Berea College

Berea College mourns the loss of our beloved Loyal Jones, a prolific writer and one of the foremost experts on Appalachian life and culture. Jones, a 1954 graduate of Berea College, died at his North Carolina home on Saturday, October 7. He was 95.

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“Loyal has been a life-engendering presence in Appalachia and Appalachian Studies from the time he started working with the Council of Southern Mountains in 1958 all the way through his passing last Saturday,” said Chris Green, director of the Loyal Jones Appalachian Center at Berea College. “Loyal loved stories and people. His life was dedicated to listening and making room for everyone to feel and be heard.”

After graduating from Berea College, Jones earned a master’s degree from the University of North Carolina.  He returned to Berea in 1958 to become the associate executive director and then executive director of the Council of the Southern Mountains, Inc., a pivotal organization during the War on Poverty. Before returning to Berea, he taught in the U.S. Army and the Jefferson County (Kentucky) schools. He wrote eight books and coauthored five others with Billy Edd Wheeler, a 1955 Berea graduate, award-winning songwriter, recording artist, poet and author. Jones served as founder and director of the College’s Appalachian Center, the first of its kind in the nation, from 1970 to 1993. In 2008, the center was renamed in his honor as the Loyal Jones Appalachian Center. His dedication to Appalachia led him to actively engage with organizations centered around education, welfare and reform in Appalachian communities. He earned numerous awards and honors for his tireless commitment to this often-overlooked region and its people.

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Berea College Statement on the Death of Appalachian Studies Pioneer Loyal Jones

The Berea College community is saddened by the passing of Jessie Reasor Zander, whose 1954 graduation from Berea made her the first African American student to earn a degree from a Kentucky college after the state’s Day Law was amended to allow interracial education. Zander passed away in Arizona at the age of 91.

An educator, school principal and avid traveler, Zander was a proud Berean but shied away from the label “barrier breaker.” Her love of Berea brought her back to campus many times. In 1989, she worked with student-teachers in the College’s Education Studies department and later with the Carter G. Woodson Center for Interracial Education, where she worked with African American high school students. She was also an award-winning poet. A work titled “Unifying Symbol,” about the need for cultural exchanges as a bridge to promote better understanding among people of different backgrounds, was published in the <em>Appalachian Independent</em> in July 1975. An excerpt from the work reads: I’d like to join you./In a trip toward healing, toward harmony and wholeness.…Say the word and I’ll join you/In a walk toward exchange/Toward a new consciousness and understanding.

Berea College Statement on the Death of Jessie Reasor Zander, the State’s First Black Graduate Post-Day Law