Jo Ellen Hayden

Jo Ellen Hayden grew up in Lexington and is a graduate of Transylvania University where she majored in history, going on to earn an MA in U.S. history from Wake Forest University. She spent her 43-year career in the Washington DC area as an engineering program manager with the U.S. Navy and in the private sector, developing avionics and military software/hardware systems. She and her husband lived in a c.1670 home in Maryland, about which she published a book At Home On The Patuxent: Lower Marlboro, Maryland. Jo Ellen also spent nearly a decade in clinical practice as a licensed acupuncturist. She held Virginia acupuncture license #1, was co-founder of the Complementary Medicine Center of Northern Virginia, and served on the Acupuncture Advisory Committee to the Virginia Board of Medicine. She holds an MS in Systems Management and an M.Ac. in Acupuncture.

 In 2013 she returned to Lexington, where she has focused on serving the community. For BrookeUSA and the U.S. World War 1 Centennial Commission, she researched and wrote an extensive history on the use of horses and mules in World War 1, www.ww1cc.org/horses. For the Bluegrass Trust she served on the Antiques and Garden Show committee and was recognized with the Lucy Shropshire Crump Volunteer Award in 2018. Other community work includes: Project Manager for a major facility renovation at Christ Church Cathedral, where she was also the Archives Assistant; mentor in the 100 Doors Program at Transylvania University; co-chair of Wreaths Across America at Camp Nelson National Cemetery, and multiple committees at St. John’s Episcopal Church in Versailles.