Valena "Mazzie" Jackson was born September 11, 1947 to Elijah Jackson, Sr. and Thelma McRaven Jackson in Tallula, MS Issaquena County.  She accepted Jesus Christ at an early age at First Baptist Church in Mound Bayou, MS under the leadership of the late R.J. Jordan.

She attended I.T. Montgomery and John F. Kennedy High School in Mound Bayou, MS.  As a young woman she left Mound Bayou, MS and moved to New York, NY to start her career and other endeavors.  However, her journey lead her to Chicago, IL in which she resided there with Frank Hamlin Jr. and to this union three children were born, Kenneth, Felicia, and Frank III and a step daughter, Artric Brown.  She worked for Immigration for 20 years.  She returned to Mound Bayou, MS in 1990 to be a caretaker of her elderly father (Slim).  She worked in the community in which she was very popular and well known.  "Mazzie" was the Mrs. Claus of the entire family.  Her doors were always open to each and anyone in need.  She has touched a lot of lives in her own way of encouragement and raw advice was her specialty.

Valena Mazzie was called home to our Heavenly Father Jesus Christ on July 25, 2017.