didn’t think much of the day, but I have an uncle who said, ‘The witches brought you.’ He was a joker and just trying to get a rise out of me,” said the native of Homewood, a small community in Smith County.

The former educator recently moved from her home in Collins after falling and breaking her hip. Her niece, Cindy Shields said Geneva had lived in her home until just before her 99^th birthday, and it was only the second time in her life she had stayed in the hospital for any illness. That’s also the last time she drove her car. Currently residing in an assisted living facility, the former home economics teacher shared how she reached this pinnacle in age, healthy.

“I didn’t follow any certain diet. I had nutrition courses and we lived on a farm. We ate what we grew, whatever that was. We had three vegetables a day, an orange a day, and limited sweets. I didn’t eat a lot of beef; I ate a lot of fish and chicken and limited the salt,” said Burnett. “I also drank black coffee before breakfast, no sugar or cream.”

Her family also didn’t have electricity until her senior year in high school in 1940 and they never had air conditioning. They lived like pioneers, she laughed. Geneva rode five miles on the school bus to get to high school which consisted of only eight classmates: five girls and three boys. As the valedictorian of her small class in the Homewood schoolhouse, she headed off to Jones County Junior College during the summer planting season.

“I started in the summer instead of waiting until September, then I went three quarters in the winter, and I went the next summer-five quarters instead of six. Each quarter I took the recommended load plus one class which meant I could graduate in five quarters instead of six!” Burnett said proudly.

Looking at her 1942 summer school class picture at JCJC, she pointed out there were not many boys in school because of the war. She shared, only one of the three boys in her high school senior class survived. After prodding from her niece, Burnett shared she never had a serious boyfriend at JCJC.

“When WWII started, he left and that was the end of it. It wasn’t a serious relationship for him, and I wasn’t worried about that at the time. My classes were a priority because I was determined. I did a lot of extra things; I worked waiting tables in the dining hall and other activities that took time from the evening. The lights were out at 10 p.m. for curfew,” explained Burnett.

Her favorite teacher at Jones was Miss Corley who taught English. Corley, who lived in Raleigh, took Geneva “under her wings” and invited her to be a part of a club she sponsored. Growing up, Geneva’s mother, Beulah Anderson Thomas, wanted to be a schoolteacher but since she couldn’t follow her dream, she ingrained the idea in Burnett and her two sisters, Laura Louise, and Iva Nell, and eventually to all of her relatives. Ironically, teaching elementary aged students is how Geneva was able to pay tuition at Mississippi Southern College (the University of Southern Mississippi). Burnett earned her Bachelor of Science Degree in Home Economics Education in 1946 and her master’s degree in textiles and clothing at the University of Tennessee in 1952.

“Once I got my master’s degree, I had a graduate assistantship in charge of a research project. I ended up staying six years as a faculty member. Doing the research, I didn’t feel like I had the background to really do it justice so when I had the chance to come to Southern to teach, I left,” Burnett said.

Before she could leave Tennessee, the bank that loaned her $1,200 for her first car, a 1957 Chevrolet, made sure she paid her loan off in full.

“Most places I lived where I could walk to work. I saved up $1,200 for my first car after working at U.T. doing research after I graduated. I got a loan for the other half. As I was preparing to leave for Hattiesburg, Mississippi to take the job at Mississippi Southern College, I inquired with the bank about how much I owed. However, they were not going to let me leave Knoxville until I paid off the loan, which I did with the little savings I had left.”

Confident in her teaching skills at Southern, Burnett’s students seemed to thrive as she helped them develop critical thinking skills as they worked on each garment. However, after two years of teaching, Geneva met her future husband who had been teaching in the business department for someone on sabbatical.

“Bill wanted to go to New York University to earn his Ph.D. since he had earned his master’s degree there. We got married that summer in 1960. He had some savings and investments, but it wasn’t enough for two people to live on for two-three years while he earned his degree. It was important for me to have a job, so I applied everywhere in New York,”

To her surprise, Sears offered her a textile testing position and she worked for them for two-and-a-half years. After her husband quit school and was employed on Wall Street, Burnett pursued a better job. Answering an ad in the New York Times, Geneva got the job as the Director of Quality Control for the Fruit of the Loom company.

“I’d take the samples of what they sold under the Fruit of the Loom label and shop the market and find comparable merchandise at a comparable price and test it to see how it stood up against the competition. I would get the results from the lab in New York City and write up my report and share the information with the business representatives,” said Burnett, who worked there for seven years.

As the tumultuous 1970s rocked the financial world, her husband lost his job and the couple moved to Oil City, Pennsylvania, a booming oil industry town. Taking a job as a trust investment officer at a bank meant Geneva didn’t have to work. However, she explains, she got “roped into” joining the federated women’s club, Belle Lettres Club and did a lot of community service work.

