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i iic msiurian or September 2V10 - Hancock County Historical Society
THE HISTORIAN OF HANCOCK COUNTY	Page 3
Valena C. Jones for whom the ValenaC. Jones public school in
Bay St. Louis was named.
SOURCES:
Cuevas, Mike. Director of Cultural Affairs. City of Bay St. Louis. Press Release.
Hancock County Historical Society vertical files ?Valena C. Jones School Reunion 2000:	Remembering	Those
Who Remembered the School.? The Sea Coast Echo,
10	Sept. 2000, p. 10A.
Valena C. Jones
By
Eddie Coleman
Valena Cecelia MacAr-thur was born in Bay St. Louis on August 3, 1872, and her teaching career started in rural Mississippi around 1890. She was graduated from Straight College of New Orleans m 1892 and became principal of the Af-rican-American school in Bay
St. Louis. Five years later she went to New Orleans to teach in the public school system there.
She retired from teaching in 1901 to become the wife of the Reverend Robert E. Jones, who subsequently became Resident Bishop of the New Orleans area for the Methodist Episcopal Church. However, Mrs Jones continued to take an active interest in educational activities while helping her husband edit the Southwestern Christian Advocate. She died in New Orleans on January 13, 1917, and was buried in Greenwood Cemetery.
In 1918 Mrs. Jones became the fourth black for whom a New Orleans public school was named. It was an elementary school located at 1901 North Galvez Street in New Orleans.
When a new high school was built in 1947 to educate black students in the Bay ST. Louis area, it seemed appropriate to name it in honor of a woman whose short, but illustrious, career as a teacher and administrator began here. Mrs. Jones made such an impression on the community that in addition to the school a church has borne her name since 1926: the Valena C. Jones United Methodist Church.
Did You Know This About Hancock County
By
Scott Bagley
Did you know that Cecil B. de Mille, one of the most successful Hollywood directors of the 20th Century, performed as an actor here in Hancock County? Mr. de Mille, who directed many major films, including The Ten Commandments [both the 1923 and 1956 versions], was a minor member of an acting stock company that played at the Osoinach Opera House in Bay St. Louis in 1907. The opera house, which was located around the 200 block of South Beach Boulevard, was on the second floor of the Bay Mercantile Company. John Osoinach, who founded the Bay Mercantile Company, decided at the turn of the century to give his fellow townsmen a real opera house and went heavily into debt to construct it on the second floor of his large store. For several years the opera house was a great success, booking and bill-
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