Mrs. Sophie Elizabeth Oliver Jones

Mrs. Sophie Elizabeth Oliver Jones, 100, passed away Optim Medical Center in Sylvania, GA on January 7, 2024. Mrs. Jones was born in Millhaven to the late Ruben E. and Elizbeth Herrington Oliver in 1923. She was a graduate of the Sylvania High School and then attended the Georgia Teachers College where she met the love of her life, James Allen Jones, who also attended the school there. They soon wed and he enlisted in the United States Army Air Corps and then they were stationed at several bases up and down the east coast. After his service to his country the couple returned to Screven County where they made their home and raised their children. She was raised in the Harmony United Methodist Church and later the First United Methodist Church of Sylvania, and here served on the Alter Guild, and was a member of the Ellis Miller Sunday School Class. She was a wonderfully gifted seamstress, a talented floral designer, a talent for which she had received numerous awards, she will be remembered for her creativity and artistry. She was a volunteer with the local 4H, a member of the Screven County Garden Club for over sixty years, gardening was her passion, and the Rummy Club, and assisted her husband in his civic endeavors with the Masonic and Shriner Lodges. Her love and time spent with her family was the most important thing to her. She is preceded in death by her husband, James Allen Jones, a son, Glenn Oliver Jones, siblings, Sarah Oliver and Newton Lee, Emily Oliver and Leonard Walk, Ruben E., Jr. and Azile Oliver, and Mildred Oliver. She is survived by her daughter and son-in-law, Joni and Ray Thompson, daughter-in-law, Becky Jones, all of Sylvania, her grandchildren, Jim and Brittany Thompson Cantrell, Johnny and Brittany Thomas Cantrell, Andy and Hays Jones, and Cynthia and Duane Bargeron, step-grandsons, Matt and Nikki Thompson, of Statesboro, and Kevin Thompson, of Rockwood, TN, and several great-grandchildren, two nieces, Sarah Ann Lee Smith and Lana Roberson, a nephew, Harold Lee, great-nephews, and a great-great niece and nephew, and her best friend, Emmie Thompson. Services will be held on Thursday, January 11, 2024 at the Sylvania First United Methodist Church at 2:00pm with Rev. Ralph Dixon and Rev. Dorsia Atkinson officiating. The family will receive friends an hour prior to the service in the church Fellowship Hall. Interment will follow at the Screven County Memorial Cemetery. Pallbearers will be Johnny R. Cantrell, Jim O. Cantrell, Andrew Jones, Harold Lee, Freddy Denkenberger, and Browning Bargeron. Honorary pallbearers will be members of the Ellis Miller Sunday School Class and current and former members of the Screven County Garden Club. Memorial contributions may be made to the Methodist Home for Children and Yout at https://www.themethodisthome.org/donate/donate-general-operations or P.O. Box 2525 Macon, GA 31204 Friends may sign the online register book at www.joineranderson.com Joiner Anderson Funeral Home Screven Chapel is in charge of all arrangements.