Patricia Ann Jones

Southlake Texas – Patricia Ann “Pat” Jones 93, died Tuesday June 1, 2022 at her daughter’s home where she also lived in Southlake since 2017. She leaves her sons Dale Jones and Jim Jones and her daughter Lynn Warren. She was preceded in death by her husband Bill Jones and son Chuck Jones. She also leaves 8 grandchildren; Scott Jones, Jennifer Keifrider, Chris Jones, Stephanie Cummings, Austin Jones, Dustin Jones, Sarah Stewart and Dylan Warren, as well as 2 nieces and 1 nephew, and 7 great grandchildren. She was born in Pueblo Colorado, the daughter of George Harrison Williams and Opal Paulene Williams and sister of George H. Williams Jr. all of whom preceded her in death. The Williams family ultimately moved to Kansas City Kansas in 1933 where Pat grew up. As a young girl she loved to climb trees; as a teenager, she worked at the five and dime store and attended Rosedale High School where she met her future husband Bill Jones. She and Bill were high school sweethearts and were married on September 3, 1948 after graduating in 1947. The couple settled in Kansas City Kansas and began their life together ultimately having 4 children. The family transferred, due to Bill’s career, to Oklahoma City, Indianapolis, Chicago and finally to Dallas. Pat was a homemaker during the time her children were young. Her focus was on supporting Bill in the home and raising the children. As the children became older, Pat worked at Plano Texas companies, Geomap Mapping Company and Fortis Benefits in the dental claims department while living in Richardson Texas. Later, after Bill retired from Hertz Truck Rental, Pat and Bill began The Rent-All Place in Plano, Texas and successfully ran this business until their mid-seventies. They retired to their 30-acre home in Melissa, TX and Pat worked part-time as a librarian for the Melissa Public Library. She especially enjoyed reading children’s books to the local children when they gathered at the library. Bill and Pat moved to Keller, Texas in 2007 and were members of First Baptist Church of Keller until their passing. Both were members of Ken Gardner’s Sunday school class with Keith Sanders as Pastor. Pat participated in cooking various meals for church functions as well as for members as needed. She also participated in the card ministry. Bill and Pat had a great love for our Lord, their Church and their many wonderful friends who were faithful to continue to minister to them as their health failed. Bill and Pat’s marriage of 68 years was a love story from the first day they met, until they parted holding hands at Bill’s passing in May 2017.

A memorial service will be held at First Baptist Church of Keller on Saturday, June 18, 2022 at 11:00 a.m.

In lieu of flowers please consider a donation to the Alzheimer's Association or to the American Cancer Society.

Pat Jones’ Memorial Service Eulogy June 18, 2022

Good morning and thank you for coming to celebrate Pat Jones and the beautiful, long life she had. I’m Sarah, one of her many grandchildren. I’m Lynn’s daughter, and my grandmother and I had a very special and close relationship, we were best friends throughout my life.

My grandma was married to my grandpa, Bill, and they loved each other more than any romance book or movie could have portrayed. They were high school sweethearts and to hear my grandpa say it, he learned to wink out of each eye only because he wanted to wink at my grandmother – the most beautiful girl in his class – no matter what side of the classroom she sat on. Their love was a gift from God and the reason many of us are here today. They created a large family with 4 children, 8 grandchildren, and 7 great-grandchildren. Though my grandma had many jobs and held many roles, I’m positive that the most important one to her was her job as a mother and grandmother. She loved her family so much, and she and Grandpa Bill created a strong family foundation together that brought them so much joy. Pat was incredibly devoted to Bill, and he was just as devoted to her. In fact, my mom can show you. She has found envelopes filled with love notes and cards to each other that my grandma kept for years and years. One of my favorites comes from their 66th anniversary, two years before he passed. “I thank you for sharing your life with me. Our lifetime together brings this anonymous quote to my mind: Time is the currency of love. Each lifetime is an allowance for us to spend in love for one another. Our love is so dear that I thank God each day for His blessing of a long life together. I have always loved you for giving purpose to my life.” They spent 68 amazing years together and I know it brings many of us comfort in knowing they will spend the rest of eternity together now as well.

