News, Citizen Profile, Bernice Coleman Mack, LaSalle Parish, La.




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Submitted by: Craig Franklin of The Jena Times, Jena, LaSalle Parish, La.

Bernice Coleman Mack - Citizen Profile 

Wednesday, October 4, 2000, page 15A

A Times-Signal Feature "Citizen Profile" A Very Special Salute

This Jena lady fulfills dream; becomes teacher

This week's Citizen Profile taught school for thirty years at Good Pine and
still remembers going to school herself as a little girl in the 1930's with
detailed accuracy.

Mrs. Bernice Coleman Mack was born December 23, 1923, in Fullerton, Louisiana,
to Fields and Emma Coleman. Mr. Coleman worked in the saw mills wetting
blocks, and would move from saw mill to saw mill in various towns to do the
work.

As a child the family moved to Alco, Louisiana, and it was there that Mrs.
Mack started school.

"I was in what we now call Head Start," she said. "We were taught from a book
called Hand Chart, but after we moved from there I never saw that brand of
book ever again.

"The family next lived in Peason, near what is now known as Fort Polk, and
then they moved to Jena, were she would live the rest of her life.

At Jena, Mrs. Mack attended Mars Hill Rosenwall School, named after a white
man who had the school built for the black residents of the Mars Hill
Community.

When she was in the fourth grade, the school burned down, so classes were
moved to Mars Hill Baptist Church for seven days until, ironically, it burned
down as well.

For the following year, children in the area had nowhere to attend school, so
most of them stayed home - including Mrs. Mack.

"During this time, I had an auntee come in from Weirgate, Texas and I went
back to Weirgate with her and attended school there for about a year," Mrs.
Mack said.

While away in Texas the Mars Hill School was rebuilt in the same location
where it one stood and classes once again resumed. Mrs. Mack soon moved back
to Jena and got promoted a grade.

Mrs. Mack has many memories of those early school years, including the days
when the school not only didn't have running water, but didn't even have a
well to draw water from.

"We didn't have running water or even a well," she said. "We'd have to carry
water for the school from a well at a neighbor's house. Then Mr. Renfrow dug
the school a water well.

"Mrs. Mack remembers that certain people in the community kept coming by the
school and clogging the well up with sticks and things, and the well had to be
re-dug some four different times.

"The last one he dug he built a wall around it to keep people out of it," she
said.

Of the many things she remembers about her school days, one was her lunch,
which was virtually the same everyday.

"We would carry our lunch in a syrup bucket so you could put a top on it," she
said. "Inside it we'd have smoked bacon, biscuits, syrup and butter mixed
together, and milk in a jar. Everything was homemade, the biscuits, syrup and
butter, and the milk came from our milk cow.

"Mrs. Mack said that also attending the school were some children whose
parents  worked for a white man in the area. 

"They lived in the man's chicken house, which was actually nicer than our
homes," she said. "He'd give the family light bread and some type of potted
meat for them to take sandwiches to school. Well, we'd always trade with those
children . . . they liked my syrup and biscuits and I liked their sandwiches.
That was the first time I'd ever seen a sandwich like that and it was good.

"Along with getting their studies done, the children in the Coleman home made
sure they kept up with their chores each day.

"All the time while going to school, we had to farm, slop the hogs, and work
in the field," she said. "We raised all of our own food to eat including
cotton, okra, sweet potatoes, sugar cane, pop corn and other corn, peanuts,
peas, watermelons, feed the chickens, gather eggs, everything.

"She said that the family also had to make their own clothes to wear, from the
cotton they raised and from old feed sacks.

"We made dresses out of horse feed sacks and 484 fertilizer sacks," she said.
"I remember those 484 sacks had those black numbers, 484, on white sacks and
you couldn't hardly get those numbers out. So we'd crochet over those numbers
to cover it up.

"Along with dresses, shirts were made for the boys and men, and "step-ins"
(undergarments) were made for the girls.

"We'd make step-ins and we'd have to put a string in them to keep them up,"
she said. "Remember now, this is before there was any elastic.

"She said that the country store did have cloth for sale at 10 cents a yard,
but "you were living high if you could afford that."

Mrs. Mack said that during those days, children graduated  from the seventh
grade and went to the eighth grade at Good Pine High School.

"There were only five of us that graduated, and because of the school burning,
we were all behind a grade from everyone else," she said. "So they opened up a
summer school just for us and we went there to catch up and be ready to start
the eighth grade.

"In 1943, Mrs. Mack graduated from Good Pine High School and was the only
person in her graduating class.

After high school, Mrs. Mack wanted to go to college to become a teacher, a
dream she'd had since she was a child. However, at the time, it cost $35 to
enter college at Grambling Normal College - $35 she nor her family had.

So she went to work around Jena at various people's homes, washing, ironing
and cleaning, whatever she could to earn money for college. Two of the people
she remembers working for during this time were Mrs. Hendrix, who owned the
local Strand Theatre or "picture show" as it was called, and J.D. Russell,
LaSalle's former school superintendent.

