Marie Elaine Lobell Jones passed away at her residence on Saturday, August 28, 2010 at the age of 87. Beloved wife of the late William Loyd Jones of 53 years, loving mother to Alan and James Jones. Devoted grandmother to Alan Jr., Craig, Brandon and Matthew Jones, great-grandmother to Christian and Cameron Jones. Sister of Remelia Irene Berthelot, Verda Mae Hezeau and the late Edna Mae Lobell, John, Louis, Jr., Melvin, Robert and Percy Lobell. A native of French Settlement, she was a resident of New Orleans for 65 years. She will always be remembered for her love of life, generosity and devotion to family. Relatives and friends of the family are invited to attend the Funeral Mass on Wednesday, September 1, 2010 at 11:00 am from the funeral home of Tharp-Sontheimer-Tharp, 1600 N. Causeway Blvd. Metairie, La. Visitation on Wednesday from 8:00 am until the service time at 11:00 am. Burial in Westlawn Cemetery, Gretna. Condolences may be expressed online at www.tharpsontheimer.com.Miss Elaine was a sweet and spicy as the food she loved to serve. You might see the sweet side first but the spicy love of life was never far behind.
Miss Elaine was born in French Settlement, into a big farming family of nine children. A vibrant young woman, barely twenty years old, she moved to New Orleans, knowing that this city held something special for her. That's the kind of woman Miss Elaine was - she would take a risk and no matter the outcome, was determined she would have no regrets.
A beautiful young woman, she got a job as a cigarette girl at the famous Higgins Shipyard. Though it was her spice that caught William's eye it was her sweetness that caught his heart. He needed cigarettes on Tuesday but couldn't pay her until Friday. She let him - maybe she ust wanted to see him again. They fell in love and got married.
Together they had two sons, James (Jimmy) and Alan. Miss Elaine worked at Binder's Bakery and she was a homemaker.
And her cooking was so good, and so frequent, that her house smelled of good food even when she wasn't cooking.
Her two boys grew up and Alan got married and had his own son Alan, Jr. Three more grandsons, and then two great grandsons, followed but Miss Elaine had a special relationship with Alan, Jr. He came to spend more than half his life living at her house one way or another. The first time that his young parents couldn't get their little Alan to stop crying they bought him over and the minute he laid down next to his grandma he stopped. From then on she became Grandma ones. Miss Elaine taught Alan,Jr. right from the start "that wasn't right but you're never wrong". She celebrated that little boy. She showed up for all his events, fed him as much as she could, listened to him, taught him how to be a grown-up. She was the kind of Grandma that would want to have be proud of you. And if he was a little wicked she was the first to tell everyone "he's a good boy".
She raised him through his teens. He says that he would try to sneak into his side of the double shotgun without her hearing so he wouldn't have to eat. But she would hear him and she would bang on the wall with a wooden spoon and he would have to come and get it!
She loved her family. If someone asked Grandma Jones to make gumbo and offered to take her to the store to get the ingredients, she would say "just come back later today" and she would whip up a great gumbo from her vast pantry. She always had plenty for others, plenty of food, plenty of time, and plenty of love.
After 53 years of sweet marriage to his spicy cigarette girl, William passed. The spicy side ws always there - Miss Elaine was a firecracker the whole way. She loved Mardi Gras, she loved the local music, she even came along to drag racing to see her boys compete. Less than a month ago, dressed and made up the way she always made sure she was, Alan and Britta took her for a drive to the French Quarter during Satchmo fest. Even in failing health Grandma Jones sat in the back, window all the way down, bobbing her head along to he music.
When grandson Alan grew up, Grandma Jones paid for him to go through nursing school and have him somewhere to live - right next door where he could be close to her favorite homemake ambalaya and a grandma that always had time for him.
Grandma Jones held his hand as he grew up and went through nursing school and later when she began to get sick, he had a chance to hold her hand. He had a chance to give back the care she had always given to him, the help needed to make the right decisions, to make sure she got the best of everything, to be there and spend time. The full circle of life.
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