Women's Council to Honor Lydia and Dan Jones With 2025 Legacy Award

The ceremony is set for 7 p.m. Friday (April 4) at The Inn at Ole Miss. The ticketed event is open to the community. Presenting sponsor for the event is mTrade, and additional sponsorships are available.

The award is presented annually to those whose lives exemplify the values and tenets of the council: philanthropy, scholarship, leadership and mentorship.

"The Ole Miss Women's Council selected Lydia and Dan Jones to receive the 2025 Legacy Award in recognition of their unwavering dedication to service, leadership and philanthropy, as well as for serving as mentors and creating opportunities for future generations," OMWC member Candie Simmons said.

Lydia Jones has dedicated countless hours to her communities. Some of her volunteer leadership includes serving as president of the Junior Auxiliary of Laurel, an officer with the Mississippi State Medical Association Auxiliary, a volunteer with the Clinton Public Schools, president of the Junior Civic League of Clinton, and a volunteer with the Hazlehurst City Schools Barksdale Reading Program and Hazlehurst Chamber of Commerce Board.

Dan Jones served as the university's 16th chancellor from 2009 to 2015. Before that, he was vice chancellor for health affairs and dean of the UM School of Medicine. The example Jones set by dedicating so much of his time and energy to those in need inspired Ole Miss faculty, staff and students to contribute thousands of hours to community service.

"Our faith compels us to live a life of service to others and in that service, we find our greatest joy," he said.

When they met as freshmen at Mississippi College, Lydia and Dan found that while they had many differences, they soon realized they had far more in common.

"As a couple, we are as different as night and day – except for our values," Lydia said.

They were both raised in Christian homes and had fathers who were Baptist pastors.

"Our parents exhibited for us the importance of a life of service, including the responsibility and the joy of that life," Dan said. "It is our fathers, though, we credit with having the largest influence in our lives.

"They were the first to see leadership qualities in us and they also showed us the way to love others, even those not acting in a loving way toward us."

As the couple grew older, their path became clear.

"As teens, through our church relationships, each of us felt like part of that service life would be lived out in mission service in another country," Lydia said. "Once we became a couple, we simply began living the life together that we each had committed to separately."

In 1985, they fully embraced the call to international missions, moving with their children, Jason and Jennifer, to Pusan, South Korea, where they served for seven years.

"Dan's role as a medical missionary included a broad range of opportunities, including teaching medical students and residents," she said. "He also founded and led the first hypertension specialty clinic in South Korea and spent much of his time practicing 'shade tree' medicine in remote and poor farming villages."

In South Korea, Lydia served as school superintendent for the children of about 100 missionary families.

"She traveled the country evaluating and ensuring every student had the educational experience they needed, whether learning in an international school, a small community school, homeschooling or correspondence school," Dan said.

Their work included involvement with the Southern Baptist Convention International Mission Board, volunteering with the Leprosy Colony Clinic and attending to a variety of medical missionary needs. Lydia, in addition to serving as an educational administrator for South Korean missionary families for the International Mission Board, served as a member of the Pusan International School Board.

After returning to Mississippi and joining the medical school faculty, Dan was a medical education consultant to medical schools in North Korea.

The couple expressed deep appreciation to the University of Mississippi Medical Center for providing Dan with the exceptional medical training that prepared him to take on career opportunities he never imagined possible and to serve as UM chancellor.

A respected academician, administrator and physician, Jones also was the Herbert G. Langford Professor of Medicine at UMMC. He served as national president of the American Heart Association and was named one of the "Best Doctors in America" from 1996 to 2008.

For most of his career, his patient care, teaching and research have focused on hypertension and prevention of cardiovascular disease. He was the first principal investigator for UMMC's landmark Jackson Heart Study, a National Institutes of Health-sponsored population study focused on cardiovascular disease in African Americans.

A master of the American College of Physicians, Dan is certified by the American Board of Internal Medicine and is designated as a specialist in clinical hypertension by the American Society of Hypertension Specialists. He also was a member of AHA's Council for High Blood Pressure Research and served the association as national spokesperson on high blood pressure.

For tickets to the Legacy Award ceremony, sponsorship opportunities or details about the Ole Miss Women's Council, contact Suzanne Helveston, program director, at shelveston@olemiss.edu or 662-915-2956.

Top: Lydia (left) and Dr. Dan Jones will be honored Friday (April 4) with the 2025 Legacy Award by the Ole Miss Women's Council for Philanthropy, recognizing their decades of service to others. Dan Jones led the University of Mississippi as chancellor from 2009 to 2015, and the two served as missionaries in South Korea for seven years and have devoted their time to strengthening community and health organizations. Submitted photo