Biography

Mary Alice Jones was born in Dallas, Texas

Texas

Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...

 in 1898. She was involved in religion from an early age, joining the Methodist Church at age 10. She received her initial college education at the University of Texas before attending Northwestern University

Northwestern University

Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston and Chicago, Illinois, USA. Northwestern has eleven undergraduate, graduate, and professional schools offering 124 undergraduate degrees and 145 graduate and professional degrees....

, earning a masters degree in religious education, and then receiving a Ph.D. from Yale University

Yale University

Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...

. She served as the director of children's work for the South Carolina Annual Conference

South Carolina Annual Conference

The South Carolina Conference is an Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church. This conference serves the state of South Carolina with its administrative offices and the office of the bishop being in Columbia, South Carolina...

 and also for the International Council of Religious Education. She was the first woman teacher at the Yale Divinity School

Yale Divinity School

Yale Divinity School is a professional school at Yale University, in New Haven, Connecticut, U.S. preparing students for ordained or lay ministry, or for the academy...

.

She became a children's book editor at Rand McNally & Company in 1945, before transitioning into writing work, authoring such books as Prayers for Little Children, which sold over 2 million copies, and Tell Me About God.

In 1951 she left Rand McNally and became the director of children's work for the General Board of Education of the Methodist Church.