Judith Jane Devine

Judith Jane Jones was born on March 1, 1945 in Dallas, Texas to Darrell Maurice Jones and Vera Maude Taylor Jones. She was raised in Corpus Christi, Texas, with her younger brother, William D. “Bill” Jones.

Judy graduated from W.B. Ray High School in 1963 and held various summer jobs including helping to open a new motel where she perfected “hospital corners” and several summers at attorney’s offices filing in for secretaries on vacation. She said she wondered what the full-time secretaries did all day because she could do their work in a short time! It was here she practiced her short-hand and typing skills.

Judy started college at Texas Tech University where she joined the Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority. She transferred to the University of Texas, Austin, in the middle of her Junior year to be with her beau, Michael D. “Mike” Devine. They were married in August 1966 and Judy graduated with a Bachelor’s of Science degree in Education with a Minor in French from UT Austin in 1967.

Judy began her teaching career in Austin, Texas, while Mike was finishing his PhD at UT. The couple then moved to Norman, Oklahoma in 1969 where they lived for the next 18 years and had their four children, Jennifer Jane, Julie Kathleen, Scott Michael, and Emily Virginia. While raising her 4 children Judy taught History at Norman High School and West Mid-High school and obtained her Master of Education from OU in 1985. The family moved to Tallahassee, Florida in 1988, where Judy taught high school History at Maclay School and Leon High School, and was named Florida Social Studies teacher of the year in 1991.

In 1995 the family moved to Knoxville, TN where Judy worked in the Office of the Vice President for Academic Affairs. Always a learner, while working full-time Judy obtained her EdD in Education in 2001 from the University of Tennessee. Her Ph.D. thesis “First-year Law Student Retention and the Use of Academic Support Programs” was later published in the Thurgood Marshall Law Review, a publication of Texas Southern University in Spring of 2004. Judy was published and presented papers numerous times over her long career on a variety of topics affecting students; there are too many to list.

In 2001, Judy and Mike moved back to Tallahassee Florida, where she became the Senior Associate Dean of the Graduate School at Florida State University. She would work for there for 20 years serving 3 Graduate School Deans. In the words of the current Dean Mark Riley, Dr. Devine “was instrumental in overseeing and conducting so many of our initiatives like the Preparing Future Faculty and Preparing Future Professionals programs, the Three Minute Thesis and Master’s in Four graduate student competitions. She loved helping our students in whatever ways she could and served as the Graduate Student Ombudsperson for many years.” She started and taught the course “The Responsible Conduct of Research” for many years.

She loved working—but not to the detriment of her family coming first--and always said she “would die at her desk”—but health issues did encourage her to retire from FSU at the age of 76. She and Mike then moved to Atlanta to be closer to their three daughters and their children.

Her nicknames were J3 (J Cubed), Mimi, Farmer Jones, Nellie Neat, Busy Bee, Cutie Pie and her father’s favorite “Punkin”. She loved beyond measure her husband of 56 years, Mike, their 4 children, and their 8 grandchildren. She loved to read, grow her own vegetables, cook, exercise and travel. She was always dressed to the nines with a big smile on her face. She never met a stranger and would befriend anyone willing to chat with her. While Judy had very long and distinguished career, her family was most important to her.

She is survived by her husband Mike; brother Bill (Peggy) Jones; sister-in-law Vicki Jud; daughter Jennifer (Larren) Odom and their children Emily, Charlie, & Anna; daughter Julie and her son Zach; her son Scott (MaryAnn) and their children Kai and Nora; and her daughter Emily (Cecil) Morgan, and their two children Madeline and Claire; nephew Chad Jones; and nieces Amanda & Paige Devine.

Judy had a voracious appetite for travel, living a year in Paris, France in 1976-77 and a summer in Washington, D.C. She also chaperoned several high-school Europe trips and visited numerous countries around the world in her 77 years, with her last international trip being an African Safari in August 2022.

Judy was a life-long learner, teacher, mentor and the hardest-working person her family ever knew. The world was a better place because of her 77 years on the earth, but the Devine family now has a gaping hole without their Judy/Mom/Mimi.