Jazz great Milt Hinton’s widow dies

Edmonia Mona Clayton Hinton, the widow of noted jazz musician and documentarian Milt Hinton (1910-2000), died on May 3 at North Shore Hospital after a long illness.
The Hintons first met at Milt’s grandmother’s funeral in 1939 and were inseparable for the next 61 years. Mona traveled extensively with Milt throughout his career. She was the only spouse on the road with the Cab Calloway Orchestra in the 1940s, where, according to Milt, she was extremely helpful in finding rooms and meals for band members, especially when the band worked in small towns during the Jim Crow era.
During the 1950s and 1960s when Milt was working day and night in the New York studios, Mona kept the books and made transportation arrangements. During the last two decades of his life, Milt and Mona got to travel to jazz festivals and clinics around the world.
In 1958, at her husband’s request, Mona took the celebrated home movie footage (the only movie in existence) of the Esquire Magazine photo shoot on a Harlem brownstone stoop that was memorialized in Jean Bach’s film, “A Great Day in Harlem.”
Edmonia Hinton was born in Centralia, IL, in 1919. She was the sixth of eight children, and at the time of her birth, her family was moving from Mississippi to Ohio.
After completing high school in Sandusky, she moved to Chicago and attended Poro College, a cosmetology school run by early African American entrepreneur, Madam Annie Malone.
Although Hinton graduated, she realized her true talents were in bookkeeping, not hair dressing, and she remained in Chicago as an assistant to Madam Malone. Hinton returned to school in the 1970s, earning bachelor and master’s degrees at Queens College of the City University of New York.
She taught at several Queens elementary schools, but gave up full-time work to accompany her husband in his travels.
The Hintons were active in many community organizations including the St. Albans Congregational Church; both received numerous awards and honors.
Hinton is survived by her daughter, Charlotte Hinton-Morgan; a granddaughter, Inez Mona Morgan; a great-grandson, Kamyron William Morgan; her sister Mary Louise Bellamy of Sandusky; numerous nieces and nephews, and countless friends.
“She was an eyewitness to the great changes our community underwent and more importantly, she was a part of it,” said Councilmember Leroy Comrie. “Today, we not only mourn the passing of this wife, mother, sister, friend, grandmother and great-grandmother, we also celebrate a remarkable life. Let us honor Mona Hinton by passing on to our children the cultural traditions that her generation has left us to uphold.”
A funeral service was held at the St. Albans Congregational Church in Jamaica. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be sent to The Jazz Foundation of America or the American Cancer Society.