Maria Rosario Jones Correa

Correa

Maria Rosario Jones Correa

On October 8, 2023, at age 89, Maria Rosario Jones Correa, after traveling the world for most of her married life as a diplomat's wife, left for her final destination. The daughter of a doctor and a school administrator, she studied art in Quito, Ecuador, where she was born. Her life of travel began upon leaving Quito, with scholarship in hand, to study nursing in San Francisco. Having determined that nursing was not for her, she returned to Quito to work at the American Embassy, where she met her husband, career diplomat George F. Jones. She found out quickly that marrying him meant representing the United States of America at all times, hosting diplomatic dinners and receptions and directing a staff. "I should get a salary for this," she would say, as she followed her husband â€" with a growing collection of her favorite recipes â€" to Ghana, Venezuela, Austria, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Chile and finally Guyana, as an ambassador's wife. Along the way she organized the U.S. Embassy volunteer relief effort following the massive 1976 earthquake in Guatemala, she tutored high school students in her new hometown of Fairfax, VA, and she led a Bible study in Chile. In every one of those countries, she kept the Bible by her bed, to read with her husband, who predeceased her. Her four children, George III, Robert, Michael and Mary Blanton never escaped her prayers, which all of them are reaping to this day. Her faith was rewarded, when in the hospital shortly before her death, in her words, "Jesus came to see me and I'm going to heaven." Maria will be honored with a memorial service at Truro Episcopal Church at 11 a.m. on October 14.