Inducted in 2024
A life-long administrator for children with special needs, Jean Winfrey was the Executive Director at Tulsa’s Little Light House. As a result of her work there, it became a model for nonprofits and special needs education around the globe, earning the Oklahoma Nonprofits Excellence Award from the Oklahoma Center for Nonprofits in 2013.
Winfrey, a 1969 WRHS graduate, spearheaded an $18 million expansion of the Little Light House that added a state-of-the-art building with larger classrooms, the latest technology, sensory rooms and second-story observatories for professional training.
Winfrey helped to implement an international internship program for educators from other countries to come to Tulsa to receive training and learn to work with children with special needs. She also participated in conferences for educators in Haiti and Kenya entitled “How to Identify Children with Special Needs in your Classroom.
With her husband, Keith, they have assisted in starting a school, Seedpower Education Center, in two communities in Kenya providing education to hundreds of children. As they continue to serve on the board, they have been instrumental in bringing clean running water to both of these communities in Africa impacting the school and community with free resources, curriculum and educational tools for students with special needs which has stretched into Rwanda and Uganda.
Prior to her directing the Little Light House ministry, Winfrey worked in the 1970’s at the Tulsa Metropolitan Area Planning Commission, participating in the update of the long-range plan, Tulsa Vision 2000 program. She also served as the executive assistant to the Superintendent of Victory Christian School.
Throughout her career, as a result of her Christian faith, Winfrey demonstrated intense dedication to education while improving the quality of life and services provided for children with special needs to God’s glory.
Lifelong Special Needs Administrator and Little Light House Director
