Anna Lucille Jones (Lebanon)'s Obituary
Lucille Jones or Anna Lucille Davis Jones, eighth child of Daniel Arthur and Martha Isabelle Hickman Davis, was born March 24, 1924. She departed this life Thursday, March 29, 2012, in Garden View Nursing Home, in O’Fallon, Missouri, at the age of eighty-eight years, and five days.
When she was born she was so tiny her mother said she “ran out of makin’s when she was making her.” She was so little, according to her sister, Dorothy, six years older, “a tea cup would fit on her head, and she could sleep in a shoe box!”
A precocious child, her mother never spoke to “Uncle Billy Turner” again after he, a former sword swallower, suggested: “As tiny as she is and talks so much, she could make a fortune in the circus!”
She had two brothers, Arthur Leon and James Carl, and four sisters, Ethel, Louise, Ruth, and Dorothy, who have all preceded her in death. She also had a brother, Masten, who died as an infant.
Lucille was playful, funny, and a prankster with her family. She teased her sisters’ boyfriends mercilessly. Growing up in a large farm family, Lucille learned from her mother and sisters all the womanly arts of the time, including sewing, making quilts, and cooking, especially desserts. With the assistance of her sister, Ruth, Lucille graduated from Lebanon High School. She had various jobs, mostly as bookkeeper and secretary. She always was highly praised. Her career, from which she retired, was with the State of Missouri, running their adult feeding programs for numerous counties.
During World War II, Lucille gave up her job, came home to the farm and took her brothers’ places milking, and other chores, and driving her parents, who never owned a car.
Lucille married the love of her life, Johnnie Allen Jones, on December 1, 1962. Johnnie was a career Air Force Master Sergeant, who made a vow not to marry until he was ready to retire. According to Lucille, “Johnnie called me and told me his mother had died, and all of his family was together for the funeral, so why don’t you fly down here and let’s get married?” Lucille must have loved that man, because she really was fearful of flying. They were married in Hidalgo County, New Mexico.
They had a very happy marriage. According to Lucille, “Johnnie never spoke a cross word to me.” They were married for more than forty years. Johnnie and Lucille moved to Lebanon so his bride “could be near her family.”
They owned the J & L Ranch, an antiques business in Lebanon, and later relocated to Phillipsburg, Missouri. They had fun buying, selling, trading and traveling. They made lots of friends along the way.
Lucille is survived by a number of nieces and nephews; and a host of other relatives and many friends.
What’s your fondest memory of Anna?
What’s a lesson you learned from Anna?
Share a story where Anna's kindness touched your heart.
Describe a day with Anna you’ll never forget.
How did Anna make you smile?