Of the names engraved on the Founders Bell Tower at Millsaps College, Jim and Fentress Boone Waits are two of the most recent additions. Following Fentress’ death in 2019, Jim Waits made a planned gift in December 2020 to establish the Waits Scholars program, an initiative in his and Fentress’ name to provide scholarships for outstanding African American students who exemplify leadership, academic promise, and demonstrated commitment to community service and social justice. Jim continues to provide yearly contributions to support these Waits Scholars—and has created a trust that will support the creation of an endowed fund to support the Waits Scholars Program in perpetuity.
This extraordinary gift makes possible a superior liberal arts education for generations of students and shapes Millsaps’ future, much like Millsaps’ founders did in 1890. The Waits’ relationship with Millsaps, however, began long before their induction into the Founders Society and the engraving of their names on the Founders Tower. Their partnership has been nearly 70 years in the making, starting with their own undergraduate years at Millsaps.
Though their paths did not first cross as they pursued their bachelor’s degrees, both Jim and Fentress enjoyed eventful academic careers at Millsaps. Jim enrolled at Millsaps in 1954 and earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in philosophy, graduating with honors in 1958. Fentress enrolled in 1961 and graduated in 1965 with her Bachelor of Arts in English. In their academic and professional careers, both Jim and Fentress maintained strong commitments to equality, advocacy, and social justice, particularly in education.
Before his marriage to Fentress in 1965, Jim was pastor at Epworth Methodist Church in Biloxi, MS, during a critical period in Mississippi’s civil rights history. Following James Meredith’s integration of the University of Mississippi in 1963, Jim joined with three fellow Methodist pastors and wrote a statement for the Mississippi Methodist Advocate supporting integration of public schools.
“As Christian Ministers and native Mississippians,” the pastors wrote, “we have a particular obligation to speak….Born of the deep conviction of our souls as to do what is morally right, we have been driven to seek the foundations of such convictions in the express witness of our Church.” Grounding their argument in the tenets of their faith, they declared: “Our Lord Jesus Christ teaches that all men are brothers. He permits no discrimination because of race, color, or creed….The position of the Methodist Church, long held and frequently declared, is an amplification of our Lord’s teaching.” This declaration, signed by 28 ministers and now known in civil rights history as the “Born of Conviction Statement,” spoke in support of integrated schools and circulated widely in the press.
As a student, Fentress pushed with her peers for a more inclusive Millsaps among students and faculty. She advocated fiercely for the rights of women and girls in her lifetime, chairing the Legal Status of Women Committee and heading a coalition of Georgia organizations lobbying for the 1972 Equal Rights Amendment to pass in the state. Jim, as Dean and Asa G. Candler Professor of Divinity at the Candler School of Theology from 1978-1991, began the school’s Black Church Studies Program, and appointed its first tenured female faculty. Their legacies are present at a multitude of institutions, including Millsaps College.
In addition to establishing the Waits Scholars Program, the Waits made several key contributions to enhance the Millsaps student experience. In 1995, Jim and Fentress, along with Howard and Bethany Boone, established the Howard E. Boone, Sr. Memorial Book Fund. The Book Fund supports the purchase of books, periodicals, and other materials for the Millsaps Wilson Library, and is named in honor of Fentress and Howard’s father, a 1930 Millsaps graduate. Fentress, an avid collector of antique English furniture in her lifetime, donated several pieces to Millsaps. These functional works of art reside in the third floor of the Millsaps Wilson Library, so that students may touch and feel a bit of early English life as they study literature.
The Waits Scholars Program and Fentress’ furniture gift were dedicated in 2021, with an on-campus dedication ceremony held that September. The furniture, materials purchased through the Book Fund, and funds from the scholars program are precise reminders of Jim and Fentress’ dedication to both Millsaps as an institution and the students that the college serves. These gifts are a legacy that will last beyond lifetime; whether students are Waits Scholars, English majors, or library-goers, each of their experiences will be enriched by the Waits’ commitment to equal and exceptional education.