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Biography/History:
James (Jim) Livesay was born in Virginia around 1919. He was the son of Eugene R. and Miriam B. Livesay. By 1928, the Livesay family was living in Jackson, Hinds County, Mississippi, where Eugene R. Livesay worked as a salesman and later as a special agent for the Prudential Life Insurance Company. Eugene R. Livesay died around 1956.
In 1941, James Livesay graduated from Millsaps College in Jackson, and on July 28, 1943, he graduated from the United States Naval Reserve Midshipmen’s School in New York City and was commissioned as an ensign in the United States Navy. James Livesay married Mary Lee Busby in August of 1943. She was likely born in Meridian, Lauderdale County, Mississippi, on December 8, 1920, and was a 1943 graduate of Millsaps College.
By September of 1943, the Livesays were living in Long Beach, California, where James Livesay was stationed in the navy. Livesay also helped patrol San Francisco Bay for enemy mines during the early years of World War II. In December of 1943, he was promoted to dockmaster. However, in the spring of 1944, the navy transferred Livesay to San Diego, California, due to seasickness. Mary Lee Livesay began working as a file clerk for the Southern Pacific Railroad Company in San Diego in August of 1944. During the next two years, the Livesays moved to a few other locations in California, including Burlingame where they lived until James Livesay was honorably discharged in March of 1946.
After returning to Jackson, James and Mary Lee Livesay lived briefly with Eugene and Miriam Livesay before moving to their own residence. The Livesays also had a son named Jeff in 1948.
James Livesay had been a member of the Jackson Junior Chamber of Commerce (Jaycees) since 1947, and after serving on various committees and in several other positions, he was elected as president in 1950. At this time, he was advertising manager for Jitney Jungle, and he edited the internal company newsletter entitled Smiles.
By 1955, James Livesay was public relations director of Millsaps College, a position he held through at least 1967. He also became alumni relations director around 1966, and he was church relations director by 1976. Livesay was an assistant to the vice-president of Millsaps College from at least 1982 to 1986, and he continued to work as church relations director through at least 1988.
Mary Lee Livesay was a public school teacher who was employed at the Emma French Elementary School in Jackson in 1977.
Scope and Content:
This collection contains correspondence of James and Mary Lee Livesay, as well as correspondence and other papers concerning the Jackson Jaycees.
The correspondence primarily consists of letters from James and Mary Lee Livesay to Eugene and Miriam Livesay in Jackson. Many of the letters were written jointly by the Livesays, each typically contributing about one page, but other letters were written separately by the Livesays. Most of the correspondence begins in September of 1943, with the Livesays each writing letters about once a week until March of 1946. The Livesays wrote most of the letters from areas in California close to where they were stationed during World War II, including Burlingame and Long Beach. The correspondence is infrequent after March of 1946, with the next letter written in 1948. The Livesays also wrote letters from West Virginia and other states they were visiting in later years. Brief annotations are written on a few letters that may be in the hand of Eugene or Miriam Livesay.
Most of the letters are concerned with the welfare of family and friends in Mississippi, social and work-related matters in California, and religious issues related to Methodism. There is also a January 25, 1944, letter from George W. McDonald, pastor of First Methodist Church of Long Beach, California, to Eugene and Miriam Livesay, announcing that James and Mary Lee Livesay were attending his church.
Some of the more unusual letters include James Livesay’s July 20, 1944, letter to his parents about a large explosion that killed over three hundred sailors. After the Japanese surrendered in August of 1945, the Livesays wrote about a series of riots in San Francisco. They remarked that over six hundred people were injured and twelve people were killed in one night before police quelled the riot.
The Jackson Jaycees-related correspondence is primarily composed of letters from James Livesay concerning organizational meetings. There are also a few letters to James Livesay from other correspondents such as M. B. Swayze of the Mississippi Economic Council thanking the Jackson Jaycees for ushering at a recent event.
Other papers concerning the Jackson Jaycees include minutes from 1950 meetings and several versions of the constitution and bylaws of the organization. There is a 1940 newsclipping about the Jackson Jaycees, and there are several copies of the Jaycee Jacksonian newsletter. One folder contains membership rosters for the years 1950 through 1952, including undated lists of officers.
Series Identification:
Box 1
Box 2
Box 2