Laura Jeanne Jones

Laura Jeanne Bennett Jones, age 77, departed this life on May 21, 2023. Laura Jeanne Bennett Jones was born in Manhattan, New York County, New York on June 15, 1945. Named Tamara Grace Clemmons by her mother, Emma Lee Clemmons, Laura Jeanne was placed for adoption in May 1946. Tamara Grace was adopted in Wilmington, North Carolina by Mattie Whitehurst Bennett and Martin V. Bennett and named Laura Jean Bennett. Her adoption was finalized in 1949. As a young girl, Laura Jeanne grew up in Wilmington, NC with her four brothers, David, Max, Hobson, and Donald. Laura Jeanne was a polio survivor, having contracted it on Wrightsville Beach in Wilmington, and was treated at the polio hospital in Greensboro, North Carolina. During her teenage years, Laura Jeanne moved to Jacksonville, Florida where she attended DuPont High School. At Dupont, Laura Jeanne was on the staff of The DuPonter, enjoyed school dances, and met her future husband, William Leonard Jones. Laura Jeanne and William married in 1963. They eventually settled in Conyers, Georgia in 1975, where they raised their daughters. During her teenage years, Laura Jeanne began to inquire about her adoption. When she was pregnant with her first child, she began to consider how to locate information about her birth family. After the birth of her second child, she became determined to do so and embarked upon a quest to locate her birth family. This involved amateur, yet sophisticated, detective work, letters and court filings in Manhattan and Wilmington, newspaper ads, and phone calls. In May of 1981, Laura Jeanne found her birth mother. They were reunited in Wrightsville Beach, North Carolina. Laura Jeanne learned about her early years and got to know the family who never forgot her and always loved her. Laura Jeanne's adoption and birth family reunification led her to care for and counsel other adoptees, and support them in their searches. Together with her husband, she founded the Georgia Adoption Reunion Registry in 1990 that still operates today. Laura Jeanne was a prolific and extremely talented crafter. She excelled in the art forms of quilting, sewing and dressmaking, embroidery, cross-stitching, knitting, painting, folk art, cake baking and decorating, and all forms of party planning and holiday celebrations. A killer egg dyer, she was equally adept at elaborately decorating Christmas cookies. Quilting became her main passion and one of her most favorite adventures was traveling to the Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show in Sisters, Oregon. She enjoyed her time spent crafting with friends, particularly in her knitting circles and quilting guilds, and even went to summer quilting camps. Combining her artistic skills and talents and passion for working with children, Laura Jeanne became a paraprofessional at Edwards Middle School in Conyers, Georgia. This work renewed her desire to obtain her college degree and become a teacher. In her late forties, she entered Brenau University as a freshman student. Laura Jeanne graduated from Brenau in 1996 at age 51. Her daughters want to emphasize that she did this at a time when it was uncommon for women to return to college and start a new career. Achieving her college degree and becoming a teacher was a triumph of not only her personal desire, but of breaking the rules of the era, and overcoming a significant, life-threatening physical injury she suffered in July 1996. Laura Jeanne started her teaching career in the fall of 1996 at Flat Shoals Elementary School in Conyers, Georgia and officially retired in 2007. She is fondly remembered by colleagues and former students alike with many recalling her kind and helpful nature, enthusiastic spirit, and impact on their lives. Laura Jeanne delighted in her grandsons, who knew her as Mimi. She was able to live close to each of them at different points in her life. As babies and toddlers, she outfitted them in the most wonderful embroidered attire, read with them, and never minded getting messy with them in the kitchen. Mimi could always be counted on to sew up a beloved stuffed animal or create an amazing Halloween costume at a moment's notice. Laura Jeanne Bennett Jones was preceded in death by William Leonard Jones, her husband of 57 years. She is survived by the joys of her life, her daughters Laura Jones French (Kevin French), and Tami Jones Draves (Ian Draves) and her three grandsons, William Jesse French, Cade Richard Draves, and Kai Aubrey Draves. She is also survived by her biological half-siblings Penny Autry, Karen Howell, and Dana Roy Hall; brother- and sister-in-law Larry Jones and Maxine Jones; loving nieces, cousins, and friends. A memorial service for Laura Jeanne Bennett Jones will be held at Scot Ward Funeral Services in Conyers, Georgia on Sunday, June 4, 2023 at 2:00pm. Laura and Tami would be especially pleased for anyone attending to dress in their favorite colors, as they know this would have delighted their Mom. Donations in Laura Jeanne's memory can be made to the following organizations: Dauset Trails Nature Center where she spent many precious days with her grandsons; and the Jeannette Rankin Foundation that empowers women age 35 and older to complete their college degrees and transform the next chapter of their lives. Dauset Trails Nature Center www.dausettrails.com Jeannette Rankin Foundation www.rankinfoundation.org Condolences may be submitted on-line at www.scotward.com. Scot Ward Funeral Services, 699 American Legion Road, Conyers, GA 30012, 770-483-7216.

Laura Jeanne Jones

June 15, 1945 - May 21, 2023