Hempstead, Lillian M.
Birth
Lillian M. Hempstead was born on June 12,1912
Education
Occupation
Marriage & Children
- Edwin Howard Jones, was born on June 22, 1930
Death
Lillian M. Hempstead Jones died on Nov. 8,2008 at her Berne home.
Obituary
Lillian M. Jones
BERNE — In her 96 years, Lillian M. Jones was more than a witness to change; she was an active participant. She was born on June 12, 1912 and died on Nov. 8, 2008 at her Berne home.
When she was 14, she presented a bouquet of poppies to Charles Lindberg. He was touring the country after his May 1927 flight from New York to Paris that made him world famous.
Her father, Bernard Hempstead, worked at General Electric for a half century, starting at age 13. "Her mother, Ruth, was a going woman," said Charlotte Jones, Mrs. Jones's daughter-in-law. "She said, We'll go see Charles Lindberg when he comes to the Schenectady airport.' It was May and the poppies were out so she stopped and picked some.
"Gram remembers she had a new white suit dress on. They were standing by the ropes and one of the news people said, 'Come in; your flowers will be crushed."
After that, she wrote to Mr. Lindberg, and he answered her letters. Her first of five children, Edwin Howard Jones, was born on June 22, 1930, the same day as Mr. Lindberg's son.
"And she lived to see a man walk on the moon," said her great granddaughter Adrianne Wright.
Mrs. Jones was a standout at a crowded airport or on a country road. The story of how she met her husband, told by Charlotte Jones, attests to this. "He was a truck driver for the county and he used to drive past her home," she said. "She would stand out by the road and wave." She married Howard Jones on July 2,1929 less than a month after her 17th birthday. They were married for 62 years when Mr. Jones died in February 1992. '
Mrs. Jones was an industrious homemaker. She liked soft water, which gets sudsy with soap, and so crossed the street to a stream to carry back water to do laundry on her washboard, said Charlotte Jones. The Joneses didn't get electricity at their Berne home until 1936, she said.
Mrs. Jones also worked hard at a number of different jobs outside of her home. One of them was delivering mail. "Her son, Roy, my husband, watched her put chains on the car to get up Cole Hill in the winter," said Charlotte Jones. As the postal service motto has it, neither rain nor hail nor sleet nor snow kept her from her appointed rounds. She also worked as a waitress at Toole's in Delmar, at Zwicklbauer's on Warners Lake, and at the country club in New Scotland, said Mrs. Jones. "And she was a sales lady at Little Folks in Delmar." "She was a very busy woman," said Charlotte Jones.
When Mrs. Jones was 79 and her husband was nearing 90,she drove their station wagon with a 31-foot Airstream Trailer hitched to it all the way to Alabama to visit their daughter, said Charlotte Jones. "People at service stations would say, "Look at that little lady driving that big rig," she recalled.
She concluded of her mother-in-law, "She was fun-loving and very loving and caring. She never said a bad word about anyone."
Lillian M. Jones is survived by her children: Edwin H. Jones and his wife, Carol; Rob B. Jones and his wife, Charlotte; Ruth Thibodeau and her husband, Hillery; Douglas A. Jones; and Marilyn C. Mayers. She is also survived by 13 grandchildren, 12 great-grandchildren, and seven great-greatgrandchildren.
Her husband, Howard Jones, died before her, as did her parents, Berndrd and Ruth Hempstead, and her two brothers, Leo and Arthur.
A funeral service will be held on Friday, Nov. 14; at 1:30 p.m. at St. Paul's Lutheran Church in Berne. Calling hours will be before the service from noon to 1:30 p.m. at the church. Interment will be in Woodlawn Cemetery in Berne.
Arrangements are by the Fredendall Funeral Home in Altamont. Memorial contributions may be made to St. Paul's Lutheran Church, 1732 Helderberg Trail, Berne, NY 12023.
— Melissa Hale-Spencer
- Altamont Enterprise — November 13, 2008
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