Gertrude M. Swinnea Jones

Gertrude Madalyn Rigler Gorman Swinnea Jones died August 8, 2012 in Groesbeck, Texas, age 90. She was born at home on May 13, 1922 near Mission, Texas to Charles George and Oria May Rigler. She graduated from Mission High School and married Lee Nolan Gorman and is survived by two children from this union. She married Billy Ross Swinnea after her first marriage and is survived by three children from this marriage. He preceded her in death in 1985. During the autumn of her life she married again on September 13, 1997 and is survived by Isaac Jones of Thornton, Texas.

During the first years of World War II she was a member of the quasi-military volunteer Women's Home Guard and was proud she learned how to shoot a rifle for possible defense of the southern Texas border. She was a lifelong yellow dog Democrat and worked on numerous contests for local, state, and presidential candidates as well as voting rights initiatives and civil rights campaigns. She attended both county and state Democratic party conventions and said that one of the best days of her life was election day 2008. She never thought she would see an election like that in her lifetime. She was an active member of the American Association of Retired Persons after retiring from Atlas Match Company in 1987, where she worked as a proofreader for more than 25 years. She was also a craftswoman creating quilts for each of her grandchildren and many family friends. Her other hobbies included knitting, sewing, cross stitching, embroidery, and photography. She enjoyed reading, traveling, attending church services, and visiting with others.

She was an active church member all her life beginning her journey with the Lord in the Roman Catholic church as a child, the United Methodist church as an adult and later in life as a member of Central Baptist Church in Thornton. The stained glass windows that adorn the Methodist-Presbyterian Union Church in Stranger were a gift from Gertrude and Billy Ross following their purchase of an abandoned place of worship in the early 1980s.

She is survived by her husband, Isaac Jones of Thornton, brother George Rigler and wife Betty of Port Neches, Texas, children Roland Gorman and wife Nita of Watagua, Texas, Margaret Masters and husband Michael of Tampa, Florida, Sam Swinnea and wife The Reverend Stephanie Swinnea of MacAlester, Oklahoma, Cynthia Percival and husband Tom of Princeton, Texas, Tom Swinnea and wife Karen of Austin, Texas, eleven grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. Gertrude was preceded in death by her parents, one brother and eight sisters.

Visitation will be Tuesday, August 14, 2012 at 10 a.m. at the Central Baptist Church in Thornton. Funeral services will follow at 11 a.m. at the church. Burial will be at Stranger Cemetery. After the burial service, lunch will be held at the Central Baptist Church.