Very good news for Rutherford County: It was announced at Read To Succeed’s 2011 All-Star Celebrity Bee that Jennings H. Jones will be joining the board of the Jennings and Rebecca Jones Foundation in 2012. Vital to both the business and education of this community, this family Foundation continues to make a difference.
For most of 26 years directing the Jennings and Rebecca Jones Foundation, son-in-law J. Paul Vaughan has helped the Foundation invest in the future of Middle Tennessee through MTSU, Rutherford County Schools, Murfreesboro City Schools, and local non-profits such as Read To Succeed, The Rutherford County Chamber of Commerce Business Education Partnership, Discovery Center, Special Kids, and many others. Most of those years were with the late Jennings A. Jones by his side.
“When asked that ambiguous question, “What do you do?” I often answer that I have the best job in Tennessee. For nearly a third of my life, I was fortunate enough to be able to work with Jennings in developing his privately funded charitable foundation. Over the past twenty-five years we have had a positive impact on tens of thousands of Tennessee’s children through educational based initiatives that sought to find the best and most capable of our educators, and those working with children, and fund their ideas. This work was truly one of the high points of my life,” says outgoing Foundation director, J. Paul Vaughan.
Jennings H Jones, Assistant District Attorney General of the 16th Judicial District and son of W. Ransom Jones, retired Murfreesboro entrepreneur, will now help fill the void. Working with the new Foundation executive director, Ronni Shaw, Jennings H. will soon have his turn in helping to make our community a better place to live.
“I am greatly honored to join the Executive Board of the Jennings and Rebecca Jones Foundation. My Grandfather and Paul Vaughan have done incredible work, leading the Foundation in its support of educational opportunities in Rutherford County. A solid education is the core on which a person builds their life, and our Foundation, through its involvement with local educational institutions, has given many people a head start or helping hand. Our goal for the future is to continue improving life through our many partners in Rutherford County.”
Jones Foundation Board members include Rebecca Jones (Chair Emeritus,) Ransom Jones, Christina Jones, J. Paul Vaughan, Lee Moss, President of MidSouth Bank and Trust, and Dr. James Burton, Dean of MTSU’s Jennings A. Jones School of Business. The Foundation mission will continue to focus on improving Rutherford County’s quality of life, primarily through educational initiatives.