This past Saturday, Jan. 19, the friends and family of Marilyn Petrie Jones gathered at the Simmons Harrington & Hall Funeral Home in Boothbay to celebrate her life as a wife, mother, sister, grandmother and friend.

Family members shared stories about a woman who will long be remembered for the legacy she left.

The Jones' are well known in the area; for nearly 30 years Marilyn and her husband George owned and operated the Yankee Wholesale Company, a successful supplier of candy and tobacco to independent stores along the Maine coast. Marilyn Jones was vice president and treasurer of the business. They sold the business in 1979 to Pine State Trading.

The Jones' had a historic home on Pleasant Street that was purchased in 1950 with a G.I. loan. It was formerly called the Carroll Berry residence (an artist of wood etchings and sketches).

Marilyn Jones was a wife, a mother of three, Don, Dale and Dawn, grandmother of four, a sister, a friend to many and the descendant of William Brewster, a passenger on the Mayflower voyage of 1620 that ended up on the shores of New England at Plymouth, Mass.

During the gathering, George Jones told folks they were there to tell and hear about the happy times they had shared with her.

The couple was married in 1946, shortly after George Jones returned from World War II, where he flew 55 missions in a B25. He served in the 13th Air Force 42nd bomb group in the Philippines before being shipped back to the states.

Those who spoke during the gathering painted a picture of a woman who enjoyed her time with her family.

Jones' grandson, Ethan, told how she was there for him right from the very beginning.

“She was the first person to hold me when I was born, right after my mom and dad. I was her first grandchild,” he said.

He said his grandmother touched many lives.

Jones' son, Don, the eldest of the children, told how when he was in the second grade, she had him take ballroom dancing lessons. “I really didn’t mind; it was sort of fun,” he said. He talked about the time his mother came to camp alone to pick him up and to tell him she was going to have another baby.

He also remembered the day his sister Dawn was born. “I was 14 years old, a freshman at Wiscasset High; it was lunch time, and I called home on the pay phone in the lobby and Dad told me I had a baby sister.”

Dawn, Don and Dale’s baby sister showed a video entitled “What Love Can Do.” It was photos of family events beginning when the children were very young. The old photos bought laughter and tears to the group. The photos included many pictures of their mother and father; of George on his knees reading to a young Dawn before going to bed; of Don and Dale sitting in a bathtub together; and of a very young Don crying on the beach with his father trying to console him.

Marilyn was in sixth grade when her sister Barbara was born, and always set an example for her, Barbara said.

According to Barbara, Jones' was always very proper. “When I arrived at Grandpa’s funeral, she was really upset with me because I was wearing earrings; she said to me, ‘You don’t wear earrings to a funeral’ you notice I do not have earrings on today. They are in my pocketbook.'”

“She lived a long, happy, and worthwhile life,” Barbara said.

Jones' granddaughter, Carly Jones, was inspired to write a song in her grandmother’s memory called “Blueberry Pie,” that she sang at the celebration.  It tells of a girl who was given blueberry pie at night, and how she will miss picking crabapples by her grandmother’s white picket fence.

The Jones families were all in town this past weekend at the family homestead on Pleasant Street, Dale and his family from Illinois; Dawn and her family from Colorado; along with Don and George who live in Wiscasset.

While in town, the children cooked some of their mother’s favorite recipes. Her baked macaroni and cheese and chocolate bread pudding were at the top of the list.

Following the service, the family invited guests for coffee, snacks and some of Jones' favorite music, while continuing to share stories of her life.

Charlotte Boynton can be reached at 207-844-4632 or cboynton@wiscassetnewspaper.com.