EDITORIAL: Jane Willson invested herself in the community

In the end, life is what you make of it. It’s often been said that the true measure of a how a life has been lived is the impact it has had. The highest goal is to leave the world at least a little better off than it was when you came into it.

From that perspective, few could argue with the statement that the late Jane Willson lived hers well.

Willson, 92, passed away Tuesday at Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital. It is an understatement to say that she will be missed, both here in Albany and elsewhere. A highly successful business leader, Willson came to Albany from New York City with her late husband Harry Willson to manage the Willson family pecan orchard. Early into the mail order business with pecans, their Willson Farming and Sunnyland Farms became an agribusiness that was a global seller of nuts, including pecans, cashews and almonds.

But their greatest influence was their philanthropic work, important work that Jane Willson carried on following the passing of her husband.

As Clifford Porter, Albany State University executive assistant to the president for government and community relations, noted in an Albany Herald news article Wednesday about Willson’s death, she did more than simply “write a check.” Willson invested both her money and herself in causes she believed in, and the results have benefited an untold number of people. And others will continue to benefit in the future.

There’s a long list of boards, organizations, educational institutions and the like that had Willson’s support — in time, money and often both — over the years, and she served on the boards of many of them — the Boys & Girls Clubs of Albany, the Albany-Dougherty Inner City Authority, the United Way of Southwest Georgia, the Albany Area Arts Council, the Albany Museum of Arts, the Albany Concert Association, the Charity league of Albany, the Albany Technical College board, the Albany State and Darton State foundations, the executive board of the Albany Area Chamber of Commerce. Her $1 million donation sparked the creation of the Willson Hospice House in Albany. Outside of her hometown, she funded the Willson International Honors Scholars Program at the University of Georgia, and she and Harry Willson made an endowment that resulted in UGA’s Center for the Humanities and Arts being named for them a decade ago. Another $1 million donation honoring her daughter and son-in-law in 2006 resulted in the Willson Heart Center at Children’s Hospital in Madera, Calif.

And there most certainly are other donations and deeds by Willson that were not publicly known.

“She was so unselfish,” Boys & Girls Clubs board member Patsy Martin noted of her friend whose name graces the Holloway Avenue unit of the club. “If she believed in something, she supported it and it became her thing. She did so much for the community.”

And that observation — doing good for the community — was reflected in comments from leaders, such as Phoebe CEO Joel Wernick, Albany Museum board President Kirk Rouse and UGA President Jere Morehead, and friends, such as bridge partner Jo Jones, alike.

But none stated it better than one of the four individuals who knew Willson and her husband best.

“She and my father, the effect they had on the community is immeasurable,” said Larry Willson, one of the Willsons’ four children and president/CEO of the family business. “She was well loved in the community and the community will miss her.”