Priscilla T. Jones

Priscilla grew up on the family farm in Middlefield, CT. She graduated from Woodrow Wilson High School in Middletown, CT and Bay Path Institute of Commerce in Springfield, MA. She managed a realty office in Springfield and married Gordon M. Jones of Agawam, MA in 1946. Together this fun couple raised three children at four addresses: Springfield, MA, Somers, CT, Middlefield, CT and St. Croix, USVI. Priscilla worked for a stock brokerage in Middletown and managed a condominium complex in St. Croix. When they returned from St. Croix to Connecticut in 1972, Priscilla took a position as the assistant to the principal at Durham’s Coginchaug Regional High School, where the auditorium was named for her father. She loved this job and her coworkers, and was sad to leave in 1977 when she joined her husband in Dayton, OH. Gordon and Priscilla retired to Englewood, FL, where they built the little house of their dreams. They turned their yard into a tropical paradise with fruit trees and a beautiful vegetable garden. They lived happily there until the county informed them that they were in a planned hurricane evacuation route and would have to leave. Putting their dream behind them, they packed up and moved to Monticello, FL in 1988 and then to Tallahassee in 2000. A year after her husband’s death in 2007, Priscilla moved to Westminster Oaks in Tallahassee. Two years later she married Elston (Steve) Roady at a large ceremony on the premises. She loved her second family and she and Steve spent 6 happy years together until his death in 2015.

Priscilla remained fit her entire life and was an excellent swimmer and diver. In her late 70’s, she performed a legendary dive off the back of a boat in the British Virgin Islands. She was an avid reader and prolific knitter of afghans. Her memory will live on in the many afghans she gave to the important people in her life. Her love will continue to warm all those lucky folks.

Priscilla was preceded in death by her parents Julian Bailey and Anna Strickland Thayer, brother Barnard Thayer and sister Polly Felici, her husband of 60 years, Gordon Montgomery Jones, and her second husband Elston (Steve) Roady. She is survived by sisters Mary Wibberly and Julianna Lunetta, sister-in-law Marian Thayer and her daughters, Hilda Jones Dawson (Harry Rattelade) of Southern Pines, NC, Sue Jones Conte (Gary Sherman) and Phyllis Jones Hytnen (Eric) both of Tallahassee; stepchildren Stephen Roady (Celia) of Washington, DC, Chris Roady (Linda) and Beth Lines (Earl) of Tallahassee; grandchildren Emily Dawson Rothrock (Kevin), Anna Dawson Harris (Mark) and Teague M. Reynolds (Allissa); 7 great grandchildren: Ethan, Lydia and Luke Rothrock, Jones and Eli Harris, and Charlie and Leo Reynolds; 8 step grandchildren and 17 step great grandchildren; and many nieces and nephews. A special shout out to nephew, Roberto Felici, who made it possible for Priscilla and all the family to communicate face to face during a long year of lockdown.

The family wishes to extend their heartfelt thanks to the Assisted Living staff at Westminster Oaks, especially Karen, Deborah and Artesha. The family is gathering privately for a celebration of her life. Memorial gifts may be made to the charity of your choice.