Former AASL President Winona Jones Dies at 81

By SLJ Staff -- School Library Journal, 11/12/2009

Winona Jones, former president of the American Association of School Librarians (AASL) from 1990 to 1991, died November 6 of an immune deficiency. She was 81.

A fourth-generation Floridian, Jones earned a master’s degree in library science from the University of South Florida. Even though the high school track star dropped out at 16 to get married, she later went back to school, picked up two master’s degrees, lobbied for libraries, and raised a family, reports the St. Petersburg Times.  

Jones also founded the North Pinellas Historical Museum, wrote a book, Around Palm Harbor: Images of America (Arcardia Publishing) in 2003, and hosted a television program about Pinellas County's history.

"I think she wanted to be the first woman president, to tell you the truth," her daughter Carole Pandorf, 57, told the Times.

Winona Nigels grew up in Palm Harbor, FL, where her father grew citrus. She married Charley Jones, four years her senior, in 1944. Jones spent 27 years working as a librarian for three Pinellas County schools, the last five years at East Lake High School, picking up an advanced master's in broadcasting along the way.

She lobbied legislators for better libraries, and was so good at it that her peers elected her AASL president in 1990. Jones never hesitated to meet with any politician, and always showed up armed with research.

"She was like Eleanor Roosevelt," Pandorf told the Times. “She would go into a situation knowing what the heck she was talking about.”