“These ladies had a lot of ‘old’ money from the oil industry; they had nice houses, and they had all the help they needed to maintain the house. In 1888, when the club began, they decided they wanted to study literature, so they organized the club at one of the members’ houses, who eventually donated their residence to become the club house. People I got acquainted with at the bank invited me to attend and I joined soon after. Right away, they wanted me to do this job and that,” shared Burnett.

She served as 2^nd VP of Programs, 1^st VP of Membership, and President, while also pulling off a very successful fundraising campaign to refurbish and remodel the “club house.”

In 1978, her husband Bill was diagnosed with Multiple Myeloma. He worked part time until April of 1978, when he decided to come home, dying five months later. After getting her business affairs in order in Pennsylvania, Geneva packed up and moved to be near her sisters in Clinton, Mississippi.

“Both of my sisters went to JCJC. Laura Louise Thomas taught 9^th grade English at Laurel for a long time and Iva Nell Thomas Fortenberry taught high school science in Monticello for most of her career. Mom wanted all of us to be teachers,” said Burnett.

The “take care of business” lady, continued to actively involve herself as a member of the First United Methodist Church, taking on various leadership roles in the First United Methodist Women’s group. On a regional level, Burnett served as the treasurer for the West Jackson-Vicksburg District and was on the Arlean Hall Administrative Board for eight years.

When asked if she had any advice for today’s students she politely deferred to comment.

“I wouldn’t know what to say! I have no advice because everything is so different,” said Geneva. However, her niece reminded her of how she solved daily problems. “I had ups and downs. I dealt with them,” said Burnett. “For some reason I never felt like I didn’t have a solution.”

Geneva also never expected anyone to take care of her and she didn’t get more in debt than she could handle. Living frugally and keeping to the basics, like her parents taught her, Geneva thinks helped her to reach 100 years of age.

ELLISVILLE – A variety of Paulette Dove’s artwork, featuring rabbit heads on human bodies will be on display at the Eula Bass Lewis Art Gallery on the Jones College Campus in Ellisville, through December 2. The show, “Paintings by Paulette Dove” is a collection of stories and the decisions people make. This art exhibit is open to the public free of charge. The JC Art Department will be hosting an “Art Talk” with Dove on Wednesday, November 16, at 1:30 p.m. in the Eula Bass Lewis Art Gallery.

Dove’s preferences for creating her artwork include painting in oils, mixed media and clay. However, the rabbit figures and “opportunities” are themes found in all of her artwork currently on display.

“My paintings tell stories that make people question their purpose. An image is not only captured but it also challenges the viewer to seek out an understanding of the painting,” said Dove. “I use rabbit heads on human bodies with red balls as a metaphor placed indiscreetly in the paintings. It’s my way of presenting stories about people and their decisions with the red balls representing ‘opportunities.’”

Dove is currently working from her Side Door Studio in Biloxi. Her work is also on display at the Biloxi Visitors Center, the South Mississippi Art League at the Biloxi Greenhouse, and The Treehouse Gallery in Oxford.

The Biloxi native earned her B.F.A. and M.Ed. from The Mississippi University for Women and William Carey College. Throughout her 30 years as an educator, she has taught in Mississippi and West Virginia, as well as at Louisiana Tech University, Savanna School of Art, and Bascom Center for Visual Arts in North Carolina. Also, she has served as an educator at the Ohr-O’Keefe Museum of Art and the Walter Anderson Museum of Art.

For more information about the JC art show or to arrange a visit to the gallery call 601-477-8401. The Eula Bass Lewis Art Gallery is open Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday from 8 a.m. until 3 p.m., and by appointment only on Wednesdays. The gallery is closed during the holidays. If you want to know more about the Jones College Art Department, go to the JC Art Department’s Facebook page, https://www.facebook.com/JCJCFineArts/ and on Instagram @artatjonescollege.

ELLISVILLE – Ni’Riya Bell of Laurel and Gage Herring of Columbia were recently voted as Mr. & Miss JC by their peers. The sophomores competed for the titles to represent Jones College students and are considered to be the best representation of the student body.

“This honor means that I can represent Jones and that itself is the biggest honor a college can give a student. JC has brought me so many blessings and this is just one of them. I can’t begin to explain how much I love this place and how much this college has impacted my life in the best ways. The memories and friends I have made while I’ve been here have been amazing and I will carry them with me for the rest of my life,” said Herring.

