Joan Woolard Jones

May 16, 1956 - April 12, 2020

Joan Woolard Jones of Providence Forge passed away on April 12th, 2020 after a long and heroic battle with cancer. She was born in 1956, graduated from Bethel High School in Hampton, earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in music from East Carolina University in 1978, and then received her Masters of Science in Educational Counseling from Old Dominion University in 1985. Joan was a longtime band director in the Portsmouth, Currituck and Chesapeake Public Schools, ending her career at Oscar Smith Middle School. She was also a veteran flight instructor with nearly 12,000 hours of flight logged, and especially enjoyed teaching pilots how to fly sea planes. Joan also enjoyed exploring Alaska, having restored her Uncle Tim Woolard’s cabin in Manley Hot Springs. She spent memorable times there visiting friends and wolfing down fresh King Salmon. Joan was a longtime member of St. Bede Catholic Church in Williamsburg. She was on the board of the Chesapeake Bay Wind Ensemble. Joan was preceded in death by her parents, Herbert and Lula Boyd Woolard of Hampton. She is survived by her husband, Dr. Raymond Jones, and their children Timothy Jones of Herndon, Va. and Aubreigh Jones of Harrellsville, North Carolina; a brother, Joseph Woolard (Deonna); a sister, Elaine Ramsey (Barry); sister-in-law, Debra Jones Voso (Guy); and nephews Kevin Woolard, Ryan Ramsey, and Bobbie Voso. Also mourning her loss are dear friends L.T. Holloman, Ray and Suzanne Dezern, and John, Ila Ann and Little John Cannon. Little John always lit candles for Joan. Other close friends who mourn her passing include Billy and Carolyn Gillam, Claudette Odom and her many friends at St. Bede’s. The family would like to thank her physician, Dr. Charles Lisner; her nephrologist, Dr. Thomas Whelan; and her oncologist, Dr. Michael McCollum, for her long-term medical care. A memorial mass will be held at a later date. Memorial donations can be made to the Chesapeake Bay Wind Ensemble: P.O. Box 6633, Yorktown, Va. 23690, or to WHRO, 1408 Richmond Rd., Williamsburg, VA 23185.