Jo Ann Causey

Jo Ann Causey gladly answered her Savior's call to join Him on High on Saturday, August 2, 2025.

At that point, she was reunited with beloved husband, J. Carl Causey, her dutiful father, J.T. Jones, and her tender-hearted mother, Ilma Lucas Jones. It is believed that Carl was the happiest to see her-although, in his estimation, as in life-he believed she'd kept him waiting far too long.

Jo Ann Jones was born in Springtown, Texas on July 22, 1938. She was the second child of three, and is today survived by her older sister Margaret "Peggy" Mitchell and her baby brother, Dr. Charles Edward Jones.

Jo Ann lived eighty-six of her earthly years in the Great State of Texas (save one awful childhood year in New Mexico) and she was graduated from Goldthwaite High School (Goldthwaite, Texas) in 1956; the year prior to her graduation, she was a key member of the girls' basketball team that made it to the state tournament in 1955.

In the fall of 1956, Jo Ann enrolled as undergraduate at Baylor University (this would become a long-running family tradition) where she majored in Educational Studies. While in Waco, she met J. Carl Causey, who was enrolled as a student at Baylor, after four years of service in the United States Air Force. Soon after she was graduated from Baylor in the spring of 1960, the two were married on February 18, 1961; the young couple settled in Marble Falls, Texas, where Jo Ann would begin her long and distinguished career as an educator.

On January 11, 1962, Jo Ann gave birth to the couple's first child, Julie Lynne Causey, who would be-throughout her remaining days-her most-steadfast and beloved supporter and confidante. In 1969, Carl and Jo Ann and Julie moved to Weatherford, Texas, where Jo Ann would live for the rest of her life.

On January 16, 1971, Jo Ann gave birth to the couple's second child: Joel Carl Causey. The next day, the Dallas Cowboys lost to the Baltimore Colts in Super Bowl V because Tom Landry still believed Craig Morton was a better quarterback than Roger Staubach.

It was in Weatherford that Jo Ann's skills as an imminently-talented teacher were fully realized. She would spend the second decade of her career in education teaching second grade at Stanley Elementary School. In 1981, Jo Ann earned her Master's Degree from Texas Woman's College (Denton, Texas) and-that fall-was promoted to an administrative position under Weatherford Independent School District Superintendent, Joe Tison. She would serve-and distinguish herself further-in that ever-evolving role for more than a decade. In 2023, in recognition of her remarkable and impactful service inside and outside classrooms of Weatherford, she was enshrined in the W.I.S.D.'s Hall of Fame.

Those who knew Jo Ann Causey will remember her for the countless ways she served those whom she loved: Her parents, her husband, her children, her educational colleagues, and-most of all-the hundreds and hundreds of children she taught, cared for, and loved so dearly. Even after her "formal" retirement in 1991, she continued to mentor at-risk children in Weatherford's elementary schools and she led parenting conferences and workshops for those who sought to better understand their children's educational needs.

In 2001, Carl and Jo Ann joined the community she would serve for the final twenty-four years of her life: Trinity Bible Church, in Willow Park. There, she found a "second family" of peers, friends, and fellow Believers, all of whom would grow to love her almost as much as her first family. The congregation at Trinity Bible Church was especially supportive and caring in the years following the death of her husband in December of 2015. J. Carl and Jo Ann were eternally grateful for fifty-four years of faithful devotion at the time of his passing.

Over the course of her life, Jo Ann dearly loved all those whom were welcomed into the family she and Carl began in 1961: her son-in-law, Dr. William Steven Brown; her two grandchildren, Rebekah Lynne and William Benaiah Brown; her daughter-in-law, Kimberly Elizabeth Causey (nee Otto) and her grandson-in-law Hank McWhorter, and she especially loved her two great-grandchildren: Hays Causey McWhorter and Townes Margaret McWhorter.

A memorial service and a celebration of life will be held for Jo Ann Causey at 11:30 a.m. on Friday, September 26 at Trinity Bible Church in Willow Park.

In lieu of flowers, the family asks those who want to remember Jo Ann with a gift to please donate to Trinity Bible Church (trinitybible.com) or Manna Storehouse (mannastorehouse.org).