Ernell Jones

Ernell Jones, age 96, of Middletown, DE, passed away on Thursday, August 14, 2025.
Born February 27, 1929 in New York City to John and Mary Hamilton Magee. Ernell was the second youngest and the last survivor of four sisters: Wilma D. Castown (1920-2018), Ernestine L. Donald (1925-1997), and June A. Morgan (1931-2014).
She graduated from Washington Irving High School. in 1947. She had various interests, and fondly recalled trips to Michigan and Tennessee staying on relatives' and friends' farm with her sisters when young. She enjoyed graphic arts which led to working in portrait photography studios in Manhattan as a re-toucher. After meeting (Joseph) Warren Jones (1927-1993), they married on March 30, 1960. Moving to Brooklyn, Ernell was a full-time homemaker raising two children: Steven and Ginger. Her interests were varied. She enjoyed cooking, knitting/sewing and crafts; as well as board games, large jigsaw puzzles, and fishing and novels. She was also enjoyed popular music, baking and was reader of novels when she was not helping with either an eleventh-hour science project or homework.
She attended college part-time, entering in the fall of 1976 and completed six years later. She excelled in Social Science (Africana Studies); Education, and English. Making the "Dean's List" with a 3.65 GPA, Ernell earned her Bachelors of Arts, graduating Magna Cum Laude in 1982 from Brooklyn College. She enjoyed the energy of young people and wanted to teach. She began working with the City of New York Board of Education full-time. She taught fourth grade at Public School 191 in Brooklyn from 1982 to 1988 until Glaucoma, after several treatments, eventually left her legally blind. After her husband's passing, and Steven's marriage to Beth Fisher in 1996 after some strong encouragement she moved to Middletown, Delaware.
In Delaware over the years she attended Middletown Baptist Church, was a member of the Delaware Association for the Blind's support group, and MOT Senior Center. She was fiercely independent and only this January, after a brief hospitalization, moved to Cadia/Broadmeadow long-term care. She had re-entered Christiana Hospital at the end of July where she lost her battle with sepsis; her son was at her side. She is survived by her two children, a daughter-in-law, a son-in-law, Dieudonne; three grandchildren: Collins, George and Priscilla Jones; one nephew, Paul, and great-nephew, Sergio Cora. She was proud, and gracious as she was strong.
A memorial service for family and friends will begin at 6 pm on Friday, August 29, 2025, at Spicer-Mullikin Funeral Home, 275 East Main Street, Middletown, DE. Inurnment will be held privately.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in Ernell's memory to Future Harvest, 1114 Shawan Road, Suite 1, Cockeysville, MD 21030 or online by clicking here; or to Mid-Atlantic Black Farmers Caucus, P.O. Box 42, Machipongo, VA 23405.