Jones, Melanie Parker, 1928-2017

Title

Date

1928-08-23/2017-02-19

Description

Image 1 - Obituary for Melanie Parker Jones. She was born in 1928 in Fincastle to Sarah Parker. She married Lorraine Lester Jones Sr, and had two son, Elwood D. Jones and Lorraine Lester Jones, Jr. She died February 19, 2017, and is buried at First Baptist Church of Fincastle Cemetery.

Images 2-3 - A newspaper article from the Fincastle Herald, titled "Jones believes integration has worked for and against Botetourt's Black community." The article includes photos of Melanie Jones with her sons, and of Jones at 8 years old and as a graduate of Academy Hill School. The article reads,

"Melanie Jones wouldn't want to go back to the days of racial segregation. To the contrary, she'd like to see more progress for blacks, and she's working toward that end. But she remembers, coincident with those long-ago times, there was greater kindness.

'People showed more love to you,' she recalls, 'Of course, there were things we couldn't do. You couldn't go to [a white person's] front door. You couldn't ride in the front of the bus. But people here in Fincastle got along fine. If it wasn't for the white people my mother worked for, sometimes it would have been hard for us.

'But they were good to her. And we loved and respected them for it.' Times could be difficult, and there was no welfare to help the needy. 'But people don't want to help anybody now.'

With integration, 'The Black race really have to fight for they want. In Botetourt County they don't have many black people employed any more. When a black person move out of a job, it's a white person move in.'

Why does this happen? 'That's what we as the black race would like to know. My two sons would love to come back here, and they got the [college] education too. But there's nothing back here for them.'

Today, it's 'the same world God created.' but people are different. Mrs. Jones sees a world full of hate and people striving against one another. 'I can't see why people can't love each other more. God hasn't changed, why should we change? Hatin' people ain't going to get you nowhere.'

When racial integration came, 'It was good for some things. We can sit anywhere on the bus and go to a restaurant or motel. But as far as employment, I can see where it's hurt us.'

When there were black schools, there were jobs for black teachers in Botetourt County. Now, at William Clark Middle School, where she works in food service, she knows of only five black employees. One is the principal, Chester Adams. The others, she says, are herself and three custodians. 'There's maybe four black teachers in the whole county I know of.'

She would like to see that change. 'I could retire, but I'm working now till they get more blacks in the system. If I leave, they'll put another white person' in her place. As a member of the Countywide League, she wants more blacks to apply for jobs and find out why they are turned down.

She also supports a sought-after change in the name of the school where she works - to a name that will honor the all-black Botetourt school that existed from 1959 to 1966, when schools were integrated. The original William Clark building was Central Academy, then it became Botetourt Intermediate before being renamed for the 19th century (slave-holding) explorer.

On her job, 'I've never felt any racial' discrimination. 'People respect me for being Melanie. The teachers down here are as nice to me as they can be. But when a black person needs a job, they don't put any more blacks in there.'

In her mother's day, 'Blacks were happy for what they had. My mother didn't make but three or four dollars a week, but we lived on what we could, because stuff wasn't that high.'

She was born in Fincastle in 1928 to the legendary Sarah Parker, who brought up five children, working various jobs: day work as well as at the old Hayth Hotel, at the Homestead in Bath County, and at the Greenbrier in White Sulphur Spring, W. Va. Among the many Fincastle families Sarah Parker worked for was that of Hunter Painter, then superintendent of schools. Mrs. Jones had three brothers, two of whom survive, and a sister.

Her mother died last Sept. 28 at 103. She worked into her 80s, and although times often were hard, 'I never heard her complain about her life coming up. She was a hard-working woman, I'll say that. But those were happy times for her.

'We lived all over town,' she remembers, for it seemed that whenever they had rented one house for a while, it was sold under them and they had to move. She went to the Academy Hill School (and lives now next to the old school building). After graduating in 1946 she went to work at the Homestead in Bath County, where her mother also had been employed.

In 1950 she married Lorraine Lester Jones, a cook at the Homestead, and they moved to Fincastle. In 1954 they built and moved into the house on Murray Street where she still lives. He died in 1976 when the couple's younger son was 14.

That same year she was appointed to fill the unexpired Fincastle Town Council term of a member who moved from the town. Mrs. Jones was not the first black to sit on Council, nor has she been the only one. There were Jim and Betty Hickenbotham and Gwendolyn Johnson. But she its senior member. She ran in 1978 and was elected, and has run every two years since then. 'I plan to run next year,' she adds.

What does she feel she's been able to accomplish for the town on Council? 'Well, I can't see where I can take credit for accomplishing anything. But I've been able to help get things accomplished,' such as voting for the water and sewer systems. And as a black, 'I've gotten a lot of respect for being on Town Council.

'I'd like to see Fincastle grow a little bit. In a sense it's dying' because there are no industries and stores such as there used to be. 'We don't have anything much now.'

Her older boy, Lorraine Lester Jr., lives in Crofton, Md., where he works for the state; he has a master's degree in political science from the University of Maryland. The younger, Elwood Denzel Jones, graduated from the University of Virginia and now lives in Manassas; he is supervisor of a state-run boys' home in Fairfax.

She is proud of their accomplishments. Elwood had considerable scholarship help, she says, but the older son is still paying back loans he took out to finance his education.

Any grandchildren? She shakes her head and laughs. 'I can't get those two sons married.'"

An inset bio reads,

"Botetourt Biography

Name: Melanie Parker Jones
Particulars: Born Aug. 23, 1928, in Fincastle to Sarah Parker. There were three brothers - James (now deceased); Brock, of Cleveland, Ohio; Elwood, of West Palm Beach, Fla. - and a sister, Ida Mae Tucker of Richmond. Melanie Parker graduated in 1946 from Academy Hill High School. On Aug. 25, 1960, she married Lorraine Lester Jones in Fincastle. He died in 1976. There are two sons: Lorraine Lester Jr., of Crofton, Md., and Elwood Denzel, of Manassas.
Employment: The Homestead Hot Springs, day work, and since 1976 at Botetourt Intermediate (now William Clark Middle School), where she now cooks and works the cash register.
Civic activities: Fincastle Town Council since 1976.
Church affiliation: First Baptist, where she is treasurer.
Hobbies: 'I'm not much into hobbies. I guess my main hobby is being a good person, being a good Christian, and trying to love everybody.'"

Creator

Rader Funeral Home; Willis, Bob

Format

image/jpeg

Subject

Fincastle

Obituary

Fincastle First Baptist Cemetery - Fincastle

Type

Image; Text

Publisher

The Fincastle Herald

Coverage

Fincastle, Botetourt County

Rights

In Copyright http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

Item