Obituary of Ramona Elizabeth Simmons Jones

Ramona Elizabeth Simmons Jones, 91, formally of Williamsburg, died Friday, January 2, 2009 at Oaknoll Retirement Residence in Iowa City. Funeral services will be held at 11:00 a.m. Saturday, January 10, 2009, at the First Presbyterian Church in Williamsburg with burial at Oak Hill Cemetery in Williamsburg. Visitation will be one hour prior to the services at the church. Memorial donations can be made in Ramona’s memory to the St. Lukes Health Care Foundation in Cedar Rapids. Online condolences may be sent for her family through the web @ www.gayandciha.com. Ramona was born in rural Iowa County near Conroy, September 11, 1917 to Edwin and Josephine (Kinzenbach) Simmons. She attended Conroy School until the purchase of the family farm located eight miles West of Marengo, known now as the Red Robin Farm. On September 16, 1940, she married Burton Owen Jones from Williamsburg, a marriage that would last for 64 years. She was a member of the First Presbyterian Church in Williamsburg. After high school, Ramona taught dance classes and was employed as an usherette at the Paramount Theater in Cedar Rapids. During WWII, she lived with her husband in Sandpoint, Idaho and San Francisco, California, where Burton was stationed at Farragut and Treasure Island Navel Bases. In San Francisco, she worked as a retouch artist and colorist for a portrait photography studio. Returning to Williamsburg after the war, she began, what would be a 25 year career, as a sales representative and photographer for the national company, School Pictures, Inc., known in Iowa as Evans Photography. Ramona enjoyed writing and was a member of a creative writers group for many years. At her Oaknoll residence of the past eight years, she was recognized for her artwork. Her portrait drawings are part of Oaknoll’s permanent collection. Ramona family includes her son, Dr. Rhys B. Jones and his wife, Valerie Chittick of Iowa City; daughter, Bronlyn Jones and her husband Robert Bauer of Little Compton, Rhode Island; four grandchildren, Isabel and Owen Jones of Iowa City, Angela Bauer Plagmann of Orlando, Florida, Curtis Bauer of Lubbock, Texas; and two great-grandchildren, Kaila and Cetera Plagmann of Orlando, Florida. She was preceded in death by her husband, Burton Jones who died April, 2005; sister, Luella Griffin and two brothers, Harold Simmons and Edwin (Bud) Simmons. Gay & Ciha Funeral and Cremation Service is caring for Ramona’s family and her services.