Darlene Kaye Jones

1949 - 2020

Darlene Kaye (Blackwood) Jones died October 5, 2020, in Temple, Texas, after a six month battle with leukemia. She was 71.

Darlene was born September 24, 1949 in Spokane, Washington. In her youth, she traveled around the U.S. and Germany as part of a military family, eventually settling in San Antonio, Texas, where she graduated from MacArthur High School in 1967. She was also a proud alumna of Southwestern University in Georgetown, Texas, where she received her bachelor's in mathematics and history in 1970.

In 1974, while searching for an apartment in Austin, Texas, she met Alan Jones, a law student and part-time building super. They were married six months later, and enjoyed 47 devoted years together. Alan and Darlene raised two children, Chris, who now works in sports administration in Durham, North Carolina, and Kimmie, who is editor-in-chief of The Austin Chronicle, an alternative weekly in Austin, Texas.

A lifelong educator, Darlene taught at the elementary, middle school, and high school levels, toggling between mathematics and history, and coaching students in academic decathlon. Over the course of three decades, she taught at Roosevelt High School in San Antonio; St. Andrew's Episcopal Day School in Amarillo, Texas; Guy B. Phillips Middle School and Chapel Hill High School in Chapel Hill, North Carolina; Canyon High School in Canyon, Texas; and Richardson High School in Richardson, Texas.

In their retirement, Alan and Darlene moved to Georgetown in order to be closer to Darlene's mother, Dolly, who passed away in 2014. Dolly, Darlene, and her elder sister Diane enjoyed many trips together over the years, a passion Darlene continued with Alan as they toured Europe and South America together and made frequent trips to North Carolina to see their beloved grandsons Benton and Peyton.

Darlene was an avid reader and enjoyed sharing her love of books with her family and friends; she loved to plot out which panels she would attend every year at the Texas Book Festival. She loved to grill with Alan, watch cycling races on TV, play canasta, and make plans for her next trip. But most of all she loved her family.

She is survived by husband Alan Benton Jones, 70, of Georgetown, Texas; son Christopher Alan Jones, 45, of Durham, North Carolina, his wife Kimberli (Atkins) Jones, and their two sons, Benton, 16, and Peyton, 12; daughter Kimberley Kaye Jones, 42, of Austin, Texas; and sister Diane Andres of Willow River, Minnesota, her husband John,

and their children John Jr., Michael, and Michelle. She was predeceased by her father, Dale Blackwood, and mother, Delorse Madison "Dolly" Blackwood.

Arrangements by Cook-Walden Davis Funeral Home.