Mabel Grace Corder Jones

Mabel Grace Corder Jones, 93, resident of Thornburg, Perry County, Arkansas, was called home by her Lord while surrounded by family, December 6, 2025. She was born March 22, 1932 in Jacksonville, Arkansas, a daughter of Simon Peter “Pete” and T Beall Calhoun Corder, who both preceded her in death. The Corder and Calhoun families were early settlers in the Bayou Meto–Jacksonville, Arkansas area. Descendants later moved into Perry County. Mabel was also preceded in death by her late husband, Arnold Gene Jones and her siblings, Mary Jewell Boshears, Mildred Hathorn, Luther Corder, and Thomas Corder. She is survived by her children Shirley Floyd, Sandra (Bill) Duke, and Gary (Susan) Jones; grandchildren Ashley (Josh) Clay, Lindsey Floyd, Eric Floyd, Greg Floyd, Jennifer (Darrell) Shaddon, Sonia (Jimmy) Brown, Josh Duke, Kyle Duke, Taylor (Nicole) Garrett, Landon (Brittany) Jones, Aaron Jones, and Allison (Bradley) Stocks; and 19 great-grandchildren. All the grandchildren called her “Memaw”. Mabel was a 1951 graduate of Perryville High School and married Gene Jones in September of that year. They moved to Little Rock, where Gene worked for the Tuf Nut Garment Factory making jeans, coveralls, and work shirts; Mabel worked as a seamstress at Ottenheimer’s Clothing Manufacturing Company sewing dresses for Sears-Roebuck. A few years later, Gene’s Uncle Earl Jones in California hired him as a truck driver for his trash collection business, so they headed west. The couple became homesick and after a short stay there, they headed back to their beloved Arkansas, making Little Rock their home again, adding three children to the family. Eager to make a final move, the family moved to the Thornburg Community near Perryville, Arkansas, in 1968, enrolled the children in Perryville Schools, and joined Thornburg Baptist Church, where many fond memories were made. Gene worked for Film Transit and Mabel was a long-time postal employee in Perryville until she retired at age 62. Hobbies that Mabel enjoyed included Bible study, teaching children’s Sunday School and Vacation Bible School, church activities, cheering on the Razorbacks from her recliner, and quilting. She was a member of the Busy Bees quilting group, which had started at Harmony Baptist Church in the 1940s, then in later years met in homes, and even later, in 2000, met at the Perry County Senior Activity Center in the “Diane Wilson” room. When she became rather housebound, she turned her dining room into her quilting room and had a working quilt going for the last 5 or 6 years. Funeral Services will be at 10:00 a.m. Thursday, December 11, 2025, at Thornburg Baptist Church with Bro. Tom Stover officiating. Burial will be at Thornburg Cemetery.

Mabel Grace Corder Jones

March 22, 1932 - December 6, 2025