LIFE

Watkins: Jackson woman focuses on helping others

Billy Watkins
Clarion Ledger
Dorothy Davis Miley

Most would consider teaching elementary school for 30 years enough giving for a lifetime.

That is not the case with Dorothy Davis Miley, 77, of Jackson.

She gives. And gives. And gives some more.

For instance: She funds five scholarships each year at Hinds Community College, where 89 percent of the student body is on some sort of financial aid.

“Pell Grants no longer cover the full cost,” says Jackie Granberry, vice president for Advancement, which includes the Hinds CC Foundation. “With the cost of textbooks and other required supplies also increasing, even a small scholarship can be of tremendous help.

“While the majority of our scholarship students work at a job, the scholarship can often mean that they only have to work part time instead of full time. Therefore, they are able to concentrate more on their studies.”

And here is perhaps the most impressive thing about Miley’s generosity to Hinds, one of her alma maters: She doesn’t have an endless stash of cash.

“I’m far from wealthy,” she says. “But, you know, I don’t have to have a new dress every week or every month. I’d rather use that money to help somebody else.”

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Giving was instilled in her as a child.

Her parents — “Shine” and Louise — owned a general store in Utica. “They would help whoever needed helping,” she says. “They would let people buy things on credit. My daddy would loan people money. I remember asking them why they were so generous, and they never made a big deal of it. They would say, ‘Everybody needs a little help once in a while.’

“But they would also do things for people for no apparent reason. My mother loved flowers, and she was always sending vases of flowers to my teachers. Just to say ‘thank you.’ ”

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Twenty-nine of her 30 years in the classroom were spent in Jackson Public Schools. She retired in 1991.

“My husband and I had big plans after my retirement,” says Miley, who received her undergraduate degree from Millsaps College and her Master's from Mississippi College. “We were going to go back and buy my old home place in Utica. He said, ‘We can open you a flower and gift shop, and I can work some at the funeral home.’ ”

But while undergoing a second heart bypass surgery, Robert Miley died in 1992.

Ten years earlier, she had established a scholarship in honor of her father, who attended Hinds CC and served as a trustee on its board of directors.

After her husband’s death, Miley used part of his life insurance money to set up a scholarship in his name. She has since added three more: One named after herself, one in honor of her mother, Louise White Davis, and another in her daughter’s name, Mamie Louise Miley.

Scholarships at Hinds can be established with a minimum gift of $15,000. The money that goes to students is paid from the interest earned.

“You just have to be dedicated to it,” says Miley, who drives a 2007 Chevrolet Impala. “You have to learn to put money aside.

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“There are many restaurants in the Jackson area that I’ve never been to — and don’t expect to go to. I don’t belong to a country club, and I don’t feel the need to belong to one. I’m me. Take me or leave me. I’m not trying to compete with anyone else.

“Again, maybe that was established in me by my parents. I can remember when it was a really big deal to travel from Utica to Jackson and eat at the Colonial House cafeteria, which was where the Woolfolk building is now downtown.

“There is nothing wrong with living a simple life."

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A few months ago, Miley received a letter from Shannon Cox, a counselor at Germantown High School in Gluckstadt.

Cox attended high school with Miley’s daughter.

“So I knew her from back then,” says Cox, in her 17th year as a counselor. “When I got into education, she began to mentor me. She got me involved in professional organizations, which adds to one’s resume and helps provide opportunities.”

Cox’s letter was simply to say “thank you.”

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“Not just for what she’s done for me,” Cox says, “but the way she lives her life, the way she gives back. I know what educators make, so I know it’s a sacrifice for her.

“I work a lot of with seniors who are wanting to go to college. I try and help them get scholarships, which can often mean the difference in them going to the school of their choice — or going to college at all. It can be heartbreaking. But scholarships like Mrs. Miley has established can keep a student’s dream alive.

“Twenty-five years after retirement, she is still making a difference.”

And not just locally.

The Rev. Nancy Neelley Hicks, 51, was vice president and director of interactive media for the Godwin Group, a marketing agency in Jackson. In 1998, she felt called to the ministry. She quit her job and enrolled at Belhaven University to complete her undergraduate studies.

“I spoke to Mrs. Miley’s Sunday School class at Galloway (United Methodist Church),” Hicks says. “She didn’t know me at all, but she told me she wanted to support my education. She helped me buy books, that sort of thing.

“But it didn’t stop there. She started supporting my daughter’s future education, too.”

Hicks insists that Miley’s initial offer to help “was one of the first signs affirming that I had made the right decision.”

Hicks is now director of ICTD4 Church Initiatives for United Methodist Communications in Nashville. She helps churches in Africa and the Philippines move into the digital age.

“Because of what Mrs. Miley did for me, her generosity is now being felt all around the world,” Hicks says. “She has always astonished me with her ability to give what seems beyond her means. She is amazing.”

Contact Billy Watkins at (769) 257-3079 orbwatkins@jackson.gannett.com.  Follow @BillyWatkins11 on Twitter.