Emma Jones

Emma Iree Jones, 85, of Buhl, passed away suddenly at her home on January 1, 2013, surrounded by her loving family.
Emma was born in Vernal, Utah on September 17, 1927 to Vernon Jacobson and Wanda Perry Jacobson. She was the second child born of six children. As the oldest sister, she worked hard in helping her widowed mother support her little family of seven, during those depression years. All the brothers and sisters loved each other dearly and were very close.

Emma's family moved to Salt Lake City, Utah where she graduated from West High School. She attended the University of Utah and was an active member of Beta Sigma Phi. She also worked at the Holy Cross Hospital's office and the Deseret Book Printing Co.
In the summer of 1950, she met a handsome police officer, Kenneth Earl Jones, from Los Angeles who happened to be visiting Salt Lake City on vacation. Before the month of his vacation was over, they were engaged to be married. They were wed in Salt Lake City on September 29, 1950. They lived in Long Beach, California from 1950 to 1969, and had three children. In the summer of 1969, Kenneth retired from the Los Angeles Police Department. They moved to Buhl, becoming hardware store owners, purchasing the Western Auto Store. Emma worked diligently every day, side-by-side with her husband, to make a success of their business venture. She always had a smile on her face as she greeted every customer, and treated all with kindness, a trait she always tried to instill in her children as they eventually took over the business. She helped run the store until 1985 when her son Ronn took over the family business.

She was active in her church and served in the Buhl Second Ward Relief Society for many years. She loved Buhl and thought it important to serve her community. She sat on the Buhl Housing Authority Board for many years and was a member of the Buhl Chamber of Commerce.

Emma was the mainstay of her family and cherished by all her children and grandchildren. To know Emma was to love her. She was kind and charitable to all she met and her absence will be felt deeply. She always believed that her family and children were her greatest accomplishment in life.

Emma and Kenneth were happily married for 56 years before his death in 2006. She was also preceded in death by her father and mother; her sisters, Nila Balser and Dora Mae Jacobson; brothers, Stephen Jacobson and Lynn Jacobson and her son Ronn Keith Jones.

She is survived by one brother, Wallace Jacobson of West Valley City, Utah; her loving daughters and sons-in-law, Kimberly (Gary G.) Smith, Connie (Kenneth R.) McDonald, both of Buhl, Idaho; daughter-in-law, Michelle Conn of Phoenix, Arizona; 15 grandchildren and 23 great-grandchildren.

A funeral service will be held at 2:00 pm, Saturday, January 5, 2013, at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints 2nd Ward, on Fair Street in Buhl. Grave side burial at West End Cemetery will follow. A viewing will be from 5 - 7 p.m. Friday, Jan. 4, 2013 at Farmer Funeral Chapel in Buhl.