Leonard O. JONES

JONES, MELHUS, STUDLEY, RIFEN, KOCH, MEADE, LARSON

Posted By: Sarah Thorson Little (email)
Date: 8/15/2011 at 21:02:05

August 13, 1917 -- June 8, 2007

Leonard O. Jones, 89, Mitchell, South Dakota formerly of Winner, SD died Friday, June 8, 2007 at Avera McKennan Hospice from acute leukemia in Sioux Falls. Funeral services will be 11:00 am Monday at the First United Methodist Church, Mitchell. Burial will be in Graceland Cemetery. Visitation will be 5-6:00 pm Sunday at the Bittner Funeral Chapel and on Monday prior to the services at the church.

Leonard Jones was born August 13, 1917, in Wright County, IA, to John M. and Sylvia E. (Studley) Jones. Grew up and attended schools in Wright County and graduated from Eagle Grove High School in 1935. On January 31, 1939 he married Valetta L. “Bobbie” Rifen in Fairmont, MN. They moved to Dayton, OH where he was employed at Wright Patterson Field where he was a sheet metal foreman repairing B-29 and B-17 Bombers during World War II. He was then transferred to Ellsworth Air Force Base in 1942. In 1946 he moved to Winner, SD where he owned the Dakota Amusement Company. He was the manager of the Pheasant Bar in Winner and then in 1951 he became the Assistant Manager of JC Penney in Winner where he worked until his retirement, June 1, 1982. He was a resident of Winner for 59 years then moved to Mitchell, SD, December 5, 2005. He was an active member of the Winner United Methodist Church and then a member of the First United Methodist Church in Mitchell and a charter member of the Elks Lodge in Winner. We thank God for such a kind good Christian, thoughtful, caring and loving husband, dad, grandpa, and great grandpa. He was so witty and had a great sense of humor and always had a funny joke to tell. He cared deeply for his family, friends and relatives, and really loved Winner and the people and friends from there. Leonard was a good athlete during his high school years and continued all his life as an avid sports fan for the Winner High School, NBA and NFL and enjoying TV Sports and life. His greatest sports joy was watching his son participate in sports in high school and at Black Hills Teachers College.

He is survived by his wife Bobbie; one son Rodney “Rocky” Jones and wife Mabel of Mitchell; two grandchildren, Kaylynn Koch and husband Glenn, and Rodney Lynn “Tucker” Jones Jr and wife Malisa; four great grandchildren: Krista and Joshua Koch, Chayna and Jenna Jones; one sister-in-law, Kathyrn Jones of Redlands, CA and many nieces and nephews. He was preceded in death by his parents; his step-father, Merle Meade; his brothers, Dick, Harold and his wife Leona, Jack and his wife Dottie; his sisters, Alma and her husband Joyce Melhus, Nellie and her husband Tolfred Larson and numerous nieces and nephews.