Joseph Ollie Box was born March 10, 1902 in Quitman, Clarke County, Mississippi to Simeon Alexander and Lucinda Vaughn Box and died October 12, 1967 in Jackson, Hinds County, Mississippi. He was born and raised on the family farm located just south of the Quitman city limits. He was the seventh child of a family of six boys and two girls. He attended the public schools in Quitman and graduated from Quitman High School in 1921. After graduating, he attended Mississippi Agriculture and Mechanical College in Starkville, Mississippi which is now known as Mississippi State University. He majored in Chemistry and graduated in 1925. During his senior year, he was student assistant to Doctor William Flowers Hand the Dean of the School of Science. Mississippi A & M College as it was known was a Federal Land Grant College and it was required of the students to wear uniforms and participate in military training while in school. In his senior year, he was the Commander of the Second Battalion with the rank of Major. The Sponsor of the Battalion was Eugenia Harman, his future wife. He was a member of the Reveille Staff, the Alpha Chemical Society and President of the Clarke County Club. During his college years, he played semi-pro baseball with the Longbell Lumber Company in Quitman. After graduating from college in 1925, he went to work for an industrial company in New Orleans, Louisiana, as a chemist. He married Eugenia Harman from Enterprise, Mississippi on December 26, 1925 in Florence, Mississippi. They lived in New Orleans, Louisiana for a while and then moved to Pascagoula, Mississippi where he was employed by the Pascagoula School System as principal and head football coach. He and family moved to Yazoo City, Mississippi where he was principal and head football coach. While living in Yazoo City, Eugenia's parents, William H. Harman and Georgia Ann Johnston Harman, came to live with them because of her father's health. He died June 17, 1931 in Memphis, Tennessee at the age of 52. Her mother continued to live with the family until she remarried. He and family moved to Bentonia Mississippi where he was superintendent of the Bentonia Consolidated School System. He and family moved to Pace, Mississippi where he was superintendent of the Pace Consolidated School for over 30 Years. He was a charter member and first chairman of the Bolivar County Library Commission. He was president of the Bolivar County Conservation League and during this time he was instrumental in constructing the Bolivar County Conservation Lake which is now known as Lake Charlie Capps. While he was the president of the league, it was awarded the Mississippi Wildlife Federation "Conservation Ordanization of the Year" in 1960 and 1966. The award was presented by Mississippi Governor Paul B. Johnston He was president of the Benoit Hunting Club until his death. He is survived by his wife and two sons.