Mildred Callahan Jones
Encyclopedia
Mildred Callahan Jones (September 19, 1943 - January 17, 2008) was an American
businesswoman known as the "flag lady", who pioneered and helped develop the decorative flag industry.
, and grew up on a tobacco
farm. She earned her degree in nursing
from what is now called Virginia Commonwealth University
.
She met her husband, Thomas Jones, a lawyer
, while working as a nursing manager at the Medical College of Virginia. The two bought their first home in the Fan district
of Richmond, Virginia
, which is one of the largest remaining Victorian neighborhoods
left in North America
.
s as a hobby
. Jones first purchased a piece of Scandinavian cloth in 1971 in order to guide party
guests to her home in the Fan district
section of Richmond, Virginia
.
However, her interest in flag making turned into a small business
after she hung a giant flag outside her home with the words, "It's a Boy", announcing the birth of her son in 1975. Jones, and her idea for decorative flags, soon propelled her into the national consciousness. Reporters from around the country, inclluding ABC
's Good Morning America
and the Wall Street Journal, soon began arriving at her Richmond home in order to file stories on the "flag lady," as Jones became known.
She founded her company, Festival Flags Unlimited Inc., The Original Decorative Flag, in 1977. In 1978, Jones and her family moved to the family's new home at 2307 Monument Avenue, which was also in Richmond's Fan district. She immediately put her new basement
to good use as the center of her flag making company. (Her previous workroom had been a small guest bedroom in her old home.)
Jones specialized in one-of-a-kind stitched nylon
flags personalized for her individual customers. Famous clients and customers reportedly included former United States President Ronald Reagan
, as well as actors Jack Lemmon
and Carol Channing
. A special custom made flag was ordered by the Governor of Virginia
as a gift to actor James Garner
after he filmed a television movie
in Richmond.
However, as the popularity of her trademark
"It's a Girl" and "It's a Boy" decorative flags soared, Jones and her company soon began mass producing flags to be sold in major retail stores. She continued to hand sew special order flags throughout her career.
She expanded her Festival Flags business
outside of her home in 1983, when she purchased and renovated a rundown property at 322 W. Broad Street in Richmond. The new facility allowed for the rapid expansion and manufacture of her decorative flags, banners, pennants
and wall decorations. The building also housed left apartments which helped to redevelop the then declining neighborhood.
Over the years Jones and Festival Flags produced thousands of flags and other related products. Her flags were used in a wide array of public events and venues around the world and beyond, including art exhibitions, colleges, churches, such as the National Cathedral, museums, playgrounds and even several castles in England
. Jones' flags were even carried into space
onboard the Space Shuttle Discovery
in 1985.
Festival Flags generated more than $1 million dollars in sales revenue
a year at the peak of its success in the mid-1990s. However, sales fell to approximately 100,000 a year by 2000, which corresponded to trends within the flag industry.
In the process, Jones also became deeply committed to her Richmond and Fan district
community. She was a co-founder of the Old and Historic Broad Street Association, which worked to restore homes and buildings in the Presidents Row section of the city. The Richmond neighborhood is now considered an arts and dining district. She was also involved in other urban restoration and preservation
organizations, including the Fan District Association and the Monument Avenue Preservation Society.
Jones sold her flag business in 2003 due to chronic health problems. She was a diabetic and had undergone quadruple-bypass surgery in 1998 before suffering a series of strokes in 2002.
, at the age of 64. She was survived by her husband, Thomas O. Jones, her son, Jonathan and her mother, Ida Mildred Callahan.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
businesswoman known as the "flag lady", who pioneered and helped develop the decorative flag industry.
Early life
Mildred Callahan was born on September 19, 1943, in Chase City, VirginiaChase City, Virginia
Chase City is a town in Mecklenburg County, Virginia, United States. The population was 2,457 at the 2000 census. Tobacco and other crops are grown nearby...
, and grew up on a tobacco
Tobacco
Tobacco is an agricultural product processed from the leaves of plants in the genus Nicotiana. It can be consumed, used as a pesticide and, in the form of nicotine tartrate, used in some medicines...
farm. She earned her degree in nursing
Nursing
Nursing is a healthcare profession focused on the care of individuals, families, and communities so they may attain, maintain, or recover optimal health and quality of life from conception to death....
from what is now called Virginia Commonwealth University
Virginia Commonwealth University
Virginia Commonwealth University is a public university located in Richmond, Virginia. It comprises two campuses in the Downtown Richmond area, the product of a merger between the Richmond Professional Institute and the Medical College of Virginia in 1968...
.
