Eva Jones

Sister Eva Jones passed away in Meadville, PA at the age of 97 on December 25, 2022. She was born in Meadville, PA on August 14, 1925; she was the daughter of Peter and Annie (Goodloe) Powell. Her parents moved back to their hometown in Canton, MS where they lived on a farm and raised Eva and her seven siblings: Annett (walls), Johnnie Mae, Louella, Otwa, Henry, Nathaniel and Peter. The family returned to Meadville when she was thirteen years old. She attended junior and high school in Meadville. After high school, she was employed by Talon Zipper Company as a machine operator and sanitary engineer. Also, she worked as a cook at Allegheny College. She was a foster parent for child welfare, raising 15 foster children, and was a nanny for Dr. Spero Moutsos and Dr. Mitchell Shuster, traveling abroad with his family.
Eva married Webster E. Jones in April 1946 and to this union there were two children, Webster Jr. and Marianne.
A resident of Meadville for over 84 years, Eva has demonstrated her love for God. She became a licensed minister of the gospel through the Apostolic Faith in 1960; however, her pulpit has been the mission field. She did street nursery and house-to-house mission work with seasonal workers in Waterford, PA in the early 1950s. During the 1960s, she gave witness to hippies in Conneaut Lake, PA. Her mission field also included the Amish people at Crossroad Mission in Hartstown, PA. Many people would visit her just to talk with her and to be inspired by her. She humbly gave God the glory for what He had done in her life. Her mission work has been written about in the AlmsHouse Gazette, Volume 10, Issue Summer 2004.
Eva loved to read and was a Bible scholar, able to hold deep conversations about our being created in the image of God-about loving and caring for all people regardless of race, creed and color. Her warm and outgoing personality especially showed in the spring when she used the small space by her apartment to plant and tend the most beautiful and colorful garden of Hawaiian hibiscuses, petunias, geraniums, carnations, azaleas, hydrangeas, tiger lilies, roses, marigolds and more. It was little wonder that the Meadville Garden Club names Eva Jones’ flower garden “Garden of the Month” in June 2022.
Eva is survived by one sister, Annette Walls of Huston, PA; one son, Webster A. Jones and his wife, Cindi Jones of Meadville, PA; one daughter, Marianne D. Tucker of Tempe, AZ; three granddaughters, Kaitlyn Ariel Swick of OH, Danielle Annette Tucker of AZ and Nicole Renee Tucker of Johnston, NY; one sister-in-law, Katherine (Kay) Jones of Meadville, PA and numerous nieces, nephews, relatives and friends.
Eva was preceded in death by her father and mother, Peter and Annie Powell; her husband, Webster E. Jones; two sisters, Johnnie Mae Powell and Louella Powell; four brothers, Otwa Powell, Henry Powell, Nathaniel Powell and Peter Powell and one brother-in-law, Eddie Walls.
A Celebration of Eva’s Life will be held on January 22, 2023 at 2:00 pm at the Stone United Methodist Church, 956 S. Main St., Meadville, PA 16335.
In lieu of flowers memorial contributions can be made to Meadville Mennonite Chapel, 312 Baldwin St., Meadville, PA 16335; Salvation Army, 1087 Park Ave., Meadville, PA 16335 or Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Scholarship Fund, P.O. Box 205, Meadville, PA 16335.
Please sign Eva’s online guestbook at www.hatheway-tedesco.com.
Arrangements have been entrusted to Hatheway-Tedesco Funeral Home and Crematory, 614 Baldwin St., Meadville, PA 16335.