Ruby G. Jones

Ruby was born to Gentry and Eula Mae Grindstaff in the mountains of North Carolina. As a varsity basketball player at Marion High School, she was often the team high scorer. Proud of her foul shooting ability at 5 foot 2, she drew a lot of charging fouls. Ruby often put her studies into practice, especially in home economics; her regimen of exercise and healthy eating habits later set a fine example for her children.

After completing high school, Ruby graduated from business college in Newport News, VA. During WWII, she worked for the rationing board of the U.S. Government before transferring to the post engineering office at Langley Air Field. It was there that she met her future husband, Army Air Corps pilot, Capt. Richard Jones. They married following his return from the European theater in 1946.

For the next 23 years, Ruby embraced her exciting life as an officer’s wife, moving from Virginia to Georgia, then Oklahoma, the Philippines and New Jersey, adding to her family along the way. Ruby was a fierce advocate for her five children and worked hard to expose them to new experiences and opportunities to enrich their lives - often against their own wishes! Always proud of her children’s accomplishments, she was happy to share them at length with friends and neighbors.

After retiring from the U.S. Air Force, a new career with the Social Security Administration took the family to new postings from Oklahoma to Texas and Arkansas, then back to her native North Carolina. A lifelong bridge enthusiast, Ruby kept up a busy schedule of hosting and attending bridge parties wherever she lived and in retirement played contract bridge competitively. In later years, she took great joy in dominating her children at cribbage. Following her husband’s death in 1998, Ruby moved closer to her daughters, first to Elizabeth City, NC, then to Atlanta where she settled after moving over twenty times.

Ruby is survived by numerous family members, including her five children: Richard Jones, a peri-natologist and retired Army Colonel in Texas; David Jones, a social worker and Peace Corps alum in Connecticut; Charles Jones, a project manager and potter, also in Connecticut; Katie King, a pediatrician in NC; and Tracey Rutherford, an architect in Atlanta. Ruby was especially proud of her 11 grand and 10 great grandchildren.

A Zoom celebration of Ruby’s life will be held on Saturday, January 30, at 3:45 EST. If you would like to join us, please send a request to [email protected].