{"id":3368,"date":"2022-11-09T09:19:04","date_gmt":"2022-11-09T15:19:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.jcjc.edu\/jcnews\/?p=3368"},"modified":"2022-11-09T09:19:04","modified_gmt":"2022-11-09T15:19:04","slug":"jones-college-alumna-geneva-thomas-burnett-celebrates-100-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jcjc.edu\/jcnews\/news\/jones-college-alumna-geneva-thomas-burnett-celebrates-100-years\/","title":{"rendered":"Â鶹ֱ²¥ alumna, Geneva Thomas Burnett celebrates 100 years"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Dr. Jesse Smith, Geneva Thomas Burnett and Jennifer Smith<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

ELLISVILLE \u2013 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 Â鶹ֱ²¥ President, Dr. Jesse Smith and his wife, Jennifer.\u00a0 The Smith County native reminisced about her days at Â鶹ֱ²¥ and what it meant to have a birthday on Halloween.<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t think much of the day, but I have an uncle who said, \u2018The witches brought you.\u2019 He was a joker and just trying to get a rise out of me,\u201d said the native of Homewood, a small community in Smith County.<\/p>\n

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 99th<\/sup> birthday, and it was only the second time in her life she had stayed in the hospital for any illness. That\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>\u201cI didn\u2019t 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\u2019t eat a lot of beef; I ate a lot of fish and chicken and limited the salt,\u201d said Burnett. \u201cI also drank black coffee before breakfast, no sugar or cream.\u201d<\/p>\n

Her family also didn\u2019t 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.<\/p>\n

\u201cI 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!\u201d Burnett said proudly.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Looking at her 1942 summer school class picture at JCJC, she pointed out\u00a0there 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.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen WWII started, he left and that was the end of it. It wasn\u2019t a serious relationship for him, and I wasn\u2019t 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,\u201d explained Burnett.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Geneva-JCJC 1942 Yearbook<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Her favorite teacher at Jones was Miss Corley who taught English. Corley, who lived in Raleigh, took Geneva \u201cunder her wings\u201d and invited her to be a part of a club she sponsored. Growing up, Geneva\u2019s mother, Beulah Anderson Thomas, wanted to be a schoolteacher but since she couldn\u2019t 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\u2019s degree in textiles and clothing at the University of Tennessee in 1952.<\/p>\n

\u201cOnce I got my master\u2019s 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\u2019t 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,\u201d Burnett said.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Geneva-1944 Miss. Southern College<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\u201cMost 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

Confident in her teaching skills at Southern, Burnett\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

\u201cBill wanted to go to New York University to earn his Ph.D. since he had earned\"\"<\/a> his master\u2019s degree there. We got married that summer in 1960. He had some savings and investments, but it wasn\u2019t 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,\u201d<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d 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,\u201d said Burnett, who worked there for seven years.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>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\u2019t have to work. However, she explains, she got \u201croped into\u201d joining the federated women\u2019s club, Belle Lettres Club and did a lot of community service work.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese ladies had a lot of \u2018old\u2019 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\u2019 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,\u201d shared Burnett.<\/p>\n

She served as 2nd<\/sup> VP of Programs, 1st<\/sup> VP of Membership, and President, while\"\"<\/a> also pulling off a very successful fundraising campaign to refurbish and remodel the \u201cclub house.\u201d<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>\u201cBoth of my sisters went to JCJC. Laura Louise Thomas taught 9th<\/sup> 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,\u201d said Burnett.<\/p>\n

The \u201ctake care of business\u201d 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\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

When asked if she had any advice for today\u2019s students she politely deferred to\"\"<\/a> comment.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wouldn\u2019t know what to say! I have no advice because everything is so different,\u201d said Geneva. However, her niece reminded her of how she solved daily problems. \u201cI had ups and downs. I dealt with them,\u201d said Burnett. \u201cFor some reason I never felt like I didn\u2019t have a solution.\u201d<\/p>\n

Geneva also never expected anyone to take care of her and she didn\u2019t 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.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

ELLISVILLE \u2013 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 Â鶹ֱ²¥ President, Dr. Jesse Smith and his wife, Jennifer.\u00a0 The Smith County native reminisced about her days at Â鶹ֱ²¥ and what it meant to … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Â鶹ֱ²¥ alumna, Geneva Thomas Burnett celebrates 100 years”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3377,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,9],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jcjc.edu\/jcnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3368"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jcjc.edu\/jcnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jcjc.edu\/jcnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jcjc.edu\/jcnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jcjc.edu\/jcnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3368"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.jcjc.edu\/jcnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3368\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3385,"href":"https:\/\/www.jcjc.edu\/jcnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3368\/revisions\/3385"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jcjc.edu\/jcnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3377"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jcjc.edu\/jcnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3368"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jcjc.edu\/jcnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3368"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jcjc.edu\/jcnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3368"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}