Carol Louise Jones

Alaskan pioneer and homesteader Carol Louise Jones, 82, passed away of heart failure April 1, 2014, at Mat-Su Regional Medical Center.

Mrs Jones was born in Glendale, Ariz., on Aug. 31, 1931, to Warren Hoel and Katherine Strough Hoel. She attended high school and college in Phoenix, Ariz. She came by steamer to Alaska in 1951 for a summer Fort Richardson job and to visit her homesteading parents, Katherine and Teddy Donaho. On Fort Richardson, she met Army Sgt. Paul Jones and they married April 19, 1952, at Fort Richardson Chapel.

They homesteaded in Eagle River in 1952 near what’s now Eagle River Lane. She was an Army clerk from 1952-55 and later a homemaker, maintaining the family homestead during Mst. Sgt. Paul Jones’ tours in Korea and Vietnam. After her daughters were raised, Carol became an Eagle River librarian in the ’60s. After her husband’s Army retirement, she and Paul founded and ran Jones Tool Rental and Hardware in the 1970s and ’80s, helping many local folks and organizations build Eagle River. After Carol and Paul retired in 1985, they RVed throughout the U.S. and Canada and cruised the Caribbean, eventually returning to Alaska and settling in Palmer in 1995.

Carol was a founding member of Chugiak Methodist Church and active in her community as a Girl Scout Leader, Republican Party chairwoman, member of the Chugiak High School Formation Committee, and Iditarod and softball team sponsor. She enjoyed gardening, traveling, knitting and card playing.

The family says, “Carol was a woman unlike any other. A strong, independent pioneer who made all those around her appreciate life. She inspired us all to take chances and find adventure in life. She was a great woman and she will be sorely missed.”

Carol is survived by her two daughters, Deborah Jones and Cinthia Franck; grandchildren, Christian Allen, Tonya Uptegraft, Jacob, Peter, Mary and Monica Franck; great-grandchildren, Isabel and Conner Allen and Linden Godwon; sister, Fritzi Pylant; niece, Cheryl Clark; and cousin Patricia Jones. Carol was preceded in death by her husband, Paul Jones.

Please make memorial donations to St. Jude’s Hospital, 262 Danny Thomas Place, Memphis ,TN 38105.

A service is at 7 p.m., April 7 with a viewing at 6 p.m., at Kehl’s Palmer Mortuary, 209 S. Alaska St., in Palmer. The graveside service will be at Fort Richardson National Cemetery April 8, at 10:30 a.m., cortege forming at Fort Richardson gate at 10 a.m.