In her own way, Myldred E. Jones, the founder of Casa Youth Shelter, was every bit the female pioneer, as accomplished as any that have been enshrined in the lore and lure of the west, according to her Casa Youth bio.
When Myldred was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on August 5, 1909, women were still two decades away from getting enough states to ratify the 19th Amendment which would finally award women the full right to vote.
Yet, over the course of her lifetime Myldred became so accomplished that her efforts were praised by the likes of Pope John XXIII, General Colin Powell, the United Nations and five U.S. Presidents.
A strong woman of deep faith, contemporary accounts indicate she was, throughout her life, dedicated to making life easier for others while caring for many..
Myldred did graduate studies at UCLA in Sociology and Public Administration after graduating with a Bachelors of Administration degree from Wittenberg College in Springfield, Ohio.
Even the celebrated measure of her much accomplished life barely scratches the surface of her incredible string of inspirations. Beyond Casa, Jones established many early models for social justice and care that are still being used today.
She was teaching school at Frances de Paux School for Mexican Girls in 1942 when her teaching career gave way to the U.S. Navy and WWII. She served for 17 years and rose to the prestigious rank of Lt. Commander.
In the days when marriage and motherhood were not allowed for career military women, she served with distinction throughout WWII, the Korean War, and the peacetime that followed.
Myldred was the first female faculty in the Armed Forces Graduate School of Information, Assistant Director, Welfare Department, Navy Relief Society, and she served as the Naval Liaison to both the United Nations and the American Red Cross.
After her military discharge, she was active in the Civil Rights Movement, marching alongside Dr.Martin Luther King, Jr. from Selma to Montgomery.
She helped desegregate an Episcopal Church
near Selma, as well as a military officers’ club. She also joined with Cesar Chavez on his marches for the United Farm Workers, and then worked in Watts and East Los Angeles to continue this work with teenagers.
During an 18-month assignment as a Consultant for Youth Affairs in the office of then Governor Ronald Reagan, she conducted a study of issues affecting youth in crisis throughout California.
Because of that experience, she participated in the establishment of the first Adolescent Hotline at Children’s Hospital in Los Angeles.
Subsequently, hotlines spread across the nation and are now operating internationally.
She also founded We Care, which offers aid to the homeless and near-homeless, and the Southern California Hot Line, which averages 1,000 calls a month from people in crisis situations. These non-profit organizations are all dedicated to youth in need. Through her work, she recognized the desperate need to shelter runaway and abandoned teens who faced danger on the streets.
She sold her Rossmoor home and used the proceeds to purchase two adjacent lots in Los Alamitos. This property became Casa Youth Shelter.
At the age of 69, when most people are settled into retirement, Myldred moved into a tiny house and built Casa Youth Shelter next door. On April 7, 1978, the shelter welcomed its first troubled youth through its doors. Myldred ran and supervised the three-bedroom house that would shelter up to six youngsters at a time. With few funds, she relied on a backyard garden, the goodness of neighbors and friends, and her unfaltering faith to feed and clothe the kids that came to her shelter. Her vision and lifelong dream of helping children in need became a reality, and the woman who sacrificed marriage and children for service to her country would begin 29 years of accepting, loving, and sheltering at-risk youth.
For many youngsters, Casa Youth Shelter was where they learned how typical families live – eating together, sharing the events of the day, and pitching in to do household chores. Not a week went by that a past resident didn’t check in to update her on their accomplishments, a new job, or a newborn child.
It was a big job for a 69-year-old to start and manage a youth shelter. But she often said she didn’t do it alone. Volunteers, donors, and friends seemed to appear from nowhere when mostneeded. Sometimes a miracle came in the form of an anonymous check. Other times it was a stranger knocking on the door with extra food, clothing, or a few dollars. Somehow, she managed, and with the help of an active board of directors, the little 6- bed shelter grew to 12 beds plus a two-story building with rooms for meetings, classes, and counseling.
Like Frieda Caplan who passed away last week, Myldred E. Jones was indeed a groundbreaking pioneer whose life carried her out west and by living her values, she founded not only Casa Youth Shelter, but was responsible for many ideas that became the founding social infrastructure being used even today to rescue teens in crisis all over the world.
