One of the Covington area's most remarkable people was Jonette Helm Dunning Shelton. Long known and appreciated as an expert floral arranger who ran her own florist shop in downtown Covington, she was also widely-recognized as a highly capable pianist, playing guest solos with the New Orleans Symphony Orchestra and teaching her own piano students.
She was also quite active in promoting the arts and served on the first board of directors for the St. Tammany Art Association, along with Marguerite Davis, Kathryn Long, Carlos Aceves and Betty Ellis.
The formation of the STAA in 1958 was said to be "a wake-up call to realize that our community is blessed with an amazing number of talented artists who work in a variety of mediums and styles."
And Jonette was a great example of that, given her wide range of skills in music and art.
Brandon Fuhrmann Post No. 15
The Morgan Interview
In 1956 well-known writer Mary Frances Morgan penned this profile of her friend, the remarkable Jonette Dunning Shelton.
Here is the text from the above article:
Mrs. Jonette Dunning Called Talented
Realist By Local Interviewer, Friend
By Mary Frances Morgan
Ordinarily, when arrangements are made for an interview—the subject in question is someone personally unknown to the writer —and the first step, obviously is to bone up- on the personality's background and career so as to be sufficiently familiar with the matter to seem politely interested rather than just pontedly curious.
News Services keep a file on all celebrities so that the Staff member assigned to interview—say Eleanor Roosevelt, Leopold Stokowsky, Amy Vanderbilt or perhaps some of the more volatile and unpredictable characters in public life—is armed with at least enough knowledge not to be 'a dangerous thing.'
In recent years, however, it has been refreshing privilege to interview two Covington girls—held in the spotlight of public interest—whom I had known since their sandpile days and whose young lives were, to me, as to all their hometown friends and neighbors, open books.
When I interviewed Peggy Dow at the Waldorf Astoria, several years ago for Photoplay Magazine—she was a talented young Universal International Star on the threshold of a brilliant career in show business. "How are the kids back home?" .She wanted to know. "Wouldn't 'it be fun if I'd run into Rosemary Fuhrman here in New York?" "Is Miss Arnaud still teaching French at Covington High?"
Yes, refreshing is the word—and it fits another gifted young Covingtonian like a new spring bonnet! Only the other morning I sat in the back of Dunning's Flower and Gift Shop to interview Jonette Helm Dunning—fresh from her spectacular guest debut with the New Orleans Symphony Orchestra and from the moment she told me to sit down with her close to the door so that she could keep one eye on the shop inside, it was clear to see that this year's spring bonnet will be exactly the same head-size as all the others in her parade of Easters.
Since she had—several nights before—performed before an audience genuinely aware that she was a fine young pianist, but far from the actual realization that she had advanced to such professional heights—dozens of people have been asking "Why doesn't the girl become a concert pianist and grow rich and famous?"
Jonette, whose manner is gentle and whose appearance, girlish yet prettily sedate, in no manner suggests the extravagancies often affected by young women with rarified artistic aspirations, smiled when I put the question to her.
"Oh, there are many reasons," she answered, and with disarming modesty, she listed as the first reason her own conviction that she is not yet sufficiently accomplished in technique or repertoire to attempt such a demanding and competitive career.
"For one thing," she went on, "I got a rather late start with music. After having had a few lessons when I was six years old, I didn't study music again until the summer following my junior year in high school. At that time, I studied under Miss Klinger here in Covington until I enrolled in Brenau College—where I had the audacity to major in music.
"Really, I mean that I was thrown in with much more advanced pupils and all through college, both then—and later, for two years at L.S.U., I had the feeling that I was always behind and could never catch up. However, after I was married—I lived for some time in Hartford, Connecticut, and was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to attend the Julius Hartt School of Music — where I taught and studied. I believe I can honestly say that it wasn't until I returned here and began my studies under Miss Corinne Mayer in New Orleans that I felt myself to be on the right road.
'You see, it would be hard to express just what it was she gave me—confidence, incentive, a true appreciation of good music—She made me realize that i still lacked foundation and because she is the rare and great teacher that she is, she literally started me over from the very beginning, and I have enjoyed every moment since that I have studied with her."
In a discussion that led, once again, to the future--and whether or not she seriously contemplated a career in music, Jonette pointed out the uncertainties and the possible heartbreak, as well as the long range financial aspect of any free lance career in the arts—and she said, thoughtfully, "Whether or not the average music lover realizes this—there is little glamor in the life of a concert artist — and I feel that my music means more to me when I can enjoy it rather than depend on it. The pressure is terrific, almost killing, the competition is deadly and the constant traveling makes any thought of home life a mere pipe dream.
"Actually, most professional musicians would give anything to have an interesting business, a life with roots and a home in a pretty country town. These are the things that really spell success, after all, and I'm content with my life—and with the knowledge that music can always be an integral part of it without becoming the be-all and end-all of my existence."
It is all but impossible not to feel a warm glow of admiration for a girl such as this—one whose artistic talents radiate in many directions, yet, though her dark head brushes the clouds — her small feet are planted soundly on earth—the good earth of St. Tammany Parish—where Jonette Helm Dunning is—first, a devoted mother, secondly, the competent and creative manager of a flower and gift shop, and—in between and all 'round, threading like a bright cord through the very fibre of her young life, a gifted and humble musician.
Charm is a word that embodies many glowing attributes. It has been said that only one out of a hundred women possesses, in essence, the cultural, esthetic, captivating and unassuming qualities that add up to the elusive top drawer qualification known as charm. It seems to me that Jonette Dunning is gifted with a wealth of charm as well as talent—and it is evident that, whatever path she may choose in time, she is already well on the way to success as a human being.
March 30, 1956
End of Morgan Article
In 1955 another feature article was written about Jonette, this time by Mrs. Walter Valois.
Jonette Helms Shelton passed away on Wednesday, September 13, 2017, at the age of 93. According to an obituary provided by Fielding Funeral Home, she was the daughter of Jessie Hood Helms Brown and John Foy Helms, born in Lake Charles, Louisiana, on April 13, 1924.
She came to Covington at the age of three. She attended Brenau College and LSU, earning a Bachelor in Music Education. She taught private piano lessons for some time before opening Dunning's Flowers and Gifts in 1949, where she was a talented and highly regarded florist until retiring in 1979.
She was also involved in bringing the Symphony to Covington for annual performances, originally in the old Covington High School gym.
