William Clayton

Jones

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IN LOVING MEMORY

William Clayton Jones

Jun 23 1923 - Oct 31 2008

William Clayton Jones, age 85, of Allen, Texas passed away on October 31, in Allen. William Clayton Jones was born on June 23, 1923 to Carl and Emma Jones. He was raised in Allen and on August 5th 1944 he married the only woman he would ever love; Nettie Elizabeth Strickland. Nettie Beth followed her new husband to each new post he was assigned as he served his country in the Army Air Force Corp during World War II. After Clayton was honorable discharged from the Army they moved to Dallas where they were married for many years before the were blessed wit the adoption of their first child, their son; Mike. Three and a half years later they were blessed again, adopting their daughter, Lynn. Clayton and Nettie Beth always told Mike and Lynn how special they were and they had been chosen. to this day, they will still tell you that they were chosen and just how special they are. Clayton and Nettie Beth were active members of their church, Grace Temple Baptist. Clayton was a dedicated deacon. Nettie Beth taught Sunday School and as they raised their children in the church, Clayton became active in RA's and later on the Boy Scouts with their son Mike; going camping, canoeing, and earning those oh so fun merit badges. Clayton seemed at times to enjoy it more than Mike. Clayton and Nettie Beth had both suffered the loss of their fathers. As both of their own Mother's aged, in 1975 they decided to move back home, to Allen so that they could be closer and help with their care. They moved their membership to the First Baptist Church of Allen in 1976 and continued on the journey of raising their kids. Attending basketball games, helping with homework, getting drivers permits, buying the all important '1st car" for both kids and doing their best to keep track of Lynn once she could drive. The kids graduated and moved out, well not exactly, they did graduate by Clayton and Nettie Beth never rushed either of the kids to leave home. Lynn moved in and out like there was a revolving front door and Mike stayed until he knew where he wanted live. But all their lives changed one day in 1984 when Nettie Beth had a stroke. Clayton was beside himself trying to get to the hospital as were Mike and Lynn. But by God's grace and mercy, Nettie Beth recovered from the stroke but had forced her to retire from ther long career in insurance. She now could enjoy being home during the day. Clayton turned 65 and retired and her days of being alone and schedule free were now shared with Clayton. At first she didn't mind having him home, it was nice but after about his first year of retirement she realized, they hadn't spent that much time together in the 40 plus years they had been married. She encouraged Clayton to get a part-time job doing something that he enjoy. It took some time but Clayton's part-time job became meeting his coffee buddies in the morning and the afternoon at Brookshire's. That was fine because she could finally get some things done while he was out drinking coffee. As the years went on Clayton and Nettie Beth's health started to decline. Mike and Lynn did what they had seen their own parent's do, care for their parents. By now Mike had moved from Allen were he had lived for 10 years or so, to Addison to be closer to his job. Lynn finally settled down, found love with a great guy, Mark, who reminded her of her daddy. Clayton was so excited to find out that Mark came with a baby. Well, it was the closet thing to a real grand baby that they were going to get from Lynn. It was Scout, a black cocker spaniel. Clayton loved Scout and referred to her as his grand daughter and don't you think for one minute that Scout didn't love her Grandpa. She could get him to feed her an entire bag of beef jerky treats while sitting in his lap and starring at him. this summer has been a difficult one for this family. In May we found out the Mark's Mother and Father both had been diagnosed with cancer. Clayton got really sick over Memorial Weekend. We lost Jim, Mark's dad in late July. If that wasn't bad enough Clayton was in and out of the hospital so many times that we had lost count. In August, we lost Scout. In September we lost Owen, one of Lynn's best friends from childhood, little boy. He was 3. Now we come to October, what a month! Clayton had been sick now going on five months and was not getting better but worse. In and out of 4 different hospitals, 3 physical rehab facilities and he never complained, not once. He just kept asking, "When can I go home?" Mike and Lynn had been there by his side, taking the Mom to see Clayton whenever she wanted. Part of the fun in taking their Mom to see Clayton was that he always embarrassed her by telling her how beautiful she was and how much he loved her and always wanting a kiss. You see if you knew Clayton, he was no Casanova, unless you consider bringing home potted plastic flowers from Brook shire's to his wife of 64 years, very suave. The week of October 26th Clayton took a serious turn for the worse, the doctors said that we couldn't bring him home, but as usual Clayton rallied and defied what the doctors had said and was now stable enough to be brought home on hospice. Nettie Beth, Mike and Lynn met with hospice on Thursday, October 30th and made plans to bring Clayton home, just as he had wanted. Lynn went to the hospital to tell their Daddy the good news, she had kept her promise to him, and he was to come home on Friday, October 31st at 9 a.m. Clayton had been unable to speak since Monday of that week. He had only been able to squeeze your hand to let you know that he knew you were there and could hear you. On Thursday when Lynn told their Daddy he was coming home, he whispered "HOW ABOUT THAT!' All that Clayton needed to hear was that his wish to return home was coming true. On Friday, October 31st, with his son, Mike at his bedside, Clayton decided to go home to be with his Lord and Savior at 5:50 a.m. He worked for over 30 years for C&W Services. Clayton and Beth are longtime members of the First Baptist Church of Allen. He is survived by his wife, Beth Jones of Allen; son, Mike Jones of Dallas; daughter, Lynn Jones & partner Mark McMahan of Plano; sister-in-law, Beverly Jones of Dallas; nephews, David Jones and Hulett Jones; niece, Jennifer Parrish and husband Mark; and numerous other loving relatives and friends. He is preceded in death by his parents and brother, Hulett Jones. Funeral services will be held at 12:00 noon, Monday, November 3, 2008 at Turrentine-Jackson-Morrow Chapel with Rev. Chad Selph officiating. Interment will follow at Restland Memorial Park in Dallas. Visitation will begin at 3:00 p.m. on Sunday, November 2, 2008, at Turrentine-Jackson-Morrow Funeral Home in Allen. Memorials may be made to First Baptist Church, Allen, TX.
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