Olive Jones

MENTONE — Olive Searing Jones passed away March 19, 2019. Born in Jacksonville, Fla., to Oliver P. Searing and Marie Hunt Searing on April 25, 1918. Her family moved to Miami in 1920 where her father was an engineer and helped layout the Miami Beach water system. She excelled in her studies, making the honor roll every year and later often appeared in the Miami society pages. She married Jack Eugene Jones in 1940 in her parent’s home. After WWII they purchased Camp Cloudmont for Boys and divided their time between Mentone and Miami, Fla., finally deciding to live fulltime on the mountain in 1970. Olive was instrumental in bringing the Catholic community together which later became Our Lady of the Valley Catholic Church. Olive and her husband Jack, were very involved in tourism in Dekalb County including MAPA, Dekalb County Tourist Association, Lookout Mountain Parkway Association, and Alabama Mountain Lakes Tourist Association. She was a long time member of Daughters of the American Revolution proudly telling that a grandparent was born in the oldest house in the country in St. Augustine, Fla. They were also very active in the Coral Reef Yacht Club and Coral Gables Country Club in South Florida. She enjoyed dancing, bridge, socializing, travel, tennis, shooting and rabbit hunting. She had a generous, loving heart and will be dearly missed by all who knew her. Preceded in death by her parents, Oliver and Marie Searing; husband, Jack E. Jones; her sisters Hazel May, Jane Sawyer, Betty Halliburton; sons, Jack E. Jr. and Michael Jones; and granddaughter, Julie Jones. She is survived by her children, sons Oliver Jones (Denise) and Gary Jones (Cindy); daughters, Nancy Jones, Marsha Hair (Douglas), Janis Carrier, and Angela Wood; grandchildren, Rebecca Miller (Marshall), Chelsea Manning (Garrett), Margaret Carrier Vinyard (Brad), Douglas Hair, Jr., Lura Horton (Matt), Dena Jones, Nathan Jones, and Austin Jones, great-grandchildren Tyler Rowland, Jackson Drennan, and Cael and Renn Horton, Larkin and Ryder Manning. A funeral mass will be held 11 a.m. Saturday, March 23, at Our Lady of the Valley Catholic Church with the burial following in the family cemetery. The family will receive friends Friday from 5 until 7 p.m. at Wilson Funeral Home. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to Our Lady of the Valley Catholic Church. Wilson Funeral Home and Crematory is in charge of arrangements, online guestbook, www.wilsonfhinc.com