THELMA L. HOWARD
July 3, 1920-Oct. 26, 2008
KINSTON -- Thelma Lee Jones Howard, 88, passed away on Sunday afternoon.
Funeral services will be held Wednesday at 7 p.m. at Edwards Funeral Home, 702 N. Queen St., Kinston, with visitation immediately following. A private interment service for family and friends will be held the following morning at the family cemetery, Oakridge Memorial Park, Pink Hill.
She was born at home on July 3, 1920, as the first child of Dock Amos Jones and his wife, Tiffany West Quinn Jones of Jones County.
In 1980, Mrs. Howard was preceded in death by her husband of 42 years, Mr. Clayton Howard of Deep Run. Also preceding her in death was her brother, Mr. Beasley Murray Jones of Pink Hill; and her firstborn grandchild, Mr. Michael Todd Howard of Kinston.
Mrs. Howard is survived by her two sons and their wives, the honorable Malcolm (Mack) Jones Howard and wife, Eloise of Greenville and Mr. Clayton Dwight Howard and wife, Patricia of Kinston; her sister, Mrs. Polly Jones Byrd of Goldsboro and sister-in-law, Mrs. Martha Wilson Jones of Beulaville; four of her five grandchildren, Mr. Robert Clayton Howard of Kinston, Mrs. Shannon Lea Howard Janovic of Alexandria, Va., Dr. Holly Elizabeth Howard Parker of Rocky Mount and Mr. Joshua Brian Howard of Raleigh; and 13 great-grandchildren.
Mrs. Howard taught the Adult Ladies Sunday School Class at Smiths New Home Free Will Baptist Church in Deep Run for 25 years and was a member of the First Baptist Church in Kinston since 1983.
At the age of 16, she graduated from Beulaville High School in 1937. Beginning in the 1940's, Mrs. Howard became a member of the Lenoir County Home Demonstration Club. She served Lenoir County as a substitute public school teacher and as a Lenoir County Bookmobile Librarian for many years. Mrs. Howard worked at the Kinston Bible and Book Store from the mid 1970's through the early 1980's. In the 1980's, she began traveling with the Lenoir County Farm Wives each Spring. She also traveled numerous times with her two granddaughters and friends to Europe, the Middle East and throughout the United States.
At the turn of the new century, she learned to use a computer and communicated regularly by e-mail with her family members. In 2003, Mrs. Howard authored a published ancestral history of her paternal family entitled, "Keeping Up With The Joneses," now in its second printing.
In lieu of flowers, the family suggests considering a contribution in the names of her twin great-grandsons, Jackson and Jacob Howard, to the Autism Society of North Carolina, 505 Oberlin Road, Raleigh, N.C., 27605-1345, or to a charity of one's choice.
Arrangements are being handled by Edwards Funeral Home, 702 N. Queen St., Kinston, N.C.
(Pd)
Published in Obituaries on October 28, 2008 1:47 PM