Johnetta Jones didn’t have children, but many on campus saw her as a motherly figure.

Friends say her nature was selfless, original and inclusive. Many sought Ms. Jones’ advice, ranging from Eastern’s most powerful administrators to its most inexperienced freshmen.

That diverse population congregated to honor Ms. Jones, a 26-year Eastern employee, at her memorial service Thursday in the Grand Ballroom of the Martin Luther King Jr. University Union. Additional rows of seating were needed to accommodate more than 300 people attending.

Ms. Jones, 56, died Oct. 11.

“I told her she was the ‘Mother Superior’ to all who came under her way … I wouldn’t always take her advice, but I always would listen and listen carefully,” said Blair Lord, provost and vice president for academic affairs, during his memorial speech. Lord alone oversees the university’s academic matters, interim President Lou Hencken has said many times.

The hour-long memorial service included eight speakers, music from the university Unity Choir and a slide show film of Ms. Jones’ life. In anticipation of the emotions the service would drum up, packages of paper tissues were placed on the seats.

The mood was somber, yet celebratory for the crowd’s mutual friend.

Ms. Jones had previously served as the director of Afro-American Studies from 1977 to 1989 before she assumed the position of director of the Minority Affairs Office she held until her death. She also helped establish numerous minority programs and celebrations.

Ms. Jones’ work on job hiring and accreditation committees made her known by the faculty and administrators of Eastern. But her time dedicated to the Gateway Program, a provisional program for those who did not meet Eastern’s regular admission standards, acquainted her with hundreds of students.

“If I were to talk about Johnetta Jones’ accomplishments, I would talk until 8 tonight,” Hencken said during his memorial speech. “And that would only be her first year, so I will sum it up in one sentence: the university has suffered a terrible and tragic loss and Johnetta Jones will sorely be missed.

” … no one is indispensable, but she is part of a select group of people as close to indispensable as you can possibly get.”

Passionate dedication for students

Willie Griggs was one of the students Ms. Jones reached in a motherly type of way. To tribute his mentor, the one who told him “he could be in the upper echelon of higher education,” Griggs, a sophomore journalism major, read his poem that brought some audience members to tears.

“When courage had eluded me / And I could not go on / Ms. Jones was there to build me up / And helped me to be strong … My words cannot begin to speak / Of how she touched our hearts / Impacting people everywhere / This region, and its part.”

Mona Davenport, an employee in Minority Affairs, remembers first meeting Ms. Jones as a 17-year-old freshman. Ms. Jones, her academic adviser at the time, was one of the first people to guide direction to where her life is now.

“She has impacted decisions I have made the last 23 years,” said

Davenport at her memorial speech.

Cynthia Nichols, director of the Civil Rights Office, said Ms. Jones was a “leader, teacher, mentor and counselor” to all students she encountered.

Anderson, the superintendent at East St. Louis High School, said he felt comfortable sending students from his school district to Eastern because of Ms. Jones.

“If you needed a hug, she’d give you a hug; and if you needed a kick in the butt, she’d kick you in the butt,” said Claude Magee, an employee in Minority Affairs. “But even when she’d kick you in the butt, she would encourage and say ‘You can do it. Never give up.’ “

Hencken, who delivered his speech with a booming, powerful voice, said Ms. Jones left a lesson for “all of us.”

“Through her hard work, dedication and love of the university and love of the students,” Hencken said, “she didn’t just leave the university in a better place; the world is a better place because of the life of Johnetta Jones.”

What a legacy

Many credit Ms. Jones with helping further the minority enrollment at Eastern because of her involvement with Minority Affairs.

According to fact sheets from the university’s Planning and

Institutional Studies Department, the percentage of minority students has nearly doubled under her tenure, jumping from 7.4 percent in 1991 to 13.2 percent in 2003. Ms. Jones has chaired the Minority Affairs Office since 1989.

She had also established the annual Latino Heritage Month Celebration, African-American Heritage Celebration and the Minority Student Leadership Camp.

“What a legacy,” Lord said.

She was highly regarded across the state and would have been at a state higher education meeting the day of her memorial service, Davenport said.

In the slide show film of Ms. Jones’ life, many of the images included her embracing students at their commencement. Images of newspaper clips highlighting some of her achievements were also shown in the movie.

Anderson said Ms. Jones didn’t just serve the university, she served people.

English professor Carol Stevens was a friend of Ms. Jones. Although Stevens could not attend, fellow English professor, Ruth Hoberman, read her letter about the friendship with Ms. Jones. In the letter, Hoberman read how Stevens had first met Ms. Jones at a new faculty reception in 1981.

“She held out her hand, then twinkled – and there’s no other word to describe it – and we instantly became friends,” Hoberman said for Stevens.

Stevens’ letter described Ms. Jones as a “Listen, girlfriend” style of friend who loved Christmas and parrots among other things in life.

We are family

Davenport described the workers in Minority Affairs as a “big family.”

“She touched our lives and so many students’ lives,” Davenport said. “And not just of color, but to anyone that stepped into the 1130 office of Blair Hall. This family was created by the dynamic, courageous Johnetta Jones, so this family wants to thank you and say we will miss you.”

But that extended family also stretches well beyond the Minority

Affairs Offices in Blair Hall. Those who came to the memorial in appreciation of Ms. Jones represented workers from the Booth Library, the University Police Department, Student Government, professors, administrators and athletics and one alumnus and board member.

“What gives me strength,” Anderson said, “is that it is not us who took Johnetta away, but it is the Lord who took her in.”

Administration Editor Tim Martin can be reached at [email protected].