Jone Johnson Lewis

As Leader at the Riverdale-Yonkers Society, Jone Johnson Lewis speaks from our platform at least once a month, is available for pastoral counseling, performs life passage ceremonies including weddings, memorial services and baby namings, and strives to expand the Society’s work in social justice and lifelong ethical living and learning.

Jone has been an Ethical Culture Leader since 1991. Before coming to the Riverdale-Yonkers Society for Ethical Culture, she served Ethical Societies in Chicago, Northern Virginia (DC suburbs) and Brooklyn.  She served at Brooklyn half-time through June 2019, while serving part-time at the Riverdale-Yonkers Society for Ethical Culture, where she began in March 2015.

Jone’s work with the American Ethical Union, the federation of Ethical Societies, has included serving on a variety of committees, as Interim Executive Director, and on the Board.

Jone is a third generation humanist, raised in the Midwest. She studied business, math and history, was a computer programmer and systems analyst, and managed information technology education departments for several Fortune 500 companies, before turning to congregational leadership as a profession.

Jone is also an ordained Unitarian Universalist minister. She served a congregation in southwest Michigan and was the first cyberminister for the Church of the Larger Fellowship.

Jone is a graduate of Meadville Lombard Theological School in Chicago (M. Div.) and of the Humanist Institute. She has served as an adjunct faculty member at Meadville and as a faculty member of the Humanist Institute. She did undergraduate work at the University of Chicago, and has a B.A. from the Women in Management program at Mundelein College, the last private Catholic women’s college in Illinois, founded by a justice-oriented women’s religious order.

Jone is also a transformational (life) coach in private practice, serving clients who are undergoing life change. She was, for 19 years, the expert behind Thoughtco.com’s Women’s History site (formerly About.com), although she is no longer producing content for that site and cannot make any corrections or authorize any reuse of that content.  For more than 25 years she’s maintained a quotations website: Wisdom Quotes.

Jone’s many interests also include social justice, communication skills, science, religion, history and philosophy. She actively studies Compassionate Communication (also known as Nonviolent Communication) and meditation.

Jone is married to Bill Lewis, a retired transportation planner and electrician.  Jone has two adult sons and Bill has three adult children; Jone and Bill enjoy keeping up with the lives of their children and grandchildren.