Mary Ida Jones

On Wednesday, July 7, 2021, Mary Ida Jones “Maryida”, the second youngest daughter of the late Canty “Smokey” and Emma Green transitioned from earth to Glory at Doctors Community Hospital in Lanham, MD. She was born November 22, 1944, in Summerton, SC.

In the sixties, my mom moved to Washington, DC to live with her sister Wille Mood Miser-Coard. There she built lifelong friendships with Rose Washington, Lorraine Cunningham, Gloria Tucker, and Sadie to name a few. These weren’t just friends they were family. They were my aunts that would help my mom raise me.

My mom was a graduate of Theodore Roosevelt High School in Washington, DC. She worked at restaurants like Hot Shoppe until she was hired by the government agency Center for Disease Control-CDC, where she would work for 30+ years.

One trait that my mom was well known for was her hospitality. She would open her home to many friends and families over the years to have a party or to stay during transitional times in their lives. I have fond memories of parties at our apartment in Summit Hills with family and friends dancing and having a good time. She loved fried fish, and I would remember her and Aunt Francis frying fish or eating crabs on a Saturday afternoon.

My mom loved her family, especially her sisters. Even though most of them were in New York or South Carolina, she would call them just about every Saturday morning. She would be on the phone from 7am until the afternoon sometimes just catching up with her sisters, her mother as well as her friends. I would hear her in her room laughing with Aunt Julia or Aunt Beck or Aunt Runnett, or sometimes going back in forth in a discussion with Aunt Mood about certain memories of them growing up.

After working 30+ years in the government she retired to take care of those most precious in her life- her granddaughters Camille and Caitlyn Lyons. Camille gave her the name “Maga”. The three would spend many summers together just as my grandmother did for me. They became best friends and formed a lot of memories.

She was a great mom, sister, friend and Maga! She is gone but will never be forgotten. Love you mom thanks for life, love and friendship.

Mary Ida Jones was preceded in death by her grandparents Elias and Lucy McFadden, parents Canty and Emma Green; sisters Rebecca and Runnett, and twins Leon and Julia.

She leaves to cherish her memory a son and daughter in law Dion and Alexis Lyons of Lanham, MD, granddaughters Camille and Caitlyn Lyons of Lanham, MD, two sisters; Wille Mood Miser-Coard of Summerton, SC; Emma M. Furman of Summerton, SC and a host of nieces, nephews, and friends.

Respectfully Submitted with Love,

Dion