Central services specialist retiring after 25 years of service
Grace Jones, 62, started working at Inver Hills Community College as the lead bookstore cashier in March 2001. Grace continued in that role until August 2021 when she took on the responsibilities of lead copy clerk in the college’s Central Mail Room. She will be retiring in March 2026 after 25 years of service.
Grace Jones
During her time at Inver Hills, Grace served as the Black Student Union (BSU) staff advisor. She started serving as the AFSCME Local 4001 union steward in 2002. She began working as an AFSCME union organizer in 2011 and graduated from the AFSCME Women’s Leadership Academy in 2013. Grace also earned a Human Services certificate at Inver Hills.
Grace’s volunteer work includes service as a Guardian ad Litem (GAL) child protection worker from 2006 to 2022. She was a presenter at the Pan African Student Leadership Conference & Festival at Minnesota State University, Mankato, for more than eight years. She also works as a direct client advocate for Mains’l MN, a role she began in 2021.
When asked what she is looking forward to most in her retirement years, Grace responded: “Traveling and spending time with my family—mainly my three brothers, all older and retired. I will also be riding my motorcycle as much as possible.”
Grace Jones: Service and volunteer philosophy
Grace Jones
“There is no greater joy than helping someone in need.”
Grace Jones Central Services Specialist Black Student Union Staff Advisor AFSCME Union Steward Local 4001 Retiring March 2, 2026, After 25 Years of Service Inver Hills Community College
More about Grace…
Grace with her Can-Am Spyder F3
Originally from Kansas City, Kansas, Grace graduated from F. L. Schlagle High School in Kansas City, Class of 1982. She has a very large family that includes two daughters, Dezirai Jones and Cierra Kelley.
“Dezirai is following in her mom’s footsteps,” Grace said. “She is a customer service specialist at Normandale Community College, where she serves as a Black Student Union advisor and is an active AFSCME union member. Cierra is married to Fred Kelley, a career navigator. She works as a benefits analyst for the Stowers Institute for Medical Research.”
Grace has five grandsons, Trey, Kingston, Kaizen, Ayden, and Macieo, and one granddaughter, Michelle. Grace’s son, Bryant Jr. works as a server at Book Tower Detroit; her son, Sidney Jr. works as a paraprofessional. Grace lost two sons. Laroy Pierra Maupins was a miracle baby who weighed only one pound, three ounces at birth; he was hit by a car at age six and died eight months later from complications. Bryson LaMarr Haskell was murdered December 3, 2023.
Grace grew up with eight siblings. Four are retired: Gladyes Richardson in KCK, William Haskell Jr. in KCK, Keith Haskell Sr. in KCK, and Wayne Haskell Sr. in Minneapolis. Four are deceased, Muriel Haskell, Le’Neil Charles Haskell Sr., Herman Daniel Haskell, and Colleen Nicole Haskell.
In her free time time, Grace enjoys riding her motorcycle, a Can-Am Spyder F3. She belongs to Ebony Wheels and handles public relations for the motorcycle club.
“I love the freedom of riding my motorcycle,” she said, “feeling the wind, listening to music playing, and thinking about planning my life out.”
Grace also enjoys traveling and spending time with her family. She resides in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota.
Grace family and life gallery one
March on Washington 2020
Grandson Trey and granddaughter Michelle
Dezirai with Kingston and Kaizen
Business students at MSU 2025 Ebony Ball
Grace
(left to right) Great nephew Bryson and his brother Bryant Jr., their dad Bryant Sr.; Grace helped raise the brothers
Granddaughter Michelle
Grace with daughters Dezirai and Cierra
Grace and her motorcycle Boss Lady on her 60th birthday celebration in Kansas
Grandchildren: (top) Kaizen and Macieo (bottom) Ayden and Kingston
Son-in-love Fred, grandson Macieo, daughter Cierra
Daughter Dezirai, son Sidney Jr., daughter Cierra, and
Grace
Grace family and life gallery two
LaRoy playing “Purple Rain”
Brother Keith
Cousins and club brothers Chas and Mandel (Bumpy)
Great-great nieces
Herman
Mother of the bride
KC Chiefs fan for life
LaRoy
LaRoy’s dad Gary
LeNeil
#1 grandson going for a spin
William Haskell Jr
Sister Gladyes
Sister Muriel (Shing-a-Ling)
Sister Gladyes
BF
Aunt Ruthie and Aunt Beanie
Auntie
BF
Brother Wayne’s grandkids
Black Wall Street Tulsa
Brother LeNeil
Colleen Nicole Haskell (Shing-a-Ling)
Cierra wedding day
Cruising
Dallas
AFSCME Union Convention: daughter Dezirai and cousins Sydney and Syreeta; all state employees in same union,
Grandkids on their first cruise
Inver Hills 2014 graduation Human Services certificate
Ebony Wheels in Little Rock
Memphis
Grace’s parents
Night on the town
Childhood friends…still
Women’s History Month : VIP meeting with Patti LaBelle and friend Allison, State Theater, MN
Toni and Wayne
Billy and Beverly
RIP niece Chantille
Memphis
BF in Memphis
RIP nephew Larry
RIP nephew Bryson
RIP nephew Michael
RIP nephew Bryson
Liz and Keith Sr
RIP nephews Brandon and Keith Jr (brothers)
Toni and Wayne
114th Walls Family Reunion 2025
Grace Jones • Q & A
Grace Jones
What did you like best about your role as the Inver Hills Bookstore lead cashier and customer service specialist?
