Wilma Haynes

1928 - 2025

Wilma Haynes

Aug 8, 1928 - Jul 20, 2025

Wilma Louise Jones Haynes passed through death to eternal life on July 20, 2025, just three weeks before her 97th birthday. She will be remembered as a true matriarch in a large, loving family whose ancestors can be traced back to colonial days in North Carolina.

Wilma attended Mars Hill College after graduating from Greensboro High School in 1945. It was there that she met Lawrence Haynes, whom she married on August 10, 1947. Her early adult years were dedicated to homemaking and rearing her five children. As the children grew up, she transitioned into working outside the home, first as a records clerk for the Superior Court in Raleigh, N.C., then as a serials clerk for the Allied Health Services Library at East Carolina University in Greenville, N.C., and finally as a serials clerk for or the Walter Clinton Jackson Library at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. She retired in 1990 and moved to East Bend with her husband. During those years and continuing after, she was an active member of various Baptist churches in which she was a well-known adult women's Sunday School teacher. She also volunteered at Yadkin Christian Ministries and participated in a local study group, learning Spanish. Wilma loved to read and was an accomplished amateur artist. She made lasting friends in all new endeavors.

Wilma was preceded in death by her parents, Grover Lewis Jones and Emma Lou Conner Jones; one grandson, Jared Haynes; her husband of 73 years, James Lawrence Haynes; a brother, Jerry Conner Jones; and her sister, Joyce Jones Roorback. She is survived by a brother, David Leslie Jones (Patti); her daughters, Carolyn Sandoval, Wanda Smith (David), Janet Watkins, Kathryn Porter; and her son, John Haynes (Debbie). She has nine grandchildren, Georgia Morrison (Greg), Jamie Troutman (Jason), Allan Sandoval (Allie), Laura Tenney (Alex), Lauren Gosnell (Michael), Anna Odom (Josh), Emily Clark (Bradley), Lydia Rogers (Dustin), and Joel Haynes; and she has 12 great-grandchildren, Marilla, Lillian, Ava Caire, and Iris Morrison, Caden, Casey, Zaylee, and Colton Troutman, Charlotte Sandoval, Liam Gosnell, Apphia Clark, and Emma Rogers. Another Rogers infant is expected in August.

The funeral service will be held August 9, 2025, 2 p.m. at Gentry Family Funeral Services in East Bend, N.C., officiated by Wilma's brother, pastor David Jones.

When Wilma lived with family in Burlington, N.C., in recent years, she characteristically made new friends while participating in a social day program. The family would like to thank Friendship Adult Day Services staff for their loving care and attentiveness. Memorials may be made to Friendship Adult Day Services, Inc., Rudd St., Burlington, NC, 27217.

Gentry Family Funeral Services, East Bend