Overview
- Jones shared on Instagram on Jan. 3 that Josephine Vonceal Pace Brown died early on New Year’s Eve at age 96.
- She described her grandmother as her “best buddy” and “unapologetic cheerleader,” crediting her with shaping her educational path.
- Brown was the first Black woman elected to her local board of education in Wichita, a classically trained pianist, and longtime church music director.
- In 1988, Brown founded the A.R.I.S.E. choir, which continues to perform, including recent appearances from Washington, D.C., to Paris.
- The news follows the May 2025 death of Jones’s husband, Uche Ojeh, from glioblastoma, as she remains set to begin the fourth hour role on Jan. 12.