Dorothy Elizabeth Carter Jones, 100 years of age, was called home to be with her Lord and Savior Jesus Christ on November 9, 2021, at Gold County Country Retirement Center in Placerville, California. Dorothy was born at home on her parents’ farm in northwest rural Missouri, near Skidmore, on July 30, 1921, to John Walkup Carter and Madge McMahon Carter. She was preceded in death by her parents; her loving husband of 68 years, Robert Jones; her oldest daughter, Elizabeth Ann Limoges; her brother, Fred Carter; her baby twin brothers; her brother, George Carter; her sister, Virginia Carter; her brother, Edward Carter; and her sister, Mary Carter.    

Dorothy grew up on her parents’ farm with her brothers and sisters, milking cows, helping her mother in their garden and with cooking, assisting in the care of her younger brothers and sisters, and helping her dad with their cows, horses, corn, and hay when she could. Growing up there was no electricity or central heat in their home, but they did have a pitcher pump at the kitchen sink and one in the basement.  Dorothy told several stories of gathering cobs and wood for their stove and refilling their kerosene lamps and cleaning their chimneys for light.

Dorothy learned how to play the piano at age eight. She had the perfect teacher, as her mother was a piano teacher with a degree in classical piano. Dorothy went on to play piano in their church at Walkup Grove and at community meetings held at Daleview High School. She rode a horse to school through high school, except when the weather was bad her Dad would take them to school in his buggy.

Dorothy was the valedictorian of her graduating class from Daleview High School in 1939, earning her a scholarship to attend Northwest Missouri State Teacher’s college in Maryville.  Dorothy earned her room and board going to college by babysitting.

At the age of 20, Dorothy accepted Jesus Christ as her Lord and savior during a church service at Walkup Grove while she was playing the piano. Dorothy related that was the most important decision in her life, and from that point forward she tried to dedicate everything she did to her walk with Jesus.

At the end of her sophomore year in college she received 60 credits, which at the time qualified her to teach at any elementary school in Missouri. Shortly thereafter she was hired at York School near Tarkio to teach grades one through eight at a salary of $80 a month. After teaching two years at York School, she accepted an offer to teach 27 kids at Spring Valley School in the Daleview district near her home, at the same salary of $110 a month for the school year of 1943-1944.

On Groundhog’s Day in 1944, her dad’s horse shied at a pile of feed sacks near their granary and slipped and fell on the ice pinning Dorothy’s left leg and breaking it. Her teaching year was cut short, so she took the opportunity to go back to college and continue to work towards her Bachelor of Science degree in Elementary Education.    

Dorothy then accepted a position to teach elementary school in Fairfax, Missouri, to 42 students. Near the end of her final year of teaching Dorothy decided to join the Navy as part of the Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service, known as the Navy WAVES, to become part of the 100,000 American women to serve in a variety of non-combatant roles during WWII. She subsequently enlisted in April 1945.    

In June 1945, she began her Navy career in bootcamp at Hunter College in New York City. Following basic training her first set of orders was for Fleet Post Office Mailman School in San Francisco. Following school, she was assigned to the Fleet Post Office in San Francisco where she processed mail for sailors and Marines deployed in the South Pacific. Dorothy was quickly promoted to Mailman Second Class (E-5).     

During her career in the Navy, she attended a Navy dance at Avalon Ballroom on Van Ness Avenue in San Francisco. While at the dance she met a Navy Chief by the name of Robert Jones who would later become her husband. Dorothy continued in her Navy career until she was honorably discharged in August 1946. Following her discharge, she returned home and completed her bachelor’s degree in Elementary Education.

In June 1947, she married her husband Robert “Bob” Jones at the First Baptist Church in Maryville, Missouri. Dorothy and Bob raised three children, Elizabeth Ann, Martha Jane, and Robert John, living first in Oakland and then in Walnut Creek, California, from 1955 to 1989, when they moved to Placerville, California, where they built their retirement home. Dorothy loved living in the country in Placerville, as many of her neighbors had horses, which she adored. She also enjoyed the abundance of deer, rabbits, turkey, squirrels, and coyotes.

Dorothy was very active in groups for her children, including the Camp Fire Girls, Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts. Dorothy was also very active in the Walnut Creek Presbyterian Church where she taught Sunday school for several years. Dorothy also served as a discussion leader for several years in Bible Study Fellowship and also volunteered for Billy Graham at several crusades held in the Bay Area.    

In 2007, Dorothy and Bob moved to Gold Country Retirement Center which offered independent living apartments.

Dorothy was a true fighter, having survived cancer three times in her life, and in the end, after 100 years of life on earth, before being called home by her Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, cancer would not take her. Dorothy was also a patriot. She believed in America and our Republic. She would gladly stand up for her country and our law enforcement and defend them at any time.  She was an avid supporter of her Christian faith, our military, and law enforcement.

Dorothy was an evangelist for Jesus. If she could only tell you one thing, it would be John 3:16 – “For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.”

Dorothy will be missed by all who knew her for her sense of humor, kindness, and compassion. She was a wonderful wife and partner to her husband for more than 68 years, a great mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother to her children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. She is survived by her son-in-law, Bob, who was married to her oldest daughter, Ann, until her passing in April of 2020; her middle daughter, Martha (Don); son, Bob (Suzanne); grandchildren, Ed (Audrey), Dan (Elena), Julia, Brent (Erin), Eric (Amelia), and Katherine (Navin); and seven great-grandchildren.

Services were held at Walkup Grove Cemetery, Fairfax, Missouri, founded by Jim Walkup, Dorothy’s great-grandfather, on Saturday, December 4, 2021. In memory of Dorothy, donations may be made to the Walkup Grove Cemetery Association, c/o John Carter, 28542 Hawk Road, Maryville, MO 64468.