KEYSTONE HEIGHTS – Joan Jones was relentless about her favorite causes, particularly the military. More importantly, she wasn’t apologetic.

Joan, who organized the city’s Wreaths Across America program, as well as founding the Veterans Memorial Pathway at the Keystone Heights Cemetery, became a community leader who was revered by everyone in the Lake Region.

The gentle woman with vivacious energy and passion died on Oct. 26. She was 95.

She was born in Australia and she married a soldier who fought in World War II.

Jones met her future husband, a Navy officer, in Melbourne, Australia, in 1945 at an amusement park. She married Larry F. Jones, “the love of her life,” in 1946. They came back to the United States later that year and Joan became a U.S. citizen 76 years ago. The Joneses moved to Florida in 1990.

“My life changed forever (as) I became known in Clay County for the work I did for the United States Veterans,” Joan said in an interview with Clay Today in 2018.

She had a revelation in the middle of the night that changed her life – and the lives of hundreds of local veterans.

“I had a dream in the middle of the night. I went out to the kitchen and started writing all of this stuff down. It was the dream telling me what to do for the GIs,” she said.

Joan pushed the construction of the Veterans Memorial Pathway in 2005. She then brought Wreaths Across America to the same cemetery in 2011.

Wreaths were placed on crosses in the cemetery bearing the flags of the Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force, Coast Guard, Merchant Marines and POWS/MIAs.

Each live, balsam veteran’s wreath was a gift of respect and appreciation, donated by a private citizen or organization and it is placed on graves by volunteers as a small gesture of gratitude for the freedoms Americans enjoy, according to the national organization. For centuries, fresh evergreens have been used as a symbol of honor and have served as a living tribute renewed annually.

Joan’s husband died in 2013, but Joan remained resilient in bringing attention to the military.

“She was a firecracker. She was a very determined woman,” said city councilman Tony Brown. “She had a goal for veterans and Keystone Heights and she stuck to the plan. And she saw it through.”

School board member Tina Bullock took the reigns of the Wreaths Across America last year. The ceremony included the unveiling of a plaque on the pathway honoring Joan’s work. Bullock said there will be special recognition of Joan’s work and life at this year’s ceremony on Dec. 17 at noon.

“What she did with Wreaths Across America was just phenomenal,” Bullock said. “She was a tremendous mentor to me. I couldn’t have done it without her. And in fact, I was amazed at her age and how much she could do and get donated and coordinate all of that, considering her lack of physicality at that time. It was amazing.

“She worked on that Wreaths Across America year-round. I mean, when January came around, she was already calling people to ask them for donations. She was there because there was no rest for her. She did it all the time. You know, she wanted to make sure that they (the military) were honored properly.”

Joan also was the president of the Garden Club of the Lakes which helped establish the Butterfly Garden, which is located at the Keystone Heights Natural Park, and she was a founding member of the Garden Club of Green Coves Springs.

In addition to her husband, she was proceeded in death by daughters Barbara Ann White and Donna Kay Allen, and she is survived by sons Myron C. White and his wife, Trish, Dennis Green and Rodney Green, along with grandchildren Anny Webster, Sean Allen, Myron White Jr. and Erine Steichen and great-grandchildren Tylor, Myles, Lily and Elaine.

According to her family, “Though small in stature, she was large in Energy and Inspiration!”