Information from Findagrave. 1
Ray Walter Jones, 88, of LaMoille died Dec. 17, 2009, in Mendota Lutheran Home. Services will be at 11 a.m. Saturday, Jan. 9, 2010, in Waltham Presbyterian Church with the Revs. Roy Backus and Ellsworth Young officiating. Inurnment will follow at Waltham Cemetery. Visitation will be 1½ hours prior to the service Saturday in the church. Merritt Funeral Home, Mendota, provided the arrangements. Mr. Jones was born Nov. 22, 1921, in the old St. Mary’s Hospital, La Salle, to Raymond and Gladys (Behnke) Jones. He graduated from Tramp Hollow School 183 and Mendota High School. He married Artharilla Edwards in Indianola, Miss., in 1946. She died in 1978. In 1981, he married Jean Kinzer. During World War II, Mr. Jones entered the U.S. Navy and later transferred to the U.S. Army Air Corps. He graduated as a flight officer rated for the four-engine B24 and B29. At the start of the Korean War he helped form the La Salle Civil Air Patrol and later formed the Spring Valley Fliers. He served on the Utica Fire Department for 32 years. He farmed in the Waltham area, worked in local factories and entered the La Salle County Sheriff’s Department in 1963. He held memberships in several fraternal organizations and planted the Utica American Legion trees. He is survived by his wife, Jean; one son, Charles “Chuck” Jones of Ottawa; six daughters, Kay (Howard) Brauhn of Ottawa, Patricia McManimon of Ewing, N.J., Jackie Jones- Bailey of Spring Valley, Jodie Foster of Valdez, Alaska, Rae Jones of La Salle and Jill (Steve) Durant of Brandon, Fla.; two stepdaughters, Kathy (Michaele Trumbower) Clay of Jackson, Wyo., and Sandra Kinzer of Paw Paw, Mich.; one special daughter-in-law, Linda Jones of Ottawa; 11 grandchildren and one great-granddaughter. In addition to his first wife, he was preceded in death by one brother, Ross Charles Jones; one grandson, Chad Jones; and one granddaughter, Christa Jones Demo. Memorials may be directed to Waltham Presbyterian Church or the donor’s choice.