Femina Perfecta

The Legacies of Janet Wells and Billie Jones

By Kevin Derryberry

In early 2021, the Florida State University community lost two legendary figures in FSU athletics and physical education within a month of one another. Billie Jones passed at 93 in early February, followed by Jan Wells in early March at the age of 99. Both women left legacies at FSU measured in the students they taught, the friendships they forged and the institutions that they helped to build.

In the College of Education, the Janet Wells & Billie Jones Endowed Scholarship Fund in Pedagogy was established in 1999 by Wells, Jones and many of those whose lives they touched at Florida State University to support young women in their educational careers to become teachers and coaches. Twenty-four College of Education students have received this scholarship to date and continue to honor Wells and Jones’ tradition of excellence in teaching and coaching.

First established in the physical education program, the scholarship was opened to students in the School of Teacher Education and the FSU COACH program in 2019 when Wells and Jones agreed to provide scholarship access to young people who wish to pursue careers in women’s athletic coaching.

To better appreciate the legacy that both Wells and Jones left at FSU, we invite all to watch the memorial programs created by their friends and former colleagues:

Dr. L. Janet Wells Celebration of Life

Dr. Billie Jo Jones Memorial Service

Dr. L. Janet Wells

JANET WELLS

In the history of Florida State University, there have been a handful of key figures who have helped to shape the culture and community of our great university. Those faculty and administrators whose personality and charisma played as vital a role in building the FSU family as the coursework they covered. Such is the reputation of Wells, one of the great matriarchs of the FSU community. Her former student and friend, Rev. Barbara Harris, shares a quote that hung in Wells and Jones’ home: “Everyone needs family, whether it is the one you are born into or the one you create.” Through her personality and leadership, Wells created a family of former students, colleagues, friends and fans of Florida State University who would influence the way we think about who we are.

Wells was a leader from the start. In Flastacowo, her 1942 Florida State College for Women (FSCW) yearbook, Wells was described as the “dark girl with the jet black hair and know-it-all look who was confident, sober and conscientious.”

Alicia Crew (physical education B.S. ’69), former FSU campus recreation director, recounts the story of a young Wells maintaining order on FSCW’s campus as a hurricane approached during her senior year. “The campus gates were closed, classes were canceled, and Jan assumed the responsibility of ensuring the evacuation of campus,” she said.

“They were to maintain a campus lockdown, but a car pulled up to the gate that night in the rain, so Jan went out to meet the vehicle. She said, ‘I’m sorry sir, campus is closed, thank you for coming and goodbye.’ It turns out the occupant of the vehicle arriving on campus was none other than the newly appointed president of FSCW, Doak Campbell, but Jan did her duty and sent him away.

Wells never backed down when she knew what she was doing was right. After graduation, she enlisted in the Navy WAVES where she served for two years during World War II. She returned to Florida and earned her M.S. at the University of Florida and her Ph.D. at Michigan State University before returning home to FSU to join the faculty.

Gilles Neron (physical education M.S. ’72) described her as a tough person, “a strong leader and a demanding and exacting teacher, but she was also fair and just and wanted you to succeed in your studies. She never held back a good laugh [and] cared about others, and you could always count on her availability and her support.”

Over the next 30 years, many more physical education graduate students like Neron would become lifelong friends and colleagues. Sandra Schultz, who worked for Wells as a graduate assistant, describes her as “the Mount Everest of integrity. Always thoughtful and wise, she could be relied upon to give students good and appropriate advice. [She] was the main reason my choice of Florida state was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made.”

But Wells was not just a reliable professor, she was also a champion of women’s athletics at FSU. Barbara Palmer, women’s athletic director from 1977 to 1985, recalls that Wells served on the committee that hired her, and that her first question was, “How are you going to raise the money?” Wells understood that in order to give women’s athletics an opportunity to succeed, they were going to need champions. “Jan and Billie would call constantly to share that the press was not covering women’s games,” said Palmer.

Wells and Jones worked with Palmer and Seminole Boosters to raise funds to support women’s athletics. Palmer remembers Wells’ encouragement: “No matter what you do in life, autograph your work with excellence.”

Wells retired from the College of Education as chair of the Department of Physical Education, but that did not slow her down. In retirement, she continued to lead as not only a mentor and active member of the Emeritus Alumni Association and Retired Faculty Committee, but also as a philanthropist and supporter of education and women’s athletics at FSU.

Gabrielle Reece and Dr. Billie Jo Jones, 30th Anniversary of Women’s Intercollegiate Athletics kickoff event

Dr. Billie Jo Jones

BILLIE JO JONES

In the memorial of her life, Harris remarked of Jones that, “The reach of her love was wide from the institutional to the personal.” At FSU, Jones forged hundreds of personal relationships with athletes, students, fellow coaches and friends in the community, but the evidence of her love for Florida State University cannot be understated.

“[Jones] was the architect behind the vision for FSU women’s athletics,” said Vanessa Fuchs, senior associate athletics director at FSU. “She was here in the earliest days advocating that our women’s athletics programs received equitable treatment and resources.”

Jones first came to FSU as a doctoral student in physical education and began coaching the women’s volleyball and softball teams while working as a graduate assistant. After earning her Ph.D. in 1972, Jones joined the College of Education faculty. Jones served as head coach of FSU’s Women’s Varsity Softball team from 1971 – 1974 and the Women’s Varsity Volleyball team from 1972 – 1976.

In those days, there was an absence of resources available in women’s athletics. “Our softball team would have to tape numbers to their shirts,” said Fuchs. But despite the limited resources, Jones would lead her 1971 softball team to win the state championship. She also posted an impressive 107-22 record in volleyball where her teams made appearances in the AIWA National Championship Tournament from 1973-1975.

Seminole Booster Vice President Joel Padgett remembers working with Jones. “Billie had worked tirelessly for decades to provide resources for women’s athletics at Florida State,” he said. “She understood that women’s athletics was going to need private gifts.” Working with Wells and the Seminole Boosters, Jones helped create the “Femina Perfecta” recognition for women athletes in each women’s sport to recognize individual excellence in life skills and athletics.

In 2005 as a response to the “Femina Perfecta” award, the Jones and Wells Legacy celebration weekend brought over 100 former student athletes and friends back to campus to honor them. They raised $350,000 to endow a new athletic scholarship named “Femina Perfecta” and signaled a change in giving in support of women’s athletics.

In the memorial of her life, Jones’ niece, Pat, shares Jones’ own words from a letter she had written to her:

“I have a small chamber in my heart where I share what life means to me. Although I do not store everything I do, I store the love, the laughter, the family and the friends. I don’t store any grudges, hates, bitter happenings or what could have been . . . when we lose one of our loved ones it is like a bottomless pit that can never be filled, but one that can be visited on occasion.”

With the passing of Jones and Wells, FSU has lost two of our most distinguished alumnae, emerita faculty members, supporters and champions for women in both in athletics and who wish to pursue careers teaching and coaching women athletes. Though their physical presence is gone, their legacies live on in the hearts of their friends, family and Florida State.