Olivia Ray Jones

Mrs. Kathrine Olivia Ray Jones passed away on Tuesday, June 9, 2009 in Lubbock, Texas. Funeral services will be conducted at 3:00 p.m. on Saturday, June 13, in the chapel of Hancock Funeral Home with interment to follow in Oak Grove Cemetery. Father Don Hutchens will officiate. A reception will be held on July 22 at St. Christopher’s Episcopal Church in Portsmouth, Virginia. Mrs. Jones was born on September 18, 1934, to Oliver Tinsley and Katherine Broadfield Ray. She spent the first three years of her life in Americus. After a move to Atlanta, she attended Grady High School, graduating in 1952. After graduation, Olivia attended Brenau University in Gainesville. She then graduated from the University of Georgia in 1956, with a degree in elementary education. It was during her senior year that her older brother, Charles Ray, introduced her to his medical school roommate, Jeff Jones. She and Jeff married immediately after his graduation from medical school and spent more than 40 years together prior to his death in 2000. The couple spent time living in Jackson-ville, FL, Long Island, NY, Annapolis, MD, and their beloved location of Rota, Spain. In 1967, they settled in Portsmouth, VA where they reared their three children and where they were members of St. Christophers’s Episcopal Church. Mrs. Jones was president of the Portsmouth Academy of Medicine Auxiliary in 1988, spent 15 years driving for Meals on Wheels as a volunteer, worked with Mothers Against Drunk Driving, and taught Spanish for ten years at St. Christopher’s Academy. She also spent as much time as possible driving to horse shows, entertaining friends and “fiddling” with her plants. Olivia relocated to Lubbock, Texas four years ago to be near her children and grandchildren. She enjoyed attending her church, St. Paul’s Episcopal, and so loved her new home in Vintage Township. She was preceded in death by her husband, Dr. Warren Jeffrey Jones, Jr. and her daughter, Katherine Ray Jones, both of whom are interred in Oak Grove Cemetery. Those left to cherish her memory include her children, Warren Jones and Julie Jones Cordero, both of Lubbock, TX; son-in-law, Joe Cordero of Lubbock; her brothers, Thomas Broadfield Ray of Atlanta, and Charles Dean Ray of Santa Barbara, CA; grandchildren, Ryan Jones of Portland, OR and Jeffrey and Isabel Cordero, both of Lubbock, TX, as well as numerous in-laws, cousins, nieces, and nephews who will miss “Aunt O.” The family would like to express their great gratitude to the amazing staff at University Medical Center who took such loving care of Olivia. The family members suggest memorials be sent either to the Jeff Jones Room or the Katie Jones Commons at St. Christopher’s Episcopal Church, 3300 Cedar Lane, Portsmouth, VA 23703. Hancock Funeral Home, 427 South Lee Street, Americus, GA, is in charge of arrangements.