The ability to help students with their educational experience. Assisting students with options such as renting textbooks as opposed to purchasing textbooks. Also, supervising student workers and helping them understand work values. I also enjoyed assisting students by providing the best customer service and knowledgeable information ensuring they have a successful academic journey.
What was most rewarding about your time serving as the Black Student Union (BSU) staff advisor?
Meeting and working with students from an array of backgrounds. Listening to their stories and journeys of how they got to Inver Hills Community College. I’m proud to have been a part of securing a safe place and study den in the college’s Cultural Center for students of color to congregate, relax, and just have a sense of belonging.
What inspired to take on the role of AFSCME Local 4001 union steward?
My dad was a proud member of UAW Local 31 at the Fairfax Plant in Kansas City, Kansas. I grew up knowing how important unions were. When I was approached by my cousin, Charles Martin, then an AFSCME business agent, and asked to become a union steward, I didn’t think twice about it.
What will you miss most about your quarter century of service at Inver Hills?
The students—mostly in my role as the advisor for the Black Student Union (BSU). That was the most honorable service I have provided next to helping neglected and abused children in my Guardian ad Litem role for more than 20 years.
Some of the students I have served in my BSU advisor role have become my own at times. I’m still Ms. Grace to most of them. We keep in contact and we share photos of kids and grandkids. I’m still invited to weddings and baby showers. The students love to inform me when they get union jobs. They are so proud—and I love that for us.
Three words that describe you as a person:
CARING. UNDERSTANDING. DETERMINED.
What person(s) influenced your life the most and why?
Mr. William C. and Mrs. Ida Mae Haskell. They were very hardworking, caring parents. We were raised working in our family-owned businesses such as the neighborhood bar my parents owned and operated before my time. Haskell Brothers Grocery was operated by my brothers, William Jr. and Herman, my sister, Muriel, and me. My brother, Wayne, ran a nightclub called Odyssey, which was right above the grocery store. One block down from the store, the family opened a pool hall called Haskell Sundries, which was run by William Jr.
My parents owned all the properties. They first owned a restaurant called Haskell’s Steak House, which was famous for fried chicken, Texas toast, and chitterling dinners. After it closed years later, the restaurant became the grocery store, which was started by William Jr. and Herman, who retired from their jobs at GM to take on that role. My dad also retired from GM. My brothers Wayne, Keith, and LeNeil worked in the store. Muriel took over years after the business was underway. I was the first employee they hired—I was in the 8th grade.
My parents instilled in us to always give back. So, on holidays we would feed whoever needed or wanted a meal. We extended credit to families in the neighborhood so that they could feed their families. We sold fireworks for more than 35 years and put on a finale show for the neighbors on the Fourth of July every year. It became a family tradition that my younger sister, Colleen, started when she took over that part of the business at age 16. We call it The Finale, a tribute to the Haskell Family members who have passed and to Shing-a-Ling, my little sister.
If you could make one thing happen on Earth right now, what would it be?
End child abuse and neglect by providing a safe home for every child in need. I would also like to open an orphanage.
2026 marks a century of national commemorations of Black history. Dr. Carter Godwin Woodson, George Cleveland Hall, William B. Hartgrove, Jesse E. Moorland, Alexander L. Jackson, and James E. Stamps institutionalized the teaching, study, dissemination, and commemoration of Black history when they founded the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History (ASNLH) on September 9, 1915.
In 1925, when Dr. Carter G. Woodson planned the inaugural week-long observance of Black history, he could hardly have anticipated the imprint he would leave on the world. From Negro History Week to Black History Month, ASALH has carried forth the tradition, and the observances have become part of the warp and weft of American culture and increasingly the global community.
For our 100th theme, the founders of Black History Month urge us to explore the impact and meaning of Black history and life commemorations in transforming the status of Black peoples in the modern world.
More about the Black Student Union at Inver Hills…
Purpose: The purpose of this organization shall be to promote awareness of diversity on our campus as well as the community. The Black Student Union accepts students of any ethnicity and together we will provide an educational and social environment that celebrates the past, present and the future of the American culture.
“Dezirai is following in her mom’s footsteps,” Grace said. “She is a customer service specialist at Normandale Community College, where she serves as a Black Student Union advisor and is an active AFSCME union member. Cierra is married to Fred Kelley, a career navigator. She works as a benefits analyst for the Stowers Institute for Medical Research.”
Place you would most like to visit: Travel to as many states as possible on my motorcycle
Your national bird if you were your own country: Blue jay
