Lila Mae Kelley Jones

Our mother, Lila Mae Kelley Jones, left this world to be with God and her husband, Joseph Bancroft Jones,. her father James Franklin Kelley and mother Mallie E. Kelley and three of her siblings, Myrtis Coggin, Hazel McCord, and Lester Kelley, Sunday, March 22, 2015 .

Lila was born November 13, 1918 in West Monroe, Louisiana two days after the Armistice was signed, ending World War I. She was born during a terrible flu epidemic, but she and all of her five siblings survived. Her father was James Franklin Kelley who owned a pulpwood business and a contract with International Paper Company. He moved his family and business to Mobile, Alabama where he built a brick mansion for his large family on St. Stephen's Road. In the early 1950’s the family moved to Mobile and lived on Bromley Place the remainder of their lives.

Lila was a beautiful girl with a Cinderella complexion, blue eyes, lustrous brown hair, and high cheek bones. She was the third of six children. Lila attended Murphy high school and Huntington College in Montgomery. In 1930 she married our father, Joseph Bancroft Jones from Bayou La Batre. She was introduced to him by her sister who was a student at Judson Women's College. Lila worked in her father's business for five years before becoming pregnant with her first child. The young family settled in Mobile, where Joseph worked as a forester in her father's business before starting his own pulpwood business--JB Jones Timber Company.

Lila was an amazingly giving woman even though she had four young daughters. She was president of the Gorgas Elementary School PTA, made sure her daughters attended their piano and voice lessons, and that all of them did well in school.

Lila taught three, four and five year olds in Sunday school for most of her adult life at three different churches – Toulminville Baptist, Westlawn Baptist, and Dauphin Way Baptist Church. Her husband, Joe was a member of the Shriners where Lila participated with the Daughters of the Nile and raised money for the Shriner’s hospital and children who were burn victims.

Lila was an amazing seamstress and hostess. She raised four beautiful girls and is survived by them all – Joyce Marie Jones Martin (Gary Cabot Martin MD), Linda Gail Jones Moore, Sandra Lee Jones Drummond (Lewis Clarke Drummond), and Janet Carol Jones Baldwin (Wayne Alembert Baldwin), nine grandchildren and seven great-grand children. She is also survived by two of her sisters – Ouida Alford ( Aubrey Alford) and. Mrs. Joyce Coleman (Marion”Buddy” Coleman)

All of her family members loved her deeply and are so happy that she is with her husband, her sisters, brother, and her Lord.

As sad as we are at her passing, we are celebrating her full, happy life of 96 years.

Visitation will be held at Radney Funeral Home, 3155 Dauphin Street, Mobile, AL on Friday, March 27, 2015 from 1:00 p.m. until 2:00 p.m. A celebration of Lila’s life will be held in the funeral home chapel beginning at 2:00 p.m. Interment will follow in Mobile Memorial Gardens, Mobile, AL.

Serving as Pallbearers will be Lem Michael Baldwin, Winter Joseph Baynes, Lewis Clarke Drummond Sr., Lewis Clarke Drummond, Jr., Gerald C. Coggin, Jr. and Russell Hawes.

Arrangements under the direction of Radney Funeral Home-Mobile, Mobile, AL.