EVELYN OTHEA JONAS MICHELSON

             

Born	Nationality	Ethnicity	Fields	Institutions
Bluefield, West Virginia	United States of America	Scots-Irish	Business Administration	Liberty Mutual Insurance Company	and      U.S. Department of Agriculture

INTRODUCTION

Evelyn Jonas Michelson was born May 8, 1920 in Bluefield West Virginia and died April 9, 2016 in Atlanta Georgia one month before her 96th birthday. She was married to Carroll E. Michelson with whom she had her only son, Robert Carroll Michelson. After graduating from college, she settled in the Washington D.C. area and worked for the United States Department of Agriculture Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS).

EARLY LIFE

Evelyn J. Michelson in Burmuda  
during her honeymoon.

Evelyn Michelson was born Evelyn Othea Jonas in Bluefield West Virginia in 1920. Later around 1923 her family moved to Pembroke Virginia. In 1926 her family moved again to Emporia Virginia where she lived for twelve years until moving to Roanoke Virginia in 1938 to attend Roanoke College.

EDUCATION

Evelyn Michelson attended the Greensville County Virginia elementary school and high school. She began her college career at Roanoke College but after two years she transferred to the Roanoke-based National Business College. In 1941, she was graduated from the National Business College (since 2001, known as the National College of Business & Technology) with a Bachelors degree in Business Administration. She moved to Washington, D.C. in 1941 to begin her career.

CAREER

After graduating, Evelyn Michelson began a career in 1941 at the Liberty Mutual Insurance Company[1] as an administrative assistant. In 1942 she became a civil servant in Washington, D.C. at the United States Department of Agriculture as a clerk. In 1943 she became a secretary in the Foreign Agricultural Service. From 1943 to 1950 she was the U.S. Department of Agriculture Foreign Agricultural Service division Travel Office Manager. She was responsible for the travel plans of all personnel within the division and for arranging exemptions for essential Foreign Agricultural Service personnel during World War II.

Evelyn Jonas (at the time) met her future husband Carroll Edward Michelson during her period of employment at the U.S. Department of Agriculture and for a brief period, was his secretary. Carroll Michelson later went into military service with the United States Coast Guard and conducted his tour in Persia and Italy. Upon returning from the war, Michelson returned to his job in Washington, D.C. at the U.S. Department of Agriculture whereupon he married Evelyn Jonas in August of 1950. Evelyn's only child, Robert C. Michelson, was born in 1951. She and her husband Carroll lived in Park Fairfax[2] Virginia. Around 1957 the family moved to Waynewood, a subdivision near Mount Vernon Virginia where she continued to live until 1980 when she and Carroll moved to Dunwoody Georgia to be near her son's family. Upon the death of Carroll in 1999, Evelyn built a new house in Bradshaw Farms, a subdivision very near her son's family residence at the time.

FAMILY HISTORY

Genealogy as remembered by Evelyn Michelson in 2010.

ARCHIVAL PHOTOS

SPECIAL MEDIA

See video of Evelyn Michelson at ~92 years of age

Hear Evelyn Michelson talk about her childhood pets in Emporia Virginia

REFERENCES

1. Liberty Mutual Insurance Company
2. Park Fairfax
3. Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS) of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)