With heavy hearts we announce the passing of Muriel Allen Jones, wife, mother, grandmother, great grandmother, and friend. She died peacefully on April 29, 2025, at the age of 95. Muriel lived a life full of love and purpose.
Born on September 19, 1929, in Seneca Falls, New York, Muriel was the only child of Harry and Gertrude Allen. After the death of her father, she became half sister to Stephen Calhoun (now deceased) when she was 18. Willard Calhoun was her beloved step-father. From an early age, she demonstrated a passion for learning, teaching and travel. After graduating from Central High School in 1947, she pursued her dream at Millsaps College in Jackson Mississippi, earning a degree in Education in 1951. (She paid for her college tuition by raising registered show-type Chihuahuas.)
She began teaching at Carpenter Number 1 School in Natchez Mississippi, then returned to Jackson to teach at Lester Elementary School. With great interest in her Danish heritage, she visited her family in Denmark in 1955, getting to know her cousins, aunts and uncles.
Through life she shared stories of this trip. She saw the very location where cousin Eitler Hauberg was shot by German Gestapo during World War II—a plaque marks the spot in Copenhagen. She visited the grave of Ellen, her childhood pen pal. One Danish family member shared with Muriel, “I still have the passages in my Bible that your grandfather, Frederick, gave to me, that caused me to become a missionary in India.”
She joined the Civil Service and continued teaching in Goose Bay, Labrador in Canada. Her teaching assignment was at that U.S. Strategic Air Command (SAC) base—part of the “DEW-Line Defense” (radar stations from Alaska to Greenland that provided early warning to US defenses). There, she met Lawrence Jones Jr. (Larry) of Plymouth, NC, an Air Force helicopter pilot that serviced the radar outposts, and they went on their first date: a dogsled ride in the snow.
Muriel soon received a new assignment to teach in France. Larry was being transferred to a SAC missile base in California. “You could come with me instead of going to France,” was the most romantic marriage proposal ever made (at least at that isolated outpost), and Muriel accepted. They headed from their wedding in Jackson Mississippi to Vandenberg in a little TR-3 sports car with barely enough money for gas.
Married 64 years, they raised their two children, Lawrence Jones III and Susan Jones Allen at Air bases in California, Texas, South Carolina and Alaska. When Larry received orders to Vietnam war as a rescue pilot, Muriel returned to Mississippi to teach school in the newly integrated south, driving past civil rights protests in the capitol of Jackson each day. During this season, her Uncle Robert handled the initial prosecution of those who murdered three civil rights workers in Philadelphia Mississippi, (Depicted in the movie Mississippi Burning). Muriel identified with those pressed down in society, defending them against injustice and working on their behalf. She later taught in Wampee, South Carolina where she became a respected teacher in an integrated school where all the children touched her heart. She shared their stories for decades. Eventually she ended her career in North Carolina, teaching in Williamston, Jamesville, Grifton, and Plymouth. This year, at 95, while eating at the River’s Edge in Jamesville, a former student recognized her with a hug and kind words. Also in Walmart in Williamston and in a clinic in Belhaven people have recently come to say that she was their favorite teacher. One former student stated, “practically our entire class were in the medical field,” and attributed their success partly to their teacher, Mrs. Jones.
She was a member of the United Methodist Church in Plymouth, and finally at Roper. Her faith was expressed through her love of people, always welcoming to visitors, dedicated to students and a cheerleader for her children, in their pursuits. She is survived by her husband, Lawrence Jr., cousin Robert E. Hauberg, children Lawrence III and Susan, grandchildren, Daniel, Denson, Brandon, Gabrielle, Justin, Logan, Melody, Morgan, Austin and Hayden, Great grandchildren, Mira, Skyann, Armie, Jude, Cruz, Pippin…and a baby girl due in May: Winona.
Throughout her life, Muriel faced difficulty with stamina and an upbeat attitude. Some of her challenges included a brother with mental illness. She and Larry took him in for a year at the start of their marriage. When Larry was gone to the war in Vietnam, she provided food to the poor, taught school, and took her kids on their first plane trip to New Hampshire. She helped make ends meet in Alaska by selling Avon, but one day slipped on the ice. She went to the hospital with a painful blood clot that affected her through the years. She dealt with serious health issues until Alzheimer’s and unconsciousness finally won out this week when she died in her sleep at home at Mackeys. But they didn’t actually win, since Muriel placed her faith in Jesus years ago, and we look forward to being with her again.
During a lucid moment at the hospital in Edenton, she shared some of her final words, “It’s time to get ready for heaven.”
We’ll join you in that Muriel, and we look forward to the reunion when we all meet again. You will be deeply missed, forever etched in our hearts. Her laughter will last in our memories. Her good days and friendly ways will comfort those who knew her.
Funeral service will be held at Mackey’s United Methodist Church at 11:00 a.m., Saturday, May 3, 2025, followed with a graveside service at Plymouth United Methodist Church. Family will receive friends at Victory Christian Fellowship Church on Friday, May 2, 2025 from 6:00 to 8:00 pm and other times at the residence.
Arrangements are by Maitland Funeral Home, Plymouth.
