Mary Williams Mims

Mary Williams Mims (​Educator and sociologist who became a leading spokeswoman for communities in rural America)
Born	August 20, 1882​ Minden, Louisiana
Died	November 24, 1967 (aged 85) Resting place: Minden Cemetery
Spouse	Never married: Parents: David Samuel and Mary Eleanora Stewart Mims Maternal uncle: William G. Stewart Alma mater: Louisiana Industrial Institute (Ruston) Sophie B. Wright School for Girls (New Orleans)

Mary Williams Mims (August 20, 1882 – November 24, 1967) ^[1]was an American educator, pioneering community organizer, and rural sociologist.

Mims was born near Minden in Webster Parish in northwestern Louisiana, the fourth of eight children of a Methodist couple, David Samuel Mims (1846-1919), a planter originally from Darlington, South Carolina,^[2] and the former Mary Eleanora Stewart (1849-1940), a native of Alabama, who was reared in Webster Parish and was a daughter of one of the pioneer settlers of the region. One of Eleanora's brothers, William G. Stewart, was a farmer, a president of the Webster Parish School Board, and the namesake of the since razed William G. Stewart Elementary School in Minden.^[3]

In 1902, she received a Bachelor of Industry degree in 1902 from the Louisiana Industrial Institute, the former name of Louisiana Tech University in Ruston. She received additional education in New Orleans at the Sophie B. Wright School for Girls, founded by Sophie Bell Wright (1866-1912) and now known as the Sophie B. Wright Institute of Academic Excellence. She attended summer terms at George Peabody College in Nashville, Tennessee, the University of Colorado at Boulder, and Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, and a number of institutes in Europe. From 1902 to 1922, she taught or served as principal in Bienville Parish at Gibsland, Ringgold, and Bienville.^[4] She was her state's first female principals.^[5]

In 1922, Mims she began a new career as assistant home demonstration agent for the LSU Agricultural Extension Service. From this berth, she became the first sociologist for the extension service. In 1925, she launched a program to organize rural communities by estates and was considered one of the greatest national orators during her career. She gave a speech alongside U.S. President Calvin Coolidge^[5] and became one of the best known national advocates for community development. Her model included economic, health, civic, and recreational guidelines to improve rural America. By 1940, she had organized more than one thousand Louisiana communities, such as Calhoun in Ouachita Parish, Hico in Lincoln Parish, and Evergreen in Avoyelles Parish, and was invited to speak about her program throughout the United States and in Europe.^[5] In the 1930s, Miss Mims organized nineteen folk schools to assist rural communities in the retention of their heritage. In 1941, she was named "Woman of the Year" by Progressive Farmer magazine, based in Birmingham, Alabama. Centenary College in Shreveport awarded her In 1957 an honorary Doctor of Law degree. On her retirement, effective with her seventieth birthday, she became emeritus extension professor of sociology. In 1957, the Louisiana Library Association presented her with its James O. Modisette Award for Public Libraries, which is issued in even years if merited.^[4]

Her book, The Awakening Community, published in 1932, launched Mims to national and international attention. The book includes practical wisdom, anecdotes, and concrete suggestions for the building of strong communities. ^[5]

Miss Mims died at the age of eighty-five and is interred alongside most of her family members at Minden Cemetery.^[6]