Sally Jones

Sally Sue Jones, retired teacher and beloved mother and grandmother, passed away peacefully on November 27, 2020, at the age of 81. Her daughter Jill Ann, her son Jeff Lee, and her granddaughter Hattie Jane were at her side as the song “It Is Well (with my Soul)” played, and she took her first breaths into eternity.

Born in Brownsville TX, and raised in San Benito, TX, Sally was the oldest of three. Her brothers Jim and Mike were born in San Benito in 1941 and 1946. In 1960, she met Joe Vernon Jones at Texas A&I, and they married in December of that year. Sally and Joe initially moved to Houston and then on to Lubbock where they were involved with a school of preaching. In June 1967, Joe graduated, and they boarded a ship for New Zealand to do missionary work and settled in Auckland. They served the Churches of Christ in Auckland, New Zealand from 1967 through 1972, where they adopted their first two children, Jeff Lee and Jill Ann, and their youngest son, John Vernon, was born. Between 1972 and 1982, they worked in several overseas locations including Sierra Leone, Lagos, Nigeria, and Nairobi, Kenya. They settled in Abilene in 1982, where Sally taught kindergarten at Dyess Elementary for 24 years until she retired in 2009. Her students continued to recognize her long after her retirement and always remembered what a wonderful teacher she was. In retirement, Sally enjoyed helping raise her grandkids, and she made several trips to Christchurch, New Zealand to be with Jeff’s family there. In August 2016, Sally was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease, which she battled for the remainder of her life. In November 2016, she moved in with her daughter Jill and lived in the Johnson household until her recent passing.

She was preceded in death by her father and mother Willis Scogin and Jewel Hill, her brothers Jim Scogin and Mike Scogin, and her son John Jones. She is survived by her son and daughter-in-law Jeff and Carlineke Jones of Christchurch, New Zealand, and her daughter and son-in-law Erik and Jill Johnson of Tuscola, Texas. She is also survived by seven grandchildren, Hattie, Leif, and Hadyn Johnson, Sabina Redmond, Johnny and Isaac Jones, and Mattie Barr Jensen as well as several nieces and nephews, great-nieces and nephews, and a great-great-niece.

Services for Sally Jones will be held on December 6th, at 2:00 pm in the chapel at Piersall Funeral Directors, 733 Butternut St. with Vic McCracken officiating. She asks that any donations be made to the Alzheimer's Association in the hopes that a cure will be found.  Condolences may be offered to the family online at www.pbfuneraldirectors.com.