Generous $100,000 Gift Honors a Friend

Floyd Jones

Floyd Jones and his wife, Delores, shared a strong belief in social justice. Shortly after Delores' death in 2005, Floyd honored her memory with a gift of almost $2.5 million dollars to restore the drama department’s theater in the University District which had produced, among other entertainment, some strong social justice plays during the 1930s and 40s. The Jones Playhouse will formally open in the Fall 2009. He and Delores also founded a chair in the School of Arts and Sciences which rotates between the drama, music and art departments.
 
Floyd was born and raised in Arkansas and Missouri as a sharecropper's son in a family of 12 children. He served in the army and later, with the help of the G.I. Bill and long hours at the Boeing Co., earned his degree in business administration from the University of Washington in 1954. He still works as a stockbroker and greatly enjoys his work as a philanthropist.
 
He has supported a wide variety of health, social service, political and environmental organizations in Seattle and Camano Island/Stanwood for many years. He has also supported organizations working in underdeveloped countries which have an emphasis on leadership and economic education.  

In October 2008, Floyd Jones continued his strong belief in social justice by generously donating $100,000 to the Women's Center in honor of his friend Alene Moris.

Alene Moris

Alene Moris

Alene H. Moris was born and raised in Canada before going to Minnesota where she received her B.A. in music at St. Olaf College. Right after graduation she married a Lutheran clergyman and had two daughters and two sons.

Her family lived in Sabah, Malaysia from 1965-1968 where Alene taught in a Chinese school preparing young men for the Cambridge University Overseas Exams. During these Vietnam War-era years, she anguished over the terrible violence and had a spiritual experience which told her she must work to bring women into leadership in order to have peace. Upon her return to the States at age 41, she went back to university to get a master's degree in counseling. 

After graduation, she worked with Dorothy Strawn, dean of women at the University of Washington. In January 1971, they started Continuing Education for Women which is known today as the Women's Center. She later co-founded the Individual Development Center on Capitol Hill in Seattle, a career counseling center for men and women which she directed for 14 years.

For 35 years, Alene worked nationally and internationally on behalf of women on career and leadership issues in both the nonprofit and business sectors. During this time, she also created and directed a Seattle-based residential retreat program for senior men and women facing major life decisions.

For her work on behalf of women, the University of Washington Women's Center established the Alene H. Moris Endowment Fund in 2003.