The Clarion Ledger
Jo Love Little, 69, died Saturday, April 1, 2006, at home. Visitation is 10:30 a.m. today in St. Francis Hall of St. Andrew's Episcopal Cathedral in Jackson. A Requiem Eucharist will be celebrated at 11:30 a.m. on today with burial in Lakewood Memorial Park. Wright & Ferguson Funeral Home of Jackson is handling arrangements.
Jo was born on December 5, 1936, in Jackson. She was a resident of Jackson and the Mississippi Gulf Coast. She attended school in Biloxi as a child and later public schools in Jackson, graduating from Central High School. She attended Converse College in Spartanburg, South Carolina and the University of Mississippi with a B.A. Degree in Theatre, English, and French and a minor in Anthropology.
From childhood, Mrs. Little was active in the arts, primarily theatre and dance. She appeared in productions at Biloxi Little Theatre, Jackson Little Theatre, Central High School, Converse College, the University of Mississippi, Gulfport Little Theatre, Gulf Coast Opera, and Center Stage in Biloxi.
Mrs. Little served on the board, and was president of the board, of Gulfport Little Theatre. She coordinated a Coast-wide arts awareness conference which led to her becoming the president of the production committee for the first Gulf Coast Arts Festival, involving local talent in all of the arts. She served on the board for two years.
Mrs. Little was a founding member of Center Stage in Biloxi, served as its first president and treasurer and operated the box office and the business operations for four years. She also appeared in the leading roll of Maggie in Center Stage s first production, Cat On A Hot Tin Roof, which sold out for all of its eleven performances.
The Episcopal Church was an important part of Mrs. Little s life. She was a member of St. Mark s Episcopal Church in Gulfport. She was active in the work of the church at the parish level serving as secretary and president of the Episcopal Church Women, leader of the Episcopal Youth Group for two years, and for a number of years was a member of the Altar Guild, a worker at the St. Mark s Thrift Shop, a member of the vestry and a clerk of the vestry of St. Mark s Episcopal.
On the Diocesan level of the Episcopal Church, she served as Coast Coordinator for the Episcopal Church Women of Mississippi and as a delegate to Triennial. She served as vice-president of the ECW and liaison to the president. Mrs. Little served as co-chairman of the Fall Conferences hosted by the ECW and St. Mark s Episcopal Church and assisted by other churches in the Coast Convocation. It was also ecumenical in that the Catholic Diocese of Biloxi participated with the first service at Church of the Nativity, the Cathedral for the Catholic Diocese of Biloxi.
Mrs. Little served on many boards during the time she lived in Gulfport: the United Way Foundation, Salvation Army of Biloxi, the Crosby Arboretum of Picayune, Gulf Coast Mental Health Center, the Friends of Walter Anderson, The Walter Anderson Museum of Art, Board of Trustees, co-chairman of Gala III for the Walter Anderson Museum of Art, and area chairman for Heart Sunday for the American Heart Association.
She was a member of the Gulfport Medical Auxiliary and served as vice-president. She was active in the Mississippi State Medical Auxiliary and served as chairman of the Mississippi State Medical Auxiliary Convention.
On the State level in the arts, Mrs. Little served on the Board of New Stage in Jackson, the Institute of Arts and Letters, and the International Ballet Competition Board held in Jackson every four years. She was a member of Revelers Carnival Organization in Gulfport, the Gulfport Yacht Club, and the Junior League of New Orleans.
She was a member of Elsinore Garden Club of Jackson and the Southern Luncheon Club of Jackson.
In her business life, Mrs. Little was one of three family members who owned Lakewood Memorial Park in Jackson. She, her sister Mary Eliza McMillan, and her brother James Sanford Love III, are former owners of WLOX TV and Love Broadcast, an ABC affiliate in Biloxi. Mrs. Little was vice-president of the corporation and active in the day to day operation from 1972 until 1985. She produced the first documentary at WLOX Iron Magnolias: the Changing Role of Women in the South. Her particular interest was in serving the community through special programming. WLOX produced, under her direction, a week-long series dealing with drug issues with teenagers along the Gulf Coast that and during Drug Abuse Week. Student Spotlight featured outstanding seniors in high schools along the Mississippi Gulf Coast, and showcased creative and production genius by the camera crew.
Mrs. Little was the eldest daughter of the late Joe Ellis Buie Love and the late James Sanford Love Jr. She was the granddaughter of the late Joe Ellis Buie and the late Webster Millsaps Buie and the granddaughter of the late Lillie Bufkin Love and the late James Sanford Love. She was the late great-great niece of Reuben Webster Millsaps, founder of Millsaps College.
She is survived by her son, Robert Ashford Little II of Atlanta, Ga., her daughter-in-law, Catherine Derdeyn Little, her daughter, Mary Eliza Little Aston of New York City, and her son-in-law, Paul Aston. She is survived by three grandchildren, Nathaniel Ashford Little, Robert Davis Little, and Amalie Marie Little.
She is survived by a sister, Mary Eliza Love McMillan and her brother-in-law, Howard Lamar McMillan Jr. of Jackson; a brother, James Sanford Love III and her sister-in-law, Christine Joachim Gibson-Love of Biloxi; nieces include Eliza McMillan Garraway and her husband Rick Garraway of Jackson, Caroline Love Bogen and her husband Josh Bogen III of Belmont, NC, Gillian Meredith Love of Oxford; nephews include Howard Lamar McMillan III and his wife Gina of Hay Market, Va., and James Sanford Love IV of Atlanta, Ga. There are numerous great-nieces and nephews.
Mrs. Little and her family ask that memorial donations be made to St. Andrew's Cathedral of Jackson, 305 East Capitol Street, Jackson, MS 39201, St. Mark s Episcopal Church of Gulfport, MS 39057, Walter Anderson Museum of Art, 5100 Washington Avenue, Ocean Springs, MS 39564, Center Stage, 240 Eisenhower Drive, Biloxi, MS 39531, the Gulf Coast Rescue Mission, PO Box 4531, Biloxi, MS 39535, and Stewpot Ministry, 1100 West Capitol Street, Jackson, MS 39203.