PORTLAND – Betty Lou Jones died at age 91 on May 19, 2024, at The Cedars in Portland, under the loving care of her husband, Edgar Lloyd Jones, after 10 years of living with Parkinson’s disease.

She was born June 21, the first child of Naomi and Delmer Carroll, in Dayton, Ohio. She met her future husband of 66 years at Sunday School, when both were elementary school children. Her mother taught their class. Years later, Betty Lou and Ed fell in love, and when he was in the Navy, they looked forward to his leaves with great anticipation. They married on Aug. 11, 1956, in Dayton. Together they brought up three children – Brian, Alison and Brent – in Ohio, and then in their beloved adopted state of Maine, where Ed pursued his education and became an ordained minister in the United Church of Christ.

Betty Lou most deeply cherished being a wife and mother and was the keeper of family traditions. She was faithful to the church and carried out the responsibilities of a minister’s wife with grace. She was a church organist and choir director, where she could take a boisterous gaggle of 5- to 7-year-old choir members and have them singing Christmas carols in unison in the space of two months.

A jill of all trades, Betty Lou was living proof of the importance of patience and lifelong curiosity: After caring for her family for 25 years, she went back to school at age 50 to earn a nursing degree and worked until she was 70.

She had many loves, including her nursing career; music, especially hymns; and handmaking many beautiful things for others, including loads of socks, mittens and sweaters through the years. She loved knitting and sewing – but not cooking! – and had a lifetime sweet tooth, partial to her homemade chocolate fudge.

She enjoyed living in new communities throughout her life and traveling in retirement with Ed, especially their adventurous road trip from Maine to Alaska.

A celebration of Betty Lou’s life will be held at 10:30 a.m., Monday, June 10, at Woodfords Congregational United Church of Christ in Portland.

Betty Lou was predeceased by her brother David Carroll. She is survived by her husband of Portland and family scattered across the globe: sons, Brian and his wife Anni of Hämeenlinna, Finland, and Brent and his wife Kim of Wakefield, R.I.; daughter Alison and her husband James of Charlottesville, Va.; seven grandchildren: Laura Jones-Katz and her husband Gregory of Essen, Germany; Erik Jones of Lewiston; Ingria Jones and her husband Tim of Seattle, Wash.; Maggie Jones of Kalamazoo, Mich.; Molly Jones of Salida, Colorado; Elizabeth Webb and her husband Patrick Norby of Gainesville, Fla.; and Isaac Webb and his wife Linda Kinstler of Washington, D.C.; and five great-grandchildren: Oliver Jones-Katz, Griffin and Caroline Norby, and Max and Charlie Rucker.

Betty Lou’s family thanks the staff at The Cedars for their steadfast support and care. Donations in lieu of flowers can be sent there in her memory

(630 Ocean Ave.

Portland, ME 04103).

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