Tuesday, September 18, 2007
Staff Report

BAY MINETTE -- Linda Peterson Jones, 76, died Saturday, September 15, 2007. She was a longtime resident of Bay Minette, Alabama, and taught piano for more than 50 years at area schools. She also worked 16 years as a librarian for the Baldwin County Law Library.

Baldwin County Circuit Court Judge Charles C. Partin said Jones often helped lawyers and members of the public find the legal documents they needed. And she'd do it with a smile.

"Linda would stop whatever she was doing and try to help," Partin said. "She was always very outgoing and friendly. ... That was just her nature."

She was born in Artesia, S.D., and the family moved to Montgomery six years later. She graduated from Sidney Lanier High School in 1949 and went on to Birmingham Southern College, where she studied music under the direction of Dorsey Whittington at the Conservatory of Music.

She was recruited by the late C.V. Daniels to teach piano and moved to Bay Minette in 1951. Jones taught piano at Bay Minette Middle and Bay Minette Intermediate schools for 55 years. She also taught music to adults after school throughout the years. She usually held two student recitals each year and also played the piano at her church for a number of years, her family said.

She assisted her husband, Jack Jones Sr., in the family business, Jones Poultry Farm in Bay Minette.

She was active in several civic organizations and served as president of the Mignon Music Club, Beethoven Music Club (youth group), Quest Study Club, North Baldwin Hospital Auxiliary, Foreign Exchange Program, Arts Council of Bay Minette and the United Methodist Women.

She was elected vice president of North Baldwin Community Concerts and served on its board of directors. She was also active with the Alabama Music Teachers Association, Mobile Teachers Association and the National Guild of Piano Teachers. She was a former member of the Music Teachers Association.

She is survived by her husband; children, Lynn Biles of Bay Minette, Jack Jones Jr. and Pete Jones, both of Montrose, and Megan Jones of Denver; six grandchildren and one great-grandchild.

A celebration of life service will be held at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday at the Presbyterian Church in Bay Minette. Visitation and refreshments will follow in the fellowship hall.

Jones had decided to donate her body to science, her family said. The family suggests memorials be made to the First United Methodist Church Organ Fund, P.O. Box 338, Bay Minette, AL 36507.