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MIDDLETOWN — Joy Jones, whose career at The Journal spanned three decades and numerous subjects, passed away Wednesday at Kensington Place in Middletown.
She was 79.
Jones is being remembered as a loving mother, a dedicated employee and an avid gardener, reader and archeologist.
One of her two daughters, Linda Carol Jones, of Indiana, said her mother, who was showing early signs of Alzheimer’s disease, suffered a heart attack, and lived five more days.
“We had a lot of fond memories,” Linda Jones said Monday after her mother’s funeral at Wilson-Schramm-Spaulding Funeral Home.
Jones covered the United Way, Family Service, Ohio Highway Patrol, Middletown Public Library, Middletown Regional Hospital, Humane Association, Junior Achievement, Boy and Girl Scouts, area churches and other organizations.
She joined The Journal editorial staff in 1964 after working as a proofreader. She graduated from Middletown High School and Denison University.
Later, she was recognized nationwide for discovering the Clark Site in the Franklin area in the mid-1970s, eventually earning membership in the Ohio Archaeological Council.
Mike Williams, editorial page editor of The Journal, worked with Jones for most of his career. He called her the “go-to" person in the Middletown Journal newsroom for many years, the first person that visitors would encounter when they entered the newsroom.”
She was “a gifted feature writer, had a wide variety of interests outside the newsroom and a wonderful sense of humor,” Williams said.
Iona Asher, who also worked with Jones, described her as “very friendly and cooperative.”
Sandy Little, technical copy cataloguer at the Middletown library, said Jones possessed “a gentle spirit” and she was a great lover of nature and animals, especially cats and horses.
She is survived by her husband, Arthur; two daughters, Deborah A. Henderson and Carol and five grandchildren.
Contact this reporter at (513) 705-2842 or rmccrabb@coxohio.com.
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