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www.southernsenior.info 21 In 2008, Juanita was part of a team in reorganizing the Pearl River County Historical Society. Jerry Stough, Don Wicks, Mark Davis, and Cornelius Williams were a few of the people at that first meet- ing according to Juanita. Don Wicks became the first president. Stough served as president the sec- ond year. The next year, Juanita was the president and is now in her 11 th year as president with a good staff. In 2016, the Society established a County museum, with the help of City leaders, on the third floor of Old City Hall. Jerry Stough serves as Director. The local chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) was on the verge of disbanding in 2018 after Judy Seal became ill and it appeared no one was going to step up and help preserve the or- ganization. Juanita stepped in and contacted the fifty-four members to see what they wanted to do with the group. They decided to regroup and stay vi- able, and she served two years as Regent. Virginia Mitchell now serves as Regent (President). Over the years, Juanita has gone through box after box of papers to organize the legacy of the informa- tion. Juanita, with help from Warren Seal and others, now has the whole history of the local DAR sorted through, organized, and a major portion digitized all the way back to the chapter’s inception in 1966. Today, Juanita makes time to enjoy being with her sons Guy and Kerry and her grandchildren. She loves her community and is very excited about the presence of patriotic and service-oriented people and organizations in Picayune and Pearl River County. She is also very pleased that the history museum has been established on the third floor of Picayune’s City Hall building. So, what drives Juanita to take on these roles like DAR and Colonial Dames? “They are the only women’s patriotic organization in this country. We love the flag, we do all of these pa- triotic activities, we do flag retirements. We give awards to students on both the local and national level, which is our main thing,” she shared. “I love planning programs and meeting people through all of these civic organizations. Locally, I love the opportunity to make history interesting through our meetings and programs.” At age 91, she is still involved in all her projects. And she still believes in guardian angels. S

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