Frances E. Jones was the youngest of five children born to Samuel W. Etheredge, a Primitive Baptist Minister, and Lena Ethel Hester Etheredge of Ozark, Alabama. There were three other children born to her father’s first wife, for a total of eight.
Frances completed high school in 1951 and graduated in 1955 from Huntingdon College, Montgomery, Alabama with degrees in public school music and education.
Frances married Joseph “Joe” Millard Jones in 1954. After graduation they moved to Huntsville, where Joe became a federal employee of the Army and later the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. They raised three sons, Lamar Alan of Huntsville, AL, Donald Joseph of Clanton, AL, and Lee Randall of Roanoke, VA, all medical professionals.
Frances taught school in the Huntsville and Madison County system for two decades, at times exclusively in music, and later branching to other subjects. She was an active member of two Baptist churches for more than a half century, Huntsville’s First Baptist, and the Locust Grove Baptist Church of New Market. At First Baptist, Alabama’s oldest missionary Baptist church and one of the few who allowed women to serve as deacons, she was an active deacon for several three-year terms, specializing in bereavement ministry.
At both churches she taught Sunday School, was head of the Women’s Missionary Union, sang in the choir and as a soloist. At the New Market church, she was minister of music for a dozen years. She also made several domestic and foreign mission trips, including trips abroad to Israel, Italy, Spain, Egypt and Russia. She and her husband also visited several other countries as tourists.
She served in many capacities in the Madison Baptist Association, and frequently provided instrumental and vocal music for special services at many neighboring churches, including weddings, revivals and funerals.
For about 20 years she taught English as a second language (through ESL classes) to internationals at the First Baptist Church.
Apart from education and church activities, she and Joe established Jones and Sons Nursery, their growing sons becoming the major source of labor, the story of which is told in Joe’s memoir, My Times — Boxwoods Among the Rockets, published in 2004.
In high school Frances served in its 4-H Club, winning a trip to the Alabama State Fair to display her sewing handiwork in on-stage modeling. She also served as pianist for her high school choir, a preparation for many such functions in later life.
She and her husband had six grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren. It had been her delight through the years to keep a never-failing record of birthdays and anniversaries throughout the family, and, on appropriate occasions, to sing greetings to the honoree in person or by telephone. In fact, she will be long remembered, in the family and out, for her smile, her friendly countenance, and her loving service.
Besides her parents and her eight siblings, Frances was preceded in death by her husband of 69 years, her granddaughter, Laura Marie Jones, and her great-granddaughter, Caroline Bryce Jones. Her survivors include three sons, Alan (Pam), Donald (Sheila) and Lee (Sharon); grandchildren, are Angela (Bob) Sentell, Robert (Randie) Jones, Wade Watley, Catherine (Taylor) Clark and Anna Jones; and great-grandchildren, from oldest to youngest, are Cole (Kristen) Watley, Turner Watley, Carson Watley, Rebekah Sentell, Jonathan Sentell, J.W. Clark and Rylee Jones
The family greatly appreciates and applauds the role Gentle Hearts care home provided for Joe and Frances starting January 2023.
A celebration of Frances’ life will include a visitation among friends and family starting at 10 a.m., to be held in the Upper Gathering Space of Huntsville’s First Baptist Church, on Saturday, November 23rd. You may use Entrance 1. The celebration service will be at 11 in the Chapel.
In lieu of flowers, the family would appreciate donations in her memory to the English Conversational Class (formerly known as ESL) at First Baptist Church, 600 Governors Drive SW, Huntsville, AL 35801.