She met her husband, Thomas Jones, a lawyer
Lawyer
A lawyer, according to Black's Law Dictionary, is "a person learned in the law; as an attorney, counsel or solicitor; a person who is practicing law." Law is the system of rules of conduct established by the sovereign government of a society to correct wrongs, maintain the stability of political...
, while working as a nursing manager at the Medical College of Virginia. The two bought their first home in the Fan district
Fan district
The Fan is a district of Richmond, Virginia, so named because of the "fan" shape of the array of streets that extend west from Belvidere Street, on the eastern edge of Monroe Park, westward to the Boulevard....
of Richmond, Virginia
Richmond, Virginia
Richmond is the capital of the Commonwealth of Virginia, in the United States. It is an independent city and not part of any county. Richmond is the center of the Richmond Metropolitan Statistical Area and the Greater Richmond area...
, which is one of the largest remaining Victorian neighborhoods
Victorian architecture
The term Victorian architecture refers collectively to several architectural styles employed predominantly during the middle and late 19th century. The period that it indicates may slightly overlap the actual reign, 20 June 1837 – 22 January 1901, of Queen Victoria. This represents the British and...
left in North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
.
Flag making
Jones originally started making flagFlag
A flag is a piece of fabric with a distinctive design that is usually rectangular and used as a symbol, as a signaling device, or decoration. The term flag is also used to refer to the graphic design employed by a flag, or to its depiction in another medium.The first flags were used to assist...
s as a hobby
Hobby
A hobby is a regular activity or interest that is undertaken for pleasure, typically done during one's leisure time.- Etymology :A hobby horse is a wooden or wickerwork toy made to be ridden just like a real horse...
. Jones first purchased a piece of Scandinavian cloth in 1971 in order to guide party
Party
A party is a gathering of people who have been invited by a host for the purposes of socializing, conversation, or recreation. A party will typically feature food and beverages, and often music and dancing as well....
guests to her home in the Fan district
Fan district
The Fan is a district of Richmond, Virginia, so named because of the "fan" shape of the array of streets that extend west from Belvidere Street, on the eastern edge of Monroe Park, westward to the Boulevard....
section of Richmond, Virginia
Richmond, Virginia
Richmond is the capital of the Commonwealth of Virginia, in the United States. It is an independent city and not part of any county. Richmond is the center of the Richmond Metropolitan Statistical Area and the Greater Richmond area...
.
However, her interest in flag making turned into a small business
Small business
A small business is a business that is privately owned and operated, with a small number of employees and relatively low volume of sales. Small businesses are normally privately owned corporations, partnerships, or sole proprietorships...
after she hung a giant flag outside her home with the words, "It's a Boy", announcing the birth of her son in 1975. Jones, and her idea for decorative flags, soon propelled her into the national consciousness. Reporters from around the country, inclluding ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
's Good Morning America
Good Morning America
Good Morning America is an American morning news and talk show that is broadcast on the ABC television network; it debuted on November 3, 1975. The weekday program airs for two hours; a third hour aired between 2007 and 2008 exclusively on ABC News Now...
and the Wall Street Journal, soon began arriving at her Richmond home in order to file stories on the "flag lady," as Jones became known.
She founded her company, Festival Flags Unlimited Inc., The Original Decorative Flag, in 1977. In 1978, Jones and her family moved to the family's new home at 2307 Monument Avenue, which was also in Richmond's Fan district. She immediately put her new basement
Basement
__FORCETOC__A basement is one or more floors of a building that are either completely or partially below the ground floor. Basements are typically used as a utility space for a building where such items as the furnace, water heater, breaker panel or fuse box, car park, and air-conditioning system...
to good use as the center of her flag making company. (Her previous workroom had been a small guest bedroom in her old home.)
Jones specialized in one-of-a-kind stitched nylon
Nylon
Nylon is a generic designation for a family of synthetic polymers known generically as polyamides, first produced on February 28, 1935, by Wallace Carothers at DuPont's research facility at the DuPont Experimental Station...
flags personalized for her individual customers. Famous clients and customers reportedly included former United States President Ronald Reagan
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States , the 33rd Governor of California and, prior to that, a radio, film and television actor....
, as well as actors Jack Lemmon
Jack Lemmon
John Uhler "Jack" Lemmon III was an American actor and musician. He starred in more than 60 films including Some Like It Hot, The Apartment, Mister Roberts , Days of Wine and Roses, The Great Race, Irma la Douce, The Odd Couple, Save the Tiger John Uhler "Jack" Lemmon III (February 8, 1925June...
and Carol Channing
Carol Channing
Carol Elaine Channing is an American singer, actress, and comedienne. She is the recipient of three Tony Awards , a Golden Globe and an Oscar nomination...
