Jo Ann Jones

Proud Mizzou Tiger alumna and employee Jo Ann Jones passed away on August 29, 2018 at Brookdale Senior Living’s Memory Care unit in Overland Park, Kansas after living valiantly with Alzheimer’s disease. She was 92 years of age, but always young at heart. Prior to her mental decline, she wrote her own obituary:

“Jo Ann Morris Jones was born August 22, 1926 at the home of her grandparents, David and Pearl Sears Morgan, in Shelbina, Missouri. She was the only child of Richard L. and Gladys Morgan Morris of Barnsdall, Oklahoma.

She attended school in Barnsdall until her family moved to Corpus Christi, Texas in 1937. She graduated from Corpus Christi High School and Corpus Christi Junior College. In 1946, she enrolled in the University of Missouri in Columbia and received her Bachelor of Arts degree in 1948. She was a member of the Spanish honorary fraternity, Sigma Delta Pi.

In 1947, she met Thomas Dwight Jones, who was also attending the University of Missouri, and they were married on August 27, 1949 at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Kansas City, Missouri. They lived in Columbia, Missouri until 1950 when they moved to Corpus Christi, Texas. Her husband had remained in the United States Air Force Reserve following his service during World War II, and he was recalled to active duty in February, 1953 and assigned to the Strategic Air Command. Jo Ann fulfilled her duties as an Air Force wife and mother of three children for 20 years. They were assigned to eight different bases during that time, including one tour in Ankara, Turkey. Following her husband’s retirement from the Air Force in 1973, they lived in Beaumont, Texas, before moving to Columbia.

In 1979, Mrs. Jones started work as a secretary in the College of Agriculture’s Office of Resident Instruction at the University of Missouri-Columbia. She began by helping students become acquainted with the campus and University procedures. From 1981 until 1991, she worked closely with the College’s Scholarship and Awards Committee. She thoroughly enjoyed working with the students and their families, especially when she could make a difference by helping them with information about scholarships available through both the College and other sources, making work/study assignments to fit their schedules, and showing them how to go about seeking for still other funding to help pay for their education. She was inducted into Gamma Sigma Delta, an honorary fraternity. Besides her duties in the Office of Resident Instruction, she was known for her poetic prowess, providing lighthearted poems and lyrics to songs for special occasions, such as for departing employees of a department or for other notable events taking place within the Office of Resident Instruction.

Jo Ann was a member of the Episcopal Church.

She was preceded in death by her husband and parents. She is survived by one daughter, Marthlyn Jones of Edmonds, Washington, and two sons Richard Jones of Bozeman, Montana, and Bruce Jones and his wife, Sheila, of Overland Park, Kansas, five granddaughters, and three great-grandchildren.

Memorials are suggested to University of Missouri College of Veterinary Medicine, the Central Missouri Humane Society, or St. Jude Children’s Hospital, P.O. Box 50, Memphis, TN 38101.”

Jo Ann loved dancing to Big Band music and in later years even danced in her wheelchair. She adored her dogs Smoke and Annie, and favored Tex-Mex, barbequed brisket, and the Dallas Cowboys. She was a classy ‘Lady of the South’, with a beautiful wardrobe, a ready smile, and a loving sense of humor.

The family would like to thank the outstanding employees of Brookdale Senior Living’s Memory Care unit in Overland Park for their love, compassion, and support of Jo Ann the last five years. Despite bodily pain, she always maintained a happy and funny attitude and never neglected to thank her caregivers for their kindness and assistance. The family sends their heartfelt thanks as well.

Visitation will be Saturday, September 1 from 9:30 am to 10:30 am at McGilley State Line Chapel, 12301 State Line Rd., Kansas City, MO. A funeral service will follow at 10:30. Graveside services will be at 3:45 that afternoon beside her parents at Shelbina Cemetery in Shelbina, MO.