Jimmy Lee was a farmer, working more than 40 years on the farm of F.B. Smith in Beauregard, his daughter Cora said.
But when he was home, he grew vegetables.
Jimmy Lee died in Sunday’s deadly tornado along with his wife of many years, Lois, and their son, Emanauiel, who was 53 years old.
Thomas Peterson III is the assistant manager of the Peterson and Williams Funeral Home, was also a friend to the Jones family. He saw Jimmy on Friday.
“Jimmy had a winning personality,” Peterson said. “He was real kind, but he’d make you laugh too. He’d gotten his driver’s license and he’d talk about getting it now and then getting a handicap sticker or they wouldn’t give him another license. Mary was also real humble, both were. Their nephew lived across the street from my mom and dad’s house, I knew ’em all of my life.”
Roger Tate.was related to Jones by marriage. Tate knew him as Shag.
“Now, Shag could tell a story,” Tate said. “He was crazy. You would talk to him and you would just start laughing.”
Tate remembers one time during a drought.
“He said, ‘You see those creeks down there? They were so dry they fighting each other for water,'” Tate said. “Now, he could tell a story.”
The funeral service will be held at 1 p.m. CST Saturday at Peterson and Williams Funeral Home Chapel with interment in Union Grove Church Cemetery. The service will also include his wife and son.
He is survived by: three sons, William (Ruby) Jones, Benjamin Jones and Bobby Jones all of Opelika, AL; three daughters, Jackie Jones, Barbara Jones and Cora Jones all of Opelika, AL; nine grandchildren, Termekia, William Jr., William Daniel, Demetria, Kenneth, Robert, Cordarrly, Demetria and Roderick; seven great grandchildren, Kenzie, Zae, Payton, Paris, Mariah, Jalaiyha, and Kadence; a sister, Nellie Mae Wilson of Opelika, AL; two sisters-in-law, Mary Frances (Charles) Heard of Opelika, AL and Virginia (Emmett) Vaughn of Crawford, AL; a host of nieces, nephews, cousins, and friends.
Click here to see the full list of victims and read their stories.
