Judith Marie Jones

Judith Marie Abernathy Jones

My dearest and beloved mother and friend departed this earth on Wednesday, October 21, 2009, to be with her mother and father and other loved ones in Heaven.

Her battle with cancer was 10 months long, but her fight was valiant. Many friends, neighbors and loved ones, too many to mention, assisted in her home health care including, Shirley Sadler, Susie Hoffman, Clay and Vicki Marsh, Gail Ford, Tina Leiter, Tracy McDonald, Susan Tharp, Pat Marks, and Joanne Conley.

The following is my mother's self written obituary:

I leave this world unwillingly because two very important parts of me will be left behind, my heart and soul, my children. That's the hardest part of dying.

I am survived by my daughter, Kimberly Olsen; my son, Keith Jones and his wife, Andrea, and their four beautiful children, Kaylee, Karmen, Andrew and Kimberly; my brother, Edward "Abby" Abernathy, and his wife, Mary Lindsay; and my two four-legged companions, Missy and Celia.

I was preceded in death by my parents, Florence and Edward Abernathy, and my uncle and aunt, Macon "Sug" and Myrtle Payne, all of whom I took care of throughout their years of declining health.

My employment was rudely interrupted in January 2009 when I was told I had cancer. Dreams I had all but vanished. However, I was determined to beat it and went through months of chemo and radiation and actually received a cancer-free report. But the good news was short lived as the cancer moved elsewhere a few months later. In the end, it did get me.

Thank you, Gordon Morris, for your care, compassion, graciousness, words of encouragement and for making me feel as if I were your only patient. And to Mary Wood, Hollis Campell, Vanessa John, Tawanda Anderson and Jill Hall, the care and attention you gave me was so comforting. It made coming to the hospital and that "room" all the more bearable. I will miss you all.

I am being cremated so there will be no family night, but a service will be held in the chapel of Hill and Wood Funeral Home, 1 p.m. Monday, October 26, 2009, with Pastor Clay Marsh officiating. Burial will follow at Holly Memorial Gardens.

In lieu of flowers, I ask for donations to be made to a local SPCA.

Friends may send condolences to the family at www.hillandwood.com.


This obituary was originally published in the Daily Progress.