Jimmie Meese Moomaw '58
Parliamentarian

When Donette Lee was President, she asked me to serve on her board. I had not been active in the Alumnae Association until that time, but the minute I came back to the campus, I was hooked on the W again – in love with her beauty and proud of her traditions. It was here that I was shaped and formed as the adult and professional I was to become.

Nothing has given me greater pleasure in the past few years than becoming friends with the many independent and intelligent alumni I have had the opportunity to work with toward our shared goals. Our 118 year old Association has stood the test of time, has rallied support to save MUW from closure and merger on more than one occasion. I am excited about the opportunities we have now for growth and service to the institution that we all love.

A native of Brookhaven, I chose to go to the W on the spur of the moment.  After majoring in Speech and English there, I went on to attend graduate school for seven more years, completing a Master’s in Theatre at the University of Illinois and completing all requirements except the dissertation for two PH.D. programs – one in Rhetoric and Public Communication at the University of Missouri and one in Educational Leadership at Georgia State University.  My first college teaching job was at Mississippi State, where I started the first Communication Department and Coached the Debate Team.  I went on to teach public speaking, debate, persuasion, oral interpretation, history and criticism of public address, public relation, corporate communication, communication consulting, communication theory and speech writing for 41 years.  Operating my own Communication Consulting company, I have served a broad corporate and political clients on the regional, national and international level.  Deriving from the W the understanding that community service is an important part of living a fulfilled life, I have served my community in a variety of appointed and elected positions.  In recognition of that service, I was awarded the Alumnae Association Achievement Award.

I am the proud mother of two fine daughters and five wonderful grandchildren.  Since retiring in 2000, I have written my memoir, “Southern Fried Child,” continued traveling abroad as often as possible, taken every opportunity to go fishing or play Texas Hold’em poker.  When I was a child, I wanted to see three things: a comet, the aurora borealis, and a live volcano.  I have lived to see them all.  When I retired, I decided that I wanted to do three more things: catch a really big fish, get a new flute, and make a quilt.  Still haven’t made the quilt.

Insights:

  • My favorite quotation is: All that is done under compulsion is bitterness to the soul.”  Aristotle
  • When I was in my 40s I was cognitively mapped in the 99th percentile on "rejecting authority”
  • As a theatre major the roles I always wanted to play were, Joan in St. Joan,   Alma in Summer and Smoke, Frankie in A Member of the Wedding, and the Madwoman in the Madwoman of Chailliot