The Clarion-Ledger 
Jan/3/2004

Oneita A. Dongieux

Jackson

Oneita Atwood Dongieux, 92, died Wednesday, December 31, 2003, at home. Visitation is 10 a.m. Saturday at Wright & Ferguson Funeral Home on High Street in Jackson. Services are 12:30 p.m. Saturday at the funeral home with burial in Lakewood Memorial Park.

Mrs. Dongieux is preceded in death by her husband, Joseph E. Dongieux, her parents, Henry G. Atwood and Ruby Jones Atwood, and her sister and brother, Louise Wade and Garland Atwood.

She is survived by her nieces, Jane Moore and Peggy Jones of Houston, Texas, and nephews, Garland Atwood, Jr. of Laurel, and Charles Atwood of Athens, Ga., and many members of the Dongieux family.

Mrs. Dongieux was born in Moselle, Miss., on June 14, 1911. She graduated from Beaumont (Texas) High School in 1929 and received her diploma in nursing from the University of Tennessee School of Nursing in 1932. She then served as a staff nurse with the Mississippi State Board of Health in Jackson. Mrs. Dongieux received her certificate in public health nursing from Vanderbilt University in 1943. From 1943 to 1947 she worked for the United States Public Health Service out of New Orleans. Mrs. Dongieux then became an instructor with the V.A. in Jackson and was appointed assistant chief of nursing education. She served as assistant supervisor of public health nursing service for the Hinds County Health Department in 1959 while completing her Bachelor of Science degree in nursing at the University of Mississippi School of Nursing in Jackson after which she was employed on the faculty. In 1961, Mrs. Dongieux was appointed executive director of the Mississippi State Nurses Association where she remained until her retirement in 1973. During her tenure she was instrumental in securing mandatory licensure for RNs and LPNs, helped the MNA to move into their first building, and was an advocate, lobbyist and leader in moving nursing education into the higher education system. She was a member of St. Richards Catholic Church.

Mrs. Dongieux focused her efforts on the education of nurses. To honor her efforts the family requests that in lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Mississippi Nursing Foundation's Oneita Dongieux Scholarship Fund at 31 Woodgreen Place, Madison, MS 39110.