Alice Darlene Jones

Alice Darlene (Nelson) Jones was born by midwife on Sept. 27, 1931, to Albert Nelson and Ida Hookland. On Friday, Oct. 7, 2022, Darlene, 91, passed on, at Valley View Home in Glasgow, Mont., on to the Glory of Life Everlasting and into the arms of Jesus.

Services were held Monday, Oct. 17, at the Hinsdale American Legion Hall at 2 p.m., with reception following. Darlene's final resting place is in Hillview Cemetery.

Her childhood was spent in Genevieve, Mont., on her parents' 1910 homestead. Her father bought a small farm just north of Hinsdale, Mont., so she could attend school there, spending summers up north on the homestead. Darlene looked forward to the move each spring, loving the country life and the people who shared it. As a beautiful young woman, Darlene caught the eye of a rancher's son "across the canyon" on Willow Creek. Frank Jones Jr. married her on June 1st just after she graduated from Hinsdale High School in 1949. They lived in Colorado for awhile before moving north to Thoeny, Mont., a place on McEachern Creek a few miles south of Canada. They had three children there, Frank Jones Jr. "Dusty, Penny, and Roy.

When "Dusty" was old enough for school they moved to Hinsdale. After renting several houses in town, they bought a piece of land along the Milk River with a resettlement house on it, this is where they would call home. Their family would be complete with the birth of Hope, their fourth child.

Darlene spent her life serving others, beginning as a rural mail carrier, serving people north of Hinsdale. In the early years her children would ride along in her little Volkswagen and she taught them to drive on the open country roads. Later, Darlene filled the opening for Valley County Deputy Superintendent of Schools in Glasgow, serving under Alfreda Drabbs. She would travel from Hinsdale to Glasgow daily until she transferred to her final job as the Clerk of Hinsdale Schools. This job would require a supply of Band-Aids and hugs. She was the Angel of God to the school children, flourishing in the middle of life with all the students, many of whom were relatives. When she retired there was an enormous celebration and today there remains a gavel with her name on it. She always returned to support "her" kids whenever a crisis arose.

Darlene played hymns on her father's piano, sewed her mother dresses as well as matching dresses for her daughters for special occasions, including prom dresses and wedding gowns. She was a remarkable, amazing, and much loved woman of God, with her family as her centerfold. Her spirit of love will travel with us forever and dance across the prairie in search of Jack Creek.

Darlene was proceeded in death by her parents, Albert and Ida Nelson; siblings Adeline (Clarence) Bomsta, Esther (Edward) Lacock, Edith (Fred) De Walche, Tom (Mabel) Nelson and Alma (Frank) Jensen; husband Frank Jones Jr .; and son Frank "Dusty" Jones III.

Survivors include daughters Penny (Eliot) Strommen, of Vandalia, and Hope (Kevin) Farr, of Glasgow; son Roy (Teresa) Jones, of Hinsdale; granddaughter Kristi Jones; grandsons David Jones, Justin Strommen, Lucas Strommen, Chris Strommen, Doug Jones, Jackson Farr and Keefe Farr; and 19 great-grandchildren.