For those who've been on the Katy Trail, walked to Confluence Point, or visited Prairie Fork Conservation Area, it may not be obvious that visitors have Ted and Pat Jones to thank for being able to enjoy these outdoor wonders.
A new book, Trail Blazers: The Free-Spirited and Extraordinary Lives of Ted and Pat Jones, written by Jeannette Cooperman, pays tribute to this Missouri couple who worked tirelessly and gave generously to these projects, and many other Missouri conservation efforts.
The book is published by Magnificent Missouri, with the proceeds going to preserve the Katy Trail and keep alive the environmental and other efforts that the Joneses began. Ted Jones died in 1990; Pat Jones in 2018.
Pat was one of the first women to graduate from the University of Missouri-Columbia with a degree in agriculture. Ted’s natural leadership skills were proven over the years as the managing partner of Edward Jones, the worldwide firm started by his father in 1922. Now with more than 15,000 individual offices around the world, he took his father’s traditional St. Louis brokerage firm and created a strategy to grow it into a company that would change millions of lives by expanding opportunities for investors and their families.
So, the title of this book, Trail Blazers, has a double meaning — as a tribute to the couple for not only a literal trail and leadership in conservation but also a path to success in the business world, where personal service and integrity have played a key role.
Shunning the trappings of wealth, Pat and Ted Jones made their life on a mid-Missouri farm. The president of Magnificent Missouri, Dan Burkhardt, says they wanted to be in the Missouri countryside, they wanted to create a place where other people, not as fortunate as they were, could experience the outdoors and nature. Accumulating money was not the objective. They chose to preserve and enhance the natural beauty of Missouri for future generations as their primary passion. Their vision, efforts, and generous $2.2 million dollar donation helped make the 200-mile Katy Trail possible. The Jones' 700-acre farm in Williamsburg, Missouri, is now known as Prairie Fork Conservation Area and enjoyed by many, thanks to their generous bequest.
Trail Blazers inspires readers as it blazes a trail through Ted and Pat's unconventional approach to life, the genius behind Ted’s business success, and their shared passion for conservation and love of the land. Readers will find themselves wondering what they can do to follow in the many paths blazed by Ted and Pat.
The book can be purchased online at MagnificentMissouri.org.