The electro-mechanical technology major was also selected to represent the Mississippi/Louisiana Region as the Southern District Representative for Phi Theta Kappa International Honor Society. At West Marion High School, Herring was a member of the State Championship Archery Team. He was also a Mississippi Tech Scholar and a Mississippi Scholar. At Jones College he is a member of the Bobcat Brigade and the Student Spirit Chairman for the Student Government Association. In his spare time, Herring hangs out at the Baptist Student Union. His future plans include continuing his education at Mississippi State University and majoring in industrial technology with the goal of continuing to work with industrial grade robotics. His parents are Toby and Nichole Herring.

Miss JC is a graduate of Northeast Jones High School. She was very active in high school as a member of the Table Tennis Team, Key Club, TARS, Serteens, FBLA, Career and Technical Student Council and Archery. Bell also earned the Most School Spirit Award, Class Favorite, Perfect Attendance, and she graduated on the Principal’s List.  The business management and marketing major is a member of the Student Government Association at Jones College. Her future plans include going to USM and opening an art business. Her parents are Christopher Millsap and Shatara Bell.

“This is a real blessing to me to be named Miss JC,” said Bell.

ELLISVILLE – Several hundred super-heroes, princesses and ghouls came out to have fun at the annual Jones College Treats in the Streets on the JC campus. Kids played games for treats in the booths set up by JC faculty and students as a way to give back to the community. Some children participated in the costume contests for babies through teens, with the winners of the creatively dressed kids receiving a variety of goodies and sweet prizes from the JC Office of Student Affairs.

Jones College students who dressed the best received prizes for their efforts. The Most Original Costume Award went to Isaiah Spradley of Soso who dressed up like the “Dad who Finally Came Home with the Milk.” Winning the Group category were Tristen Gendusa of Laurel and Ailee Byrd of Sandhill who portrayed the “Stepbrothers” from the movie of the same name. The Overall Winner was Gracye Tower of Runnelstown who dressed as “Vision.”

Treats in the Streets is an annual, free, community event hosted by the Jones College with various student organizations and academic and technical divisions setting up games and offering candy gifts.

ELLISVILLE – Hearing the stories about surviving the wilderness from the History Channel’s winner of the 5^th season of, “Alone-Redemption,” Sam Larson proved to be inspirational to students, administration, and guests of Jones College’s Charles Pickering Honors Institute speaker forum. In preparation for classes and realizing the effects of the Covid-19 Pandemic, Dean of the Honors College, John Stockstill remembered watching Larson when he debuted on the first season of the wilderness survival TV series and considered how Larson could inspire his students.

“I wanted to reach out to someone who had been through some very difficult experiences in life, and when at rock bottom they had nothing left to give, they reached into some deep places in their soul to find that inner strength,” said Stockstill.

In his first visit to the South, Larson admitted to feeling uncomfortable on a college campus. As a high school senior, Larson knew the outdoors was where he wanted to spend his life and not in a classroom or traditional job. A search on the Internet led him to the Jack Mountain Bushcraft Mountain School in northern Maine and the adventure of his lifetime began.

“When you’re out in the wilderness, something that appeals to me is you’re dealing with the raw element of nature,” said Larson. “It’s just the natural world and human beings. How do these two go together because there is no social hierarchy; mother nature is not playing favorites. It’s just you and the natural world and whatever you can do with the materials in your surroundings. I absolutely loved it!”

Traveling all over North America, from the Southwest desert to the Canadian Ice Shield, learning from the Northern Quebec Cree Indian, and numerous places in between, Larson learned a variety of survival skills. However, he eventually had to return to Nebraska to work. He began blogging about his adventures in the wilderness and it caught a casting producer’s attention from the History Channel.

“She sent me an email explaining they were exploring survival show ideas as some shows were getting pulled from the networks. She said they were going to take 10 people with 10 survival items and drop them in a remote region where they can’t find each other and whoever lasts the longest wins. They were going to teach them how to use the camera equipment so they would really be alone,” said Larson. “They had an idea that intrigued me. I thought, one, it’s not going to work and two, I have to do this!”

The then 25-year-old Lincoln Nebraska native was invited to appear on the new wilderness survival show for its first season in 2015. His wife Sydney was seven months pregnant with their first child, but he couldn’t pass up the “once in a lifetime” survival challenge. When he learned about the destination, however, he felt under-prepared.

“I’ve traveled to a bunch of places … and I had learned a lot of things at that point, but I didn’t learn or know a lot of the skills really necessary to survive in the coastal British Columbia wilderness. The first thing that caught me off guard, being a kid from Nebraska, was the ocean life.”

Arriving in the Northern British Island of Vancouver, Larson said he felt like he just wasted all his time preparing for something he wasn’t really equipped to do. Adversity hit him hard upon landing on the rainy, stormy coastal island. However, he said he didn’t want to regret not trying or dropping out. Before long, Larson was catching salmon and crabs, trapping rodents, foraging from the sea, and eating limpets from the ocean.

