Willanna Buck Mallett

Willanna Buck Mallett

   Willanna Craven Buck Mallett was born on December 23,1909 and died on Sunday, July 15, 2007, in Jackson Ms.

   Willanna was the daughter of William Jasper Buck and Willanna Craven Buck. She attended the Jackson Public Schools and was the class salutatorian and last survivor of Eudora Welty's high school graduating class.

   A summa cum laude graduate of Millsaps College, she was a member of Eta Sigma, Chi Delta Phi, the Millsaps College annual and newspaper staffs and Kappa Delta sorority. She was elected Most Beautiful Co-ed.

   She did post- graduate work at Tulane and taught English, math, and Latin for several years in the Jackson Public Schools. A lifelong member of First Baptist Church, where her mother had served as organist and choir director, she taught Sunday School and played the piano there.

   She was a member of the Research Club, the Monday Club, and the Brook Garden Club, and was active in many civic affairs of the community. She and her husband, Willian Edgar Mallett, initiated many programs in the state for cerebral palsied children, and she was secretary and board member of the Sanders School for Cerebral Palsy for many years.

   In 2003, its centennial year, the Chaminade Music Club of Jackson agreed to endow a new music scholarship in honor of its longest serving member, Willanna Buck Mallett, who had been a member for 70 years, since 1933.   

   The Willanna Buck Mallett Music Scholarship Fund was established by the Chaminade Club of Jackson, on January 11, 2003.  The fund is administered by the Club and managed by the Club Scholarship committee. Awards of up to $750 are given to one or more area college students majoring in music each year.