Willa Dean Jones was born on August 29, 1936 in Howard, Alabama to Sam & Ossie Pearl Jones. Born the eldest girl of five siblings (i.e. Sam, Willa Dean, Rosa Lee, Earnestine, & Teresa), she spent much of her early childhood in Alabama in the care of her grandmother, Lula Pearl Evans, who was a significant influence in her life. Her father moved the family to Tidewater, West Virginia circa 1941, where he continued working in the coal mines. Upon arrival in Tidewater, they briefly resided with Walter & Ida Thomas shortly before moving to Bottom Creek. From the time the family arrived in West Virginia, they moved around and lived in various towns to include Kimball, a small McDowell County town later recognized as the site of the first WWI memorial built for African American veterans, and Norwood, until they finally settled in the town of Superior, West Virginia, where her youngest sister, Teresa, was born. She was a member of Shiloh Baptist Church in Maitland, West Virginia, and was baptized in 1948. Facing the hardship of the coalfields and limited opportunity, Willa Dean was 14 years old when her father moved the family to Cleveland, Ohio in 1950, where he sought better employment.

Upon arriving in Cleveland, the family attended, and Willa Dean eventually became a member of, Olivet Institutional Baptist Church (Rev. O. Hoover) on 89th and Quincy Ave (circa 1952), then one of Cleveland’s largest Black congregations, which served as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s Cleveland headquarters and a hub of the city’s civil rights movement. While attending junior high school, Willa Dean met and maintained lifelong friendships with Mary Clark and neighborhood friend Gladys Triplett. She began working as a weekend clerk at a grocery store owned by Ethel Portee on E. 39th and Scoville Avenue, where she likely became acquainted with another lifelong friend, Clara Bennett, who lived in the area at the time. While Willa Dean was still attending high school, her mother passed away suddenly in her early 30s in 1954 on Mother’s Day. Her father later remarried Annie Lee Womack who had a son, Larry Womack, who became the youngest member of her siblings.

Willa Dean graduated from John Adams High School in 1958. She excelled in home economics, becoming an accomplished cook and seamstress. Additionally, she studied ballet and modern dance at the Phillis Wheatley Association, founded in 1911 by Jane Edna Hunter to support young African American women migrating to Cleveland, and later renamed in honor of the poet Phillis Wheatley. This is where she developed her passion for poetry. In addition, she had a love for drawing, painting, music, and was a natural at playing the piano. In 1957, Mary Clark introduced Willa Dean to Otis Workman, who was employed as a nurse at Fairhill Psychiatric Hospital. They began dating shortly thereafter, and on September 3, 1958, she gave birth to her first child, Chevolkalee Matriea Jones, known to the family as “Cookie.” In 1960, Willa Dean began working as a nursing assistant at Mount Sinai Hospital at E. 105th and East Blvd, a role she held for 7 years as she continued in nursing-related work for more than a decade in total. In 1964, Willa Dean was introduced and began dating Robert Boakai, who was an undergraduate student at Case Western Reserve University. On May 31, 1968, she gave birth to her second child Robert Byron Jones Boakai.

In 1968, she began working in various occupations including dry cleaning, office cleaning, and hotel hospitality. In time, Willa Dean became a passionate advocate for education, especially among older adults, and began volunteering to help them learn to read and write. The Cleveland Board of Education took notice of her dedication and offered her a position as a special education assistant with the Cleveland Public School System in 1973. She went on to assist in teaching special education at Lincoln West High School on Cleveland’s west side for the remainder of her career, retiring in 2002.

Her passion for special education reached beyond her own classroom. Her niece, Stacy (Bryant) Varner, has credited watching “Nana” work with her students, and an internship Willa Dean helped arrange, as the spark that led her into a career in special education and, later, to found the STAAR program in Montgomery, Alabama, a nonprofit organization serving youth with disabilities.

At home, she raised her children with the same commitment to learning, keeping the house well-stocked with books that doubled as research for their school book reports and instilling in them a considerable knowledge of Black history. She was also culturally rich, regularly taking her children to museums, events, and involving them in programs that enriched their minds. She also remained a constant presence at their schools, showing up so often that her children would feel dread whenever a friend said, “I saw your mother in the hall,” certain they must have done something wrong. Music was also central to family life, and both of her children went on to play multiple instruments themselves, carrying forward a love of music she nurtured early on.

In 1981, the families of Willa Dean and her sister Earnestine moved into a duplex on E. 145th Street, where Willa Dean formed a close friendship with her neighbors, Ovia Ruth Stephens and Reverend Stephens. Willa Dean and Ruth remained inseparable until she moved to Tampa, Florida.

Willa Dean was known for her incredible wit and sharp sense of humor. Her many gifts and talents continued to flourish throughout her life: gardening, designing and sewing, crocheting, painting, music, and writing poetry, some of which found its way onto the walls of McGregor PACE, where she was a participant for several years. Her generosity reached far beyond her own household, and her impact was enormous. She resided in Cleveland Heights, Ohio, for many years. Above all else, Willa Dean considered her greatest accomplishment to be a loving mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother, known to her family as “Nana,” into whom she poured her many gifts over the years.

After a long battle with Lewy body and vascular dementia, Willa Dean Jones passed away on August 17, 2026, at King David Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Beachwood, Ohio.

She is survived by her children, Chevolkalee Shade, née Jones, “Cookie” (George Shade) and Robert Boakai (Keila Zorrilla); grandchildren Mario Jones, Shayanna Golden (Kevin Golden), Amber Boakai, Hannah Boakai Zorrilla, and Keilee Boakai Zorrilla; and great-grandchildren Zion Boakai, Rhaven Jones, Kevin “Trey” Golden, Thuraan Jones, Joshua Golden, Zekiah Johnson, Kobe Johnson, and Ezekiel Golden. She was preceded in death by her parents, Sam and Ossie Pearl Jones; and her siblings, Sam “Sammie” Jones, Rosalie Morris, Teresa Wells, Earnestine Bryant, and Larry Womack. She is also survived by a host of nieces and nephews from each of her siblings’ families, along with cousins, extended family, and friends.