Lucy Imig Jones, a longtime resident of Vicksburg, was born on Jan. 27, 1930, in Sheboygan, Wis., and passed away on Nov. 30, 2017, in Ridgeland.

She was the third ‘Lucy’ on her mother’s side of her family, named for a great-grandmother whose family owned a plantation named “Hollywood” in Marion County, Ga. 

At a young age, her family moved to Atlanta, and then to Gulfport, where she graduated from high school.

At an early age she demonstrated her creativity and drive. She was a member of the cast of the live radio broadcast the Pink Rabbit Radio Show for five years.

At the age of 16, she won a nationwide sewing competition known as Teentimer Design Contest with thousands of entries for her design “Cupid Catcher.” 

On one fateful summer day after graduation, her cousin asked her and several classmates to be the dates of young men being rushed by the Kappa Alpha Order for an outing to Ship Island. Who could have guessed that this cruise would set in motion her eventual marriage to Edley H. Jones Jr. of Vicksburg.  Although she was not his date, he was bewitched and struggled to “do the right thing” and remain loyal to the date he was assigned for the cruise. The moment that obligation was satisfied, however, he began a courtship that lasted throughout their years at Ole Miss. This led to their marriage on Dec. 17, 1950, in Vicksburg. She and Edley lived in Vicksburg for the next 65 years, except for a brief time in Lake Charles, La., when her husband served as a Captain in the Air Force.

It was during this time that the story of this family almost ended, as on one archetypal dark and stormy night, a bomber returning to the base lost an engine which exploded in flames a few feet from their mobile home, capsizing it and the occupants inside.

She obtained a Bachelor of Science degree in Education, was a member of the Delta Gamma sorority, voted a Favorite and a Beauty and a member of the national honor society known as Society of CWENS. She was active in the Church of the Holy Trinity, including her leadership to publish the Restoration Recipes cookbook. For years she served the church as a perennial co-chairwoman of the annual Thanksgiving dinner fundraiser, and introduced her signature fail-safe method of cooking a turkey in a paper bag. She was active in community service, including the establishment of Meals on Wheels. She was a member of the Junior Auxiliary and the Hester Flowers Garden Club. She was also a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution. For 10 years she taught first and fourth grades in the elementary schools of Vicksburg. As she and Edley began to travel, those experiences lit the spark for them to establish a travel agency known as American International. As a result, and perhaps in a celebration of the “first cruise” to Ship Island where they first met, they in their lifetime journeyed the world on 83 cruise ships, and otherwise traveled to all parts of the world multiple times. She delighted in advising and arranging the travels for many Vicksburg clients for years.

Lucy is preceded in death by her parents Richard Edwin Imig and Josephine Putman Simmons Imig, and her husband, Edley, who died on Aug. 19, 2015.

She is survived by three children, Anne Tupper Jones England (Charlie), Edley H. Jones III (Brenda), and Howell Robinson Jones, six grandchildren and five great grandchildren.

If one phrase can capture the spirit of a person, then many who knew her will recall her spirited comment on life, “Happiness is!” She will be truly missed but the family has no doubt that she and Edley are dancing the night away in the grand ballroom of a never-ending cruise in Heaven. 

The family would like to thank Dr. Scott Layne and the staff of The Arbors for their excellent treatment and commitment to her care in her final years.

Services will be held at The Church of the Holy Trinity in Vicksburg, Thursday, Dec. 7, with visitation beginning at 1 p.m. and the memorial service beginning at 1:30 p.m. In lieu of flowers, the family request a donation be made to the Church of the Holy Trinity.