To all who knew our mom, Hazel Jones, we are sending our mother lots of love as she travels backwoods trails home to Arkansas. She passed away Saturday, September 30, 2023, at age 95. She has missed her parents and six brothers and sisters, so it is with a glad heart her family returns her to the place she started from in 1927.

Her family were mountaineers steeped in country ways and nestled deep in the spectacular Ozark Mountains. Her father Tom Hankins started a General Store and was postmaster in the small town of Pelsor. The family built a house a stone walkway away. She attended a one room school house and was known to run away, her entire life it was hard for her to sit still. In a rural area on a dirt road highway her family home was often the only place to stay. So, the school teacher or traveling minister often boarded with the Hankins family. They depended on supplies from the Store but had to be resourceful to support a big family, so they gardened, raised livestock, dyed fabric, sewed clothes and quilts and made soap, so many things we now take for granted. Their family home and the store were built by hand with local and family labor and now the house is on the National Register of Historic Places and the Store is on the Arkansas Register and still in operation.

Mom attended Arkansas Tech University in Russellville, Arkansas, just down the mountain from her home. She roomed with her much-loved sister Willie Merle. She studied home economics, and it was at Tech that she met her husband Ralph N. Jones. They had a long and happy marriage and moved frequently with Ralph's work with Equifax finally settling in Atlanta. She went back to college at Georgia State University when we were grown and studied interior design. She started her own business with private clients and enjoyed working in the field of design for many years. Mom loved beautiful things and just things in general. We always wondered if it was because she grew up with so little that she liked having so much. She had an artist's eye for almost everything and possessed an eclectic collection of artwork and furniture.

She and Dad moved to Canterbury Court in 2006 and they had a wonderful life living independently until Ralph passed away. She then moved to assisted living with her own apartment and kept busy with daily exercise classes, visiting the Canterbury Garden, and having lunch with friends.

Her health declined as her heart failure condition worsened and finally, she passed peacefully away.

She is survived by us her two children. Nancy and Stuart, their spouses, Warren and Kathy; and three beloved grandchildren, Nash, Danielle and Carter.

A memorial service was held in the Canterbury Court Chapel on October 2, 2023, in Atlanta, Georgia.

A private burial will be held in Oakland Cemetery in Russellville under the direction of Shinn Funeral Service of Russellville.

In lieu of flowers, remember Hazel with a donation to: Heifer International 1 World Avenue, Little Rock, Arkansas 72202.

The online obituary and guestbook are available at www.shinnfuneral.com.