Elizabeth Jones

Katherine Elizabeth (Roper) Jones died April 29, 2017. Funeral service will be May 2 at 2 p.m. at Sneed Funeral Chapel. Burial will follow in Oak Hill Cemetery. Mrs. Jones was born at Lake Victor in Burnet County on Nov. 20, 1918 to Martha Ella (Fariss) Roper and Robert Hughes Roper. Her parents had a small grocery store in Lake Victor at that time. Raised during the Depression, her family moved around a lot trying to find work. They finally settled in Dallas, where Elizabeth graduated from Woodrow Wilson High School. She then attended business school. One of her first jobs was in Lampasas in the office of county agent Pinkney Graham. Upon returning to Dallas, she was a secretary at Baker Hotel and later worked at the Cotton Exchange. She met Ray A. Jones in Dallas. They were married March 27, 1937. They opened their first shop in Lancaster, where they made boots and did shoe repair. In 1938 they moved to Lampasas where she had relatives, and made boots and saddles. Ray belonged to a National Guard unit out of Dallas, and when he was called to active duty with the U.S. Army Elizabeth returned to Dallas. She found a boot shop to work in where she stitched boot tops. After several stateside assignments, Ray was sent to the European theater. In March 1946 they returned to Lampasas. The first post-war shop was opened on East Third Street where Ajinomoto Windsor is now, and they lived in a room at the Lampasas House. In a few months rental property was acquired and the second shop, Jones Boot & Saddle Mfg. Co., was opened at 307 E. Third St. The family had private living quarters upstairs. They stayed at this location until 1953. The Joneses had purchased land on Sulphur Creek, the site of the old Donovan (previously Casbeer) Grist Mill where Ray built a new building to house the family and the boot shop. Mrs. Jones continued to be an active part of the production team until their retirement from boot-making in 1983. During the late 1950s and ’60s when the children were in school and 4-H, Mrs. Jones was active in their animal projects. She was supportive of the family’s cattle operation but was especially involved with the sheep. She raised many lambs on a bottle and would bring them in the house if she felt it necessary. Mrs. Jones was preceded in death by her husband in 1996. She is survived by daughters Beth Barnett (Kelly) and Martha Wallis (Bobby), and son Jimmy Jones; grandchildren, Shannon Knipe, Zane Brock, Heath Wallis and Chad Wallis; great-grandchildren, Kelsey, Brayden and Blayne, and Emma and Mykaela; and great-great-grandchildren, Kelsey, Brilee, Tripp, Hadley and Taislee.