Opal Pandora Jones was born to Oscar Banks and Luella Vaughn on November 29, 1930 in Champaign, Illinois. After graduating from Champaign High School in 1948, Opal met Jimmie Jones through correspondence while he was overseas with the Navy. They wrote to each other for two years before they finally met in the middle of December 1949 and married a week later on December 21, 1949. They eventually moved to Vandenberg AFB, California (formerly Camp Cook), where they began their family, until Jimmie retired from the Air Force in 1967. After living for 17 years in Santa Ana and raising their three children, they retired to Sun City, California where they celebrated 70 years and 8 months of marriage until Opal went home to be with the Lord on August 21, 2020.
Opal was preceded in death by her son, Frank Jones, and is survived by her husband Jimmie Jones, sister Frances Britt, daughters Linda Jones and Kim Coles née Jones, nieces and nephews, and a host of family and friends.
