In this installment of our Faces from the Album series, we present several distinguished young ladies of New Orleans in the 1930s and 1940s. 

Miss Mildred Beatrice Cage

Shown above is Miss Mildred Cage as a member of the faculty of Joseph Craig Elementary School in New Orleans. Born to Henry and Johnnie Covington Cage on 15 September 1912, she graduated from McDonogh No. 35, Xavier University, and Valena C. Jones Normal School. Valuing education, she went on to complete studies at the University of Detroit for her master’s degree. She dedicated 40 years of her life educating children in Orleans Parish. For 16 years she served as project director of Senior Community Employment Agency as well as National Retired Teachers Association.

She was also involved in other educational and social organizations.  They were Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Jack and Jill (past president), NAACP (life member), and the Flint-Goodridge Hospital Ebony Fashion Fairs (past president).

In 1937, she married Daniel Byrd, assistant director and field representative of the NAACP. Together they raised a daughter, Monique Carol Byrd.  After a lifetime of giving to others, she passed away on 15 September 1997.

Miss Gloria Marguerite Dinvaut

Born and raised in Edgard, Louisiana, Gloria Dinvaut is shown above as she stopped over in New Orleans in 1949 on her way to Ohio to study fashion design. She had recently graduated from Wilberforce State College (now Central) in Ohio. Her parents, Fernand and Alice Dinvaut, resided in St. John the Baptist Parish. Gloria grew up in a household with many siblings. Her father and brothers engaged in numerous successful business enterprises which were featured in the November 1949 issue of Fortune Magazine. She married Leon G. Allain in 1952 and he would become one of the first black architects in the state of Georgia. They had two daughters, Renee and Diane Allain.

Mrs. Jean Coston Maloney

Although she was not from Louisiana, Jean Coston Maloney had a close tie to New Orleans. Just as gifted as her mother Frances Berry Coston (1876-1960) was in journalism, Jean excelled in music. Her talented mother was the first black student to graduate from the Pulitzer School of Journalism at Columbia and Harvard’s Starred Course in English for author and journalists. She also attended the meetings of the Equal Suffrage Association founded in the home of Madam C. J. Walker in 1912. Finally, she devoted years as a teacher, principal, and strong promoter of higher education for orphans.

Her daughter became a concert pianist and teacher. Born in Indiana on 10 May 1916, Jean Coston Maloney, graduated from Oberlin Conservatory of Music, with additional training at Juilliard School of Music. Moving to New Orleans, in the late 1940s, she served on the piano faculty of Dillard University for two years. She moved to Lincoln University, where she taught piano exclusively. Returning to New Orleans, she took up residence in the Gentilly Garden Apartments, 3520 Virgil Boulevard. She enrolled students for private instructions in piano with courses designed for all levels: beginners, advanced children, and adults. In 1948, she was guest soloist for the B-Sharp Music Club’s Carnival Musicale. The following year, she performed Tchaikovsky’s First Piano Concerto with the New Orleans Symphony Orchestra before an integrated audience in the Booker T. Washington High School Auditorium. 

Miss Vertile Boutte

Miss Boutte was a popular young lady. Dressed in the attire of the 1930s, she entered and won a popularity contest sponsored by the Third Ward Civic League. At the time of this photo in 1934 she lived at 425 Clara Street with her parents, Walter and Leona Pichon Boutte. By 1938 she was married to Ernest Brown. She passed away in New Orleans in 1986.

Miss Althea Belfield

The charming Miss Althea Marguerite Belfield was the daughter of Clifford and Arestina Dobard Belfield, proprietors of Belfield’s Pharmacy on St. Bernard Avenue. She graduated from Xavier University in 1944 and successfully passed the State Board of Pharmacy Examination.  She soon joined her parents’ drug firm where she served in the capacity of assistant general manager. She was a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority. Althea was reared with her three siblings: Clifford Jr., Irving and Wendell, all of whom became doctors. She married Winthrop Bernard Carter, a native of Mobile, Alabama.  They had two children: Dr. Winthrop B. Carter Jr. and Althea B. Carter. Althea and her family, including her brothers and parents, eventually migrated to California. She passed away in San José, California in 2006 at the age of 82.

Miss Marilyn Laneuville

In 1956, Miss Laneuville won a contest sponsored by the YMCA School of Commerce and Orleans Business College. As a result, she was given an all-expense paid trip to New York and Washington. She also completed speedwriting courses at Orleans Business College with top honors. During that time, she was employed at Pontchartrain Park Homes.

Her parents, Alexander and Elina Gueringer Laneuville were well known and respected in the city. For many years the family lived at 1564 N. Prieur Street. Marilyn had three siblings: Joan, Alexander, and Lorraine Laneuville, all of whom would eventually move to New Jersey. Marilyn married William Ernest Populus in February of 1960.  Together they had two children, Erika and William Jr. Populus.

Miss Onelia R. Gabriel

Miss Onelia Gabriel was a member of one of the oldest and proudest Creole families of the city. Her grandfather was the legendary educator Professor Médard Nelson. She also was one of the most popular members of the younger social group of 1936. After graduating in 1935 from Xavier University cum laude, she spent the summer at Chicago University taking Business Administration courses.  She returned to Xavier and became the school’s registrar. For the next 42 years, she was employed in various administrative positions at Xavier Prep and Xavier University. She was the mother of three girls: Angela, Joyce, and Lynn Sarpy. She passed away in January 2000. She is dearly remembered by students whose lives she touched all those years.

Sources:  The Times- Picayune :  Oct. 27, 1931 page 1; March 17,1934; Sept. 26,1936, June 10,1944 page 1; Nov. 05, 1949;  Sept. 01, 1956, page1; Frances Berry Coston – indyencyclopedia.org

Lolita Villavasso Cherrie

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