Patricia (Dickinson) Jones

Patricia “Pat” Dickinson Jones, 87, passed away at home on April 14, 2023. Pat was born to Theodore Miner Dickinson and Lillian Cordner Dickinson on Aug. 2, 1935, in Schenectady, New York. Pat has one sister, Roberta “Bertie” Dickinson Birdsell.

Pat spent her youngest years traveling the United States with her family as her army officer father trained with his troops, preparing to fight in World War II. After the war, their family settled in Schenectady, New York, where her father worked as an Electrical Engineer for the General Electric Company.

Pat attended Northfield, Mount Hermon, preparatory school for girls in Massachusetts, and started college at Boston University (Sargent College), where she joined the Delta-Delta-Delta sorority. She remained an active member of the “Tri-Delts” throughout her life. She later transferred to the University of Colorado Boulder (CU), where she met her husband, Marshall Jones.

Pat and Marshall moved to Billings in 1957 and into the family home on Teton Avenue in 1959. Both Pat and Marshall graduated from Eastern Montana College with degrees in education. Pat began her 35-plus-year career with the Billings Public School District, teaching grade school at Highland Elementary School and Washington Elementary School. She later began teaching at Lincoln, Castle Rock and Riverside Junior High Schools (Middle Schools) and was nominated for the “Golden Apple” award in 1997 for her passion and dedication to teaching Title I math.

Pat is preceded in death by her parents, Lillian and Theodore; and her husband Marshall.

Pat is survived by her six children: two daughters, Robin Jones and Kathy Albers, and four sons, Bob Jones (Carol), Bill Jones (Otis), Jay Jones (Julia) and Tom Jones (Marta).

Pat also was blessed to be “GMa” to 12 grandchildren and “GGMa” to five great-grandchildren, with one great-grandchild on the way. She was also cherished as “Auntie Pat” to her sister Bertie’s children and grandchildren.

Pat (Ma Jones) was the rock of the Jones family.  Always there for support and making sure everyone was taken care of before herself. No one was ever hungry or bored around Ma Jones. She was the perpetual keeper of lists and always knew what was coming up next or needed to be done to keep the family moving ahead. She made sure all her children knew the tasks required to be part of a big family. Family obligations were real, and you never dared tell Ma Jones you were bored … you’d be washing windows and floors, or cleaning bathrooms if you had “nothing to do.”

Ma Jones cherished her time with her family and spending time at the Family Cabin at East Rosebud Lake. With children underfoot, Pat and Marshall labored many hours moving rocks, placing concrete and stacking logs building their special place in the Beartooth Mountains and spent their first night in the cabin in 1969. A work of never-ending love, Ma Jones still worked on the cabin well into her 80s as a part of every new project.

Ma Jones loved to laugh and so much loved the company of her family, her family’s friends, and her special retired teacher friends, especially Delta-Kappa-Gamma. If you knew our mother, you know she liked her special “toddy” in the evenings, at the end of the day when the work was done. If you were really lucky, you might get to hear her and her sister Bertie sing the ditty from their childhood: “Show me the way to go home, I’m tired and I wanna to go to bed….” Love ya, Ma Jones … you are home!!

Cremation has taken place, and a celebration of Pat’s life will be held later this summer.

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