Carol Leys Jones

Carol Leys Jones, age 83, died Wednesday, Sep 2, 2020, following an extended illness. The body is to be cremated, and a family visitation will be held at A. S. Turner Funeral Home on Tuesday, September 15, from 6 to 8 pm. A private family service to inter the ashes will be held later at the Memory Garden of Decatur First United Methodist Church.

Carol was born October 3, 1936, in Evanston, Illinois, to Anna Marie (Gillingham) Leys of Gillingham, Wisconsin, and George Leys, of Evanston, Illinois, (formerly of Wick, Scotland). The family moved to Decatur, Georgia in 1946, where she attended Decatur schools, graduating from Decatur High School in 1954. She briefly attended Emory University before marrying Stephen Smith Furse IV in 1955. They had three sons, Stephen Smith Furse V, born in 1956, Daniel Wesley Furse born in 1957, and Thomas Walton Furse, born in 1959, before the marriage ended in divorce. In 1965 she married R. Neil Jones, of Decatur, and they had a son, Bradford Kelly Jones born in 1966. Carol and Neil lived in Decatur and Stone Mountain for the next 49 years until Neil's death in October of 2014.

Carol enjoyed watching the men in her life play sports. Working the concession stand as a supportive parent wasn’t as much fun, but she pitched in. She loved summer vacations at the Gillingham farm in Wisconsin, or in the family camper, at campsites in Middle America. She loved her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren; her many Gillingham cousins; she loved singing along with music or on her own; reading and book groups; cross-stitch and crocheting; her church family; and her life as a church secretary at Decatur First United Methodist Church.

In addition to her beloved parents and husband, Neil, Carol was predeceased by her sister, Susan Jane Leys, and her first husband, Steve. She is survived by her sons: Stephen S. Furse V, Daniel Jones, Thomas Jones (Jort), and Brad Jones (Stacey); and her step-daughters: Debra Etris, Gayle Jones Torpey, and Dana Jones. She is also survived by her grandchildren: Thomas Jones, Jr. (Tiffany), Robert Jones, Sammy Jones (Tina), Tucker Jones, and Brady Jones, and by her great-grandsons, Orson and Alden Jones. Carol is also survived by her brother and sister-in-law, Bill Leys (Karon) of Helena, AL.

Carol would want to remind us of Jamie Anderson’s quote that “Grief is just love with no place to go,” and urge us to hold one another close.