Carolyn "Carol" Jones Clark

After a lifelong battle against aging, Carolyn Jones Clark, aged 90, passed away peacefully on April 19, 2025, at Harbor Chase in Sarasota, Florida, surrounded by loved ones. She was a loving mother of five, grandmother of 14, and great-grandmother of four, with at least four more on the way. She had many friends of all ages and will be deeply missed by all who knew her.

Carol was born on October 6, 1934, at Evanston Hospital in Evanston, IL, to Robert Paris Walker and Marie Sutherland Walker, and was the first of their three daughters. She spent most of her early years at “60 Central” in Highland Park, which became the center of family life for her, her two sisters (Susie and Judy), their spouses, and their children for the rest of the 20th century. Carol attended Braeside Elementary School and graduated from Highland Park High School in 1952. From an early age, she was always very social, outgoing, and fun-loving, three characteristics she kept throughout her life.

She met Harry Hawkins Jones (1931-2000) on the beach in Fort Lauderdale while on vacation with her parents in 1952. Harry was then a dashing young sophomore at the University of Michigan, where she would matriculate in the fall. Her father had been an All-American swimmer at Michigan and nurtured a love for the “maize and blue” in his daughters. Harry and Carol were already dating by the time she arrived on campus.

At Michigan, she majored in Speech and was a Gamma Phi Beta sorority member. Harry, Carol, her sisters, and many of their children became Michigan alumni and lifelong fans. She even had “Go Blue” (NJ) and “Go Bleu” (FL) imprinted on her license plates. “Hail to the Victors” was sung at most weddings, reunions, and other family events. Michigan football was her passion, and we are grateful she lived long enough to see them win the National Championship in 2024.

She married Harry on August 25, 1955, at age 20, after graduating from Michigan a year early. Carol and Harry would go on to have five children: Robert Carlisle Jones (1956), Julie Marie Jones (1958), Cynthia Keeler Jones (1960), and the twins (aka “thigh-biters”) Amy Carolyn Jones and Susan Judith Jones (1964). They spent their early years together in Grosse Pointe, MI, and Northbrook and Deerfield, IL, before Harry’s career took them to the New York metropolitan area, where they settled in Short Hills, NJ.

Raising five kids became her full-time job, and she was an expert. Family was her raison d’être: Her five kids and 14 grandkids are all happy, well-adjusted, and very close to one another. In her waning years, this was her greatest joy and proudest accomplishment, the fruits of a life well-lived.

She also made time for various charities. She ran the New Jersey Mental Health Ball for many years, and after her son “Bobby” cut his head open in a fall, she studied to become an Emergency Medical Technician and volunteered with the Millburn-Short Hills First Aid Squad for more than a decade.

Perhaps her happiest times during this period were at the family vacation home in Quechee, VT, where they spent many summers and holidays together. She often drove the whole family up from NJ on Christmas Eve and threw a tree-trimming party that night. Carol was a renowned hostess, and those Christmas Eve parties were legendary for the many families who attended. In the summers, Carol and Harry hosted family reunions in Quechee, where her father would play the annual “Walker Cup” golf tournament with his three sons-in-law, with their respective families cheering them on.

After many happy years, Harry and Carol grew apart and were divorced in 1982. Carol also lost her father to heart failure that year. With characteristic resilience, her motto became: “Screw 82, 83 is for me!” With her kids grown and her husband gone, she moved out of the large family house in Short Hills into a four-bedroom condo in Convent Station, NJ. Over the next few years, she started two successful businesses, Wedding Belles, a wedding planning firm, and Presents Perfect, a gift shop and consulting business.

In 1993, she moved to the Grand Harbor Club in Vero Beach, FL, where she pursued her lifelong passions for golf and socializing. She met the love of her life, Russell Clark, shortly thereafter. They were married on April 25, 2001, and spent the next 13 years together in Vero Beach, Russell’s summer home on Martha’s Vineyard, and traveling the world. They traveled to every continent except Antarctica and had many exciting adventures, including when their cruise ship sank in the Amazon River. They escaped in a canoe with only the clothes on their backs. She became known to her family as the “Bohemian Mom” because she and Russell would often venture out with just a car, a tent, and two sleeping bags. These were the happiest years of her life. Russell even got her to quit her 50-year smoking habit by agreeing to cut off his ponytail. They both lived up to the bargain.

Russell passed away in 2014, and Carol entered her golden years. She remained in Vero Beach but moved into the Oak Harbor Club, which she affectionately called Croak Harbor. There, she had constant visits from her kids and grandkids, or visited them for special occasions, weddings, and holidays. She became a great-grandmother in 2016 with the birth of Delaney Sheehan, soon followed by three more great-grandchildren (Carolyn Sheehan, Timothy Sheehan, and Asher Hopkins). Eventually, her age caught up to her, and she moved into an assisted living facility, Harbor Chase, near her daughters in Sarasota, FL. She passed away in April and is now reunited with her beloved Russell, “woof-woofing” their way into eternity.

Carol will always be remembered for her kindness, generosity, cheerfulness, spirit of adventure, enthusiasm for life, sense of humor, and love of family. She leaves behind a legacy of love, including five children, 14 grandchildren (Stephen and Tommy Hopkins; Scotty Moore; Katie, Bo, and Liza Jones; Maggie, Carrie, and Amy Lautenslagger; Jack, Michael, and Megan McKeon; and Chris and Ryan Hill), and four great-grandchildren. She is also survived by her sisters, Sue Kane and Judy Reynolds. At the time of her death, she had four more great-grandchildren on the way, with many more likely in the future. All will undoubtedly learn her signature advice to “mind your morals.”

Her ashes will be placed in an urn beside Russell’s in the Veterans’ section of the Trinity Episcopal Church in Vero Beach, FL. We will provide details for the ceremony at a later date. We will celebrate her life at Canoe Brook Country Club in Summit, NJ, on August 23, 2025, from Noon to 3 PM. Anyone who knew and loved her is welcome to attend.

In place of flowers or sympathy cards, please donate to St Jude’s Hospital in her memory.