. A special custom made flag was ordered by the Governor of Virginia
Governor of Virginia
The governor of Virginia serves as the chief executive of the Commonwealth of Virginia for a four-year term. The position is currently held by Republican Bob McDonnell, who was inaugurated on January 16, 2010, as the 71st governor of Virginia....
as a gift to actor James Garner
James Garner
James Garner is an American film and television actor, one of the first Hollywood actors to excel in both media. He has starred in several television series spanning a career of more than five decades...
after he filmed a television movie
Television movie
A television film is a feature film that is a television program produced for and originally distributed by a television network, in contrast to...
in Richmond.
However, as the popularity of her trademark
Trademark
A trademark, trade mark, or trade-mark is a distinctive sign or indicator used by an individual, business organization, or other legal entity to identify that the products or services to consumers with which the trademark appears originate from a unique source, and to distinguish its products or...
"It's a Girl" and "It's a Boy" decorative flags soared, Jones and her company soon began mass producing flags to be sold in major retail stores. She continued to hand sew special order flags throughout her career.
She expanded her Festival Flags business
Business
A business is an organization engaged in the trade of goods, services, or both to consumers. Businesses are predominant in capitalist economies, where most of them are privately owned and administered to earn profit to increase the wealth of their owners. Businesses may also be not-for-profit...
outside of her home in 1983, when she purchased and renovated a rundown property at 322 W. Broad Street in Richmond. The new facility allowed for the rapid expansion and manufacture of her decorative flags, banners, pennants
Pennon
A pennon was one of the principal three varieties of flags carried during the Middle Ages . Pennoncells and streamers or pendants are considered as minor varieties of this style of flag. The pennon is a flag resembling the guidon in shape, but only half the size...
and wall decorations. The building also housed left apartments which helped to redevelop the then declining neighborhood.
Over the years Jones and Festival Flags produced thousands of flags and other related products. Her flags were used in a wide array of public events and venues around the world and beyond, including art exhibitions, colleges, churches, such as the National Cathedral, museums, playgrounds and even several castles in England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. Jones' flags were even carried into space
Space
Space is the boundless, three-dimensional extent in which objects and events occur and have relative position and direction. Physical space is often conceived in three linear dimensions, although modern physicists usually consider it, with time, to be part of a boundless four-dimensional continuum...
onboard the Space Shuttle Discovery
Space Shuttle Discovery
Space Shuttle Discovery is one of the retired orbiters of the Space Shuttle program of NASA, the space agency of the United States, and was operational from its maiden flight, STS-41-D on August 30, 1984, until its final landing during STS-133 on March 9, 2011...
in 1985.
Festival Flags generated more than $1 million dollars in sales revenue
Revenue
In business, revenue is income that a company receives from its normal business activities, usually from the sale of goods and services to customers. In many countries, such as the United Kingdom, revenue is referred to as turnover....
a year at the peak of its success in the mid-1990s. However, sales fell to approximately 100,000 a year by 2000, which corresponded to trends within the flag industry.
In the process, Jones also became deeply committed to her Richmond and Fan district
Fan district
The Fan is a district of Richmond, Virginia, so named because of the "fan" shape of the array of streets that extend west from Belvidere Street, on the eastern edge of Monroe Park, westward to the Boulevard....
community. She was a co-founder of the Old and Historic Broad Street Association, which worked to restore homes and buildings in the Presidents Row section of the city. The Richmond neighborhood is now considered an arts and dining district. She was also involved in other urban restoration and preservation
Historic preservation
Historic preservation is an endeavor that seeks to preserve, conserve and protect buildings, objects, landscapes or other artifacts of historical significance...
organizations, including the Fan District Association and the Monument Avenue Preservation Society.
Jones sold her flag business in 2003 due to chronic health problems. She was a diabetic and had undergone quadruple-bypass surgery in 1998 before suffering a series of strokes in 2002.
Death
She died on January 17, 2008 at her home in Richmond, VirginiaRichmond, Virginia
Richmond is the capital of the Commonwealth of Virginia, in the United States. It is an independent city and not part of any county. Richmond is the center of the Richmond Metropolitan Statistical Area and the Greater Richmond area...
, at the age of 64. She was survived by her husband, Thomas O. Jones, her son, Jonathan and her mother, Ida Mildred Callahan.
External links
- Boston Globe: Mildred Jones, 64; created colorful festive flag business
- Los Angeles Times: Mildred Jones, 64; pioneered festive flags
- Chicago Tribune: Mildred Jones, 64; pioneered festive flags
- Legacy.com (From the Associated Press): Mildred Callahan Jones obituary
- Festival Flags
- Fan District Association