Freddie Milford Jones 1919-2011

STEPHEN, JONES, MCGOTHLIN, PARSON, HUBBARD, NORRIS, STORM, CHAPMAN

Posted By: Curtis (email)
Date: 4/12/2011 at 02:09:22

DEATH NOTICE:

(The Leon Journal-Reporter Leon, Iowa March 23, 2011)

JONES, FREDDIE MILFORD, 91, of Leon, Iowa, died on Wednesday, March 16, 2011, at Westview Acres in Leon. Funeral Services were held at the Calvary Baptist Church in Leon, Iowa, at 10:30 a.m. on Saturday, March 19, 2011, with Rev. Max Carmichael and Pastor Dale Short officiating. Burial was in the Leon Cemetery, Leon, Iowa. Arrangements were made through the Slade-O'Donnell Funeral Home of Leon and Lamoni.

Obituary -

(The Leon Journal-Reporter Leon, Iowa March 23, 2011)

FREDDIE MILFORD JONES ... Freddie Milford Jones, age 91 of Leon, Iowa, the son of Fred and Sadie Belvel [Stephen] Jones, was born November 3, 1919 in Decatur county, Iowa. He died at Westview Acres in Leon on Wednesday, March 16, 2011.

Freddie attended the country schools of Hardscrabble, Eden Center and Charm in Woodland Township of Decatur County, Iowa. He started Leon High School and completed the ninth grade. He had to quit school because of hard times at home. Freddie spent about eight months in Denver, Colorado with his aunt Mary McGlothlin, helping her and her husband run their motel. Later he returned to Leon to work on the farm for Grand and Willis Dillon for the summer. Next he was employed by the County Farm then an Army Camp in Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri.

Freddie was drafted into the United States Army on November 7, 1941 and had basic training in Cheyenne Wyoming. Later he was sent to Seattle Washington then to Anchorage, Alaska, where Freddie was in heavy maintenance as a mechanic on trucks. He was transferred to the Aleutian Islands off Alaska to do the same kind of work. He came back in May of 1944, and spent two weeks in a rest camp in Hot Springs, Arkansas before moving to Camp Hood, Texas where he worked in a German Prison Camp. He was honorably discharged on September 22, 1945.

He was united in marriage to Dorothy Lee Parson on December 8, 1845 in Atchinson, Kansas. They honeymooned at the Hanaco Motel north of Leon. Five children blessed their marriage, Shirley, Linda, Freddie Lee, Donald, and Randy. The family lived in various places in Decatur County before buying their own farm west of Leon in 1953. Over the years, Freddie worked for Bordens Milk Company, Central Decatur Schools as a bus driver, and the United States Post Office in Creston, Iowa doing janitorial work. He retired in March of 1982. The Federal Government took the 170 acres he had purchased earlier for the Little River Wathershed Project to build a lake. They then moved into Leon in 1990.

Freddie loved music and started playing fiddle in 1931. The first tune he learned was "Little Brown Jug". He played at nursing homes, senior citizens gatherings, and any where people would listen. Freddie and Dorothy enjoyed fishing, coon hunting,and attending country music festivals together. He and Dorothy were both baptized into the Leon Calvary Baptist Church in May 1999, after accepting Jesus Christ in April.

He was preceded in death by his parents, wife Dorothy on December 8, 2010, and siblings, George, Jim, Tommy, and Johnny Jones, Dorothy Hubbard, and Opal Norris. Survivors include his five children, Shirley and Raymond Storm of Derby, Iowa, Linda and Cliff Chapman, Freddie Lee and Ardie Jones, Don Jones, and Randy and Lori Jones, all of Leon; 11 Grandchildren; 23 great grandchildren; brother Billie Jones of Lamoni, Iowa; nieces and nephews; and other relatives and friends.