She earned just enough money to pay for one month of college, a bus ticket to
Ruston, and then the 50 cent taxi ride to Grambling. She recalled her father
asking her what she was going to do at the end of the month when her money ran
out. Mrs. Mack wasn't sure what the answer to that question was at the time,
but she did know "who" would take care of everything.

"I honestly didn't know what I was going to do, but I did know that God was in
control and so I just trusted in Him," she said.

Mrs. Mack said that her walk with the Lord began when she was ten years old in
1933. That year, she came to know the Lord in a personal way and was baptized
in the old Good Pine Mill Pond.

"I remember the old baptizings that were held there every so often," she said.
"Everybody brought a sheet and they made a line from tree to tree and that is
what you changed behind. Church had always been an important part of our
family and my life, and still is today." 

As a young girl growing up in the black churches around Jena, she was also a
member of the choir, which was very popular around Jena at the time.

"In fact, the first time I was ever in a white church was when I was singing
in the choir," she said. "We were invited to sing at First Baptist Church in
Jena for some kind of associational meeting and I remember getting up on that
stage and looking out at everyone there. I remember thinking to myself how I'd
never seen so many white folks in all my life and how it looked like a field
of cotton in that church."

When her money was nearly gone and the month was just about over, she decided
to visit the President of the college and ask what she could do to stay in
school.

"I went and asked him for a job and he got me one working in the dining hall,"
she said. "From that day forward, I worked my way through college cooking and
cutting cornbread in that dining hall."

"Now remember, I wasn't able to go to college just a few months earlier, but
the Lord made a way," she said. "That's just one of the many times in my life
God has made a way."

During this time, Mrs. Mack began dating a man by the name of Wafer Mack. She
recalled one of the places they enjoyed going on dates to was to see the
picture show at the Strand Theater.

The two would marry on February 14, Valentines Day, in 1947. He eventually
would go to work as a cook for Justiss Oil Company, and did all the cooking at
Justiss' big events and hunting trips. He also worked at Nick Edwards' Cafe as
a cook.

In 1948, Mrs. Mack graduated from Grambling with a Bachelor of Science degree.
The faculty of the school was so impressed by her, that immediately upon
graduating, she was offered a job at Grambling. But her heart was set on
coming home and fulfilling her childhood dream of teaching.

She returned to Jena that same year and was hired by J.D. Russell, the same
man of whom she'd worked for just five years earlier, as a teacher at Good
Pine Elementary School. 

"I started out teaching third grade for my first year, and then I taught
second grade for the next 21 years," she said. "I then taught fourth grade for
2 years, up until the schools integrated somewhere around 1970-72, and then I
started teaching science at Good Pine Middle School for fourth and fifth
grades."

Altogether, she taught school for 30 years, ultimately retiring in 1978.

During this time, The Mack's would raise four children, all girls: Sowanda
Faye, Casandra Raye, Swanson Kaye and Caseptla Waye.

Two years ago, in 1998, Mr. Mack passed away after the two had been married
for 51 years. She said that the reason their marriage lasted so long was
because of the commitment they had made to each other back in 1947.

"Actually, we both were so busy, working and all, that we really didn't have
time to argue," she said. "The best advice I have for young married couples is
to not listen to what other people say and don't have another boyfriend or
girlfriend."

Today, Mrs. Mack enjoys reminiscing about her life and the things that have
taken place years ago. She is probably one of the few people around that can
recall with detailed accuracy the way of life during the 1930's and 40's for
black residents in Jena.

One of her most enjoyable hobbies as a child and continues to be today, is
reading.

"My mama once said that I'd sweep the floor and find a piece of paper and read
it, that's how much I enjoy reading," she said.

Church is still a very important part of her life, Throughout the years, she
has served as a Sunday School teacher, choir member, and was recently made a
deaconess at her church.

"I love working in the church and being around God's people," she said. "The
best friends I have are in the church and I love them all."

Mrs. Mack said that if there is one thing she'd like to be remembered for, it
would be that she was an honest person and that she always shared a smile.

"I think you ought to greet everyone with a smile," she said, "and be
friendly. That's me, everyone will tell you that. I just don't know any other
way to be."

For literally hundreds of men and women, black and white, in the Jena area,
found memories are recalled of Mrs. Bernice Mack and her science classes at
Good Pine Middle School. She was known as a friend to everyone, and treated
every student the same, regardless of the color of their skin.

This week we salute Mrs. Mack as our Citizen Profile, and thank her for
reminding us that the most important things in life are our relationship with
our Lord and how we treat our fellow man.      

(Caption under photo)
Mrs. Bernice Mack, this week's citizen Profile says that being honest, sharing
a smile and being friendly are just a few ways that everyone can help make the
world a better place. (See Story)

(Caption under photo)
This photograph was taken of Mrs. Mack in 1948, the first year she started
teaching school at Good Pine Elementary School. She would teach for 30 years
and treated all of her students the same, regardless of their color. (See
Story)