She was a caregiver for Dylan, my brother, and I after school growing up, she was like a second mother to me and my brother, we went on many shopping sprees together, and she was even one of the flower girls in my wedding. We had a very close grandmother-granddaughter relationship because of how much love she had to give. That’s just how she was to all of us. We are all here because we have been touched by her love in some sort of way. The only person she loved more than her kids and husband was Jesus. Romans 12:6-7 mentions service as one of the spiritual gifts. I personally believe grandma’s spiritual gift was one of servanthood. She was part of her church up until the moment she physically couldn’t attend anymore. She served in fundraisers, widow’s luncheons, craft bazaars, the card ministry, and even in serving grieving families’ food after memorials and funerals. Her servant's heart went beyond the church and into the lives of those around her. She cared for her aunt Agnes, and both her mother and Bill’s mother until their passing. It’s worth noting that she had always wanted to be a nurse since she was a young girl because of her servant’s heart. I say “wanted to be” because her family couldn’t afford the $15 a semester room and board required to attend nursing school. This didn’t stop her from caring for others and finding ways to serve her community. In fact, I know mom, and I both feel that because of her example and servitude, we were able to find the path of nursing ourselves. I like to tell people that I came from two generations of nursing before me because I know what kind of person it takes to care for others like she did and how much love goes into that kind of care. I think this type of spiritual gift comes entirely from God who gave her the ability to love so fervently. It reminds me of 1 Corinthians 13:8 “Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away” but not love.

Life wasn’t always easy for her. Honestly, she was given a very difficult hand when considering life’s unfortunate events and how many she had to endure. She lost her older brother at 31 years old, two years later lost her father, then her mother in 1975, and ultimately most of the ties to her childhood family. She lost her oldest son way too soon when he was 37, she then lost her husband 5 years ago and fought a long, difficult battle herself. All these things made her a strong woman and even stronger in her faith. So many times, over the past two weeks since her passing I’ve talked with my mom about how she embodies the word “resilient”. She never complained when she lost sight in one eye and never mentioned the pain of breaking her hip. There aren’t many people like her. The silent type that would rather push through every obstacle rather than complain. She stood so strong despite so many difficulties in life and still loved every single second of living.

Not only was grandma a very loving, nurturing, generous woman, but she was also incredibly goofy and lighthearted. Always optimistic. Not everyone was fortunate enough to see this side of her but once she opened up to you, she kept you laughing. My favorite memories were her funny “Missouri words” (almost a different language learned from her mother) like “Snelfrockey” which she would use in place of a bad word or be careful or you’ll get the “Buckager”, which she would use to describe some stomach pain after eating something, a headache from sugar, the nausea you get from being too full. Or the most relevant to today’s climate, “epizudic” which loosely translates to a species-wide disease or illness. Welcome to the COVID epizudic, everyone! But the way grandma used it, it was a universally good word for any sickness but specifically used as a threat if we didn’t come in from the cold or rain. She had the greatest sense of humor. She was able to find the silver lining or the funny moment in any hard time. She was so cherished by our family and as many grandmothers, the center of our family.

Pat’s life was incredibly long. 93 years, but she always said she wanted to reach 96 to match her grandfather! She had a wonderful life and spent it loving on as many people as she could. That’s one thing that could never be taken from her, even in her final days battling a very difficult disease. She was not robbed of eternal love and she never stopped loving us. I can’t help but feel excited for her because I can only imagine the reunion she had. Grandpa, her son Chuck, her brother George, her parents, her baby brother James, her grandparents, her Aunt Agnes, and most of all Jesus. So many people were waiting for her, people I know her heart longed to see because she spoke of them in the last days. I’m so thankful we can come together to celebrate my grandmother’s life, an incredible woman. Words can’t describe how much she was loved by her family, her friends, and her church family. She will be greatly missed but she left us her legacy, and time passes quickly, we will be together again soon!

Thank you.

(written by Sarah Warren Stewart)

Granddaughter, daughter of Lynn Jones Warren (Pat’s daughter)