Jones, Nellie Kedzie (1858-1956)

Nellie Kedzie Jones

During her fifteen-year career as State Leader for Home Economics Extension in Wisconsin, from 1918 to 1933, Nellie Kedzie Jones demonstrated a strong commitment to helping rural homemakers by bringing them the latest home economics research from the university.

Jones’ position in extension came well into an extremely productive life. After earning her BS (1878) and MS (1883) from Kansas Agricultural College, Jones was invited to organize a domestic science department at Kansas, one of the first programs in the country. She then organized a similar department at the Bradley Institute in Peoria, Illinois. Several more moves took her to a farm in Auburndale, Wisconsin. Every winter she would travel a circuit between several agricultural colleges, including Wisconsin’s, so that she could speak at each of their farmers’ conferences. These speeches won her recognition at Wisconsin’s Farm and Home Week in 1918.

That year, at the age of sixty, Jones was appointed as State Leader of Home Economics Extension. After her retirement at the age of seventy-five, she received numerous awards and honors in recognition of the lifetime she had donated to improving people’s lives through home economics.