Erma Jacqueline Jones

Erma Jacqueline Jones, our wonderful Jackie, died on December 3, 2024. Born to impoverished parents on a homestead in Millsap, Texas on April 3, 1932, she lived a long and good life, dying at the age of 92. In 1935, when Jackie was three, the Dust Bowl’s heavy winds in Texas were making Jackie and her three sisters, all under the age of eight, sick with dust pneumonia. So the family packed up their scant possessions and moved first to Arkansas to stay with relatives and later to the Oxly area of southern Missouri, where the family would increase by three and all seven kids would grow up in the beautiful Ozarks.

Jackie received her high school diploma in 1950 and then moved to the St. Louis area. There she met George W. Jones, whom she later married in Cheyenne, Wyoming in 1954. She and George had two children together, Stephanie and Timothy. Both children died before Jackie did, as did her husband George. Losing her immediate loved ones was wrenching for Jackie, but as she did all her life, she came through each loss stronger and more loving than before.

Jackie Jones was a kind, generous soul who by all accounts made just about everyone’s day a better day. She had a bright smile for everyone and she was ready to befriend anyone she encountered. She believed in the Golden Rule and lived the Golden Rule. She didn’t have any enemies, but if she ever had had, she would have forgiven them, she would have loved them. If a stranger ever slighted her, she bore little resentment and quickly moved on. She practiced living and loving moral values every day of her life.

And she was remarkably resilient and helpful, in spite of enduring loss after loss. In the 1960s, she cared for her parents as they were aging and falling ill; her parents lived with her and her family in their home in O’Fallon, Missouri. Over the ensuing decades, if a friend or someone in her large extended family was facing crisis, illness, or death, Jackie was there, again and again. And then there came a time when Jackie needed help: in 1988, her son Tim was killed in a car accident. Friends and family were there for her, as she had been for them, but Tim’s loss was shattering. She eventually recovered, showing great courage. Five years later, she showed herself to be utterly heroic when she, George, and his elderly sister Effie were involved in another tragic car accident. Seeing that Effie was fatally injured, Jackie, though injured herself, climbed in the back seat of the car with Effie and held her sister-in-law as she died.

Many of us might have become embittered by such losses; Jackie never did. Even after her daughter Stephanie died in their living room in March 2020, Jackie recovered and continued to be as helpful as possible, and as encouraging as possible, for the rest of her life.

But of course Jackie’s life wasn’t just about loss. All her life, she felt she’d lived a happy life. She was always welcoming family and friends into her warm and cozy home. She raised two children to adulthood, babysat nieces and nephews, was an excellent hunter, and a devoted sister. She loved to listen to others’ stories and loved to laugh and always made those around her feel appreciated and needed. She built a happy life with her George, whom she was married to for over 50 years. George and Jackie traveled extensively in their lives together, seeing friends and family; their favorite trip was a months-long exploration of Alaska. She served thousands of hearty meals, made thousands of delicious pies, grew terrific tomatoes and other vegetables in her garden, and her flowers were the envy of the neighborhood—she even won a gardening contest in the town of Fruita, Colorado, where she and George settled after George retired. Jackie put on the best family reunions, gave the best hugs. No one else even came close.

Jackie lived in various places over her long life: in Texas, in Missouri in the Ozarks and in the St. Louis area, in Fruita, Colorado, and in Sedona, Arizona. She lived the last years of her life in Boulder County, Colorado. She is survived by her two brothers, David Paddock and Doug Paddock of Missouri, along with many nephews, nieces, and cousins who will miss her for the rest of their lives. She was predeceased by her husband and two children, and by her parents, Addie Mae Wise Paddock and Ortega K. Paddock, and by her sisters Mary Waldemer, Juanita Paddock, Frances Faye Dickson, and Alletta Ailene House. A memorial service will be held on Sunday, January 5th at 12:30 pm at the New Church at 1370 Forest Park Circle, Lafayette, Colorado, 80026.

May Jackie’s kindness and love for others continue on in all who knew her. May we all be able to carry on the deep gratitude and generosity that Jackie met the world with every single day.