Bobbette L. Jones

Bobbette Lucille Jones of Niles, Michigan; grandmother to four generations, Simplicity hand-folder, and family-pleasing cook and baker died peacefully at 1:10 p.m. on Tuesday, March 5, 2024 with her family gathered at her bedside in Corewell Health Lakeland Hospital – Niles following a brief illness; having attained the remarkable age of 103 years.

She was born on July 7, 1920 in Niles to Robert H. and Edith (Grant) Moore, and attended Niles Community Schools.  She was employed at the former Niles plant of Simplicity Pattern Company, hand folding the tissue paper patterns, eventually retiring after twenty-three years of service.   She remained in-contact with her fellow hand-folders and order-pickers through membership in the Simplicity Retirees, and has lived in Niles all of her life.

Bobbette was a long-time member of First Presbyterian Church in Niles, and its “What-So-Ever” Sunday school class.  She volunteered for many years with the Pawating Auxiliary of Lakeland Hospital, and at the Niles Senior Center.  She was a longtime member of the Pleasant Hour Club, a monthly gathering of the housewives of the Sumnerville neighborhood, gradually changing to annual meetings.

She enjoyed working in her kitchen, especially seasonal gatherings of family and friends for sessions of canning, or cookie baking, or candy-making.  She was quite mindful of everyone’s favorite, such that if she would bake a chocolate cream pie for one of her sons, she always made a vanilla cream pie for the other, the quality of each being unequalled by anyone else.   Several folks had a fondness for her Golden Ham Pie casserole dish, and everyone agreed on the wonderful taste of her fried chicken, served with perfect mashed potatoes – for which she needed a step-stool to reach into the bowl for mashing.  And the drippings from the chicken frying became the base for milk gravy.

On July 29, 1936 – just a few days after her 16^th birthday – she married Evan Henry Jones in South Bend, Indiana.  They celebrated the Forty-fifth anniversary of their wedding prior to his death on April 25, 1982.  She was also sadly preceded in death by two sons, Robert Evan Jones on January 4, 2011, and Evan L. “Shorty” Jones on December 28, 2008; and by Bobbette’s sister, Gladys Sears who died on March 12, 1990.

Surviving family includes her granddaughters, Cindy Mazzola, Sheila (& Brian) Hunt, Tina (& Jeff) VanBelle, Julie (& Jason) Morris, and Cari Lynn Thornton; daughters-in-law, Linda (Mrs. Shorty) Jones, and Carol (Mrs. Robert) Jones of Niles and Carol’s children, Kim (& Dale) Peebles, Luann (& Tim) Ramsay, and Arthur (& Wendy) Schwarz; twenty-five great-grandchildren, twenty-eight great-great-grandchildren, and three great-great-great-grandchildren.

The funeral service for Bobbette Jones will be at 11:00 a.m. on Monday, March 11, 2024 at the Halbritter-Wickens Funeral Home, 615 East Main Street in Niles with the Rev. Christopher Mergener of First Presbyterian Church officiating.   Committal will follow at Mission Hills Memorial Gardens.

The family will receive relatives and friends on Sunday, at the funeral home, from 2:00 p.m. until 4:00 p.m..  Contributions in memory of Mrs. Jones may be made to the American Cancer Society, Post Office Box 6704, Hagerstown, Maryland  21741, https://www.cancer.org/.   Online condolences and memories may be left at:

www.halbritterwickens.com

“When I think of wisdom, I think of my mother-in-law.  At one-hundred-years of age, she has buried not only her husband, but both of her sons.  Instead of defeating or crippling her, sorrow and adversity have made her wiser and stronger.   She is a rock on whom others lean.   Her understanding heart and listening ear, plus her deep love for God and her family endear her to others.” 

• - Anonymous