She befriended a president and a former first lady and met the stars of "Gone With the Wind." She ran her own restaurant chain and spread goodwill for a major corporation. She would cook Sunday dinner for dozens of friends and relatives.

But what Ann Jones Sheppard really wanted to do was dance.

(ENLARGE)

Ann Jones Sheppard, with daughter Jerry Jones Clark, was a dynamo during her life. She was a performer and restaurant owner who loved entertaining, and a friend to many, including President Lyndon Johnson and former first lady Mamie Eisenhower.

She first danced onstage as a child in Macon, her hometown, then toured the Southeast with the Al Shorts Orchestra and performed the lead role in Atlanta productions of "Peter Pan" at the Loew's Grand Theater, where she met actors Clark Gable and Vivien Leigh.

Later, she taught ballet and would dance with her neighbors during Ansley Park street parties.

"She danced all her life," Mrs. Sheppard's son, Dr. George W. Jones Jr. of Atlanta, said Friday. "She just danced through her life."

Mrs. Sheppard, 90, of Atlanta was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease two years ago. She died Wednesday at Hospice Atlanta of complications that followed a recent fall.

The funeral is 2 p.m. Sunday at Peachtree Christian Church. H.M. Patterson & Son, Spring Hill, is in charge of arrangements.

Throughout her life, Mrs. Sheppard maintained "an incredible network of friends," said her granddaughter, Jennifer Elder of Atlanta. "She was so fun and loving and encouraging — very generous with her time and energy and money with everybody."

It was through her brother, a U.S. Secret Service agent, that Mrs. Sheppard met President Lyndon Johnson and visited him several times at the LBJ Ranch in Texas, her son said. She also became friends with former first lady Mamie Eisenhower, who would send a car for Mrs. Sheppard every time she visited Augusta National Golf Club.

With her first husband, George W. Jones Sr., Mrs. Sheppard opened a chain of five family-style restaurants, Ann's, across Atlanta.

After her husband died in 1968, she married his friend Joseph S. Sheppard, an executive with Nabisco. Mrs. Sheppard accompanied him around the world, entertaining the company's customers.

"All they did was party," Mrs. Sheppard's son said. "That suited my mother to a T."

Other survivors include a daughter, Jerry Jones Clark, five grandchildren and 11 great-grandchildren.