Jenelle Harper Patton clearly remembers April 5, 1968. The audience cheered as she was crowned Miss Rich Valley. To this day, she continues to encourage others to put their crown on. Yet, she also knows circumstances can make that difficult. In 1968, the local flower shop wouldn’t give the pageant winner and only Black student at Rich Valley High School a single rose much less a dozen red roses.
In 2020, Patton published “No Roses for the Queen,” a book telling of her experiences as the only Black student at RVHS for three years following integration. Previously, she studied at Marion’s Carnegie School for Black youth.
Patton will speak Saturday at the Mount Pleasant Preservation Society Museum’s Women’s History Month program.
The 2 p.m. event will also feature Kaloni Davidson Clark, who has overcome a troubled childhood and mental illness to become an art instructor at Chilhowie’s Art Place.
People are also reading…
In an interview, Patton said the book tells about her life in family, community, and school during the 1960s.
While her school experience presented challenges, Patton said, “I never looked at people as black, white, blue, or green.” She remembered adoring the women who worked in the cafeteria. She’s still struck by how the guys’ lockers were on one side with the girls on the other. She found Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA) most interesting, and she took typing for two years. “I loved the sound.”
Of all the classes, Patton observed that home ec was the most beneficial.
After graduation, she went to a technical college in Abingdon and then married James Patton, of Wytheville. The pair moved to Radford, where James worked at the Arsenal and Janelle at Radford Hospital. Later, James would serve as pastor of Marion’s First Baptist Church.
The couple raised four daughters, who have expanded the family to include six grandchildren and a great-grandchild. Now, Jenelle calls Richmond home to be close to family.
Over the years, Jenelle also undertook photography and launched The Picture Business, which catered to people who couldn’t afford higher-priced portraits.
Janelle loved time in the darkroom developing film. She learned to work in complete darkness, “seeing” by touch. “It helped me overcome fears of total darkness,” she said.
Jenelle always enjoyed writing and had written stories off and on. Around 2013, another woman asked her, “Why don’t you write a book?”
Jenelle began writing, primarily for her family. She wanted later generations to know their history. Then, a cousin helped publish the book, which is available via Amazon.
Now, Jenelle is considering another writing project to share more about life in Smyth County. She also wants to encourage others to write.
She’s guided by faith. “It’s the only thing in this life that makes sense,” she said.
When Jenelle looks back at winning the Miss Rich Valley pageant, she considers Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s 1963 “I Have a Dream” speech. Talking to the crowd during the March on Washington, King declared in part, “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. I have a dream today.”
When the crown was placed on her head, Jenelle said, “For one brief moment in time, Dr. King’s dream came true.”
In January, Kaloni Davidson Clark told of how she’d waited for this moment for 20 years – years often filled with struggle and despair. Now she feels blessed and ready to give.
“I let fear guide me for 20 years,” she said. However, now, Clark said, “I take pain and fear and harness it.”
Art is an essential part of that process.
With some of her work on display at The Art Place, Clark plans to reveal as yet-unseen pieces at the Mount Pleasant program.
As an art instructor, Clark wants to do what so many people did for her – encourage others’ artistic ability, support them and help them discover art’s power, and pray for them.
Faith is also essential to Clark, who said, “I know God has done it all.”
After being laid off from her full-time job, Clark rediscovered painting, though she first discovered art “when I could pick up a crayon.”
Along the way, the late Enda Love, the founder of The Art Place, recognized Clark’s potential. Clark remembered, “Edna let me have my first art show,” which “impacted my life so much.”
Margaret Edwards, a leader of the Mount Pleasant society, and Clark didn’t know one another until they started a conversation in a Chilhowie convenience store. Now, they’re working together to bring arts to the Marion museum.
Saturday, Edwards said, “We want to open up the arts” and help inspire people to pursue their gifts.
Mount Pleasant’s leaders, she said, also want the community to know that the building is available for similar community-oriented activities.
She’s grateful for Jenelle and Kaloni’s willingness to tell about their experiences.
Acknowledging her personal struggles with integration, Edwards said, other children’s experiences never occurred to her. “These stories need to be told,” she declared.
Edwards also believes there is “such a great need for us to help one another. We need to put forth the effort…. Unless you try, you don’t know what you can do.”
This post was originally published on this site be sure to check out more of their content
