History and Mission

The Reid S., Elva S., and Dr. Sonya L. Jones Educational Foundation, Inc. was established in August 2005 to "reward people whose effort matches their ability." Following the death of Mr. Jones, a respected businessman in the Somerset area, his wife and daughter set up The Jones Foundation to assist people of south central Kentucky and beyond with educational issues. The Joneses are a family of educators —with an entrepreneurial streak. All three earned Bachelor’s degrees from Union College in Barbourville, Kentucky. After military service on the European front during World War II, Mr. Jones served as a history teacher, principal, and basketball coach before entering the business world full-time in the early 1960s. He did graduate work at Eastern Kentucky University and is, perhaps, best remembered for his fair business practices. Mrs. Jones taught for 44 years in the Somerset and Pulaski Co. systems before retiring in 1986. Students throughout Pulaski Co. remember her lively classroom presence as well as her gentleness and good taste. An Emory Ph.D. with an M.A. from the University of Louisville, Dr. Jones currently teaches in the Honors Program and the School of Journalism at the University of Kentucky. During her first year in Honors, she lead the Honors Faculty numerically with a 3.9 on student evaluations. She has taught at the University of Louisville, Emory University, and Allegheny College from which she took early retirement in 2000 as a senior professor of English and interdisciplinary studies to return to her native Somerset. The Jones Educational Foundation, Inc. was established as a not-for-profit organization to exist into perpetuity.