Clara Mae (Gross) Jones, 93

Clara Mae (Gross) Jones, 93, of Ord passed away on Sunday, March 17, 2024, at Arbor Care Center in Ord, Nebraska.
Clara’s wishes were to be cremated. A Celebration of Life will be held at 2:00 p.m. on Saturday, April 6, 2024; at the Ord Veteran’s Club. She will be laid to rest in the Cottonwood Cemetery at Burwell, Nebraska. Memorials are suggested to the Family’s Choice to be determined at a later date. Condolences may be left at www.ordmemorialchapel.com
Clara was born May 16, 1930, to Ludvick Louiston and Agnes (Psota) Gross on a farm near Ravenna, Nebraska; the seventh of eight children. The family moved to Ord in 1934, where they lived until moving to Burwell, in a horse drawn wagon. She attended Banner Country School where she had to carry in the drinking water from home and the schoolroom was heated with a wood fire. The teachers and many students rode horses to school. She graduated from Burwell High School in 1948.
Clara had many colorful memories from her childhood besides the work of being raised on a farm. Their mother fashioned clothing from flour sacks and cooked on an old wood stove. The children went barefoot during the summer months but wore new shoes to school in the fall. She enjoyed fishing in the river but never learned to swim. Vegetable gardening and canning were a big part of her life along with milk cows and chickens, and the children picked wild berries for all the jelly their mother made. She met her future husband, Norris Max Jones, over a flat tire being fixed in the family kitchen. It might be said that event got things rolling.
On June 10, 1948, Clara and Norris Jones were united in marriage at the courthouse in Grand Island, Nebraska. They lived on the ranch north of Burwell where she worked on the ranch, fed and boarded ranch hands, and cared for her family before moving to Ord in 1953. The couple had five children: four sons, Dennis, Darryl, Danny, and Donald; and one daughter, Sharyl. After moving to Ord, Clara worked as a dental assistant for over 30 years with Dr. Osentowski and continued to care for her family while also serving as an Avon sales representative.
Clara was a Life-long Member of the Veterans of Foreign Wars Auxiliary, joining the Chapter in Burwell founded by her sister-in-law, LaVonne Virbila who served in WWII in 1941. She transferred her membership to Ord Post 7029 in 1953, and was awarded her 70 year membership pin in 2021. She held all offices in the Auxiliary, with the exception of Treasurer, and especially enjoyed distributing poppies to honor veterans.
Clara Jones was very active in the community. She helped with Cub Scouts, belonged to Memories Stitches Quilt Club, worked with the Blood Mobile, enjoyed bowling, playing cards and Farkle, traveling, reading, volunteering, watching television, and was a talented seamstress. She loved big band and polka music, Lawrence Welk and the Glenn Miller Band. The joys of her long life were her children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren.
Clara Jones is survived by three sons and two daughters-in law, Darryl and Linda Jones of Overland Park, Kansas; Danny and Janet Jones of Ord and Donald Jones of Bassett; one daughter, Sharyl McDonald of Ord; eight grandchildren; eleven great-grandchildren; her sister, Doris Dlugosh of Brier, Washington; sister-in-law, Rita Gross of Pocatello, Idaho; and numerous nieces, nephews, and extended family. Her passing is deeply mourned by many friends, neighbors, and her VFW Auxiliary sisters.
She was preceded in death by her parents; her beloved husband, Norris Jones; a son, Dennis Jones; a grandchild, Travis Scott McDonald; her siblings and their spouses: Michael and Marie Sok, Elwood and Louisa Rassette, Melvin and Mildred Jonas, Lavern “Curly” Gross, Dean and Lila Gross, and Eugene “Shorty” Gross; parents-in-law, Russell C. and Mona Jones; and in-laws, John and LaVonne Virbila and Stanton and Marjorie Jones.
Clara Mae Jones will always be remembered as a strong, independent, self-sufficient woman with a lively sense of humor who spoke her mind without reservation but always had a kind word for others. Her no-nonsense approach to life was both forthright and sensible as evidenced by her own words: “You have to do what you have to do”.