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Mabel Evelyna Childress Jones peacefully transitioned to be with her Lord and Savior Jesus Christ on Sunday, October 20, 2024, while at the University of Virginia hospital. She was born April 17, 1933, to the late Nathaniel and Elizabeth Williams Childress. Mabel was raised in the Sand Road community in Esmont, Virginia. She was the wife of the late Robert Roosevelt Jones for 57 years of marriage, until his passing.
Mabel was a graduate of Esmont High School, where she was the class valedictorian. She shared that she would even fill in to teach classes while at the high school. She and her husband Robert raised their children in the Black Branch community of Old Lynchburg Road. Her home was the gathering place for family and friends over the years. On any given Sunday, anyone could find a piece of fried chicken or apple pie with their name on it. Once she turned the porch light on, everyone knew it was time to go home.
Mabel was a strong woman with a heart for people. She enjoyed talking on the phone with her family and friends daily. Her presence as the Jones family matriarch will be greatly missed.
In addition to her husband, Mabel was preceded in death by her son Michael L. Jones; brothers John Childress, Harold Childress, and Henry Childress; and sisters Eloise Bryant, Alzellia Hughes, and Edith Peterson; and one great-grandson, Joshua Johnson.
She leaves to cherish her memory three sons: Robert Roosevelt Jones Jr.; Melvin Jones and his wife, Sharon “Roc”; and John Richard, all of Charlottesville, Virginia; five daughters: Delores Thompson of Louisa, Virginia; Patricia Washington of Charlottesville, Virginia; Faye Jones and her friend, John, of Richmond, Virginia; Sheryl Loeser and her husband, Eldridge, of Nellysford, Virginia; and Mary Ellen Jones-Bland and her husband, Norman, of Troy, Virginia; one sister, Shirley Brown of Charlottesville, Virginia; sisters-in-law, Arlene Scott of Charlottesville, Virginia, and Josephine Mitchell of Washington, D.C.; a former daughter-in-law, Virginia Jones; and a host of grandchildren, great-grandchildren, nieces, nephews, and friends that stretched far and wide.
Many people in the family and neighborhood regularly checked in with Mabel. While that number is great, the family would like to acknowledge her nephew “Little Charles” Bryant, former co-worker David McCauley, and neighbors James Gibson, Emmanuel Dunbar, Mae Dunbar, and Eddie Bryant.
The family would like to thank the cardiology staff at the University of Virginia hospital including nurse Brijith Diaz, the staff at Hill & Wood Funeral Service, and the Chestnut Grove Baptist Church family.
For more on services and to share your condolences, visit Hill and Wood Funeral Service.