“I kept telling myself, give it all you got, don’t squander this once in a lifetime opportunity-don’t mess up! After seven weeks of that, I called on the satellite phone and I tapped out. I gave it my all and I felt OK about it at the time. Soon after they picked me up, I learned there was only one other guy out there,” said Larson.

After beating eight people, surviving 55 days in an unfamiliar environment, Larson wondered if he had pushed harder, could he have won? Realizing he wouldn’t have another opportunity, he came back to Lincoln and continued working at the Nature Center teaching survivalist skills and leading nature hikes. Amazingly, Larson got another call from the casting director about being on a redemption series of Alone, in 2018, for season 5, of the History Channel show.

“She asked me, ‘How would you like a second, once in a lifetime opportunity?’ I was all over it! I said, ‘Sign me up!’”

When he learned about the new format, bringing back 10 former contestants to Asia, Larson was sure he was going to the jungle or a tropical island. He was surprised to learn the destination was the Kensee Mountains in northeastern Mongolia, 30 miles from Siberia.

“Mongolia and the sheer remoteness of the area, the wildlife, and extreme temperatures made this by far, the most dangerous location,” said Larson. “This will be extremely tough, not just the elements and critters and everything that could get you, but you’re competing against a group of people who are extremely experienced, and a group that’s proven they can stay out in the wilderness a long time.”

When Larson arrived in Mongolia, he said it was like déjà vu, learning all these things that he didn’t know even though he thought he was well prepared. The hardest thing as he arrived was leaving his wife with a 7-day-old baby and a 2-year-old.

“I had this feeling of self-doubt the whole time; Am I doing the right thing by being out here?” said Larson. “The food situation, not to mention the cold was one thing. In August, the winter comes fast out here. The food situation was way worse than British Columbia. It was like there was just nothing to eat.”

During the 60 days in the frozen tundra, Larson survived on Eurasian voles or little rats he trapped, minnows, snails, grasshoppers, ants, and leeches. The food situation was pretty dire, leaving him with only a few options as winter settled in and the snow piled up. Utilizing a survival trick from his mentor, as finding firewood was a day’s task and food was non-existent, Larson managed to find a way to survive.

“The theory was when your body starts to starve, you can compensate for that in some ways by overhydrating it. I got a pot full of water and took whatever I had around, herbs, pine needles, call it ‘tea’ if you like, but there’s no sugar like in the south. It’s hot water.”

Every day for weeks, this was all Larson had and he was thankful. He also had a quote from Winston Churchill that helped him mentally. “Success is failing constantly but moving from failure to failure without a loss of enthusiasm.” Despite his daily failure to find wood and food, that hot cup of water kept him happy enough to get to the medical exam day.

“It was day 60. I remember being really cranky, asking the crew why they were messing with me and my rhythm. They set up a camera and started asking questions and I thought it was weird. ‘Are you eating anything?’ I said, ‘no.’ ‘Are you cold…. happy?’  But after a while, I remembered how dire the situation really was and I started to tear up and began crying,” said Larson. “Out of nowhere, I felt these arms come around me from behind and it was my wife, and she tells me, ‘Sam you just won!’ It was one of the happiest days of my entire life. To go from a totally depraved state to having this warm hug of a loved one, food was on its way and the mission was finally complete.”

Larson shared with the audience that his wife is the unsung hero of the whole experience. Being at home with now, three kids, unable to “tap out” when things got to be too much, was very motivational and inspiring to Larson. Also inspired by the experience, was Jones College sophomore from Runnelstown, Gracye Tower.

“Although he was eating leeches and small bugs and nothing some days, he was happy about being alive. I think a lot of us take being alive for granted. We just expect it to happen every day and it doesn’t. We lose people every day. He was grateful for his hot water. I thought that was very inspirational,” said Tower.

Additionally, Larson advised the audience the best way to prepare is to expect the unexpected and to be gritty. Taking care of business every day, despite the situation, no matter how hard you’re suffering he said, may not mean being tough.

“In Mongolia, in my most vulnerable situation what grit looked like was staring into a cup of hot water day in and day out and deciding not to sulk, but to be thankful for what I had no matter what that thing was, day in and day out. Figure out what you can be thankful for, no matter how small it is or if people think it’s stupid, find the one thing you’re thankful for and focus on that.”

Finally, Larson advised the audience that no matter what we do in life, to find something to care about more. For sophomore Sarah Morgan of Columbia, it reminded her of her top priority in life.

“For me, that translated to my relationship with God. I think that’s what he was hinting at, because that’s how I can apply it in my life. If I don’t get into Physical Therapy school, or I don’t pass the test in the end. It’s not going to ruin me because there’s something more important and to me and it’s God.”